Excuses, excuses

Well, I guess I got a little tuckered out after all the food I made last Sunday, because I was very lazy about cooking last week, and I've got to say, I don't really have a good excuse. Part of it was that we really needed to go to the grocery store. But, I guess that doesn't actually work when I live a half-mile from our little food co-op and within very easy driving distance of several other food stores.

Maybe it's because work has been so busy this week, that by the time I'm finished and have done some sort of exercise I'm just too tired to come up with anything. But that's not really an excuse either since a) I work from home and b) all I have to do is work, hang out with Bob, get some exercise, and maybe meet up with friends. Really, if I can't get a meal made nowadays what would I be eating if I had kids and a commute? And although Bob is a great cook, he's not much for improvising, so throwing something together sans trip to the market won't really work there. Plus, when he cooks it means I do the dishes, and I really hate doing the dishes.

But, I'm feeling back in the groove now. I made some cupcakes for the fantastic send-off-to-our-elopement brunch our friends Megan and Dan threw for us on Sunday, and they were all deliciousness with their cream cheese icing. (Well, there was the complete disaster batch when I couldn't find my muffin pans and thought I might be able to just prop up some cupcake liners in a pan. If anyone out there tries to google "how to bake cupcakes with no muffin tins," I'm here to tell you, it doesn't work). Then, there was the strange recipe for Spicy Chickpea Soup that was not spicy, nor did it look anything like the photo in Food and Wine, but with a few tweaks turned out tasty enough to get a phone call in the middle of the afternoon from Bob just to tell me how good the soup was when he ate it for lunch today.


Spicy Chickpea Soup

The original recipe didn't call for any onions or garlic, which immediately made me suspicious. Then, after I did the first step of blending the ingredients, my base was the most unpleasant shade of peachy-pink you could imagine. So, I started with onions and garlic and added a lot more tomatoes and tomato paste to turn it red, and it did end up very good in the end.

1/2 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
3 15.5-oz cans of chickpeas, drained and separated
1 13.5-oz can of light coconut milk
1 28-oz can whole peeled tomatoes, separated
1/4 cup apple juice
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
2 tbsp tomato paste (I just put in a few healthy squirts from the tube I keep in the fridge, feel free to use one of those small cans. It might be more than I used, but I think it will be fine, and I hate when I have a third of one of those cans floating around).
Salt and pepper
Red pepper flakes
Plain low fat yogurt (optional)

1. Heat oil in a dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add garlic and onions and cook until tender and fragrant, about 5 minutes.
2. In a blender combine two cans of chickpeas, coconut milk, half of the tomatoes and their juices, apple juice, cilantro, garam masala, ground ginger, and curry powder until very smooth.
3. Transfer contents of the blender into the dutch oven with the onions and the garlic. Add the chicken stock, tomato paste and remaining whole, peeled tomatoes. (You have a few options on how you add them. You can chop them up first, or add them whole and crush them up with the back of a spoon, or do what I do, which is grab a tomato and crush it in my hands right into the pot until all the tomatoes are gone, then add the remaining juices from the can.)
4. Season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes and simmer for at least 30 minutes. It was tasty the first night I made it, but the flavors really melded and developed overnight. If desired, serve with a dollop of plain yogurt.