Tuesday, August 28, 2018

The Book Tour Stops Here: A Review of "After Nightfall" by A.J. Banner, Served with a Recipe for Cauliflower Rice Risotto Primavera

I'm happy to be a stop on the TLC Book Tour for the After Nightfall, a new psychological suspense novel by A.J.Banner. Accompanying my review is an easy and delicious Cauliflower Rice Risotto Primavera, inspired by my reading.


Publisher's Blurb:

Beware of friends with secrets…

Imagine your closest friend utterly betraying you. Years later, when she seeks forgiveness, you invite her to your engagement party as a gesture of reconciliation. But seething hostilities rise to the surface, ruining everyone’s evening. After an awful night, your friend’s battered, lifeless body is found at the bottom of a rocky cliff.

Newly engaged Marissa Parlette is living this nightmare. She should be celebrating her upcoming wedding, but she can’t shake the image of her friend lying dead on the beach. Did she fall? Was she pushed? Or did she take a purposeful step into darkness? Desperate for answers, Marissa digs deep into the events of the party. But what she remembers happening after nightfall now carries sinister implications: the ugly sniping, the clandestine meetings, the drunken flirtations. The more she investigates, the more she questions everything she thought she knew about her friends, the man she once trusted, and even herself.

Bestselling author A. J. Banner keeps readers on a razor-sharp edge in this intricately plotted novel of psychological suspense…in which nothing is as it seems.

Paperback: 256 pages

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (August 7, 2018)


My Review:

Although her other books have been on my TBR list, After Nightfall is the first book from A.J. Banner that I have managed to read. It's a quick read with a good premise and plenty of twists and turns packed into 250-ish pages. I liked that all of the characters had  suspicious behaviors and/or secrets to hide and that had me suspecting everyone. I was certain several times that I had identified the person responsible for Lauren's death--only to be convinced a chapter later that it was someone else. It definitely kept me turning the pages to the end to finally discover the guilty party. Where the book fell a bit short for me was in the characters. I had a hard time liking most of them for various reasons and the main character, Marissa, had me wanting to shake her quite a few times throughout the story. (This bummed me out because my niece is a grade school speech therapist like Marissa and so I wanted Marissa to be stronger and represent!) ;-) The characters that I liked the most were minor players in the drama--a couple of neighbors and Marissa's supportive best friend. Then again, me not liking the characters made them seem all the more suspicious and maybe that worked in the end by keeping me guessing. I breezed through After Nightfall and enjoyed reading it, liking Banner's writing style--her wording, pacing, and how she built the tension. I look forward to delving into her first two novels.

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Author Notes: Born in India and raised in North America, A. J. Banner received degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. Her previous novels of psychological suspense include The Good Neighbor and The Twilight Wife, a USA Today bestseller. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and six rescued cats.

Connect with A.J. on Facebook and Instagram.  



 
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Food Inspiration:

There was food to be found in After Nighfall, including spiral pasta with olives, wine, sparkling apple juice, buttered rolls, prosecco, prosciutto, Ligurian minestrone soup (described as soup with vegetables and garlic), macaroni and cheese, sandwiches, chocolate cake, leftover pasta, eggs, omelet with onions and tomatoes, rice, banana nut bread, cotton candy, apples, chocolate chip cookies, whiskey, vodka, chamomile tea, lemon cupcakes, mango kale salad, risotto primavera, fish and chips, a salad of butter lettuce with radishes and onion with mustard dressing on the side, blackberry cheesecake, apricot marmalade, hard-boiled eggs, peanut butter on toast, scotch, mint tea, a gin and tonic, appetizers and cake, fruit punch, a stir-fry of vegetables, spaghetti carbonara, cereal, peanuts, and huckleberries.


For my book-inspired dish I picked the risotto primavera that Marissa orders when out to dinner with Nathan. I love risotto and had been meaning to try a cauliflower rice version after buying a large bag of riced cauliflower at Costco. I grabbed a few simple veggies--sweet onion, carrot, celery, red pepper and peas and thought I'd grate up a small leftover chunk of Parmesan that needed to be used. 

