Soup's On

We have been in a cooking frenzy here in the Gale household.  I pulled out a recipe that I've been wanting to make for a long time:  No Cream Creamy Broccoli Soup.  Again this is from my favorite place for super easy recipes:  Kraft.

If any of you have been to Panera with me, you know that I absolutely love their Broccoli Cheese Soup in a bread bowl.  No, I'm not saying this is as good as that...but it's not a bad substitute. 

No Cream Creamy Broccoli Soup

INGREDIENTS
1 cup chopped carrots (about 2 medium)
1 cup chopped celery (about 2 stalks)
3/4 cup chopped onions (about 1 medium)
3 Tbsp. oil
2 cans (14-1/2 oz. each) fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 tsp. pepper
4-1/2 cups broccoli florets (about 2 small bunches)
1/2 cup instant white rice, uncooked
2 cups milk
1/4 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

DIRECTIONS
(1)  Cook and stir carrots, celery and onions in hot oil in large saucepan on medium-high heat 5 min. Add broth and pepper; stir. Bring to boil.
(2)  Stir in broccoli and rice. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 10 to 15 min. or until vegetables are tender, stirring frequently.
(3) Add soup, in batches, to blender or food processor; cover. Blend until pureed. Return soup puree to saucepan. Add milk and cheese; cook until heated through, stirring occasionally.

It was definitely a hit...at least amongst the adults.  Carter opted for fish sticks instead (he's really not much of a soup eater).  Ben ate 3 bowls, easily exceeding his Vitamin A & C requirements for the day.

What's Cooking?

Many of you have asked what my little (half) naked chef was making in a previous post.  Carter was helping me with CornBread Muffins.  Ben had made a batch of chili (which he'll hopefully post about soon) and so we thought cornbread would be the perfect counterpart.  This is a recipe that I found at allrecipes.com.

Golden Sweet Cornbread

INGREDIENTS
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS
(1)  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray or lightly grease a 9 inch round cake pan.
(2)  In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir in egg, milk and vegetable oil until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
(3) Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Instead of baking in a cake pan, I used a mini-muffin tin for (nearly) bite sizes muffins.  By doing this, the baking time is greatly reduced so monitor them carefully.

And, no, I don't have any pictures.  We ate them too quickly!

Sunday Supper #10

We are officially a couple of weeks into autumn and, here in Cologne, that means rain.  Lots of cold, damp rain.  This is the perfect weather for soup, chili, and the crock pot.  This Sunday I will be sharing with you a delicious recipe from Better Homes and Gardens for Buffalo Chicken Soup.  Hopefully in the coming weeks I can share some of my favorite slow cooker meals and maybe I can get Ben to post his chili recipe.

Buffalo Chicken Soup

Ingredients
1 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 lb. deli-roasted chicken, skinned, boned, and coarsely shredded
2 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup coarsely chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 14-oz. cans reduced-sodium chicken broth
1-1/2 cups milk
1 tsp. bottled hot pepper sauce
1-1/2 cups mozzarella cheese (6 oz.)
1-1/4 cups crumbled blue cheese (5 oz.)
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (2 oz.)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
Bottled hot pepper sauce (optional)

Directions
1. In 4-quart Dutch oven melt butter over medium heat. Add celery and onion; cook and stir until onion is tender. Stir in broth, milk, and the 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce.

2. In bowl toss together mozzarella, 1 cup of the blue cheese, Parmesan, and flour. Add gradually to soup, stirring after each addition just until melted. Stir in three-fourths of the shredded chicken; heat through. Top with remaining chicken, blue cheese, and hot sauce.

Makes 6 servings.


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Of course, I am always tweaking the recipe.  Here are the changes I make:

• I cook a couple of chicken breasts in the oven instead of buying a deli-roasted chicken from the grocery (about 25-30 minutes at 350 F)
• I double up the celery and onion...both 1 cup (roughly) each.
• Increase the amount of hot pepper sauce (we use Frank's).  The small amount the recipe calls for is completely undetectable. 
• Since we are not fans of blue cheese, I use cheddar instead.  Of course this takes away some of the flavor or "tang," but we make up for it.
• I serve with a bottle of Buffalo Wild Wings Hot sauce.  Everyone can add as much/little as they want according to their ability to handle spice (here's where we make up for not having the blue cheese flavor...we compensate with hot sauce).
• Note:  shredding the chicken is the worst part of this recipe.  Once, I threw the chicken into the food processor to cut it up into tiny little pieces but the texture just wasn't the same.  It's worth the time it takes to shred.  I have also found it's easier to shred by hand.  You can at least do this in front of the TV on a Sunday afternoon watching the game.

