Tomato Soup

This recipe is from my friend, Sandi who got it from her friend, Judy Zanders. I don't know Judy but thanks, Judy! It's yummy! You can use this tomato soup as a base for other soups as well such as making veggie soup or minestrone. This recipe is a canning recipe so it makes a LOT of soup. You can also freeze it in a deep freeze instead of canning it and you can also use it fresh for a large group (say a dinner at church or family reunion....etc.).



Ingredients
12 quarts of tomatoes (1/2 bushel or 25 lbs)
7 med. onions
½ bunch of celery
3 bay leaves
1.5 cups of flour
1.5 cups of butter
½ cup sugar
2 tsp pepper
Salt to taste

Cook onion, celery, bay leaves in small portion of chopped tomatoes. Blend the onion/tomato mixture in a blender and then run through a sieve. Add this blended mixture to the remaining chopped tomatoes and cook in large pot until everything is hot and cooked down to a liquid. Pour mixture into a blender and run through a sieve. Cream butter and flour, then whisk 2 cups of the tomato mixture slowly, this will make a rue to thicken the soup. Add sugar, salt & pepper. Whisk flour mixture into soup slowly. After it is thickened ~ fill sterile jars 1 inch from the top, screw on lid with ring. Process the jars in a pressure cooker, 10 lbs of pressure for 10 minutes. Remove from cooker and gently place on cooling board leave over night, do not remove jars from the cooling board until cooled, as it can compromise the seal.

Makes approx 26 pints or 14 quarts.


When I'm serving it just as tomato soup, I add about 1 cup of milk to a pint of the soup to make it creamy.

Breakfast Brown Rice

Brown rice is about the only food (other than green veggies) I can think of that every diet and every nutritionist agree on. I've never heard anyone say "don't eat brown rice". In fact, I keep hearing doctors, nutritionist, and diets say the opposite,,, "you better be eating brown rice!" Why? Cause like most whole grains it helps bind and cleanse you from all the "bad" stuff. Ya know, toxins and all.

It took a long time to get my family switched over. We were a "white" family as Dr. Oz says....white not by our skin but by what we ate. White flour, white bread, white biscuits, white rice, white pancakes, white dinner rolls, etc. You get the idea. So, now we are trying to be a "brown" family. My kids finally LOVE brown rice! Woohoo! Victory. For those of you discouraged by trying to "switch over" your kids or in my case, my most difficult customer, my husband, be encouraged that it can take years of slowly introducing brown foods until they get used to them and develop a taste for them.

Meantime, here are some tips about brown rice.

~buy good quality long grain brown rice. It makes a big difference. Don't buy brand-x at your store, buy a brand like S&W that is "premium" brown rice. I thought I hated brown rice till I tried a good brand.
~introduce it first in other recipes before serving it plain as a side dish. Put it in soups or use it to stuff bell peppers, etc. This helps your family develop a taste for it before having to eat it as a side dish.
~try substituting chicken broth for the water when cooking it as a side dish. It gives it the familiar flavor of chicken. Butter and salt it as well when introducing it.
~it takes longer to cook than white rice so be sure to allow yourself about 45 min. prep time. I often like to pre-cook my rice earlier in the day or the day before because it re-heats well.
~don't use instant rice. It's been processed.
~try it for breakfast if you already like it. Here's a recipe idea that my brother's girlfriend, Holly shared with me and we love it.
~if someone in your house is having tummy trouble try having them eat mainly brown rice through out the day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). It's easy on the tummy, helps pull toxins out of your body, and is filling.

Dice one apple very tiny and cook it in with your rice. You can also substitute part of the water for apple juice for more apple flavor. When it's done cooking add a dash of salt, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Serve with butter and a bit of milk like you would oatmeal.

Hope you enjoy this whole grain breakfast!

Crockpot Chicken

Yesterday I cooked chicken in the crockpot. I took out some of it in afternoon and diced it for chicken salad. The rest I left in till it's cooked well enough to shred. With the shredded I'll make traditional enchiladas with and post the pictures on here for you and the rest I'll shred for chicken tacos.

Coffee Roast

I know this sounds strange but my mom came across these old fashioned recipes for making a beef roast with coffee. People remember their moms from yesteryear making roast this way. So, mom tried it and it was wonderful. You can't taste any coffee flavor at all but instead it gives a richness and tenderness that are wonderful. We had this the other night at mom and dad's house and it was yummy!



Add 2 cups of brewed coffee to your beef roast in the crockpot or dutch oven. Add the seasonings that you usually like to use. I use either a pack of Knorr onion soup or I use marinade packets or even just a sprinkling of Montreal Seasoning.