 
Cauliflower Rice Risotto Primavera
By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen
(Serves 4)

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 small sweet onion, diced
2 small carrots, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
2  cloves garlic, minced
5 cups cauliflower rice (I used frozen)
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/3 cup coconut milk or milk of choice
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese + extra for serving
sea salt and black pepper to taste
fresh basil leaves to taste 
zest of one lemon

Heat oil in a large, heavy bottomed pan over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot, and celery and saute about 5 minutes until softened. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Stir in the cauliflower rice and broth, cover pan and reduce heat to medium low. Let cauliflower and veggies steam for about 6 to 7 minutes then remove the cover and let the liquid evaporate for 5 minutes or so, then add the peas. Continue to cook, uncovered, until most of the liquid has been absorbed, then stir in the coconut milk and cheese and season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix in basil and lemon zest and serve topped with extra cheese, if desired. Enjoy!


Notes/Results: I have been enamored with cauliflower rice lately-especially since my doctor recommended I cut out wheat and gluten and cut down on rice and other carbs. When cooked and seasoned well, cauliflower rice works really well in soups and rice bowls and I was thrilled to see how well it worked in risotto. I did not miss the arborio rice and the guilty feeling from eating too much of it. With cauliflower rice it's about 25 calories a cup, versus 200 in a cup of arborio rice and 218 calories for a cup of cooked brown rice . I loved this risotto. I kept it light on the cheese and used coconut milk and it was plenty creamy. I will definitely make this again.


I'm sharing this post with the Weekend Cooking event at Beth Fish Reads, a weekly event that is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share. For more information, see the welcome post.


Note: A review copy of "After Nightfall" was provided to me by the author and the publisher via TLC Book Tours. I was not compensated for this review and as always, my thoughts and opinions are my own.

You can see the stops for the rest of this TLC Book Tour and what other reviewers thought about the book here.
 

 

Sunday, August 26, 2018

Spanish-ish Chickpea, Potato & Cauliflower Rice Soup with Saffron, Smoked Paprika & Salsa Brava for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

I fully expected to be at the least without power and at most without a roof or bailing out all kinds of water from my house this weekend with Hurricane Lane looming over us. We got lucky here on Oahu, at least and the storm both weakened and was downgraded and made a sudden turn away from us. It was a pretty scary few days though. Although I've lived here since 2001, this is probably the most worrisome storm watch I have experienced. Unfortunately, although Oahu came through pretty unscathed, Maui and especially the Big Island were not so lucky and took the hit, with the Big Island getting over 4-feet on rain in some spots. Lots of flood and wind damage, so please send your thoughts and prayers to those impacted.


I didn't really plan a soup, but I was craving something with a Spanish vibe since my friend Monina brought me back saffron and a bottle of tomato salsa brava from a recent trip. She mentioned the salsa was often used for potatoes there and so I decided to make them the base, adding chickpeas a few veggies, garlic, the saffron, and plenty of smoked paprika and cumin to my soup. Since I loved my addition of cauliflower rice to this Red Curry Vegetable and Cauliflower Rice Soup, I added some to this soup and added the remainder of a jar of pimentos I had in the fridge. I saved the salsa brava to drizzle on top.


Spanish-ish Chickpea, Potato & Cauliflower Rice Soup with Saffron, Smoked Paprika & Salsa
By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen
(Serves 6)

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp dried parsley
4 to 5 sprigs of fresh thyme
6 cups broth (I used no-salt no-chicken vegan bouillon)
2 large potatoes, chopped
2 cans or 4 cups of cooked chickpeas
3 cups frozen cauliflower rice
2 Tbsp pimentos, drained 
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
salsa brava (optional)
  
Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.Add the onion, carrot and celery and saute for about 6 to 7 minutes, until veggies are softened. Add the garlic and saute for another minute, then add the smoked paprika, cumin, dried parsley and thyme sprigs and cook until fragrant.

Add the broth, potatoes, chickpeas, cauliflower rice and pimentos and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes--until potatoes and veggies are tender but not mushy. Remove the thyme sprigs, pulling off any remaining leaves. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Serve in bowls, drizzled with salsa brava if desired.


