Chinese Egg Drop Soup with Shrimp for Cook the Books Club: February/March Pick: "Crazy Rich Asians"

So this wasn't the recipe I intended to cook for this round of Cook the Books, our virtual foodie book club, but I got behind in my reading, life and work got in my way and then I caught what I think is a doozy of a cold or sinus infection and have been laid up all weekend. So I decided that my Singapore Street Noodle ingredients, were going to morph into a soup, but curry and noodles just didn't sound good this morning. What did? A simple and restorative Chinese Egg Drop Soup with Shrimp. 

I had been meaning to read Crazy Rich Asians so I was pleased when my fellow Hawaii co-host Claudia of Honey From Rock selected it. (See her announcement here.) I saw the movie before the book (but missed the tie-in with Food & Flix) and wanted to see if I enjoyed the book as much. I did enjoy it, but the fun and vibrant film won me over more. the movie streamlined the many family members and plot lines and was easier to digest and you could see all of the food and clothes and wealthy excess rather than read about it. On the other hand, the film does cut a lot out and I appreciated Kevin Kwan's detailed footnotes about the slang, descriptions of the dishes, etc. Although I didn't hang out in most of the elite places he mentions, he does bring the city to life and brought me back to the times I spent there. The time spent on the settings at times overshadows the character development. I wanted a more complete ending in the book too, but since it's a trilogy, I guess I will need to read the other two books to get more detail on what happens next with Rachel and Nick.

There was so much good food in Crazy Rich Asians--it definitely sent me back to my days of traveling there for work and eating at the hawker stalls and great little cafes and coffee shops there. As mentioned, my dish is not Singaporean, but nothing says comfort like egg drop soup and I have a feeling that Rachel's mom might have made her a bowl or two when she needed it.

For my recipe, I looked on line but ultimately just kept the bones of most of the recipes I tried and just threw together what I wanted. That is the beauty of this soup--good broth, eggs and whatever you have on hand--like shrimp and peas that were going into my noodles. Easy and low effort and much better and less salty than the kind from your local Chinese restaurant.

Chinese Egg Drop Soup
By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen
(Serves 4)

4 green onions, sliced, white and green parts separated
1-inch piece of ginger, peeled
5 cups chicken stock or broth (I used no-chicken bouillon paste)
4 tsp cornstarch
sea salt and black pepper to taste
about 1 cup frozen green peas, thawed 
8 oz medium shrimp, shelled and de-veined
5 eggs
toasted sesame oil and/or chili oil, if desired

Combine the onions, ginger and stock and bring to a boil in a large soup pan over a high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer about 10 minutes. 

Make a slurry with the cornstarch, salt, pepper and 2 Tbsp water in a small bowl, whisking well until the cornstarch is dissolved. Stir the slurry into the soup, stirring with a slotted spoon. Add peas and shrimp to the soup and cook about 2 minutes. 

Beat eggs together well in a small bowl. Using a fork across the lips of the bowl, slowly pour egg through. Let the eggs set for a few minutes, then break them apart into the desired size pieces--you can use a fork or chopstick to break apart the eggs. 

Ladle into bowls and top with the sliced green onions and a drizzle of toasted sesame oil and/or chili oil if desired.

Notes/Results: This soup hit the spot today as my head and sinuses are pounding and I needed something simple and soothing. It is velvety and rich and I liked the sweeter bites of shrimp and peas, mixed in the savory broth. I tend to order egg drop soup in Chinese restaurants as it reminds me of family dinners at a very Americanized Chinese restaurant in Portland that my mom and dad loved. I forget how easy it is to make this fridge/pantry soup at home and I will definitely make it again.

The deadline for this round of CTB is tody, March 31st and Claudia be rounding up the entries on the Cook the Books site soon after. If you missed this round and like food, books, and foodie books, join us for February/March when we'll be reading Buttermilk Graffiti, hosted by Debra of Eliot's Eats. 

