Carrot and Ginger Soup

It was rainy and nasty outside so I decided to make some hot soup for Kiran and I. I had half a fennel bulb, half an onion, some garlic, ginger and carrots on hand so that's what got turned into a fragrant and silky soup. I was suprised how quick, tasty and healthy it was.

Ingredients: (Makes 2-4 servings depending on how many miles you have run that morning)

1/2 medium fennel bulb (reserve a few fronds for serving)
1/2 walla walla sweet onion
4-5 large carrots
3 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp crushed ginger
1-2 tsp cumin (to taste)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp chili powder
3/4 tsp brown sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive Oil
Greek Yogurt for serving
Method:

Saute sliced onion and fennel in Olive Oil with garlic and ginger. When softened add chopped carrots, cumin, cinnamon, chili powder and brown sugar and cook until spices are fragrant. Add enough vegetable stock to cover and simmer until the carrots are very tender. Blend with trusty immersion blender until smooth. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Serve with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt (or creme fraiche if you're fancy) on top and some fennel fronds. Also serve with a crusty baguette smothered in real butter for added yum factor.

Fennel, Tomato and Basil Soup

I decided to conduct a soup experiment tonight. That is, use the enormous fennel bulb I got in my hippie box and make it into something edible, soup-esque and hopefully tasty. Mum bought me an immersion blender a few months a go and it was actually taken out of the box tonight. As usual the recipe is pretty fluid (add whatever you think will be tasty) but here is the basic idea:

Slice a fennel bulb, a large onion, and 2 cloves of garlic. Saute in olive oil until soft and starting to brown (the caramelized bits are the TASTY bits :). Season with salt and pepper before adding 2 cups of good vegetable stock and a can of crushed tomatoes. At this stage I added some chili flakes but these can be omitted for the non spice obsessed among us.

Simmer for 10 minutes before adding 2 tablespoons of fresh basil. Now comes the fun part: Stick the blender in amongst the fun and make some seriously tasty soup. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.

Enjoy with crusty bread for dunking....mmmmgh!

Ginger cookies

My favorite Ironman has a penchant for gingersnaps so I thought I would bake him these. My aim was to get a chewy cookie with a crackly crust.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 C. flour
2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
3/4 C. butter (1.5 sticks)
1 C packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 C molasses

1/4 C + 1 tsp cinnamon granulated sugar for rolling

Method:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix the first 6 dry ingredients together with the room temp butter. Mix until in all resembles brown sugar, then mix in the brown sugar. Blend in the egg and molasses until thoroughly combined.
Roll into Tablespoon balls and coat in granulated sugar.
Place on parchment lined cookie sheet, 2 inches apart.
Bake 10 minutes. This will give a soft inside. Cook an extra minute for a crispy cookie.