Change your life for less than $100

Once you figure out how to use this safely, the amount of time you'll save slicing carrots and cucumbers really thinly is totally worth the amount of time you'll spend bandaging your bloodied knuckles during the learning process.

Go! Buy it!

Quick Slice

$20 on Amazon plus shipping

Dear Lanie J-

Can you cook radishes?

-Jamil

Dear Jamil,

You can totally cook radishes, but just FYI, they're also really good raw. More specifically, raw with cold butter and sea salt.

But your desire to cook something that you could very easily just cut in half and call a dish leads me to think you're a bit of an overachiever - or a suck up.

For the record: I love suck ups.

This one's for you, Jamil!

Stay easy,

-Lanie J

OK, let's do this:

Jamil's Spicy Radish Stir Fry
makes 2 servings
prep time 5 minues, cook time 5 minutes



1/2 t orange zest
Juice from 1/2 of that orange (zest it first, trust me)
pinch crushed red pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 T minced ginger
2 green onions, sliced
1 T soy sauce
1 t sesame oil

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1 T olive oil
1 medium shallot, sliced thinly
1 handful of snow peas, sliced in half
1 small bunch of radishes, sliced thinly 
1 handful watercress, tough stems removed

Combine first group of ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a pan over med heat.  Add the shallots, snow peas and radish and sauté for 2 minutes.  Add the first group of ingredients and sauté for 2 more minutes.  Toss in the watercress and stir until wilted.

 

Email your cooking questions to CookStupidEasy@gmail.com

Sass-squash

The sweetness of this butternut squash soup is balanced by a kick of cayenne pepper and ginger.  It's kind of the Sookie Stackhouse of soup.


OK, let's do this:

Spicy Butternut Squash Soup
Makes 8-10 servings
Hands on time 20 minutes, cook time 45 minutes

1/4 t cayenne pepper
1/4 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t garam masala
1 T dried thyme
1 T dried sage
1/4 c olive oil


1 medium butternut squash
2 medium shallots diced
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 apple, cored and chopped
1 pear, cored and copped
1 1/2 inch ginger, peeled, minced
4-6 cups of veggie broth
Juice from 1/2 an orange
Salt, to taste
2 T maple syrup
1/4 cup heavy cream (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425ºF

Combine the spices and olive oil in a bowl.

Carefully peel the butternut squash.  Hold it firmly and slice off the ends so you have a flat edge.  Place a flat edge down and carefully slice the squash lengthwise.  Use a spoon to scoop the seeds and stringy pulp out and discard it.  That was the hardest part of this whole recipe.  Go have a drink.  You've earned it.

Chop the squash into 1 inch-ish chunks.  It's best to keep the pieces about the same size so they roast in the same amount of time.

Toss the squash chunks in half of the oil/spice blend, then spread the pieces on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.  Roast at 425ºF until pieces are tender - about 35 minutes.

While the squash is roasting, heat the remaining spice-oil in a large stock pot.  Add the shallots and brown them.  Add the carrots and celery and sauté them for 3 minutes or so.  Add the apple, pear and ginger and sauté for another 5 minutes, stirring once in a while.

Add the broth, cover and reduce the heat.  Allow to simmer until carrots are soft, then turn off the heat and stir in the roasted squash chunks.  Transfer the chunky soup to a food processor in small batches and process until smooth.

Add the orange juice, maple syrup and cream (if using) and adjust seasoning.

Wanna make it FANCY?!

Try this:

Slice off a few rings of shallots or grab a couple fresh sage leaves.  Toss them in some flour and fry them in just enough hot oil that they float a little.  They'll get nice and crispy plus they'll look really cool, and so will you.

Itsy Bitsy, Teeny Weenie, Little Dollop of Tahini

Now that you've undoubtedly ordered and received your Christmas present to yourself, let's break that bad boy in!
We're going to kick that addiction to store-bought hummus. You're better than that - or you will be in about 5 minutes.

OK, let's do this:

"Suck it, Sabra" Hummus
Makes 6 servings
Total time: 5 min

1 large clove of garlic
1 14oz can of garbanzo beans (same thing as chickpeas), drained, rinsed
Juice from 1 or 2 lemons
2 T water
1 1/2 T tahini
2 t ground cumin
1/4 t cayenne
1/4-1/3 c olive oil
salt, to taste


Combine all ingredients in your new food processor and process until smooth.

Too thick? Add more lemon juice, water or oil.

Too thin? Add a little more tahini

Put the hummus in a bowl and top with a little olive oil and cayenne. Serve with raw veggies and whole wheat pita.

Weekend Calorie Splurge: Poached Pears

It's a frigid 73ºF here in Los Angeles.  What better way to get all warm 'n' cozy than with cinnamon and red wine poached pears stuffed with vanilla mascarpone and candied walnuts?