Since we are on a soup kick and this was our last week cooking with Ruth Reichl at I Heart Cooking Clubs, and I didn't get a chance to make a dish to say Goodbye Ruth with, here are five great soups I cooked with her:

 
First, so good I made it twice, her Avgolemono Soup: 

 
Classic Congee:

 
The retro Cream of Watercress Soup

 
Another retro find, Eggplant Soup Parmigiana

And finally, her Hot Vegetarian (Vegan) Vichyssoise:
 

It was a delicious six months! I look forward to cooking more with Ruth and all of our past featured chefs at IHCC when we celebrate our Ten-Year: All Chefs Edition. Hope you join in the fun! 
 

  
And, last but not least, we have one guest in the Souper Sunday kitchen this week, let's see what she brought...

Angela of Mean Green Chef shares Robust Cabbage Soup and says, "Healthy Robust Cabbage Soup, a full-flavored bowl that’s healthy and light. Super easy to prepare and totally versatile you can add more veg or even some roasted chicken if you want to! You’ve probably seen a lot of cabbage soup recipes for weight loss due to the fact its low calorie. Which is a great benefit, but we also love the full-on taste from sauteing which really helps to develop a serious punch of flavor!"

Thanks for joining in, Angela!

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 to Souper Sundays 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 (completely optional).

An InLinkz Link-up

Have a happy, healthy week!
 

The Book Tour Stops Here: A Review of "Within These Lines" by Stephanie Morrill, Served with a Recipe for Grilled Eggplant with Orange-Miso Sauce

I am very excited to be today's stop on the TLC Book Tour for Within These Lines by Stephanie Morrill, a touching and absorbing young adult World War II novel. Accompanying my review is a recipe inspired by my reading, Grilled Eggplant with Orange-Miso Sauce. 

Publisher's Blurb:

From Stephanie Morrill, author of The Lost Girl of Astor Street, comes Within These Lines, the love story of a girl and boy torn apart by racism during World War II.
 
Evalina Cassano’s life in an Italian-American family living in San Francisco in 1941 is quiet and ordinary until she falls in love with Taichi Hamasaki, the son of Japanese immigrants. Despite the scandal it would cause and that inter-racial marriage is illegal in California, Evalina and Taichi vow they will find a way to be together. But anti-Japanese feelings erupt across the country after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Taichi and his family are forced to give up their farm and move to an internment camp.
 
Degrading treatment makes life at Manzanar Relocation Center difficult. Taichi’s only connection to the outside world is treasured letters from Evalina. Feeling that the only action she can take to help Taichi is to speak out against injustice, Evalina becomes increasingly vocal at school and at home. 

Meanwhile, inside Manzanar, fighting between different Japanese-American factions arises. Taichi begins to doubt he will ever leave the camp alive.
With tensions running high and their freedom on the line, Evalina and Taichi must hold true to their ideals and believe in their love to make a way back to each other against unbelievable odds.

Hardcover: 352 Pages

Publisher: Blink (March 5, 2019)

My Review: 

I think it took me all of 30 seconds to sign up for this tour when I saw the email about it. If you ever read my reviews, you know that World War II historical fiction is a passion of mine and the mention of the Manzanar Relocation Center made me think of Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston, one of my favorite young adult memoirs. Starting in junior high, I checked that book out regularly for years until I bought my own copy. Several years ago I was thinking of it again and bought myself another copy (mine long since gone) at the library bookstore. The sheer horror of the U.S. government interning Japanese Americans in internment camp with Executive Order 9066 is something that pains me and our recent political climate makes the mistakes from the past chillingly relevant today. Although Within These Lines is a novel, it is based on fact, and Taichi and the Hamasaki’s experiences in the internment camps are gripping and moving.

The heart of the story is the relationship between Evalina and Taichi, in a hidden relationship already when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor on December 7. 1941. The book starts three months after the attack, when anger at the Japanese is erupting and the government begins the process of moving families of Japanese descent to the camps. Evalina, an Italian-American and Taichi, a Japanese-American would have faced challenges even before the war, with most states having miscegenation laws prohibiting marriage between different races, but after the attack the odds seem insurmountable. Although a romance, the book is really about the characters and their personal growth—particularly Evalina, as she begins to find her voice. It is poignant and had me tearing up a few times, but there is hope in the pages too.