Notes/Results: I loved this soup--so much great flavor on its own with the saffron, garlic, smoked paprika and cumin, and it's even better with the salsa brava stirred in as the spicy pepper and vinegar in it and depth and a little kick. Filling without being heavy, this soup will be delicious in my lunches this week. I will happily make it again. 


Lets take a look into the Souper Sundays kitchen and see who is here.


 
Judy of Gluten Free A-Z Blog brought Instant Pot or Not Chilled Zucchini Corn Lime Soup and said, "Corn and zucchini are at their peak right now, and the duo are sensational in this light summer soup which can be eaten chilled or warm. Although this soup can be enjoyed warm or chilled, chilled seems to be my preference. I usually serve it warm for dinner and cold for lunch the next day. Either way it doesn't disappoint- The key ingredients for me is the fresh lime and crunchy sweet corn that I add to each soup bowl!"
 


Tina of Squirrel Head Manor shared her Chicken and Heavily Dijoned Sandwich and said, "I brought a chicken sandwich with lots of tomatoes and Dijon mustard. Typically I don't eat a sandwich for dinner but I was "inspired" by the last Frieda Klein novel when I read about this sandwich. It just made me want one. You know how that is - cravings. ... I like the Maille brand of Dijon, it has just the right amount spiciness."

 
Mahalo to Judee and Tina for joining in this week!
 
About Souper Sundays:

Souper Sundays (going since 2008) now has a format of a picture link each week where anyone interested can post their soups, salads, or sandwiches at any time during the week and I post a recap of the entries the following week.

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here.
 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:


  • Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up her in order to be included in the weekly round-up.
and 

On your entry post (on your blog):
  • Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to it on your post, it will be removed.)
  • You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (optional).




Have a happy, healthy week!

Saturday, August 25, 2018

Weekend Cooking: Guest-Hosting (and Hurricane / Storm Watching)

Aloha Weekend Cooking Participants. I hope you are all doing well. I am guest-hosting this week again as Beth Fish Reads continues her travels. I planned on making and posting a Eric Ripert dessert recipe and combining my Weekend Cooking and I Heart Cooking Clubs efforts, but between my new job and prepping for the impending Hurricane Lane (poised to strike Oahu sometime tonight), real life got in the way. So once again, I bring you a few foodie links I found interesting this week for this pre-scheduled (in case I lose power tonight) post, as I sit here Friday afternoon, waiting and watching. 

Hope you join in the Weekend Cooking fun by linking up a food-related post. Directions are at the bottom of the post.


I will confess to intensely disliking pumpkin spice anything--including the original pumpkin-spiced dish, pumpkin pie, but I found this article from Cooking Light about the history behind the phenomenon of pumpkin-spiced EVERYTHING to be pretty interesting.
How Did Pumpkin Spice Become So Popular? And Why Do We Hate to Love It So Much?

Are you a fan of all the pumpkin-spiced food out there, or a foe? 



Stacey Ballis is a favorite foodie fiction author of mine and I also like the creative recipes she posts for Extra Crispy. (I totally will be making her Stuffing Butter again for Thanksgiving this  year.) I am completely drawn to this Eggplant Parmedict--her mash-up of Eggplant Parm and Eggs Benedict. I could happily devour this for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
Photo by Stacey Ballis


Do you ever stand in front of the chile peppers at Whole Foods or the farmers market and try to remember which ones are mild, versus the fire-engine hot ones? I do.;-) Your Guide to the 10 Chile Peppers Most Likely to Show Up in a Recipe from MyRecipes is a helpful article I pinned to my Cooking Tips, Tricks, Ideas board.


Cathy Scola/ Getty Images

Finally in case I lose my electricity tonight and can't link my post up for a bit, I'll mention it here. A book review of a mystery-thriller and food-wise, since eggs were mentioned in the book, I tried the Ziploc bag method of omelets for a tasty Thyme-Mushroom Omelet. A little science in the kitchen can be fun and although I don't think I would boil my eggs in plastic bags often, it turned out well and would be great if cooking for a crowd. Here's the link to the recipe and review post.


