Recipe: Tomato Soup

It’s not as fast as opening up a can of Campbell’s condensed, but it’s not too terribly time consuming either. It is definitely worth the upgrade in taste! After cruising some basic tomato soup recipes, I came up with my own…
I know, you’re in shock.


Tomato Soup
Ingredients:
1 Onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp. EVOO
4 Cups Chicken Stock (or veggie stock)
3 14.5 oz. cans tomatoes (stewed, whole, crushed, what ever)
1 Tbsp. dried thyme
1 Tbsp. dried oregano
fresh ground pepper, to taste
1 tsp. cayenne for a little kick

Directions:
Heat EVOO in stock pot. Add onion and garlic. Cook down until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add chicken stock, canned tomatoes, thyme, oregano, pepper, and cayenne. Simmer for 10 minutes. Puree ingredients (if you have a stick blender, then this is a breeze!). Taste for seasoning. Adjust if needed. Simmer for a few minutes to let the puree meld and you’re done!

This made 3.5 pints along with the 3 servings we ate for dinner that evening. If you’re a canner like me, you can process the leftovers and store in the pantry for later. Which makes it a lot easier than opening a can of condensed since you’re just opening a can of your own premade fabulousness!

Enjoy!

chuRROS

Odd looking, but still totally delicious!

One of our neighbors and good friends threw a Mexican fiesta over the holidays, and I was charged with bringing dessert.  There is almost nothing that I would rather have for a Mexican desert than churros….trust me that’s where my money goes when I’m at Disneyland!  But since the Magic Kingdom is nowhere near New Jersey and I’m not totally willing to spend $3.50 a pop to feed a crowd (myself maybe…but not others.  I need to work on sharing…), I thought I’d try my hand at making them.  I used this recipe here and it was so simple and SO easy.  The only thing I might change is to get a larger star tip, as mine was a bit wimpy and they came out looking a little wormy.  Still, these were so worth the effort and are definitely going to be a staple in my quick comfort food arsenal!

 

Tickle My Pickle

You got my pickle? I got your pickle! Get your minds out of the gutter… It’s time to talk pickles…















Since I have a few canning adventures under my belt now (apple butter, grape jam, refried beans), I figured it was time to give pickles a whirl. I love a good pickle, almost as much as I love bacon, so it’s about time I learned to make my own. As usual, my favorite canning book, Canning For A New Generation by Liana Krisoff was a great jumping off point. I can’t follow directions blindly, so I added some extra spice to the recipe on one of the pints to see how much better it would be.

As usual, Liana gives great tips, like pasteurizing (heating the jars in water at 180 degrees for 30 minutes) rather than processing in boiling water for a shorter period means you’ll end up with crispier pickles.

Honeyed Bread and Butter Pickles with a Kick
makes 3 pint jars

Ingredients
1.5 lbs pickling cucumbers (3 to 4” long), cut into 1/4” rounds
1 small onion, thinly sliced into half circles
1/8 cup plus 1.5 tsp pure kosher salt
1 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
1.5 tsp celery seeds
1 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
3 cups cider vinegar (5% acidity)
3/8 cup honey
3/4 tsp turmeric
3/4 tsp dry mustard powder

Directions
Put the cucumbers & onions in a large bowl & toss with 1/8 cup salt. Cover with a layer of
ice cubes and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

 

Pick out unmelted ice, drain well, and rinse under cold running water. Toss with mustard seeds, celery seeds, and red pepper flakes.
Set aside.





In a nonreactive pot, combine vinegar, 3/4 cup water, honey, turmeric, mustard powder, and remaining 1.5 tsp salt. If pasteurizing, bring the mixture to 160-180 degrees on a candy thermometer.







Carefully pack the cucumbers and onions into prepared jars (not too tightly). Ladle the hot vinegar mixture into the jars, leaving 1/2” headspace at the top. Use a chopstick to remove air bubbles around the inside of each jar. Use a damp paper towel to wipe the rims
of the jars, then put a flat lid and ring on
each jar until its finger tight.
 


Pasteurize the jars in the canning pot – water in the pot at 180 degrees for 30 minutes.
Remove the jars to a folded towel and do not disturb for 12 hours. After 1 hour, check that the lids have sealed by pressing down on the center of each flat lid. If you can push down the center, the jar didn’t seal and it should be refrigerated immediately. Ta-Da! You’re done!

These didn’t last very long in our house… Next time I’ll probably double the recipe so I have some to share. And maybe add another pinch or two of red pepper flakes for some extra heat.

