Sunday, May 2, 2010

Tomato Soup

I've been watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution on ABC and it made me really think about what we are eating. Even before the show we have been trying to eat better, and I think we are doing a good job! But watching the show just reminded me about why we are trying to eat better. So I checked out Jamie's Food Revolution book from the library (I love it, so I'm going to buy it!). The 1st recipe I made from the book was tomato soup. I've never been a big fan of it, but I know Gary loves it so I figured I would try. To my surprise, I loved it, I ate the entire bowl (by it self!) usually I will only eat enough to soak up the bread! It is so much better than the canned stuff! In the book Jamie asks that the recipes be passed on, so I'm passing it on to the 3 people who read my blog ;0) (Mom, you can make it, it isn't that hard and doesn't take that much time)

Serves 6-8
2 carrots peeled and sliced
2 celery sticks sliced
2 medium onions peeled and roughly chopped (I used half of a large one, and it turned out good)
2 cloves of garlic peeled and roughly chopped
1 3/4 chicken or vegetable stock (I used 3 cans of chicken broth)
olive oil
2  14oz cans of plum tomatoes (I used the diced ones)
6 large ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped.
a small bunch of fresh basil (I used 4 leaves and a tsp of dried)
sea salt & freshly ground pepper

Put a large sauce pan over medium heat and add 2 TBSP of olive oil. Add the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic. Mix together and put the lid on askew. Cook for around 10 minutes until the carrots are tender but still keep their shape and the onions are lightly golden. Meanwhile, put the broth in a large pot, cover and bring to a boil. Add the veggie mix to the large pot, along with the canned tomatoes and the chopped tomatoes. Mix it with a spoon and let it come to a boil. When it comes to a boil turn it down to a simmer and cover for 10 minutes.

Turn the heat off and season with salt and pepper. Add the basil.  Using an immersion blender (or you could probably blend in batches in a blender or food processor) blend until smooth. Season again and serve.

*I paraphrased the directions.


After adding everything to big pot.

I served it with garlic sour dough bread that I brushed with olive oil and toasted.

With fresh mozzarella.

Potato Gorditas

Growing up my Nana always made "gorditas" (I really don't know what to call them in English, Gorditas, means fat girls in Spanish) with left over mashed potatoes. I look forward to these every time I make mashed potatoes I really don't have a recipe since there is always a different amount of left over potatoes but here is the gist:

Around 4 cups left over mashed potatoes
1 cup - 2 cups shredded cheese
salt
pepper
Minced onions and/or chopped green chili (optional)

2 eggs
1 1/2 tbsp flour
oil for frying (optional)

Mix the 1st 5 ingredients together and form patties.

In a bowl scramble the egg then add the flour and mix well (it will be thick)

If you want then fry the patties in about a 1/4" - 1/2" of oil (this is the way Nana does it).

Since we are trying to eat better, I wanted to omit the frying step and try to bake them, to my surprise they came out great!!  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and put the patties on there. Bake for 15 minutes and then turn the oven to broil and bake for another 5-10 minutes, keep checking on the gorditas so they don't burn! Take them out and enjoy!

Before I baked them. I used the cooling rack to try and make them crispier but the batter just dripped through, so I wont use it again.

Just out of the oven...and so yummy!

I can't remember who I said I would give this "recipe" too...so here it is for everyone to enjoy!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Bring out the hot-glue gun!

I have ALWAYS wanted someone to give me a mason jar filled with something, then topped with fabric and a ribbon...no such luck yet. So for my dear mom-in-laws birthday, I decided that she needed this lovely gift. I decided to fill the jar with homemade taco seasoning...but the fun part was making the top of the jar!

After about 4 sticks of glue, it was done (yes I said 4, and it's a small jar).
She hasn't received my creation yet (along with some glue-free gifts). But my hubby was supportive and when I showed him my creation he lavished me with the same praise that a 4 year old gets after making a macaroni frame.

I am still trying to figure out if that's a good or bad thing.

But I did make her some awesome taco seasoning and I made it mild, just for her, so hopefully she will ignore the strings of glue all over the jar  :0)

Onion Powder!

If you read the title you probably think I'm crazy, you wouldn't be that far off...

But the other day I had an onion that was about to spoil, and I didn't have anything planned for it, so I brought out the dehydrator and made onion powder!
The onions after they were dehydrated, it took about 5 hours on 145 degrees.

The onions in my itty-bitty food processor.

The finished product. I am guessing I got about 2 TBSP of onion powder from one onion, so I will never complain about the price of a bottle of onion powder again! But I really do like the taste of my onion powder over the bottled stuff, the one I made just tastes onion~ier.

I got the "recipe" from here

Monday, April 12, 2010

Easter with Mom!

Mom came to visit over Easter/Spring break. I loved having her here, it made having a sick hubby so much easier (more on that in a minute). Mom flew in on Wednesday night and stayed until Monday afternoon. On Friday we went to Temple Square, I have wanted to go there since I moved to Utah!!

It was cold, but sooo nice!

We were trying to get a picture of us with the temple in the background...I should have asked someone to take it for us!
The flowers at Temple Square are absolutely beautiful! We took bunches of pictures of them and sent them to my grandma, who loves flowers.

After Temple Square we went to Whole Foods, since I never go, but I love that store! I bought bread, olives, teas, and some other stuff...yogurt? Anyway, its all gone except for the bread. We also went to dinner in SLC. We had such a great day! I love having my mom here. So I'm on a mission, either she has to move up here or us down there...

So my hubby has had a cold for the past 2-3 weeks, so on Friday morning I went with him to the Dr. and he got antibiotics and a cough syrup.
innocent enough
About 10 minutes after taking the antibiotic Gary started throwing up
crazy projectile vomit
The vomiting continued Friday night and all day Saturday, in all of this crazy puke, not once did I fathom the idea that he could be allergic to the antibiotic.
I called the on call Dr and sure enough he said it sounded like he was allergic. At 10pm I was hauling butt to Harmon's to pick an anti-nausea medication.

Finally about midnight that night, he quit puking.

He is finally better...thank goodness!

So that was our Easter weekend :0)

Oh yeah, can someone tell me where spellcheck is on here? I haven't found it since blogger changed.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Shinin' the sink!

Isn't my sink shiny? For about 3 weeks now I've been using Flylady's "flight plan" and Im loving it...the sink has been shiny and dish free for 3 weeks now!
Every night the dishwasher is turned on and I empty it in the morning...I can't believe how this small habit has made my house seem more clean :0)
This is the 1st of the Flyladys steps that i have adopted, Im looking forward to adding more to my daily routine. Is it sad that I'm excited to keep my house clean?

Dinner will not be served....at the dinner table

Instead of buying all of our plants at a nursery this year, we decided to start our own! We bought those Jiffy seedling starter kits, some for tomatoes and some for regular plants (I guess tomatoes are the only ones that deserve their own starter kit?), seeds, and some brown paper looking pots for when they are ready to be transplanted. It's been fun watching them grow, but I think we may have gotten a little carried away....
We had to move the table next to the window so the plants could get as much sun as possible.

This is why we can't eat dinner at the table until mid-late May!!