La Yummy. . .Classic Tomato Soup

    

I'm so excited about this week's

Free Recipe Friday
I just don't know where to start!
Might I just mention the very name,
La Madeleine's for a hint???

Nothing signifies the start of summer
more than veggies from a garden.
Specifically, tomatoes and cucumbers.

Our focus for this week is tomatoes.
I cannot say enough how much I love them.
I mean, I really really love them.
Grape, plum, cherry,
heirloom, any homegrown
varieties will work nicely, thank you.
Add some salt/pepper and eat 'em up.
If I'm needing more of a meal,
(instead of a snack or side dish)
I make a Tomato Sandwich.
THE best of summer!


For THIS week's Free Recipe Friday
you can use up some of those
homegrown tomatoes that are covering
your window sills and countertops
OR
you can use canned whole ones.
This classic Tomato Soup will
hardly know the difference and
STILL be amaaaaazing!

We used to make a pretty close version
of this soup back in The Tuttle House days.
In fact, it was almost exactly the same
minus that stick of butter
and the chicken stock.
Those two ingredients really give it a
richness that is so in keeping with
the rest of La Madeleine's menu!
The recipe below is the official
copy cat recipe of
La Madeleine's Tomato Basil Soup.
Oh. My. Word. I love that place.
Everything they offer is so yummy.
Try making this at home.
It's so easy and scrumptious
you'll never eat it out of a can again.


WHAT YOU NEED:

- 4 cups fresh tomatoes (about 8-10) 
cored, peeled, and chopped
or canned whole tomatoes
- 4 cups tomato juice (from the canned tomatoes)
(or half tomato/half chicken stock)
- 12-14 fresh basil leaves
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 lb sweet unsalted butter (1 stick)
- salt to taste (this will depend on your chicken stock)
- 1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper

WHAT TO DO:

Combine tomatoes, juice/and or stock in saucepan.
Simmer 30 minutes.

In the meantime, roll up your basil leaves

and give them a good chopping.

Puree, your simmered tomatoes
along with the basil leaves,
in small batches, in blender, processor
(or better yet, a hand-held food blender,
right in the pan - amazing).

Return all to the saucepan and
add cream and butter,
while stirring over low heat.


Garnish with basil leaves and
serve with your favorite bread,
salad, crackers or some Fried Goat Cheese!

I hope you'll try this 'taste of summer.'
It is so incredibly fresh and yummy,
easy and impressive.
You can easily buy fresh basil
in the produce section of your grocery store
and you probably have a few cans of tomatoes
in your cabinet already - so no excuses!

ENJOY!

Say Hello to Soup!

Welcome back to Free Recipe Friday!
This week we dive into some soup.  Easy schmeezy soup.
Soup is one of the easiest things you can make – even if you
don’t think you can cook.  You can do it!
It’s also one of those recipes where a few ingredients usually makes A LOT!

This soup is similar to another of our favs, Beef Stew…
better known as Irish Beef Stew.
(Posted on Free Recipe Friday in November, 2011)
The main difference between the two is
the meat and the broth.
Beef Veggie Soup has a clear broth and the stew has a gravy type broth.
For the soup we use hamburger meat,
for the stew, typically round steak.
We tend to eat the veggie soup throughout the year
and the stew, either when camping or in the cold and dreary months.
In Texas, that could mean anytime of the year!

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

non-stick spray

1 lb. ground beef

1 small, whole onion, diced

appx. 3 teaspoons minced garlic

1  16oz. pkg. frozen mixed vegetables

3-4 medium/large potatoes
(russet or red, your choice)

Beef broth – appx. 7-8 cups
(or 1 tablespoon of Better than Bouillon plus same amount of water)

Salt/pepper/garlic powder

Heavy stockpot

Water

(You could even add a can of diced tomatoes if you'd like
sometimes we do, most times we don't.)

WHAT TO DO:

Place your heavy stockpot on medium heat
and give it a good dousing of veggie spray. 
Next, dump in your diced onion,
minced garlic and hamburger meat, stir.

Add salt, pepper and garlic powder and
cook until onions are clear and beef is cooked through.
Stirring frequently.
If you have used a fairly good quality of ground beef,
 you can skip the draining step.  If not, drain the cooked meat
into a colander that you have placed in your sink.
Immediately place meat back into stockpot and return to the stove.

On a little aside, turn your faucet on hot water,
squeeze a drop or two of dish soap into your sink
 and let it run through your drain for a couple of minutes.
 This will keep you from having a clogged drain later!

Now on to the soup, add your beef broth to your meat mixture
along with your diced potatoes.  Stir to combine and bring to a boil.

Next, add your frozen veggies into the pot.
Bring back to a good boil.  Turn heat down a bit
and let the soup slowly boil until the potatoes are fork tender.
Approximately 15-20 minutes.  Turn the soup down to simmer.
Check for seasonings.  You will need to add a
teaspoon or more of salt and pepper at this point, I promise.
Depending on the salt content in your beef broth,
you may not need to add much salt though. 
That’s why it is important to taste while on the stove
and remember, it takes less salt on the stove
  than it does if you wait until it gets to the table.

Be aware that if you look on the ingredients list of your broth package
and salt is listed as the first ingredient, your product is mostly salt.
Bouillon paste (not cubes) is the way to go! I love these!
I’ve blogged about them before.  They are readily available on the soup aisle.
They have many other flavors depending on where you shop….
chicken, ham, even tomato!
They are very handy to have, keep for a very long time in your fridge
and add a great richness to
all of your soup recipes, beef tips, dumplings, etc.

Now, serve up your soup with some yummy
sweet cornbread, fried cornbread or Mexican cornbread…
crackers if you must.
We like a little cubed sharp cheddar to eat along with ours as well.
Mmmmmmm!

