More cooking this weekend

Betty's Recipe deserved its own post, but I cooked plenty more than that this weekend.

Saturday night, I adapted a Cooking Light recipe for Carrot and Parsnip Soup. It was pretty good, but I probably won't make it again - at least not with my "little additions."

• olive oil


• 2 1/2 cups chopped onion


• 3 cups chopped parsnip


• 2 1/2 cups chopped carrot


• 2 14oz cans chicken broth (I used organic free range chicken broth in a box, which was slightly more than 28oz)


• 1 ripe anjou pear, chopped (this was my sneaky addition)


• 3 cups water (adjusted to 2.5 cups since I used more chicken broth)


• salt and pepper


• dash of cayanne pepper (my addition to mask the pear's sweentess)


• chopped green onion for garnish (also my addition to mask the pear's sweetness)

Saute onion in oil until soft. Add carrots, parsnips, (pear), chicken broth, and water. Bring to boil, then simmer for 50 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Puree mixture, then season with salt and pepper.

I tasted the soup at this point and it was too sweet. I should not have tried to get rid of that pear! This is when I decided to add cayenne pepper and green onion to mask the sweetness. It was pretty good, but not great. I served this with bread machine "French" bread. Even though I used bread flour, the bread came out very dense. I guess I should try adding wheat gluten next time, although it wasn't in the recipe.

Also made in my kitchen was a batch of really yummy tuna salad for lunch on Sunday. I don't eat nearly as much canned tuna as I used to due to all the negative talk about tuna for child-bearing-aged women, but I still eat it once in a while. Since it's not a regular thing now, I started buying the good, Italian canned tuna packed in olive oil instead of the usual Starkist. Wow, what a difference! It's so much tastier than white albacore packed in water.

• one can of Italian tuna packed in olive oil, drained and flaked (give can to cats)


• one rib of celery, chopped


• some chopped sweet onion


• about a Tbsp sweet relish


• couple of spoonfuls of Helmann's mayo (full fat, please)


• salt and pepper

Serve on toasted multi-grain bread with a glass of cranberry juice.

Finally, we baked a lot of cookies yesterday. If you are fortuntate enough to work with me, you will have an opportunity to sample my Cranberry Walnut Noels or my Dark Chocolate, Sour Cherry, Chocolate Chip Cookies today! Recipies can be found in Martha Stewart's holiday baking magazine from 2003 (pre-incarceration).