So, did my title get you to open my blog?


I am somewhat joking and somewhat being real about the title of this blog. Tonight I was cooking Cream of Carrot Soup, which shouldn't make you think of love and dating, right? I totally agree if your answer was a full body NO!!

However, I have to say this recipe truly did make me think of dating...because...this recipe had me prep my soup...and wait for it...I got to let it cook on its own for 40 minutes...and then I got to come back and finish prepping my soup.

I am pretty sure at this point in the blog you are thinking to yourself,"well isn't that great, sounds like a wonderful recipe, but what does that have to do with dating still?"

And I don't fault you for one second for not following my convoluted train of thought...so, let me help you out!! While I was cooking my carrot soup and I finished prepping the ingredients...I poured myself a glass of wine and I smiled as I listened to jazz....and I thought this is absolutely heaven....I have a glass of good wine, I am listening to amazing music, I have a roof over my head, it is warm and cozy on a cold night, my kitty is snoring on the sofa, I am content, and I am so grateful for this amazing life.

Would I love to meet my king? Absolutely!! But ya know what else? I would love to have a relationship that made my heart feel happy, my soul feel content, and one that allowed us to be two incredible and independent and free individuals who happen to compliment each others lives.

So, ya know what...I like my men like I like my recipes....fun, tasty, independent, full of freedom, flavorful, energetic, entertaining, and truly free so we can both be ourselves...because I like my recipes like I like my men!

Back to food!! Tonight I made Cream of Carrot Soup and sure I know that the thought of cream of carrot soup makes us all think of boring flavorless childhood soup recipes that we were forced to eat on the last day of the month because we were low on funds. But let me tell you this soup recipe is modern, flavorful, complex, free and so independent!! It has bacon and blue cheese and fried sage and to be honest I never thought a carrot soup recipe could make be so happy!!

Side note, as many of you know I wear fake lash extensions and they are my guilty little pleasure!! Tonight I learned yet another valuable lesson about the benefits of fake lashes...so I was cooking bacon tonight and the bacon grease decided to spit at me...and I shit you not the bacon grease would have blinded me and got in my eye...which is never fun with hot bacon grease...but my lashes stopped it...which is why I am alive and able to write this blog right now!! Thank you Baby Jesus and Starsha who does my lash extensions!!

Here is the Cream of Carrot Soup Recipe:

Ingredients:

8 ounces thick-sliced bacon (about 6 slices), chopped

¼ cup fresh sage leaves

2 pounds carrots, peeled and chopped (about 6 cups)

2 large onions, sliced (2 cups)

6 cloves garlic, minced

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 7 ounce russet potato, peeled and chopped (1 1/3 cups)

6 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

⅓ cup whipping cream

Blue cheese

Black pepper

Directions

Step 1
Cook bacon in a 5- to 6-quart Dutch oven until browned and crisp; remove and drain on paper towels, reserving drippings. Add sage leaves to hot drippings and cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until the sage leaves no longer sizzle; remove and drain with bacon. Remove all but 1 tablespoon of bacon drippings from the Dutch oven.



 Cook carrots, onions, garlic, and salt in reserved drippings for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onion is tender. Add potato and chicken broth to Dutch oven.



 Bring to boiling, reduce heat, and simmer, covered, for 40 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are very tender.



Step 2
Puree soup until very smooth with an immersion blender*; add cream and heat through. Top soup with reserved bacon, sage leaves, blue cheese, and cracked black pepper.





Seriously, all joking aside, try this recipe!! I am pretty proud of my side by side pics. Just saying!! You will not be disappointed!! Cheers!!

Some people bake for a special occasion, or because they are happy, or sad. I bake because it is a Friday night and it is a Full Moon and I know better than to go outside with all of those crazy MF'ers. Therefore, I opted to stay home, pour myself a glass of wine, turn on some jazz music, and bake my little heart out.



I also wanted to bake because I recently read an article about KitchenAid, ya know only the mixers we all have in our kitchen, that we all  have a crazy f'ing obsession about. Well did you know....

• The original KitchenAid mixer came out in 1919. I am pretty sure that means that a T-rex and it's tiny little arms used a KitchenAid to make cupcakes at some point.
• It also weighted 65 pounds back in the day. Which is crazy to think about because they are still insanely heavy and if I would have thought of this earlier, while I was baking cookies, I could have bench pressed my mixer while waiting for the cookies to come out of the oven.
• They also were $189.50, which is honesty close to what we pay now, but back in 1919 that was the equivalent to $2500. That is a really expensive mixer!
• The original name was Model H-5, thankfully they recognized that the name needed an upgrade, because let's be real the Model H-5 sounds like a new strain of the bird flu. Totally not a sexy name!!
• Julia Child's KitchenAid mixer is at the Smithsonian. I am pretty sure mine will be there someday.
• Before 1955 the KitchenAid was only available in white, but now there are 84 color options and it has lost 40 lbs. However, my KitchenAid is still white, guess I am a traditionalist.
• The KitchenAid was originally sold door to door, can you even imagine lugging around a 65lb mixer to try and sell? Those KitchenAid salesmen were probably ripped and hot AF. Let's bring them back!!

So let's start with the food education since this is "supposed" to be a food blog, but don't worry my straight up honesty and opinion is coming shortly...wait for it....

