Rosemary Garlic Butter

I found this idea over at Feed Yourself, bookmarked it & promptly forgot all about it.

Until this morning. I was sifting through my bookmarks & came across this & thought, 'yeah i could totally do that right now!'.

So i did. And it came out great! Two thumbs up from my husband. We're both big fans of rosemary, so pretty much anything involving rosemary will be a hit in our household.

The best thing about this, is that it's so unbelievably easy and versatile and yet so incredibly good.

Here's what I used:

1 stick of earth balance left out to soften
a bunch of rosemary, minced
some garlic poweder
a pinch of kosher salt (yes, i DO put it in just about everything)

mix all the ingredients in a bowl

Then spread into the shape you want onto a sheet of waxed paper & wrap.
Place in the fridge until it's solid again
Then spread on toast & enjoy

As you can see, the toast didn't last long enough for me to get the picture. My husband attacked it before I could grab my camera.

In his words "That butter is the bomb!"

ie: it's very good.

Righteous Tomato Soup

I was inspired by Pink Peppercorns tomato soup a week back and have been toying with the idea of it ever since.

Then one day I went to grocery store & the clerk accidentally rang up 2 cans of diced tomatoes that belonged to the person behind me. I didn't notice until I got home & figured this was some sort of sign to go ahead and try the tomato soup.

I dug around online to find a recipe that included all of the ingredients I had in mind and came across this little beauty from The CD Kitchen.

And let me tell you

This soup is the bomb diggity! I'm in love & it's my new favorite, and best soup I've made yet. hands down! It's definitely in the OHMYGOD THIS IS SO GOOD!! category.

I make all my soups in my crock pot because I'm busy & have a very short attention span. So it's better for me to make soup slowly when I don't have to constantly keep watch on it. So I could smell this one cooking all day & I could barely stand it! As soon as it was done, I poured my self a big bowl & dug in.

And I ate every last drop. It was *that* good. Seriously.

So here's what you'll need:

1 stick of unsalted butter
1 medium onion, diced
2 stalks of celery chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons unbleached whole wheat flour
4 cups vegetable stock
2 cans (14.5 oz size) tomatos
1 can of tomato paste
1/4 tsp of dried red pepper
2 bay leaves
fresh orgeno to taste
2 teaspoons of fresh basil
¼ cup of soy milk (totally optional. i usually leave it out entirely & don't notice a difference)
1/2 tsp of lime juice
kosher salt & cracked black pepper to taste

Put the crock pot on the "High" setting.
1. cut the butter into pats & place in the crock pot on to melt
2. While it's melting, chop up the onion, garlic & celery & add them to the pot.
3. Stir well & to coat the veggies with the butter
4. While they are simmering, chop of the fresh Oregeno & Sage and add to the pot.

This was the first time I've used fresh oregeno & it was wonderful.

5. Stir all ingredients well and add the red pepper, kosher salt & black pepper to taste.
6. Still well & cover pot. Switch the crock pot setting to "Low" and allow to simmer for 15 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.

At this point, the mix already smelled so good I was practically drooling. I was very seriously considering eating this as is. Maybe over pasta or on bread. It smelled that good.


It should look something like this. All veggies should be coated in the butter and simmering .

7. Add the flour and stir well
8. Stir in the canned tomatoes
9. Stir in the can of tomato paste, and you'll have a nice happy mixture like this.
10. Add the vegetable stock and lime juice. Stir well and place lid back on pot.
11. Leave this to cook for about 4 hours, stirring occasionally.
12. Put the soup in a blender until it comes out with a creamy consistency.
13. Pour in the soy cream and stir well.
14. Serve and devour!
I put some of this in containers in my freezer for work. But I also set some aside in my fridge because I know I'm going to want another bowl tomorrow.

Or maybe even later tonight...

Smashed Potatoes

This is one of my husbands favorite things to eat ever. ever. ever. ever. Like my daughter, he has 'texture issues'. He eats foods based on texture first, taste second. I think he's tactile defensive. So a lot of the cooking I do for my fam is done with texture in mind.

And this little recipe has it all for him. Four stars for texture & four for taste as well.

