50 Calorie Copycat Campbell's Tomato Soup

Hello my people!

I know how the gazillions of people who read my blog love to read my recipe posts ;) So I thought I'd share another we recently discovered.

This has sour cream mixed in :)

Here's the facts:
COPYCAT: 50 calories per cup
CAMPBELL'S: 180 calories per cup

Um, pretty sure you can't beat that.

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED:
1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes (low sodium) OR 15 ounces tomato sauce
3 ounces tomato paste (low sodium)
4 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder (ish)
1 teaspoon garlic powder (ish)
2-3 cups water
(optional) milk
(optional) low fat sour cream

HERE'S WHAT YOU DO:
Use an immersion blender, food processor, or blender to puree the diced tomatoes if you aren't using tomato sauce. I like the tomatoes better because I can control the consistency.

Combine the tomatoes, paste, and seasonings in a medium sauce pan; heat over medium heat. Add the half the sugar and salt. Add the water 1 cup at a time. Taste test as you add the remaining sugar, salt, and water to determine if it's sweet/salty/watery enough for your tastes. You may not want all the sugar, salt, or water. You may want a little bit more. You can also use honey instead of sugar; just do it to taste.

Once this comes to a soft boil, you're good to go! You can adjust the seasonings all you want, or even add something else like parsley, basil, oregano, etc. I topped mine with a tablespoon of low-fat sour cream (Trader Joe's, 15 calories). Or you can quickly mix in 1/4 cup of skim milk. Make sure it's not piping hot when you mix in your dairy, or it will curdle. Mix fast. It's also plenty good without any mix-ins.

140 Calorie Black Bean Soup

I've had a lot of people ask about the recipe for the black bean soup I made, so here we go. It's delicious--like, I can't even tell you how good. I'm incredibly satisfied with how filling it is. And it's super simple. Go, simple!

I've fallen in love with Trader Joe's. A lot of the healthy food we've been eating lately has come from inspiration I find at Trader Joe's. They have a lot of unique and organic food there, so my brain gets thinking differently as soon as I walk in :) Try it, if you haven't. I really like seeing small lists of ingredients.

This soup's base is from there. I'm sure you could make it with a similar homemade base, or from another store, if you can find one. The TJ version is completely pureed, with no chunks, and is already a great soup/stew consistency.

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED:

1/2 large onion, diced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 to 1 large jalepeno, minced (adjust to how spicy you like things)
1 tablespoon canola oil/olive oil
1 can low sodium kidney beans (or whatever bean you want)
1 can low sodium corn
1/4-1/2 cup roasted red pepper, diced (from a jar or homemade)
1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes (with or without green chiles, your choice)
1 container Trader Joe's Latin Style Black Bean Soup (4 cups)
Salt and pepper to taste
optional toppings: toasted pita, light sour cream, sliced green onion

Makes 9 servings
Serving size: 1 cup
Calories per serving: 140

HERE'S WHAT YOU DO:

Dice the onion and jalepeno. Heat a big pot over medium high heat. Add oil. Saute the onion, jalepeno, garlic, salt, and pepper for 5-10 minutes until it starts to caramelize and get soft.

Reduce heat to medium. Drain and rinse the beans. Drain the corn. Dice the roasted red pepper. Add beans, corn, red pepper, and the entire can of diced tomatoes to the pot, stir, and cook for a couple minutes. Slowly add the black bean soup base to the pot. Stir and let simmer for 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Depending on the brand of ingredients you use, you may want to add a little honey to sweeten, or if you want it spicier, a little chili powder, red pepper flakes/powder, paprika, etc.

I served mine with all the optional toppings and it was surprisingly filling and tasty :) We just cut up and roasted some left over pocket pita bread we had. And I also found some sour cream at Trader Joe's that has 15 calories in 2 tablespoons. Kind of amazing. And really smooth and creamy. You can pretty much mix up this recipe how ever you want. Try different beans or veggies. Or add different peppers or seasonings. TJ's has got a few other creamy soup bases and I think I'll try them all.

Copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup

Thought I'd share this copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana soup with you today since we've made it a few times and still love it. I've followed instructions from a few different sites, and have sort of mooshed them all together and added a few of my own tips to make it better. I hate dirtying more than one pan for soup, so I've turned this into a one-pot soup.

