Aunt Sunny's Tomato Soup

This soup is something I crave and make often... especially when the weather starts to turn cool. I first tasted it about 5 years ago when my awesome Aunt Sunny made it. Rumor is, My Uncle Hardy (Sunny's hubby) ate at a restaurant in New York and loved the soup so much that he asked for the recipe and they gave it! I'm not sure what restaurant it was, so I've always called this "Aunt Sunny's Tomato Soup".


It's different than any other tomato soup that I've tried. It's creamier and has just a hint of sweetness to it. It's difficult to describe the taste suffice it to say that I LOVE this soup. Yes, if soup could be a spouse, I would marry this one. In addition to the absolute deliciousness of it, I love it because it is a simple and quick dish that I can throw together and serve in as little as 15 minutes. I recommend serving with a grilled cheese sandwich or an artisan bread. YUM!

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 medium onion (diced)
2 Tbsp. butter
2 cans diced tomatoes (each can is 14 1/2 oz)
2 cans tomato soup (I prefer Campbell's)
1 1/2 C. milk
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 8 oz. package of cream cheese

Saute the onions in the butter. While onions are sauteing, take 1 can of tomato soup and the cream cheese and blend until smooth (I like to use a blender). Add both cans of diced tomatoes to sauteing onions and boil. Stir in other can of soup, herbs, and cream cheese/soup mixture, and bring to a slow boil. Lower heat and add milk. Simmer until hot (DO NOT BOIL). Enjoy :).

Dark Chocolate & Orange Cookies

It's been a while since I've baked anything for Sweet and Simple Bakes. Since last January, actually, when I made two batches of Christmas Morning Muffins without managing to learn anything at all about converting ingredients from metric measurements to whatever we call "cups." Even though I discovered an excellent measurement conversion website, I still just don't get it. For example, the conversion that I calculated for sugar turned out to be 7/8 cup. In addition to being an "odd" measurement, I thought that was a lot of sugar for this recipe, so I rounded down to 3/4 cup...

So this might be an adventure.

Here is the original recipe for White Chocolate & Orange Cookies. I thought about using white chocolate chips, but then I thought about how unfair it would be to Number One, to finally bake some cookies, except that he can't stand white chocolate Anything. I decided to go with chocolate chips instead, and while at the grocery store I ran across some Extra Dark Chocolate Chips from Guittard's. Extra Dark Chocolate complements Orange perfectly. And here we go!

After I zested the orange, I chopped the long strips up a bit so they wouldn't hang out of the cookies. Orange zest smells so good! After it was combined with the butter and vanilla, the mixing bowl smelled like a Creamsicle! Very encouraging! I'm not a "sifter" so I just threw the dry ingredients in the bowl after the zest and mixed everything up.

Good news! The cookie dough looked like cookie dough! It tasted amazing, you could eat it with a spoon if you were so inclined. I rolled the cookies into balls and flattened slightly, as directed. I tasted the first cookie just seconds out of the oven, and it was begging me for some pecans. So I quickly chopped up some pecans and tossed them in with the rest of the dough. Now the rest of the dough is as happy as I am. Incidentally, you do have to flatten the dough balls or they just sort of stay ball-shaped. Trust me, I tried it.

Although my cookies don't look like they flattened out as much as the originals, these little gems are cute and round and have the just right ratio of orange to chocolate to pecans. Somehow I don't think white chocolate would have tasted anywhere near this good.

To see all the other participants' cookies, go to Sweet and Simple Bakes.


Dark Chocolate & Orange Cookies

Makes 2 dozen

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

Grated zest of 1 orange

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cup plain flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1/2 pound chocolate chips (white or milk or dark chocolate)
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F

Beat the butter and sugar. Add the egg, orange zest and vanilla extract.

Sift together the dry ingredients. Stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until combined; stir in chocolate chips.

Roll into balls. Use your fingers to flatten onto a non-stick baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool for five minutes and transfer to a cooling rack.

When cool, store in an airtight container for up to four to five days.

