Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese

I was going to make chicken tonight, but the boy had a business dinner and I am apparently catching whatever cold is going around, so I decided to make some good ol' tomato soup and grilled cheese. Nothing like comfort food to make you feel, well, comforted. I actually made the tomato soup. No, really. I did. And it is healthier than my normal Campbell's Creamy Tomato - no cream or anything like that. It is actually pretty good. I didn't have any curry - so I substituted with cumin, ginger and cayenne pepper. And look at the grilled cheese. Seriously, that is like, the best grilled cheese I have had in a LONG time. I used a slice of cheddar and a slice of provolone. So yummy. And I know you are totally jealous of my oh-so-cool Mickey Mouse serving set.

Ingredients:
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. curry
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1 46 oz. can tomato juice
1/4 c. sugar

Directions:
In a large saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour and spices.

Gradually add tomato juice and sugar.

Cook, uncovered, until thickened and heated through - about 5 minutes.

Yield: 6 servings

Source: Taste of Home's "Quick Cooking Annual Recipes 2002"

P.S. I didn't win the cake contest at work. I placed fifth. :(

Sugar Cookie Bars

You know how you can tell when something just looks ridiculously delicious? When someone posts it on Saturday and you run out and buy everything you need and make it on Sunday. Yeah, that's what I did. I just couldn't stop myself. Seriously, this is the best thing I made all day. AND I took a pretty good picture of it! Usually for sugar cookies, I just crack open a roll of Pillsbury's. When I made these, I decided to forego making the frosting and just use canned. I totally regret that now. It's funny, now that I have been baking and cooking more "imitation" stuff is more noticeable to me. That's how the icing tastes. I can tell it is from a can. Next time, not only will I make my own frosting, but I think I will intentionally under cook the cookies a bit so that they have that gooey dough thing going on! Mmmmm... so good!

Ingredients:
1 stick butter, softened
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375.

Sift together flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside.

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Cream butter. Slowly add sugar. Add eggs.

In three parts, add flour.

Spread in pan.

Bake 14-19 minutes.

If you choose to make your own frosting (and you totally should):

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. shortening
2 tsp. vanilla
1/3 c. + 2 tbsp. warm water
2 lb. powdered sugar

Directions:
Cream shortening.

Add 1 lb. of powdered sugar.

Add warm water and mix into a paste.

Once creamed, adding remaining powdered sugar. Mix and add vanilla.

Beat on high for about 8 minutes.

Once cookies have cooled, frost and decorate.

Yield: about 12 cookie bars, depending on how big you make them!

Source: www.icecreambeforedinner.blogspot.com

Roasted Red Pepper and Black Bean Soup

I saw this recipe a month or so ago and immediately bookmarked it. I have been wanting to make it for awhile now. I modified it a bit because I didn't have any dried black beans. It was pretty good. I would definitely make some changes next time. I would use a whole jar of roasted red peppers instead of just part of it. I would use more jalapeno peppers (I didn't have any chipotle peppers in adobe). I also didn't use the entire cup of parsley, because I don't really like parsley. It also needs a bit more salt. So, basically, don't follow my recipe. Use the original! Still, I'm pretty impressed with myself.

Ingredients:
2 cans black beans, drained
1/2 tbsp. olive oil
1 c. onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced (this was a first!)
8 oz. roasted red peppers, chopped
1 big spoonful of chopped jalapeno peppers
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
2 tbsp. parsley
salt
2 c. chicken broth

Directions:
In a soup pot, heat olive oil. dd onion and garlic and cook until tender.

Stir in red peppers, jalapeno peppers, oregano, parsley and salt. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add broth and blend.

Stir in beans and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat. Simmer for one hour.

Remove to blender or use an immersion blender to puree soup.

