Roasted Tomato Soup

It seems I’m a wee bit smitten with tomatoes. For years, I couldn’t stand them. I’d pick them out of salads, pull them off pizzas, avoid them at all costs. Then one day I gave them another try and I was totally in love. I’m still kind of picky - I don’t like really gushy ones, and I prefer them cooked, but lately I just can’t get enough.



My very favorite way to enjoy a tomato is through soup. I’ve liked tomato soup for ages - way before I liked tomatoes themselves. I’ve got a confession for you - I really love tomato soup from the can. As in, the red and white can. Oh yes, I eat way too much  canned soup in the fall and winter. I’d never attempted to make it myself because I wasn’t sure I could improve on that tin can goodness. Yes, I am a bit crazy. I did just say “tin can goodness”. To my credit, tomato soup and ice cream sandwiches are just about the only things I prefer store-bought.



When N.E.E.T. magazine asked me to contribute a “comfort food” recipe for their fall issue, the first thing I thought of was tomato soup. I was pretty certain they didn’t want a picture of canned soup though, so I finally gave homemade a chance. And guess what? It’s so much better than the other stuff. Totally surprising, right?! ;) I’m going to be making batches of this and freezing it so I can cut the sodium glut that is Campbell’s out of my diet!



I kind of had no idea what I was doing with the recipe, I was just guessing but it came out terrific. I roasted the tomatoes with shallots and added thyme, because I’m on a tomatoes & thyme kick. But you could add any herb you’d like.



If you’d like to try it out (and trust me, you do), head on over to N.E.E.T. (A lot of people were having trouble accessing the recipe, so I've added it below.) The recipe is on page 140, but be sure to check out the rest of the issue. It features recipes from two of my favorite bloggers Julie from Always with Butter and Stephanie from Desserts for Breakfast. If you haven’t seen their blogs, go now! Both are outrageously beautiful.

Roasted Tomato Soup
Serve hot or cold

2 pounds fresh tomatoes, a mixture of your favorites
4 shallots, peeled and quartered
extra virgin olive oil
herbs, thyme, oregano, basil, whichever you prefer
salt & freshly ground pepper
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/4 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 400f. Cut tomatoes into quarters, (if you’re using cherry tomatoes, leave them whole). Spread the tomatoes and shallots on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and herbs, gently toss. Roast for 30 minutes, or until tomatoes & shallots and brown and have caramelized.

Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Dump all of the pans contents into a food processor and blend until smooth. Slowly add in stock while blending. If you soup is too chunky for your liking, pour through a mesh sieve.

Pour contents into a large stock pot, add heavy cream and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

Garnish with pepper, herbs, and crusty bread, enjoy!

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Oven Roasted Broccoli

I beseech you: please make this for dinner. Tonight. It’s really delicious, ever so healthy and super easy. The trifecta!



I’m a huge broccoli fan, it must be said. I could eat it every day and be perfectly happy, but before last week (when I was camera-less!), I’d never even heard of roasting it! It’s quickly becoming my very favorite way to prepare it. During the roasting process some sort of alchemy happens in that hot oven, making the florets even more delicious than they were to begin with. They stay crunchy and crispy, more like fresh, but slightly caramelized in flavor. And the roasted garlic? Just puts it over the top.



So far I’ve tried it on pizza (with homemade alfredo sauce!) and baked potato, but the possibilities are endless. I bet it would be awesome with chicken, or even shrimp.



Oven Roasted Broccoli
adapted from Epicurious

1 1/4 pounds broccoli crowns, cut into florets (about 8 cups)
4 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 garlic cloves, minced
Large pinch of dried crushed red pepper

Preheat oven to 450°F. Toss broccoli and 4 tablespoons oil in large bowl to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Transfer to baking sheet. Roast 15 minutes. Stir remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil, garlic, and red pepper in small bowl. Drizzle garlic mixture over broccoli; toss to coat. Roast until broccoli is beginning to brown, about 8 minutes longer. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Chicken and Vegetable Soup

Oh Snow. It’s running my life these days. I don’t remember this much snow, ever. My dad tells stories of back in 83’ when he was driving a tractor trailer for a living, there was a winter like this. A couple of miles took hours, he said. I’m just not used to it. I like snow, I do. It’s beautiful, and so quiet. It softens all the greys and browns of the winter landscape, making everything bright and magical.

But when I can’t leave the house for days on end because the roads are icy and I can’t drive up the hill without sliding backwards, to be honest, I have a hard time being grateful for the stuff. Oh, and of course, it’s cold. Bitterly cold.



I’m trying to refocus though, and see the good. There is good. Like this beautiful blue sky I saw a yesterday, when the grey clouds cleared for a couple of hours:



And of course, all of this time indoors has lead to many hours in the kitchen. I’ve made lots of loaves of this bread, and turned it into fantastic pizza crust. I’ve made muffins, tarts, cookies and other yummy things. And today, I got out of my baking comfort zone and made soup. Delicious, healthy, clean out the fridge type soup. Just what I needed today to lift my spirits.