Chocolate Chile Truffles

We love truffles, and I thought of making our regular chocolate truffles as a dessert selection for our Housewarming Extravaganza, until I remembered this recipe. It was intriguing with its addition of chile powder to the chocolate, and I knew it would be just perfect for our party.

I had checked the book, Mexicocina: The Spirit and Style of the Mexican Kitchen, out from the library when we were working on our house. I discovered the recipes inside as I was on my way to town to return it, and snapped some digital photos of each recipe! Lucky me.

After a fruitless search for the right chile powder, I finally had to order Ground Ancho Chile Pepper from amazon, because I definitely did not want the spice to overpower the chocolate. I ended up actually buying the wrong chocolate for the truffles, unsweetened instead of bittersweet (who knew bittersweet would be so hard to find?), so I dumped in about 1/2 cup of sugar. I could have added more sugar, and next time I will use the right chocolate.

But our guests couldn't even tell the difference! They loved the truffles, and many of them had fun guessing the ingredients. Some initially thought cinnamon, then the cayenne pepper guess came later. The heat accumulates as you eat more of these truffles, and sneaks up on you too. Deliciously fun!

The original recipe microwaves the chocolate and cream right away, but I decided that reheating the cream a bit after adding the chile powder would cut down on the need for microwaving, and I was right. I guess I just have an issue with microwaves.


Chocolate Chile Truffles
Chocolate and chile have been eaten in Mexico since pre-Hispanic times. Montezuma was said to have imbibed copious amounts of a bitter spicy beverage each day. This wonderful recipe by Lisa Gahafer combines those two flavors again, this time in chocolate truffles with the unexpected flavor of ancho chile. At first bight the chocolate reigns, but slowly the heat from the chiles begins to open on your palate, and the combination of hot, sweet, and chocolate is divine.

The are best made at least a day ahead to give the flavors time to ripen. You can double or triple the recipe and store the truffles, coated in cocoa, in the freezer for up to one month.

1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3 to 4 tablespoons ancho chile powder
1 pound bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup unsweetened cocoa

Bring cream and butter to simmer over medium heat. Stir in chile powder. Remove from heat, let steep several minutes.

Place chocolate in microwaveable bowl. Gently reheat cream mixture, pour over chocolate and let sit. Stir chocolate. If needed, microwave at 50% for 2 minutes, then stir until chocolate is all melted. If needed, continue to microwave at 50% for 30 second increments until melted and well-blended. Stir to combine, chill, covered, for 2 hours.

Housewarming Extravaganza~Virtual Roundup!

It's a good thing we made so much real food for our Housewarming Extravaganza, because although we had several virtual guests on facebook and online, only one person brought food!

Steph of a whisk & a spoon is so sweet and thoughtful, she went all out to make our party special. Her Southwestern-Style Garlic Shrimp Tapas were so delicious, a definite favorite at our party. She also brought some guacamole with spicy toasted squash seeds and oven baked tortilla chips--YUM!

Photo courtesy of steph

Thanks, Steph! We're glad you could celebrate with us!

Here is her recipe if you'd like to make some shrimp for yourself. I know I'm going to!

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

Chaya's Recipes

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies
Makes 16

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted margarine

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate in squares

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups solid-pack pumpkin

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray with cooking oil, a 9-inch square baking pan or dish. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper. Spray with additional cooking oil.

Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl in a microwave, on low temperature, checking every 25 seconds. ( I used setting 2 out of 10)

Whisk together flour, baking powder, cayenne, and salt in a large bowl; set aside.

Put sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat until fluffy and well combined, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in flour mixture.

Divide batter between two medium bowls (about 2 cups per bowl). Stir chocolate mixture into one bowl. In other bowl, stir in pumpkin, oil, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Transfer half of chocolate batter to prepared pan smoothing top with a rubber spatula. Top with half of pumpkin batter. Repeat to make one more chocolate layer and one more pumpkin layer.
Work quickly so batters don't set.With a small spatula or a table knife, gently swirl the two batters to create a marbled effect.

Sprinkle with nuts. (I skipped this since everyone does not like nuts.

It does make it more attractive)

Bake until set, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into 16 squares.

