Quick Bites - Pea Soup With Carrots, Onions and Brown Rice
On my way home from the gym I realized that hunger was setting in so I decided that a nice warm soup on this rainy and chilly day in the city by the bay would be perfect. This is where I ended up breaking some of my rules. For the longest time I was a purist and would never think of using canned chicken broth or vegetables, but I wanted soup and I had no homemade broth in the freezer. So I bought 1 qt of organic free range chicken broth and a can of peas. After arriving home I noticed a 1/2 bag of mini carrots and a medium sized red onion in the fridge. They were both chopped and placed into a soup pan with all of the chicken broth, the peas and about 4 tbsp of brown rice. It took about 1/2 hour to get the rice to the proper consistency and when it was I used my hand blender to thicken the soup. Salt and freshly ground black pepper should be added based on taste. You will love this soup and it is so very easy to make.

I love Brussels sprouts and just happened to have a few left over from a recent veggie stop in Bolinas, a town in Northern California famous for its fresh produce.
If you are regular reader of RecipePhile you know that I always try to offer up simple solutions to cooking or throwing a last minute dish together. The other evening I had a few friends over for my bolognese, but at the end of the meal I realized that I had no dessert to share with my guests. So I headed to the friedge, grabbed some fresh strawberries and served them with goat cheese. The two were perfectly paired with one another and was a nice and light ending to a delicious meal.