Within These Lines is well researched and well written, with the mostly fictional characters seamlessly blending with actual people interned at Manzanar. Stephanie Morrill wrote so vividly that I felt like I could see Manzanar and feel the intense winds and grit of the constantly blowing sand. Northern California during the WWII era comes alive too, and I could feel the desperation of the characters and the anger and bigotry against them by so many, as well as the hearts of those who tried to help them. Although written primarily for young adults, it’s a novel equally appropriate for adults. My only complaint is that the ending felt a bit rushed and I wanted to know more about the characters—main and supporting and learn more details about their lives after the war. Morrill writes in the afterword about her research and her inspiration for the book and that gave me more books to explore on this important part of our history that should be remembered and never repeated.

 
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Author Notes: Stephanie Morrill is the creator of GoTeenWriters.com and the author of several young adult novels, including the historical mystery, The Lost Girl of Astor Street. Despite loving cloche hats and drop-waist dresses, Stephanie would have been a terrible flapper because she can’t do the Charleston and looks awful with bobbed hair. She and her near-constant ponytail live in Kansas City with her husband and three kids. 

Connect with Stephanie on her website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Food Inspiration: 

The food in Within These Lines reflects the times, both in the San Francisco setting where Evalina’s Italian family owns a restaurant and the Hamasaki family grew produce, and in the Manzanar Relocation Center where the Hamasaki family is relocated to, and where Taichi works in the kitchen in his housing block. Mentions included jars of olives, strawberries, lettuce, asparagus, eggplant and blackberries, marinara sauce with veal and beef meatballs, onions and tomatoes, eggplant parmesan, tangerines, lemon bars and tea, mochi, chicken salad and egg salad sandwiches, gnocchi, linguine with clam sauce, Vienna sausages and bologna sandwiches with a side of rice and canned peaches, chicken with brown sauce , stew, deep-fried rice balls rolled in sugar, lemonade, lasagna, meat ball sandwiches, fresh mozzarella, carrot sticks, spinach, blueberries and strawberries, oatmeal, scrambled eggs, fennel, tomatoes and lemons, fish, cranberries, and rice pudding.

I thought about making mochi as the Hamasaki family eats it for breakfast on the day they are relocated to the camp. I also considered something with blackberries—Evalina’s favorites, or rice since it is a part of both Italian and Japanese cuisines or some type of Italian-Japanese fusion dish. Ultimately I decided that I needed to include the oranges that are mentioned several times in the book. Mrs. Ling, a vendor of Chinese descent who sells produce in the farmers market along side the Hamasakis, gives one to Evalina and tells her it is for luck. She says that oranges are the perfect fruit as they are the easiest to share, and Evalina and Taichi share them a few times throughout the book. When I was Googling orange recipes I found one for a Orange-Miso Sauce from Eating Well magazine. I liked the Japanese-leaning ingredients and that it was served over eggplant—used frequently in both Japanese and Italian recipes.

When I was at the grocery store, I saw some locally-grown eggplant, not as long as a Japanese eggplant and not as round as an Italian eggplant, and labeled “hapa” –which is literally translated in Hawaiian to “part” or “mix” and refers to a person of mixed ethnic heritage. That seemed like a perfect fit for a dish for Taichi and Evalina. 

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Eating Well says, “Mild, nutty flaxseed oil, the richest plant source of omega-3 fatty acids, provides the perfect base for salty miso and sweet orange juice. This sauce is delightful over grilled eggplant, fish and chicken or used as a salad dressing.”

Orange-Miso Sauce

Recipe by Jim Romanoff via EatingWell.com

(Makes about 3/4 Cup)

1/2 cup sweet white miso

1 Tbsp orange zest

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup flaxseed oil or canola oil

1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger

1 Tbsp rice vinegar

1 tsp mirin, (optional)

Combine miso, orange zest and juice, oil, ginger, rice vinegar and mirin (if using) in a small bowl and whisk until thoroughly blended.