Sunday Supper #9

Hi everybody, it's Ben. Here to let you all know that I can cook too. Now, to be fair, most of my meals involve cooking meat over fire so there is usually not much to write about. Mother nature doesn't always cooperate with the grilling weather so here is one of my indoor favorites. Nothing beats Cottage pie on a cold rainy autumn day. That is exactly what we were dealing with this last Sunday.

Follow the jump to view the recipe.

Sunday Supper #8

I know I'm supposed to be sharing a dinner recipe with you but this week I'm sharing two appetizers. I had my German colleagues over for dinner last Thursday and the following two recipes (courtesy of Kraft Foods) were huge hits.

Hot Spinach Dip

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained

1 cup KRAFT Real Mayo Mayonnaise

1 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

1 clove garlic, minced

Directions:

HEAT oven to 350°F. Mix all ingredients.

SPOON into 9-inch pie plate or quiche dish.

BAKE 20 min. or until heated through.

Serve with assorted crackers or tortilla chips.

Optional:  Top with 2 Tbsp. chopped roasted red peppers before serving.

Savory Parmesan Bites

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided

2 cans (8 oz. each) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls

1 cup chopped red peppers

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

HEAT oven to 350°F. Beat cream cheese and 3/4 cup Parmesan with mixer until well blended.

SEPARATE crescent rolls into 8 rectangles; press perforations together to seal. Spread each with 3 Tbsp. cream cheese mixture. Top with peppers and parsley. Fold 1 long side of each dough rectangle over filling to center; fold again to enclose filling. Cut each into 4 squares. Place, seam-sides down, on baking sheet. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan.

BAKE 13 to 15 min. or until golden brown.

 
Enjoy!!  And, as always, leave me a note if you make these.

(Pictures are taken from the Kraft Foods website.  Thank you Kraft Foods! )

Sunday Supper #7

This edition of Sunday Supper is dedicated to Chad Fiedler.

Years ago when Ben and I were just dating, I made this dinner for Chad (one of Ben's best friends) and he loved it. Chad and Sara were recently married and had just moved into their new apartment in Ann Arbor. For some reason, I brought all the ingredients for this dinner over to their apartment and whipped up dinner. I'm assuming that the guys were working on installing something (OK, so Ben was doing the installation and Chad was watching) and Sara was probably unpacking. I thought it was a pretty easy dinner to throw together but the amount that Chad was saying "Mmmmm....Carla, this is so good," I felt like a gourmet chef.

Venetian Chicken in Spicy Tomato Cream

1 lb skinned, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 T chopped fresh or 1 t. dried basil leaves
3 T olive oil
1 (26 oz) jar Classico Spicy Red Pepper Pasta Sauce
½ c. whipping cream
2 T chopped fresh parsley
1 lb package Penne Rigate

Cook penne as package directs; drain. Season chicken lightly with salt and pepper. In Dutch oven, over medium-high heat, cook and stir chicken and basil in oil until chicken is no longer pink. Stir in pasta sauce, cream, and parsley. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered, 10 minutes. Serve with hot cooked penne and garnish with parsley.

Sunday Supper #6

I'm always looking for variations on noodles and sauce. Generally it's an easy dinner to make on a weeknight after getting home from work / picking up Carter at daycare. This is definitely not another red sauce and it's not a heavy white sauce. The balsamic gives it a great flavor.

I actually cut up the chicken breast into bite size pieces and next time I'm using low fat cream cheese. Oh, and add the cherry tomatoes right before serving, otherwise they totally disintegrate.

picture from www.kraftfoods.com

SAUCY CHICKEN SKILLET


Ingredients
1/2 lb. (8 oz.) fettuccine, uncooked
1 Tbsp. oil
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, cubed
3/4 cup fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup KRAFT Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
2 green onions, chopped
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil or parsley
1/2 cup snow peas
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved



Directions
COOK pasta as directed on package.

MEANWHILE, heat oil in large skillet on medium heat. Add chicken; cook 5 min. on each side or until browned on both sides.


STIR in cream cheese, broth, dressing, onions and basil. Cook and stir until sauce begins to thicken and chicken is cooked through (170°F.) Add snow peas and tomatoes; cook 2 to 4 min. or until snow peas are crisp-tender, stirring occasionally. Serve over the pasta.


Serves: 4

Sunday Supper #5

I've been such a slacker that I didn't post a single "Sunday Supper" during the whole month of July. I'm going to use too much travel as my excuse, but really I've just been lazy in the kitchen.


I'm a little embarassed to tell you where I got this recipe -- from an ad for Crisco in a Better Homes and Gardens magazine.

