Celery

Clamato, Pickled Green Beans, and Bacon Salt, for delicious bloody Caesars.

Freshly made thick cut french fries are smothered in a thick New England clam chowder. It\’s a poutine chowder mash-up!

This fried rice has tons of fresh flavor from the herbs and a nice background sweet creaminess from the coconut.

Finally there’s a date! The much awaited 4th season of Arrested Development will be available on Netflix in full on May 26th. To celebrate, I am dedicating a week of recipes to the greatest food moments of the first 3 seasons. Today is one of my all time favorites, Hot Ham Water. In this episode (s3-e9 “S.O.B’s”), Lindsay is trying to be more of a domesticated mother figure to the family, and her first attempt at cooking dinner is a dish she likes to call Hot Ham Water. I took inspiration from this scene to make a flavorful ham broth and load it up with some sauteed ham, collard greens, and udon noodle. Tasty stuff!

Since New Years Day, I’ve lost about 30 pounds. I haven’t done anything drastic. I’ve still cooked and eaten things like Lucky Charms Cheesecake, Hamburger Helper Sushi, and Pierogi Lasagna. I just made it a point to cut out some unnecessary meat, wheat, and dairy, during breakfast and lunch on most days.  I also drank whiskey instead of beer.  It’s a tough life I know.  All week this week, I will be posting some of the super healthy dishes that have gotten me through the past few months and I think have really helped with the weight loss. This smoothie is a 6 day a week routine and really kicks the day off right and keeps me full until lunch.

Hearty winter veggies like celery root and kale make this soup creamy and filling.

This stew is loaded with albondigas meatballs and topped with steamed biscuits.

This risotto uses a whole bottle of red wine for a deep and sweet finish.

A big spicy and delicious tofu and pork stir fry that has everything I love in it.

Deep flavors in this black bean soup that is loaded with bacon and onions.

Super fresh summer tomatoes in a no-cook sauce for pasta.

This recipe has been in my head for about a month. When I come up with ideas of what to cook, I usually write them down in my phone to make sure that later when I am not as inspired, I can just look in my phone to figure out what to make. With this soup, I didn’t even need my phone. The idea has been swirling around in my brain non stop. Should I add this? Take out this? Would it pair with this? When I finally made the soup, it was everything I had hoped for. This is my favorite recipe from at least the last month on the site, and i urge everyone to try it.