Roasted Tomato-Basil Soup

 Like most parts of the country, I am getting my tomatoes out of the garden before the cold weather sets in, and my kitchen table is starting to overflow with them.  After canning tomatoes, freezing tomato sauce, making salsa, and eating lots of tomato sandwiches, it is now time to warm our tummies with some freshly made tomato soup.  This recipe, that I've been making for years, is so easy, very inexpensive, and tastes so much better than anything from a can.

First preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

You will need:
about 8-10 medium tomatoes
2 medium onions
2-3 cloves garlic
2 Tabs. olive oil
2 Tabs. Italian seasoning
1 Tabs. oregano
2 teas. salt
1 teas. pepper
1/2 cup fresh basil

First chop in half, the tomatoes

Peel and quarter the onions

Peel the garlic, (no need to chop)

Place everything into a large bowl

Add the oil, Italian seasoning, oregano, salt and pepper.  Stir well to combine.

Place on a baking pan, and bake for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, these smell wonderful!!

Now transfer to a pot and add  basil.  Using an immersion blender puree until smooth.  (If you don't have an immersion blender you can use a food processor.)

After a couple of minutes, you will have a wonderfully smooth delicious tomato soup.  This will make approximately 6 - 8 servings.   Make sure to taste it, and add any additional salt and pepper to taste.

With the weather turning cooler, this will taste so good.  Any leftovers tomorrow will be even better.


ENJOY.

Fresh Pumpkin Bread

Some friends recently posted this photo showing their Halloween pumpkin after their son, (who was playing with it), dropped it, causing a large crack across the middle of the pumpkin.  When I mentioned that they needed to wash it, cut it up, and cook it so they could use it - I knew from their comments, that they were unsure of how to handle this task.

Lucky me, I was also a recipient of a free pumpkin that had also been dropped, and suffered a much larger crack.  I took it home, washed the outside very well, cut it up into manageable pieces, put it into a glass casserole dish and microwaved it, covered, for 20 minutes with 2 Tablespoons water.  After the pieces of pumpkin cooled down enough to handle, I pulled the outer skin off.

Here is what you are left with.  You can now put this in freezer bags until you are ready to use it, (my bird and dog love this stuff), you can make delicious pumpkin soup,muffins, cakes, many things.  Or you can bottle it in a pressure cooker to use this winter.  I like to puree it and then freeze it, so that all I have to do is pull it out of the freezer and it's the same as the canned pumpkin you buy in the store.

Just put the pumpkin chunks in your food processor, pulse for about 30 - 45 seconds until smooth.  You have to make sure you get ALL the lumps out and the pumpkin is completely smooth throughout.

And there you have it, the very same thing you would buy in the store at $1 for 16 ounces, (on sale),

OK - I've transferred 2 cups to a bowl, now let's make some delicious pumpkin bread and freeze the rest for later use.

The great thing about today's recipe is you don't need a mixer.

First preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
This recipe will make 2 large loafs.  Today, I am going to make 1 large loaf and 2 mini loafs.

Grease and flour your bread pans.

You will need:
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teas. baking soda
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 teas. cinnamon
2 teas. nutmeg
1/2 teas. allspice
1/2 teas. ginger
1 1/2 teas salt
2 cups pumpkin (or one 16 oz can pumpkin - if you use store pumpkin you will also need 1/2 cup water)
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup applesauce, (I make my own, but you can buy it at the store)
1 cup pecans, (optional)    1/2 cup raisins, (optional)    1/2 cup chocolate chips, (optional)

In a large bowl add:
flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, sugar

Mix well.
Now add the eggs, applesauce, and pumpkin.

Remember - if you are using canned pumpkin add the 1/2 cup water

 Stir well.  It already smells wonderful - like fall.
Now stir in any additions you want to add, (i.e.: nuts, chocolate chips, raisins, etc.).  Today I am going to add 1/4 cup of raisins and 1/4 cup of sweetened cranberries, (cranberries and pumpkin go so well together).

Pour into the bread pans. (I am using parchment paper, only because it makes it easier to lift the baked bread out of the pan.  It is not necessary)   Bake for 60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes on wire rack. Boy, Oh Boy - do these ever smell wonderful.  The whole house smells like autumn.  I can't wait to cut into one of these.  I will send the large loaf to work with my husband, for his co-workers.

 Remove from pans after 10 minutes and cool on wire rack.  And now you have your bread.  If you want, you can make a light ginger glaze to drizzle over the top, but this is wonderful just plain.

Oh Man!! That tastes so good.  So moist and delicious.  (You don't even miss the fat, because we substituted the applesauce for fat.).  During the holidays, I pull out a bag of the pureed pumpkin, make loaves of this with chocolate chips and give them as gifts with pumpkin butter.  Makes great neighbor gifts.

 Go to the store, while the pumpkins are on sale, grab a good size one and get it ready to cook with.
Join me later for more uses of fresh pumpkin.
Or better yet, sign up on the right hand side, and receive a new recipe in your email inbox each week.  You never know, one might be just the recipe your looking for.

