Tomato Bisque

1/4 cup butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp flour
3 Tbsp tomato paste
4 cups chicken broth
2 (14.5 oz) cans fire roasted diced tomatoes, drained (fresh tomatoes are good too!)
3 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg (sometimes we substitute nutmeg for basil)
1/4 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Stir in the onion, celery, carrot, and garlic.  Cook and stir until the vegetables are tender and beginning to brown, about 8 minutes.  Stir in the flour and cook 1 minute longer, stirring constantly.

Stir in the tomato paste, chicken broth, tomatoes, sugar, and nutmeg.  Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 15 minutes until the vegetables are very tender.

pour half to three-quarters of the soup into a blender-depending on how chunky you want it-filling the pitcher no more than halfway full.  Hold down the lid of the blender with a folded kitchen towel, and carefully start the blender, suing a few quick pulses to get thew soup moving before leaving it on to puree.

Return the pureed soup to the saucepan and stir in the cream.  Cook over medium heat until the soup is hot.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Black Bean and Salsa Sloppy Joes

I hope this isn't illegal doing this, this picture just makes it look so appetizing!!  Super delicious but doesn't taste like traditional sloppy joes.

Avacado Spring Rolls

So this was probably the most delicious thing I've ever made... and it's super easy! If you ever find avacados on sale you should make these.

Spring roll ingredients:
4-5 avacados
some red onion
some sundried tomatoes
4-5 stem of cilantro
1-2 tsp. salt
spring roll pastries

Mash up the avacados and add the onion, tomatoes, cilantro and salt. Stir it all up. Then put some in the egg roll pastries and roll them up. You can fry them in a little bit of oil or bake them. I baked them so they weren't so greasy and I could do lots at once, but frying is always yummy. I just followed the directions for filling them and baking them that was on the spring roll pastry box thing.

Dipping sauce ingredients (similar to the Cafe Rio cilantro lime dressing):
2 tbsp. lime juice
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
1 tbsp. worcestershire sauce
1/2 c. chopped cilantro
2 whole green onions
2 jalepeno peppers (I left these out because I don't really like them)
1 c. sour cream
1 c. mayonaise
salt
pepper

Blend together the lime juice, vinegar, worcestershire sauce, cilantro, green onions, and jalepenos until it's all mixed up really well. Then add the sour cream and mayo and blend it again. Add salt and pepper to taste.

This was seriously so good! I did it with 5 avacados and didn't fill the rolls supper full and it made about 16 I think. And we use this sauce for everything now. We put it on wraps and salads and with mexican food and any other time we can think to use it.

Eggplant Parmesan

Okay so Rodrigo had Eggplant Parmesan at a restaurant a while ago and it was super yummy! So I decided (per request) to try to make it.  Here it is! 

Ingredients:

For the noodles:

• 1 lb brown rice spaghetti noodles

For the cutlets:

• One large eggplant, peeled and sliced vertically into 8 cutlets
• 1 c. milk substitute of your choice
• 3/4 c. brown rice flour (or other flour of your choice)
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp dried parsley
• 1/4 tsp dried basil
• 2 cups breadcrumbs (make sure to use gluten free if you're GF)
•  

For the marinara sauce:

• 1 recipe marinara sauce

For the cheese:

·         Mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Peel eggplant and cut into vertical strips.  Spread your eggplant slices out on a cookie sheet or cutting board and sprinkle them liberally with salt, letting them sit for 20-30 minutes to sweat. Start boiling a large pot of water for noodles, and start simmering your marinara sauce.
2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. From the cutlets ingredients list, mix together the milk, brown rice flour, apple cider vinegar, salt, oregano, parsley, and basil in a wide shallow dish until well blended. Rinse your eggplant slices and pat them dry. Dip them in the batter mixture until well coated, and then sprinkle liberally with breadcrumbs. Place on a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet and bake for 6-8 minutes per side until breadcrumbs are lightly browned and crispy. When you remove them from the oven, start preheating your broiler.
3. When your water has come to a boil, add spaghetti noodles and boil as directed on the package. Drain and divide evenly amongst 2-4 oven safe plates (or in a 9x13 casserole dish).
4. Once noodles, sauce, and cutlets are prepared, assemble your dishes: place the noodles on the bottom, top with about 2/3 of the sauce, add eggplant cutlets, the rest of the sauce, and then a layer of cheese. Place under the broiler for about three minutes until cheese is lightly browned and bubbling. Serve warm (if you made it on individual plates be sure to place them on placemats or trivets as they will be hot).

