Ultra yummy – Ultra protein kale and portobello soup

Posted on March 19, 2014 by petitedecadence

Even though I’ve been MIA for a while, I’ve been cooking tons. I’ve just been really busy and haven’t found a way to be a quick efficient cook who also jots down everything as she goes along. And then I keep forgetting the recipes for everything I make, mainly because I don’t usually don’t do recipes, I just throw stuff together and hope for the best. Unless I’m coming to post something here of course. Which is the case with this yummy, healthy soup. (And about time I posted something healthy, too. I just browsed my latest posts and it’s all sugar or bread or cookies…. *not ashamed*) But more on the subject of the soup; it’s filling, nutritious and super yummy. And not only that, its absolutely brimming with protein and flavor. Which means that you can have it as your sole course for lunch or dinner. To me it also means that whenever I don’t want to actually cook (now I am ashamed. Its true, sometimes, some rare times, I don’t want to cook) and I have this soup in the fridge….all my problems are solved! Because I can go for a two hour workout and have it for dinner and get everything I need in one bowl. (A particularly nice feeling when you can’t move your arms from lifting but you’re also craving something delicious, trust me)
This soup is made from moyashi, (soybean sprouts) kale, portobello mushrooms and chicken. But the veggies all by themselves pack a huge punch, so if you want to skip the chicken and make it vegan, it’s also a great option! (you dont even need chicken stock, the mushrooms will do that for you). Aaaaaand the cherry on top of the cake? It takes less than half an hour to make! Interested yet? Continue reading →

Going green – Creamy lettuce and basil soup

Posted on July 1, 2013 by petitedecadence

Creamy lettuce and basil soup

About a monday a month my mother decides she’s going to have a lifestyle change and become green and healthy, so she buys about 5 heads of lettuce, a case of eggs, yogurt, and nothing else. She then proceeds to eat the yogurt and stash the lettuce in the bottom most drawer of the fridge, along with her lifestyle change, which typically results in 4 1/2 heads of lettuce rotting and going to waste. Enter me, with a fresh bunch of basil, to reuse, reuse and recyle. Or actually, just use. (unless you count the extra space in the fridge as reducing) And by use I mean turning those green crunchy leaves into a delicious, light, creamy, peppery lettuce soup. The kind of soup that goes great before any meal and in any weather. And also the kind of soup you can make in about 15 minutes, and repeat the recipe with any kind of lettuce you have leftover, or even add spinach, or broccoli leaves, or kale, or any other green leafy stuff you have lying around which is nearing its expiration date. Because it’s green, easy and delicious! So if you also find yourself with tons of leaves in your fridge, why don’t you go and read more for the recipe?

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White cloudy goodness – Cauliflower Leek Soup

Posted on November 26, 2011 by petitedecadence

It’s a little hard to believe, but when I was little, I was the pickiest most annoying eater you can imagine. I disliked almost anything that wasn’t meat or cookies. And I ate around the same amount a country sparrow does. And I hated crumbs around my plate with a passion. My mom tells me I used to obsessively pick them up one by one and put them back in the plate. I loathed when people tried to feed me more than three spoonfuls per meal. So much so that I once threw a chicken leg at my father. (I know). And don’t even get me started on vegetables. I don’t think there was one I liked. (except for mushrooms but they don’t count as vegetables. they are too delicious) None of them seemed sugary, crumbly or meaty enough for me. And among those was cauliflower, which had a big place on the house table. As I grew older, I started to venture out a bit more, and I came to like a few of those green critters. But cauliflower always remained in my eyes as a glorified broccoli with no flavor, even if it’s cloudy shape was as endearing as a baby sheep to an 8 year old. And then somewhere after I went from eating nothing to eating everything with a shameful passion, I re-discovered cauliflower. And I came to the conclusion that it was not a glorified broccoli, but that it was it’s whiter, fluffier, softer, more subtle tasting cousin. And we became best friends after I realized that cream and cheese and an oven could transform it into puffy clouds of greatness. But not only that; when turned into a creamy soup…all I can say is that for sure no broccoli soup I’ve ever tried can match it. So I bring you today a light version of this puffy friend; a creamy cauliflower leek soup minus the cream. That way you can enjoy three platefuls of it and not feel like you might explode afterwards. But don’t think it’s any less rich because it hasn’t got cream in it. The golden leeks and nutty flavor give it a warm fulling kick that won’t make you miss it. Read more for the recipe.

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Cry your eyes out – French Onion Soup

Posted on October 25, 2011 by petitedecadence

Yesterday I came home and popped into my laptop Rossini’s Barbieri di Seviglia (I know, I’m getting stranger by the day) and then set on to search for a classic french onion soup, which I did not have to do for long since Smitten Kitchen, as usual, had the answer for me quite soon. So I grabbed 4 big, shiny, smooth onions and set them on the chopping board. I grabbed the knife, I sliced once, I sliced twice. And then I stopped. What on earth was I thinking???? I’d completely forgotten that onions, or any of their cousins (red onions, shallots, garlic, spring onions, chives, you name it!) will have me in tears within seconds. And I’m not talking about watery eyes or a runaway tear. I’m talking grab-the-tissues-now stuff. I don’t know why so much, but it’s always been that way. I’ve tried super ultra sharp knives. I’ve tried cold onions straight from the fridge. There’s nothing that can help it. In fact, I remembered as I held the onion with great hatred in my hand and cried in between bouts of Figaro Figaro Figaro coming from my computer, when I worked in cooking school and I had to prepare for recipes which included onions, I would always trade with the other assistants for anything else. I’d much prefer to remove the scales from your smelly fish! So why would I subject myself willingly to all that slicing of the stinky critter?? The reason, of course, is that there is nothing quite like french onion soup. Even if I had to eat it with puffy eyes and a red nose. Deb uses Julia Child’s recipe, which she kindly provides with friendly measures. The only thing I changed was the bread, which I changed for American pumpernickel since I didn’t have any other, but it was actually an incredibly good twist. The caraway seeds such a pleasant surprise in the hot, caramelized goodness of the onions.

Recipe here: French Onion Soup at Smitten Kitchen

Autumn? Yes! – Roasted Tomato Soup

Posted on October 12, 2011 by petitedecadence

One of the things that people love about living in Mexico City is the weather. The winters are not very cold, springtime is full of flowers, summer is tolerably hot, and autumn will ask you for just a light sweater. Or so it used to be. Nowadays we get crazy weather just like the rest of the world, with winters that freeze crops and insufferable sweaty summers. But in spite of the weather going haywire everywhere in the world, one thing here in our crazy valley remains a constant: summer rain. Almost every summer afternoon, you can count on a heavy shower, that will be over before it’s time to go to bed. It’s lovely. But then there’s the transition between fall and summer; that is my absolute favorite time of the year, because that’s when it begins to get cold, October moons make their dramatic appearances, and, if you’re lucky, you get quite a few wet, cold, rainy afternoons. (No doubt encouraged by hurricanes raging along the coasts, sadly) And those are the ones where, with a good glass of red wine, great jazzy music, and a bunch of about-to-die tomatoes, delicious soups are born. (Or pumpkin marmalade, which is doing it’s thing on the stove as I write).
Soups and cold days….roasted tomato soups and cold days….this version of that good old recipe includes potatoes, which are always a pleasant surprise, and since my basil plant was victim of a murdering plague, is made with oregano. It’s really easy to make, but incredibly rewarding once it’s found it’s way to your spoon. Read more for the recipe.