Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving. I didn't do any hosting this year but attended not one but TWO dinners! I think I could really get used to that. The overeating part though, can't get used to that and I have never heard anyone not say "I'm so full" after Thanksgiving dinner. I believe it's an unwritten rule, that everyone knows but no one speaks of, that one must eat enough turkey and stuffing to potentially pop the button of their pants. Then they must have dessert after that. The smart folks know not to wear tight pants while others, like me, hope that by wearing tight-waisted pants, I will stop once I feel pressure. Please, don't say it, I hang my head in shame, and next year I'm wearing a large elastic-waisted skirt.
My last post I wrote about my
garden harvest and today I have a recipe for you and your surplus of tomatoes:
Tomato soup.
Roasted tomato soup.
If you have good memories from your Campbell's Soup childhood days, this will obliterate them, kicking up a dust storm of red labels and tin cans. Those cute pudgy
Campbell's kids will beg to never have to hear another can opener.
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Happy New Year!
It is the time for new goals and resolutions. I haven't really come to any resolutions myself as of yet but I am looking forward to a sense of routine and having things back to "norm" after living through some renovations the last couple of months.
Now that my dining room renovation is mostly done, I have the desire to cook and bake again. December had my dining room table in my kitchen, my side buffet in the front room and various dishes and pots/pans strewn in every nook and cranny. I had no interest in maneuvering around everything. Let's just say that the month of December consisted of many sandwich lunch and dinners.
I have also had the desire for comfort food. I don't often make soups from scratch but I was really wanting a homemade version. New Year's Eve is where I made this spicy butternut squash soup for a large crowd of family and friends I was hosting. I love curries so red curry paste is a wonderful way to add some heat and lovely aroma to an already tasty butternut squash soup.
2011 was a good year but I am hoping 2012 brings even more adventures, challenges and exciting new endeavors. Hoping it's a good year for all of you too.
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I hear ya. What? Peanut Butter and ONIONS? Together? As a soup?
I'm not off my rocker. Though I had the same response when my hubby served it to me. "The kids LOVED it!" he said. I was a bit apprehensive.
My hubby hits the kitchen at times to try out various "different" recipes. Recipes that would not necessarily jump out at me from the "must try me!" category. Some are a major miss, some are in the meh category and others are a great surprise.
And I will tell you, go forth and try it. It's really good. Creamy, peanut-y flavored with a slight sweetness. The salty bacon garnish actually complements it. Yeah, I know, strange but it all works! It's like a Top Chef challenge and we won the quickfire!
Though, I have to tell you my hubby adapts EVERYTHING and isn't the greatest at using measuring spoons & cups. So, these are the measurements below, as best to accurate as I can pin him down on.
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Peanut Butter & Onion Soup
makes 4-6 servings
4 rashers of bacon
1 medium sized onion,
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup of peanut butter
1.5 cups milk
2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp sugar (adjust to preferred taste)
3/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
dollop of sour cream as garnish, optional
Fry your bacon in a pot over medium heat. When cooked, remove the bacon, leaving the bacon fat and add the onions. Saute onions until soft and starting to brown. Add the broth, peanut butter, milk, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper.
Reduce to simmer, and cook for about 15- 20 mintues more. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly so to puree with a handheld stick blender. Reheat if needed.
Garnish with sour cream and bacon that has been minced. Serve warm.
Recipe inspired from: Boiled Peanut Soup
I'm not one who makes soup often. Correction, I make soup, but usually from a can or a package. I suppose this is kinda humorous considering I'm into "from scratch" recipes.
But, why spend all that time making soup when you can get really great-tasting soups from packages and cans? I also consider soup to be a prelude to the entree, so I rather spend my time making the main meal. I know... poor soup, it's like a second class citizen in my home.
So, I compromised here. I "made" this soup but I used a store bought broth :) ALMOST entirely homemade.
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Broccoli Cream Soup
makes 8 one cup servings
2 medium sized carrots, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
3 tbsp oil
1 carton (900ml) vegetable broth
1/2 cup brown rice
5 cups of fresh broccoli, chopped
2 cups milk
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
In a large pot, cook carrots, onions and celery in hot oil for a few minutes. Add broth and bring to a boil.
Stir in rice and cook for 30 minutes, until rice is almost cooked. Add broccoli and reduce heat to simmer for another 10 minutes. Or until broccoli is softened.
Puree soup with a hand blender (food processor or blender).
Add milk and cheese and until heated throughout. Serve.
Recipe adapted from: No Cream Creamy Broccoli Soup, Kraft what's cooking Winter 2006 magazine.
Seeing Sharon's post on the
2009 chili cook off reminded me the recipe I picked up after a chili cook off many, many years ago. I can't remember when but probably a good 7-8 years ago. Geez, where has the time gone?!?
I adapted the recipe below for our needs, using lean ground beef, less sweet peppers and fresh tomatoes when my child's preschool had a chili dinner fundraiser for some 80 folks. A friend and I also catered a 100+ people event later on with the same recipe. It was well received both times.
When I make this recipe at home, I adapt it down to make a large potful. We eat it over two days and the rest goes into the freezer to eat for another time. It's never the same chili every time I make it because I tend to throw in a little of this or a little more of that. I'm not one to follow recipes very well unless it's baking (and sometimes never really then!) I'm a rebel without a cause... I'm like the James Dean of cooking.
Watch out, I got a whisk in my hand and I'm not afraid to use it!
Yeah, right... only in my dreams :) hahaha.
Thus, I'll leave you the bulk recipe to adapt for yourself too.
Enjoy!
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hangem' high chili
"serves 200 hungry cowboys or 150 hungry Albertans".