Recipe: Baby Back Ribs

I’m a big baby back rib fan. BIG. HUGE! And we are BBQ lovers in general around here. So when I see a brisket or a rump roast or a rack of ribs on sale, I try to snag them up. The catch of the day was baby backs. Yum! I’ve tried a few recipes now, and so far my favorite was good ol’ TyFlo’s that I shared with you last year. It was time to try something a little different. How about Alton Brown’s Who Loves Ya Baby-Back? Sure! And I love a chance to make a rub, wet or dry, and make extra to use for something random later when a boring old chicken breast needs a little pizzazz.

I will forewarn you that this recipe is only time consuming because of the cooking time. Ribs are best when cooked low and slow. However, that’s the only time consuming part. The time spent actually touching the food is very minimal. This is a great Sunday dinner meal where you can just hang out at home, watching a little footyball and wandering into the kitchen every hour or so to move something & you’re done. These are my favorite kind of recipes! Low maintenance and minimal dishes! Score!

Oh, and this recipe has an inadvertent Heather twist because I didn’t have the jalapeno seasoning for the dry rub. It’s still just as tasty, and probably took out some of the spicy factor by omitting the jalapeno seasoning… which is good when you cook like me – One meal for the whole family.

Alton Brown’s Who Loves Ya Baby-Back? Ribs

with a Heather Twist

Ingredients
2 slabs of baby back ribs

Dry Rub Ingredients
8 tablespoons brown sugar, tightly packed
3 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon rubbed thyme
1/2 teaspoon onion powder

Braising Liquid
1 cup white wine
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon honey
2 cloves garlic, chopped


Directions
Preheat oven to 225 degrees.

In a bowl, combine all dry ingredients and mix well. Place each slab of baby back ribs on a piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil, shiny side down. Sprinkle each side generously with the dry rub. Pat the dry rub into the meat. Refrigerate the ribs for a minimum of 1 hour. In a microwavable container, combine all ingredients for the braising liquid. Microwave on high for 1 minute.

Place the ribs on a baking sheet. Open one end of the foil on each slab and pour half of the braising liquid into each foil packet. Tilt the baking sheet in order to equally distribute the braising liquid. Braise the ribs in the oven for 2 1/2 hours.

Transfer the braising liquid into a medium saucepot. Bring the liquid to a simmer and reduce by half or until of a thick syrup consistency. Brush the glaze onto the ribs. Place under the broiler just until the glaze caramelizes lightly. Slice each slab into 2 rib bone portions. Place the remaining hot glaze into a bowl and toss the rib portions in the glaze.







That’s it! Slice them up and serve! Can you see how excited this crazy dude is to eat? And as you can see, I made my life even easier by making Kraft Mac n’ Cheese spirals as a side. Delicious Lazy Sunday dinner… Check!

Working food

Now that Lani and I have several weeks of working full time under our belts, we’re slowly getting the balance down… slowly. Admittedly we’ve eaten out more than I would like, but it’s been wicked hot here in Orange County. It’s September for crying out loud and it’s over 90 degrees! What?! So… coming home at 5:15pm to fire up the range for dinner is not my idea of a good time when its easily 80 degrees inside my house.


Enter the deal on Living Social for Farm Fresh To You I snagged a couple months ago. Getting food delivered to my door step sounded pretty fab! Save me a trip to the super market?! Yes, please! Bonus points for everything being all organic. I’m not a super-organic-all-the-way girl. I buy a few things here and there. Hubby and I were pleasantly surprised by how much better everything tasted. The cucumbers – AMAZING! Tomatoes – to die for! Donut peaches – we’ve never heard of or had before, but they were gone in a day! I managed to sneak a bite of the very last one before Will wolfed it down (they’re the white ones with a little red/pink).

We got a “Regular Mixed” box. It’s a great assortment of fruits and veggies for $31.50. After a box every other week for a month, it forced us to try some new things I’d never seen or heard of. It’s always good to step outside the box… ha! The nice thing is that you can tell them fruits or veggies that you don’t like, so they’ll replace that item with something you do like. No beets allowed in our box, please! And I love that our delivery arrives before I head to work Thursday morning, which means I can take it all out, wash what needs to be washed before putting it away. I can even munch on a donut peach on my way to work that morning.

I guess heirloom tomato picking was good for a few weeks because we ended up with quite a few. Other than a few slices on our sandwiches or salads, I wasn’t really sure what else to do with them. They’re so tasty and it would be a shame for them to go bad before we could eat them. Hubby suggested some kind of Tomato Pie or casserole. Lo and behold Paula Deen has a recipe for Tomato Pie! Hubby gets full credit for making the Tomato Pie and even did the alterations I wanted to make as well as his own! I pinned this Chobani substitution chart and love checking to see what I can sub-out of a recipe and replace with some Greek yogurt. I printed it and keep it on the fridge. I’m not a huge fan of Greek yogurt plain, out of the cup. I’m trying to like it, but it’s just not happening… Any tips? Anyways, here’s Paula Deen’s Tomato Pie recipe all jacked up!

