Confit Tomato Soup

Confit Tomato Soup
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It’s hard to get excited about a tomato in the dead of winter. Actual tomato season is still months away and most of what you find in grocery stores right now are light in flavor and mealy in texture. Not exactly the stuff of tomato dreams. But while it may not be the ideal time for something like my heirloom tomato pizza, it is prime time for this Confit Tomato Soup. When you lazily cook anything in a vat of olive oil it’s going to be good. The confit process concentrates the flavor of the tomatoes and brings out their sweetness while reducing their acidity. In other words, the confit method transforms lackluster winter tomatoes into flavor powerhouses.

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Teriyaki Mushroom Melt with Red Cabbage

Teriyaki Mushroom Melt with Red Cabbage
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I have an affinity for messy sandwiches. If I’m not perplexed by how exactly I’m supposed to eat them, I’m not interested. Sure, I can get down with a polite finger sandwich and I’ll never turn down a pressed picnic situation like a muffuletta. But I love a juicy burger, a slippery BLT, and a towering hoagie. I want a “napkin-mandatory” sort of sandwich and today’s Teriyaki Mushroom Melt fits the bill perfectly. The word “saucy” is the aptest description for this sandwich. So let’s talk about it!

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Smoked Tofu Chili with Crushed Corn Chips

Smoked Tofu Chili
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There’s been a lot of talk about belt-tightening lately. And it’s not hard to see why. I paid $8 for a pound of butter the other day. And I have very fond memories of paying $6 for the same amount not that long ago. Consequently, I have been more financially conservative at the grocery store. A necessity I hate and resent. And all of these limitations have me reminiscing about my university days, particularly the struggle meals that sustained me. Today’s Smoked Tofu Chili is a descendant of one such meal. I guarantee whatever concoction I was eating ten years ago was not as good as this. But the bones were there and the comfort it gives me is the same, so let’s make it.

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Spicy Muhammara Breakfast Plate

Spicy Muhammara Breakfast Plate
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During the winter months when my energy is low, lunch can be a struggle. So can breakfast, dinner, and well, you get the point. I find I am more prone to order takeout in the dead of January than I am at any other time of the year. And I can’t be alone in this. I’m sure it’s even more difficult when you don’t work with food for a living and don’t have copious amounts of leftovers to fall back on. But that’s why I love this Spicy Muhammara Breakfast Plate. You make all the components for the meal on a lazy Sunday and eat it throughout the week when hunger hits and forgets to bring motivation and energy with it. 

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