What do you mean more tomatoes?

Do you ever feel this way? I know this happens at our house. Here's a tasty soup that you can use tomatoes and more of your garden harvest. Thanks to my BFF for making this for me and allowing me to post about it.

Fresh Tomato Bisque
Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• 2 medium carrots grated
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 3 1/2 C fresh ripe tomatoes diced (you may choose to peel and seed)
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1/2 C chicken stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 heaping tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 whole cloves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 1/2 cup milk

Directions

1. Saute onions and carrots in butter 10 minutes in a soup pot.
   
2. Add garlic and cook another 5 minutes.
3. Add all other ingredients except cream and milk and simmer 15 - 20 minutes.
   
4. Remove bay leaf and cloves and puree in blender to desired consistency.
5. Return to soup pot and add cream and milk. Heat through but don't boil.
   
6. Serve with cheese and crackers.
   

Notice the early Roska pottery and the very pleased husband of aforementioned BFF.

A lot of repeats...

For those who are interested, and maybe just for my own sense of accomplishment, I am still cooking and eating at home. We've done really well with this the last couple of weeks. I haven't blogged about it because a lot of items are repeats:

• BLT's with fancy bread and cheese and avocado spread. Avocado is a must! Mash it up and add a little garlic salt and lime/lemon juice to taste. It brings out the best in the green power.
• Cordon Bleu's from the freezer section. This is my secret to successful cooking at home. If nothing else is going to work or I want to "relax" or prepare other meals for the upcoming days while something easy is cooking I pull a couple of these from the freezer and work away for 30 minutes while they bake. They're tasty and already portioned and when paired with some green veggies (like local green beans) and milk, a healthy meal.
• Enchiladas Verdes were calling my name. I made these again and discovered some valuable notes. Heat your tortillas on the stove and not in the microwave, the flavor is much more rich and real. If you have "extra" sauce, pour it all on the enchiladas, the sauce really makes the meal. And don't forget to salt the chicken water, it needs the flavor. (Also, grocery stores don't always carry bone-in chicken. It's a special request. Beware.)
• Quesadillas. Why? Because we had extra chicken and cheese and tortillas from the enchiladas. Add a little cheddar cheese and serve with sour cream and the green power of avocado/guac and whamo a delicious and quick finger food feast.

Not a repeat: Lasagna. It's a favorite blend of all that is good - home canned tomatoes, noodles, and cheese. It makes the house smell delicious and fills me with warmth. I'll post the recipe a little later. No promises on photos.

Slow-Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Tomatoes grow in abundance.

This year I tried something new with mine.

Slow-Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
Ingredients

• Cherry Tomatoes - If you follow the link, and then follow her link, you'll find that it originally started with Romas, but I had cherry and 4 hours of roasting was long enough for me to tend to them. Artist's "borrow" ideas from others. Some people call it inspiration.
• Olive Oil
  
• Coarse Salt
• Ground Pepper
• Herbs - if desired

Directions

1. Cut tomatoes in half and place on a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil for easy clean up.
2. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and any herbs.
3. Place in a 225 degree oven and roast for 4 hours, turning every 30 minutes or so.

I took one evening and let them roast from 6 - 10 pm. They filled the house with a heavenly aroma and even though I did not use any herbs, they exploded with slow-roasted flavor. I've been snacking on them since but would be great in soup, with pasta, on a salad, in a wrap, on a pizza, etc. etc. etc.

Weekday Meat and Potatoes

I often make the excuse, "...but I don't have time to make a good meal." Some days it's true. Some days it's all I can do to get off of work at 5, walk to the car, drive to a local eatery, order and eat $1.50 tacos (good tacos but store-bought all the same), and get home to leave again because we are asked to be elsewhere by 6:30. I'm sure many of you understand.

The described scenario works on Tuesday night because tacos are cheap. Wednesday night, I don't have that luxury, and I will often think I don't have time to cook something really good. Maybe I don't, but WE do.

I love to cook with my hubby. I love spending time together in the kitchen talking about anything under the sun. I love feeling like we are both experiencing something new. I love knowing that we are accomplishing something together. I love that he keeps me calm when I want to cry because something isn't according to plan, he calls it "Hama Pizazz". Another thing I love is that when we work together we can create an entire delicious meal and not just a really good main dish and a side that looks like an afterthought.

Last night my hubby manned the grill and created a masterpiece of a pork tenderloin. Other than his innate talent, the secret is: get a quality piece of meat and let it's natural flavor come through. Ingredients: pork tenderloin, coarse salt, freshly ground pepper. That's it.

While he was tending to the manly meat duties I was in the kitchen prepping the farmer's market finds of new potatoes and fresh green beans. I did look to some tried and tested recipes to help me along the way. I will share these with you.

