I have been trying to readjust to my new schedule. Not only was I on vacation for three weeks (which still seems like it ended really recently), but before that I was barely working at my catering job. Now I have to get up at 5 am five days a week, plus the occasional 6 am Saturday wake-up call. Don't get me wrong, the job is great, but I have never really considered myself a morning person in the first place. Surprisingly, working at the deli doesn't completely wear me out. You'd think that at the end of a 5 or 6 hour shift, all I'd want to do is curl up in bed or sit and the couch on zone out to some Anthony Bourdain or Food Network show (which I still do, believe me). But when I get home I am usually scheming about something I am going to cook or bake later that day. The ridiculously hot and humid weather hasn't really allowed me to turn the oven on, but realistically I don't think I want any more baked goods around me than are completely necessary. In an effort to curb or perhaps even counteract all that sugary goodness I am surrounded by at work, I made this delicious soup. You might be thinking, 'Soup in the middle of August?! You are crazy.' Well, okay, maybe I am crazy, but it's not like I ate this outside in the sweltering heat or anything. At night, inside my comfortably air-conditioned home, soup is actually quite comforting.  Fennel & White Bean Stew 1 tbsp oil 1/2 small onion, diced 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 fennel bulb, stalks removed and diced 3 c vegetable stock 2 c water 2 - 2 1/2 c white beans, such as navy or cannellini, cooked 3-4 tsp salt 1 tsp black pepper 2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped In a large pot, saute the onion and garlic in 1 tbsp oil for about 3 minutes. Then add the fennel and saute until tender, 8 minutes. Then add the vegetable stock and water. Bring up to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Add the beans. Simmer for 10 minutes, then add the salt, pepper and fresh dill and season to taste. Note: If using homemade vegetable stock, add more salt. If using boxed vegetable stock, taste before adding salt.  Hummus I used the rest of the white beans that I had cooked up from a package for the soup in this. I mixed it with one medium can of cannellinis and it still tastes delicious. Then I added tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, a few cloves of garlic, and cumin. Yum!  Kale Pesto My kale was starting to look kind of sad and wilty in the fridge so I whipped up some pesto with it. Kale pesto has to be my favorite kind of pesto. It's so good! I have posted about this before. This time I added in some vegan parmesan. Alright, so I did bake up one sweet treat this week. But really I only did half the work. The actual cake that I used came from the deli where I work. On Sunday, we baked up a storm but barely had any customers, so I ended up taking home about 5 different things. (My boss said "You'll learn to say no.") Obviously I had to do something with it, and I wasn't about to waste a fabulous cake-decorating opportunity on eating it as is. Voila:  Vanilla Buttermilk Cake w/ Agave Icing, Carob Drizzle & Blueberries The cake is, of course, not vegan, but the icing is. For lack of powdered sugar, I made the Simple Agave Icing from VCTOTW. I also made the Melty Ganache with carob chips and drizzled it over top. I topped that with blueberries and a cute little mango flower, then made a border with roasted pecans. So good!! The cake stayed moist for several days so I was able to enjoy this (aka pig out) a few times.  oooh, layers. In other baking news, my dad went to a local farm to pick peaches recently. He came back with two boxes full and froze them all over the weekend, according to his mom's tried and true recipe. But because I (a bit overzealously) stuffed our freezer full of cooked beans and fresh fruit, he didn't have enough room to freeze all the peaches he wanted. Thus:  Peach Pie Ok, so the crust is store-bought, but it was the guy's first time making pie. He very rarely bakes, so I was so proud of him when this beautiful thing came out of the oven! He used a recipe that added cardamom into the filling, and man oh man it was so good!! Wish I wasn't all sugared-out to really enjoy it.
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Surprisingly, working at the deli doesn't completely wear me out. You'd think that at the end of a 5 or 6 hour shift, all I'd want to do is curl up in bed or sit and the couch on zone out to some Anthony Bourdain or Food Network show (which I still do, believe me). But when I get home I am usually scheming about something I am going to cook or bake later that day. The ridiculously hot and humid weather hasn't really allowed me to turn the oven on, but realistically I don't think I want any more baked goods around me than are completely necessary.
In an effort to curb or perhaps even counteract all that sugary goodness I am surrounded by at work, I made this delicious soup. You might be thinking, 'Soup in the middle of August?! You are crazy.' Well, okay, maybe I am crazy, but it's not like I ate this outside in the sweltering heat or anything. At night, inside my comfortably air-conditioned home, soup is actually quite comforting.
1/2 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 fennel bulb, stalks removed and diced
3 c vegetable stock
2 c water
2 - 2 1/2 c white beans, such as navy or cannellini, cooked
3-4 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
In a large pot, saute the onion and garlic in 1 tbsp oil for about 3 minutes. Then add the fennel and saute until tender, 8 minutes. Then add the vegetable stock and water. Bring up to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Add the beans. Simmer for 10 minutes, then add the salt, pepper and fresh dill and season to taste.
Note: If using homemade vegetable stock, add more salt. If using boxed vegetable stock, taste before adding salt.
Alright, so I did bake up one sweet treat this week. But really I only did half the work. The actual cake that I used came from the deli where I work. On Sunday, we baked up a storm but barely had any customers, so I ended up taking home about 5 different things. (My boss said "You'll learn to say no.")
Obviously I had to do something with it, and I wasn't about to waste a fabulous cake-decorating opportunity on eating it as is.
Voila: