So on January 1, 2010 when I decided to “re-purpose” my life, I had this plan that I would indeed cook all the recipes I pulled out of the paper and at least once a week I would engage in something “inspiring” like writing on Just Mustard, gittin back to my Bite-me-Maps, or mastering a new craft. Well, the month is near closin and to be honest;my work table is still an unclean space, my utility room is unmanageable, and jus yesterday, I washed a pair of black jeans along with all of Bucks underwear. Grey is now, the new white. (Buck said it didn’t matter that nobody saw our underwear anyway.)
It’s taken much longer than I ever imagined to get in the rhythm of this new life. I love it when 5:00 o’clock rolls around because I know what to do: open a bottle of Cooks, slice apples and cheese, light the fire and sit back. Five is easy, what do people do with those other hours of the day?
Now, in all honesty, I have accomplished a few things. I made a resolution that if I ripped a recipe out of the paper, I had to cook it! My first was Habitant Pea Soup (it’s a French Canadian fav.) I must say, it was tasty, so for your pleasure, the recipe is at the bottom. But, what I learned was that I enjoy the hunt more so than the actual process. I mean I had an actual “list of things to purchase” before I could begin. A "to purchase" list is the equivalent of a "To-Do" List don't you think? Anyway, I actually dressed to go to the store and find fancy yellow split peas and “Turkish bay leaves.” I enjoyed perusing the “uppity” food stores, grazin the isles looking like an “Ingredient Queen” all the while knowin that most of my spices come from the dollar rack at CVS, but the folks at Penzeys didn’t know that.
I jus had to smile yesterday about lunch time, cause I had five gadgets workin at the same time, I had my BBQ cookin in the crock pot, was puree’n my butternut squash soup in the blender, choppin with the Cuisinart and doin’ a little julienne thing on the mandolin. While all this was goin’ on, all I wanted was a Smart-One (3 points) sitting cool and plenty in my freezer. I thought to myself, “Why in God’s name am I makin all this mess when I can have butternut ravioli in about 3 minutes in the microwave?”
The repurposed life is filled with mystery (and avoidance), speaking of which I’m headed over to MeMe’s, Diet Pepsi in hand, to see her new blond highlights. If you feel inclined, here’s the Yellow Pea soup with the fancy name.
Habitant Pea Soup (Both a geography and a social study lesson)Habitant refers to people who live in rural Quebec Ingredients
2 cups dried yellow peas
2 quarts chicken broth
2 onions, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1- 12 oz ham hock ( I went right to Food Lion for this cause all my ham was gone and by the way, who weighs a ham hock?)
1-2 bay leaves (These from Pinzies, Turkish, you know)
salt and pepper (fresh ground)
1 pinch thyme (my own…better than Pinzies)
¼ cup crème fraiche
Directions
Place peas in a soup pot, cover with the cold water and soak overnight. Next morning add the chopped vegetables, ham bone and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then lower heat, cover and simmer gently for 3 to 4 hours. Stir mixture occasionally and add a little boiling water to keep soup at the right consistency. Remove the ham bone and the fancy bay leaves and add the rest of the seasonings (amount of salt will depend on the saltiness of ham bone) Take out about three quarters of the soup, let cool and then puree in the blender. (If you don’t let it cool, it will explode when you hit “whirrrrrr” and it’s not pretty, trust me) Return the smooth soup to the pot and reheat. Then jus dollop crème fraiche (or good ole american sour cream if you want to be non-Canadian and non French)
It was really good, even Bucky ate it and he doesn’t usually do yellow or split pea.