Tonight I made Tofu Saag. What is that you say? Well it is an Indian dish with spinach and yogurt and spices. The recipe I made happened to have tofu in it, however it can be completely without a protein or you can add the protein of your choice. And let me just say it was amazing!!! I loved it!!

So, when I was living in Michigan the area that I lived in had a ton of Middle Eastern and Indian food ,thanks to the Ford plant causing immigration in the 50s and 60s. So I started to educate myself on the food I could get my hands on. And it was hysterical because the entire time I lived there I would have killed for a good taco, yet I was eating the most amazing gyros, saag, and shawarma a girl could want.

Fast forward and I now live back in the land of milk and tacos (not a typo) and don't get me wrong I still love me a taco, but I can't find Middle Eastern or Indian food to save my life. So, I decided to try and make my own.

First, I googled a recipe. Secondly, I reached out to Beenu (my co-worker) for advice and to make sure my recipe was authentic. And she gave me incredible advice. She told me to use spinach and mustard greens, but mustard greens are pretty hard to find so I may have to stick with spinach. I could only find spinach.

 She also told me what makes up the spices in garam masala. Did you know garam masala consists of fennel, cardamom, cloves, anise, and cinnamon? As a side note, please don't be turned off by the fact that garam masala smells like dirty socks or wet hockey gear. I promise you that it doesn't smell like that.

And finally, she told me to make sure I saute the spices so they don't taste raw and bitter. Check, check and check....I was on my way....

Here is the recipe I used and I highly recommend it and you will not be disappointed. It was flavorful, pungent, tasty, hint of spice, and just so satisfying!! #happygirl

Ingredients

• 2 small onions chopped (1 1/4 cups)
• 3 medium cloves garlic
• 2 Tbs. coarsely chopped fresh ginger
• 1 serrano chile, stemmed, seeded, and coarsely chopped
• 3 tsp. garam masala
• 1 14-oz. package extra-firm tofu, drained and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 Tbs. vegetable oil
• 1 lb. baby spinach, coarsely chopped
• 3/4 cup plain Greek whole-milk yogurt
• 2 Tbs. toasted sliced almonds

In a food processor, combine half of the onions, the garlic, ginger, chile, 2 tsp. of the garam masala, and 2 tsp. water, and pulse into a paste.

In a medium bowl, toss the tofu with the remaining 1 tsp. garam masala, 1 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper.

Heat 2 Tbs. oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the tofu and cook, tossing the cubes occasionally and adjusting the heat as necessary, until golden brown all over, about 10 minutes; transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain.

Heat the remaining 1 Tbs. oil in the same skillet over medium-high heat. Add the remaining chopped onion and a pinch of salt, and cook, stirring, until light golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium, add the garlic and ginger mixture, and cook, stirring constantly, until dry and fragrant, 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the spinach in batches and cook, stirring often, until wilted, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool 1 minute. Stir in the yogurt a little at a time, and then gently stir in the tofu. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve topped with the almonds.

Now, let me tell you what I learned about the grass being greener. I moved to Michigan after spending my entire life in California and I was kind of cocky, expecting only subtle differences. Boy was I wrong. Let me tell you about the differences between Cali and "the mitten" as they so lovingly refer to their state...

1. They have the crappiest Mexican food ever, but they do have a place called "Mexicotown." I can't make this up!! I expected it to be like Disneyland, but with pinatas. It was not!! And the tacos were still eh!! But great name!!
2. They do not have Taco guys...ya know the people who come to your house and make tacos in your backyard. When I tried to tell my friend to hire a "Taco Guy" for a grad party...yes graduation parties from high school are really big there....they thought I was either joking or racist...I was neither.
3. They call a sliding glass door a "door wall." WTF!! I don't think I need to say anything more about that one!!
4. They do not differentiate between snow falling from the sky and snow laying on the ground. So when I tried to differentiate and call the snow falling from the sky "active snow" they looked at me like I had 5 heads. Again WTF!!
5. They describe where they lived based on the shape of their hand. Michigan is shaped like a mitten and they will often hold up their hands and point to where they live on their hand. I shit you not!!
6. They only allow their kids to trick or treat on Halloween for 2 hours...yeah you heard me right...they have trick or treat hours....kind of like how we have Happy Hour here....kids can trick or treat from 6-8pm. More WTF!!!
7. They call their liquor stored party stores. I walked into my first "party store" looking for streamers and balloons only to find vodka and a beer cooler. Don't get me wrong I fully embrace this idea, but the name just straight up confused me.

8. They have snow molds like we have sand castle molds. And  I quickly learned that when you line your driveway with snow mold penguins and it continues to snow...well....you have a driveway lined with snow dildos....which also makes your boyfriend (ex now for obvious reasons) very unhappy....more WTF....I thought it was funny AF!!


9. They play a card game called euchre...which I never played...pretty sure I didn't live there long enough....and they are passionate about this game....life it's life or death...however it reminds me of a gang jumping in ceremony and I am pretty sure I got out right before I was going to be forced into the initiation....

So now that I am back I miss the Middle Eastern food of Michigan and while I was there I missed my taco. So, the grass isn't always greener, maybe we all need to just try and enjoy the grass we are standing on in this moment. Love all of my friends in the Mitten!! And seriously try this Tofu Saag recipe. Its amazing!! Cheers!!