Potato and Roasted Tomato Soup!

Hello my little crumpets and scones!

I'm going to share a delicious soup recipe with you today that is not only delicious and far superior to the canned iteration but it's also vegan and gluten free!  But truly, you won't miss the cream/butter.  I mean I'm okay with butter and I don't miss it at all in this soup! 

This recipe was definitely inspired by the "Creamy Tomato Soup" recipe from "Veganomicon" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, and I referenced that recipe for the stock/potato quantities for this recipe.  However I've been making a roasted tomato and pepper pasta sauce for a while, and I thought roasting tomatoes would translate well for soup, and boy did it ever!  Incidentally you could roast the tomato mix for only about 30 minutes and then puree that mixture for an excellent pasta sauce. 
 

Potato and Roasted Tomato Soup

2 lbs. small tomatoes (cherry or grape) washed, cut in half

4-6 cloves of garlic, smashed

2 tbs balsamic vinegar

2 tbs tomato paste

1 tbs olive oil

½ tsp paprika

¼ tsp of dried thyme & oregano

½ tsp of salt

1 tbs of olive oil

1 medium carrot, 2 ribs of celery and a medium yellow onion diced

½ tsp of salt

6 cups stock/broth

1 lb of white or Yukon gold potatoes peeled and chopped

1. Preheat oven to 500F.  Mix the tomatoes with the garlic, vinegar, tomato paste, olive oil, paprika, thyme, oregano and salt.  You want all the ingredients to be well-combined and especially for the tomato paste to be completely mixed in with the other ingredients.  It should look like this:
   
   
2. Place the whole mix in a roasting pan (lined with foil if you like easy clean up!) and roast for 50 minutes, making sure to give the pan a shake every 10 minutes or so.  You want the tomatoes to look a little bit roasted and you want the liquid to be about halfway evaporated. It looks like this after roasting:
   
   
3. While the tomatoes are cooling in a large-ish pot sautee the carrot, onion and celery in the olive oil with the salt on medium heat for about 6-7 minutes.  Once they have begun to turn translucent and brown a little add the stock, and the potatoes, as well as the tomato mixture.  Bring it up to boil and turn down to a simmer.
4. It should take about 30 minutes for the potatoes to be cooked through, and once they are cooked, puree the mixture (carefully!) in a blender or using an immersion blender if you have one.  Once the soup is completely blended, run it through a strainer back into the pot and heat for another 10 minutes and serve.
   
   

You can garnish it with fresh basil or parsley, pesto or some cheese if you’re not vegan.  This would be great with sandwiches, especially grilled cheese or a garlicky chickpea type sandwich or just some good garlic bread. 

And that's it for today, I hope you all try this soup and love it as much as I do!

Love and cupcakes,

Ms. Meghan

turkey and black bean skillet

Hello lovely followers, long time no see!

I could make excuses, or I could make it up to you and post a delicious recipe. Sound good? Okay!! I've listed special diets this can apply to as well, the recipe is pretty easy to tweak.

Turkey and Black Bean Skillet
(serves 4-ish)
Special Diets: gluten free, vegan/vegetarian (just double the black beans and take out the turkey, and no cheese for vegans!), kosher (if using kosher meat and don't garnish with cheese)

1 tsp of olive oil
1 medium red onion chopped
5 cloves of garlic diced (you can use more/less to taste)
~1.5 tsps of chili powder (or more to taste)
`.5 tsps of ground coriander
.25 tsps of ground cumin (or leave out if you're like me and you think cumin is too stinky)
1 red pepper chopped
1 package of ground turkey (I used Empire All White Meat)
1 can of black beans, rinsed/drained
salt
water, as needed
~4 c. cooked, warmed, brown rice

Optional garnishes: hot sauce, chopped cilantro & scallions, grated cheese of some kind

1. Cook the onions with a pinch of salt until they soften in a large, non stick skillet on medium heat, you can cook them for longer if you prefer, I cooked mine 7-8 minutes.
2. Add the spices and garlic, cooking for one minute, adding water if the pan starts to look dry.
3. Add the peppers and turkey, and a couple more pinches of salt. Break up the turkey into manageable pieces as it cooks, again, adding a little water if the pan starts to look dry.
5. After ~5-6 minutes, add the beans and cook for an additional 5-7 minutes.
6. Serve over the rice and garnish as needed, or in my case not at all, it was still completely delicious!!

A note on my "pinches of salt" and spice measurements: I highly recommend adding salt in layers (so not all at once, and definitely not only at the end). I tend to cook without measuring, but I also know when to stop for seasoning/salt. So add at least a little salt, in the beginning, and a little bit more in the middle. Then you can wait until the end and see if it needs more. Same with seasoning; I sometimes think I have enough, and then I try/smell it and realize it needs more.


I didn't have the time or energy to take a fancy/nice picture, so this is the best I could do with Picnik and my not so great camera phone. Either way you should take my word that it's more delicious than it looks!

Beautiful Bones

This is a post for Susan over at Food Blogga and her Beautiful Bones event. The purpose is to raise awareness about osteoporosis as May is National Osteoporosis Month, so she asked for calcium rich recipes. I really love Susan’s recipes, and the fact that she is a native Rhode Islander is near and dear to my heart.

I chose to do a French bread pizza for a couple of reasons. It’s incredibly versatile, but this also means that it is easy to make with calcium-full ingredients and on top of that it is delicious. Plus I saw Rachel Ray make a version of French bread pizza which was gross sounding and a not-even-hot mess; I’ve been making this for years, and mine is much better if I do say so myself. Not to mention it’s mild and delicious enough to serve to kids, if they are okay with the veggies.


French Bread Pizza
Serves 2
Bone-friendly ingredients: broccoli, garlic, mozzarella cheese, parmigiano reggiano cheese, tomatoes.

1 half-length baguette cut in half lengthwise
1 tbs olive oil
¼ tsp. salt
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, grated
2 plum tomatoes de-seeded and chopped
½ cup broccoli broken down into small pieces
1 orange pepper, roasted, de-skinned and chopped
10 basil leaves chiffonaded
2 tsp finely chopped flat leaf parsley
¾ ball of mozzarella
4 tsp grated parmigiano reggiano

1. Scoop out the excess bread from the baguette, discard, feed to the birds or yourself, or save it for breadcrumbs if you’re feeling industrious. Toast the halves in a 250°F oven until just toasted. You don’t want them to get darker, just drier. Time will vary depending on the kind of bread you’re using, as all baguettes are not created equal.
2. Mix together the herbs, vegetables (minus the shallots and garlic), and half the parmigiano.
3. Sauté the shallots in oil with the salt until golden in color. Grate in the garlic and cook for another minute, and add to the vegetable mixture.
4. Slice off enough thin slices of mozzarella to cover the length of the bread & mixture and put that aside. You want at least ¼-½ cup of mozzarella to dice and mix in with the filling, so dice and mix, add more or less to taste.
5. Assemble your pizza: pack the filling into the baguette, tamping down as needed. When it is filled, top with the mozzarella and sprinkle with the reserved parmigiano.
6. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet (easy clean-up) into a 350°F oven for 15 minutes or until the cheese is just beginning to turn golden brown.
7. Cut in half, sprinkle with salt and pepper, crushed red pepper flakes or just leave them plain. These are delicious just as they are!

Alternate shots:

Filling, pre-pizza:


I did a more visual recipe outline, and I thought it was funny so I’m sharing it:


This is my first recipe post and my first event participation. I hope if you’re checking this out that you enjoyed. :)