Sweet and Savory Says it All - Chaya

Redd Ranches Famous BBQ Sauce

If you've never heard of the Redd Ranches Bull Sale, you are truly missing out. This is an annual event, I believe it was started by Number One's grandpa & grandma, Charlie & Annaley. The tradition has carried on, and the Bull Sale is now hosted by Redd Ranches (Uncle Paul & Aunt Diane's family). The sale is kicked off every year by the most delicious lunch ever, served to several hundred people.

Roast beef sandwiches with barbecue sauce, Grandma Annaley's Prairie Fire Beans, Cole Slaw, Cowboy Beans, Brownies, Lemonade. The whole family pitches in to make lunch, from Uncle Brian and crew getting the beef on the BBQ around 4AM, to all the cousins serving up the meal. The Bull Sale is known far and wide for its lunch, in addition to the quality of its bulls, and hundreds of people travel from all corners for the event.

After lunch, is the actual Bull Sale, a real live auction. It's simply a great time, and sort of like a family reunion all rolled into one day. Later, we usually stop at the old Ranch House and eat leftovers for dinner, play cards and visit with aunts, uncles and cousins.

For some pictures and more about the Bull Sale, read Left After The Cattleguard.

Here is the recipe for our favorite barbecue sauce. We are going to serve it up on BBQ Beef Brisket Sandwiches next week on branding day. I found these cool squeeze bottles, which will be handy for serving it in the corral. I bought two and told Number One he could have one squeeze bottle all to himself!

Barbecue Sauce

REDD RANCHES

makes 2 quarts

3 cups brown sugar

60 oz. catsup

1 1/2 cups vinegar

9 dashes Worcestershire sauce

2 TBL dry mustard

6 TBL chili powder

6 TBL celery seed

3 dashes tabasco sauce or cayenne pepper

3 dashes salt

6 cloves garlic, minced

3 TBL minced onion

Simmer 2 hours.

That's just how I got the recipe from Aunt Becky and Aunt Diane. Obviously you stir up the ingredients, simmer on low heat for those two hours, stirring occasionally. What I found out is that simmering barbecue sauce is sort of bubbly and messy, so if you have one of those wire mesh pot cover things, you might want to pull it out.

They say the sauce keeps well in jars in the fridge for several months (although it usually doesn't last that long!) You can and probably will eat it on anything, from beef to beans to bbq pizza.

Let us know how you use your BBQ sauce, and of course what you think of this one!

And now, I have a confession to make. I'm not sure exactly how this happened, but my first batch of bbq sauce was WAY TOO SPICY. I used the same measurement of chile powder, I really didn't think I used more than the recommended dashes of tabasco. The only thing that I can think of: I get my chile powder from the Mexican section of the grocery store, so it's REAL. Maybe Too Real. Number One tasted the sauce and said, "It tastes exactly the same, just spicier." Hmmm. So in an attempt to rectify this embarrassing situation (thank god I wasn't making this for the bull sale!), I bought another 30 ounces of ketchup and some more celery seed. I made another half batch as above, but I left out both the chile powder and the tabasco. I finished this mild sauce, then combined it with the spicy sauce. Now we got a lotta sauce! I'm going to wait until Number One gets home to give me his opinion, him being the Expert Sauce Taster that he is. I think it's pretty good, I'm just debating making yet ANOTHER half batch of mild sauce to tone it down even more. Too much? I guess we'll see.

That would give us 4 quarts of the stuff, in which case it may be a BBQ Thanksgiving AND guess what everyone is getting for Christmas! So. That's it. My name is Min, and I'm a spice-aholic.

Herbed Queso Fresco with Roasted Chiles

When I realized exactly how much of my day would be taken up driving H-Bomb back and forth to school, I started looking for Fast, Easy recipes in my cookbooks. I wasn't having much luck, so I broke down and ordered a few new ones. Among the gems was this: The Bon Appetit Cookbook: Fast Easy Fresh.

Although I haven't perused it enough to find any family dinner favorites yet, I was lucky to find this appetizer recipe. Bon Appetit makes this dish with goat cheese, which would be great, but I decided their alternate, queso fresco, would better fit in with the Southwestern theme of our Housewarming Extravaganza. Feel free to use either goat cheese or queso fresco, and let me know which you prefer!

