Roasted Tomato Soup

Sorry no picture of the soup, but this soup is worth the post, picture or not!!!

This recipe was given to me by my sister in law, thanks so much Alyce, it is definitely a keeper!!! This soup is perfect for those cold days that are coming our way. Roasting the tomatoes gives it a whole new flavor that is incredible, and the basil just makes it even better. The thing that I loved most about this soup is that I was able to use up all of the tomatoes from my garden. I made a double batch and froze half of it to use on a day when I don't have time to make dinner.

Notes while making the soup:

When I was making the soup I didn't have time to let it cook for 40 more minutes, so I blended it right after I added the tomatoes, and then simmered it while we where eating. I also think to make this soup a little less rich you could add 1 T of butter and olive oil instead of 2.

Roasted Tomato Soup

3 lbs tomatoes

1/4 C olive oil--(this part I didn't measure I just tossed the tomatoes in olive oil)

1 T kosher salt-- (this part I didn't measure either again I just salted and peppered the tomatoes)

1 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper " "

2 cups chopped yellow onion

6 garlic cloves

2 T butter (you could use more olive oil if you like) ( I think you could easily do 1 T of olive oil and butter)

2T olive oil

1/4 tsp red pepper

1 28 oz can of tomatoes with juice

4 C fresh basil ( I only had two)

1 tsp fresh thyme

1 qt chicken stock (vegetable stock would work as well)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Toss the tomatoes in the olive oil, salt, and pepper.

3. Spread on a cookie sheet in one layer not overlapping and roast for 45 minutes.

4. While the tomatoes are roasting, add 2 T olive oil, and the butter to a large stock pot.

5. Melt the butter over medium heat.

6. Once the butter is melted add the onions, garlic, and red pepper to the pot, cook until the onions turn a light brown.

7. Add the canned tomatoes, basil, thyme, and chicken stock.

8. Add the oven roasted tomatoes including the juices on the cookie sheet.

9. Bring to a boil and simmer for 40 minutes.

10. When it is done cooking, blend in batches so that the soup is still chunky but more smooth. I just pulsed mine in the blender instead of blending it all the way.

11. Season to taste, and ENJOY..

This soup freezes well, so as long as you are going to spend the time making it, it makes sense to double it and freeze some for later.

Whole Grain Cinnamon Banana Cake with Gluten Free Version

Wow. These little cakes are really tasty. Shocking enough they have NO oil or butter in them, making them a lot better for you than most cakes. Trust me they don't need it, the bananas in the cupcakes make them really moist, and more then make up for the lack of fat. Along with being "healthyish" they taste really good.

I made the cake for Isaiah's second birthday party. It was adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod's recipe. I mainly just changed the flour to be whole grain flour, and the sweetener to be turbindao sugar instead of refined sugar. In the future I will experiment with agave in this recipe. You can see that the cake in the pictures is frosted, but the cake doesn't need frosting. Since it was a birthday cake I wanted to decorate it, so I frosted it with a light whip cream frosting. If you do end up frosting the cake, omit the topping.

My next project with this recipe is to make it with agave. Truthfully I am still out of it. I ran out of it making the raspberry jam, and being pregnant and tired, didn't make the effort to go get it. You will be happy to know I have picked up a gallon FINALLY.

Banana Cinnamon Cake

3 ripe bannanas mashed

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 C turbinado sugar or raw sugar

1 3/4 C whole grain flour blend**( equal parts, spelt, brown rice, and barley)

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 C cinnamon chips*

Topping:

3 T turbinado sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1. Mash the bananans well with a fork in a big bowl.

2.Add in the vanilla and both of the eggs. Stir the mixture until the eggs are fully incoporated.

3. Add in the flour, baking soda, turbinado, and cinnamon. Carefully mix all of the ingredients together.

4. In a seperate bowl add 3/4 C of the cinnamon chips, reserving the rest for the topping. Toss them with 2 T whole grain flour. This helps them so they don't all sink to the bottom and are evenly dispersed throughout the batter.

5. Fold in the cinnamon chips.

6.Pour batter into baking dish. Top with the cinnamon sugar mixture and remaining cinnamon chips. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

* I found the cinnamon chips at Harmon's

To make this completely gluten free:

Sub out the whole grain flour mix, (which is a mix that is low in gluten, I have found that I am able to tolerate it, in small amounts) and add

1/2 C almond flour

1/2 C sorghum flour

1/4 C tapioca

1/4 C cornstarch

1 scant teaspoon xantham gum

Dinner in 20 Minutes, Fresh Mozzarella and Heirloom Tomato Pizza

This meal is a life saver on a busy day, margherita pizza, with garden tomatoes, and fresh mozzerella. It is quick, easy, and everyone loves it. The secret to making this dinner so fast and easy is buying the pizza crust at California Pizza Kitchen. They sell their dough already rolled out for you for ONE DOLLAR. They are smaller pizzas so I normally buy two. In fact I actually just bought six last time and froze the extras for when I need to take a meal to someone, or for a quick weeknight dinner. I always buy the whole wheat multi grain dough, they have wheat or white, because the dough is still light and better for you. Making your own pizza dough would be even better for you, but this is one of those meals in a pinch.

