A splash of summer in the midst of winter :)

One thing I've discovered about gardening...
"Million Bells" cherry tomatoes pretty much live up to their name. There are SCADS of 'em! And since we (for some reason I am not exactly sure of, mind you I was about to give birth -- well, not literally RIGHT AWAY but within a short period of time and my mind was a little fuzzy :)...) purchased four of these delightful plants for our garden - or was it six, now I really can't remember that either! - we had A LOT of cherry tomatoes.


And note -- eating too many cherry tomatoes in one day is BAD for the system ;).
We've figured that out two years in a row!


So, what to do? Freeze 'em. Wash em up and freeze 'em whole. I found two recipes online that allows you to make homemade tomato soup from these delicious little morsels - and the best part is, no peeling of skins. Just cook 'em up, puree the whole lot and strain it if you don't like the seeds ;).

Garden Fresh Tomato Soup

Ingredients

• 4 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
• 1 slice onion
• 4 whole cloves
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons white sugar, or to taste

Directions

1. In a stockpot, over medium heat, combine the tomatoes, onion, cloves and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, and gently boil for about 20 minutes to blend all of the flavors. Remove from heat and run the mixture through a food mill into a large bowl, or pan. Discard any stuff left over in the food mill.
2. In the now empty stockpot, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour to make a roux, cooking until the roux is a medium brown. Gradually whisk in a bit of the tomato mixture, so that no lumps form, then stir in the rest. Season with sugar and salt, and adjust to taste.

Fresh Tomato Zucchini Soup

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium zucchini, cubed
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 8 large tomatoes, cored
• 1 small sweet onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh red chile pepper
• 1 (14 ounce) can vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon dried tarragon
• 2 teaspoons dried dill weed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir the zucchini and garlic in the skillet until lightly browned. Remove from heat, and set aside.
2. In a blender or food processor, puree the tomatoes, onion, and chile pepper, leaving a few small chunks.
3. In a large pot, mix the tomato puree and vegetable broth. Season with tarragon, dill, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and mix in the zucchini and garlic. Cover, and cook 45 minutes.

YUMMY! With fresh baked biscuits, these were fun recipes to try. 
A little reminder of summer and warm days to come :).

Of course I still have some carrots and beets that never made it into the house and are now a frozen lump in the garage, but there's always next year!

Baking 1-0-1...

I started this day like most others.
Carefully trying to ease my body out of bed :). Getting more and more pregnant every day (well, that's misguided. I've been 100% prego the whole time, but my belly is getting bigger, bigger BIGGER all the time!) this is becoming more of an olympic challenge. Especially when I need to step AROUND the sleeping sick child on our floor. Or need to move nimbly down the hall as to NOT DISTURB the toddler who is finally sleeping. Or when I tend to walk into more door FRAMES than door WAYS (ouch. it hurts. stop laughing :P).

I digress.

But, I didn't spend this day like most others.
I spent this lovely day... baking.
I even wore an apron, just to keep in the spirit of things :).
AND I kept these words close to my heart :)...


May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
       be pleasing in your sight,
       O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14

For some, baking and cooking up a storm is simply no challenge at all. Even in my own family. Somehow, I received the genetically modified gene in this camp, and though I can assemble a decent meal, and maybe even a nice sweet, it doesn't come a) naturally or b) joyfully :).

Then again, we don't get cable OR satellite, so maybe I'm just not as inspired by Rachel Ray as I could be :).

However, some cookie-commitments kept me bound to this task at hand, and so I decided to tackle it with ENTHUSIASM. GREAT MUSIC. NO LITTLE HELPERS :P.

First up. As a care group, we've decided to arrange meals for a couple in our church who've had a really tough year. This is a timely reminder to me that though the crisis may pass, the care and concern, expressed in a variety of ways, is essential to character and community. I am grateful for this lesson, and have looked forward to assembling this food gift for a while. Next. Cookies. Lots of 'em. Required for a local mom's group (which I so much enjoyed being a part of for so long!!!) and another couple whose whole family is also going through a serious time.

1. I had already selected my recipes and had MOST of the ingredients at hand. That's the toughest part! I even pulled out all my margarine squares, lined them up according to recipes, to ENSURE that I would NOT RUN INTO A MARGARINE SHORTAGE SITUATION!!!

