The Yum Yum Factor

We love edamame. If you have ever eaten sushi, you have probably had steamed, salted edamame in the pod and might not even know what edamame is apart from the fact that it is a tasty snack. Let me give you quick answer: it is the preparation of immature soybean in the pod and it's packed with protein, fibre, folates, vitamin K and more. In North America, we just call the actual soybean edamame, regardless of how it's prepared or whether it's in the shelled or removed. One of my favourite, quick lunch bag items, we go through this stuff like an ape goes through bananas. As much as we love the stuff, I am becoming increasingly wary of the soybeans coming from overseas because I can't really be sure about the quality. I keep reading all kinds of stuff about GMO's and other sketchy practices in production, never mind the fact that they are coming half way around the world to land in my freezer so who really knows how fresh they are? It is widely reported that 99% ...

 When I spied this blog post on The Cook Who Knew Nothing, I knew I had to make it. It felt like a great excuse to try out some new ingredients like preserved lemons, pomegranate molasses and baharat spice which are all things that I think about buying but don't because I am not sure what to do with them. North African cuisine is still very unfamiliar to me and I am just really starting to learn about Middle Eastern food this year. There are enough familiar flavours in this food that it feels like something I know but, at the same time, with these kicks of either new tastes or new combinations of spices that I wouldn't normally put together. I can't wait to try this chermoula with some fish and perhaps next time, I will up the chili and make it a bit hotter but otherwise, I wouldn't change a thing at this point. The chicken was just as good over the next couple of days either over rice or in a pita as a sort of shwarma like sandwich with some tahini sauce, pickled ...

Even though his dish didn't win the regional Almost Famous Chef competition last week, it was my favourite. Kellie Callender's Slow Roasted Salmon with Quinoa Salad is totally my jam. Don't get wrong- all of the other dishes were great but this was something I could see myself eating at home all time. Salmon is our "Shack is away working out of town" fish so I skipped that part for now but I didn't let that stop me from trying the salad because, luckily, he doesn't care for salmon but he really likes quinoa.

So, it's Friday and I still haven't made any soup this week so the heat was on to come up with something cobbled together from what I had on hand already. I actually like the challenge and often come up with some of my favourite things that way - well,  if you can overlook the odd black bean peach chowder or an anchovy corn creme brûlée.

Sometimes the only thing that dictates my soup choices are the foods that are going to rot in my fridge if I don't use them up and although that doesn't sound very appealing on paper,  I don't think that it is unique. I rarely plan out a soup and then go and shop for all of the ingredients and that is what happened this week. Soup is THE perfect way to throw whatever you have lying around in a pot with some stock - leftover roasted veggies, fresh veggies, it's all good. Because I had bought a huge bag of carrots to make last week's turkey scotch broth   and we don't eat a ton of carrots as an actual vegetable, I wanted to make sure I used them up. I poked through a few cookbooks and checked online and found this recipe at Taste Space on tastespotting and it was pretty close to what I was looking for. I didn't want anything gingery or overly sweet, which carrot soups can often be. This Moroccan carrot soup was going to be my Friday soup, with just a cou...