Original Fresh Tomato Soup

12 Jan 2020 • Food
Original Fresh Tomato Soup

Ingredients

  • 6-7 roma tomatoes (peeled and diced)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/4 onion (thinly sliced)
  • 2 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • liberal use of freshly crushed peppercorn
  • 2 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

Instructions

  1. In a medium pot on medium-high, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil. When warm, add onions, garlic, 1 diced tomato, salt, and pepper. Cook until onions are translucent (about 5 minutes).
  2. When cooked, set the contents in the pot into a bowl.
  3. Back to the pot, (still on medium-high) add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. When warm, add the remaining diced tomatoes. Cook until it starts to liquify (about 10 minutes).
  4. Slowly, add the vegetable broth, and bring to a boil.
  5. After being brought to a boil, turn the heat down to low. Using an immersion blender, blend the tomatoes until it is no longer chunky.
  6. Add the bowl of onion, garlic and tomatoes to the soup, along with the brown sugar. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.
  7. You can wait longer and it will taste better, or you can pour yourself a bowl.

Inspired by

This is not all too different from another recipe of mine, we call it, “The Sauce.” At the time of this post, I do not think I have posted that. Both are original. :)

Closing

If you have some homemade bread, make some grilled cheese with it. Then dip that sandwich in the the soup. It’s AMAZING!

I have attempted my hand at a fresh homemade tomato soup in the past, but I did not peel the tomatoes. BIG MISTAKE! You need to peel the tomatoes otherwise it gets this rather gritty texture that is less than desireable.

Also, I have only recently acquired an immersion blender. If you do not have one, you can use a food processor or blender, but the immersion blender works better.

What I like about this is that it has chunky tomatoes in addition to the tomato broth. Very satisfying, indeed!

So, dip (or spoon) away!

Cream of Chickenless Vegetarian Soup

29 Dec 2019 • Food
Cream of Chickenless Vegetarian Soup

Ingredients

  • 1 cup thinly sliced carrots
  • 1 cup frozen green peas
  • 1 cup small diced potatoes (if red or gold leave peels)
  • 1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1/3 cup finely chopped onion
  • 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
  • 1/3 cup oat flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper (I am a little more liberal on this)
  • 1/4 teaspoon parsley flakes
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2 cups vegetable broth
  • 2/3 cup milk (whole)
  • 1 15oz can of Great Northern Beans (undrained)

Instructions

  1. In a medium sized pot on medium-high, add carrots, potatoes, celery, peas, and water. Cook till vegetables are tender (about 15 minutes). Do not drain the water, keep this for the soup!
  2. In a large pot, on medium add butter.
  3. When butter has melted, add onions, cook till translucent (about 5 minutes).
  4. Add flour, salt, pepper, parsley flakes and garlic. Cook for about 2 minutes.
  5. Slowly add vegetable broth and milk. Reduce heat to medium-low, and cook till thickens (about 5 minutes).
  6. When broth has thickened add vegetables and beans. Reduce heat to simmer, cook for a minute or two.
  7. Serve!

Inspired by

If this looks familiar, it’s because it is! Essentially, this is the filling to the Chickenless Vegetarian Pot Pie recipe! There is a little added liquid, but aside from that, pretty much unchanged. I have been using oat flour in place of wheat flour as well.

Closing

What makes a great soup on a cold (or holi) day? A pie filling! What makes this even better? Some Italian Bread on the side!

Now, eating this in one sitting is a little much. I am uncertain how well this will keep in the fridge, so this might be a great recipe if you have a few guests over and you have other side items.

Try a cup, and it might turn into a bowl!

Mixed Berry Pie

01 Dec 2019 • Food
Mixed Berry Pie

Ingredients

  • 4 cups mixed berries (can be frozen)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 8 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
  • 6 tablespoons water
  • Two 9-inch pie crusts

Instructions

  1. Prepare the pie crusts
  2. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit.
  3. In a medium sized bowl, add in the berries, sugar, cornstarch, tapioca and water, then stir.
  4. In a 9-inch pie plate, place in the bottom crust. After pour in the fruit filling, evenly. Place the second crust on top, and crimp the two crusts with your preferred method. Cut a few slits on top and place in the oven for 15 minutes.
  5. Reduce heat to 350 and cook for an additional 45 minutes, or until golden brown (which if the berries are frozen may take an additional 40 minutes).
  6. Let cool so as not to burn yourself!