"But Lanie J, I can't make that!  IT'S TOO FANCY!"

Bullshit.  I've got your back.
 

OK, let's do this:

Fancy Pants Cinnamon Poached Pears
Makes 8 servings
Prep time 5 min, cook time 30-40 min


For the pears:
4 firm pears - we're talking apple firm, people
1 bottle cheap red wine, new, not nasty almost vinegar wine (we'll use that for other stuff)
water
1 T ground cinnamon
1 t vanilla extract (splurge on the good kind)

For the filling:
8oz container of mascarpone cheese (available everywhere, even at Trader Joe's)
1 t vanilla extract
2 t agave nectar or maple syrup


For the topping
2 handfuls chopped walnuts
1 1/2 T sugar, agave nectar or maple syrup
1/2 t cinnamon



Peel the pears, but leave a little skin near the stems and butts.  Place them in a pot that holds all 4 without too much extra room.

Pour in the wine a little more than halfway.  Add water until the pot is almost full, but not so full it's going to boil over and make your stove a mess.  I believe in saving wine stains for your teeth.

Cover and bring to a boil, then remove cover and reduce to a strong simmer.  Allow to simmer for 30-40 minutes or until a fork can be easily inserted (but not so they're mushy).  If the pears float in the pot, you'll need to rotate them occasionally with a spoon.

Meanwhile, combine filling ingredients and set in the fridge until needed.

In a pan over medium heat add the topping ingredients all at once.  Stir continuously until walnuts are just toasted and coated with sugar about 2 minutes.  Remove them from the heat and set aside.

Once pears are done, cut them in half LENGTHWISE and place in the freezer for 10 minutes.
While the pears are cooling, dump out all but an inch of the poaching liquid and bring it back to a boil.  Allow it to simmer until it's reduced by at least half.  It will be syrupy.  That's good.

Once the pears are cool, use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and any chewy-looking internal stem thingies. Place tiny blob of the filling on a plate and set the pear on the blob.  This will keep the pear from sliding all over and ruining the look.

Next scoop a bigger blob of filling into the space you just scooped out of the pear. Sprinkle the candied walnuts on top.  Now for the fanciness.  Get a small spoonful of the syrup you made be reducing the wine.  Hold the spoon vertically so most of the syrup runs off back into the pot - you just want a tiny stream coming off the spoon.  Wave the spoon over the pear, drizzling the syrup like the artful master chef you are.

Change your life for less than $100

 

Buy this.  It's $29.95 on Amazon and ships for free. Mine's pink which makes everything taste better.

¡Holy Frijoles!

Don’t let the long list of ingredients scare you – it’s all normal stuff.  This Black Bean Soup is perfect for when you need to throw something together in a hurry but still want a hearty, healthy meal.

This recipe makes a lot of soup.  Store it in mason jars (or old pasta sauce jars) in the fridge or wait ’til it cools and store it in plastic in the freezer.  Never put hot food in plastic.  It’s gross and I wont be your friend anymore.

OK, let's do this:

Black Bean Soup
makes 8-10 servings
prep time: 5 min, cook time: 20 min

1 T sunflower or other high heat oil
1 1/2 cup onions, diced
1 heaping Tbsp ground cumin
1 T dried oregano
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 t cayenne (more or less depending on personal preference)
1/2 t fennel seeds
1/2cup carrots, diced
1/2cup celery, diced
1/2 zucchini, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 28oz can diced tomatoes (lightly drained)
4 cups vegetable stock
2 14oz cans black beans, drained, rinsed thoroughly
1/2 c chopped cilantro
1/2 c corn (frozen is fine)
1/4 c good olive oil

Heat oil in a large pot over high heat.  Add onions and cook until they’re translucent – about 3 min.
Add spices and stir to combine.

When the spices start to stick to the bottom of the pan, add the tomatoes and kind of scrape the bottom of the pot to get all the good toasty onion and spice bits off.

Add the veggie stock, carrots and celery and cover the pot.  When it begins to boil, turn the heat down to Med-high and add the zucchini, garlic.  Cover and allow the soup to gently boil until the carrots are tender, but not mushy – about 15 min.

When the carrots are tender, add the remaining ingredients (Black beans, corn, cilantro).  Allow to simmer for a couple minutes, then remove 1 or 2 cups of the soup and blend it, then stir it back into the pot.  This will thicken the soup.  If you have an immersion blender, that’s even better – run it for about 15 seconds.  If you’re using a regular blender, be careful with hot liquid…put a towel over the top.  If you have no blender, don’t stress – it will still be great, just broth-ier.

Garnish with a couple slices of avocado and a dollop of sour cream or shredded cheese.  Look at you, you sexy Soup Master!

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Look what Ana made!