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED:
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves/ 2 tsp minced garlic
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable/olive oil
1.25-1.5 pounds mild ground Italian sausage
2 cans (about 4 cups) chicken broth
4 cups hot water
3 large russet baking potatoes
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3-4 cups kale, chopped (1 big bunch)
1/4 cup bacon bits (optional)

AND HERE'S WHAT YOU DO:

Heat a large soup pot over medium high heat and add oil. Dice your onion, and add to the pan. Saute with garlic, salt and pepper, until onions are soft and going brown. Don't burn them; you're caramelizing. Add a teeny bit of water, oil, or broth if you start to stick or burn. Saute for about 3-5 minutes.

Add ground sausage to the party, and brown it until it's all the way cooked. While this is cooking, wash and chop your potatoes. You want to slice them into discs about 1/4-1/3 inch thick, then either quarter or third those discs, depending on how large you want your potato chunks.

When the sausage is cooked, add the chicken broth, water, potatoes, and extra salt to the pot. It will be pretty full, but just mix it all together. Turn the heat up to high and bring it to a boil. Cover, and lower heat medium so it will boil for about 15-20 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through.

Meanwhile, wash and cut your kale. Slice the rib out of each kale leaf, then cut the leaf into ribbon strips or chunks. Most recipes call for 2 cups of kale for this amount of soup, but I say at least 3, and while your'e at it, you might as well use the whole bunch. Kale usually comes in bunches at the store, and I usually get nearly 4 cups out of it. Just go for it. It will wilt down, and it tastes savory and yummy. Plus, kale is good for you. In fact, most of the ingredient amounts have been increased in my version to make the soup a little bit more hearty and chunky.

When the potatoes are the consistency you desire (If they cook longer, they'll start to break down, and your soup will be a little more chowder-like than a thin soup, just FYI. So if that's what you're going for, let it cook a little longer.), mix in the cream and kale, and bacon bits if you desire, although I never add them. This soup is amazing without them. Allow the soup to simmer gently for 5 minutes or so to heat the cream and wilt the kale. You may need to turn down the heat to low.

You're ready to taste to see if you need more salt/pepper. Also, if you want it more spicy, you can use hot Italian sausage, or add red pepper flakes near the end.

This soup is a crazy hot temperature, so you might need to let it rest off the heat or in bowls for 5-10 minutes before eating. Either way, be SOUPER (haha) careful and blow, because it is the worst to burn your tastebuds before being able to enjoy it! It goes really well with rolls or bread and butter, and would probably be amazing in a bread bowl.


Plan on 30-50 minutes.

When each pot is separated into 8 heaping bowls, each bowl is about 500 calories, according to myfitnesspal. When I eat it for dinner, I eat one heaping bowl (I've never measured it, but it seems like a little bit more than the amount of soup I get in a can of Campbell's Chunky Soup). My guess is it's close to 2 1/2 cups. Also, it costs like, $12 for all this stuff.

Chicken Biscuit Pot Pie

Yeah, this is yet another recipe... I like it. You like me (hopefully, otherwise, why are you here?). We're a happy family :)

I just really like making food. And I like it even more when it turns out to be edible. And then sometimes it's pretty on top of that. How can I resist?

This recipe is a sort of variation on the regular chicken pot pie recipe I posted a while back. Only I've refined my filling process, and it uses biscuits instead of pie crust.

SIDE NOTE: Do you guys have a hard time spelling "biscuits" like I do? EVERY time, I try to spell "buscuits," and it's driving me crazy.

This was delicious comfort food for dinner, plus made very reasonable leftovers for lunch. That right there is a huge factor in whether or not I consider a recipe a success. You know, whether they make good leftovers that make me WANT to not go out to lunch when I'm at work. This recipe = success in that department.

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED FOR THE FILLING:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 large onion (or half a small)
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
pepper
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup (heaping) flour
1/2 tsp kosher salt
pepper
2 tsp onion powder
1-2 tsp garlic powder (or 2 cloves minced w/onions)
1 Tbls dried parsley
1-2 tsp dried rosemary
1-2 tsp dried italian seasoning
1 tsp rubbed sage (or some other sage equivalent)
2 cups chicken broth (low sodium)
1 1/2 - 2 cups half-and-half
1 1/2 cups frozen peas and carrots
optional: chopped celery cooked with the onions
optional: any other vegetable you want in your pie :) If frozen, add with peas; if not, cook with onions.

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED FOR THE BUSCUITES BISCUITS:
3 cups flour
1 Tbls baking powder
1 Tbls sugar
1 tsp table salt (or 2 tsp kosher salt)
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup cold butter
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup milk

HERE'S WHAT YOU DO:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

I started by getting my onions and chicken chopped, and cooking. Dice the chicken and onion in equal sizes, but doing it fairly small. Cook them in a saute pan with oil, salt, and pepper until the chicken is done. Remove  all the chicken to a warm plate (it's okay to leave a few onions in the pan for flavor).

