Homemade "Capsicum" and Tomato Soup

How do you get your kitchen to be red? Blend tomatoes and red peppers using an immersion blender. It went everywhere until Jeff had the brilliant idea to use the lid of the pot as a shield. 


This was actually a really easy process for how good it was (and how impressed everyone was when I said "we made tomato soup from scratch"). But it really wasn't true tomato soup. It's actually called "Roasted capsicum and tomato soup." 'Capsicum' is schmancy for "red pepper." The hardest part of the recipe was peeling the red peppers. And when you eat it, you can't think 'tomato soup' or you'll be disappointed. Think 'yummy soup.' And of course, like all truly good things, it was better the next day.


Thanks goes out to Thomas for letting us use his crazy awesome immersion blender.


Recipe:
- 3 'capsicums'
- 1 onion
- 4 large tomatoes (we used 9 medium tomatoes)
- 4 cloves of garlic (we used 6)
- 1 1/3 cup vegetable stock (we used probably closer to 2 1/2)
- 1 tbsp tomato puree (we used half a tiny 5 oz can)
- salt and pepper
- fresh parsley for garnish 


Things that weren't in the recipe, but we added anyway:
- oregano
- bay leaf

1. Cut 'capsicums' in halfs. Remove all seeds. Cut onion in half. Lay 'capsicums, onion, tomatoes, and garlic in oven safe pan (see photo)
2. Cook for 30 minutes (400 degrees).
3. Let cool until you can handle holding everything while you peel the skins off (tip: tomatoes and onion are easy, 'capsicums' require a little pearing knife...and I might have given up on a few)
4. Blend everything together.
5. Place blended vegetables, vegetable stock, tomato puree, and all the spices in pot and cook for 20 minutes on medium.


Serve with grilled cheese sandwiches of course.


Recipe from Everyday Cooking: From novice to chef step-by-step recipes, pg 77

Creamy Mushroom Chicken

This could also be called "Onion Dip cooked in a crockpot for 6 hours smothered in chicken." I feel the publishers didn't go with this due to space limitations. But that really is what it was. It got major points for having 5 ingredients. It also got points for making everyone in the office jealous of our delicious food (I was slightly paranoid about leaving the Crockpot on high in an empty apartment...plus we had to turn it down after an hour). 


Serving it was really easy too. Just make some noodles and then smoother them with the concoction. 


Overall reaction: Delicious. Next time we make it, we will definitely cut the chicken breasts into smaller pieces and cook it for less time (it was a little dry). Poppy gave it two 'yums.'


Recipe: 
- chicken (we did 5 medium boobies)
- Onion dip packet (Lipton is always the best)
- one tub (16oz for people like Jeff) Sour Cream
- one can of Cream of Mushroom soup
- we added mushrooms for about the last hour, which actually turned out really good


1. Stir together sour cream, onion dip, and soup in crockpot
2. Add chicken, completely submerging it in the mixture
3. Cook on high for an hour, then low for 6 (we actually ended up doing 2 on high and about 3 on low, but again, ended up with dry chicken)
4. Serve over noodles


Recipe from Fit-it and Forget-it: Our Best Slow-Cooker Recipes 2011, pg 20

Not Cooking Enchiladas

Cooking Enchiladas this way does not count as cooking. It counts as assembling. All you have to do is open cans and layer things (well you have to cook the chicken first, but growing up, we would always just use leftover chicken, so it was ready to go). Also, apparently Jeff had never seen green enchiladas before I handed him a plate with them on it. 


Layer Enchiladas:


- chicken, I usually just cut into bite sized pieces, but you can shred if you want
- cans of green enchilada sauce
- one baby can of green chilies
- one regular can of black beans
- a pack of corn tortillas, I usually get the ten pack of the 8 inch ones
- lots and lots of cheese


1. Cook chicken
2. In a shallow bowl, pour some enchilada sauce in. Dip tortillas into it.
3. In an oven safe pan, start layering tortilla, chicken, chilies, beans, cheese, repeat.
4. Stick in preheated oven (325) for 15 minutes.
5. Top with lots of sour cream.

Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Last night we made Grilled Cheese sandwiches. They were delicious although they made a mess of my face and the counter. Luckily Heather has a panini maker so we used that to cook the sandwiches. They turned out great. The bread I bought cut into huge slices so the 5 jalapeños I prepared for this weren't quite enough. Next time I will cut the bread first to make sure I have enough coverage.

I deseeded the jalapeños completely because i didn't want the sandwiches to be too spicy for Heather, but the cream cheese totally counter balances the spice, so leaving them in would be great as well.

Overall Impression: Delicious. However this recipe does have a lot of saturated fats in it so I will try not to make it too often.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 jalapeno peppers, cut in half lengthwise and seeded
• 2 slices sour dough bread
• 1 tablespoon butter, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 cup jack and cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 tablespoon tortilla chips, crumbled

Directions

1. Place the peppers on a baking sheet with the cut side facing down.
2. Place the baking sheet on the top shelf in the oven and broil until the outer layer of the skin has blackened, about 8-14 minutes.
3. Place the peppers in a zip-lock bag or other sealable container, seal and let them cool until you can handle them, about 20 minutes.
4. Remove the skins from the peppers. The skins should easily "pinch" off.
5. Assemble sandwich and grill until golden brown and the cheese has melted, about 2-3 minutes per side.

The Recipe can be found at: http://punchfork.com/recipe/Jalapeno-Popper-Grilled-Cheese-Sandwich-Closet-Cooking

Three Day Weekends call for Lots of Breakfast

Since our lovely bosses gave us Friday off in celebration of the new year, we've been home an extra day, which means an extra day of eating delicious, not-rushed meals. Especially of the breakfast variety.

On Friday and Saturday, we tried out the new waffle maker. We used the basic Krusteaz blue box waffle mix, and decided that it was very plain. Jeff has decided that next time we'll try adding our own stuff to the basic recipe like cinnamon and nutmeg and see how that turns out. But the real excitement was the waffle maker. It's super easy to use and cooks waffles in all of 3-4 minutes.

Today, Jeff made me french toast for breakfast. He's made this for me once before, but we didn't have any spices besides nutmeg, so it was a little so-so. But thanks to all baking supplies being on sale this time of year, we have since acquired cinnamon and vanilla extract. And when all three of those things are combined with eggs, milk and some bread, delicious things happen. It was so good, we ate the made-on-purpose-so-we-can-have-some-later leftovers right then.

Overall reaction: Cinnamon and nutmeg make a great combo.