Sesame Beef Stir Fry


4 servings


INGREDIENTS:
5 tablespoons soy sauce
8 tablespoons Crisco Pure Canola Oil, divided
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 pound flank steak, cut across the grain into thin strips
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
1 green pepper, thinly sliced
1 bunch broccoli, cut into flowerets
1 (8 oz.) can sliced water chestnuts
3 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted*
Cooked rice



PREPARATION DIRECTIONS:

1. WHISK together soy sauce, 4 tablespoons oil, honey, mustard and red pepper flakes in medium bowl. Add steak and toss. Cover. Marinate at room temperature 15 minutes.

2. HEAT 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat in wok or heavy skillet. Cook and stir garlic, ginger, onion, red and green peppers and broccoli 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to bowl.


3. HEAT remaining 2 tablespoons oil in wok over high heat until hot. Cook and stir steak about 2 minutes. Stir in cooked vegetables, water chestnuts and sesame seeds. Cook until heated through.


4. SERVE over cooked rice with additional soy sauce.


*To toast sesame seeds: Place in dry nonstick skillet; cook over medium heat, shaking pan until seeds are lightly browned.

Saturday Sweets #1

I have been on a HUGE fruit kick lately and just can't seem to get enough berries. I bought 3 pints of blueberries, 3 pints of strawberries, and 1 pint of raspberries at the market today. And when I promptly ate one pint of the strawberries for lunch, Ben asked if I was pregnant (I'm not).

I stumbled across a recipe for Blueberry Cobbler in an old Real Simple magazine and so this week instead of a "Sunday Supper" posting, you are getting a "Saturday Sweets."

Blueberry Cobbler

2 pints blueberries
1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 cups heavy cream

Heat oven to 375° F. In a shallow 1 1/2-quart baking dish or a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate, toss the blueberries, 1/3 cup sugar, and 1 tablespoon flour.

In a medium bowl, combine the baking powder, salt, lemon zest, and the remaining flour and sugar.

Add the butter and blend with your fingers or 2 knives until coarse crumbs form. Add 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cream and mix until a shaggy dough forms.

Drop mounds of dough over the blueberry mixture. Bake until the berries are bubbling and the top is golden, 35 to 40 minutes. Serve with the remaining cream for drizzling, if desired.

Serves 6.

The yummy blueberries all sugared up & waiting for their doughy blanket.

Here's my finished cobbler. Doesn't quite look like the picture that came with the recipe, but the blueberry juices oozing out the sides look pretty good to me.

Sunday Supper #4

Today I am sharing with you one of my favorite recipes from Kraft Foods. I actually have had a craving for it lately but we can't get Stove Top Stuffing here in Germany.

Bruschetta Chicken Bake

1 can (14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken
1/2 cup water
1-1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tsp. dried basil leaves
1 cup KRAFT Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place tomatoes with liquid in medium bowl. Add garlic, stuffing mix and water; stir just until stuffing mix is moistened. Set aside.

Place chicken in 13x9-inch baking dish; sprinkle with basil and cheese. Top with stuffing mixture.

Bake 30 min. or until chicken is cooked through.

Sunday Supper #3

Today's recipe is a two part deal. The first recipe is for homemade spaghetti sauce. This is a recipe my mother actually created and has become a family favorite. I owe my mother many thanks for teaching me this recipe as I think it was what gave Ben early on the impression that I was a good cook. Whether that's true or not is debateable -- we have very different definitions of "good cook."

Some of you may be thinking: why make homemade spaghetti sauce when you can buy perfectly good stuff at the store? My reason: it impresses the husband! I like to cook on a gray, rainy day that is best spent at home. There is something comforting about making the whole house smell delicious and having a stockpile in the freezer. Besides, it's ridiculously easy.

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Mom's Spaghetti Sauce

2 lbs ground round
4 – 28 oz cans tomato sauce
1 – 18 oz can tomato paste
2 T olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 c. dried parsley
½ t. dried oregano
2 t. crushed garlic
salt & pepper to taste

Cook the meat with onion until it is brown. Drain the fat. Add all the ingredients to a large pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 1 ½ hours, stirring often.

Makes about 5 quarts. Great for freezing.

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I probably never make this the same twice. I have gotten to the point where I don't really measure the ingredients. One thing I always do is add extra garlic but that's really an obsession of ours. This time I opted for fresh herbs from our garden and I don't know off hand the conversion from dry herbs to fresh herbs. All I know is that when using fresh, you need less. I'm too lazy to actually look it up on the internet or open up my Joy of Cooking.

