Sunday, March 24, 2013

Roasted Sweet Corn and Tomato Soup


Recipe by Our Best Bites, inspired by the Sussman Brothers
3 cups fresh corn kernels (about 4 cobs)
10 ounces cherry tomatoes (abt 2 cups)
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
1 medium onion, any color, diced
8 ounce jar roasted red bell peppers, drained
32 ounces chicken broth (4 cups)
3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
kosher salt
fresh cracked black pepper
optional: chopped herbs for garnish
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place corn, tomatoes, and garlic on a foil-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with 2 teaspoons olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Gently toss with hands and then arrange in an even, flat layer. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until tomatoes are crinkled and burst.
While vegetables are roasting, heat a stock pot to medium high heat on stove top. Add remaining one teaspoon olive oil and diced onion. Saute about 5 minutes, or until tender. Add roasted bell peppers, chicken broth, smoked paprika and chipotle chili powder. Add a light sprinkling of kosher salt and black pepper (I add about 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few cracks of pepper at this point and then season to taste at the very end.)
When corn and tomatoes are done roasting, add them to the pot*, making sure to scrape off all of the bits on the pan. (*If desired, reserve a couple spoonfuls of roasted corn for garnish.) Bring soup to a low simmer and cover. Simmer for 20 minutes. Use an immersion blender, or transfer soup to stand blender and puree until smooth. Taste, and add additional salt and pepper (and chipotle chili powder if you want a little more heat) to taste. Divide into bowls and garnish with a sprinkle of smoked paprika, a few corn kernels, and some chopped herbs if desired.
Yields about 6 cups of soup.
Nutritional info for 4, 1 1/2 cup servings:
Calories: 168
Carbs: 24 g
Protein: 8 g
Fat: 7 g

Substitute vegetable broth for chicken. 

Friday, March 8, 2013

Lemon cookies

Ingredients:½ cups butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoons baking powder
⅛ teaspoons baking soda
1-½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cups powdered sugar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

*If using a non-stick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes. Makes 2-3 dozen (closer to 2) recipe from Lauren Brennan via Lisa Evans

White Rolls

From Lisa Evans
I have used Soy milk and subbed one of the eggs with ground flax seed.  They still turned out great.


Easy, Fast, and Yummy Dinner Rolls

Makes 48
1 cup sugar
1 cup real margarine or butter
3 cups milk
1 cup hot water
4 eggs
11 cups flour
4 Tablespoons Saf Instant Yeast
4 teaspoons salt

Combine milk, sugar, margarine, and water. Heat in microwave until warm, about 3-4 minutes. Using a mixer with bread hooks, start mixing. Add eggs and half of flour. Mix well. Add yeast and salt, continue mixing. Add remaining flour. When mixed in, turn to high speed and let kneed for 11 minutes. When finished mixing, turn out on floured cloth and divide into 4 balls (for recipe for 48) Using rolling pin, roll first ball into a circle the size of a pizza. Using pizza cutter, cut circle into twelve wedges. To form a roll, take wedge of dough, fold in corners so they meet. Then roll up like a croissant. Place in greased pan (2 cookie sheets for 48 recipe. 9x13 size for 12). Let raise about 15 minutes, until puffy. Bake at 375 10-12 minutes or until dark golden brown. Optional: rub tops of rolls with a square of margarine.

This recipe is also great for sweet rolls. After mixing, roll dough into a rectangle. Spread two cubes (for 48 recipe) of softened butter on dough. And sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon or brown sugar and coconut. Roll and cut with string or dental floss about 1” thick. Place on greased pan close to each other so they will raise tall and not spread out too flat. Bake until dark golden brown. Frost when cool with cream cheese frosting—8 oz cream cheese softened,½ cup butter softened, and about 2 lbs powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and enough milk to make a fluffy consistency

Cauliflower Soup

Wisconsin Cauliflower Soup



2 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk**
1 1/2 cups water**
1 can (13 3/4 to 14 1/2 ounces) chicken broth
1 head (2 1/2 pounds) cauliflower, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup Pepper Jack cheese, shredded

**Can substitute 1 can {12 oz} evaporated milk and 2 cups water for the 2 cups milk and 1 1/2 cups water.

In a large saucepan, melt margarine or butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook until golden, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Whisk in flour and salt. Gradually stir in milk, chicken broth, and water.

Add cauliflower and heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer until cauliflower is tender, about 15 minutes.In blender (with center part of blender cover removed to allow steam to escape), blend cauliflower mixture at low speed in small batches until very smooth. {Don't let this step deter you from making the soup! Blending it is really easy and so worth the extra 3 minutes. The most annoying part are the added dishes!}Return cauliflower mixture to saucepan; heat over medium heat until hot, stirring occasionally. Remove saucepan from heat; stir in mustard and 1 1/2 cups cheese until melted and smooth. Serve soup with remaining cheese as a garnish.
 
From some website called cullinary queen bee

Eggless Banana Bread

Eggless Banana Bread

3 ripe bananas
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 c. Xylosweet
1c. oats grund in food processor
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 c. chopped walnuts or pecans

Mash bananas (overripe make the best bread). Add oil, vanilla and sugar. Mix well. Sift flour, salt and soda together and add to banana mixture with walnuts if using. Mix until flour is blended in but do not over mix.

Put into loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees F. for 45-60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan, then remove to rack to cool completely before cutting.