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!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!This is my go to vegetable side dish. It is so easy to make this baked asparagus and it only takes about 15 minutes total. My favorite thing about this recipe is the fact that my 2 year old will eat this without it turning into a negotiation! We eat leftovers a lot at my house and I love that I can quickly make up some fresh asparagus to go with the leftovers. You can use any type of Italian cheese on this asparagus. I usually use mozzarella or grated Parmesan. IngredientsDirectionsPreheat oven to 350°F. Rinse asparagus and break off the ends. Place the asparagus in a row on a baking sheet. Drizzle the asparagus with olive oil. Use your hand or a spatula to fully coat the asparagus in the olive oil. Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the asparagus. Cover the asparagus with the cheese, starting below the tops of the asparagus. Bake for 10 minutes. ENJOY!My mom started making these tacos after she tried some tasty pork tacos at a small taco restaurant. She created this recipe that is very similar and extremely delicious! I love these tacos because the meat is cooked in the crock pot which is always easy. Because the meat is cooked for so long it doesn't take a lot of ingredients to create a flavorful taco. We usually top these tacos with a decent amount of cilantro which gives these tacos a wonderful freshness. I apologize for most of the pictures, i had very poor lighting. IngredientsDirectionsPlace the pork shoulder into the slow cooker, and season generously with the black pepper and salt. Cover, and cook on Low 5 to 8 hours until the meat is very tender. While the Pork is cooking slice the onions and the poblano peppers. Once done, drain the pork, reserving some of the cooking liquid, and shred the pork. Add the Poblano peppers and the onions to the shredded pork. Cover, and cook on High 2-3 hours. Add additional salt as needed. Warm the tortillas in a skillet, top with pork mixture and fresh cilantro. Enjoy!This is comfort food! I first had this meal at my parents church for Wednesday night supper and I told my mom that she needed to get this recipe. Once we realized how easy this casserole is to make; it didn't take long for us to start making this regularly. I absolutely love this recipe! It is perfect for a weeknight dinner and holds up well the next day for leftovers. Even my two year old gobbles this Poppy-Seed Chicken up! IngredientsDirectionsPreheat an oven to 350 degrees F. Dice the chicken breast and season with salt and pepper. Add oil to a pan and place on medium high heat. Add the diced chicken to the hot pan and cook the chicken until no longer pink. While the chicken is cooking mix together the Sour Cream and the Cream of Chicken Soup in a medium bowl. Add the cooked chicken and a generous amount of poppy seeds to the sour cream mixture. Spread the poppy-seed chicken mixture into a baking dish. Crush the Ritz Crackers while they are still in the sleeve by gently squeezing them with your hand. Top with the Poppy-Seed Mixture with the crushed Ritz Crackers. Pour the melted butter over the crackers. Sprinkle extra poppy seeds on top if desired. Cook in oven for 30-45 minutes or until the topping is golden. Serve the Poppy-Seed Chicken over rice. Enjoy!My hubby loves cookies. He prefers cookies to cake, but I love cake...mostly for the icing. So i have found the perfect cookie cake recipe. The best of both worlds! I have made this several times and it is always a big hit! The chocolate chips could be substituted for flavored chips or chocolate candies; the possibilities are endless :) Ingredients
DirectionsPreheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13 pan with parchment paper and grease the parchment paper. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars. Add the eggs, beating well after the addition of each. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix with a whisk. Add to the butter mixture, mixing well. Add the vanilla extract and mix well. Fold in the semi-sweet and white chocolate chips. Spread the cookie batter across the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake until the edges are golden and the cookie is set but the center is still slightly soft, about 25 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. You can easily remove the cookie cake by lifting the parchment paper and quickly moving the cake. If you want you can decorate the cookie cake with icing! I like to use this Butter-Cream Icing. Below are some pictures of the Birthday cake my daughter and I made for my hubby's birthday! Happy Decorating! |
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