Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of all our goodies from Eva’s farm share this week, but the bounty was similar to last time, except we got green peppers and wheat berries instead of the baby spinach and golden beets. I made quick use of the green peppers in fajitas and the Swiss chard in Camilla’s tasty Lentil Soup with Italian Sausage and Swiss Chard, but I’m still stumped on the wheat berries – any suggestions?

I was also able wrestle away some of the sweet potatoes from Apolinaras this time (and by wrestle away, I mean hide in the back of the cabinet!), and decided to whip up a soup with them since it’s been so rainy and windy in Boston lately. I decided on a Thai twist because I was craving the sweet potato curry from Sugar and Spice, so I simmered the sweet potatoes with fresh ginger, lemongrass, red curry paste, lime juice, and coconut milk. The lovely orange hue made me smile and the flavor did not disappoint – yum!

Thai Sweet Potato Soup
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger
1 tablespoon red curry paste (or to taste, 1 tablespoon makes it pretty spicy!)
4 cups chicken stock
2 three-inch pieces lemongrass
2 large sweet potatoes, scrubbed, peeled, and cut into chunks (4 cups, 32 ounces peeled)
Juice of 1 lime
1 cup light coconut milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro, for garnish

Directions:
Heat oil over medium high heat in a large stockpot and sauté onions for 5 to 7 minutes or until tender. Add ginger and curry paste and sauté one minute. Add chicken stock, lemongrass, and sweet potatoes to the stockpot and simmer with the pot covered for 10 to 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Remove lemongrass and stir in lime juice, coconut milk, and salt. Puree until smooth with an immersion blender. Ladle into bowls and garnish with cilantro. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition: 303 calories, 9.4g fat, 7.4g fiber, 5.6g protein per serving
Cost: $1.31 per serving

The first thing I always do when I’m planning a vacation is figure out where to eat. In fact, I would say our days tend be structured by what activities are around the restaurants we want to visit! I had more difficultly than usual planning our NYC trip because my mom is a bit of a picky eater and the city is just so large, but my mom was a great sport and we made our way successfully all around the city on the subway. I can’t fit all the yumminess of NYC in one post, so I’m just going to focus on the restaurants we visited in this post and feature all the sweet treats we sampled in the next one!

We spent our first night in the city dining at Craft. I was actually a bit nervous about visiting Craft because I am a huge Top Chef fan and didn’t want to be disappointed by Tom Colicchio’s flagship restaurant, but I shouldn’t have worried because both the food and unpretentious service were wonderful! I convinced my mom that we should start with the octopus appetizer, and I was completely tickled when she actually admitted she enjoyed it (it was the best octopus I’ve ever had!). Meals are served family style at Craft so while I had the braised short ribs (which were so tender that they were served with a spoon!) and my mom had the duck, we shared an arugula and lemon salad, gnocchi, zucchini, and a mix of oyster, baby shiitake, hen of the woods, and trompette royale mushrooms – yum! We just had an ice cream and sorbet sampler for dessert since we were so stuffed and I would return just for the amazing raspberry sorbet! The cute surprise at the end of the night was that the hostess handed us super moist zucchini muffins to enjoy for breakfast the next morning!

The next morning we were still stuffed from dinner, but we put on our game faces and took a long walk to make room for pizza! A visit to NYC would not be complete without sampling the best pizza the city has to offer, so when I came across Scott’s Pizza Tours, I immediately signed us up. Scott is a super enthusiastic pizza historian. We rode a huge yellow school bus through Manhattan and Brooklyn and visited four pizzerias, where we learned about the history of pizza and ovens, and got to sample a slice of pie at each stop. Our favorite place was Luzzo’s, but don’t take my word for it, check it out for yourself! I would highly, highly recommend this tour for any pizza loving foodie!

Over the last couple of days we relaxed in Central park, spent a few hours wandering through the MoMA, visited Times Square and hummed along at the fun Broadway muscial Mama Mia, chowed down on dirty water hot dogs, and enjoyed a feast of lobster egg rolls, tuna tartare spring rolls, twice cooked long beans, sweet and crispy jumbo shrimp, and roast duck and noodles at Buddakan. We sure packed a lot into a few short days! I was definitely in food blogger mode when I saw Warhol’s famous Campbell’s soup series in the MoMA and immediately knew it would be the perfect picture for a blog post about soup, which brings me to today’s recipe.

I was craving a nice light and healthy veggie soup when I returned home and that decided roasted yellow peppers should be the star. This is a very light soup because I didn’t use any cream or milk, but it’s still very smooth because I thickened it by adding some butternut squash!

Roasted Yellow Pepper and Leek Soup
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
4 yellow peppers, seeded and cut into fourths
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 leeks (white and light green parts only), chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 12-ounce package frozen cooked butternut squash, thawed
4 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven broiler. Place peppers skin side up on a greased cookie sheet and broil for 15 to 20 minutes or until outsides are black and charred. Cool at room temperature for 10 minutes or until cool to touch. Remove blackened skins and roughly chop roasted peppers.

Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large stockpot and sauté leeks and carrots until soft. Add garlic and sauté one additional minute. Add roasted peppers, butternut squash, chicken stock, and salt, and use an immersion blender to puree until smooth. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover, and let simmer for 20 minutes. Garnish each bowl with parmesan cheese. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition: 176 calories, 5.8g fat, 7.1g fiber, 5.9g protein per serving
Cost: $1.93 per serving

I had gumbo with chicken and Andouille sausage for dinner tonight, followed by hot chocolate and beignets – yep, I’m in New Orleans! I’m here for a scientific conference and walked around the city tonight for a couple hours after my talk this afternoon. I was stressed about the talk (which thankfully, went really well!), so it great to finally blow off some steam!

There’s a music festival in the French Quarter this weekend with over 150 bands playing on 17 different stages, so it was really fun people watching – everyone was dancing and chowing down on food and drinks from the various vendors. I still have “When the Saints Go Marching In” stuck in my head! I had a bowl of gumbo, and then went back and got another because it was so good. I know, I know, I should have sampled something different, but I just couldn’t help myself! I’ll have to check out some other New Orleans’ favorites tomorrow. I’m already looking forward to the extra beignets I snagged for breakfast tomorrow.

After having all that delicious gumbo, I was inspired to post one of my favorite soup recipes. Black bean soup is so flavorful and healthy. It’s definitely not the most beautiful meal out there, but it’s a tasty one pot meal that involves minimal clean up!

Spicy Black Bean Soup with Turkey Bacon
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
8 slices turkey bacon
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 carrots, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups chicken stock
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Directions:
Cook turkey bacon, 4 pieces at a time, in a large stockpot over medium heat. Remove cooked bacon and crumble. Add olive oil to the same pan the bacon was cooked in and sauté carrots and onions until soft. Add garlic and sauté one additional minute. Add chicken stock, black beans, cumin, salt, crushed red pepper flakes, and bacon, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and let simmer for 20 minutes. Use an immersion blender and puree to desired smoothness (I like to leave mine a tad chunky!). Mix red wine vinegar and corn starch in a small dish, and add to the soup. Simmer another 5 minutes or until desired thickness is reached. Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition: 344 calories, 9.7g fat, 11.6g fiber, 20.0g protein per serving
Cost: $0.69 per serving