Mirepoix Soup with Avocados or Lazy Soup for Lazy Janice

Happy 2016, EVERYONE!

I am such a slacker.

You see, I had planned to post this soup recipe a long, long time ago.

In Fall of 2014.

Yep, 2014.

It's now 11 13 days into 2016 and while looking through my backlog of recipe drafts, some that I'd promised people five months ago I'd post (mea culpa, friends!), I thought maybe I should get my act together.

Usually, when the new year arrives, people have a fiery urge to get their butts in gear on the 1st.

I needed an extra 10 12 days to light my ass on fire.

(See? Still procrastinating.)

I'm posting this soup because it's my lazy soup.

And lazy is probably what I'll still be this year.

New year, old Janice.

Lazy before, lazy after.

Ha.

I sound like a New Year Scrooge.

Happy New Year!

Anyway.

This soup came about because one day, two summers ago, I had nothing left to eat in my house.

I opened up my fridge, saw the dredges of carrots, celery, and garlic, threw it all in a pot, boiled it, puréed it, added cream, and Voilà! Food.

And, it was good.

Boy, was it good.

Probably because I topped it with avocados.

Each spoonful was a creamy bite of avocado flavored with garlicky carrots and celery.

YUM-MY.

I've made it many more times since then and it's now my go-to soup for whenever I'm feeling lazy or don't want to slave over the stove.

Oh wait, that's all the time.

At least it's healthy!

I call this Mirepoix Soup but it isn't really. A true mirepoix is some combination of onions, carrots, and celery.

But, since this is my creation, I can call it anything I want, right?

Like: Arthur Soup.

Or: Plain Jane Soup.

Or: Mee-Ra Pwa Soop.

I think I like that last one best.

Mirepoix Soup with Avocados
Serves 4 (approximately)

Ingredients

• 1 bunch celery, chopped
• 2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 potato, peeled and chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 small knob ginger, peeled
• salt + pepper, to taste
• Water to cover
• ½-1 cup heavy cream, to taste
• 1-2 avocados, diced

Directions

1. Combine celery, carrots, potato, garlic, and ginger with some salt + pepper in a medium pot.
2. Cover with just enough water to top the vegetables.
3. Bring to a boil on high heat, then turn down to medium low; cook until tender.
4. Remove from heat and puree until smooth with an immersion blender (or a jar blender).
5. Return pot to stove and add ½ cup of heavy cream (or 1 cup if you'd like a thicker soup). 
6. Adjust levels of salt and pepper, if needed.
7. Heat through or until tiny bubbles form.
8. Ladle into bowls and top each serving with ½ a diced avocado.
9. Slurp a spoonful and groan in bliss.

Chrysanthemum Tea with Goji Berries

Chrysanthemum tea is one of my favorite drinks from childhood.

My mom used to make a huge pot of it with a little rock sugar and I always thought it was such a treat.

She would say that drinking the tea was good for us and would make us beautiful when we grew up as a way to get my sister and me to drink more liquids.

But, my mom soon learned that statements like that did not get us to do anything.

(Also, it wasn't true. It's just something the adults in my family like to say to kids to get them to eat.

My mom also liked to say eating fish would make us smart, eating noodles would make us tall, and eating soy sauce would make us dark.

I bet lots of Chinese kids heard that last one from their mothers.

Am I right?!)

However, I never needed any convincing to drink chrysanthemum tea because I LOVE(D) the stuff.

The scent alone makes me swoon.

If I could bathe in it, I would.

And, I WOULD boil myself a bath's worth of tea if I didn't think it was a waste.

'Cause I'd rather drink it!

Chrysanthemum tea is really easy to make at home but I didn't realize it until recently, when my mom started to brew it with goji berries instead of rock sugar.

The goji berries give the tea a deeper hue while the chrysanthemum + rock sugar combination yields a pretty light yellow color.

Traditionally, chrysanthemums are used to reduce your fire energy.

And, goji berries, or wolfberries as they are sometimes called, are purportedly good for eye health.

Since my mama was trying to improve her eyesight, she decided to swap out rock sugar for goji berries.

The goji berries give the chrysanthemum tea a natural sweetness.

I also love chrysanthemum tea because it's beautiful to look at.

I mean, who can resist a drink that looks like this:

Isn't it lovely?

AND, it's good for you.

WIN WIN, right there.

Here's how you make it!

Chrysanthemum and Goji Berry Tea

Ingredients

• 20-30 goji berriies
• 8-10 chrysanthemum buds
• 2 cups of water

Directions

1. Lightly rinse the chrysanthemum and goji berries.
2. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a small pot.
3. Add in chrysanthemum and goji berries, let boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat.
4. Let steep for a couple of hours until liquid is amber colored.
5. Drink!