Well my friends, I am setting this post up to go and hopefully will not lose power or lose it for long. (The Friday 2:00 PM update is Hurricane Lane is now down to a Category 1 and we hope it goes down more and turns to the west before it gets close. And the Friday 5:00 PM update has Lane downgraded to a tropical storm but since we still have heavy rains and wind gusts in the forecast, I'll leave this as scheduled in case the power still goes out.) I'll get around to comment on your posts once I am able. (Note: If you are a Souper Sundays participant, it may be on hold for this week based on what happens.)
 
Link Up Note: I use a different link-up than Beth Fish Reads and it is a picture link. I think it is fairly easy to use, but if you have any trouble or questions, please let me know.

Please leave a comment after linking. Mahalo!


Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.


 

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

The Book Tour Stops Here: A Review of "Pieces of Her" by Karin Slaughter, Served with a Recipe for a (Ziploc) Thyme-Mushroom and Cheese Omelet

Happy (late) Wednesday. My new job and impending potential hurricane preparation have me running late for my review stop on today's TLC Book Tour. But, putting storm warnings and worries aside, I am very excited to be reviewing the mystery-thriller, Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter and I'm happy to pair my review with a quick and easy (Ziploc) Thyme-Mushroom and Cheese Omelet, inspired partly by my reading.


Publisher's Blurb:

The #1 internationally bestselling author returns with a new novel in the vein of her New York Times bestsellers Pretty Girlsand The Good Daughter—a story even more electrifying, provocative, and suspenseful than anything she’s written before.
 
What if the person you thought you knew best turns out to be someone you never knew at all . . . ?
 
Andrea knows everything about her mother, Laura. She knows she’s spent her whole life in the small beachside town of Belle Isle; she knows she’s never wanted anything more than to live a quiet life as a pillar of the community; she knows she’s never kept a secret in her life. Because we all know our mothers, don’t we?
 
But all that changes when a trip to the mall explodes into violence and Andrea suddenly sees a completely different side to Laura. Because it turns out that before Laura was Laura, she was someone completely different. For nearly thirty years she’s been hiding from her previous identity, lying low in the hope that no one would ever find her. But now she’s been exposed, and nothing will ever be the same again.
 
The police want answers and Laura’s innocence is on the line, but she won’t speak to anyone, including her own daughter. Andrea is on a desperate journey following the breadcrumb trail of her mother’s past. And if she can’t uncover the secrets hidden there, there may be no future for either one of them. . . .

Hardcover: 480 pages
Publisher: William Morrow (August 21, 2018)


My Review: 

This is the fourth Karin Slaughter book I have reviewed on the blog and I have also been working my way through her Grant County series. I love her dark and twisty style of writing and the way she builds characters and build suspense. In Pieces of Her, the story alternates between present day--told from the point of view of Andrea (Andy), a meek and fairly immature woman in her early thirties and the past--thirty years prior, told from the point of view of Andy's mother, Laura. Laura is the character that drew my interest first--Is she an ordinary woman, described as "the cool mom" by Andy's former classmates and beloved by the patients she works with as a speech pathologist, or is she a killer or a criminal, running from her past? Andy was a slower build--I had to keep reminding my self that she was thirty-one and not in her late teens or early twenties with her lack of confidence and her milquetoast manner of getting through life. She did grown on me though and I found myself happy to be in either timeline as Slaughter skillfully unwound the secrets. I didn't find Pieces of Her to be as dark as some of Slaughters other books, although the darkness is certainly there, along with some graphically violent scenes. It comes close to 500 pages and although it starts with a shocking act, it takes time for the story and tension to truly kick in. Once it does, it becomes quite a ride with lots of plot twists and turns and it kept me absorbed in guessing how all of the pieces would fall into place. If you are already a Karin Slaughter fan, Pieces of Her will reconfirm it for you and if you are new to her work, you will want to read more of it after reading this one.

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Author Notes: Karin Slaughter is one of the world’s most popular and acclaimed storytellers. Published in 120 countries with more than 35 million copies sold across the globe, her eighteen novels include the Grant County and Will Trent books, as well as the Edgar-nominated Cop Townand the instant New York Times bestselling novels Pretty Girls and The Good Daughter. Slaughter is the founder of the Save the Libraries project—a nonprofit organization established to support libraries and library programming. A native of Georgia, Karin Slaughter lives in Atlanta. Her standalone novels The Good Daughter and Cop Town are in development for film and television.
 
