Corn and Salsa Tortilla Soup

It’s been a soup-kinda week. This soup sounded good, but it sounded kind of spicy to me, so I left out the poblano chiles. I used frozen corn, and instead of vegetable broth, I used a vegetarian “chicken” broth (since in the magazine, it says this is a great vegetarian version of chicken tortilla soup). The verdict? This was pretty good! Especially if you got a spoonful of the roasted corn, a tortilla strip, and some avocado! Yum! Oh, and about the tortillas…it calls for 6 corn tortillas, halved then cut into strips. I looked for corn tortillas at the store (figured they would be by the flour tortillas), but could not find them. So what did I do? I bought taco shells! I followed the recipe using taco shells, and I think it tasted fine!

rating: 8

http://tinyurl.com/6pdon2

Penne-Wise Pumpkin Pasta

This pasta is so good, and so easy! After I had made the sauce, I had to stop myself from drinking it, it’s that good! I did not add the hot sauce that it calls for, and when Toby started eating his, he said it needed hot sauce, so there ya go. I thought it was fine without it. The thing that takes the most time is getting the water to boil for the pasta! We enjoyed our pasta with some garlic bread and a salad.

rating: 8

Penne-Wise Pumpkin Pasta
(from Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine)

salt
1 lb whole wheat penne rigate
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
3 shallots, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, grated
2 cups chicken broth (I used a vegetarian chicken broth)
1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin puree
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp hot pepper sauce (I omitted)
2 pinches ground cinnamon
1 pinch nutmeg
pepper
7 leaves fresh sage, thinly sliced
grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, to pass around the table

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain.
2. While the pasta is working, in a medium skillet, heat the EVOO, 2 turns of the pan, over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken broth, pumpkin, and cream. Add the hot sauce, cinnamon, and nutmeg; season with salt and pepper. Lower the heat and simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the sage.
3. Toss the pasta with the sauce and pass the parmigiano-reggiano around the table

Extra Cheesy Grilled Cheese

I normally cook our grilled cheeses on the George Foreman grill (spray the bread with a little olive oil), and we love them this way. I decided to try this recipe and see if it was any better. The verdict? It was good! I don’t know WHICH one I prefer now! I do like *my* way, with some pesto mayo and grilled. But this way is good too. I really like how the grated Parmesan gives the outside a little crunchiness. We enjoyed this, with, of course, some Cream of Tomato soup. It was all cold and rainy out, so we HAD to have some good comfort food. I will start making my grilled cheese like this every now and then, for sure.

rating: 8.5

Extra Cheesy Grilled Cheese
(from the October 2008 issue of Southern Living magazine)

1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
8 Italian bread slices
4 (3/4-ounce) provolone cheese slices
4 (3/4-ounce) mozzarella cheese slices

1. Stir together butter and Parmesan cheese in a small bowl.
2. Spread 1 1/2 tsp butter mixture on 1 side of each bread slice. Place 4 bread slices, buttered sides down, on wax paper. Top with provolone and mozzarella cheeses; top with remaining bread slices, buttered sides up.
3. Cook sandwiches, in batches, on a hot griddle or in a nonstick skillet over medium heat, gently pressing with a spatula, 4 minutes on each side or until golden brown and cheese is melted.

Brown-Buttered Broccoli

I bought some Morningstar Farms Chicken Tenders (these are SO good!), and I needed a side to serve with it. This recipe was really easy (I mean, come on, 3 ingredients!), and it turned out well. I hardly ever eat green stuff, so this is a good addition to our dinner choices. I will make this one again. We had the chicken tenders (with some honey mustard dipping sauce), the broccoli, some vegetable pot-stickers (these have been in the freezer a while, so I needed to cook them), and some yeast rolls. What a good dinner we had!

rating: 8.5

Brown-Buttered Broccoli
(from the cookbook “Vegetarian Planet” by Didi Emmons)

1 small bunch broccoli, cut into long-stemmed florets
1/4 cup butter
2 tbsp lemon juice (from about 1/2 lemon)
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1. Steam the broccoli until it is just tender, about 7-9 minutes.
2. While the broccoli steams, heat the butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Let the butter bubble until it turns a dark golden color, then promptly take it off the heat and add the lemon juice.
3. When the broccoli is tender, transfer it to a bowl, and add the butter-lemon mixture. Toss the broccoli, and season it with salt and pepper. Serve it right away.

