I absolutely love tomato soup! It is a serious comfort food for me. I always order tomato soup when I see it on a menu and I decided that I needed to learn how to make it at home. After lots of trial and error I have found the perfect recipe for me. It is nice and fresh, with a little bit of heat that warms you right up! I like to serve this soup with Grilled Cheese, Wraps, or just by itself! I prefer my soup to be without the cream but if you want to you could add up to 1/2 cup of heavy cream to make your soup into more of a bisque. Slice the Onions. Chop up the Tomatoes. Chop the Basil. In a large pot, over medium heat, drizzle olive oil then combine the onion and the garlic and cook until the onion is softened. Add tomatoes, basil and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, and gently boil for about 20 minutes to blend all of the flavors. Remove from heat and blend until smooth using an immersion blender. Remove from heat and blend until smooth using an immersion blender. In a small pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour to make a roux, cooking until the roux is a medium brown. Gradually whisk in 5 or 6 ladles of the tomato mixture, so that no lumps form. Stir the tomato roux into the large pot. Season with cayenne pepper, black pepper, sugar and salt, and adjust to taste.
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I am not a fan of most seafood, however my hubby loves himself some seafood. I decided to try and make something fishy for him and I thought that the best thing to make would be Fish and Chips. (I like to pretend that I am eating fried chicken :) Something else that I am not typically a fan of is deep frying at home. This is an exception to that rule. I couldn't find any recipes for baked or pan fried fish that came close to being like the real Fish and Chips. So here is something that I never thought would come out of my kitchen: Fried Fish! IngredientsDirectionsMake the Batter: Sift 1 ½ cups flour and the seasonings into a large bowl. Pour the beer into the bowl and whisk until fully combined. Let stand at room temperature for 1-5 hours. Frying the Fish: In a Dutch oven, heat oil to 375 (ish) degrees F. *I pour most of the oil back into the container when I am finished cooking. I wrote "FISH OIL" on the container so that I can re-use it the next time I fry fish. I usually end up adding a little bit of new oil to the old oil until I have the right amount in the dutch oven. This saves me a ton of money! Pat fish dry and season both sides with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Coat the fish in the beer batter. Dredge the pieces of fish in the remaining ½ cup flour. Carefully slide into the oil and fry the fish for 5 minutes (until the fish has a deep golden color and is cooked though). Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain the excess oil. *Serve with Chips *Garnish with Lemon Enjoy!My dog loves playing with this homemade toy! She will push it around the house for long periods of time. All you have to do is fill it with dog food (no need to buy expensive treats). Sometimes I will feed her the entire meal using this toy. It gives her stimulation and she gets really excited when she sees it. The best part is that it is free to make and only takes a few minutes. Whenever you are finished with it you can simply rinse it out and put it into your recycling. Materials![]()
Directions1. Using the knife, cut triangle shaped holes in several places on the 2-liter bottle. 2. Fill the bottle with a small amount of dog food. 3. Give the toy to your dog and enjoy watching them play! Have Fun!My 2 year old came up to me this morning and asked me if she could do a new activity. Its raining outside so I had to come up with something to do indoors and I didn't want to spend a lot of time prepping something. I came up with this super simple activity that takes about 30 seconds to prep! The best part is that you can use up some of the stickers that your little one always seems to have. This simple activity is great for eye-hand coordination in toddlers and there are plenty of ways to modify it so that it is more or less challenging. Option A:MaterialsActivityStep One: Use the black marker to make dots all over the paper. Be sure to leave enough space in between each dot so that the stickers won't overlap. Step Two: Let your little one place stickers on top of each of the dots. Encourage them to do this activity slowly so that they practice making careful placements. Option B:MaterialsActivityStep One: Gather markers that correspond to the colors in the stickers. Step Two: Use the different colors to make dots all over the paper. Be careful to make the correct number of dots for each color sticker. Step Three: Let your little one place stickers on the dots. Tell them to place the "green" stickers on the "green" dots ...etc. Have Fun!Today I felt inspired to do a science activity with my two and a half year old. So I checked out Pintrest and decided that she would like to do a color mixing activity. I like this way of mixing colors because it is mess free and super easy. I really enjoyed watching my little one discover something new. She was so excited each time she was able to identify what color was being made! Supplies![]()