Tomato Pie

Ingredients

• 4 tomatoes, peeled and sliced
• 10 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion
• 1 (9-inch) prebaked deep dish pie shell
• 1 cup grated mozzarella
• 1 cup grated cheddar
• 1 cup Chobani (or Greek yogurt)
• 1/2 cup French Fried Onions, smashed
• Salt and pepper

 

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the tomatoes in a colander in the sink in 1 layer. Sprinkle with salt and allow to drain for 10 minutes or so.
Combine the grated cheeses and Chobani together.
Put a layer of tomatoes with some onion and basil, then add a layer of the cheese mixture, then a layer of tomatoes, ending with a layer of the cheese mixture on top. Finish it off with a sprinkling of French Fried Onions.
Spread mixture on top of the tomatoes and bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.
To serve, cut into slices and serve warm.

It was delicious and surprisingly filling! Using Chobani instead of mayonnaise didn’t alter the flavor at all. It even felt a little meaty and it was definitely filling! And it was really good for lunch the next day! It’s a great end of summer dish, too!

**We did not receive anything from any of these items mentioned in this post. We just like to talk about products and fun stuff that make us happier, healthier, & our lives a little easier!**

Recipe: Tyler Florence Rub

I’ve mentioned this rub recipe a few times, so it’s time that I just flat out post it, and maybe I’ve tweaked it a little since then… Hey! It’s what I do! I first used this rub as Tyler Florence suggests, to make pulled pork. We are pork lovin’ people over here, so it was a no brainer. Then I used it on a roasted chicken. It’s just so dang good!

Here you go!

Recipe: Tyler Florence’s Rub with a Heather Twist

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup paprika
• 2 to 3 sprigs thyme, leaves only
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• Scant 1 tablespoon cayenne
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons honey (or 1 tablespoon agave)

Place the salt, pepper, brown sugar, paprika, thyme leaves, garlic, vinegar, and cayenne in a food processor (or blender, like me!) and pulse until well combined. Add extra-virgin olive oil and honey until you have a nice paste. Rub all over your meat of choice, being sure to get into the nooks so the salt can penetrate the meat and pull out the moisture - this will help form a crust on the outside when cooked. Cover the meat with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

The recipe for the cole slaw dressing on this same recipe link is also a favorite in our house.
We are definitely meat and potatoes (and salads) kind of folk!

I have found that this is enough for two meats. I make the whole batch and split it. I use half now for what ever chicken or meat, and then freeze the other half in a Ziploc bag for later. It’s a great throw-everything-in-at-once recipe to make while your meat is brining or coming to room temperature. Definitely perfect for summer grillin’ and chillin’! A little heat with a little sweet. Really? You can’t go wrong! Yum!

Do you have a favorite go-to that spices up your meals?

Recipe: Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

I always get these crazy ideas at 3:30pm when I think I have more than enough time to do said task, but then I don’t read through the recipe to see how long it actually takes, so I don’t have enough time… because it needs to cool overnight, or something. So it was Father’s Day, our milk was about to go bad, so I thought, I’ll make some ice cream! And then I found this Vanilla Bean Ice Cream recipe, that I had to tweak… and it manages to be lower in calories because I used 2% milk instead of whole milk + heavy cream. Major bonus points for that happy accident!

Low-Cal Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Servings: about 14 1/2-cup servings

Ingredients:
4 2/3 cups 2% milk
1 whole vanilla bean (about 6” long)
3 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
1 1/8 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (I used a tad under 1 tsp. I feel like in ice cream, the flavor and chemically taste gets amplified…take it easy on the extract)

Pour milk in medium saucepan. Use a sharp knife to split the vanilla bean in half length-wise. Use the blunt edge of the knife to scrape out the seeds. Stir the seeds and bean pod into the milk. Bring mixture to a slow boil over medium heat, reduce the head to low, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Combine eggs, egg yolks, and sugar in a medium bowl. Use hand mixer on medium speed to beat until the mixture is thick, smooth, and pale yellow – about 2 minutes.

Remove vanilla bean pod from the milk and discard. Measure 1 cup of the hot milk liquid. With the mixer on low speed, add the cup of hot milk to the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream. When thoroughly combined, pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk mixture and stir to combine. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium-low heat until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Transfer to a bowl, stir in vanilla extract, cover with a sheet of plastic wrap placed directly on to the mixture, and chill completely. Mine was a little lumpy looking at this point, and I was getting worried. I left mine in the fridge overnight and once I put it in the ice cream machine, it was smooth.