 

Notes/Results: The sauce's orange & miso pairing is really good, especially with the addition of the rice wine and mirin and I liked the pairing with the eggplant. I am taking the leftover eggplant with some cooked shrimp to work for lunch as I think the sauce will pair well with seafood too. Rather than whisk my sauce, I did it the cheater's way and pulsed it in my blender. You must like orange and miso for this one, as the flavors come through predominately, but it worked for me and is an easy, almost pantry sauce as I usually have everything, including an orange or two, available. I will definitely make it 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 "Within These Lines" 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.

 

Mark Bittman's Simple Miso Soup with Tofu, Mushroom, & Noodles for Souper (Soup, Salad, & Sammie) Sundays

I pretty much always have miso paste in my fridge--usually more than one kind and love to stir up some easy miso soup when my body and soul is craving it. Sometimes I make a dashi stock, other times I use broth or water. Toppings and add-ins are whatever I have on hand. When Mark Bittman's email newsletter featured an article on miso and its many uses last week, he had me craving a simple Miso Soup.

Mark Bittman says, "With all due respect to packaged ramen, this is probably the best “instant” soup there is. At its simplest (which it is here), miso soup is basically tea: miso whisked with water. Add on if you like. Tofu and scallions are traditional, but do what you want: carrots, peas, beans, greens, sea greens, and so on, or soaked Asian noodles, chopped leftover cooked meat or seafood, or a couple cooked scrambled eggs stirred in right before serving." 

I made a few small changes--adding a light non-chicken bouillon paste for flavor and whirring my miso paste and hot water into the blender instead of whisking, and adding fresh yaki soba noodles and mushrooms to the tofu to make it more of a meal  

Miso Soup

Slightly Adapted from How to Cook Everything: The Basics, via MarkBittman.com
(Serves 4)

1/3 cup any miso (I used mellow white miso)
1/2 lb any tofu, cut into small cubes
4 scallions, chopped
I added 1 Tbsp low-sodium non-chicken bouillon paste, fresh yaki-soba noodles and sauteed Bunashimeji (Beech Mushrooms) mushrooms

Put 6 cups water in a large pot over medium heat. When steam rises from the surface of the liquid and small bubbles appear along the edges of the pot, ladle 1 ⁄ 2 cup of the water into a small bowl with the miso and whisk until smooth.

Lower the heat under the pot to medium-low and add the miso slurry; stir once or twice, then add the tofu if you’re using it. Do not let the mixture boil; let it sit for a minute or two to heat the tofu through. Stir in the scallions and serve.
 

Notes/Results: Nourishing, delicious, satisfying--it's comforting chicken soup for the non-chicken eater. It's even better with a light drizzle of toasted sesame oil. I'll be eating it thins week, changing in the add-ins and toppings with egg, rice, and other veggies--really anything goes. Quick and easy, I'll definitely keep making miso soup.

Linking up at I Heart Cooking Clubs where it's March Potluck! --our chance to cook any recipe from any of our 19 featured chefs. Speaking of featured chefs, we finish cooking with Ruth Reichl at the end of the month and rather than picking a new chef to cook with for six months, we will be cooking with all nineteen chefs to celebrate our ten year anniversary. Hope you join in the fun! 

 
 Let's take a look into the Souper Sunday kitchen...

A big Souper Sundays welcome to Angela of Mean Green Chef who joins us for the first time with a classic, Mexican Tortilla Chicken Soup. She says, "Our authentic Mexican Tortilla Chicken Soup is a favorite in our kitchen. It’s easy, bright and totally satisfying! ... Use any of your favorite Mexican toppings, the only component that is an absolute must are the crispy tortilla strips. Trust me, they’re so much better than store-bought chips, really making this Mexican Soup pop with flavor and originality! They come with one caveat though, they’re extremely addicting! We use a blend of white and yellow corn tortillas, fry them up till golden and then hit them with a pop of Pink Himalayan sea salt."

 
Tina of Squirrel Head Manor has me craving a fish sammie with her Panko Baked Cod Sandwiches. She says, "Flipping through my notebook of saved recipes I came across this Panko baked fish. It's easy and we like it for a filling no fuss meal. This of course inspired me to make it again. There were a few pieces leftover....but not enough for a dinner.  Simple solution and zero waste; have fish sandwiches for a hot healthy lunch. ...
Pop that fillet on a bun with sliced tomato and lettuce and you have yourself a filling lunch. We baked a sweet potato too."  

