Happy almost Easter everyone! I am hosting Easter this year for our crowd of about 30 or so, and I have included what I am planning to serve as well as some yummy things I have seen around the blogosphere so enjoy! All photos have been taken from the blogs mentioned in this round up.
Valentine’s Day is over, and I am very type-A when it comes to my posts, and it literally makes my skin crawl to have red, pink and hearts spread out on my home page so here is a repeat post just to hold us over for a day. I have a lemon souffle I will be posting by tomorrow (or sooner) so don’t fret. Feel free to skip this post or read it. It’s totally up to you; I’ll never know the wiser.
Here it is crazy cold (all of 47 degrees F. in So Cal and Yes, I am a big baby), and I just made this soup last night so I thought it was quite apropos.
Hi All! I have been enjoying the holidays far too much to stop and take photos. Last night I cooked a prime rib, Yorkshire pudding (popovers—will post these soon!), roasted Brussels sprouts, pan roasted potatoes, and the list goes on including these amazing Chocolate Mint Parfaits. They were the perfect light and airy, minty finish to a heavy meal.
This Heirloom Tomato soup is honestly the best soup I have ever eaten. I kicked your average tomato soup up a notch by adding Heirlooms to the Hothouse Tomato bunch and ended up with an addicting soup that has already got me planning my next batch of it.
Soup that you dream about all the next day, knowing it’s in your fridge and just waiting to be dunked into by a rustic grilled cheese sandwich.
Heirloom Tomato Soup for Blood Sucking Vampires!
Serves 5-6 bowls
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 cloves minced garlic
1-2 Large Heirloom Tomatoes, chopped (not peeled)
4 medium-large vine ripened tomatoes, chopped (not peeled)
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves,
3-4 cups “no chicken” vegetarian broth or chicken broth
2 t. sea salt or to taste
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup half and half or whole milk
Toasted grilled cheese points for serving along side
Possible toppings: nonfat Greek yogurt, dolloped or put in a pastry bag, fitted with a small, round tip and swirled on; chopped fresh basil, grated cheddar if you are not serving with grilled cheese, grated gruyere on a crouton on top of soup.
*Add a few drops of red food coloring if you want your soup “red” for “vampire blood”.
For the Soup: Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed stock pot over medium-low heat. Add the onions and carrots and saute for about 10 minutes until very tender. You want the onions to be carmelized. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, sugar, tomato paste, basil, stock, salt, and pepper and stir well. Bring the soup to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer, uncovered, for 30 to 40 minutes, until the tomatoes begin to break down and are very soft.
Add the half and half to the soup, stir and process the soup through a food mill into a bowl, discarding only the dry pulp that’s left. Or if you don’t have a food mill, roll up your sleeves for the following steps: Send it through a blender in small batches. LEAVE THE LITTLE CIRCLE IN THE TOP of your lid open or off and PLACE A CLEAN TOWEL OVER THE HOLE or you will get burned. I have an immersion blender and I just pureed the soup with that. Then push your soup through a large sieve or strainer. This took me a while, like 15 solid minutes of forcing the soup through the strainer but it was SO worth it. Really.
Reheat the soup over low heat just until hot and serve with any of the suggested toppings and a grilled cheese sandwich…cut in tooth shapes if you want it for a Halloween themed dish. Enjoy…I know you will!
Hello Fall,
Nice of you to stop by for maybe a minute or so. Was I not welcoming enough? Did my three batches of pumpkin cookies, one batch of pumpkin muffins and my huge pot of sweet potato soup not convince you to stay?!
Well, too darn bad! Because I am going to push onward and continue to whip up Fall dishes like this earthy maple glazed pumpkin salad despite your stealthy escape. I am going to win you over…I am sure of it. As sure as I am of loving chocolate and hating Mondays, I am positive that I can get you to plant yourself for at least a couple of months…illusiveness aside. Continue reading
Sit down, which I assume you are if you are reading this post. Take a deep breath, and tell me what’s been troubling you. Too long a list perhaps? Has your boss, spouse, kids, roommate, efriend got you down? Have your shoes and whole wardrobe, for that matter, reached their expiration date? Completely out of ideas for your next blog post?
When I am asked if I can bring a dish to a party, I am usually the first to jump up and down with joy and shout out sweet ideas. Does this party need cupcakes…a refined little pastry perhaps or a big, honkin’, decadent cake?
Well, my niece, Emme, was having a cupcake themed birthday party and the party goers were going to be making the cupcakes from start to finish at the party. Extra desserts were definitely not needed so instead I opted for a fruit skewer platter. Continue reading
It’s gorgeous isn’t it? Sorry, I usually am not so disgustingly transparent with my bragging rights, but this salad deserves to be on the cover of any magazine. And to think, this is just the second string version of my original salad I made for my book club last Friday night. That one was the real stunner because the golden and purple beets both were in abundance on the original version.
Yes, this is a re-post, but it drove me crazy this morning to wake-up to my blog which was seeming to be blinking “VALENTINE’S DAY” in neon lights. Since I was a good wife on Valentine’s night and made an elaborate dinner while leaving my camera locked up in its bag, I have no photos and no new post. So I have chosen one of my all-time favorite, easy peasy go-to recipes which you will thank me for if you get a chance to make it. Those of you who are my old faithful followers and have been here seen it, I will have a new recipe up soon. I hope.
If you have been fighting off the big, bad germs that have come your way, or if you simply want a delicious but healthy soup for tonight, make this creamy spinach soup. It has a hint of nutmeg and was started with a few nice cloves of sauteed garlic, so believe me, even though it’s easy peasy, it’s really tasty and has many layers of flavor. The ingredients list is so small it’s almost embarrassing…almost.
Sweet And Crumby 