Activity PrepLabel each of the bags with the letters A, B and C. Fill each bag with a combination of two paint colors. Try to keep the different colors from touching each other in the bag. Also be very careful to fully close the Ziploc sandwich bags before giving them to your toddler! The paint color combinations should be as follows:
Activity DirectionsExplain to your child that you will be doing a science investigation to discover what happens when you mix two different colors together. Then ask them what they think will happen when they mix together the two different colors. Write their answer under "Question #1" on the Primary Color Mixing Worksheet and tell them that you will check to see if they were correct when the activity is finished. Show your child the first bag and ask them what two colors are in the bag. Have them color in the corresponding boxes on the worksheet. Then let your child push and squeeze the bag to mix all of the paint together. When they are finished mixing the colors ask your child to identify what new color was formed. My daughter got very excited when she realized that the color changes into a new color! Then have them color in the corresponding box on the worksheet. Repeat this process for bags B and C. Encourage your child to talk to you about what is happening. When you are finished remind your child of their Hypothesis and ask them if they were correct or not. If they were not correct have them explain what happened and replace the answer under "Question#1". Have Fun!In our house it is my amazing husband who is the master of breakfast! He is always making different delicious pancakes, waffles, and muffins. This Halloween he decided to try something new. He has made pumpkin pancakes in the past (they are my absolute favorite by the way). However he has never made pumpkin shaped pancakes! This was the first time he has ever attempted to make decorative pancakes and it was much easier than I would have thought. All you need is pancake batter, a squirt bottle and an idea! How to Make Pumpkin Shaped Pancakes!The first thing you have to do is fill your squirt bottle with your pancake batter. When your skillet is heated over medium heat you can begin building your pumpkin. First you draw the outline of the pumpkin. Next you draw two curved lines on the interior of the pumpkin. Finally draw the stem on the top of the pumpkin. Allow your pumpkin outline to cook. The goal is for the outline to appear darker than the rest of the pancake so it is important to let it fully cook. Once the outline is filled with bubbles you can fill in the holes with pancake batter. Try to guide the batter so that it fills in the missing parts without spilling over. (Although if it spills over that just gives it more character ;) Once the pancake is bubbling all over you can flip it and reveal your design! When you pancake is fully cooked you can top it with syrup and enjoy! Extra Credit:After about 5 pumpkins my hubby got bored and decided to mix it up. Here are some of his other creations! There isn't a dessert that can beat these classic chocolate chip cookies. They are the perfect item to bring to a party or toss into a school lunch! I am a fan of almost any variation of this cookie but this recipe is my personal favorite. It can be either soft and chewy or you could cook them a tad longer to get a crispy cookie. I tend to lean more towards the soft and chewy! My hubby and I are on the opposite sides of that debate with him favoring a crispier cookie! I also like to use M&M candies instead of chocolate chips. If you prefer you could replace the candies with a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips for a more traditional cookie. IngrediantsDirectionsPreheat oven to 325°F. Combine the egg, milk, and vanilla in a small bowl. Let the mixture sit on the counter until it reaches room temperature. While the egg mixture is coming to temperature sift together the flour, salt and baking soda in a mixing bowl. Cream the butter in a stand mixer. Add the sugar and the brown sugar and cream until the mixture is light and fluffy. Slowly add the egg mixture to the bowl of the stand mixer and mix until well combined. Slowly add the flour mixture, scraping the sides of the bowl, until thoroughly combined. Stir in the M&M candies until the mixture is thoroughly combined. Scoop cookies onto a lined baking sheet in heaping tablespoons. Leave 2 inches in between each cookie. If you have any extra candies you could dot the outside of the cookie dough balls for an added decorative touch. Bake for 11-13 minutes. ENJOY!I never used a recipe for cheese burgers because I thought that it was too simple a meal to mess up. Then one night after work I made