Find out more about Karin at her website and connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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Food Mentions:

You don't read Karen Slaughter books for the food descriptions, but in Pieces of Her there was a very small amount of food to be found including eggs, spaghetti, a Filet-O-Fish, coffee, peanut butter, a PB & J sandwich with chips and a pickle, bourbon, chocolate, wine, potatoes, Slim Jims, hamburgers, tacos, pizza, beer, fried chicken with mashed potatoes, green beans and a cornbread muffin, vodka rocks, hot tea, a milkshake, celery, broccoli and other chopped vegetables in broth, and fruit.


With those items to choose from and nothing immediately striking me I ended up going with eggs. At the beginning of the book, Andy and her mother are having breakfast and Andy is looking down at the yellow eggs on her plate. It wasn't specified what kind of egg she ate but, for some reason my friend and I were discussing eggs, or rather Ziploc omelets on the phone, as she asked if I had ever tried them. Apparently they have been around the intranet for years. She mentioned it was a quick and easy way to make omelets, especially for a group as you make each omelet in a separate sealable bag in a pot of water and I thought it sounded like fun to try. I'm not saying I don't have some small concerns about cooking in a plastic bag in boiling water, but it's been a crazy week and not having to put forth the effort to cook an omelet at the stove sounded good to me. ;-) 

I had some leftover Thyme-Mushrooms (recipe below) and added chopped green onions and shredded the last bit of a brick of smoked cheddar cheese, but of course you can put in whatever you like.


(Ziploc) Thyme-Mushroom and Cheese Omelet
Adapted from Many Places
(Makes 1 Omelet)

1 Ziploc or other sealable bag
2 large eggs
1 to 2 Tbsp of your favorite omelet ingredients, chopped or grated--I used Thyme-Mushrooms (recipe below), green onions, and smoked cheddar cheese
pinch of salt and black pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of water to a roiling boil.

Crack eggs into Ziploc or sealable plastic bag and mix them by squeezing and pinching the bag until well mixed. 

Add your favorite omelet ingredients, salt and pepper to bag and gently shake the bag to mix ingredients together. Carefully squeeze all of the air out of the bag and make sure it is tightly sealed. 

place the bag in boiling water and cook for 13 minutes. Carefully remove the bag from the hot water with tongs. Cut bag open and gently roll the omelet out of the bag and onto a plate. Top with additional toppings as desired and enjoy! 
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Thyme Mushrooms
By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen
(Serves 2)

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
8 oz fresh mushrooms (button or crimini), sliced
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves (or 1 1/2 tsp dried thyme)
sea salt and black pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and mushrooms and sauté until the mushrooms have browned--about 5 to 6 minutes. Stir in thyme and cook for another minute or so. Season to taste with salt and pepper.


Notes/Results: Although the texture is not quite as fluffy as an omelet cooked up the traditional way, this recipe gets big points for simplicity. I could get the kitchen organized and my lunch packed for tomorrow while it merrily bubbled away, and it tasted great. I was impressed with how easily it came out of the bag onto the plate like a little burrito. It's prettier with garnishes on top--I used extra mushrooms, cheese and green onions. The beauty of these omelets in a bag is if you have many people to feed omelets to and don't want to stand at the stove cooking them--and the customization of course--as people can build their own. I would make them again.



I'm sharing this post with the Weekend Cooking event at Beth Fish Reads, a weekly event that is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share. For more information, see the welcome post. (Note: I'm hosting again this week--so look for the post here on Saturday!) ;-)


Note: A review copy of "Pieces of Her" was provided to me by the author and the publisher, Harper Collins, via TLC Book Tours. I was not compensated for this review and as always, my thoughts and opinions are my own.

You can see the stops for the rest of this TLC Book Tour and what other reviewers thought about the book here.
 
 

Sunday, August 19, 2018

Local Watermelon Soup with Feta and Mint for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

In need of another cold soup for a very hot and humid weekend, I stumbled across an Eric Ripert recipe from the Today Show. There were three cold soups in the article (Chilled Avocado Lemongrass Soup, Chilled Heirloom Tomato Consomme and Local watermelon Soup with Peekytoe Crab), but local baby watermelons were on sale this week so the watermelon soup won out. 


