Fall. Time to Start Cooking Again

Another project I've been working on is my cookbook project. I decided to concentrate on soups since I like to make a lot of soup this time of year. Yesterday and today I did a few illustrations for the soup cookbook. What I like about these is  I don't fuss too much with them.

Peppers

Peppers. Watercolor 12X9.5 

Carrot Soup

OK today I am working on my carrot soup recipe again. Oh and let me just insert a little warning here to any one that likes to fool around with recipes–beware of white pepper.
So anyway my first batch was too spicy but it did lead to this sketch of hot fiery carrots. Plus I was also playing around with the contrast between colored pencil and gel pens.

So the soup is now simmering. Soon I will blend the carrots with my new immersion blender I got for Christmas.
The Ingredients:
2 T. Earth Balance
1 cup onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup ginger
1 T line zest plus 1 T line juice
6 cups carrots
2 cups OJ
2 cups water
1/4 t white pepper
1/2 t cinnamon
1t coriander
1t cumin
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t chili powder
1 c almond milk
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

OK I will blend the soup once the carrots are soft then add the almond milk and cilantro.

Another Cookbook Painting

I'm glad to be posting paintings again. We are still trying to get reconfigured after the bathroom upgrade but things are finally getting to the point where I can go into my studio space again.
Summer is my favorite season for watercolor. While I am mainly doing abstract now, I am also working on the cookbook project. Here is the latest.

I don't usually talk about food unless I made it but...

This is the best dry cereal I've had since I was a sugar addict kid and fell in love with Quisp back in the 70s. This Arrowhead Mills cereal has far less sugar than Quisp or for that matter most cereals, It's made from whole grains, and has very little sodium. But does have milk powder (sorry you purest vegans) Oh and 1 cup, plain, is only 210 calories. It is so good I think it will become my new late night snack when I get my usual chocolate cravings.
I usually don't promote anything at my job. They pay people big bucks to do that. But I would not have ever tasted this cereal if it wasn't put out to sample and on sale this week.

The Cookbook Project

Back in April I posted a painting of an eggplant and today I am going to post onions. These are all part of a bigger project I'm working on––The Cookbook Project. I am gathering and recreating recipes to inspire my new way of eating. I am eating very little, if any, meat and I am trying to cut out dairy as much as possible. (although I doubt I will ever find a substitute for those two tablespoons of light cream in my coffee every morning)
Being so raw and rainy outside, I decide to make soup. I had a ton of onions in my frig so I decide to make onion soup. This is not my recipe. I cut it from a magazine many years ago so I don't even remember the original source. Most onion soups are made from beef broth but I used a strong vegetable broth (I make my own) and added a half teaspoon of white pepper to give it a kick.  I also use 1 1/2 cups of a dry red wine like cabernet, but any red will do.

 I start with 2 pounds of thinly sliced onions and sauté on medium high heat in 2 T of earth balance and 1 T of olive oil till nicely carmelized. This usually takes about an hour. Next time I might try roasting half the onions on the grill.  Then I add the wine and continue cooking till the onion mixture is thick and reduced some. Then I add the vegetable broth and the white pepper, a bay leaf or two and salt and black pepper to taste. For this soup I end up using about a teaspoon of salt. This might also be compensating for not using cow broth.
After about 20 minutes I turn the stove off and let the soup cool a little. (depending on how hungry I am) Then I puree half the soup in a food processor and return it to the soup.
Keeping the soup warm, it's now time to prepare the best part––the bread. I toast two little slices of baguette cut to about 1/2 inch thick per bowl. Then I place the the toasted baguettes on top of the soup in an oven proof soup bowl and top them with gruyere cheese (More for my husband than for me)  and broil them in the oven until the cheese is melted.
I wanted to try this soup without cheese so today I topped the baguettes with earth balance and brewer's yeast and was pleasantly surprised. The yeast had enough tang so I didn't miss the cheese too much.
This recipe makes six servings.

Eggplant

Before I made my second batch of eggplant chili, I just had to paint them. What a cool vegetable! Not only is it cool looking on the outside, but it's cool to slice up, cool to touch. Well it's just the coolest vegetable. One of my favorites. Notice the faded one in the background? Well, that was a mistake but I kinda like it. It's like an eggplant dream.