Serves 4!

Only 3 servings left!

I think I might have mentioned how Rachael Ray’s 30-Minute Meal recipes, in addition to being impossible to finish in 30 minutes, also serve way more people than the recipe claims. The cookbooks always say that the recipe serves 4. Above, you’ll see a picture of “Curried Vegetable Stoup” from Just in Time–after I’ve already eaten a bowlfull. That is, the humongous amount of soup you see in the Rubbermaid container should theoretically contain 3 servings.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. While I do love to cook, I would probably have more time for writing, sleeping and socializing with friends if I didn’t spend so much of it cooking. Still.

“Stoup” is Rachael Ray’s cutesy term for something that’s a cross between a soup and a stew in consistency. Yeah, yeah, I know. That’s why I don’t watch her television show, even though the cookbooks are excellent. It tasted good, no matter what you call it. And this recipe was vegan, too, so a good thing to serve if you have friends of that persuasion coming over for dinner.

Here it is in a bowl, with some pita chips on the side (no, I didn’t make the pita chips myself!).

I wasn’t keeping track of how long this one took. Roasting the beets takes a while, but that’s pretty hands-off. I suppose, in retrospect, making a roasted beet dish when it was almost 90 degrees outside was not the smartest idea.

Finally, from a few days ago:

This one is not for the vegans (or those counting calories). That’s a 1:1 mixture of heavy cream and whole milk, not soy milk. And yes, those are bits of bacon you might see floating around in there. This is “Harvest Creamy Corn ‘Choup'”, also from Just in Time. It was listed as a 30-minute meal, but took 1 hour and 2 minutes. I guess “choup” is a cross between chowder and soup, but really, it seemed pretty chowderish to me. I don’t think that this soup really required the invention of a brand-new word in order to adequately describe its physical characteristics.

I suppose I should talk about writing again soon, since, despite theoretically being my author website, this seems to be turning into Kristin’s Cooking Blog.