The herbed queso fresco was definitely a hit! One guest even declared it was her favorite. I used Mexican oregano, which was a bit strong for my taste, but most of the other guests liked it and kept coming back for more. I'm glad it was popular, since I quadrupled the recipe!

**I just realized while typing this that I completely forgot the olive oil on top! I know I would have liked it better with the olive oil. Don't forget!!**

I used a fork to crumble the cheese in a large bowl. I mixed up the cheese, roasted the chiles and sliced the garlic the day before the party, then assembled it right before the party.


Herbed Queso Fresco with Roasted Chiles
4 servings The blackened chiles add a smoky flavor to this rustic dish. Also known as California chiles, Anaheims can be found at many supermarkets and at Latin markets.

3 large fresh Anaheim chiles

2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 5-ounce log soft, fresh goat cheese or 1/2 of a 12-ounce round queso fresco, crumbled
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 baguette, sliced, toasted

Char chiles over gas flame or in broiler until blackened on all sides. Enclose in paper bag; let stand 10 minutes. Peel and seed chiles, then cut into strips.

Blanch garlic in small saucepan of simmering water 3 minutes. Drain and cool. Chop 1 garlic clove, thinly slice remaining garlic. Mix cheese, cilantro, oregano, and chopped garlic in small bowl. Season mixture to taste with salt and pepper. Crumble cheese mixture onto plate or platter. Top with roasted chiles and sliced garlic.

Drizzle oil over chiles and cheese. Serve with toasted baguette slices.

Do Ahead: Can be made 1 day ahead. I refrigerated cheese separately from chiles and garlic. Cover and chill. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving. Top with roasted chiles, garlic and oil before serving.

Taste & Create XXIV: Gulab Jamun

Taste & Create is my favorite food event! Started by Nicole of For the Love of Food, T&C is a fun event in which participants are paired off and asked to create a recipe from their partner's blog.

The first time I was paired with Divya of Dil Se.. for Taste & Create was last October, so being paired with her again, exactly a year later, is great! Last year, I made Divya's Mushroom-Peas-Corn Pulao.

Searching through her recipes, it did not take me long to decide what to make: Gulab Jamun. Divya says that the name basically translates into "rose berries," which really doesn't tell you what they are. These are the little round balls of doughy goodness, sort of like small donut holes, but lighter and soaked in rose-flavored water. I'd had them once, at an all-you-can-eat Indian buffet with some co-workers at an out-of-town training. None of us knew what they were or what they were called, but you can bet we all had "all we could eat!"

These are something that I've been wanting to try...

Obviously I've never made these before, so I had to figure out what kova is...Divya said I could use powdered milk. Also, although her recipe didn't call for rose water, I distinctly remember the rose essence in these little treats, so I asked and she recommended 2 to 3 tablespoons rose water.

First, in calculating the powdered milk, I just got out my kitchen scale, looked for the 1/4 kg mark, which equals roughly 8 ounces. 8 ounces of powdered milk equals about 2 cups, and I was nervous about this; it seemed like a lot.

I poured milk in gradually, and ended up using almost 1 cup (which also seemed like a lot, but it just wasn't coming together). My dough ended up sticky (too much milk, not enough kneading?) and not very smooth, but I didn't know what else to do, so I just balled it up and let it rest under a towel. It really tasted pretty much like milky dough. I hoped for the best.

I think I let the dough "rest" for too long, and I didn't realize I was supposed to form the balls before resting... So the dough was sort of dry. I formed the balls and hoped for the best. And I really wished Divya were here to guide me through this...

As I got ready to make the sugar syrup, do you think I was able to find my precious jar of rose water? Nope. Just plain old sugar syrup for my dry, misshapen jamuns. Sigh. I only used 2 cups of sugar and water, because 3 cups seemed like a lot. *Note to self: should have used 3*

I got about 30 dumplings, and they are nowhere near as smooth or beautiful as Divya's:

Divya's Beauties, picture from her blog

But thankfully, although I'm sure they're the ugly ducklings in the gulab jamun world, and I probably made every mistake possible, they fried up well, nice and golden, (maybe a bit darker than golden) and the sugar syrup worked wonders!

