Basil Parmesan Tomato Soup

This Basil Parmesan Tomato Soup, from Today's Mama, is the BEST tomato soup I've ever had.  Oh who am I kidding, it's the ONLY tomato soup I'll ever eat.  Even Blockette said it was rockin awesome.  And she is a fellow tomato hater.

One great thing about this recipe is that you can make it on the stove top or in the crockpot.  I forgot to toss the ingredients into the crockpot in time so I opted to make it on the stove.  I chopped all the veggies and had the ingredients all ready to go before I left work.  The whole thing, including simmering time, took about 1 hr from start to finish.

I used veggie stock and skim milk instead of chicken stock and half and half.  I thought the soup was rich and flavorful as it was, but I bet it would be even more insane if you used half and half. 

Here's how to make this rockin tomato soup:

Tomato Basil Soup from Today's Mama
2 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes, with juice
1 c finely diced celery
1 c finely diced carrots
1 c finely diced onions
1 t dried oregano or 1 T fresh oregano
1 T dried basil or 1/4 c fresh basil
4 c chicken broth
½ bay leaf
½ c flour
1 c Parmesan cheese
½ c butter
2 c half and half, warmed (or skim milk if you’re trying to cut some calories)
¼ t black pepper
 Add tomatoes, celery, carrots, chicken broth, onions, oregano, basil, and bay leaf to lg slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW 5-7 hrs, til flavors blended and veg soft.
 30 min before serving prepare roux. Melt butter over low heat in a skillet and add flour. Stir constantly with a whisk for 5-7 min. Slowly stir in 1 c hot soup. Add another 3 c and stir til smooth. Add back into crockpot.  Stir and add Parmesan , warmed half and half, and pepper. Add additional basil and oregano if needed.  Cover and cook on LOW 30 min til ready to serve.

Stove-Top Version:
 Heat oil in 4 qt pot. Add celery, onions and carrots. Saute 5 min. Add basil, oregano, bay leaf, tomatoes, and broth. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. While simmers, prepare a roux. Melt butter over low heat, add flour and cook, stirring constantly, 5-7 min. Slowly stir in 1 c hot soup. Add another 3 cs and stir until smooth. Add back into soup pot.  Simmer, stirring constantly, until soup thickens. Add Parmesan and whisk to blend. Stir warmed half and half. Simmer over low heat 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cheerios Bars

These Cheerios Cereal Bars, from Averie Cooks, make a great little snack for the lunch box.

I used regular Cheerios, almonds, raisins, craisins, chocolate and peanut butter chips.  I chose plain cheerios because I thought the bar would be too sweet with the honey nut Cheerios that the recipe called for.  I chose the rest of the add ins because they were what I had handy in the pantry.

I tried using corn syrup instead of honey in hopes that they would be sturdier than the bars that are mentioned in Averie Cooks.  I don't think they are.  I store the bars in the freezer, and while they don't fall apart by lunch, they are quite soft.  Personally, I prefer the bars right from the freezer.  I like the crunch!


Cheerios Cereal Bars from Averie Cooks
1/4 c butter
1/4 c honey or corn syrup
1/4 c brown sugar
1 T vanilla
3 c Cheerios
1 1/2 c misc add ins: nuts, trail mix, chocolate chips, dried fruit, etc

Line 8" sq pan w foil leaving overhang, spray w pam. In lg micro-safe bowl, combine butter, honey, and sugar. Nuke 1 min. Stir. Mix will be grainy. Nuke 1 more min. Stir. Nuke 1 another minute. Stir. Be careful as at this point the goo will be hot and boiling,  Do not touch molten goo. Add vanilla carefully as the goo will bubble up. Stir in cereal. Fold in add ins.  Pour into prepared pan and press w spatula to smooth out.  Cover w plastic wrap and chill 3-8 hrs to set before cutting into 12 pieces.  Store in fridge or freezer.

Carrot Cake Waffles

Fat Tuesday is known in some parts of the world as Pancake Tuesday.  I think it comes from the time when people were using up their eggs and milk before the season of fasting began.  We don't really fast but I thought it would be fun to incorporate the concept into our Fat Tuesday celebrations.

Except I Fail at pancakes.

So, I did what any creative cook would do...make Waffles.  Because Waffles are Awesome!

I went through my recipe to do list and found 5 great waffle recipes.  I let Blockette make the selection and she chose Carrot Cake Waffles.

This recipe makes nice thick waffles.  Some waffles are light and fluffy as air.  Those can be nice, but sometimes you want a nice substantial hearty waffle.  These babies are it for sure!

I really liked the maple walnut cream cheese on the waffles, but Blockette did not.  It was regular old butter and syrup for my girl.

My favorite waffles are still the gingerbread waffles, but I think these are a close second.

Yields: about 7 waffles (using 1/2 cup batter for each)

Carrot Cake Waffles from Willow Bird Baking.  Makes about 7 waffles using 1/2c batter for each
2 c flour
2 T sugar
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
1 t allspice
1 3/4 c buttermilk* or 1 1/2 c sour cream/plain yogurt thinned with 1/4 c milk
2 eggs, separated
4 T (1/2 stick) butter
1/2 t vanilla
1 c walnuts, chopped
1 1/2 c grated carrots

Maple Nut Cream Cheese Spread:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
3-4 T maple syrup
1/8 c chopped walnuts

Heat 4 T butter in skillet over med heat til melted, 1-2 min. Continue to cook, swirling pan constantly, til butter lt brown and has faint nutty aroma, 2-4 minutes. Add spices stirring constantly, 15 sec. Remove from heat and cool to room temp, about 30 min. (I sped this process up by slowly adding some of the milk to the melted butter.)  Combine flour, salt, sugar, baking soda. Mix buttermilk and egg yolks. Stir in spiced butter and vanilla. Spray iron well and preheat. Stir wet into dry ingred. Beat egg whites in a separate bowl with a whisk or electric mixer (make sure bowl and mixer are spotlessly clean) til hold soft peaks. Stir them gently into batter. Fold in carrots and  walnuts. Spread a 1/2c batter onto waffle iron and bake til waffle is done, 3-5 min. Spray iron w between waffles as needed. (I found I need to spray the iron after every other waffle.)