Garlic Smashed Potatoes
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds red new potatoes, scrubbed well and quartered
• 2 tablespoons butter
  
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 cup milk - it calls for whole but I just used 1% because that's what I have on hand
  

Directions:

1. Set a steamer basket in a large pot. Fill with enough water to come just below basket; bring to a boil. Add potatoes; reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook until tender, 12 to 14 minutes.
   

2. Remove steamer basket and set potatoes aside; discard water from pot. In same pot, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium. Add garlic; cook until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Add potatoes; mash coarsely. Cook, stirring, 1 minute (a film of starch will form on bottom of pot). Stir in milk and remaining tablespoon butter; heat until warmed through, about 1 minute more. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.

Emeril's Green Bean Salad
Ingredients:

• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 small garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest, plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 pounds thin green beans, trimmed
• 2 small red onions, quartered through root end (leaving root end attached) - I skipped the onions this time because I didn't want to bother but they are a tasty addition

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and prepare a large bowl of ice water. In a bowl, combine 2 tablespoons oil, garlic, lemon zest and juice; set aside. For onions: Heat grill to medium-low.

2. Cook green beans in boiling water until crisp-tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer immediately to ice-water bath. Drain beans well, pat dry, and place in bowl. Drizzle with dressing. If not using onions, season with salt and pepper.
   

3. For onions: Toss onion wedges with remaining tablespoon oil; season with salt and pepper. Grill until lightly charred, 4 to 6 minutes per side. When cool, trim root end off, and thinly slice onions; add to bowl with green beans, and toss to combine.

I apologize for not having pictures to entice your tastebuds but honestly my photography needs some work and photos wouldn't have done it justice, not to mention I was short on time and my mouth was watering.

My hubby and I put this together in about 30 minutes. He's the meat: dark and muscles. I'm the potatoes: starchy white and better with milk. :)

Turkey Bacon vs. Bacon Bacon

I may have already mentioned that turkey bacon is only acceptable in some facets of life. Breakfast is not one of those. I feel that if you are going to the trouble of making breakfast that includes bacon, it should be the real deal. If you want healthy - broil it and have the grease drip into a foil lined pan instead of frying it.

Real bacon needs to be used for the Coronado and Bacon Pea Pasta but turkey bacon is suitable for part of your meatballs or even BLTs. Our garden has provided an abundance of tomatoes this year and combined with a local baker's wheat bread, and local farmer's lettuce BLTs are a must in our home. This weekend we went a little further and purchased some heirloom tomatoes at our local farmers market for the BLT feast and it was a rich, authentic flavor with varied color. It's such a simple meal but so rewarding.

Cooking Strike Ends with Cornbread

As you may or may not have noticed I have been on a cooking hiatus. It wasn't necessarily intentional but I lost my fire for a minute, or more honestly a few weeks. I'll blame the summer heat. But with the delicious Fall harvest that couldn't last long.

So to warm the creative fire we grilled some Turkey Cheddar Brawts - delicious and healthier by a long shot. Because I don't call dawgs "cooking" I tried cooking cornbread on the grill. Did it work? Yes. Would I call it a success? No. I was terribly disappointed in the end result. Mind you I tried the recipe on two separate occasions to give it a fair chance. The first attempt had mixed reviews and it may be liked by some. I, however, felt it was dry and simply not sweet enough. If you'd like to try the original recipe follow the link above.

I will include my FAVORITE cornbread recipe from a kind neighborhood mother. She passed the recipe to me and mine just before our wedding and it has always been a hit!

Ingredients for an 8x8 pan or 10 inch cast-iron skillet:

• 7/8 C Flour - I used to guess about the 1/8 cup increments but have since purchased measuring cups that included an 1/8 cupper
• 3/8 C Cornmeal
• 3/4 tea Salt
• 1 tea Baking Powder
• 3/8 C Sugar
• 3/4 C Evaporated Milk
• 1 Egg
• 1/4 C Oil

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees or heat skillet on grill at low temp for 10 minutes.
2. In a mixing bowl combine flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder, and sugar.
3. In a separate bowl beat together the evaporated milk, eggs, and oil.
4. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir only enough to combine.
5. For oven: Pour mixture into greased pan and bake 25 minutes or For Grill: Place a tablespoon of butter on your warm cast-iron pan and move it around the pan, then pour in your mixture and cook covered 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

*You can make a 9 x 13 inch pan in the oven by doubling all the ingredients and cooking for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

It was really nice to cook the bread on the grill. It kept the kitchen cool and it was fun to try something new. I did like that the original recipe made honey butter to melt on top of the bread.

Honey Butter: Combine 2 tablespoons of butter with 1/8 C + 1 tablespoon of honey. For more, simply double or triple the amounts.