Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Omnivore’s Challenge, Day 2


Today was a fairly normal day. Kevin and I worked all morning and afternoon, barely taking time to eat. We had a fruit smoothie for breakfast, and another egg sandwich for lunch. Coffee all morning, until lunch time. Kevin has gotten to where he can drink his coffee “black as night and sweet as sin,” but I still need some cream in mine. 

Dinner, on the other hand, came together quite nicely. And I even took photos for you guys! A simple black bean soup, with local tomatoes, green peppers,  and Vidalia onions. The beans we bought dried from Whole Foods and prepared on Sunday, and the rest of the ingredients we had in the house from before the challenge shopping. The little kids did not like the soup, and so we broke open a package of uncured, nitrate/nitrite free range chicken hotdogs – even hippies love hot dogs, and these I can eat! 

While making dinner, I had a familiar dilemma within myself – should I include this ingredient? It’s not strictly local, but it IS healthy… should I include this one? It’s local but not the option that’s the most sustainable… and on and on and on. These are the questions that burnt Kevin and I out before, that made us too tired to pay close attention to our shopping and our cooking. Sometimes it is a cycle health vs. environment vs. pocketbook vs. organic vs. too delicious to pass up when you are in the grocery store or market. 

In the end, I figured that the fresh produce we had from this weekend, and the fresh cheese and open wine HAD to be used. Otherwise, it’s pure waste. So I poured a glass of non-local wine (TOO DELICIOUS TO PASS UP) and, after giving myself permission, threw a can of fire-roasted tomatoes in the soup. Seriously, if you had tasted it, you would have allowed me to add those too. 

Below the break are the pictures for the soup – everything was eyeballed and the only measurements were based on the bowls that the ingredients were put in. So if you would like to replicate the recipe, get yourself some square cereal bowls from Target on clearance, and make the magic happen.




Local onions, green peppers, poblano peppers, and tomatoes.

Cook those onions

Add peppers and garlic

Throw a LOT of this stuff in there

Add the tomatoes too

Usually I use Sriracha, which is like hot-sauce crack. But I was out, so I used this.

Put everything else in

Cook until the texture is the way you like it

Serve with sour cream or yogurt




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