35 lbs inside round alberta beef
10 jumbo onions
3 celery stalks
30 fresh tomatoes, diced 1/2"
2 - 100 oz cans crushed tomatoes
3 - 100 oz. cans kidney beans
12 garlic cloves
10 oz. tequila
12 tbsp chili powder
8 oz. fresh oregano, chopped
8 oz. fresh basil, chopped
1 tbsp cumin
4 red peppers
4 green peppers
2 tbsp crushed peppers
Trim fat & dice beef into 1/4 " pieces. Dice celery,onions, red & green peppers. Heat skillet, add oil and saute onions, cleery and garlic. Halfway through add peppers and saute. Add tequila and remaining ingredients. Cook on low heat for approximately 45 mintues. Serve.
Recipe: Hangem' High Chili: courtesy of Coast Edmonton Plaza Hotel.
Sometimes I wonder why I live where it's cold. It's not like I love really hot heat (cuz I don't, I'm sure I'll complain in the summer when it's boiling) but I'm an in between type of gal, a Golidlocks if you must call me something. I like it not too cold and not too hot.
But, I'm stuck here for now. On the flip side, one thing about cold weather that is good is the wonderful comfort type of foods you can make when it's cold. Stews and chili, ciders and hot cocoa. Mmmmm.
I have to say, I thought this potato chowder was really tasty. I was licking up the spoon because of the wonderful roasted vegetables. I have to admit though, I felt I would have preferred it with some chunks throughout the chowder versus a complete puree. It almost reminded me of something I fed my kids when they were babies, except this was a LOT more tasty.
Even though it had great flavor, I just couldn't eat it the next day. I think it was filling and hearty but I just couldn't do the texture again another day.
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smoky roasted-potato chowder
makes 5 cups
10 baby red potatoes*
3 large garlic cloves, peeled
1 small red onion, cut into quarters
1 red pepper, coursely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp dried oregano leaves
1/4 tsp smoked paprika or 1/2 tsp regular paprika
pinches salt and pepper
10 oz (284 mL) can undiluted chicken broth
Preheat oven to 400F. Combine all of the ingredients (except for chicken broth) and spread into large rimmed baking sheet. Roast in oven until potatoes are very tender, about 30-40 minutes.
Put all roasted vegetables into large saucepan. Add chicken broth and add 2 soup cans of water. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to medium heat. Simmer and stir occasionally for about 10 minutes.
Puree soup in small batches with a food processor. Return into a clean saucepan and add more salt and paprika to taste, if needed.
* I didn't have enough potatoes so I used a small sweet potato, equivalent to 5 baby red potatoes.
Recipe from: Smoky roasted- potato chowder, Chatelaine Magazine, March 2007 Issue.
Another bountiful harvest. My hubby grew 3 lovely pumpkins and we enjoyed this soup twice already. Pumpkins aren't just for carving at Halloween, you know :)
In fact, my hubby made the soup and even took the picture above!
(I did tweak it a wee bit).
I find pumpkin soup to be less sweet than butternut squash soup but they are both rich in texture. It's a nice change from the "
mushroom soup, mushroom soup, mushroom soup" chant I get from the kids.
"
Pumpkin soup, pumpkin soup, pumpkin soup!"
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pumpkin soup
6 cups vegetable stock
3 1/2 lb. pumpkin, chopped
2 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, grated
1/2 tsp nutmeg
coarse salt, and freshly cracked black pepper
2 tbsp sour cream
Bring the vegetable stock to a boil in a medium pot. Add the pumpkin, onions and garlic. Simmer 20 minutes or until soft. Puree soup in a blender until smooth.
Return soup to the pot to reheat. Season the soup with nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Pour the soup into bowls. Swirl in some sour cream.
Recipe from: Pumpkin Soup, Food Network Canada
If we ever go out to eat (
so very rare, sniff sniff), we usually prefer thai and indian cuisines. The exotic tastes and ingredients are so flavorable and I find it so very hard to find easy authentic recipes to make at home. Either I am missing some of the ingredients or I've never heard of some of them or the recipe is just so labor intensive that it usually puts me off.
This recipe is awesome. It reminds me of an Indian dish and I have made this often. Every time I have made it, people have asked me for the recipe. It's creamy with a great spicy peanut butter taste. Sometimes I add a bit more peanut butter than the recipe asks :)
I have substituted different things in this recipe and it turns out every time. I either use fresh tomatoes or salsa because sometimes I don't have a can of tomatoes kicking around. Got extra veggies needing to be used up? Sometimes I leave out the potatoes and bulk it up other vegetables. Spinach? Kale? Chop it up & throw them in there! Shopping through your pantry is great!
It goes great atop a bed of rice or couscous. I've eaten it solely with naan bread or pita bread too. It's definitely made my "recipes I make often" list. Try it out, I'm sure you will make it more than once too.
I've been sick. The kind where you can't sleep at night because you can't breath through your nose and you think you might die from suffocation from lying down because your sinuses are so full. Yeaaaah, not fun.
The thing that sucks about being sick, other than the obvious miserable symptoms, is that you can't taste food. Everything is bland. Plus, you are usually trying to eat and breath through your mouth, at the same time, which I think it's an amazing feat. Major strategic analysis involved.
When I'm down and out, soup is a great comfort food. It's warm, easy to eat and really easy to prepare. None of this make your own soup base when you're sick, instant chicken noodle soup from a package. Works for me!
I tend to also beef up our chicken soups by adding vegies and more noodles. Feels more heartier and nutritious.
Sigh, I'm off to go blow my nose for the umpteenth time. boo hoo.