Snow Candy

I think I read this in a Little House on the prairie book or somewhere like that. I guess this is an old fun thing to do with snow. I've done it a few times with my kids over the years. The snow we had yesterday didn't work so well. There are different "types" or maybe I should say textures of snow and some work well for this and some don't. Yesterday's snow didn't work so well but I took a picture so that you could get the idea just the same.

You take a plate of snow and pack it and then draw with your finger a design to pour pure maple syrup in and then it makes it cold and hard, making into a hard candy.

Another friend of ours likes to make their own homemade snow slushies by scooping clean snow and putting koolaid on it like you would shave ice.

Veggie Kabobs for dipping in Hummus

You've probably seen the cute little fruit kabobs that people make with the yummy fruit dip.....








Well, here's a new take on it that I found on The Food Network website.....make it even healthier with veggies. That's right, chop your veggies into dippable (is that a word?) size and skewer them. You can use simple wood skewers. Then stack them on a platter with a bowl of hummus dip. This is also a fun snack to pack in a lunch for work or a picnic. A fun way to eat veggies. To get kids involved, let them help with picking out the veggies they like and skewering them. You can substitute ranch dressing dip or other dips of your choice.

Peachy Coconut Smoothie

This smoothie recipe from Jessica's blog sounds really yummy...you might want to check it out. =0)

Basic Beer Bread from Scratch

My sister was asking how to make white beer bread from scratch because in Mexico she can't get self rising flour like in the other recipe I posted. So, this one is for her....

Basic Beer Bread Mix:
3 c all-purpose flour
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder (make sure it's fresh!)
12 oz beer

Mix together everything but the beer then slowly add the beer and stir. Place into a glass loaf pan that you have greased well with butter. Batter will be thick. Bake at 375 degrees for about 40 min. or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and the top is lightly browned. Let cool for about 10 min. then remove from pan and let cool on a rack.

If you are interested in the whole wheat version...it's here.

Chicken Noodle Soup in the Crock Pot

2-3 boneless skinless chicken breast
2-3 carrots peeled and sliced
3 celery stalks sliced
1/4 onion diced (or 2 tsp minced dried onion)
4-5 c water
1-2 c chicken broth
2 c egg noodles (I used whole wheat blend)
dash of basel
dash of parsley
dash of pepper
salt to taste

Place chicken, carrots, onion, seasonings, water, broth, and celery in the crock in the morning. About a half hour before dinner, add egg noodles. Cook on low all day. Before serving, remove chicken breasts, chop, and return to soup. Serve with bread and butter.

1-2-3 Cobbler

This is the easiest way I know how to make cobbler. It's a great fast dessert for unexpected company...assuming you have 2 cans of pie filling and a box cake mix on hand. I like to always keep enough in my pantry for potlucks I forgot about or unexpected company. It's helpful to have some vanilla ice cream or whipping cream on hand as well.

1 box of vanilla cake mix
2 cans pie filling
3 chunks of butter

Spray a glass dish with non-stick spray or olive oil. Dump in pie filling. Sprinkle the top with 1/2 or 2/3 of cake mix (save the rest for another time). Top with at least 3 slices of butter if not more. Bake at about 375 degrees uncovered for 30-45 min or until top is golden brown and bubbly.

Variations-
-you can use the following pie fillings: cherry, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, boysenberry, peach, apple, etc.
-you can use canned peaches instead of pie filling to make peach cobbler. But you need to use the ones that are in heavy syrup.
-you can use frozen berries but you'll need to add at least a 1/2 cup of sugar to the berries to sweeten them.
-you can sprinkle a little brown sugar on the top if you like that caramelized flavor.

Featured Product- Roasted Red Bell Peppers

These are great! I first heard about them from Rachel Ray. She purees them and adds them to her jarred spaghetti sauce. So, I had to try it and holy smokes it was fabulous! That fire roasted flavor was like zazing! Yum. They are also very good for you and it's a great way to sneak in some extra veggies into your kids. I also like to add about 1 tbsp sugar to my jar sauce to sweeten it. I find that jar sauce tends to be on the tart side so adding a bit of sugar makes a huge difference. I know, adding sugar isn't the healthiest thing I could do to my sauce but it makes such a huge taste difference that I'm happy to cut back on sugar somewhere else. I also add a dash of anise seed for that Italian sausage flavor even though there is no sausage in my sauce.

I've also heard that some sandwich places like to dice the roasted bell peppers and put them on their italian style sandwiches. They are sweet and yummy.