While the chicken is cooking, combine all the dry ingredients for the biscuits in a bowl and set aside. This is just the Better Homes and Gardens buttermilk biscuit recipe. It's so simple, but it's actually the first biscuit recipe I've tried that I really like. It might be the buttermilk I used this time :)

Melt butter in the saute pan. Add salt, pepper, dried seasonings, and flour. Whisk till combined and thick. It will be like paste or a dough all on it's own. Cook this for a few minutes. The flavors of all the dry spices and butter will start to get really aromatic, and it's kind of amazing :)

Whisk in the broth. Once combined and thickened, whisk in the half-and-half. It will start to get all bubbly and thick again. This is when you add the chicken back in, and the frozen peas and carrots. Taste for seasonings. I had to add more garlic powder, salt, and rubbed sage till it was the intensity I wanted. With all the cream and biscuits, you kind of need a bolder sauce flavor.

Transfer the filling to a large 9x13 glass baking dish.

Cut in the butter and shortening to the biscuit dry ingredients. You can do this by hand with two butter knives, with a pastry blender, or by putting it all into your food processor. Cut it in until it's crumbly. Just don't use your hands or you'll melt the butter, and then your biscuits won't be good. I left a few larger chunks of butter and shortening (pea size) and those made the biscuits crispy but flaky.

Pour the milk and buttermilk into a well in the center of the dry ingredients; stir with a spoon until combined. I added a touch more milk because it was too dry to combine. Just use your own judgement. Finish mixing it with your hand, being gentle, but getting all the flour combined. Don't turn it with your hand more than 10 times. Pick off balls of dough and drop them into the filling baking pan. I got 12 large balls of dough. Next time I make it, I will probably use 3/4 of the dough for the pie, and just bake the rest by themselves. There wasn't QUITE enough filling compared to biscuits. But it was still really good. If you like a more liquidy pie, use all the dough.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until the biscuits are done, and golden on top. Rest for 5-10 minutes. EAT.

While you're here...

This is what it sounds/looks like right out of the oven :) SO HEAVENLY. I wish you could smell it!

Jamie Oliver's Crispy and Sticky Chicken Thighs with Squashed New Potatoes and Tomatoes

I forgot to post this a few weeks ago, but it's worth the lateness. This was the second time I'd made this recipe and it doesn't disappoint. It takes about an hour to an hour and a half from start to finish. When I first discovered Jamie Oliver, I watched his Oliver's Twist TV show, and thought he was a weirdo. Now that I've watched more of his recent work, read a lot of his recipes, and seen his work with the Food Revolution, I still think he's a weirdo, but I have to admit he's got style. I think his combination of British food, plus healthy food, plus just his own personal taste makes for some of the most unique food I've ever seen. I totally recommend checking out his other stuff, and his philosophies on healthy eating and humane treatment of animals.

The herb Jamie Oliver uses in his original recipe is just fresh oregano, but I rarely have that on hand, so I've used Italian seasoning and parsley. And this time, I even added some leftover rosemary--fit it just right.

You can see Jamie's original recipe here; I haven't made changes very much at all. Mostly just to the seasonings.

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED:

1 3/4 pounds new potatoes, scrubbed

Kosher/sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

8-12 boned chicken thighs, skin on (preferably free-range or organic)

Olive oil

Kosher salt and pepper

1 1/4 pounds cherry tomatoes (or smaller)

1 bunch of fresh oregano (or subsitute dried seasonings; oregano, thyme, Italian seasonings, rosemary)

More olive oil

Red wine vinegar

HERE'S WHAT YOU DO:

Boil the potatoes in salted water. Easy peasy.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut up your chicken thighs into 3 pieces and put them in a boil. Add salt, pepper, and oil, and use your hands to combine it all together.

Heat a large cast-iron frying pan over medium high heat. Ideally, this would be cast-iron so you could transfer it straight to the oven, but if you have to transfer to a baking dish, it won't be the end of the world. Place the chicken thighs skin side down in the pan to start. Cook for 10 minutes, tossing, until almost cooked.

While the chicken is cooking, poke all your tomatoes with a knife, and put them in a bowl covered with boiling water. Let sit for a few minutes, and drain. When they've cooled off, you should be able to squeeze/pinch off the skins. This step isn't necessary, but when the flesh is exposed during cooking, the sweetness adds to the cooking a lot more. Jamie says, "They will become lovely and sweet when cooked, and their intense flavor will infuse the potatoes." How can you pass that up?

