Recipe: Mexican Meatball Soup
Since I’m no longer a student I have lots of free time in the evenings to spend cooking up yummy dishes.
I’ve decided to start sharing some recipes here on my blog, both for my readers’ enjoyment and for my own personal reference. Now I’ll no longer have to flip through a cookbook or search my email recipe folder to find my favourites!
Here’s one of my rainy day favourites: Mexican meatball soup. Mmmm!
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 3/4 cups chopped onions
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 small bay leaves
5 14 1/2-ounce cans beef broth
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
1/2 cup chunky tomato salsa (medium-hot)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 pound lean ground beef
1/4 pound bulk pork sausage
6 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup whole milk
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 cup long-grain white rice
Preparation
Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add 1 3/4 cups onions, 2 garlic cloves and bay leaves; sauté 5 minutes. Add broth, tomatoes with juices, salsa and 1/4 cup cilantro; bring to boil. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine ground beef, pork sausage, cornmeal, whole milk, egg, salt, pepper, cumin, then remaining 1 cup onions, 2 garlic cloves and 1/4 cup cilantro in medium bowl. Mix well. Shape meat mixture by generous tablespoonfuls into 1- to 1 1/4-inch balls. Add rice and meatballs to soup and bring to boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until rice and meatballs are tender, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into bowls and serve.
Notes
- Fresh salsa works best for this recipe (I usually make my own), but if you don’t have any you can use the jarred stuff from the grocery store
- Feel free to add in extra cilantro – I usually use an entire bunch for this recipe
- If the soup gets too thick just add water to thin it out
Spicy goodness from The Noodle Box
A couple weeks ago I mentioned that I had complained about a rather bland takeout meal from The Noodle Box, and that they offered me a free meal in compensation.
This weekend I took the restaurant up on their freebie offer and picked up a curry to share with Dan. And I have to say, they completely redeemed themselves. I am a big fan of spicy food and consider my heat tolerance to be pretty high (thought not as high as Dan’s!) so I ordered the dish “hot” despite being asked by the waiter, “Have you had our hot?” The meal was very tasty and I wouldn’t hesitate to go back to The Noodle Box, but I think I’ll be ordering the medium from now on. Dan loved the hot curry but I had to keep a glass of milk at hand while I was eating in order to soothe the burning feeling in my mouth!
Wild Rose D-Tox
Ever since we moved to a convenient downtown location my eating habits have been going downhill. I love that I can pop over to the grocery store when I realize at 11:00pm that I need milk for breakfast the next morning, but I hate my habit of picking up a late night snack of chips or candy while I’m there. I’ve also developed a tendency to choose one of the dozens of takeout options near our apartment instead of cooking something healthy at home – And that’s not good for my physical or financial health!
When I heard about the Wild Rose D-Tox from Air, I thought it might be just the thing to jumpstart a healthier eating plan. I’m not generally into all this new-agey cleanse type stuff (There’s no way you’d ever catch me trying the Master Cleanse!) but this detox isn’t nearly as extreme. I picked up the kit (which includes daily vitamin supplements) this weekend and officially started yesterday. For 12 days I am cutting out all flour, sugar, dairy (except butter), and alcohol. There are a few other exceptions too (e.g. no tropical fruit or peanuts) but there are lots of healthy eating options.
There isn’t a ton of stuff out there on the web about the d-tox, perhaps because it’s a Canadian invention and hasn’t worked its way south yet. I did find a few other bloggers who’ve done it, though, and their reviews seem fairly positive. I was especially excited to find Haligonian Corilee Fox’s great collection of d-tox recipes. I can’t wait to try the oatcake recipe! You can’t buy oatcakes out here on the west coast so I haven’t had one in ages.
So how are things going at the end of day two? Pretty good! Tonight for dinner I made chinese fried rice and sesame-tofu sticks, both from the Wild Rose cookbook. Tomorrow night we’re going out for all-you-can-eat sushi to celebrate Dan’s birthday, where I get to eat as much wild salmon sashimi as my little heart desires. Yum. The hardest part so far is the sugar cravings, which I seem to be mostly holding at bay so far with fruit and a little almond butter.
Foggy Tea
The constant rain this winter has prompted me to search for a drink more comforting than my standard morning “tall nonfat latte,” and I’m happy to report that while I’ll probably be back to my lattes when the sun reappears in a month or two, I’ve found an excellent temporary replacement. One of the coffee shops on campus advertises a drink called London Fog – early grey tea, steamed milk, and vanilla syrup. Yum! It’s perfect on a foggy Vancouver winter morning.
Now, I’ve been a Loondon Fog connoisseur since November, but in the past month or two the drink seems to have become really popular and all the coffee shops in town have the “recipe” down. This is good because I can now order a sugar-free London Fog at Starbucks, instead of having to ask for a “nonfat earl grey tea misto with sugar free vanilla.” Phew!
Apparently the London Fog is not just a Vancouver thing either; My barista sister in Halifax is also a London Fog fan, and last month Freestyle – a national afternoon radio show on the CBC – did a series of Fog-related interviews!
Making lunch fun
I’ve been coveting the Mr. Bento lunch jar ever since Ariel of Electrolicious began blogging about it earlier this month. Luckily, Vancouver has no shortage of stores selling Japanese kitchen gadgets, so this evening I’m off to find one for myself. Stay tuned for lots of pretty lunch photos.