Pumpkin Roll

I had some leftover pumpkin I needed to use up, so I thought I might try this recipe. It kind of looks intimidating, I think, but it really turned out well! I googled “pumpkin roll”, and found this particular recipe. They even have a video to watch of someone making it, in case you get confused! I really didn’t have any problems, and I am not sure how long this is going to last in my house. I know you are supposed to serve little slices of it, but man, I want to pick it up like a burrito and eat the whole thing!

rating: 9

http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?ID=32372

Edamame Soup with Feta Croutons

This recipe was given to me by my neighbor Diane. I had mentioned to her that Liam really liked edamame, and she said that one of the magazines she gets had a bunch of recipes using edamame. This is one of them, and let me tell you, mmmmmmmm. This was so good! For some reason it didn’t make a “vat” of soup, like most soup recipes I cook do. There was enough for 2 big bowls for me and Toby, and that was it. I strained the edamame and carrots out for Liam, and he gobbled them up. For the stock, I used a vegetarian chicken stock (it’s called Un-chicken, I think). The feta croutons were wonderful, but they are messy to make (at least they were for me). I had to use more oil than they said for frying them. But they do add alot to the soup. We will be making this again! We had a green salad on the side. Oh, and I forgot to take a pic, so I took of pic of the magazine pic!

rating: 9

Edamame Soup with Feta Croutons
(from the Sept. 2008 issue of Better Homes & Gardens magazine)

3/4 cup chopped sweet onion
4 tsp canola oil
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 14-ounce cans reduced-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
1 12-ounce package frozen shelled sweet edamame
1 1/2 tsp snipped fresh thyme (I omitted)
1 egg white
1 tbsp water
1/2 cup panko (Japanese-style) bread crumbs
4 ounces reduced-fat feta cheese, cut into 3/4″ cubes
Fresh thyme leaves (optional)

1. In saucepan cook onion in 2 tsp of hot oil over medium heat 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add carrots and garlic; cook and stir 1 minute more. Add broth and edamame. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes or until edamame and carrots are tender. Stir in thyme.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl beat egg white and water with a fork until frothy. Dip feta cubes, one at a time, into egg white to coat. Allow excess egg white mixture to drip off; coat feta cubes with bread crumbs. In large skillet, heat remaining 2 tsp oil over medium-high heat. Add feta cubes. Cook 2-3 minutes or until browned but not softened, turning carefully to brown all sides of cubes. Drain on paper towels.
3. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with feta croutons and, if desired, additional thyme.

Chicken Pot Pie

First of all, hi Joel Jr.!

Tonight’s dinner was a different take on my usual pot pie. I usually use 2 pie crusts (one for the bottom, and then one for the top). This one uses refrigerated biscuits for the top “crust”, and there is no bottom crust. And I don’t know, I think that the crust is my favorite part of the pot pie! This recipe was pretty good, but I did do some tweaking (some subs are noted in the recipe). This recipe was way too “liquidy” when I made it, and I ended up throwing out probably about 2 cups of the broth. It was just way too much liquid. The verdict? It was good, but it really could have used more breading of some sort. Of course Toby didn’t like the carrots, but they were big enough that he could push them aside. It was a nice change, but I think I like my old pot pie better. We had this with a green salad with ranch dressing and croutons.

rating: 7

Chicken Pot Pie
(from the latest DHC catalog)

4 cups sliced mushrooms
5 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
2 cups carrots, diced
2 cups green beans, trimmed and cut into 1/2″ pieces
1 cup onion, chopped
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced (I used a bag of Quorn Chick-N tenders)
3 cups chicken broth, divided (I used veggie broth)
5 packets DHC Germinated Brown Rice Potage (I used 1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup)
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped (I used 2 tbsp dried parsley)
1 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1 can (8-count) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large pan, saute mushrooms in 2 tbsp butter over high heat until lightly browned, about 2 minutes; remove and reserve. In the same pan, add 2 tbsp butter and saute carrots, green beans, and onion over medium heat, until vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add chicken; saute until opaque. Stir in 1 cup broth; simmer until vegetables are just tender, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in reserved mushrooms, plus parsley and thyme. Set aside.

