Sparkler Soup

My sweet friends liking my Sparkler Soup on Instagram.  Follow me @MadreMinutes

Recently I was asked if ever thought about writing a cookbook.  I said I had thought about it, but just post here instead.   To me isn't this what self publishing is about?  So, I guess the answer is yes I am writing a cookbook and its here starting with the archive recipes dating before this post, to today's post and beyond......welcome to Madre"s Kitchen.  What I post takes time to savor, nurture and make public before I pass it off as an official recipe..... like I was some sort of Julia Child, Barefoot Contessa or Paula Deen, I am not, but  here goes!

The Sparkler Soup:   I took a store bought tomato basil soup HEB brand they have for sale in the glass jars.  I decided to add some things to it.  I had gone into my garden to see if there were any tomatoes to pick and there weren't that many so I put them into the soup.

The haul for the day.

My tomatoes are really doing well and have taken off now that the heat is here.  I have a variety of sizes from the beef steak, cherry, grape and yellow bells.  The yellow bells are so sweet and just great to eat right off the vine.  This is about as much as I wanted to add so it was the perfect amount.  I have been gone for a couple days and now have so many I will make a salsa or gazpacho soup.

Once you wash your veggies cut them into pieces and place them in a Mexican mortar and pestle called a Molcajete.  I like these because of the roughness of the bowl really grinds well.  Really takes care of the tomato skins. I also put some fresh basil leaves in there to add vitamins and its pungent flavor.  Then I place some Murray River Salt to help with flavor but also to act as an abrasive to grind.  Then I threw in some dried herbs of my own design that consists of oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, parsley, sage, and lavender.

Grind those together to make this mushy liquid.

Then I add this mixture to my soup that is heating on the stove.

When I am thinking of what to add to different dishes somehow the tastes are in my mouth if that makes sense.  So I was thinking what can I add to thicken the soup and I thought of pecans.  Every time I would go to Houston the Hwy 290 way I stopped in Ellinger, TX and picked up some pecans from the Tobias Pecan Co.  They are some of the best pecans I have eaten.  I eat a lot of pecans so trust me when I say they are good.  I always get a bag of the pecan mash or finely ground to put on fish to crust or mix into my rosemary shortbread cookies or pie crusts.  So I put the rest of the bag into the soup just to try and it thickened up nicely.  About two handfuls to be precise.

 
I let it heat up for a bit more then it was ready to eat.  I call it my Sparkler Soup cause what I put into just an ordinary jar of soup made it sparkle with flavor and savor.  I hope you will try it or a combination of this.....fresh sage would also be nice added to this soup.  Enjoy!

Quail Tacos

This picture does not do them justice.  I need to get a better camera, hint hint, instead of using my phone camera.  Although many of my pictures come from my phone.
Since the cancer diagnosis we have been eating more wild game.  This was a case of what's in the freezer, fridge and pantry.  
We thawed four quail and put them on our Big Green Egg and cooked normally.   We did not based or do anything special to them. We pulled the meat off the bone.
I had some blueberries in the fridge, cabbage, onion and herbs so started putting tastes together in my mind that somehow transfers to my mouth.  Not sure how that is but it happens.
So I made an xagave (1tsp) and unrefined sugar (1T) syrup with the blueberries (1/2cup) and reduced down to a thickened sauce.
Then I added half and half to smooth it out.  Not sure how much probably about 1/3c. just enough to lighten the color.  I would have added coconut milk to do the same but was out of it.
Then I went out to my garden and clipped lavender and mint to chop and put in sauce
(a pinch or two).
I sautéed the 1 onion with the cabbage (about 1/3 of head) and in hindsight I would keep the cabbage crunchy next time and just reduce onions down.
I used white corn tortillas.
That is it.  You basically build your taco however you want and it looks and sounds very exotic and hard to fix......
EXAMPLE:
Roasted quail tacos with onion cabbage and blueberry reduction wrapped in a white stone ground corn tortilla.  Using all my adjectives whenever possible to make this sound outlandish.
Don't be fooled by the title.  It's as simple as pie!  Enjoy.

A Learning Lunch

Today I hosted lunch with some friends, inviting Macrobiotic chef and instructor, Reba Weidner, to join in and share.  It was fun to think of foods that were healthy, tasty, and satisfying on a late summer day.  Reba swears she feels fall in the air.  I think I do too actually and love this time of year in the Texas Hill Country.  One of the best times to visit is Mid Sept thru Mid November.  I gathered thoughts, ideas and foods that as I described, "sounded good in my mouth."  Thank you to HEB for all its fresh and incredible ingredients.    So here is the menu for today.
                                                                      Menu
Gazpacho Soup : Made by Reba.  Had a little kick with jalapeno and it was perfect. You will have to get the recipe from her.

Mint infused water.....good water.

Herb d' Provence (from my garden) crusted Ahi tuna, with Alderwood Smoked Salt, fresh lime from my tree (I sound like Martha) over white cabbage, green apple, radish, blueberry slaw, and topped with a bit of feta with a balsamic dressing drizzled then mixed.  

The entire meal was spiced from The Savory Spice Shop.  The featured items of importance in the meal were green apple and radish and the benefits they carry.

For dessert we had Mrs. Barrs natural foods d-barrs cut into bite size squares, which were the perfect bite size sweetness.

My tablescape resembled shades of the summer with some pretty fall color flowers.  The vase came from when I had my surgery over a year ago from my most talented friend Tricia Hamil.  Love this turquoise vase.  I splashed the table with bleached sand dollars my sweet son in law dove for this summer while we were in Florida.  I love the story behind the sand dollar and how it points to Jesus.

All in all I would have to say I learned something new today about the fact that I put together a meal that sounded good in my mouth, and had no idea how beneficial it was to my liver function because of the cabbage, radish and vinegar.  The apple also satisfied the sugar we tend to think we need at every meal.  My friends left I hope feeling lighter, more informed and blessed.  What a privilege to share with others what I have come to love about food.  The idea that what you eat, really can and does make a difference in how you feel at the end of the day and I imagine towards the end of your life.  We talked about gardening and building our gardens and getting back to eating the way our bodies were set up to eat, absorb and heal from what we put in our mouth.   Nothing processed or fake about this meal.

More to come.