I replaced the peekytoe crab with feta cheese and chopped watermelon and cucumber as any kind of crab is so spendy here and I would prefer to use it to make crab cakes or top a Crab Louie Salad if I am going to splurge on it.


Local Watermelon Soup with Feta and Mint 
Adapted from Eric Ripert via Today.com
(Serves 4)

6 cups diced seedless local watermelon
1 Tbsp minced ginger
1/2 cup lime juice
8 to 10 mint leaves plus more for chiffonade garnish
6 oz peekytoe crab meat (I omitted and added feta, & diced watermelon & cucumber) 
4 Tbsp olive oil (I omitted) 
1/2 lime

Place the watermelon, ginger, lime juice and mint leaves in a blender container and puree until smooth and season to taste with salt and pepper. (I chilled my soup for a few hours.)

Lightly dress the crab meat with olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper. Plate 2 tablespoons of crab in the center of the soup bowls (using a ring mold if available) and pour the watermelon soup around the crab; garnish with mint and serve immediately. (Since I omitted the crab, I mounded the feta, watermelon and cucumber in the bowl and added the soup and garnished with mint. My mounding didn't really hold as well as crab would, so I ended up stirring it into the soup.)


Notes/Results: This soup is so refreshing and cooling that in addition to eating it, I wanted to soak in a tub of it. ;-) The lime, ginger, mint and salt keep it from being too sweet and I really liked the pieces of watermelon and cucumber and the crumbles of feta cheese that I added. Ripert doesn't mention chilling it in the directions but I liked it ultra-cold, after several hours chilling. If you like watermelon and feta salad, you should like this soup and it would work as a starter for a summer grilled dinner, or as a light lunch on its own. I would happily make it again


Linking up at I Heart Cooking Clubs where this week's theme is our From the Vine--Eric Ripert recipes from ingredients that grow on vines.  


 Lets take a look into the Souper Sundays kitchen and see who is here.


Debra of Eliot's Eats shared this Greek Garden Veggie Salad with Chilled Corn and said, "We had an impromptu cook out recently. We had family coming in a bit spur of the moment (which is fine because we always love to see them). I knew I wanted to grill but I didn’t want to do the boring fallback of burgers. I found this great sounding (and pretty simple) recipe online: Grilled Steak with Greek Corn Salad. I swapped out the called for cube steak (which I found really weird to grill) with some flank steak and I increased the veggie amounts for the salad and added some peppers. I have to brag and say that the tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and oregano all came from the garden."

 
Tina of Squirrel Head Manor made a take on Eric Ripert's Provencal Vegetable Soup and said, "Hot or cold weather makes little difference when we want soup.  It makes a good lunch. This is a vegetarian version with lots of lentils that I will certainly make again. The inspiration for this version comes from Deb's version  of Eric Ripert's Provencal Vegetable soup. She referred to it as summer in a bowl. So true!"

 

So nice to have Shaheen of Allotment2Kitchen back at Souper Sundays this week. She brought Etsis Turlu --Rich Summer Vegetable Stew and said, "I've been cooking quite a lot of Middle Eastern recipes recently. It started with the  Iranian Pearl Barley Soup known as Ash-e Jo or Ash-e-Jow early this year when we had freakish snow and with the unusual hot weather continuing, now I have Etsis Turlu. According to the cookbook author this Etsis Turlu comes from Turkey. With the rain over the weekend, it was the perfect excuse to make a stew more suited for autumnal days and colder evenings, but I have lots of summer vegetables including courgettes, marrows and green beans coming from the garden that I wanted  to make the most of it, even if it is the height of summer."


Mahalo to everyone who joined in this week!
 
About Souper Sundays:

Souper Sundays (going since 2008) now has a format of a picture link each week where anyone interested can post their soups, salads, or sandwiches at any time during the week and I post a recap of the entries the following week.

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here.
 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

  • Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up her in order to be included in the weekly round-up.
and 

On your entry post (on your blog):
  • Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to it on your post, it will be removed.)
  • You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (optional).





Have a happy, healthy week!