"Bash" the oregano Jamie style (or just mince it). Drain your potatoes and lightly crush each one with tongs or your thumb (burns your thumb though). Combine the potatoes, chicken and tomatoes in the cast-iron pan, or a baking dish. Coat with oil, seasonings, and red wine vinegar. Jamie says to spread everything out into one layer, but I've done it both ways--you can heap it all up into two layers, or one; it's good both ways. Bake for 40 minutes.

Creamy Roasted Tomato and Shrimp Pasta

Trevor and I have made this simple pasta a few times now, and I think it's turned into one of my favorites. It's pretty easy, but feels fancy--that's the best kind of pasta :)

WHAT YOU NEED:
for roasted tomatoes
5 roma tomatoes
2-3 teaspoons minced garlic
2-3 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
for pasta
1 pound pasta (spaghetti, penne, rotini, whatever floats your boat)
1 tablespoon table salt
for sauce
1/2 pound shrimp--deveined and peeled
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes (or crushed)
1 tablespoon italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
1 bay leaf
1/2 tablespoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
seasonings/salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon sugar or honey
1/2 cup cream

WHAT YOU DO:

First things first, you have to get your tomatoes roasting. You'll want them roasting the entire time you're getting everything else ready. 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Quarter 5 roma tomatoes, then cut those quarters in half. You can de-seed them if you don't like the seeds and juices, but I think they add good flavor to the pasta sauce later. Place the tomatoes on a foil lined baking sheet, drizzle with oil (olive or vegetable works), and top with minced garlic, salt and pepper. Use your hands to mix it all together, then spread it out evenly. Roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes while you do the rest, turning them with a spatula once halfway through. (If, by the time you're done with the pasta, your tomatoes aren't as roasted as you want them to be, turn the oven up to 500 or even broil for a few minutes to get the amount of char/roast you want. Watch carefully.)

At this point, prep your shrimp, if they aren't already. They need to be defrosted, deveined, and peeled. 

Next, start a large pot of water boiling, with about a tablespoon of regular table salt (no need to waste kosher salt on boiling water). Your water should taste like sea salt--this will make your noodles actually taste like noodles later on. Cook your noodles to al dente.

While the noodles are cooking, heat some oil over medium high heat in a large saute pan. Add garlic and shrimp, season with salt and pepper, and saute quickly. Once the shrimps have JUST reached pink all the way through, turn down the heat to medium low. If using crushed tomatoes, pour them straight into the pan now. If using diced tomatoes, blend them up really quick with an immersion blender, food processor, or blender (you could even crush them with a fork) before adding to the shrimp. I like using the diced tomatoes because I can control how chunky my tomatoes are, depending on my mood.

Season the tomato sauce with italian seasoning (or oregano and thyme to your taste), sage, parsley, ground red pepper, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Taste the sauce and use your judgement. The sauce is going to be tamed by adding cream later, so you want it to taste fairly strong. To me, this sauce whispers slightly of something creole or cajun with the thyme and shrimp, so feel free to spice it up. It doesn't need to be HOT spicy to be spiced; go easy on the red pepper if you don't want a burn. Add the sugar or honey to taste.

(Keep an eye on your pasta. Drain the noodles when they're ready, and return them to the pot.)


Add 1/2 cup of any cream of your choice to the tomato sauce. I use whipping cream because, well, it will be the best. But half-and-half or 2% would work if you want to go lighter. It just won't be as creamy. Also be careful using lower fat creams/milks because they curdle when heated too quickly. Make sure to turn your heat down and slowly bring the sauce back up to temperature. Feel free to increase or decrease the amount of cream based on what you prefer. Re-season till it's how you want it to taste.


Combine the sauce with the noodles, and add your roasted tomatoes to the pot. Gently combine so you don't destroy all the roasted tomatoes.

Rachael Ray's Minestrone Soup w/Garlic Bread Croutons

Made this soup for lunch today and I'm so looking forward to eating leftovers for lunch this week :) For me, this is the perfect combination of broth, noodle, and vegetable that just gets my ooky sit in a blanket and fawn over all things amazing feelings going.

Plus, I love how easy broth based soups are to make. It's basically dice, saute, boil, eat. Rachael's recipe doesn't call for garbanzo beans, but to me, it's not minestrone without them.

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound zucchini
2 ribs celery
1 carrot
1 onion
1 bay leaf
2 cloves garlic
salt and pepper
34 ounces (4 cups) vegetable or chicken stock
15 ounces cannelinni beans (white beans), rinsed
15 ounces crushed tomatoes
15 ounces garbanzo beans
1/4 pound penne pasta
basil

Croutons:
2 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic
4-6 slices of italian bread
1/2 cup grated parigiano-reggiano (or parmesan)
parsley

HERE'S WHAT YOU DO:

Chop your vegetables: Quarter the zucchini and carrot and dice; finely dice the onion; cut the celery into strips and dice; mince the garlic. Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a big pot. Add vegetables, salt and pepper, and bay leaf, then saute for 8 minutes or until vegetables are softening.

