rainy saturday

Rainy Saturdays mean indulging one’s cravings for comfort food. Lucky me, I got to amp up two comfort food staples with our glut of beautiful produce.

Numero uno: french toast (but with a fresh fruity twist!)

I put two slices of whole wheat bread into a batter of 1 egg (all we had), a few tbsp milk, and cinnamon. Then tossed ‘em on a hot, cooking spray-ed griddle.

For some fruity goodness, I sauteed up some apple on the same griddle, til it got nice n browned

Then it looked too sparse for two big slices, so I mashed up some banana and put it on the hot griddle and it totally CARAMELIZED and was AWESOME. The final product:

I sliced the toast on the diagonal (because, as I have frequently discussed, that makes it taste better) and shmeared the banana on one piece and put the browned apples on the other, along with a drizzle of pure maple syrup.

 

They were both SO GOOD! I couldn’t decide which I liked more!

After a workout (indoors! 30 minutes elliptical and then I dropped into yoga class for 20 minutes or so) and a hot bath listening to the rain fall outside (mmm lovely), I made lunch, which was hot and nostalgic of childhood, and also improved by fresh produce.

Chicken nuggets and cream of tomato soup! Healthified.

Chicken nuggets= Trader Joe’s meatless baked chicken nuggets. With hot sauce, mmm.

Cream of tomato soup= homemade fresh tomato bisque

How I made the bisque: I chopped up a few tablespoons onion and 1 ear of corn, which I sauteed over medium-low heat in about 1/2 to one teaspoon each butter and olive oil. Meanwhile, I took 3 medium tomatoes and blanched them (stuck em in boiling water for 20 seconds) and then peeled them and seeded them, reserving the blanching liquid.  I chopped those up, and added them to the corn and onion. I added salt and pepper and let everything simmer for 15 minutes or so. At this point the tomatoes were releasing a lot of liquid, and I had a flash of inspiration to add some creaminess and thickness, with fewer calories. To that end, I siphoned out a big of tomato liquid and mixed it with 2 T powdered milk to make a slurry, which I then added to the cooking liquid. At this point, I would’ve loved to have an immersion blender. But I did not. So I threw everything in a blender. At this point, I added about 2 T milk and then continued to add my reserved blanching water until the consistency was to my liking. Then I returned the soup to the stove to reheat, and to round out the flavor I added a drizzle of honey and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Simple and delicious!

I rounded out the meal with an exceptionally texturally balanced bowl:

Yogurt, craisins, life cereal, and melon. Yumz!