This is a highly adapted version of the soup on the January cover of Martha Stewart Living. It’s great because you can pretty much add anything you’ve got in your pantry or refrigerator. I roasted a chicken before hand and shredded it to make more of a chicken soup than a veggie one, but you could leave it out entirely.



Hearty Chicken and Vegetable Soup
adapted from Martha Stewart

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 medium carrots, cut into cubes
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 pinches of red-pepper flakes
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
5 1/4 cups homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock
1 1/2 cups water
2 Yukon Gold potatoes (about 12 ounces), cut into cubes
about 3 cups of fresh spinach
1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 whole chicken, roasted and shredded (I use this recipe)

1. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven or stockpot over medium-high heat. Cook onion, , carrots, garlic, red-pepper flakes, and 1 teaspoon salt, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add stock and water, and bring to a boil.

2. Add potatoes. Return to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered, until they are tender, about 15 minutes. Stir in spinach, chicken and chickpeas, and return to a boil. Stir in lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.

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Tortilla Soup!

It's cooled down considerably in the last couple of days, making the evenings too cool for open windows, officially making it soup season, which I love. There's nothing like a big bowl of steaming yumminess to warm you up.



Tortilla soup is one of my favorites, and this one is excellent. Everyone in my house loved it, my dad was scraping his bowl. Make it for dinner!



Tortilla Soup
from simply recipes

6 (6-inch) corn or flour tortillas, preferably a little old and dried out
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 small onion, chopped (1/2 cup (I used more like a whole cup))
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium jalapeño chile, seeded (leave a few seeds for spice), veins removed, chopped
4 cups chicken broth
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can of Rotel diced tomatoes and green chiles, drained
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt (kosher or sea salt)
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken ( I used more like 2-2 1/2 cups)
1 ripe medium avocado
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (2 oz) (or other mild, melting cheese)
Chopped fresh cilantro
1 lime, cut into wedges

If you are starting with somewhat old, dried out tortillas, great. If not and you are starting with relatively fresh tortillas, put them on a baking sheet and put them in the oven at 200°F for 10-15 minutes to dry them out a bit. It is best to start with tortillas that don't have a lot of moisture in them. Cut tortillas in half; cut halves into 1/4-inch strips. In 3-quart saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Fry strips in oil, 1/3 at a time, until light brown and crisp. Remove from pan; drain on paper towels. Reserve.
Heat oil remaining in saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook onion in oil 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add garlic and chile; cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir in broth, tomatoes and salt. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 15 minutes. Add chicken; heat until hot.
To serve, peel and pit the avocado. Cut into 1-inch slices. Divide half of tortilla strips among 4 individual serving bowls; ladle in soup. Top with avocado and cheese; garnish with remaining tortilla strips and cilantro. Serve with lime wedges.
Serves 4.

delish.

When I first tried out this salad, it was like heaven, all of the flavors go together so well and the dressing is AMAZING. Today I decided I wanted to make a version of it, minus the spinach (although it is amazing with the spinach, i just don't have any!).



So what I did was cut up some apple and onion, throw some honey roasted almonds on top and cover it when the dressing.



Simple and delicious. It would be a perfect side dish. Or whole meal, if you want something light. All I know is it’s totally worth eating.




So here’s what you’ll need:

1 apple, I used fuji
1 red onion
A handful of almonds, honey roasted works really well

Slice the apple and the onion, throw them in a bowl or on a plate, throw some almonds on top.

for the dressing:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 heaping! teaspoon honey (i like it sweet.)
a pinch of salt
some fresh ground pepper
some grated parmesan

Combine it all in a bowl and whisk! Pour it on top of the apples and enjoy.

potato soup

Oh, this soup. It’s so good. There’s nothing fancy about it, it’s just the epitome of comfort food.

Everyone in my house has been sick this past week, so today it was up to me to make lunch. You should never leave me to cook, honestly. Baking is my thing. The precise measurements that lead to the perfect cookie. None of that willy-nilly throwing things into a pot and hope they come out alright.



So, ever the baker, I looked around for the best potato soup recipe I could find. I ended up using this one from all recipes, and tweaking it a bit, for what I had here.

It came out amazingly! It was so delicious. I had two bowls, and now I’m feeling a little sick. It is SO filling. I doubled the recipe, but next time I’ll probably double the new one, it doesn’t seem to make that much, probably 7 servings.

Potato Soup

Ingredients:
6 cups peeled and cubed potatoes
1/2 cup chopped carrots
3/4 cup chopped onion
2 cube chicken bouillon
3 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1 pinch ground black pepper (same here)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups heavy cream
2 1/2 cups shredded cheese
1 1/2 cup chopped bacon


Directions:
1. In a large stock pot add potatoes, carrots, onion, chicken bouillon, water. Season with salt and pepper and simmer until vegetables become tender.
2. In a separate bowl mix flour and heavy cream. Once it is well blended, add to soup mixture and cook until soup becomes thick.
Stir in cheese, cooked bacon and simmer until cheese is melted.

If you can get it to thicken up enough, just add a little more flour. or cheese, if you want.

You should probably also load the top with green onions. Because green onions are good.



Just saying.