Notes

1. You can eat the goji berries but not the chrysanthemum buds.
2. The tea can be refrigerated for a couple of days but honestly, it's never lasted that long in my house because I drink it like water.
3. Can be steeped for a second time but the tea will be vastly milder. You may need to boil for a minute longer before removing from heat. Toss after second steeping.

A BBQ + Black Sesame Butter Cookies

Today, we had a family BBQ at my auncle's (aunt + uncle's) house.

We also took the opportunity to belatedly celebrate my Uncle Geraldine's birthday, which had passed the week before.

But really, I think it was just an excuse to have ice cream cake.

Not that my uncle's birthday isn't something to celebrate, we had just never done it before.

When we were blowing out the candles on the cake, my uncle asked my aunt for a kiss.

This is what he got:

Aren't my Aunt Joe and Uncle Geraldine adorable?

I love my family.

I meant to take more pictures of the BBQ because my uncle is famous for his BBQ ribs (really, my auncles used to own a BBQ restaurant in Chelsea) but I forgot to bring my camera - story of my life! - so, no pictures.

What I did remember to bring though, was this:

When I found out we were gathering for a family party, I immediately ran to the nearest grocery store to buy ingredients so that I could experiment with some recipes I'd been working on. Rarely do I get the chance to foist test my culinary adventures on other people so when the chance presented itself, I grabbed it greedily.

I'd been working on a sesame cookie recipe for awhile and by awhile, I mean I'd made it once before, and though it tasted awesome -- which surprised me because who makes an edible cookie on the first try? I must be a culinary genius. -- it was a little too dense for my tastes.

This time around, I wanted to try lightening the dough by using a whole egg instead of just the yolk.

I was a little bit nervous about bringing an experimental batch of cookies to my family to taste because they're all restauranteers/chefs/foodie people so I knew they'd be a tough crowd to sell to. But, that means they're also the best crowd to use as my guinea pigs, right? Right.

As soon as I brought the cookies into the house, my cousin pounced on them, and ten minutes later, the cookies were almost gone.

A rousing, positive verdict I'd say.

Even my Uncle Wilhelmina, who is notoriously a "Just OK"-er, gave me two thumbs up.

Though he might've been drunk.

But I'll take it.

Black Sesame Butter Cookies
Makes 20 cookies

Ingredients

• 8 tablespoons salted butter, preferably European-style butter
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons black sesame seeds

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, cream butter and sugar.
3. Add in beaten egg and mix well.
4. Stir in vanilla and salt.
5. Pour in flour and combine.
6. Mix in black sesame seeds.
7. Using a small scoop, scoop dough onto cookie sheet and flatten with the back of a spoon.
8. Bake at 350ºF for 20 minutes.

Notes

• If you would like a denser, crumblier cookie, use only 1 egg yolk, discarding the egg white.
• I used Kerrygold Salted Butter (the gold wrapper).

Quick and Easy Three-Ingredient Frozen Yogurt

I am in love.

Do you see this lusciousness?

I could eat it for days.

And I have.

It's so, SO delicious.

And, EASY.

Only 3 ingredients: frozen fruit, Greek yogurt, and honey.

The creaminess of the Greek yogurt adds a smoothness to the blended fruit; it tastes more decadent than it actually is. If you're looking for a lighter treat than ice cream, this is for you.

Throw your choice of frozen fruit into a food processor. Make sure it's straight from the freezer and not starting to melt.

Add 1 cup of Greek yogurt:

And 1 teaspoon of honey:

Then blend until smooth. Serve immediately.

Your tastebuds will rejoice.

I made this a few weekends ago for my mom. After smacking her lips, my mama said:

"Mmm. Good!"

Best endorsement ever.

Quick and Easy Three-Ingredient Frozen Yogurt
Makes 2 servings

Ingredients

• 1 cup Greek yogurt, full fat
• 1 package frozen fruit, about 10 ounces
• 1 teaspoon honey, to taste

Directions

1. Place frozen fruit, yogurt, and honey in a food processor and blend until smooth.
2. Serve immediately.

Notes

• I use plain Fage Total Classic Greek yogurt and raw honey.
• This recipe works with a lot of different kinds of frozen fruit but I wasn't too keen on my experiment with wild blueberries because of the seeds. Strawberries, peaches, or mangoes work really well though.
• This frozen yogurt is meant to be eaten immediately. I wouldn't recommend freezing it because lots of ice crystals will form making for a hard treat. However, if I had an ice cream maker, I would try it.

Avocado Tomato Salad 3-Ways

I love tomato season.

Currently, tomatoes are so juicy and sweet and full of flavor, they don't need any other adornments to make them divinely delicious.

I love it!

The other day at the grocery store, I saw some mini heirloom tomatoes and knew I had to make something with them.

Enter the avocado.

I cut up a small, ripe avocado.