Instead of using mozerella cheese, you can make this “cheese” sauce.  I did not even try, mostly because I don’t even know what half of the ingredients are and I didn’t want to buy them all, but it looks good, so try it and tell me how it is!

For the “cheese” (recipe from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook by Jo Stepaniak)

• 1 1/2 c. water or plain nondairy milk (I used rice milk)
• 1/4 c. nutritional yeast flakes
• 1/4 cup flour (any kind, I used brown rice flour)
• 2 Tablespoons sesame tahini
• 2 Tablespoons kuzu, arrowroot, or cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• To make the cheese sauce, combine all cheese sauce ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Heat in a small saucepan over medium heat until thickened.

This is the final product.  It was quite scrumptious! But I’d have to say my favorite part was probably the homemade honey whole wheat bread that I made to go with it.  Here’s to being domestic…

Chicken Marinara

Shae--This is for you because this recipe is super simple! And not too expensive. You don't have to use the dillweed if you don't have any.   

1/2 C. flour
1 t salt
1/4 t pepper
4-5 chicken breasts
3 T butter
1 can marinara sauce
1 t dried dillweed
1/4 C parmesan or mozerella cheese

Preheat oven to 450.  Mix the flour, salt and pepper together.  Coat the chicken with the flour mixture.  Dot the bottom of a 9 x13 pan with the butter.  Place chicken in the pan.  Bake Chicken for 25-30 min.  Pour marinara sauce over chicken and sprinkle dillweed and cheese on top.  Bake for another 5-10 minutes or until chicken in done and cheese is melted.

Sweet and Sour Chicken with Mango Lettuce Wraps

Yet another lettuce wrap recipe...we have A LOT of lettuce in the garden so we're trying to be a little creative!

1 1/2 pound chicken
10 oz apricot jam
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp red chili paste
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated (I just used powder)
2 whole jalapeno peppers (I left these out)
2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and chopped (I didn't have this so I threw in some celery)
2 mangoes, peeled and chopped
Romaine lettuce leaves
2 limes
2 Tbsp sesame seeds

Put chicken in a crock pot. Add the jam, soy sauce, sesame oil, chili paste, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, and ginger. Toss in jalapeno peppers and cucumbers. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-5 hours. When the chicken has fully cooked, shred the meat with two forks. Mix it all up. Spoon into lettuce leaves, top with mangoes, a squeeze of lime, and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.

This was GOOD! Again we added brown rice to the mixture so we didn't have to use quite so much chicken. The mango made it delicious! We all liked it. Even Riley couldn't get enough mango!

Lettuce Wraps

1 pound chicken, cut in really small pieces
1/2 onion, also cut in really small pieces
5 garlic cloves
1/4 c chopped water chestnuts (I didn't have these but they would be tasty! I threw in a little chopped celery for a little crunch)
1/4 c chicken broth
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground allspice
16 romaine lettuce leaves

Cook everything together (except the lettuce leaves) in a frying pan. Serve in lettuce leaves (wrap it like a burrito in the leaf). The recipe says to also put plum sauce in there, but I don't know what that is and didn't love the sound of it. But, try it and let me know how it is. We also put a little brown rice in the leaves with the chicken to stretch the chicken a little farther. These were good and similar to PF Chang's lettuce wraps!

Open-Faced Mozzarella Sandwiches

1 c chopped tomatoes
3 Tbsp olive or vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp thinly sliced green onions (I used regular onion because it's what I had and I really  liked the flavor if you can stand the onion breath the rest of the day)
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
Dash cayenne pepper
4-6 slices bread (We had some sour dough French which was really good, but any French or any good bread would be delicious)
1/2 c shredded mozzarella cheese (or whatever kind you have)

Combine the first eight ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour. Brush liquid from the tomato mixture onto one side of each slice of bread. Broil for 2 minutes or until crisp. Spoon 1/4 c or so of tomato mixture onto each slice. Sprinkle with cheese. Broil 1-2 more minutes or until bubbly.

The verdict: These were DELICIOUS! So simple, but we really enjoyed them. We just had a big salad and fruit with them. They would make a great side dish or appetizer as well. Jasher went back for three!