Tomato Soup

I have no idea where I found this recipe! I first made it for my Dad, who was on a strict diet. The original version was vegan. I have updated it here. My while family loves this, including my husband who doesn't care for either soup or tomatoes! We serve it with grilled cheese sandwiches, of course!

TOMATO SOUP

1 large onion
2 ribs celery
2 T olive oil
2 large cans tomatoes (whole or diced for chunky soup; pureed for smooth, of course it doesn't matter if you're going to blend it anyway)
4 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (or to taste)
6 WHOLE cloves garlic
1 tablespoon minced parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Cream or milk, if desired, for serving

Sauté the onion and celery in the olive oil in a large saucepan. When the onion is translucent, add the tomatoes, broth, oregano, rosemary, garlic and cayenne. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Transfer half of the soup to the blender, and puree until fairly smooth. If you'd like a chunky soup, add the blended half back to the pot. For a smoother soup, blend the rest of the soup and return it to the pot. (I used an immersion blender and pureed the whole thing right there in the pot).

Add the parsley and salt and pepper to taste, and simmer for about 10 minutes to allow the flavors to blend. Taste the soup, and if it is too acidic, add a little agave nectar or sugar, just enough to take the edge off. Ladle into bowls, and stir a little cream or milk into each.

This recipe served 7 people along with grilled cheese sandwiches, with seconds and enough soup leftover for lunch tomorrow. If there's any left over, it freezes well. YUM!!

Italian Chicken

I created this on the fly tonight, and it was very highly rated by all tasters.

Disclaimer: a similar (or even exact) recipe may well exist somewhere; I have not seen it.

ITALIAN CHICKEN

Enough pieces of chicken to feed your family (I used legs and thighs. 10 total)
1/2 cup bottled Italian salad dressing
1 can artichoke hearts, undrained
Grated Parmesan cheese

Skin the chicken. If you skip this step, the sauce will be way too greasy to enjoy.

Put pieces in a baking pan. pour artichoke hearts, including liquid, into the pan and spread them out so everything is level. Pour dressing evenly over all. Sprinkle with cheese.

You will not need any extra salt for this, because of the dressing and cheese. I did not add any extra seasoning at all but you could add what you like.

Bake at 350 degrees, covered, for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake for 15 minutes more until brown. I turned the broiler on low and it made the cheese delightfully crispy.

Everyone loved it and the younger boys had seconds!

Mom's Cranberry Pudding

Last night I had a craving and even though it was getting late, and I knew it wouldn't be ready until almost midnight, I had to make this!

Mom may well have made this more often, but in my memory it's always just once or twice a year. After Christmas, and if I recall ALWAYS on the first night she made the turkey soup.

She would double the sauce recipe because that's the best part. I recall that Kurt and I would argue over who got to scrape out the pan with a spoon.

This is Mom's recipe exactly as I wrote it out a few years ago. See notes after the recipe.

Cranberry Pudding

PUDDING:

1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup hot water
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup fresh cranberries, rinsed and sorted

SAUCE:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup cream
1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine pudding ingredients and mix well. Pour into a greased metal bowl or mold, covered, in a large pot of water with a ball of foil crumpled under the mold. Keep the water on a simmer and KEEP THE POT COVERED!

Sauce: Mix ingredients. Boil and stir for 5 minutes. Serve over warm or cold pudding. Keep in refrigerator and warm it up to serve later as it will get very thick.


NOTES: One hour is never enough. I looked online and most recipes say 1.5 hours and one recipe said THREE hours! I did an extra 20 min last night and I think 1/5 hours would be perfect.

I use a metal bowl and cover it with foil. I think Mom put wax paper under the foil and then closed the foil on top. That should keep any steam from getting inside.

Fluffy Lemon Buttercream Frosting

John's favorite birthday cake is an orange cake, with lemon frosting. I always used canned frosting but am trying to go with making my own now (I do still use cake mix!). So I searched for a recipe and this one is awesome! I can't remember where I got it to give credit, and anyway I tweaked it quite a bit (the original was too thin and didn't make enough).

It still doesn't make as much as I would like for a double layer cake. Next time, I would like to use something like lemon curd for the filling, or increase the amount of frosting by about half. For now I am too lazy to do the math so just know that this makes enough for a double layer cake and filling - just not overly generous thickness!

INGREDIENTS:

4-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 stick butter, softened
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tbsp. grated lemon zest, chopped fine
2 T lemon juice

INSTRUCTIONS:

Mix the butter, lemon zest and vanilla together. Blend well.

Add milk and blend well.

Add the sugar, 1/2 cup at a time.

Beat on high speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl as needed.

Stir in the lemon juice.

Frosts a 13x9 sheet cake generously, or a 2 layer cake/filling not as thick.

I hope you enjoy! We thought it was absolutely delicious!