Enjoy.

Easy Lemon-Poppy Seed Pull-Aparts

 The other day, the local grocery story had these small jumbo biscuits, (5 per tube), marked down to such a low price that I couldn't resist buying a couple.  I got home and decided that it had been a long time since I made Pull-Apart bread.  This recipe is so easy, and very good.  As I was rounding up the ingredients, I realized I didn't have any fresh lemons on hand, but no worries - I can substitute dried lemon peel and reconstituted lemon juice.

First pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

You will need:
2/3 cup sugar
1 Tabs. poppy seed
1 Tabs. fresh grated lemon peel, or dried lemon peel
1 Tabs. fresh lemon juice, or reconstituted lemon juice.
3 Tabs. butter softened
2 cans of biscuits, (total of 10 biscuits)
1 Tabs. cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 Tabs butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Spray a bread loaf pan, line it with parchment paper and spray the parchment paper.  Notice that I leave some of the parchment paper hanging over the sides - this is so that I can lift the pull-apart out after it is baked.

In a small bowl, mix together the sugar, poppy seed, and lemon peel.

In another small bowl microwave the 3 Tabs. butter

Open the biscuits and separate each biscuit into 2 layers, so you now have a total of 20.

 Brush both sides of the biscuits with the butter.

Dip the biscuits into the sugar/lemon/poppy seed mixture.  Make sure both sides of well coated

 Starting at one end, stack the biscuits in the loaf pan, on their edges so that they are over lapping.

Once you have all the biscuits in the pan, sprinkle any leftover sugar mixture over the top and sides of the biscuits.   Bake for about 40 minutes until nicely browned.  (If you notice that the biscuits are getting too brown on the outside, before the inside is cooked, cover with a piece of aluminum foil to prevent over browning during the last few minutes of cooking.)

Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Then using the parchment paper wings, remove from pan and set on rack.  While the bread is cooling, we are going to make the topping.

 In a small bowl, combine cream cheese and 1 1/2 Tabs. butter.  Beat until creamy and light.

Mix in the powdered sugar and lemon juice.

Mix on medium speed until smooth and drizzling consistency.

Drizzle glaze over pull-apart bread.

You can serve the pull-apart bread warm or at room temperature.  Store any leftovers, wrapped in plastic wrap.  It's delicious with coffee, cocoa, as a breakfast coffee cake or an after dinner snack.

This recipe is also good using orange in replacement for the lemon peel and lemon juice.


So the next time you pick up some biscuits, give this recipe a try.

ENJOY!!

Butternut Squash Soup (Non Dairy)

I found a beautiful butternut squash at the farmer's market last week for $1, and I knew that with the changing weather I had to make a pot of butternut squash soup.  My family loves this recipe, it's so easy and very inexpensive.

You will need:
2 Tabs. butter
1 small onion
1 stalk celery
2 medium carrots
3 medium smallish potatoes
1 Tabs. grated fresh ginger
2 cans of chicken stock, (or better yet homemade chicken stock)
1 medium butternut squash
salt and pepper

NOTE:  Those who read my "Roasted Carrot" blog know that I am using a couple of the leftover roasted carrots that I made from the blog post.  You can use fresh carrot, but I like the deeper flavor that these roasted carrots will give, and I also never throw anything out.

Peel and rough chop your onion.

Rough chop your celery, also use the leaves, (that has lots of the flavor).

Chop the potatoes, (I like to leave on the skins for more flavor).

Chop your carrots, (if you are using fresh carrots, no need to peel them - just give them a good washing).

Grate your fresh ginger - set this aside.

Peel, seed, and chop the butternut squash.

In a large pot, over medium heat - melt the butter and add the onions, celery, carrots, (if they are fresh - if your using the leftover roasted carrots don't add them just yet), potatoes, and butternut squash.  Cook, stirring every so often for about 25 minutes.

Just as the onions start to soften, add the roasted carrots.  If you are using fresh carrots, just skip this step.  Continue cooking until the vegetables start to brown, but don't burn.

 Test the vegetables with a fork and if they are starting to soften turn the heat to medium low, and add the grated ginger.

Add the chicken stock, give the pot a gentle stir. Cover with a lid and simmer over medium low heat for about 40 minutes until everything is tender.

Test the vegetables for tenderness.  If they are done, remove from heat.

Using an immersion blender, blend all the vegetables until smooth.  The soup will thicken up very nicely.  If you don't have an immersion blender you can pour the soup into a food processor or a blender, (but be very careful not to over fill, this is very hot and will expand when you turn on the blender and you will have an explosion and possibly get burned!!  Working in smaller batches is safer.).

 Once everything is blended, that's it!!  Add a little salt and pepper to taste.  I also like to add some paprika and cayenne pepper, (just a touch for some depth of flavor).  Makes it very yummy.

Today, I serving this with a grilled cheese, tomato, and basil sandwich on homemade bread.  This is just the dinner for a cool fall evening.

So, grab a butternut squash, a couple of vegetables, and let me know how your soup turned out.

ENJOY!!