Add broth, tomatoes, and beans and bring to a boil.

Add pasta and simmer over medium heat until al dente. Add basil and keep on low. Add 1 cup of water if you want it to be more soupy.

While the soup is simmering, melt the butter in a small pan over medium-low heat. Add 1 clove garlic and swirl for 30 seconds. Toast the bread slices under the broiler for a minute on each side. Remove and lower oven to 450 degrees. Brush toast on one side with butter, and top with cheese and parsley. Return to oven until cheese is melted.

After I used all the butter, I scooped the leftover garlic into my pot of soup. No need to waste it :) Adjust seasoning to your liking.

Serve with croutons in shallow bowls.

Beefy Mac 'n Cheese

 Hey there buddies! I made some macaroni and cheese tonight and it let me take pictures of it :)

Mmm... cheesy

If you want to make it, it turned out creamier and cheesier than any other mac n cheese I've ever made :) Not grainy, not floury.

I started with a recipe from here for some pretty standard home made mac n cheese, and made do with some stuff I had around the kitchen haha :) Trevor and I have made a decision to try to eat only organic meat (you know, due to all the horribleness that happens to animals nowadays when they're being raised). So we got some organic ground beef from cows that are free-range, grass-fed, etc. We're eating less meat, but the meat we do want to try to eat will be happy when it was alive :)

Moving on.

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED:

12 ounces macaroni noodles
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon kosher salt
ground pepper
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 heaping teaspoon ground mustard powder
ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 cups (1 can) evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups milk
2-3 cups of shredded cheese (gouda, cheddar, mozzarella)
1 cup more shredded cheddar

HERE'S WHAT YOU DO:

Boil your noodles, silly. Put 2 teaspoons of the salt in with the water to make them taste good. Cook al-dente--for real. You want them to be AL DENTE so that when they finish cooking in the oven, they don't get mushy.

Brown your beef with salt and pepper. This is super easy.

Preheat your oven to 375.

Drain the noodles. In your empty noodle pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and stir, stir, stir. Cook the roux until it gets a little brown. If you learn how to do this, you'll be able to make a bagillion different sauces, and you can tell all your friends you cooked a roux.

Add the salt, mustard, paprika, and pepper. And then add the evaporated milk and regular milk. I actually really enjoyed the substitution of evaporated milk, it was creamier and harder to over-heat the cheese. Be careful when using lower fat milk because you can't heat it too high or too quickly or it will scald, and your cheese will separate. This is what causes the sauce to feel grainy.

Stir with a whisk until it's all combined. Keep stirring with the whisk over medium heat until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Turn the heat down to the lowest setting and mix in the 2-3 cups of cheese. I had 3 slices of gouda, a cup of cheddar, and a cup of pizza blend cheeses--any good strong melting cheeses would probably do just fine :) Although, the more cheddar you have, the more it will taste like traditional yellow mac n cheese. Make sure not to heat it or boil it after this point or the cheese will separate.

Stir the cheese in slowly until it's all melted. Remove from heat. Combine the noodles and beef with the sauce, then poor everything into a 9x13 baking pan. Top with another cup or so of cheese, preferably cheddar, and a 1/2 teaspoon of paprika.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Aaaand here's a few more pictures of the same thing since I love taking pictures :)

Julia Child's Beef Saute with Cream and Mushroom

mmm

I just made another Julia Child recipe. Oh my goodness, that woman. My book club decided to read a cook book this month, and we came to a concensus on Julia's Mastering the Art of French cooking. For our meeting, we all made a recipe from the book and shared. I chose something fancy, but simple as the main entree, and everyone loved it. It was easy and fast--warm, creamy, and even kind of delicate :)

Here's what you need:

MUSHROOMS:
2 Tb butter
1 Tb cooking oil
1/2 pound sliced mushrooms
3 Tb diced shallots
Salt and pepper

BEEF:
2 Tb butter
1 Tb cooking oil

mushrooms are my favorite

2 1/2 pounds beef tenderloin
salt and pepper

SAUCE:
1/4 cup of some kind of red wine (which I didn't use, just replaced with more broth)
3/4 cup of beef broth
salt and pepper
1 cup cream
2 tsp cornstarch
2 Tb butter

garnish: parsley

cow

Here's what to do:

Saute-ing the mushrooms blew my mind. I've never sauteed mushrooms dry before! I'll be doing it this way from now on.

