Thursday, January 27, 2011

phun with phood phrases

Or, fun with food frases. I thought it might be fun to see how many commonly used 'food phrases' I could come up with.
Anyways...here are a few of my favorites:
walking on eggshells
don't open up that can of worms
no use crying over spilled (or spilt, depending upon where you grew up, I suppose) milk
I have egg on my face
after the fight, his face looked like hamburger
what a sour grapes attitude!
this won't amount to a hill of beans
when life gives you lemons, make lemonade
little girls are made with sugar, spice and everything nice (kinda like a good merlot?)
can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs (said during the middle of a crisis)
hey, sugar!
she's such a cheesehead
let them eat cake!
life is like a bowl of cherries
you are a peach!
I am going bananas
it's like pea soup out there

Can you think of any others??  I'd love to hear 'em.

And in honor of that last phrase, here is my recipe for Split Pea Soop.
My Nana Eleanor, the former Soup Queen of DuPage County, really likes this one.


Cover a hambone in water and add a bay leaf in a big stockpot. Boil until the water starts to evaporate and you are left with about half your original amount.
Strain your liquid, reserving it. Trim meat as desired from the hambone, (discard it after you are through trimming the meat off), and add to the liquid. Place the liquid and meat scraps back in the stock pot and add the following:

4 or 5 cans chicken broth (kinda gauge this from your meat stock you just made.)

about 1 cup dried split green peas that have been picked over and washed (sometimes little stones get in there!)

Let that come up to a boil and let it continue for at least 15 minutes. After that, bring the heat down so the soup is simmering. Watch that the foam from the fat of the ham doesn't cause a spill or a boil over-I usually cover it at this point, and keep a watchful eye over it.

While this is continuing to simmer, start chopping some veggies. Add them as you go.

1 chopped onion

2 potatoes, peeled and diced

2 carrots, chopped

at least 3 cloves garlic, chopped

Simmer until your peas are starting to impart a lovely green color to the broth. At that point they should be breaking down and disintegrating. If it is not enough, add more chicken broth. This will not detract from the richness at all.

This rocks with a loaf of garlic bread and a fresh green salad on the side.

Have fun, eat well, love lots,
~Antonia

2 comments:

  1. I know I'm "nutty as a fruitcake" and will sound "half-baked," but I thought I'd "butter you up" with a few phood phrases I thought of. You're the "apple of my eye!" LOL Love your blog...and am now craving Split Pea Soup! Comfort food.....mmmmmm.

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  2. Oh! Those are GREAT Corrie!!!!! Thank you!

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