Inspired by

I followed this Raspberry Pie recipe. I add less sugar (I even went as little as a quarter cup in the past) and left out the added butter. I also, always used frozen berries.

Closing

A common holiday request. This was the first pie recipe I’ve ever made, many years ago (in fact I had this in a binder printed from notepad that I had copy-pasted! For this post I did find the original post). I originally used raspberries, but by request it was suggested I make it with mixed berries. I have not used any other since, because the mixed berries tastes really good and to be truthful, I’ve never seen a mixed berry pie before this.

What is nice about this one, is that there is little to no prep work. Often, you need to cook the filling, which is not the case for this recipe. Also, I have only used frozen berries, which is great because you never have to feel pressured to prepare the pie before the berries spoil.

This is always a pleaser, so give it a try!

Pie Crusts

01 Dec 2019 • Food

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups flour
  • 1/8 cup wheatgerm
  • 1/8 cup flaxseed
  • 1 stick cold butter (cut into small pieces)
  • 1 tablespoon sugar (if a savory crust leave this out)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt (if you used salted butter this may not be necessary)
  • 4-5 tablespoon ice water

Instructions

  1. In a stand mixer combine the flour, wheatgerm, flaxseed, sugar (if including) and salt. Mix the ingredients.
  2. Add butter and start mixing until starts to clump.
  3. Add water (you can start with the 4 tablespoons but I always found I needed the 5th) and continue to mix till just about into a ball.
  4. On a flour dusted flat surface flatten the ball to a disc with a rolling pin.
  5. When at desired thickness and width place in refrigerator till needed.

Note: About the pie crusts, many people dread making a crust. Overall, they are not too challenging, easier than making a yeast breads. Also, I know I am not preparing everything as suggested (such as letting the dough sit in the refrigerator for an hour or so before flattening, but I do not generally have the time, in addition, I have not had a crust that I did not like. Or maybe I am not too picky?)!

Inspired by

I adapted the following crust recipe which I did not follow to a T.

Closing

This is my goto pie crust recipe. You might notice that this was used (predominately) with the Chickenless Pot Pie. Since I am adding more pies, I figured a centralized post makes sense. If you’re making a savory pie, feel free to leave out the sugar.

Some might balk that adding nutrition seems counter intuitive to a fruit pie, but that’s what I do. I actually like the added crunch. :)

Curried Chili (Madras/Daal)

17 Nov 2019 • Food

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 onion (chopped)
  • 2 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
  • 3-4 roma tomatoes (quartered)
  • 1 15oz can kidney beans (un-drained)
  • 1/2 cup green lentils
  • 3 1/2 cups water
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • liberal use of crushed peppercorn
  • 2 tablespoons ginger (minced)
  • 1/4 teaspoon tumeric
  • 1/4 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon chili powder

Instructions

  1. In a medium-large pot, on medium-high, add olive oil. When warm, add onions and garlic. Sauté for about 5 minutes.
  2. Add tomatoes, and cook for an additional 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  3. Add kidney beans, lentils and water. Bring to a boil. Add salt, pepper, ginger, tumeric, cumin and chili powder. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 45 minutes, covered, stirring on occasion.
  4. Serve as is, with rice or even pasta.

Inspired by

I based off a Madras/Daal recipe. This was a second attempt at it, but this time around I followed less closely and went with more a chili expectation.

Closing

I, originally, started to make chili, but then I decided to give the madras/daal lentil recipe a second try. I did not enjoy it as much the first time as I did this time. It’s possible I was hoping it would taste like something else that I was trying to copy-cat. This time around, I held no expectations, so I think I enjoyed it more. Since I did not follow the recipe too closely, I did not feel it was a true madras/daal. Maybe it still is, but this was more like a soup than a sauce to be used with rice.

I did use pasta (spaghetti) with this (I prepared it on the side). It allowed for the complete protein. Yes, I know, chili does not use pasta, but I was feeling a little nostalgic and wanted something my grandmother used to make (minus the whole curry part)! Feel free to use rice as well.

This definitely hit the spot on a cold wintry day!