Featured Product - Whole Grain Pastas

Okay, first one is whole wheat lasagna noodles. Fabulous that they make these. This one happens to be whole wheat blend so it's not 100% whole wheat but it's still a step in the right direction. You can buy them 100% whole wheat.

I have not found whole wheat jumbo shells for making stuffed shells...something I love to make. So recently I tried making those stuffed rolled lasagna noodles so that I could get more whole wheat in.




Next, I found whole wheat egg noodles! I was totally thrilled because pasta just doesn't hold together in soups. It absorbs too much water and starts to swell and fall apart. That's why noodles are in soup and not pasta! Noodles are made with eggs and pasta is made without eggs. I'm so happy to have found whole wheat blend egg noodles. I know this bag says "pasta" on it but they are indeed made with egg. This one happens to be made with just egg whites and not the yoke, which cuts down on the bad cholesterol. I found these at my local Albertsons.


Lastly, my kids love tortellini...especially my son. It's his favorite food believe it or not. So, when I finally found whole wheat tortellini I was again really excited. Costco carried them for awhile here in the fresh deli section. They were fresh which was wonderful but I haven't seen them since. These are frozen which is my second choice. I really don't care for dried boxed stuffed tortellini. Anyway, I found these at my local Albertsons as well.

Chocolate Dipped Macaroons

I wanted to post one more recipe before I take a break till next week....these are super easy and I've been making them for years. I've seen really complicated recipes for these with long lists of ingredients but I still make them this simple unhealthy way, hee hee. Enjoy and I'll see you here next week!

1 bag shredded coconut (5 1/3 cup)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 tsp vanilla

Mix the above together and drop by spoon fulls onto a parchment covered cookie sheet. You can make them as small or as large as you like. Bake at 350 degrees till golden brown (about 15 min.). Dip in chocolate once completely cooled. I use candy melts brand chocolates for dipping.

Eggplant Sandwich

Slice about 1 inch thick piece of eggplant and peel off skin

Saute it in a skillet with olive oil, one clove of garlic minced and a dash of Italian herb seasoning

Once it's cooked through, make a sandwich out of it.

In the picture I used whole grain bread, sliced tomatoes, and avocados. It was wonderful.

I forgot to mention that I sprinkled it with salt as well. =0)

Macaroni Bake

1 lb ground turkey, veal, or beef

1 bag of large macaroni, penne, or ziti

1 jar of pasta sauce

1 tsp anise seed

1/4 tsp of poultry seasoning

2 cloves of garlic minced

1 tsp sugar

salt and pepper

1/2 tsp minced dried onion or 1/4 diced onion

1 cup shredded cheese

Brown the ground turkey with onion, anise seed, poultry seasoning, and garlic. Meantime boil the macaroni till done and drain. Add jar of pasta sauce to the cooked meat and add sugar. Then add salt and pepper to taste. Add pasta to the meat and sauce mix and then stir in cheese leaving a little to sprinkle on the top. Spray a deep baking with olive oil and pour pasta mix into baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese and put under broiler just till cheese is melted and bubbly.

Pretty healthy if you use ground turkey and whole wheat pasta and go easy on the cheese. Tomato sauce is super great for your body so getting that down the kids is easy with this dish. I made this recipe up on the spot but it was a huge hit with the family. Hurray! It also makes a wonderful freezer meal. Prepare it up to sprinkling the cheese on top and then cover it and freeze. Defrost it later and bake at 350 for about an hour or until bubbly.

Whole Grain Waffles

I love the Kodiak Cakes Flapjack and Waffle Mix which most of you already know from my pancake post so I just had to show you that they make wonderful waffles as well. You just mix ice cold water with the mix and I like to add an egg to it to make them fluffier. But, if you can't find this mix (which William Sonoma and Albertsons I know carry) then you can use your own pancake or waffle recipe and just use whole wheat pastry flour instead of white flour and you'll get the same thing.

I topped these waffles with butter, a dab of syrup and some cooked strawberries and blueberries.

I put frozen whole strawberries and blueberries into a pot and heated them till they started to break down a bit. Then I mashed them just a few times with my potato masher. I added a few tbsps of organic white sugar and they made a wonderful topping. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.

We actually had these for dinner. =0) You can make them for dessert as well by serving with a scoop of ice cream, some whipped cream and some hot fudge.

Snack of the Day - V8

Have you ever seen Rachel Ray's show and she has the "snack of the day"...I've always loved that phrase...don't know why. Just like saying it. Well, one of my favorite snacks is V8. I know weird! But it's very filling, it's packed with vitamins, it's low in calories (WW points are 0 for the tiny cans). Anyway, they are the ones that look like this picture...they are tiny little six packs and they make a great snack. They don't have to be refrigerated so you can take them anywhere easily. They fit in your purse easily too.