Heat remaining 2 cups chicken broth; stir in DHC Germinated Brown Rice Potage mix. Add to reserved chicken mixture. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Lightly coat 8 individual 2-cup ovenproof bowls with a nonstick cooking spray and pour in chicken mixture.

Flatten each biscuit with a rolling pin and cut in quarters. Arrange quarters atop each bowl. Place bowls on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 until biscuits are golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Creamy Black Bean Soup

I feel like I’ve had a Mexican food theme going this week for some reason. This soup was easy, but it’s a little too spicy for me. Toby loved it and had 2 big bowls full! He said that it’s a keeper, so when I make it again, I will leave out 1 of the cans of green chiles, and see if that cools it down a little. We were going to have a salad with this, but Toby’s train was late tonight (by over an hour!), and he’s the salad-maker in the house, so I figured he would be starving when he got home, so we just had some warm rolls with it instead. Whew- what a run-on sentence!I topped my soup with some shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream, and I also put out some tortilla chips to dip into the soup. Tasty (and spicy!)!

rating: 8

Creamy Black Bean Soup
(from the June 2008 issue of Southern Living magazine)

1 medium onion, diced (about 1 cup)
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (32-ounce) container chicken broth (I used veggie broth)
2 (4.5-ounce) cans chopped green chiles, undrained
1 (14.5-ounce) can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (11-ounce) can whole kernel corn, rinsed and drained
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
toppings: sour cream, shredded Cheddar cheese, diced tomatoes, chopped fresh cilantro

1. Saute onion and garlic in 1 tbsp hot oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat 6 minutes or until tender. Stir in black beans and next 7 ingredients, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of Dutch oven; cover and bring to a boil. Uncover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes.
2. Process 2 cups of soup in blender or food processor 30 seconds or until smooth. Return to dutch oven, and stir until blended. Serve with desired toppings.

Cheesy Baked Shells and Broccoli

I thought this recipe would be really good. I was wrong. It turned out to be very bland. Toby had to slather his with hot sauce. When I asked him how it was, he said “You’ve made worse.” Thanks! Wait…With this we had some BBQ Quorn cutlets and some garlic bread.

rating: 4

Cheesy Baked Shells and Broccoli
(from the Oct. 2008 issue of Real Simple magazine)

3/4 lb. medium pasta shells (about 5 cups)
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 cups whole milk (I used Silk)
2 cups coarsely grated Cheddar or Gruyere (8 ounces) (I used cheddar)
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
Kosher salt and pepper
1 16-ounce bag frozen broccoli florets, thawed (I used a bag of frozen broccoli pieces)

1. Heat broiler. Cook the pasta according to the package directions.
2. Meanwhile, heat the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, 4-5 minutes.
3. Add 1 1/2 cups of the cheese and stir until melted. Stir in the nutmeg, 3/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper.
4. Add the pasta and broccoli and toss to combine. Transfer to a broiler-proof 8-inch square of another 1 1/2 qt. baking dish. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese. Broil until golden, 3-4 minutes.

Chicken Salsa Verde Bake

I’m back! Sorry for the delay- we’ve been on vacation! We had a great time, and now I am ready to get back to cooking. Tonight’s recipe was Chicken Salsa Verde Bake. I used the Quorn Chick-N Tenders instead of chicken, and let me tell you, this recipe is great! We both went back for seconds! It’s a snap to put together, and it takes about 30 minutes to bake. Toby’s only suggestion was to maybe add more tortilla chips. I am not sure if I used the whole amount it calls for- I didn’t measure. And my dish was getting full, so I probably didn’t use enough. But I am happy to have lots of leftovers! We also had some rolls and a salad. Delish!

rating: 9

Chicken Salsa Verde Bake
(from the latest issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray)

2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 1/4 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breasts (I used Quorn Chik-N Tenders)
2 16-ounce jars salsa verde
1 15-ounce can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup sour cream
3 cups crushed tortilla chips
1 8-ounce bag shredded Mexican-style cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook, turning once, until cooked through, 10-12 minutes. Let stand until cool, then shred the meat into a large bowl. Stir in the salsa, kidney beans, onion, and sour cream.
2. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, scatter 1 cup tortilla chips on the bottom and top with half of the chicken mixture and half the cheese. Repeat the layers and cover with the remaining 1 cup tortilla chips. Bake until the cheese is bubbly, about 30 minutes.