More flare food

The flare seems to be calming a bit. I can leave the house (i.e. the place with a reliable bathroom within sprinting distance) for more than an hour, I can make it to the bathroom at work without sprinting, I can even - dare I say it in a post largely concerning food and pictures of food? Oh yes - I can even fart again. You don't know what a pleasure that is until you lose it, folks. To fart without fear of pants-crapping is truly divine. Not exactly a G.I. Joe lesson, but one we IBD folks can carry throughout our lives and call on in time of need; like, say, someone does a aging Joe reunion movie sort of a la The Dark Knight Returns meets Bubba Ho-Tep meets To Riverdale and Back Again and in it Cobra Commander realizes he can finally achieve world dominance by stealing every last package of adult diapers and Imodium AD.

Anyway, I made more soup. These were a little harder on the gut than the chicken noodle, given they're comprised primarily of vegetables rather than broth, but the pureeing helped a lot. Also helpful: drinking a gallon of water or so with each bowl.

Both recipes are from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters, which I picked up at the library. If your library doesn't have it and you don't want to buy it, use Interlibrary Loan and get the most out of your local library. Ahem. To get back to the book, Waters has a lot of nice recipes, and a lot of good soup ones in particular. I made her Tomato Soup and her Leek and Potato Soup. I also made these after a regular eight-hour work day, if that helps. Although most of them are as it says on the can, simple, some of Water's recipes are more complex than others; but these two have really short ingredient lists and the chopping prep is the most time-consuming part.

A somewhat incomplete story told (mostly) in pictures:


Sautéing the leeks in butter.


Adding the bay leaf and thyme.


Adding the potatoes.

Unfortunately I got a little too hungry to waste time taking pictures, so that's all the documentation for the leek and potato soup. A. and I ate it over the week with toasted boule bread. Without further ado, here's the tomato.


I halved this recipe, so it only made two servings. Kind of a waste of time spent cooking, I suppose, but I'm not big on tomato soup and neither is A., so one meal is plenty.


Chopped onions and leeks.


Cooking with tomatoes, bay leaf and thyme.


Blending! I also ran it through a food mill after the food processor, to strain out the seeds and the peel. It was thicker than I would have liked; next time I'll add more water. A. and I ate this with grilled cheese sandwiches, milk, and another gallon of water.

The flare verdict for both of these was less than perfect. The leek and potato was easier on the gut than the tomato, but while I spent time on the toilet due to both them, I still felt more nourished than if I'd gone the chicken broth route.

Off to bake and cook the afternoon away. On the roster: ginger snaps, 60-minute rolls, and caramel sauce. I know, I know: why IS my flare lasting so long, you guys?