Add the butter and oil to a non-stick pan (Julia says to use an enameled pan, but who has those?) over medium high heat. After the butter stops foaming, add the sliced DRY mushrooms and flip and stir until they soak up all the oil. Continue to saute for 2-3 minutes until they're lightly browned.

Add the shallots to the mushrooms and saute for a minute or two. Season. Remove to a plate.

Cut up your beef in 2 inch cubes and dry it off with a paper towel. Drying is super important. We watched part of Julia's first TV episode of The French Chef, and she demonstrated--it makes it so the beef sears instead of steams.

coolest thing to see it actually searing like it's supposed to :)

Add the butter and oil to the pan over medium high heat, and wait for the froth to go away. Add half the meat and let each side brown for a few minutes. The insides will be rosy red--very rare--, and the outside will be a deeply seared brown.

Do your second batch and remove it all the a plate.


Remove the oil, and add the broth. Deglaze the pan and boil down the broth until it leaves about 1/3 cup remaining. (I"m sure this dish would be mind-crushing instead of just mind-blowing with the wine, but I prefer not to waste my money on something I'm only going to use a 1/4 cup on. Since we don't drink alcohol, we try to substitute as often as possible, even in cooking.)

getting all thick and stuff.

Mix cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of your cream. Add the remaining cream to the broth, and your cornstarch mixture. Stir and bring to a simmer. Season.

Add the mushrooms to the sauce and simmer for a couple minutes until it thickens a little bit. Add the beef and keep warm. Mine kept for 30 minutes while waiting for people to arrive, and it was still fine. When you're ready to serve, turn up the heat for 3-4 minutes, basting the beef with the cream sauce. Add that ever-present final French touch of 2 tablespoons butter. Garnish with parsley sprigs. Serves 4-5.

Serve with rice, potatoes, noodles, anything your heart desires. Goes well with green veggies :) We had it with Julia's frozen peas in butter sauce, and one of her vanilla cakes with strawberries for dessert! Best book club month ever!

Tortilla Soup

Look at me big! I'm a pretty picture :)

Mmm, tortilla taco-y soup. I have no idea what to call this kind of soup. It doesn't have tortillas in it... so is it still tortilla soup?

Whatever it's called, it's delicious. I made it on Saturday night--and I just have to say, I chose all the ingredients at the store BEFORE looking at a recipe, and I chose correctly! Not sure about you guys, but every time I try to do that I always end up missing something. Go me :)

I added up all the calories in this soup, and it's ridiculously low. If you have a medium sized bowl, it's about 400 calories with chips and no sour cream.

It turned out to be a little bit taco soup, a little bit chili, a little bit tortilla soup. Kinda just a Mexican-y soup. The chipotles really make it what it is though--they have a very distinct spice and flavor. I'd never cooked with them before, but I'm definitely going to again! You can find them in little cans on the Mexican aisle at the grocery store, and you'll have lots of leftovers.

Speaking of leftovers, this fed us dinner plus lunch for 2 days! Convenient? Uh, yeah.

Here's my version; it's based on Rachel Ray's Tortilla Soup only it has all stuff I wanted.

stuff you'll need:
1 pound ground beef
1 yellow pepper
1 medium white onion, diced
crushed garlic, to taste (1 tablespoon ish/ 3 cloves)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground rep pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon paprika
2 minced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
4 cups beef broth
1 14 ounce can black beans, rinsed
2-3 tablespoons corn starch
1-2 cups frozen sweet corn
1/2 to 1 cup chopped cilantro

optional toppings:
shredded pepperjack cheese
fritos or tortilla chips
sour cream

here's how you do it:
First, you halve and de-seed the pepper, and stick it either on a grill pan over medium high heat for 10 minutes, or in the oven to roast for a few minutes. This grills the outside and sweetens it. If you don't feel like doing this, just add the chopped pepper in with the onion when its turn comes; it will be tastier if you grill it though.

In a large pot over medium high heat, brown the beef with salt and pepper. Add chopped onion and garlic while it's browning. If your meat is very lean, you may need to add a bit of oil to saute the onion. Add seasonings and chipotle peppers. Continue to cook for a minute or two.

Lower the heat to medium, add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, black beans, and broth. Bring it to a boil, reduce heat to allow a simmer.

Using a ladle, spoon out about 1/2 cup of liquid from the pot. In a small bowl, stir the liquid in with 2-3 tablespoons cornstarch until it's dissolved. Add it to the simmering pot. You may want to start with a little corn starch, cook the soup for a few minutes, then repeat the process until the soup is the thickness you're looking for.

