The Impulsive Kitchen

I became fascinated with the concept of overnight oats when everyone else did - 2015-ish when every cooking blog had how-to's about them.  I settled on about three recipes that we really liked and I used them - some were kind of gross and too rich and sweet for breakfast, i.e. peanut butter and chocolate overnight oats - 'nuff said.  I tweaked the original recipes and came up with a version that is much lower in calories than the original versions, and works with the 5:2 diet plan we're trying to make a go of again.  Overnight oats are easy to assemble the night before - or actually several nights before, I've made them as far as about 5 days in advance and they tasted fine. Also with these tweaks they only set you back about 180 kcals. 1/3 cup quick-cooking oatmeal 1 TBLS dry instant milk (Carnation was what I used) 1 TBLS Chia Seeds 1 TBLS dried fruit 1/4 tsp spice or flavoring 2 pkts Splenda (optional, but it really helps, and I don't find Splenda's ...

Hey - it's been a minute since my last post, but things are still going well.  I hope to post more in the coming days, weeks, months and years. I have mentioned before that I have a kitchen garden that I try growing organic vegetables, I have had some luck with it.  Okra is something that grows very well in the $#!%%y mid-Atlantic clay that I have in my Falls Church backyard. Okra also freezes very well, so I have a freezer section that is full of 2 cup (5 oz) portions of okra. Full disclosure - I LOVE OKRA, and I grew up in the deep South of the US where it is cooked a lot.  Some are put off by the 'slimy' quality that okra can have.  Having grown up with it I don't mind it - I like how it thickens anything it's added to, but some find it off-putting.  You can cut some of this by par-boiling okra for 3 minutes by itself before you add it to anything, but, to me, you may as well just go and make something else. AmIRight? This 5-2 diet friendly soup is ...

Ok, it's not pizza, but it's really tasty. This is how this soup came about, it's one of the few recipes that I made up all by myself [preens a little :-)],  We do this thing out our Presbyterian Church called Wii Kirk every month or so.  Wii Kirk is on a Friday nights and the pastor's wife, whom I will always refer to as Saint Cheryl of Shirlington, bake an assortment of pizzas from scratch for whomever shows up.  The kids play Wii on the big screen, the parents have a glass of wine or two and have a nice start to their weekend.  It's become a mostly secular tradition at our little church. Saint Cheryl and I have a good time doing it, and it brings people to the church that might not attend a Sunday service. Last year my spouse and I were doing this 28 day diet called Shred, and a Wii Kirk happened in the middle of this program.  I created this soup so that we wouldn't be tempted by the luscious pizzas- it didn't work, but it's a really amazing so...

I have made a version of this before with chicken and chicken stock, but this version is vegan and 'fasting-day' friendly.  I think a serving (a heaping cup) would probably be around 150 calories.  The two cups of pureed beans for the 'Bean Broth' add a creaminess to the soup that "almost" makes it seem like there is dairy in it.  I believe that this was adapted from a Lynne Rossetto Kasper (the host of that awesome public radio show, The Splendid Table) recipe, hers had chicken in it, I am pretty sure. ABOUT THESE BEANS:  I prepared one pound of cannelli beans according to package directions, but they came out mushy. I am not sure what I did wrong.  I boiled them for a minute, then allowed to soak for an hour, then cooked for about 40 minutes (the package said to cook for ONE HOUR(!)).  One pound of dried cannelli beans yeilded between 5 and 6 cups of mushy beans.  They taste fine, it's just the texture. PREPARE THE BEAN BROTH: PUREE in a bl...

I am still looking for low fat, vegan soup options for our two 'fasting' days. I combined two different recipes, that I found out on the intertubes and the results were WONDERFUL, you have the black beans with a with savory spices and big chunks of sweet potato that add a subtle nutty, sweetness. It's hearty enough to stick with you for a while. About The Beans :  this recipe uses one whole pound of black beans.  I made them from dried beans, because I had the time and it's no big deal, they take approximately a couple hours ( pick through for small stones, add a tsp of salt, cover with water, bring them to a boil and remove from heat, soak for an hour, then cook until they are tender - black beans take about 30 - 40 minutes).  You don't don't have to babysit them, which makes it easy if you work-from-home.  One pound of dried beans yields about 6 - 7 cups of cooked beans.  If you don't care to cook your own beans, use three 15-oz cans of canned black bean...

OK, so Joe Yonan of the Washington Post published this a couple weeks ago in the Food Section .  Joe is a vegetarian, and I have used his recipes before because Joe likes really big flavors.  This recipe appealed to my Southern roots - hello! - Sweet Potato, Collards AND Black Eyed Peas - what's not to like?? Anyhoo, when we tasted this, my beloved said, "It would be perfect with BACON!", which would completely negate my goals of reducing meat consumption, right?  Even though it was true - it was   bland .  I bumped up the salt and pepper amounts and it was better, but still a little boring.  I thought, what about Sriracha?  This made a LOT of soup, so I added probably about a 1/4 cup of the Sriracha to the batch.  It was really good, the Sriracha added the Umami that this soup was missing.  Though, there's no bacon in it, the Sriracha adds a sweet, smokiness that was sorely missing. It's a gorgeous soup, as you can see from the WaPo pic...

So, my spouse and I started this 5-2 diet in January, that started over in England.  The gist is that you subsist for 2 days a weeks on 500 - 600 calories for the day.  Our "fast" days are on Monday and Thursday, because that works well for us both.  I am chief-cook in our marriage, so I thought it would be cool if we went essentially vegan two days a week. Baby-steps, right? The first week was the hardest, but it's gotten much easier every week. Anyhoo...I have been looking for really hearty, but low calorie soup options. I used to love this soup that my Grandmother, we called her Dee-Mama, made back when I was a kid. It was hearty and  comforting.  Dee-Mama's was, most assuredly NOT vegan (I think it either had bacon or sausage in it). So, this is not a family recipe, but it's inspired by one.  This may be too spicy for you with the Chipotle pepper (from Penzey's, by the way), but adjust accordingly. Vegan Cabbage Soup In a large-ish stockpot he...