Yield: 2 main dish servings

Source: www.agoodappetite.blogspot.com

Cherry Limeade Cupcakes

These didn't turn out nearly as pretty as I was hoping for. The good side - I totally know what I did wrong so I can fix it next time. That always makes me happy! Our monthly cooking contest at work is this Tuesday. The theme is cake. I knew right off the bat that I wanted to make mini cupcakes so that it was truly bite-sized and easy for people to taste-test! I had several cupcakes that I wanted to try to choose from: Fluffernutter cupcakes, Pink Lemonade Cupcakes, Mimosa Cupcakes, and Pound Cake Cupcakes. I ended up choosing Cherry Limeade Cupcakes. I loooooooooooooooooove Sonic and cherry limeades. So these sounded absolutely delicious AND pretty. The cake is awesome. I have NEVER made cake that wasn't from a box before. I actually bought cake flour. Huge step! I even made the frosting - when I was piping it on, it ended up being a little runnier than I was hoping for. So, next time, more powdered sugar. Check. Since I made mini cupcakes, I didn't want to get big limes to garnish, so I bought some key limes. I only used like, three, so now I need a recipe that uses a LOT of limes.

Ingredients:
3 c. cake flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 c. unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. + 2 tbsp. limeade concentrate (defrosted)
3 eggs
3/4 c. milk

3/4 c. limeade concentrate
1/2 c. powdered sugar

3 3/4 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. butter, softened
4 tbsp. maraschino cherry juice
red food coloring (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.

Combine flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

Cream butter. Add sugar. Add limeade. Add eggs, one at a time.

Add in flour in three batches, alternating with milk. Begin and end with flour.

Spoon into muffin cups and bake 15-20 minutes (only about 10 if making mini cupcakes).

While cupcakes are cooling, combine limeade and powdered sugar. Whisk together.

Once cupcakes are cool, poke holes in the tops and drizzle with lime syrup.

For frosting, combine powdered sugar, butter and cherry juice. Mix on low until combined and then medium-high until smooth. Add red food coloring if desired.

Frost cupcakes and garnish with cherries and lime slices.

Yield: 24 cupcakes (or about 80 mini cupcakes - don't worry, I halved the recipe!)

Source: www.annieseats.wordpress.com

Roasted Chickpeas

Y'all are in for a ton of recipes today. I basically spent the last 5 hours cooking and baking. I know, I'm crazy. I've seen a ton of blogs with recipes for roasted chickpeas. Since the boy is on a diet, I thought that this might be a good snack for him. I kind of combined a whole bunch of different recipes that I saw. They aren't bad. I made them super spicy. I can see it being a good "go to" snack because they are super easy to make and you get the "crunchy fix" if that is what you need! I think that next time, I might try tossing them in hot sauce instead of olive oil.

Ingredients:
1 can chickpeas
Olive oil
Spices to taste (I used red pepper flakes and garlic powder)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375.

Drain, rinse and pat dry chickpeas.

In a bowl, toss with olive oil and seasoning.

Place on cookie sheet and stick in the oven for 40-50 minutes, shaking the pan every so often.

Mine weren't as crunchy as I wanted when I took them out, so I popped them back in the oven at 400 for about 5 minutes.

P.S. Check out that stellar picture!!!

Cocoa Says What?

"Why in the hell do I have a Goldilocks wig on? This is so embarrassing."

This is actually a picture from a few years ago. She was not nearly as compliant as she looks.

Irish Brown Bread

Sorry for the blurry picture. I had another (much better) one, but when I stuck my memory card in my computer, it wouldn't open. Gr. This has been on my "to try" list for quite some time. As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to make it. I'm a little scared of yeast and the whole rising thing, so I thought this would be perfect, since it didn't include either of those things. Well, I am not a huge bread fan. It is okay. It kind of reminds me of the brown bread you get at restaurants like Outback, Lonestar, etc. I am going to take the extra loaf to my sister - she LOVES bread, so we will see what she thinks. At the very least, it was super easy. No more than 10 minutes of "active" time. Which is always nice.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/4 c. whole-wheat flour
3/4 c. quick oats
1/2 c. wheat germ
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 3/4 c. buttermilk
2 tbsp. honey

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk and honey. Add to flour mixture and stir to combine until a soft dough forms.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Divide in half and shape each half into a round loaf. Place loaves 3 inches apart on baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes.

Reduce temperature to 400 and continue baking for 10 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when tapped. Let cool 15 minutes.

Yield: 2 loaves that are about 8 inches in diameter

Source: Woman's Day Magazine

P.S. I have a buttload of wheat germ, so if you have a recipe that includes it, please let me know!