Pour the chilled mixture into the freezer bowl, turn the ice cream machine on, and let it mix until thickened, about 25-30 minutes. If you want it firmer, transfer to an airtight container, and freeze for 2+ hours.

For extra fun, I picked up some cookie dough and decided to make ice cream sandwiches using my fancy vanilla bean ice cream.

I bought extra large cookies, but didn’t want extra large ice cream sandwiches, so… I cut them:

Half an hour later, my cookies are ready and my ice cream is thoroughly frozen.
YUM!

Cookies! Assemble!

A lovely little ice cream sandwich for around 300 calories!
Two cookies = 170 calories
The ice cream using heavy cream and whole milk was 257 calories per serving. Pretty sure we knocked that at least in half by using 2% milk. And it’s just as tasty and creamy!

I don’t think this dude cares about the caloric intake… but I think he approves:

Nothing says SUMMER like shirtless ice cream sandwich eatin’!

I made Blueberry Ice Cream last summer, and I think I’m going to make it again for some ice cream sammies with sugar cookies. How good does that sound?!

Are you a homemade ice cream maker? What are some of your favorite flavor combos? I think we’re going to get crazy this summer with the ice cream maker. I’m feelin’ some chocolate banana…

Homemade Gnocchi's!!

 

Yes this totally has an exclamation point after it because frankly…I can’t believe I did it!  And I’m almost as excited that I can basically call this one all my own recipe.  Yes I got tips from here and there….but I basically wung it…wanged it? Winged it. You get my gist…

These were really easy to make, and really hard at the same time.  It’s only 3 ingredients (not including whatever sauce you use), but it’s a lot of kneading.  Well…in my case it was because I made a buttload.  Coming from an Asian family and being married into an Italian family…I totally get “family style” food …aka “MAKE A TON.”  So my recipe probably makes about 12-15 decent size servings…but you can totally freeze some after you make them.  I still can’t believe I made these homemade…I was pooped afterwards!!  There’s a reason why the Italians have Sunday dinner…because these are too tiring to make on a Monday evening…which is what I did.  Hope you enjoy!!

Potato Gnocchi’s

 

Ingredients

about 3 lbs of russet potatoes (I used about 3/4 of a 5 lb bag)

2 eggs

approximately 5 cups of flour

 

1. Peel, cut and boil the potatoes.  You can also bake them…which a lot of recipes out there tell you to do, but I was afraid I’d dry them out.  You are basically making the start of mashed potatoes here…

2. After they are cooked (I actually went a little beyond “fork tender” so they would mash up really well), draing them and return them back to the hot pot.  Mash ‘em up.  I have read using a ricer is the best to get them nice and lump free and fluffy…but I just used a masher. 

3. Sprinkle some flour on a board (or your counter…whatever you guys use for rolling a pie crust or kneading dough) and dump the potatoes out onto it.  Spread it out a little to cool.  In the meantime…beat your eggs in a bowl.  When the potatoes have cooled a bit…drizzle your egg all over the potatoes.

4. I do not have a picture of this next step as it is extremely messy and could not grab my camera.  Suggestion…take your rings off and wear and apron.

1/2 cup of flour at a time, sprinkle flour on the potatoes and knead.  You want to end up with the consistency of pizza dough…but you don’t want to over flour.  If you roll your potato dough into a ball and stick your finger in and it comes out clean…then you’re done.  If it’s still super sticky then keep kneading.  This step took about an hour.  I was tired.

5.  You want to end up with a nice looking ball of dough.  Then split that ball into smaller balls.  I ended up with 6 balls.  Which you then split again to make a long snake like roll, about 1/2” in diameter.

6. Cut ‘em up into little gnocchi’s!  I don’t have an exact measurement…but they are probably about 1/2” wide.  about the size of the top of your thumb.  Place them on a parchment lined and flour dusted cookie sheet.  They are still a bit sticky…so you want to place tem so they are not touching. 

7. Toss in boiling water like you would regular pasta.  when they float to the top, let them cook about 30 seconds more.  Using a spider strainer (like you would for fried food) or a slotted spoon, scoop them out and toss directly into your favorite sauce.  I used a favorite marinara recipe.

8. ENJOY!

TIP FOR FREEZING:

COOK all your gnoochi’s and the ones you want to freeze don’t toss in the sauce.  I put them in a strainer….let them cool for about 3 minutes, then tossed them into a ziploc freezer bag.  After about 30 minutes I went in the freezer and just jumbled them up to separate them a bit.  I’m sure you could flash freeze them too and them toss them in a bag, but I didn’t have a clean cookie sheet at the moment.  When you want to eat them again, just toss them in boiling water until they float again and enjoy with your favorite sauce!  These are REALLY good!!