Maple Cream Cheese:  combine nuts, syrup, and cream cheese and mix well.

No knead cheesy bread

I found this recipe for no knead buttery Parmesan sour cream bread over at Averie Cooks.  I'd been wanting to make it since I saw it last summer, but I'd just never got around to it.  A few weeks ago I was cleaning out the fridge and saw that I had some sour cream that needed to be used up.  I had exactly the right amount to make this recipe.

While the recipe made some great bread, it was very salty.  I used grillmates seasoning but cut it down to 1 Tablespoon instead of the 2 listed in the recipe.  I also omitted the salt called for in the recipe, and used an Italian blend cheese instead of Parmesan cheese.  The bread was still way too salty for my liking as grill mates is mostly salt.  I plan on trying this recipe out again either using Bavarian or Italian seasoning blends instead of Grill Mates seasoning.  I'll still probably only use 1 T of the seasoning.

No knead Sour Cream Bread from Averie Cooks
1/2 c unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c Parmesan cheese (I used Italian Blend)
1T salt free seasoning blend
1 heaping T baking powder
1 c milk, plus 1/4 c as needed
1/2 c sour cream

425F. Line 8x8 pan w/foil and spray. Pour melted butter in prepared pan. In lg bowl, mix flour, Add wet mix to dry. Batter thick, and dense, with lumps. If resembles paste, add up to 1/4 c milk,  to thin.
Carefully turn batter into pan, on top of melted butter. Smooth lightly with spatula and push corners. It's OK if butter sloshes up onto batter. Score batter into 9 pieces to make slicing easier later. Bake  22-24 min, til bread is set. Cool in pan 5 min before slicing. If butter pools in bottom of pan, drizzle  over top. Bread best fresh, but will keep airtight for up to 4 days or in freezer for 3 months.

Regarding Zombies and Sanitation

This cross stitch is now hanging in my kitchen. 

I chuckle every time I see it.

 It was stitched over one on 22 ct cream evenweave.

And here it is for scale reference over my sink with the dirty breakfast dishes still in it. 

(Just keepin' it realz!)

If you like the design, the chart can be purchased at Pixel Power Design.

Microwave Cornbread

My mom gave me this container that bakes brownies in the microwave.  I didn't have all the ingredients on hand to make brownies, so I went on a hunt to try to figure out something else to make with this crazy pan.

I couldn't come up with many other options aside from different variations on the basic brownie.  After much searching I found a decent looking recipe for microwave cornbread.  This recipe comes from a blog called Veganasf#ck.

The batter was really thin in my pan.  I debated doubling the recipe, but thought against it as I didn't really know how much the cornbread was going to rise.

The cornbread didn't rise a whole lot, but was cooked in the 3 min stated in the recipe.  I imagine the cooking time would need to be doubled if the amounts in the recipe were increased.

As it was the cornbread was ok.  It was thin and a bit on the dry side.  I think this would be a great emergency recipe to use if it was a busy night.  I can see myself making this again before or after soccer practice with leftover chili for a super speedy dinner.

 Microwave Cornbread from Veganasf#ck
1/2 c cornmeal
1/2 c flour
1 T sugar
1 t baking powder
2 T veg oil
1/2 c almond milk

Put dry ingred in bowl and mix well. Add oil and milk. Let stand 5 min (not essential if in a hurry) Nuke 2-3 min.  Check that it’s cooked by inserting a knife.

Roasted Cauliflower and Sausage Spaghetti

When I told Mrblocko we were having Roasted Cauliflower and Sausage Spaghetti for dinner it was met with a heavy sigh.  He is not a fan of Cauliflower.  I think it is one of his least favorite veggies.

I reminded him that I was roasting the cauliflower and that the last time I did that he thought it was tolerable.

Surprisingly, you could just barely taste the cauliflower.  The flavors from the sausage and whole wheat pasta are so strong they overwhelm any potential "nastiness" of the offensive white veggie.

I made two minor changes to the recipe.  I swapped out the Parmesan Cheese for Italian blend shredded cheese, and added half a roasted red pepper.  Mrblocko really enjoyed the addition of the red pepper.  Next time I think I will add a whole roasted red pepper.

This dish is definitely a keeper.  I plan on adding it to the regular rotation.

Roasted Cauliflower and Sausage Spaghetti adapted from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice
16 oz Italian Sausage
1 sm head cauliflower, chopped into bite sized florets (about 3-4 c)
Black pepper
13-16 oz whole wheat spaghetti
6 cloves garlic, sliced
1 roasted red pepper, diced
4T EVOO
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 c Italian blend Shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 400F.  Toss cauliflower w 2 T EVOO and salt. Place on rimmed baking sheet lined w foil and sprayed w pam. Bake 30 min.  Meanwhile in lg skillet, pinch off pieces of Italian sausage and cook in lg skillet over medium heat.  When browned, add garlic and red pepper, cooking until garlic is lt brown and fragrant. While cauliflower and meat is cooking, boil pasta.  Once cooked, drain and add cauliflower, meat mix, remaining oil, gr onions and cheese. Toss to combine.  Add more oil or cheese if needed.  Serve immediately.