Halved and quartered some mini heirloom tomatoes.

Mixed everything together...

And promptly shoveled spoonfuls into my mouth.

It looked so good, I couldn't help myself.

The juices from the tomatoes were sweet and citrusy, acting like a dressing all by themselves.

So good!

If the plain rendition doesn't appeal to you, sprinkle on some salt and pepper, toss, and inhale.

I did.

And it was good.

If you're feeling adventurous, instead of salt and pepper, pour a little bit of good soy sauce onto the tomatoes and avocados, and revel in the complex flavors. My grandmother loves avocado with soy sauce so that's where I got my inspiration from.

And there you go! Three different ways to make an easy salad for a quick snack or as an appetizer.

I feel a little silly putting a recipe down here but if you want to know the quantities, this is what I used:

Avocado Tomato Salad 3-Ways
Makes 2 servings

Ingredients

• 1 pint mini heirloom tomatoes or cherry tomatoes
• 1 small avocado

Optional
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce or more, to taste

Directions

1. Quarter or halve the tomatoes. Reserve the juices, if any.
2. Peel and cube the avocado.
3. Mix tomatoes, avocado, and juices.
4. Option A: Serve plain.
5. Option B: Sprinkle salt and pepper, to taste, on tomatoes and avocados.
6. Option C: Instead of salt and pepper, pour soy sauce onto tomatoes and avocados. Lightly toss. Add more soy sauce if desired.
7. Enjoy!

Green Tea Cookies

I have a little story to tell you guys.

About a month ago, I was really excited to share a new recipe with you all.

So excited that I posted a photo on Instagram:


The recipe was done. Its yumminess was ready to be shared. I just needed some pretty photos to go along with the post.

But, for the life of me, I could not get these cookies to look green in my photos. They all ended up looking brown and lame. Not enticing at all.

I knew my photography skills weren't great, and I had a lot to learn, but still, it was getting absurd. I took hundreds of photos and deleted them all. Made batches and batches of these cookies because I kept eating them in my stressed out state.

In a determined attempt to get at least one useable photo, I spent hours on the internet, reading up on whatever I could about food photography, looking at other food blogs, and trying a bunch of different things.

Using a background color that will make the green pop:

Changing the white balance on my camera to get the yellowish-brown hues out of my photos:

Getting up close and personal with the greeness:

And then, before I knew it, four weeks had passed and I was still getting nowhere. I panicked, wondering how I let that happen.

Then I groaned at myself with frustration. Because: I was letting the pursuit of perfection defeat me again.

Anyone else familiar with this self-sabatoging enemy?

Sanity came back and I realized: Janice, people don't eat pictures. It doesn't matter how perfect the photos are. Just put the recipe up already!

So, here I am, in all my imperfect glory, sharing with you, a recipe for green tea cookies that I love.

I've made it for my family and I've made it for my friends, all of them love it too.

A note about this Green Tea Cookie recipe: it works best with a specific type of butter, European-style butter.

European-style butters have a butterfat content of at least 82% and it makes a marked difference in the taste. I've tested this recipe with regular American sweet cream butter and my testers (ahem, family) weren't fond of it at all.

You'll need butter, sugar, flour, salt, baking soda, matcha, vanilla extract, and an egg.

Also, lemon juice.

Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy.

It's always at this point in the cookie-making process that I wonder if I really need to make cookies. 'Cause I sure would love to eat that sugar-butter by the spoonful.

But, so far, I've been able to convince myself that scarfing down a whole bowl of butter and sugar would be bad for my health.

If you've also convinced yourself of that, continue and add an egg.

Beat until smooth and pretty. As opposed to smooth and ugly.

Add vanilla, salt, and baking soda, and mix well. Then stir in lemon juice (which is not pictured because I forgot to add it until the end).

Add flour + matcha.

Combine until just crumbly, you don't want to overmix.

Scoop batter onto a lined cookie sheet using a small scoop.

Or, on a whim, use a mini-muffin pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

If your cookies are puffy when you take them out of the oven (picture left) and you want to deflate them, slam your cookie sheet down on your counter (picture right) before letting them cool.

Green Tea Cookies

Makes 36

Ingredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter = ½ cup = 8 tablespoons
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon lemon juice
• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 5 teaspoons matcha

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Or alternately, line a mini-muffin pan with mini cupcake liners.
3. In a medium bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Try not to eat this mixture with a spoon.
5. Add in egg and beat until well-combined.
6. Admire the pretty yellow color.
7. Add vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Incorporate well. Stir in lemon juice.
8. Mix in the flour + matcha until just combined. Be careful not to overmix, dough should be a little crumbly.
9. Scoop cookie dough onto baking sheet or mini-muffin pan with a small cookie scoop.
10. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Notes
Butter should be at least 82% butterfat. European-style butters work best.