The Easiest Dinner Ever

I don't miss work often because I'm sick but today was one of those days. Whatever my sickness is it hasn't curbed my appetite so while lounging around today I knew I'd want dinner and so would Prince Charming. I surfed the World Wide Web for recipes for easy dinner stuff. There is a lot of yucky sounding junk out there. My immediate thought when it comes to food in cans is ick. But, I read reviews on this soup before I read the ingredient list and was so impressed on what people had to say I had it in my mind that we were having it this very night. You can make this your own in so many ways. All who passed through our kitchen tonight liked this. I liked this. You'll like this.

 

8 Can Mexican Soup

1 can of each of the following. They should all be similar in size. I used beans with green chilies or jalapeños added and spicy taco seasoning so ours was what I would call medium spicy. If you want mild just don't use spicy stuff. The cream of soup gives it the creaminess.

Black beans, drained and rinsed

Pinto beans, drained and rinsed

Diced tomatoes, drained

Corn, drained

Green enchilada sauce

Chicken broth

Cream of chicken soup

Taco seasoning package

Chicken, leftover cooked or a can will do

Garnish with chopped cilantro, cheese and sour cream if you like.

Stir everything in a large pan. Heat until bubbly. Eat. Told you it was easy.

 

Roasted Tomatoes

I love tomatoes. I love them raw, stewed, fried and one of my favorite ways is roasted. So simple to do and endless ways to use them. It's a great way to use tomatoes that are beginning to get a little too soft for slicing on a sandwich or cutting for a salad. Their flavor is intensified after roasting somewhat like a sun dried tomato. Roasting however doesn't give you a "dried" tomato it gives you a smooth luscious flavorful almost spread like consistency.

How do you use roasted tomatoes? Great question. The way I use them most often is spread on some kind of bread. I like the way it mingles with mayo on a sandwich. On an English muffin topped with a poached egg makes my mouth water. Mix it into cooked pasta. Mash it into a smooth paste and use it as the best dipping sauce for fries you've ever had. Stir it into a vegetable dip to take it to a higher level. Be creative and brave and try it with just about anything except chocolate. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't taste good with chocolate.

Here's what you'll need:

• Tomatoes, how many is up to you
• Olive oil, amount will vary depending on how many tomatoes
• Salt, I like kosher but any will do
• Garlic cloves, if you have them
• Rosemary sprig, if you have it but you know it grows everywhere right? Steal it from the neighbors yard. A sprig in my mind is about 4 inches long.
• Dish to roast in. Big enough to hold tomatoes in single layer without too much extra space. Could be glass could be ceramic.
• Oven set at 325.

This is as easy or complicated as you like. Turn oven on. Cut tomatoes in half across their middles, so there is a top and bottom half. Squeeze or scrape out seeds if you like. I DON'T. You can cut out that stem part if you like. I DON'T. Take skin off garlic cloves if you are using them. (Let's just say you were using 10 tomatoes. I would probably use 4 garlic cloves but you don't have to use any) Put the tomatoes and garlic in your dish cut side up. Sprinkle with salt. Not too much but it does need some. Now drizzle olive oil over. How much? Maybe 1/2 teaspoon for each tomato half? You can't get too much. With your hands toss the tomatoes around until the whole thing is well oiled. Now turn all the tomatoes cut side down. Work in the rosemary turning it a couple times to coat with oil. Slide the whole thing into your oven and come back in 1 hour. My oven cooks unevenly so I have to rotate the pan at the one hour mark. In another hour turn the oven off. If your tomatoes look dark remove the pan and allow to cool. I leave mine in the oven with it off for a while. If you do this try not to forget about them like I have. When cool enough to handle but still warm I remove the skins that easily come off and forget the others. Throw the rosemary away. This is when I remove the stem part if it's big enough to get my attention or if it bugs you. I just eat them.

 

Now try not to just eat all this goodness without a purpose. I store them in a glass jar and add a little more olive oil on top and put in the fridge. The oil will solidify some but it quickly melts back to liquid at room temp. If for some reason you haven't eaten all this yumminess in a week I'd check to make sure there is no mold. No mold eat. Mold, find a home schooler who needs a science experiment.

 

I'd love to know if you make these and then how you ate them. Now go to Costco and buy tomatoes to roast like I am today.

 

Eat Your Veggies part 1

I love cauliflower. Fresh cauliflower only. Keep that water-logged junk found on the freeze aisle away from me. I don't believe anyone likes it. Did you know cauliflower is really good for you? That is not why I love it but I'm happy to report to anyone who wants to know that I do indeed love veggies, if they're prepared in a delicious way. Cauliflower can slow the growth of cancer cells but boiling it just 5 minutes reduces its benefits 20-30%.

Roasted is one of the ways I like it best. Tossed with olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper then into a hot oven. It begins to brown and smell toasty. Too bad all things that are so yummy aren't also good for you.

Cauliflower grows purple, green. yellow, orange and white. I'll post some pictures when I find all the colors. Now go eat some veggies.

 

Sad (as in strange) Eatings

I know a lot of kids leaving home and off to live on college campus's all over this country. I've already heard of some interesting food consumptions going on. When I went to college, a very long time ago, I didn't live in a dorm. I lived in an apartment so I had to cook for myself from the get go. My mom put dozens of little baggies with strange and familiar herbs and spices with twist ties in my bare kitchen cupboards. I think they cleaned out the camper of all the cooking stuff and gave it to me. Not quality stuff but what did I know? Not much. I remember one of those baggies was marked "Marjoram." Mar what?