2. I decided to use my new handy dandy cuisinart bad-boy to process the doughs for the various recipes. I actually took time to review the manual, FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS (probably one reason why I find baking so difficult :P), and figure it all out. I was a little ... concerned ... that the dough looked a bit over-processed, but the cinn buns turned out spank-tacular, so here's to hopin' that the cookies will be soft, fluffy, and perfectly circle (or heart-shaped, as is the case). (I HATE it when my cookies turn out flat and wafer thin. It makes me hoppin' M.A.D!!).

3. I keep my messes tidy. Weird, but true. Argh. Clutter eckles me. SO. If I can keep my workspace clean (or at least organized!) I am a much happier .... cook :). Plus it helps me keep the flour separate from the sugar (nothing like swappin' ingredients to really screw it all up!!).

4. I realize that I simply don't like baking (as opposed to vacuuming the floor, one of my favorite chores :P, or cleaning the washrooms, not enjoyable but the shiny white surfaces are worth the scrub!!!) is because of a lack of PLANNING and PRACTICE. Sigh. It's irritating when you realize you've run out of the most essential ingredient OR you spend time, money and serious patience-control putting it all together and it turns out ultra-crispy, under-baked (can't always blame that on the funky oven, sometimes I forget to set the timer!!), or so hockey-puck-like the NHL would love 'em !!! I don't take colossal failure very well ;).

But today I actually had FUN! I blame it on the apron, really. Not only did I look the part, it accentuated the prego belly, which makes me feel all maternal and nesting-like :).

Here are a few recipes I whipped out today. Enjoy!!

Vanilla Cinnamon Buns

3.5 c. flour (I used almost 4)

1 Tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 package vanilla pudding mix (turns out to be 1/4 c. of the crystals)

2 Tbsp. yeast

Blend well :).

Add liquids:

1/4 c. warm water

1/4 c. melted marg

1 c. warm milk

1 egg

Mix and knead until dough is smooth and a nice consistency.

I let my dough rise for 45 min. or so.

Roll out dough into a big rectangle. 

Cover with melted marg., brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins!

The more the merrier :).

Roll into log and cut into 12 equal portions. 

I used waxed dental floss to make a nice, neat cut.

(Place string under roll, bring up on either side, cross over and pull. SNIP! VOILA!)

Set into greased 9x13 pan and let rise again.

Bake at 350 for 15-20min. 

Take remaining pudding mix (approx. 1/4 c.), add 1 c. of milk, and drizzle it over warm buns.

YUM!

Peanut Butter Chip Chocolate Cookies

1 c. marg

1.5 c. sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

Mix separately then add, mixing very well :)...

2 c. flour

2/3 c. cocoa

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Mix mix mix mix mix.

Add 1 package of chipits peanut butter chips.

OK. Set aside a few for the kids and a small handful for yourself :).

More mixing!!

Drop by tsp. (or the infamous Pampered Chef cookie scooper :P) onto greased cookie sheet.

Sometimes I press mine with a fork, other times I don't. 

I haven't figured out the science to this yet (any pointers :P?).

Bake at 350 for 8-10 min.

YUM YUM YUM

There were a few more recipes I polished off, but I'll save those for a different day.

Well, wouldn't ya know ....

This weekend I had the "opportunity" to create an "oriental dessert." I am culinary-challenged, and so I thought this sounded a bit ... daunting. After an internet search - I found a "great idea." Yeah - the kind that you leave until the last minute and if it turns out to be a disaster it's actually too late to do anything else and so that just adds to the pressure of the whole situation at hand.

Breathe.

I found a recipe for fortune cookies. I should've read the "this is a bit harder than it appears" disclosure before assuming that I could somehow possibly whip this up at the last minute between nap times and lunch times and leaving-the-house-at-a-certain-time times.

Breathe again.

Okay. I discovered that you don't even need a rolling pin for fortune cookies. Did you know that ? All you need is a bit of culinary skill (ahem, recall the aforementioned "challenge"?) and, of course, time. Since you can only bake 4-6 cookies at once. Yoikes.

However, to my utter and complete amazement, I managed to create 23 well-formed, "Proverbs" cookies (instead of creating oh-so-witty fortunes, I made slips of paper with Proverbs. Brilliant, I know). I would've had 24 but one dropped on the floor . It's quite the procedure, but once you get the hang of it --- well, now I know what all those "hard to shop for people" are going to get for christmas gifts!

Here's the proof:

Here's the link (go on, give it a try!!!)
http://chinesefood.about.com/od/diningout/r/fortunecookie.htm