Thanks to Tina and Angela for joining me 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 to Souper Sundays 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 (completely optional).

An InLinkz Link-up

 Have a happy, healthy week!
 

The Book Tour Stops Here: A Review of "Where the Forest Meets the Stars" by Glendy Vanderah, Served with a Recipe for Cheesy Cauliflower

I am very excited to be today's stop on the TLC Book Tour for Where the Forest Meets the Stars, the debut novel by Glendy Vanderah. Accompanying my review is a bowl of very Cheesy Cauliflower, inspired by the book and the mysterious child, Ursa. 

Publisher's Blurb:

In this gorgeously stunning debut, a mysterious child teaches two strangers how to love and trust again.

After the loss of her mother and her own battle with breast cancer, Joanna Teale returns to her graduate research on nesting birds in rural Illinois, determined to prove that her recent hardships have not broken her. She throws herself into her work from dusk to dawn, until her solitary routine is disrupted by the appearance of a mysterious child who shows up at her cabin barefoot and covered in bruises.

The girl calls herself Ursa, and she claims to have been sent from the stars to witness five miracles. With concerns about the child’s home situation, Jo reluctantly agrees to let her stay—just until she learns more about Ursa’s past.

Jo enlists the help of her reclusive neighbor, Gabriel Nash, to solve the mystery of the charming child. But the more time they spend together, the more questions they have. How does a young girl not only read but understand Shakespeare? Why do good things keep happening in her presence? And why aren’t Jo and Gabe checking the missing children’s website anymore?

Though the three have formed an incredible bond, they know difficult choices must be made. As the summer nears an end and Ursa gets closer to her fifth miracle, her dangerous past closes in. When it finally catches up to them, all of their painful secrets will be forced into the open, and their fates will be left to the stars.

Hardcover: 332 Pages

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (March 1, 2019)

My Review:

I signed up for this book based on the description and somewhat on the comparison to The Snow Child, a book that I want to read, but I confess, still sits on my Kindle--unread after several years. Although I can't speak to the comparison being accurate, I can tell you that I very much enjoyed Where the Forest Meets the Stars and that it is a beautifully written book that had me fully caught up in the story and characters and kept me turning the pages. 

Magical realism can be tough to write without it traveling over to the unbelievable, too much woo-woo side, and for me, Glendy Vanderah had a deft touch that had me truly wanting to believe that Ursa really comes from the stars, or at least has something magical about her. She is a special character, wise beyond her years, funny and engaging, and that makes it easy to imagine why a practical scientist would keep her hidden and why a hurting, reclusive neighbor would help her. I also liked Jo and Gabe and how they come together with Ursa, the trio forming bonds as each works through the hurts and damages that life has given them. The story had me smiling and tearing up in almost equal parts as Ursa looks for her five miracles--things that other people might overlook in the search for something bigger, but that a child (whether human or from another world), would see the beauty and magic in. Although I have not spent time in the rural areas of Southern Illinois, the author brings the settings with the rustic rented cottage, the forest and landscape surrounding it, and Jo's bird study sites to life beautifully. Where the Forest Meets the Stars is a special book, one that I found easy to curl up and get lost in, and one that I wanted to go back to after I finished, to spend more time with the characters. I can't wait to see what Glendy Vanerah writes next. 

If you would like to win a copy of Where the Forest Meets the Stars and you have a U.S. or Canada mailing address, head over to my Instagram account @DebinHawaii for a chance to win. 

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Author Notes: Glendy Vanderah worked as an endangered bird specialist in Illinois before she became a writer. Originally from Chicago, she now lives in rural Florida with as many birds, butterflies, and wildflowers as she can lure to her land. Where the Forest Meets the Stars is her debut novel.

Connect with Glendy on her website or Instagram.