Stir in corn, cilantro, and chopped pepper. Cook until corn is heated through, about 5 minutes. Remember to taste test to see if it needs more seasonings.

Top with cheese, serve with Fritos or tortilla chips, and/or sour cream, as you like.

Chuck Wendig's Butternut Squash Soup

Mmm mmm :) It was hard to wait to eat it even to take this picture!

Hi goobers!

Trevor and I tried another of Chuck Wendig's recipes. He has a blog called TerribleMinds and occasionally fills the world in on these earth shattering recipes he makes up.

We've made his pork butt, and his pasta, which I've named Autumn Pasta, and you can check out that recipe here.

Anywho, I like to share with all you, my friends, the clean versions of these recipes, although, I kinda do still recommend you read through Chuck's because he's just hilarious. My version actually has measurements though. So there's always that.

We LOVED this soup; both of us. And that's pretty amazing since Trevor doesn't really do soup. But leave it to Chuck to convince Trevor to eat squash when I've been trying for 5 years.

I'm not bitter though.

This was a smooth, creamy, warm, chunky, and perfectly spicy soup. One of the things I love about all of Chuck's recipes is that most of the ingredients and amounts are up to you. If you don't like something, don't include it; if you don't have something, don't use it; if you want more carrot, use more carrot. So feel free to adjust these measurements to your own taste.

Try it, and enjoy!

You need (lots o' stuff):

1 butternut squash

1 medium onion
olive oil (approx 1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
ground pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne powder
herbs de provence OR 1-2 teaspoons of other herbs like: italian seasoning, sage, rosemary, parsley
2 carrots
2 celery sticks
2 tablespoons olive oil
2-4 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup water, optional
2 cups chicken broth (plus another cup if you like it thinner)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup heavy cream (plus another cup if you like it creamier)
1 pound ground country sausage
1 leek
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Start by peeling the squash with a vegetable peeler. Cut it in half and scoop out the seedy parts. 
3. Dice the squash into 1/2 inch pieces and layer onto a baking sheet or roasting pan lined with foil.
4. Largely chop the onion and combine with the squash on the pan.
5. Coat the squash and onion with olive oil; make sure it's all covered.
6. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and spices. Mix to coat. 
7. Bake in the oven for approximately 1 hour, or until the vegetables start to caramelize. 
8. While your squash is baking, you can start the other ingredients: The stock, sausage, and leeks.
9. Peel and dice the carrots and celery, and begin cooking with minced garlic and oil over medium heat in a large pot. Saute for 10-15 minutes while they get softer, adding water as needed.
10. Fry the ground sausage in a skillet and set aside.
11. Wash and slice the leek into rings. "Melt" the leeks in butter over medium heat in a skillet with red wine vinegar. Cook for approximately 5-10 minutes. Set aside and keep warm.
12. When the squash is baked, combine it with the carrot and celery in the pot. Add broth and apple cider vinegar and simmer for 10 minutes.
13. Blend the contents of the pot. Chuck recommends using a blender, but I don't have one, so I used an immersion blender. Blend it until it is as smooth as you like. 
14. Return to medium heat and add cream. This is where you add more broth or cream until the soup is the consistency you like. 
15. Add the sausage to the soup, and make sure it's all warm.
16. Serve with leeks.

Trevor thinks he might like it better without the sausage--the whole dish is VERY flavorful. But I personally think the sausage makes the soup. We will probably be doing variations with shredded chicken or mushrooms. Mmm, can you imagine halved mushrooms in this??

Let me know what you think! 

Go here to read Chuck's full recipe for "Butternut Squash that will kick you in the butternuts."

UPDATE*****
09/23/2012
We made this again with a smoked sausage and it was superb! I recommend using 2 cups of cream, and adding at least 2 more cups of chicken broth after you've blended. Add them in increments so you can decide on your own how thick you want it. Adding cream makes it less spicy, but it is VERY spicy still. If you're worried about how hot it will be, add half the cayenne, and tone down the pepper before roasting.

Here's some more photos :)

[Shrimp & Pineapple Tikka] + [Spinach & Paneer]

I've just taken my first 10 bites of Spinach and Paneer, and it is kind of exciting in my mouth!

I traveled, literally, all over the valley trying to find an Indian market. I got turned away so many times :( But after visiting two Asian markets, finding the largest Indian market in Salt Lake recently closed, and finding one store completely invisible, I FINALLY found one open and CLOSE TO MY HOUSE! (Why I didn't go there first, we'll never know.)