It is hard to tell from these pictures what is on this pizza. What you are looking at is yellow and red hierloom tomatoes from Jacobs Cove Farm, which is an amazing place, they grow so many different varieties of organic tomatoes.

Here is what the crust comes like, already rolled out for you, and ready to go.

Fresh Tomato and Mozzerella Pizza

Caifornia Pizza Kitchen Multigrain dough

Red Sauce

Fresh Mozzerella

Garden Tomatoes

Fresh Basil

Parmesan

1. Spread the sauce on, then top with thinly sliced cheese, and next the tomatoes.

2. Sprinkle on chopped basil, salt and pepper, and a little parmesan on top.

3. I baked mine in a 400 degree oven on a pizza stone for about 15 minutes.

To Make This Gluten Free

I top a portobella mushroom with sauce, toppings, and cheese wrap it in tinfoil and bake it at the same temperature until the mushroom is soft. Then take off the tinfoil and broil the mushroom to melt the cheese.

Or take your favorite gluten free pizza dough and follow the directions above

The Best Light Corn Chowder

This soup hit home, after a VERY long day. The day started off on a bad foot when Isaiah pooped in the tub. I don't know if you have ever had a child poop in the tub, sorry very unappetizing when talking about food, but it was one of those moments that you look around wishing someone else was the mom to step in. The rest of the day included a really fun tantrum at the grocery store and a few meltdowns, on both ends. I wish I could say I never loose my cool, but there are moments, I have to remind myself that I am the mom, when I would love to throw my own tantrum. What does this have to do with soup?? Lets just say food has more than one purpose, than just to stave off hunger pangs. Food can be incredibly comforting and a good pick me up. This soup hit home. It is so creamy, while being surprisingly light for the normal chowder recipes that calls for 2 c heavy cream and a half a pound of bacon. It only calls for a cup of half and half, and one piece of bacon, which I just got in the meat section, instead of buying a whole pack of bacon for one piece. Scottie's response after trying it was, "did you write down the recipe". Often times I can't remember how I got to the end result. Luckily I wrote it down. He loved it, and so did my in laws who came for dinner.

The Best Light Corn Chowder

adapted from Cooks Illustrated

10 ears of fresh corn

1 piece of bacon (optional)

1 large onion

2 cloves of garlic

3 T flour, I used a gluten free flour blend

3 C chicken broth

4 medium red potatoes (scrubbed and cut in 1/4 inch pieces)

1 bay leave

1 tsp minced fresh thyme, or 1/4 tsp dry

1/2 C milk*

1 C half and half*

2 T parsley

1 pinch of sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Cut all of the corn off the cob and reserve about 4 ears of it.

2. Cook the piece of bacon until crisp.

3. Add the onion and a 1/2 tsp salt. Cover and cook in the oil, until the onion is soft 8-10 minutes.

4. Once the onion is cooked through, add the minced garlic, cook until fragrant ( about 30 seconds).

5. Add the flour and stir constantly for 2 minutes.

6. Whisk in the chicken broth.

7.Stir in the half and half, thyme, potatoes, 3/4's of the corn, bay leaf, and milk.

5. Bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer for10 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

6. Take out half of the mixture and blend it, then stir it back into the soup.

6. Stir in reserved corn kernels and cook until they are tender yet still a little firm, about 5 minutes.

7. Discard bay leaf, take off of stove and season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in chopped parsley.

*Note: I used rice dream instead of milk, because that is what we normally drink. It gave it a slightly sweet flavor that I liked. Rice milk is thinner than 2% milk so I had to compensate and add a cup of half and half. If you use 2% milk you could reduce the half and half to a 1/2 C ,and add a 1C of milk instead.

Whole Grain Banana Pancakes

(Picture taken from Our Best Bites)

Lets just say you will missing out if you don't make these. These are probably the best pancakes I have had. I made extra of these to freeze some, and not one made it to the freezer. Everyone that walked through the kitchen couldn't help grab one and dip it in the peanut butter syrup. Don't skip the peanut butter syrup it makes these pancakes. The whole grain flour blend makes these light and fluffy, but if you don't have a grinder to make the whole grain flour, try white wheat flour. They might be a little heavier with wheat flour.

Whole Grain Banana Pancakes with Peanut Butter Maple Syrup

adapted from Our Best Bites

1 3/4 C whole grain flour (equal parts spelt, brown rice, and barley)

3 T sucanat ( a natural sugar, or try your sweetener of choice)

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 C low fat buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

1 T melted coconut oil

1 large egg

2 medium small bananas

1. Combine flours, sucanat, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl.

2. In a separate bowl combine the liquid ingredients; buttermilk, vanilla, egg, and melted coconut oil.

3. Add the wet ingredients into the dry mix and mix until just combined. Don't over mix. You should still see small streaks of flour in the batter.

4. Place bananas in a separate bowl and roughly mash with a fork. Fold into batter.

5. Cook on a cast iron skillet, or a hot griddle. This batter is a little thicker so would drop a 1/4 cup on the skillet and then smooth them out. Flip one bubbles appear and pop.

Note: In the original recipe she adds chocolate chips, personally I think they are plenty sweet without, but if you are feeling really decadent go for it.

Syrup:

1 C real maple syrup (not the aunt jemima stuff)

1/2 C peanut butter

Melt the two together over the stove until incorporated. Pour over pancakes and ENJOY!