hamburgers for myself and my husband. He was eating his meal and I could tell that something was wrong. I asked him what he thought of dinner and he said "what did you season this with?". That is when I realized that I hadn't seasoned with ANYTHING. I literally cooked plain ground beef, put it on a bun and served it for dinner. It was awful! Since then I have been using this recipe and have had a much better reaction from my husband! IngrediantsDirectionsDice the onion until you have about 1/2 cup. In a large bowl, mix together the beef, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, onion, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. I like to use my stand mixer so that I don't get my hands messy ;) Refrigerate the mixture for 2 to 4 hours. Lightly oil a skillet and preheat it on medium high heat (or use the grill). Form the burgers into patties. You can make them as big or as small as you would like. I usually make 4 hamburgers from this amount of meat. I have also made mini burgers for my toddler to eat! Cook the burgers for about 6 minutes, turning them once. When the burgers are almost finished add a slice of cheese and cover the skillet. This will cause steam which will help to melt the cheese! Toast the bun and then add mayonnaise and ketchup to the top bun. Place several spinach leaves on the bottom bun. I prefer to use spinach on my sandwiches because it is more nutritious. I always place them underneath my burgers so that the juices from the burger do not make the bun soggy. Add tomato and red onions and have a delicious burger! ENJOY!These are a family favorite! My daughter absolutely gobbles them up. I like these because they have Parmesan cheese in the breading with makes them super yummy. I recommend eating them while they are still hot because then they are gooey on the inside and a bit crispy on the outside! I also recommend letting your little ones help you out with this easy veggie side dish; even my 2 year old can do it! IngredientsDirectionsStart by slicing your zucchini into 1/4 inch slices. Mix together the bread crumbs, grated Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Place the zucchini slices in a small bowl and coat them in the olive oil. Press the zucchini into the bread crumb mixture. Fully coat the zucchini slices on both side. *This is the perfect activity for little ones! Place the breaded zucchini chips onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 20-25 min. at 450 degrees. Enjoy!For a while I was making enchiladas using the kit that you can buy in the grocery store. I knew that they weren't the best tasting enchiladas but they were relatively quick and easy. Then one day I decided to try out a new recipe for enchiladas and I have never looked back :) Even more exciting to me is the fact that my hubby gave this meal 5 stars last night, despite the fact that he has never really liked enchiladas before. If you are sensitive to heat then you can modify this recipe by omitting the chipotle peppers. Top these with whatever you like and serve them with rice and beans! Ingredients
DirectionsSeason the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. *The chicken that I had today was HUGE! Coat a large saute pan with the vegetable oil and set over medium heat. Brown the chicken on both sides in that saute pan until no longer pink. Remove the chicken to a plate and sprinkle with the cumin, garlic powder and Mexican spices. Allow the chicken to cool. While the chicken is cooling chop up your red onion and your peppers. Pull the chicken breasts apart by hand into shreds. *Because the chicken breasts that I used were so big I had way too much chicken. After I pulled the chicken I placed about half of it into a container in the freezer to be used the next time I want to make enchiladas! Saute the onions and the garlic in the chicken drippings until they are tender. Stir in the corn and the chilies. Add the tomatoes to the saute pan. Smash the tomatoes with your wooden spoon while you cook the mixture for a few minutes. Add the shredded chicken to the vegetables and cook for a few more minutes. Dust the filling mixture with the flour and mix it together, to help it set. Remove from heat and let the mixture cool down. Coat the bottom of a large casserole dish with enchilada sauce. Microwave the tortillas for 30 seconds to make them pliable. Pour some of the enchilada sauce into a bowl. Dip each tortilla into the enchilada sauce to coat it. Add 1/4 a cup of the chicken mixture in each tortilla. Fold the tortilla over the filling and place each enchilada into the baking dish with the seam side facing down. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the formed enchiladas. Top a generous helping of the cheese. Bake the enchiladas for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees. Garnish with the cilantro. (and any other toppings you like) ENJOY! |
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Photo used under Creative Commons from ViaggioRoutard