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Food Inspiration:

There was a lot of food in Where the Forest Meets the Stars, much of it cooked over the fire pit at the cabin, including marinated chicken breasts and vegetable skewers, turkey burgers, toasted marshmallows, grilled mahi basted with butter and vegetable skewers. There was also apple cider, oatmeal, tuna sandwiches, trail mix, fruit, blueberry muffins, scrambled eggs with "green stuff" (aka spinach and/or broccoli), apple pie, leftover beans, rice, and chicken, coffee, cereal, pancakes with syrup, orange juice, peach and strawberry-rhubarb pie made with farm stand fruit, potato salad from Jo's mother's recipe, burgers, pork chops, applesauce, and green beans, Raisin Bran cereal, wine, iced tea, milk and cookies, pizza, Necco rolls, turkey burgers with sweet potato fries, turkey and cheddar sandwiches, omelets with Gabe's eggs, roast chicken and packaged bread stuffing, leftover green beans and corn, beer, cheese and crackers, fried eggs, English muffins and orange slices, tomato soup, a chef's salad, dutch apple pie and vanilla ice cream, a spaghetti dinner, chili and cornbread, egg sandwiches, roast beef, and sandwiches and lemonade.

I thought about the toasted marshmallows that Ursa loved or a potato salad like Jo's mom's recipe, but decided instead on Cauliflower in Cheese Sauce because Gabe brings it over for a dinner with Ursa and Joe and I liked their exchange...

"Gabe brought leftover cauliflower in cheese sauce for dinner. 
'Not yuckyflower!' Ursa said. 'Jo made me eat it last night!' 
'This has gooey cheese on it,' he said, and gooey cheese makes anything, even dirt, taste delicious.'
'Can I eat dirt instead?'"

and later...

"'Wow, a clean plate,' Jo said to her. 'Even the cauliflower is gone.'
'The cheese made it okay.' she said. 'You should do that when you make yuckyflower.'
'Thanks,' Jo told Gabe. 'You've set the bar way too high for my simplistic cooking skills.'"

Between Ursa's yuckyflower comments and the fact that my friend was talking about a keto-friendy cheese sauce she made that was giving me serious cheese sauce cravings, I picked it as my book-inspired dish. I like cauliflower already, but enough gooey cheese sauce (and I put plenty of the sauce recipe below on my steamed cauliflower) would make it palatable for a child or anyone who found it "yucky." 

Easy (Keto-Friendly) Cheese Sauce
by my friend Barb
(Makes About 2 1/2 Cups)

2 Tbsp salted butter
4 oz cream cheese, cut into chunks
milk, up to 1 cup
shredded cheddar cheese, up to two cups
(I added 1 tsp ground yellow mustard)
a few dashes of Tabasco, to taste, optional 
salt and black pepper to taste

Melt the butter over medium heat in a medium sauce pan. Add the cream cheese and stir until it has melted into the butter. 

Whisk in about 1/2 cup of the milk, turn heat to medium low and add about 1 1/2 cups of the shredded cheese, stirring until melted and smooth. At this point, you can play with the consistency of your sauce, adding more milk and/or cheese as needed, until you get a smooth, creamy, pour-able sauce. Turn the heat to low whisk in the yellow mustard and Tabasco, if using, and taste for seasoning, adding salt and pepper as desired.

Serve warm, with vegetables, eggs, or whatever you like. (I confess, I steamed a head of cauliflower cut into florets and just stirred it into my cheese sauce, but you can be more judicious and just drizzle or pour it over over.)
 
Notes/Results: OK, this cheese sauce, especially when you are lazy and use it all on a small head of cauliflower, isn't going to win low calorie or low fat health awards, but it is delicious. I'm not doing a keto or low-carb diet, but I appreciate a cheese sauce that is thick and creamy without having to use flour or cornstarch and bother with making a roux. I gobbled up a bowl for dinner the first night I made it and I have been enjoying the remainder-reheated with eggs on top and as a side dish for fish. I will happily make it again.

I'm linking up this review and recipe to Novel Food #35, hosted by my friend Simona of briciole, an event celebrating food inspired by the written word. The deadline for this round is Tuesday, March 26

I'm also 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 "Where the Forest Meets the Stars" 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.