Staple: Shakshuka Shakshuka Shakshuka!

Sooooo, this was delicious and easy and cheap and healthy. (And if you leave out the sugar- which I did-- meets the Whole 30 requirements, which I'm not doing, but a friend is)

I can already tell that it's going to be a staple recipe. It takes like no effort, it's real hard to screw up --like a soup is. And it's hearty and delicious.

I didn't really spice it much because I wanted to leave it up to my friend to make it to her level.

http://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/2010/07/summer-2010-travel-blog-shakshuka/

I also think it'd be interesting to try it with some spinach or some mushrooms.

This time I served it over pasta because it was what I had, but next time that crusty crunchy bread would be amazing.

I think next time I might try this variety:

https://www.budgetbytes.com/2016/04/smoky-white-bean-shakshuka/

I have now tried the budget bytes variety and I actually liked the first version better! The beans make it more feeling, but I like the more veggies more.

Keeper Recipe: Weeknight Black Bean Chili

http://www.budgetbytes.com/2015/02/weeknight-black-bean-chili/

I continue my quest to rule budget bytes apparently and also my trend of making everything a keeper recipe. I suspect as the year goes on, I'll take recipes out as keepers, but at this point.

Cost: Canned stuff can be pricier, but it's still cheap. 
Convenience: So easy to make. Hardest part is prepping the onion and garlic, everything else is just dumping in cans and measuring spoons of stuff and stirring it rarely.
Delicious: Waiting to see what it tastes like after a couple of days, but even one night later it's awesome.
Freeze: Dunno.
Uses: Super convenient hearty filling meal. Also could be great for having guests over when don't have time to cook or are doing it when they're there and not wanting to have to think about it. 
Notes: I made my veggie by only using 2 cans of black bean, 1 can light kidney, and 1 can pinto bean. This did make it soupier (added one can), so may consider draining one of them next time, but the soupy tastes good. This would be really good with the adds on she mentioned--green onion, sour cream,tortilla chips and such. Oh, and the diced tomato, I used the jalapeno ones instead of the green chile ones. Aaaand I didn't have oregano, so I used the italian seasonings because the first ingredient is oregano. 

Keeper Recipe: Spicy Coconut Pumpkin Soup

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmh
So I used the full fat coconut milk, which I'm sure makes this way less healthy, but it is fantastic. It's so easy, so delicious, and quite different

Note for next time taken from the comments section:
"We made this soup last night but didn’t feel like eating soup again tonight, so we threw it on top of some jasmine rice and added chickpeas, broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower for an instant curry. It was delicious!"





FAILED ATTEMPT ONE BELOW

I more or less made this soup:
http://www.budgetbytes.com/2011/07/spicy-coconut-pumpkin-soup/

It's kind of a less because I made some desperate changes:

1. I used zesty chicken spice instead of bouillon. Turns out better than bouillion needs to be refrigerated. It smelled and looked fine, but I saw the label on the top after I'd left it out for three weeks. And given the weather has been freakishly warm and they literally sometimes use broth to grow bacteria in labs... it hurt me, but I tossed it. And I refuse to go to the grocery store twice in one week. Can't. make me.

2. Grocery store was out of fresh ginger when I went (see note: can't make me go to the grocery store again), and I know the powdered doesn't taste the same at all.

3. I was trying frozen garlic, but it didn't smell very strong.

4. I was in the middle of doing laundry, so I didn't toast the cumin and red pepper flakes, I just dumped it all in.

5. Didn't have anything else to put the cilantro in, so used the whole bunch. Cause at that point, why not?

I list this all, so that when I say, it didn't turn out quite how I wanted, it's clear that it may not be the recipe's fault. The flavor wasn't right and I think I was expecting more texture (it's totally smooth excpet for the onion)--I'll see what I think of it tomorrow.

That said, this recipe is fast and SO easy and different, so I'd rather give it another go and see if I can fix it rather than just ditching it.


Cost: Cilantro, Coconut milk, and pumpkin are the big expenses. Not bad at all.

Convenience: SOOO easy, fast, and convenient

Delicious: This isn't great yet-- but I'm going to start modifying and/or actually do the recipe correctly. 
Although note, 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes will NOT make this spicy.

Freeze: Dunno, not finding out this time

Uses: SO FAST AND EASY. It's literally chop onions, garlic, ginger and toast those, then dump the rest in the pot and warm it up. If this could be delicious, it would be an incredibly easy recipe.

Notes: Ideas for modification: Follow the recipe!, Plain yogurt, sriracha, pumpkin or yam chunks, pumpkin seeds, coconut milk with more fat, fish sauce/lime/lemongrass/brown sugar? (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/146035/the-best-thai-coconut-soup/ )


Update: This recipe is definitely a keeper. I need to remake it how it's supposed to be made and then see what modifications, but I just made it worth having. I added sriracha, toasted sesame seeds, and tomatoes and it was quite good! Doing this right and with a few extra tweaks, this has real potential. I will continue to update with the modifications and when I redo this recipe properly with any regular modifications, I will redo this whole thing into a keeper recipe.

Modifications Tried
1. Sesame seeds, sriracha, and fresh tomato: mmmmh good, the flavor combo isn't right enough to be delightful, but good.

2. Didn't have any more tomatoes... but I did have some leftover sockarooni tomato sauce from the gnocchi. It was great!! It thickened it up just enough with only like a tablespoon in a bowlful. It did weaken the flavor some,but well worth it for fixing the texture. I'm hoping the bouillon would be able to do this too! I still might want to see about adding more veggies. Maybe one of the stirfry veggie bags in the freezer?