I ran across this at The Pioneer Woman and thought 'ah-ha! yes! Never will love this!' and I was right! It's ingenious, really. Back in the day, when Never still ate meat, I made chicken thighs dang near exactly like this & he loved those. So when I saw the same thing done, but vegetarian style I was psyched.

I'm awfully fond of these too, so I usually make it every weekend. And I cannot tell you how amazingly wonderful they are. You're just going to have to experience them for your self.

Ingredients:

Red Potatoes
A lot of olive oil
Garlic Powder
Fresh Rosemary
Kosher Salt. (regular salt will NOT do)
Cracked Black Pepper

And as an added bonus, they're really easy.

1. Boil red potatoes until the are soft. Drain them.

2. While they are boiling, you'll want to prepare the pan. In a large baking dish/cookie sheet / caserolle dish / whathaveyou / whatever you use line with aluminum foil. With a pastry brush, coat the foil with a healthy layer of olive oil. This is so that when you put the potatoes down on them, they won't stick to the pan after they've been cooked. After they're done cooking place them on the prepared pan.

3. Using a masher or slotted spoon of preference, slightly squash down the tops of the potatoes so they split like above. It usually takes two smashing per potato to get them just right. Then let them cool. While they are cooling, chop up enough fresh rosemary to cover the amount of potatoes you cooked.

4. After the potatoes have cooled, use the pastry brush and liberally coat each potato with olive oil. Then sprinkle with garlic powder, then the kosher salt, the pepper and rosemary to taste.

Personally, I love all of these things so I lay it on thick.

5. Bake in the oven at 450 until golden and crispy. Usually about 20-40 mins depending upon your oven & the size of the potatoes.

And Voila
For non-vegetarians, I suppose this would be a side dish, but for my household, it's the main course and they usually don't last long enough to get cold.

Enjoy!

Butternut Squash & Thyme

This is a recipe I found at Kaylins Kitchen & loved! Her recipe calls for parmesan cheese, but when I make it, I sprinkle it with Kosher salt instead. I've been making this every week for a couple of months now, and I'm still not tired of it!

Ingredients:

2 whole & peeled halves of butternut squash
3 Tbs of olive oil
3 Tbs of lemon juice
2 Tbs of Thyme

Preheat the oven to 350

In a separate bowl, mix the olive oil, lemon juice & thyme. let it sit & marinate while you chop the squash into bite sized chunks.

After the squash is chopped, pour the mixture over it and stir well until it's completely coated the squash.


Spray a non-stick baking dish with olive oil & pour in the squash. Sprinkle the top with Kosher salt to taste.

Place in oven & cook for about an hour, or until the squash is tender

Remove from oven & serve.

For the original recipe, please visit Kaylin's Kitchen

I really love cooking with herbs, but I had never used Thyme before this. So I did a little research on Wikipedia and this is what it had to say about how the herb has been used historically :

"Ancient Egyptians used thyme in embalming. The ancient Greeks used it in their baths and burnt it as incense in their temples, believing that thyme was a source of courage. It was thought that the spread of thyme throughout Europe was thanks to the Romans, as they used it to purify their rooms and to "give an aromatic flavour to cheese and liqueurs".^[1]. In the European Middle Ages, the herb was placed beneath pillows to aid sleep and ward off nightmares.^[2] In this period, women would also often give knights and warriors gifts that included thyme leaves as it was believed to bring courage to the bearer. Thyme was also used as incense and placed on coffins during funerals as it was supposed to assure passage into the next life."

also

"Thyme is a good source of iron and is used widely in cooking. Thyme is a basic ingredient in French, Greek, Italian, Lebanese, Persian, Portuguese, Spanish, Syrian, and Turkish cuisines, and in those derived from them. It is also widely used in Arab and Caribbean cuisines.

Thyme is often used to flavour meats, soups and stews. It has a particular affinity to and is often used as a primary flavour with lamb, tomatoes and eggs."

And all this time, I had no idea! It has an interesting aroma that, to me anyway, improves with cooking. So I've defintiely been encouraged to use it more in my cooking.

Unfortunately, my husband doesn't like cooked vegetables (he only eats them raw) and my daughter doesn't like anything with herbs on it. So this is something I pretty much make for myself. Since it makes quite a bit, I bring it to work & share it with my friend Nancy. But it's not expensive to make, it makes enough to last for several meals, and it reheats well.

enjoy!