There is a multitude of things I like about this soup; #1 It is super green – one of my favorite colors, #2 It is super healthy – no roux or cream to thicken, and #3 It is super versatile.

Plus, it is perfect for St. Patrick’s Day thanks to its super greenness (only about 23 days away – yes I do count it down- I can’t help it – I’m 100% Irish !) It is already plenty healthy as is, but even more so when prepared vegetarian style using vegetable broth and tofu instead of chicken broth and chicken. And it is perfect for Lent, just replace the chicken with cooked and diced shrimp and you’re all set for a Friday night meal.

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Preserved lemons are a common ingredient in Moroccan and other North African cuisines. The pulp is sometimes used in stews and sauces and can be used sparingly in Bloody Marys or added to homemade seafood cocktail sauce. But the true treasure of preserved lemons is the peel. The flavor is slightly tart, intensely and wonderfully lemony. Preserved lemon peel is the key ingredient in many Moroccan dishes such as tagines.

Not all preserved lemon recipes call for olive oil, but I like to add it after the fermenting process to help “seal” or cover the lemons and prevent spoilage. Since I have Meyer lemons from my yard and also have the Queen Creek Meyer Lemon Olive Oil, I’ll be using both of those, but regular lemons are more than fine, and in fact, are the traditional lemons used. Limes and grapefruit can be preserved, using the same method and are delicious with curries, seafood, and lamb.

Make your own preserved lemons along with me today, because next week I’ll be posting delicious recipes to get you started using your new bounty!

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back to front: pink grapefruit, navel orange, Mexican lime, Lisbon lemon, Meyer lemon, and blood orange

In April, it will be two years since we remodeled our backyard and this winter has, literally, showing the fruits of our labor. We added blood orange, Meyer lemon, and Mexican lime tree to our existing navel orange, Lisbon lemon, and pink grapefruit – for a true citrus grove!  Last year did not produce any new fruits, but this year, the proof is in the colorful picture above and I am one happy girl! The Meyer lemon has been the most prolific of the three new trees. These cookies are delicious with regular lemon zest too, so don’t discount them if you can’t find Meyer lemons.

The almond meal can be found at most grocery stores under the Bob’s Red Mill brand and at Trader Joe’s.

Or you can make your own almond meal: For about 1 1/3 cups almond meal, place 2 cups whole, unbalanced almonds in a food processor, and pulse several times until a medium-fine textured meal forms. Do Not over-process or you will end up with almond butter! Put the ground almond meal in a clean flour sifter, sift and place any large almond particles back into the processor and pulse again, sift. That’s all it takes!

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Yes, it’s true, I’m still talking about our gorgeous Sunday Valentine’s Day at the Queen Creek Olive Mill, hope you don’t mind ~ because I really love that place! I picked up a bottle of one of their new flavored balsamic kinds of vinegar. Fig Balsamic – delicious!

You too can have a bottle of balsamic or any one of their amazing olive oils… just click here and mail order.

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Sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes, are bumpy, tan-skinned root vegetable that resembles ginger root but is actually a variety of sunflower root. You can find sunchokes sold in bulk at some grocery stores or in a one-pound package from “Melissa’s” produce called Sunflower chokes. Sunchokes have a sweet nutty flavor similar to potato or jicama. Serve sunchokes raw in salads or a crudités platter, sautéed, steamed, or boiled as you would potatoes and then mashed. When purchasing sunchokes, select chokes that are firm, and avoid any that are soft or wrinkled.

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When I wrote about how we were out at the Queen Creek Olive Mill on Valentine’s Day, I failed to mention that we made a stop at The Pork Shop, which is just down the road. You wouldn’t think that a little shop that sells only pork products would be packed on Valentine’s Day at 1 PM, but there was barely room to turn around- or as my dad says, “It was so crowded, you didn’t have room to change your mind.” So, of course, we were caught up in the frenzy, and bought just tons of stuff; brown sugar cured bacon, pepper cured bacon (both sliced to order), brats, maple syrup sausage, jalapeno-cream cheese summer sausage, and these huge pork chops! During the summer, I mentioned The Pork Shop in a post, but at that time they did not have a website, now they do, so please be sure to check it out HERE.

I went back through the “tags” on the site to see if I had ever talked about celery root, also known as celeriac, and was shocked to find that I haven’t! Shocked, because I adore celery root and use it often. It actually is a type of celery but is grown as a root vegetable rather than for its stalks and leaves. Unlike most other root vegetables, celery root is relatively low in starch. And unlike potatoes, which are stored at room temperature, celery root needs to be refrigerated and loosely wrapped in the plastic where it will last for a couple of weeks. It is used raw (shredded or julienned in a classic Celery Root Salad), braised, boiled, baked, roasted, or even grilled.

