Roasted tomato soup with broiled cheddar. Lest you think I spend any part of my days doing Important Things — preparing, and totally not at the last second or haphazardly, for my only child’s second birthday, or for his first week of pre-preschool; assembling warm, wholesome meals for his lunch each day; meeting my manuscript deadline; dealing with the shoe bomb that went off in my closet, etc. — it’s only fair and honest that I tell you that I’ve spent a significant portion of the last year considering ways to merge grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup in a single vessel.
In a way, though, it relates to all of those things (well, not the shoes). There’s something very back-to-school-ish about tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, and because it’s still September, if you’re lucky, you can still get some tomatoes worth eating, and if not that, at least worth cooking down. Roasted Tomato Soup with Broiled Cheddar Serves 4 (though closer to 6 if served in mugs) Make soup: Preheat oven to 400°F. Naked tomato sauce. Every year at just about this time I renew my obsession with tomato sauce.
It’s late August, after all, and just about anyone who has ever gardened or knows people who garden is drowning in tomatoes and I am here, with my virtual bucket, eager to help you out. Don’t be too fooled by my so-called benevolence, however, as it’s really a selfish endeavor; I find spaghetti with tomato sauce to be one of the universe’s perfect meals, so I’m hardly kicking and screaming my way to the kitchen the next time the whim for a new one strikes me. But I always think that the new one will be the one that closes the book on tomato sauce, that it will be done, that I will be able to move on and find new codes to crack in the kitchen knowing that I’ve locked in my tomato sauce nirvana. Unfortunately, these moments of spaghetti calm are increasingly short-lived.
But the reason I’m back here today is because of what happened the day I shared that tomato sauce for you. Nothing. Eggplant salad toasts. When it comes to bruschetta, I don’t know why tomatoes get all the love. Right next to them at the market, eggplant is sulking… or at least I’d be if I always got stiffed in the Breezy Light Summer Appetizer with Wine department by my fruity field buddies. I got thinking about an eggplant topping for garlic-rubbed, olive oil drizzled toasts last week when I was still on vacation and had nothing but the ocean’s horizon to consider for entire minutes of the day when this constantly-in-motion 11 month-old rested his eyes for a but all I knew is what I didn’t want: a puree, because while there are many great ones, there’s just so much gray and heavy about them and I didn’t want it to need tomatoes to make it work because hey, I love tomatoes but was insistent that eggplant can be awesome on its own.
If you’re in the kind of place where cooking something that doesn’t directly yield a dinner plan isn’t for you, I think there are a lot of ways to bulk this up. Eggplant Salad Toasts. Delicious Food Recipes - Arts and Crafts Ideas - Entertaining Tips - Gardening - Pets - Martha Stewart.
Eggplant Bolognese. Baked Ravioli. Baked Penne with Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomatoes. Goat Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta. Spaghetti Carbonara. Low Carb Recipes. The Chinese Soup Lady & Chinese Soup Recipes. Lasagne with slow roasted mushrooms and goat’s cheese | Mighty Mushroom. This week the battle for the Mushroom Masters continues unabated and, as we recover from a battering at the hands of the Canadians, Australia is throwing Ellie Won – Kitchen Wench headlong into the competition. This week a recipe that will have mushroom lovers everywhere heading for the kitchen to whip up a storm – a slow roasted storm that is! Doing their best to offer some competition to Ellie this week will be Maggie from Pithy and Cleaver (US) and Jeannette from Everybody Likes Sandwiches (Canada).
To your corners bloggers and on my signal let the Button Battle begin. Sorry, getting a bit carried away there. I should firstly introduce Ellie in her own words…. My name is Ellie and I’m the mind and madness behind the Kitchen Wench food blog. Coming from a Korean background and having grown up in Australia, I’ve been in the kitchen since I could sit up, and my cooking captures what I believe are some of the best aspects of both cultures. And now for the recipe….. Lasagne ingredients: 1. Encyclopedia of spices. Spice Advice – how to make the most of spices, which spices to use with particular foods, when to add them, grinding, storage and more.
Herbs and Spices Fight Disease — Most of us look at spices as a way to perk up the plate but are you aware of their potential to fight disease? Look here for some recent findings. All about Vanilla – and then some… history, curing, varieties, vanilla extract, essence, powder – even vanilla salt. How to cook with vanilla. including top 10 vanilla recipes! Cooking with Thyme – Getting the most of thyme in your cooking – including varieties of thyme, preparation, infusions, fresh vs. dried and many suggested uses for cooking with thyme. Francis Lam's Let-My-Eggplant-Go-Free! Spaghetti. In the last week, I totaled my car*, almost gave myself a concussion by walking against a rather substantial tree branch and went all Lady Macbeth in my white silk nightgown this morning after slicing open my foot on a piece of glass in my kitchen (apparently, I must learn the hard way that you should never attempt to wipe down your counters before having your caffeinated morning beverage).
Who knew a quarter-inch nick on a foot could bleed so much? I kind of wish I'd had the presence of mind to photograph the blood spatters on our white tile floor just now. They looked rather artful. Let's not even talk about how I managed to bust my iPhone on Monday or about the fact that I thought I'd lost all my identifying documents earlier this week. Not even kidding. Is Mercury in retrograde or something? Am I supposed to be thinking of something I'm not? What I think is really going on is that the universe was balancing itself out in anticipation of my dinner last night. Did I mention the salt? Fettuccine with melting Brie, cherry tomatoes and basil Recipe. Fried Ice Cream. I'm sure you are thinking about Cinco de Mayo this very minute.
You should be because it's in two days. We look for any excuse to celebrate. We look for any excuse to celebrate with food. This year I thought I'd share a recipe for deep fried ice cream. This would be considered one of my "BIGS". You will need a good quality Vanilla ice cream, corn flakes, flaked coconut and cinnamon. I just happen to find New Simply Cinnamon Corn Flakes.
You can, of course, use regular corn flakes. You will need to make 5 scoops of ice cream from a quart size container. Drop the scoops of ice cream onto a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Let me tell you what you don't have time for...PICTURES. The ice cream melts too fast. Put the corn flakes in a plastic bag. Pound the corn flakes with a rolling pin or crush the corn flakes anyway you'd like...just crush them. Put the crushed corn flakes into a shallow bowl.
Add 1 cup coconut. Add one tablespoon cinnamon. In shallow bowl add 2 eggs and 1 tablespoon milk.