ENJOY!!!

Free Recipe Friday....SOUP!

Are you like me....is going to the grocery store

one of your 'leastest' favorite things to do in the whole world?!??

Then today's Free Recipe Friday is just for YOU!

It's one of those

'my pantry is empty so what can I make' kind of meals.  

It is so very easy and the ingredients can be 

as basic or complex as you want them to be.

Have a few potatoes hanging around from that big ol' bag you bought?

Have an almost empty jug of milk about to go bad? 

(THAT sounds scary, but we've ALL been there!)

Then you should make some yummy Potato Soup!!!!!!!!!!

Potato Soup can be as basic or as fancy as you want it to be.

It can be 'Rustic' or more like a 'Loaded Baked Potato' kind of soup...

it all depends on you, your pantry and your fridge!

Our Free Recipe Friday Potato Soup

is of the loaded type...OF course....

because we love pork and dairy!

But the addition of bacon or sausage and cheese

can easily be omitted!  Easily!

INGREDIENTS:

- 6-8 bacon strips, diced OR

1/2 lb. bulk pork sausage

- 1 medium onion, chopped

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

- 2 teaspoons salt (or more, to taste)

- 1 teaspoon pepper (or more, to taste)

- 6 cups chicken broth (canned, low salt OR 

chicken base, paste with water added)

- 4 large baked potatoes, washed and cubed
(peeling them is also optional)

*side note: feel free to substitute YOUR fav potatoes

such as yukon gold, or red potatoes - just be aware

these are less starchy and the soup will not be as thick)

- 2 cups half-and-half cream or milk 

- appx. 2 cups cubed Velveeta
(this stuff gags me, but is great for soups!) 

Items for garnishing:
Shredded Cheddar, Sour Cream, Green Onions/Chives

In a heavy medium size stockpot,
pour in your chicken broth and diced potatoes.
Bring to a boil until potatoes are just barely tender.
While those are cooking, in a seperate saucepan, 

cook bacon or pork sausage until crisp. 

Drain, reserving several tablespoons of the drippings. 

Set bacon/sausage aside. 

Saute onion and garlic in the drippings until tender. 

Stir in flour, salt and pepper; mix well. 

Gradually add a cup or two of the broth out of your potato pot
into your onion/bacon/flour mixture.
Whisk until smooth.  Now pour bacon/sausage mixture from your saucepan
into your stockpot with broth and potatoes.
Stir for several minutes. Turn down to low.

After mixture has stopped boiling and is down to a simmer,
add cubed velveeta.
Continue to stir.  Add cream...heat through but do not boil.
Check for seasoning (salt/pepper).
Garnish with bacon, cheese, sour cream, chopped green onions or chives.

Add a salad, crackers on the side....or don't add one single thing.
It's that good!
And if you used remnants from your pantry and fridge, it cost you pennies!
Well, maybe a few dollars.
BUT, you didn't have to go to the store! Yippeeeeee!

Free Recipe Friday. . . Mas Queso!

Many years ago, I came across an amazing website.
On this site, much research is done to remake
restaurant favs like Domino's Pizza,
Little Debbie's Snacks, Dippin' Dots,
Outback's 'brown bread' and
bloomin' onion and bazillions more.
The catch is that you can recreate these
in your very own kitchen!
With ingredients purchased in your local grocery store!

The guy we can thank for this is Todd Wilbur - an amazing Food Hacker
and he has a website, books, etc. - Top Secret Recipes !

He has most recently even had his own television show
- and boy, is he gutsy!

Our Free Recipe Friday THIS week features
one of his most dandiest discoveries ever in my book.
A staple in the Taylor household, it is

Chili's Chicken Enchilada Soup recipe...mmmm.

I actually discovered this recipe on TSR's site,
way before I had ever tasted this soup in a Chili's restaurant.

And I must say, the home version is way better...
or at least that is what we were used to!

This soup is SO delicious and perfect for this cold, dreary weather,

I really hope you get to try it soon.

Here's the basics of what you will need...

1.  Chicken - preferably boneless, skinless breasts

2.  Chopped onion

3.  Large can of enchilada sauce

4.  Chicken broth (or 1 tablespoon paste w/ water)

5.  Velveeta/cheddar cheese

6.  Masa Harina

THE OFFICIAL RECIPE

(if you measure)

1 tablespoon veg. oil

3-4 boneless chicken breasts

1 small diced onion

2 teaspoons chopped garlic (give or take)

4 cups chicken broth

1 cup masa harina

3 cups water

1 can mild enchilada sauce

16 oz. velveeta - cubed

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

grated cheddar cheese, crumbled tortilla chips

and sour cream for garnish -

all are optional of course!

What to do:

Start by *cooking your chicken. (see below)

Pan fry it in the veg. oil, in a large stockpot,

4-5 minutes on each side.

Set cooked chicken aside. Cook onion/garlic

in the hot oil until clear and then pour in chicken broth...

scraping yummy bits off the bottom of the pot.

In a separate bowl, combine masa harina with

2 cups of the water. Stir to combine and pour into the pot.

Add remaining water, enchilada sauce, velveeta cheese and spices.

Bring to a boil.  Shred chicken into bite size pieces

and add to the pot.  Reduce heat and simmer until thick.

Serve soup in bowl and garnish.

DEEElicious!

*You can also boil your chicken in chicken broth,

then remove it to chop up - bake the chicken

and then chop or pan fry it as the recipe suggests.

Pan frying or even baking the chicken

and giving it a golden color will DEFINITELY

add more flavor to it vs. it being boiled. 

But the ease of this recipe is that you

should do whatever is best and easiest for YOU.

You could even use a rotisserie chicken!

Now, "how easy is THAT?"

- in my Barefoot Contessa voice!