My new favorite place is called Qaderi Sweetz N Spicez. Yeah, crazy name. But whatevs. It's on 3546 South Redwood in the middle of a pretty Mexican gangster strip mall. The second I walked in, the clerk was super helpful and nice. So go!

As a follow up to my last Indian food post, I found ghee! It was at my local Fresh Market; whodathunk? Not me, that's for sure. You know that teensy section of Indian food most grocery stores have next to all the Asian food? It's right there (not in the dairy section), jarred, and waiting for you.

Here's my initial take on ghee. I'm going to give it another shot, but I'm not entirely sure I love the flavor. I don't know enough words to describe it any differently than you'd describe butter, but it's different. 

On to the food!

This week I made two dishes, a shrimp dish and a spinach dish. Here goes:

SHRIMP + PINEAPPLE TIKKA

If you've ever wondered what an Indian restaurant smells like, this is it.

India is HUGE, guys. There are so many different areas and cultures within cultures, especially when it comes to cuisine. And a lot of the people on the coasts eat tons of seafood (so my cookbook tells me). So I thought I'd try my hand at a dry fish dish. Lots of Indian food is saucy, so I was interested to try this recipe. It turned out to smell very Indian, and taste very Indian, but I wasn't ecstatic over it. I don't think I'll make it again. I think it was just a little TOO much for me. It's made with a bunch of brown and yellow seeds, and none of the sweeter red powders and chiles. That's not to say someone out there won't like it when they try it.

1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp yellow mustard seeds
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/4 tsp nigella seeds
pinch of chili powder
2 tbsp pineapple juice from the can
about 3/4 pound of medium size shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tails left in-tact
an equal amount of pineapple chunks from a can or fresh
salt
chopped cilantro

I didn't use fenugreek seeds, but fenugreek powder instead (about half the amount it calls for in seeds). I also didn't use nigella seeds because I couldn't find them, or cilantro because Trevor doesn't really like it.

Dry roast all the seeds together in a pan. This means you put them over medium high heat in a pan with NO oil for a few minutes until they start to get warm and aromatic. Stir them constantly and take them out of the pan quickly before they burn.

Now, this is where you have to get tricky. You're supposed to mash all those seeds up with salt and chili powder in a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder. Idunno about you, but I don't have either of those. So I just used an old pepper grinder; worked like a charm. Just get it as fine as you can.

Stir in pineapple (or lemon) juice to the ground up seeds. Add your shrimp to the mixture and let it marinate for at least 10 minutes.

Preheat the broiler, stick your shrimpies and your pineapplies on your skewers, and broil for 2-3 minutes on each side.

SPINACH + PANEER

Like I was saying before, India's got a lot of character! In some places, practically everyone is vegetarian. I read that they use a homemade cheese called paneer to get a lot of their protein they'd normally get from meat. Cheese? Um, yes, please. I was sad when I couldn't find paneer at the regular grocery store or at the Asian stores, but I found it at Qaderi's! You can make your own, which is probably what real Indians do, but I'm not that dedicated :) It tastes like cheese, and it's harder than cream cheese, but softer than cheddar. It tastes like strong milk, with a pretty warm flavor.

I liked this dish a lot more than the shrimp one. Who doesn't love creamy spinach and cheese?

6 tbsp ghee (or vegetable oil)
12 ounces paneer, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 1/2 tbsp garlic and ginger paste (just make your own)
1 fresh green chile
4 tbsp water
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 pound fresh spinach leaves, stem removed
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garam masala
4 tbsp heavy cream
lemon wedges

I didn't use lemon wedges. But take a look, really the only crazy thing in this recipe is garam masala, which is really just a blend of a bunch of spices like pepper, cloves, cumin, cardamom, nutmeg, anise, cinnamon, ginger, fennel and whatever else they decide to through in. It's serious business, but I have no idea how they do it.

Heat the ghee over medium high in a large skillet or casserole and add the paneer pieces in a single layer. Pan fry for about 5 minutes till all the sides are browned. Paneer isn't like cheddar; it won't all melt and it says pretty intact. Remove the cheese to a paper towel covered plate.

To make a garlic and ginger paste, just chop up equal parts (or whatever ratio you want) ginger and garlic. Then start smooshing it with your knife, spreading it across the cutting board while you pulverize. You can add a little salt to make it easier. Add your paste, onion,  and finely diced chile to your hot ghee in the pan and cook until the onions are soft but not brown. Add water if necessary.

Wash the spinach and add it to the pan without removing too much of the water from the leaves. Add salt. Cover and let the spinach wilt, stirring occasionally. Add cream and garam masala. Serve with lemon.

This will be yummy!