The second recipe is for lasagna. I think I got it out of Cooking Light years and years ago. I have, of course, made several modifications over time. What I have given you below is the original. My changes include replacing the "cook the meat" and "add sauce" steps with my own homemade spaghetti sauce from above since it all ready includes the meat. We also like really "saucy" lasagna in our household so I don't really measure it out, I just go by what looks good. Sometimes we substitute mozeralla for the cheddar cheese...it's really whatever we have on hand.

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Lazy Lasagna

1 pound ground round

1 (26 ounce) jar of low-fat spaghetti sauce

1 (16 ounce) carton fat-free cottage cheese

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Cooking spray

1 (8 ounces) package precooked lasagna noodles

1 cup (4 ounces) pre-shredded reduced-fat mild cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cook meat in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Drain well, and return meat to pan. Add sauce; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Combine cottage and Parmesan cheeses in a bowl; set aside.

Spread ½ cup meat mixture in bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 4 noodles over meat mixture, then top with half of cottage cheese mixture, 1 cup meat mixture, and 1/3 cup cheddar cheese. Repeat layers, ending with noodles. Spread remaining meat mixture over noodles. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle with 1/3 cup cheddar cheese and bake 5 more minutes or until cheese melts. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

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As always, I would love to hear some feedback if you try any of the recipes that I have posted. Or, better yet, send me some of your favorite recipes.

Sunday Supper #2

This week's dinner suggestion is a favorite at our house. I don't make it very often but when I do it's always a hit. This is a recipe from Cooking Light: Super Fast Suppers. I wouldn't exactly call it "light" especially if you are generous with the cheese and sour cream. And I wouldn't call it "super fast." If you are like me and use fresh peppers instead of frozen, it's a little more time consuming to do all the chopping. But, it's certainly an easy dinner. And more importantly, super delicious.

I have included the orginal recipe below and then beneath that I have included some of the things that I have done to "tweak" the original to our liking.



Chicken-Pepper Tostadas

Yield - 4 servings (serving size: 1 tostada)

4 (6-inch) corn tortillas
Cooking spray
12 ounces frozen pepper stir-fry
12 ounces chicken breast tenders, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 1/2 teaspoons salt-free Mexican seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp Cheddar or part-skim mozzarella cheese

Preheat broiler.

Place tortillas on a baking sheet; lightly coat each tortilla with cooking spray. Broil 4 to 5 minutes or until crisp, turning once; set aside. Place pepper stir-fry in a colander. Rinse in cold running water 30 seconds or until peppers thaw; drain well, and pat dry. Coat a large skillet with cooking spray; place over medium-high heat until hot. Add pepper stir-fry; sauté 4 minutes. Add chicken, seasoning, salt, and red pepper. Sauté 2 to 3 minutes or until chicken is done. Top each tortilla with 1/2 cup chicken mixture and 1/4 cup cheese. Broil 1 minute or until cheese melts.

A couple of changes that I do from the original recipe:

• I use flour tortillas as we don't like corn tortillas very much. When broiling the flour tortillas, you have to be very careful not to burn them...it's more like 1 minute a side, not the 4 you would need with the corn tortillas.
• I use fresh bell peppers and onion in lieu of the frozen pepper stir-fry. 3 bell peppers plus 1 medium onion is probably more than the recipe would call for but we like the extra veggies.
• I always have sour cream and salsa on hand for topping.
• And, finally, the recipe says it yields 4 servings...no way, not unless you are serving something else. Ben and I each eat two.

Sunday Supper #1

In an attempt to dust off my cook books and break out of our rotation of the same 5 dinners over and over, I am tasking myself to post a tried and true recipe each week. By no means am I a gourmet cook so these should all be relatively easy to make. I'm simply hoping that by feeling obligated to post a new recipe, I'll feel more motivated to cook a larger variety of things.

For this first week, I am going to share the recipe of the first meal I ever made for Ben. One would think that making sloppy joes is not exactly the way to win over a man's heart, but he really loved them.

Let me know if you try out the recipe.

Guten Appetite!


Turkey Vegetable Sloppy Joes

1 lb ground turkey
1 c. chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
½ c. chopped green bell pepper
1 (14 ½ oz) can diced tomatoes
¼ c. tomato paste
1 t. chili powder
¾ t. ground cumin
½ t. salt
½ t. black pepper
4 kaiser rolls, split
1 c. (4 oz) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese

Cook turkey, onion, and garlic in a large nonstick skillet over high heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Stir in bell pepper and next 7 ingredients (bell pepper through black pepper). Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Spoon ½ cup turkey mixture onto each roll half; top each with 2 tablespoons cheese.