I've tried the low sodium one and I can barely get it down. You could add your own real salt or sea salt for a healthier salt alternative.

Eggplant Au Gratin

I found this recipe in a french cookbook. Since I've been searching for more veggie dishes I thought this one sounded good. Now, I know not everyone is a fan of eggplant and honestly, I wasn't either for a long time. My mom made me an eggplant sandwich once though and I realized that I really do like it just not the skin. So, now I love it but it has to be peeled. =0) If you are vegetarian or on a diet, eggplant can come in handy! It's a great meat substitute because it's thick and filling. I'll post the eggplant sandwich on here as well but first, the Eggplant Au Gratin (minus the cheese). =0)

Cut off the ends and peel one egg plant.

Slice the eggplant in at least 3/4 of an inch sized slices (it shrinks down significantly)

Drizzle olive oil in the bottom of a shallow pan or glass 9x13 till the bottom is well coated.

Sprinkle with about 1/2 tsp of Italian seasonings

Layer the eggplant in the pan overlapping each other

Mix together Italian bread crumbs and olive oil and sprinkle on top (the recipe called for grated Parmesan mixed in as well but I omitted it)

You can drizzle a little more olive oil on top if you'd like to

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 min or until tender, bubbly, and bread crumbs are crunchy.

Variations:

-you can use plain bread crumbs mixed with about 1/2 tsp Italian herb seasonings instead.

-you can add about 1/4 cup grated Parmesan to the bread crumb mixture.

-you can add other veggies and layer them overlapping each other in rows...such as sliced zucchini and sliced tomatoes. Tomatoes go really well with eggplant. So lay a piece of eggplant and then a row of zucchini and then a row of tomatoes and repeat.

-in the pictures I used half an eggplant and a pan that was half the size of a 9x13.

Shepherd's Pie with Gravy

I make this often in the winter because it's easy and my family loves it. There are several different variations (as it seems with most casserole dishes!) so use what you've got and make it how you like it. I like it with the creamy gravy but my husband likes it without...so you can add it or leave it out...I've done both.

~This makes a great freezer meal as well. You can prep the whole thing and then freeze it and then put it in the oven when you are ready to use it. If it's in your deep freeze you might want to take it out the day before and let it defrost a bit in your fridge.

~This is also a great meal to bring to someone who's had a baby or is stuck in bed. It feeds a whole family easily or if you need to you can double it easily.

~Kids usually love this meal. It's a casserole but it's pretty simple so there isn't much dissecting that goes on once it's served to them.

Ingredients

1/2 of a chopped onion (or sprinkle with dried onion)

sprinkle of garlic powder or 1 minced garlic clove

1 lb ground beef or turkey

1/2 bag or 2 cups of frozen veggie (we usually use corn but green beans or peas work well too)

mashed potatoes (enough to cover the top of the baking dish like a crust-I often used leftover mashed potatoes)

salt and pepper for seasoning

Saute onion, garlic and brown the meat. Drain. Add salt and pepper. Add veggies and saute till veggies are warmed. Put meat in the bottom of a baking dish (I usually use a deep french white corning ware dish). Spread mashed potatoes over the top sealing the top like a crust. Bake at 350 degrees uncovered until bubbly (mine usually bubbles around the edges even if I sealed it off well with the mashed potatoes) and the top of it is lightly browned.

Variations:

-with gravy mixed in- you can make your own gravy and pour it over the meat and veggie mixture before topping with mashed potatoes.

-or you can serve it with gravy on the side.

-instead of gravy you can make this easy creamy mix....1 can cream of mushroom soup and about 1/2 cup of milk whisked together

-you can use chicken broth and only 1 cup of milk when making gravy to make it more figure friendly.

-peas or green beans instead of corn or a mix of all three

-you can freeze it by covering it first with cling wrap and then with foil.

-you can make this a one skillet meal by using an oven safe skillet. Prepare the meat and corn and then top the skillet with mashed potatoes. Place the whole skillet into the oven.

-healthy factors: use ground turkey, use Yukon gold potatoes, use a green veggie instead of corn, use 2 parts chicken broth to 1 part milk for the gravy, or omit the gravy altogether.

This is a very complete meal if served with a fresh green salad.

To make the gravy, make a rue from butter and flour. Add 2 parts chicken broth and 1 part milk. Whisk continually so that you don't get lumps or burn it.

Salt and pepper to taste.

If you aren't going to use the gravy right away. Cover it with cling wrap so that it doesn't get a dry skin on top of it. Press the cling wrap against the gravy leaving no air between the gravy and the cling wrap.