Channeling my inner college student I've stooped to a new culinary low. Worse than Top Raman, worse than boxed Mac and cheese. Popcorn tossed with a can of anchovies. You read that correctly. I'm in Northern California helping my mom move to Southern California. When I arrived the refrigerator was already gone. There was some fish in a cooler but I wasn't feeling super great about the amount of time it may have been on ice or in cool ice-chest water. For dinner I had a hard boiled an egg, a piece of toasted white sandwich bread, salt and pepper. By bedtime I was h-u-n-g-r-y. What to eat, what to eat? Looking in cupboards; Found 1/2 jar full of salsa in the pantry area. Hum? No. Flour that any good elementary science teacher would be envious of. No. Microwave popcorn. (I do not like popcorn) Ok, popcorn with cheese sounds promising. No cheese. Then I see it, the can of anchovies. I think savory, salty and protein. Those are the things that help me sleep best. So what if I put the two together? I mashed the anchovies into a paste and tossed it into my hot popcorn. Actually not too bad. The ratio of grain to fish could have been better but that's a lesson learned I suppose.

This morning I was hungry again. "Oh no," you might be thinking. I was thinking that too so I borrowed mom's stuffed to the windows car and headed to the grocery store. What I wanted was a bagel but I don't know if they have a bagel shop in this town. Because we're in farm country the abundance of produce greets you in giant bins outside the store doors. In a subconscious effort to redeem last night I instinctively reached for a giant naval orange and an equally sized peach. Then I saw rows of bagels hanging on pegs inside a case. I learn they all cost .99 ea. and they have a toaster in their coffee bar area AND they throw in cream cheese for free. Jackpot! Bagels weren't marked but they're big and smell good. Several look to have cheese so I naturally know my choice will be one of these. Last time I had a jalapeño cheese bagel it was so spicy I couldn't enjoy it so that's out. In my greed I make my decision based on size. The first bite reveals I've chosen a pizza bagel. Ug. Whatever. For lunch I ate 2 chili cheese dogs. I think the old saying, "Going to hell in a hand basket" must have been directed at marginal food. I need to get out of food hell. Have a desperate food story? I'd love to hear it. Please, it will make me feel better about my strange late night choice.

 

Garden Tomatoes

I LOVE HOME GROWN TOMATOES. I want to shout it from on high. There is nothing like them. When I was a kid we would visit my grandparents on Ohio where they had a killer "garden." I wish I could remember everything they grew but I remember green beans because we had to snap their ends and pull their stings and I didn't really want to do that. I didn't like green beans. That was until grandma cooked them with smoked pork. The reality is I only liked and really still only like grandma's green beans. They grew corn. Not a lot but enough for us to spend lots of time husking ears on the back porch. Too bad I didn't pay attention to how she cooked them to make them so sweet. Now I'm sure it wasn't the cooking method but the fact it grew in their backyard where my grandpa lovingly tended to every plant. But the thing that stands out most of all were the tomatoes. Oh those tomatoes. Grandma would walk us out to the plot of soil all lined up with different plants and tell us how to look for tomato worms. Then she'd try to get us to pluck them off the branches and squish them underfoot. I wanted to do this but I couldn't stand the green juicy stuff they squirted on my fingers. Instead I would pop tomatoes in my mouth. They were warm from the sun and so sweet. Grandma had a salt shaker in the pocket of her apron for her tomatoes but I was a purest. These days I enjoy a little sprinkling of salt on my vine ripened tomatoes. I better understand how our taste buds work and how they begin to diminish with age so I fully get that shaker in the apron. (She always wore an apron.)
You couldn't call where my tomatoes much of a plot but I've got tomatoes. Lots of sun ripened fruit, warm waiting for me to eat them. I go out several times a day and just pick a few and pop them in my mouth right there in the yard. I wipe them a little on my night gown first of course. Wanting to use my tomatoes in a creative way I've found a recipe I'm excited to try. Tomato Tart with Mascarpone. Everyone knows I like cheese and that I like to make cheese. Mascarpone is the first cheese I ever made. It's easy. Did you read that? It is easy. It's probably cheater cheese or make-believe mascarpone but it is cheese to me and I'm the one eating it. This recipe has a tart crust baked then topped with mascarpone mixed with lemon juice with sliced tomatoes on top and drizzled with a basil oil atop that. The hard part now is waiting form my mascarpone to be ready tomorrow. I'll keep you posted on how delicious this tart will be.

 

Apricot Oat Bars

I record quite a few cooking shows. Because the DVR tends to fill up I have to consistently watch shows and delete them. Since Prince Charming is traveling this week I've had a bit more time to catch up. I am not normally attracted to sweets or desserts but there was something about Giada's bar recipe that made me take note and anytime I have all the ingredients for a recipe and can make it right away I usually do. This makes a big 9x13 pan of gooey Apricot Oat Bars. I did nothing but follow her instructions and the results were perfect. These got rave review from everyone who tried them. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/apricot-oat-bars-recipe/index.html

You gotta try 'em.

 

 

Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

4 mint leaves, optional, more for garnish

1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice, about 64 mint leaves

Handful hulled strawberries

Sparkling water

 

Heat sugar and water in pan until sugar dissolves.

Tear mint leaves in half and add to simple syrup while it cools.

Hull strawberries then purée. (cut off the tops)

Combine lemon juice and purée. Add about 1/2 cup simple syrup and taste to your sweet tooth remembering that flavors will be stronger until water is added. Add more syrup as desired.

In a tall glass add ice then add approx. 1/4 cup strawberry lemon mixture. Top with well chilled sparkling water. Add more simple syrup if sweeter drink is desired.

Garnish with mint leaves and a strawberry.

Serves about 5