As you can see, the outer surface is ugly and gnarly and should be thinly sliced off with a knife instead of a vegetable peeler. It is fantastic added along with potato chunks for mashed potatoes or thinly sliced and added in for a potato-celery root gratin. I once enjoyed the hollow stalk of the plant used as a straw in Bloody Mary at a high-end resort brunch, but I have no idea where to purchase the stalks.

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Six months, 185 days, 180 posts, 175 recipes! That’s right, today is my 180^th post in the past 185 days (which is 6 months) and during that time, I’ve put up 175 recipes – wow, I have actually kinda impressed myself! To celebrate, I’m having chocolate pudding with only 6 ingredients. OK, there is a pinch of salt that I am not counting as an official ingredient, although you do need to put it in, to punch up the chocolate, so don’t leave it out just because it’s not part of the ingredient list. I mean, we both know you have salt in your pantry!  And then there is the optional whipped cream and shaved chocolate… but, they are optional, so again, I’m not counting them! To add to the symbolism of it all, I’m using 6 tablespoons of both the cocoa powder and the cornstarch – but if you want to be a party-pooper and you don’t want to play along – you can just use 1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons of each, it’s the same thing.

I not only chose chocolate pudding because of the six ingredients but also in honor of my dearly departed Aunt Connie, who was the best cook I knew when I was young and who was a major influence on me in the kitchen. Aunt Connie is my dad’s older sister and she and Uncle Paul would invite our family of six to dinner every other month or so. I cannot remember a time that we did not have her made-from-scratch Chocolate-Mint Pudding for dessert. All four of us kids looked forward to that pudding the moment our parents told us we were going over for dinner. The minute that dinner was finished, we would ask to be excused and race to clear the table, wash, and dry the dishes so we could get back to the dinner table and have dessert. So as I dig into my pudding, I shall toast myself with the martini glass we are serving it in and say, “To my lovely and talented Aunt Connie. To another six months, and beyond!”

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To celebrate Valentine’s Day, Dave and I went out to the Queen Creek Olive Mill for their special “Olive Affair” lunch in the olive grove. The Mill offered three different packages, we chose their “Ciao Bella” (Antipasto), which included roasted vegetables, sausage, roasted garlic, artichoke, sun-dried tomato tapenades, a French baguette, tuxedo strawberries, candied pistachios, pistachio bark, a bottle of Chianti and more. It all came beautifully packed in a lovely “Olive You” bag with a corkscrew, high-quality clear plastic stemless wine glasses and plates plus a cute red-heart tablecloth. They had live music, it was a gorgeous day outside, and the place was packed! I highly recommend you treat yourself and your loved one next year. Until then, I’ll treat you to recipes for candied pistachios and pistachio bark. I decided to use the candied pistachios in the bark, but plain pistachios may be used instead.

The candied pistachios call for an ingredient you may not be familiar with, Turbinado sugar. The first pressing of the sugar cane yields Turbinado sugar, which is considered to be healthier since it receives less processing than granulated sugar. One teaspoon of Turbinado sugar contains 11 calories, while granulated sugar contains 16 calories. Because of its higher levels of moister, it should be stored like brown sugar, in an airtight container. One of the most popular and easy-to-find brands of Turbinado sugar  is “Sugar In The Raw.” A fabulous use for Turbinado sugar is on crème brûlée because it melts and caramelizes easier than granulated sugar.

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We are all born for love…it is the principle of existence and its only end.
~ Disraeli

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.
~ Bertrand Russell, Earl Russell

Love is the master key that opens the gates of happiness.
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

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Today I am sharing another Southwestern-inspired recipe from my friend and mentor, Barbara Fenzl of Les Gourmettes Cooking School. I helped Barb teach a couples’ class earlier in the week and this was just one of the six delectable dishes the class made. If you’re looking for something special for you and your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day, these quesadillas will fit the bill. Enjoy them before you head out to a romantic dinner, or make them together and then sit down, relax, and enjoy them with the champagne. Avec amour (with love) xoxo

Here is a picture of the roasting of the two peppers used. A poblano has a much thinner skin than a bell pepper, so watch it more closely and turn it more often, it will roast more than twice as fast as the bell. These two peppers began roasting at the exact same time, but as you can clearly see, the poblano is ready to be covered with plastic wrap to steam, and the yellow bell still has a ways to go.

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