sorta homemade tomato soup

you know how i am on the search for perfect soup? well, i have always had a soft spot in my heart for tomato soup. i have also harbored a sneaking suspicion that i could do better than the stuff that comes out of a can. so i needed a dish to go along with chicken rollups (chicken, green onions, cream cheese- rolled up in a cresant roll), and i had two homemade tomato soup recipes that i had some of each... so i combined them and added what sounded good, and viola! sSSSSSoooo good. the cream takes the bite off the tomato acid and it is wonderful.

1can itallian tomatoes, diced

1can tomato soup

1/4 soup can of water + 3/4 soup can of cream. these amounts are debatable.

3T butter (told ya it was good)

1cup water + 1 cube ck bullion or 1 can of ck broth

1/2 tsp basil (or fresh stuff if you are cool like that)

1tsp sugar

pinch of pepper

i put it all together and let it simmer for a while (this is because jack needed help in the bathroom and i forgot about it), but too hot, and the cream will go weird.

and DONE! great for what ails new hampshire!

by the way, cream is my new ingredient that i have around all the time, just to add to stuff: soup, mac n' cheese, even eggs. it makes lots of stuff really good.

my vegetarian salad

In honor of Claire's birthday, here is a vegetarian dish that I made today and was pretty awesome. This called for cilantro, which of course i took right out. And the recipe was huge, so this is half, just right for 2 with leftovers. You mix the sauce and pour it over the other ingredients, then toss on the sesame seeds, but I didn't have any. It looks kinda crazy in the picture, but it was yummy, i swear! Here it goes:

Sauce:

• 1/4 cups Soy Sauce
• 1 T Sesame Oil
• 1 T Canola or veg Oil
• 1 T Rice Wine Vinegar
• ½ tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• pinch of salt and pepper to taste
• 
  
• 1/2 lb. spaghetti noodles, cooked and rinsed (called for wheat)
• A few Green Onions, Sliced, Divided
• 1/2 Red Pepper, Sliced Thin
• ¼ heads Red Cabbage, Sliced Thin
• 1 Carrot, Shredded With Vegetable Peeler
• 1 cup Shelled Edamame, Cooked
• 1/4 cups Toasted Sesame Seeds

And since I changed so much, if it turns out nasty, here is the original recipe.. http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/main-courses/last-minute-sesame-noodles/ i love claire!!

Black Bean Burgers

In honor of Claire's birthday, here is a vegetarian dish that was quite tasty.

1 (16oz) can black beans *rinsed and patted dry
1/2 green bell pepper - patted dry w/paper towel
1/3 onion, cut into wedges
3 cloves garlic, peeled
2 eggs
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon Thai chili sauce or hot sauce
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Mash beans in a bowl. Cut onion, pepper, and garlic into little pieces, add to beans. Stir together egg, chili powder, cumin, and chili sauce. Stir the egg mixture into the mashed beans. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Divide mixture into four or five patties, depending on size of buns. Grill for 8mins/side or bake at 375 for 10 mins/side.

Serve with any of the following: tomato, lettuce, cheese, avocado, salsa.

Holiday Mint Milk

1 c. milk
5 chewy mints, unwrapped
1 kid handful of raisins
cinnamon/sugar

Combine first three ingredients. Sprinkle cinnamon/sugar mixture on top until surface is covered. Stir in cinnamon/sugar until moistened. Drink with straw- no fork needed.

Kansas City Sue's Crock Pot Chicken

I got this recipe off of my new favorite cooking blog: http://www.melskitchencafe.com/. This recipe is not like anything I usually make, I'm not even sure what genre to put it in. American? Middle American? Anyway, it was tasty and easy and a good way to use up that cider vinegar left over from your collard greens.


4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 onion, diced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 cup low-sodium beef broth

In a large skillet, heat the butter/olive oil. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and cook them for 1-2 minutes on each side, until nicely browned but not cooked all the way through. Remove the chicken to the slow cooker. In a large bowl, combine all the other ingredients. Whisk well. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Cover the crockpot and cook on low for 6 hours. Serve with rice or noodles.

chow down, it's good for you!

This could set the record for the vaguest post ever. I went to a friends house to eat and they had the most delicious side dish/salad! Here it is.

sliced cucumbers

rice wine vinegar

pinch of salt

"some" sugar

That's it. They had a bowl of rice wine vinegar (2 cups?) w/ what i would guess was 2T? of sugar and a pinch of salt in it. Then we had a huge platter of sliced cucumbers. We took one with some chopsticks and dipped it in the vinegar and ate it. It was fantastic! I could have eaten them all night. They said they had them at a Vietnamese place and asked what the sauce was. Easy!

Wednesday Wars Cream Puffs

We made cream puffs in honor of reading "Wednesday Wars".

(They are on pg 137 of Grandma A's cook book) I have made 1/2 a batch before and they work fine.

They are easy. Behold:

1 C water

1/2 C butter or shortening (choose butter!)

1C flour

1/2 tsp salt

4 eggs

Some kind of good, gooey stuff and opptional powdered sugar.

So you heat the butter (good choice!) and water and salt to a boiling point and add the flour all at once, stiring quickly (it says "vigorously", but sheesh, don't hurt anything). It will thicken quick, but keep beating it and stiring it till it leaves the sides of your pan and balls up around your wooden spoon. Let it cool slightly, then beat eggs in one at a time (doing all 4 at once is hard!), beating each in well. You can use a machine- it makes it lighter.

Then drop by spoonfuls (the bigger the spoonful, the bigger the

puff) onto greased baking sheet. Spread 'em out - they puff.

Bake at 400* for 30 min (this is a lie, as mine were too dark by min 18). They just need to be dry and browned. Cool, cut the tops off, gut them if necessary, and fill with pudding, whipped cream, jam, a bit of syrup, sugared strawberries, etc. etc. They aren't all that great by themselves (no sugar to speak of), but they are the vessel to hold all the other goodness. We used instant choc pudding. Very nice.