Perfect Day For A Soup Feast
Yesterday was bone chilling cold. I thought the days of wearing gloves and not being able to feel my feet were over but I thought wrong . . . it was a tough walk to school yesterday.
Good news is, it ended up being a perfect day for a soup feast!
Class was all about the soups and stews. There were about 12 recipes to make and 12 of us so we each got to make something.
I was responsible for the Borscht. Now, I love me some beets but for some reason, Borscht doesn’t jive well with me. It is pretty though . . .
I also made some Tofu Sour Cream to dollop on top.
It helped, but it still tasted like a bowl of earthy dirt to me.
Everything else was amazing too. We had mushroom ragout, lemony lentil soup, sesame broth soup, onion soup, hearty vegetable stew, potato and watercress soup just to name a few.
I have the recipes for all and I plan on making some of them.
Soups are great because they have a lot of nutrients that leech out from vegetables or meats. They also freeze very well and don’t cost a lot to make huge portions.
I took home some onion soup with mushroom ragout and a bit of vegetable cassolet (vegetable casserole) topped with mushroom barley soup.
Made an excellent lunch topped with yesterdays sausage crumbles and spicy chickpea snack.
See those big purple things? Fava Beans . . . first time for everything 
I still have enough leftovers for ~ 2 meals!!
I have a big post in the works about my new way of eating that I cant wait to share. So stay tuned!
What is your favorite soup or stew?
Date Night – Carino’s
Would you believe this Thursday was the first date night since the last date night weeks ago?
Between work and getting school things situated, I was happy to finally have another. This one was especially good because Chris took me out to dinner because he was proud of me for finally taking the first step in my culinary journey 
Chris wanted to surprise me and take me to our favorite Greek restaurant because you know we love Greek food and haven’t had it in a while. But, there was a lot of traffic and it was pretty far. Instead, I chose to go to Carino’s.
Carino’s is a chain Italian restaurant, but the food is usually better there. Tonight I must say that I was disappointed. We were sat at a bar table even though there was plenty of normal tables. The bartender doubled as our server which made things very slow as she was jumping back and fourth between jobs.
Let me start with the good . . .
The bread.
You can’t go wrong with hot crusty bread dipped in olive oil and garlic!
The appetizer.
We ordered Italian nachos which were made with fried noodles topped with chicken, olives, peppers and alfredo sauce. We always get these when they go here and they always end up being a good decision.
And the bad . . .
Well, I had a Caesar salad that was DRENCHED with dressing that had a fishy taste to it. I couldn’t even have more then a few bites without pushing it away.
For my entree I ordered bow tie pasta with spicy romano sauce and sliced spicy italian sausage.
Um, no slice, watery flavorless sauce and NO COLOR! I would have been semi happy had they thrown in some vegetables! Chris entree was very similar and just as bland.
Seems like they threw in the towel tonight. It’s too bad that dinner wasn’t up to par as we usually enjoy Carino’s.
It didn’t ruin our date night though. I know not everywhere we go and everything we eat isn’t going to be fantastic. It just makes those good dining experiences even better!
We picked up some things at target then came home and watched the Thursday night line up TV and laughed our asses off … And danced because were weird like that.
Next date night I am SO cooking. I have 2 weeks though because next week is Thanksgiving!! 