Ugly Ducklings, my "gulab jamun"

Although mine turned out heavier and denser and somewhat doughier than I remember, I will definitely try these again, and hopefully Divya will come to my house and teach me.

Please? =)

Gulab Jamuns

For the dumplings

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour / maida
1 tablespoon Ghee/butter
1/4 kg Unsweetened kova (I used 8 ounces--about 2 1/2 cups--powdered milk)
1 pinch baking soda
Milk enough to make the dough

For the syrup

3 cups sugar
3 cups water
2 to 3 tablespoons rose water, optional
1 pinch ground cardamom

Add the ghee to the flour and rub in with fingers to form a crumbly mixture. Add the kova and baking soda. Sprinkle some milk just enough to knead into a soft smooth dough. The dough should have a very smooth texture. Roll into small golf ball-sized balls. Cover with a tea towel and allow to rest for some time.

Meanwhile prepare the sugar syrup. In a saucepan, add the sugar and water and bring it to a boil. Add the cardamom powder and rose water. Simmer until the syrup thickens.

In a heavy bottomed pot add oil to about 1 1/2 inches height. Keep the flame in low heat. Add the balls carefully and deep fry them in batches until they turn golden brown.This might take about 3 to 4 minutes. Drain the deep fried dumplings in paper towels. Drop them in the warm sugar syrup.

Leave aside for at least half an hour for the dumplings to get soaked in the syrup.

Jalapeño Bacon Cheese Ball

When I found this recipe on Fun Foods on a Budget, I knew it was a must for our Housewarming Extravaganza. I forgot about saving 3 jalapeños from our almost 200 Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeños for this recipe, so I ended up using 4 (because they're small) jalapeños from our garden~spicy!

I'm so glad we had some of this cheese ball left after the party, just for us. It was delicious!

Remember to make this 24 hours in advance to give the flavors time to develop.


Jalapeño Bacon Cheese Ball
2 8-oz. packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
6 slices bacon
2-3 jalapeños, seeded and finely diced
Salt, garlic powder, chili powder to taste
Something to roll the ball in (I used chopped walnuts)

Fry the bacon until crispy. Cool, crumble and add to cream cheese. Fry jalapeños in bacon grease until tender. Add to cream cheese and bacon. Add shredded cheese and seasonings. (I would guess I used about 1 teaspoon each, but you should start with 1/2 teaspoon each) Mix together until well blended.

Form into a loose ball, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and chill.

Once hardened, take it out and pat it into a more perfect ball shape. Don't handle it too much or it will soften and you'll have to chill it again. Pour chopped nuts (or coating of choice) onto a plate, and roll the cheese ball in them until fully coated. Wrap with plastic wrap. Chill until ready to serve (preferably overnight so the flavors have plenty of time to blend). Serve with crackers.

Cream of Broccoli Soup with Cheese

At long last, I tracked down a copy of my mom's easy, cheesy and delicious Cream of Broccoli soup recipe! I'm sure modifications could be made to use fresh broccoli rather than frozen, and if you're some kind of cheese snob, feel free to grate your own. I haven't tried using fresh broccoli, but when I do you'll be the first to hear about it. Sorry I don't remember how many servings this makes, but it will feed a family.

For now, this soup is simple and comforting, just perfect for crisp fall days.

Cream of Broccoli Soup with Cheese

1 medium onion, diced
1 large can chicken broth (I think mom means the really big ones, around 46 ounces?)
2 boxes frozen chopped broccoli
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
3 cups half and half

Cream Sauce: 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup flour

Cook onion and broccoli in broth until tender, about 20 minutes. Make Cream Sauce in separate pan--melt butter, blend in flour until smooth. Add Cream Sauce to broth and cook about 5 minutes to blend, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in cheese until blended and melted. Add half and half. Return to low heat and keep hot until serving.

Note: I haven't made this in a long time, although my mom made it at my brother's house a while back. I would probably saute the onions in some butter first until translucent, and if I was using fresh broccoli I would saute it with the onions. I'll report back next time I make this.