Spring Rolls

Spring Rolls are delicious. A great cold food to eat in the summer. And very easy to make. If you ever see rice paper rolls in the store, stock up on them!

Rice noodles
Rice paper rolls
Veggies (carrots, onion, cilantro, bean sprouts, pepper, etc.)
Egg/shrimp/tofu/beef/seitan
Any other ingredients you want to put in

1.) Boil noodles until done
2.) Slice veggies into slivers and saute in some soy sauce and pepper.
3.) Soak rice paper into warm water until its soft
4.) lay out rice paper, place ingredients on the edge and roll the spring roll up.
5.) dip into hoisin sauce and eat.

Angry soup.... aka cream of basil soup

This is for you Charles. :)

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 1/2 cup milk
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 Tbsp butter or margarine
Lots of garlic power and basil
Some oregano, parsley, black pepper and hot pepper if you like.
Dash of salt (only if the both you use has no salt)
ANGER

1.) Put the broth, spices and butter into a sauce pan.
2.) Turn the heat on the stove to med-high
3.) Direct your Rage and ANGER into the soup. Behold as your anger makes the soup boil in rage.
4.) Once the soup has soaked up all your anger, turn the heat down a bit and add the milk.
5.) As you simmer the soup slowly add the flour through a sifter stirring constantly so there are no lumps.
6.) Cook soup until it thickens with ANGER
7.) Eat.

If you really wanted to, you could add some vegetables, pasta or chicken/tofu pieces to the soup, but then it might get appeased and stop being so ANGRY.

Cuban Bread

Cuban bread is a very good bread to eat with soups and for sandwiches. It is a dense bread with a hard crust and soft middle and a very delicious flavor. Its one of my favorite kinds of bread and something most people never have the pleasure of eating.

7 cups flour
1 cup water
1 packet of yeast
1 teaspoon salt
Splash of oil
2 tsp Sugar

1. In a bowl mix warm water, yeast and sugar together until it is foamy.
2. Add flour one cup at a time kneading until it is well mixed and you have a stiff dough that is not sticky.
3. Rub the dough in oil and over the top of the bowl place a warm wet rag
4. Let the dough rest in a warm place and rise until it is about twice its original size. I'd suggest letting the bread rise over night or make the dough in the morning and let it rise while you are away at work.
   
5. After the first rise. On a flat baking sheet, sprinkle flour or cornmeal so the dough will not stick.
6. Shape the dough into a loaf (I like a thick, square loaf for sandwich slices) and place the loaf on the baking sheet.
7. Let the dough rise another 5 minutes
8. In the oven place a pan with water in it on the bottom rack
9. Place the flat baking sheet and loaf on the second rack.
10. DO NOT PRE-HEAT THE OVEN! Put the bread and water into a cold oven, then turn it to 400 degrees
11. Bake for 40-45 minutes.

Cream of Onion Soup

This is fast and easy to make. One of my favorite meals for lunch. I made this up one day when I was hungry and only had onions and milk in the fridge.

1 Large White Onion
1/2 cup milk/soy milk
Beef stock/vegetable stock/bouillon
1/2 Tbsp Corn starch or Rice Flour
Pepper, Salt, Basil/pesto
Oil
White wine (optional)
Hard French bread
Cheese (Swiss, Gouda or Romano work well)


1.) Dice the onion
2.) In a frying pan heat about a table spoon of oil.
3.) Add Onions, pepper, salt, and basil or pesto
4.) Fry the Onions on medium heat until they start to caramelize.
5.) Turn the heat to low and add a little stock/bouillon to the onions.
6.) Add White wine and simmer a bit.
7.) Add milk (heating it up in the microwave a bit before hand will help the soup cook faster)
8.) Add corn starch a little at a time and stir soup until it thickens.
9.) Pour soup into an oven safe bowl or ramakin.
10.) Drop Chunks of hard French bread into bowl.
11.) Cover Bread and soup with cheese. slices are fine, so is shredded.
12.) Bake a little bit until cheese is melted and turning brown.
13.) Let cool and then eat.

I know it sounds like a lot, but the whole process takes about 30 min. at the most, and this soup is delicious and pretty impressive looking too.