Chocolate Mousse Bars

My daughter's Girl Scout troop made their own cookbooks a few weeks ago. They were told to each bring a recipe to share with everyone the following week. So she went home and went searching for a recipe online! I have no idea what search terms she used but she came up with this one - and it was a keeper!

Here she is with her cookbook.

Chocolate Mousse Bars

1 - 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

1 can sweetened condensed milk, divided

4 eggs

1 pkg (3.9 ounce) instant chocolate pudding

1-1/2 cups whipped cream, slightly sweetened (or use Cool Whip)

Directions:

Heat oven to 325 F.

Spray a 9 inch square baking pan with cooking spray.

Melt 1 cup chocolate chips: in microwave safe bowl, heat on high for 30 seconds. Stir. Then heat for 15 seconds at a time until melted and smooth, stirring in between.

Mix into melted chips: sugar, flour, 1/4 condensed milk and 4 eggs, until well blended. Pour into the prepared 9 inch square pan.

Bake 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (do not overbake!). Cool completely.

Beat dry pudding mix and remaining condensed milk with whisk for 2 minutes. Stir in whipped cream. Spread over cooled bars.

Melt remaining chocolate chips (careful not to burn!) Drizzle over pudding layer.

Refrigerate until chocolate is firm. Yum!

• 
  

Fried Apples 'n Onions

This dish comes from a book in the Little House Series, "Farmer Boy". It was one of Almanzo Wilder's favorite dishes. I've made it several times over the years (since Evan was into the Little House series at the age of 8) and each time I make it, I wonder why I don't make it more often! I'm not sure the kids agree - they are not really into savory cooked fruit - but I love it. It's very homey and comforting.

Here is the original recipe:

Fried Apples’n'Onions

• 1/2 pound bacon or salt pork, sliced
• 6 yellow onions, sliced in large “C” pieces
• 6 tart apples, sliced, with skins on, in large half moon shaped pieces, or cored and sliced crosswise as circles
• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar (optional)

1. Fry bacon or salt pork slices in a skillet until brown and crisp. Set them aside.
2. Drain all but about 1 tablespoon of fat from the skillet, and add the onion slices. Cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes and then cover with layers of the apple slices. Sprinkle with the brown sugar (if using). Cover the skillet and cook until tender for a few more minutes. Move to the plate with the bacon or pork and serve together.

I adapted it slightly (of course!) and never get out the recipe to make it so it's probably a bit different every time. First of all, the above recipe makes way too much for us. Last night I used one large sweet onion and two medium apples (whatever kind I happened to have). I use 1 T olive oil instead of bacon fat, and sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of bacon bits in while it's cooking. This is more a simplicity issue than a health one. We always cook more bacon than we need and freeze the leftovers so we have homemade bacon bits when we need them. I also don't think it needs an as much bacon as called for, unless you're serving as a breakfast main dish. I put just enough for some nice bacony flavored goodness. I never add the sugar, but the apples I have sitting around are usually the sweeter apples we keep around for snacks. Taste it and see if you think it needs any; it will depend on what kind of apples you use.

This adaptation made enough for 3 generous adult servings or 6 smaller ones.

This dish is wonderful with pork of any kind. I think next time I make it I will smother pork chops with it and bake, covered. It's also wonderful over rice or mashed potatoes. Yum!

Daddy Pork Chops

By John.

Ingredients:

1 lb Pork loin or 8 thin pork chops

1 cup AP flour

1 tsp Slap Ya Mama (A cajun seasoning similar to Tony Chacheres)

1 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp lemon pepper

1 tbs paprika

1 cup whole milk

1 egg

4 tbs cooking oil (I use peanut oil)

Preparation:

This is really paneed (sp?) pork. The kids call it "Daddy Pork Chops" because in our family, daddy makes them. They are a family favorite. They are fairly easy to make and if there are any left overs (rarely around here), they make killer sandwiches for lunch the next day...

You can use either thin cut lean pork chops or pork loin. I prefer the loin but either is fine. If you use loin, cut cross sections of meat approximately 1/4" thick. Trim excess fat from the edges of the meat. Pound the meat to tenderize and flatten it so that it winds up about 1/8" thick. Whisk the dry ingredients together to make a dredge (or use your own favorite dredge). Whisk the egg and milk together to make an egg wash. Dip individual pieces of meat in the egg wash. Remove from the wash and shake off excess. Dredge in the flour mixture. Remove and shake off excess flour. Set aside on a wire rack to dry. Once all pieces are dredged, repeat the dredging process so that all pieces have been done twice. After the second dredge, let the meat rest for approximately 10 min on the rack to allow the coating to set.

Panee (fry) the dredged meat in the oil over medium-high heat two or three pieces at a time - don't crowd the meat. Editorial note: nothing beats cast iron for this (or almost any other) type of frying. Cook for about 2 min per side (or until golden brown). Transfer the meat to a rack in a warm oven to rest. Repeat the process until all meat is cooked (be sure to allow the pan and oil to come back to temperature between batches -hot oil prevents the finished product from being too greasy).