You are jealous of our dinner.

This is my favorite Christmas present. Isn't it genius? It's for soup and sandwiches!! So your soup bowl doesn't slide around! And you don't have to carry multiple dishes!! Brilliant! 

So what should we put in it on this cold and grey day? Did you say tomato soup from scratch and fancy grilled cheese? You're right!

Typically, you need a blender to make this soup. Alyssanne is missing a part to her blender, so we had to get really creative. I started by peeling 5 tomatoes. Peeling tomatoes is not easy.

The recipe Sanne was inspired by (she used creative license on this recipe. We're trying to do more original recipes) called for 1 slice of onion, chopped. This seemed like a strange amount of onion, so she used a little more.

Then she stewed the tomatoes, onion, and 2 cups chicken broth for about 20 minutes.

This is where it got interesting. If you have a blender, you should definitely use it at this point. If you don't, or if you like to do things pioneer woman style, you can mash the tomatoes through a sieve, food mill or a very fine strainer. Basically, you want to get rid of all the chunky stuff (seeds, skin, pulp).

Meanwhile, I'm in charge of the sandwiches... We chose a crusty unsliced italian loaf for the first sandwich. I cut it nice and thick.

Covered it with chunks of smoked mozzarella...

... prosciutto and basil leaves. Oh man. 

Drizzle some olive oil and put it in a pan.

Once you've gotten all the stuff out of your tomatoes, put it in a pot and add some flavor. Salt, pepper, garlic salt, chili powder... Sanne says she just added whatever was handy in the cabinet. Taste as you go. 

She also added 1T of tomato paste to thicken it up, and a roux. A roux is when you whisk together 2T butter and 2 T flour over low heat until it makes a brown paste.

Sandwich #2: Gorgonzola and honey on whole wheat. I drizzled honey on the cheese...

grilled it, and drizzled some more on top of the bread.

Ta-da! We fancied it up with a dollop of cream cheese and basil. And don't they look so good in my bowls?

I'm so happy!

This is the ultimate rainy-day (or, if you are reading this in Massachusetts, snainy-day) dinner.

Tomato soup and grilled cheese is my favorite dinner when it is cold and wet outside. What is your favorite comfort food?

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies

On Christmas day, after dinner and presents and watching movies and reading I decided to bake some cookies. I had everything I wanted except for red food coloring. So, the first time I made these, they weren't truly red velvet but they were sooo tasty. The second time I made them, I was more creative with the recipe. They were also red the second time around. Here's my more creative recipe.

The ingredient list:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 1/4 c. wheat flour or all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 T ground flax seed meal

2 T wheat bran

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/3 c. cocoa

2/3 c. brown sugar or 1/2 c. of agave nectar

1 to 2 tsp red food coloring

1/2 semi sweet choc. chips

You can make these cookies minus the flax seed and wheat bran if it is not your thing, just at 1/4c more flour instead. I was attempting to make them have a nuttier/chewier edge to them which I enjoy. 

Cream the butter and sugar together, then egg and vanilla, red food coloring. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and fold chips in last.  

Oven at 375 for 10 minutes or until done. 

The batter with red food coloring. Looks like Play Doh. 

 

One of my grandfather's favorite desserts was red velvet. We had many things in common such as our green eyes and a mutual love for red velvet. He was one of my favorite people. As I write this post, it dawned on me that next month he will have been gone 20 years. How time flies. And how glad I am to have the memories I have of him. What is a recipe or meal that reminds you of one of your favorite people?

 

Quiche La Poodle is her name...

We still have a pie crust in the freezer, staring at us... so, tonight I'm making quiche! I found a basic quiche recipe on allrecipes.com, dug around the kitchen for some add-ins and went to work.

Basically, you need 4 eggs, a cup of half and half, 8 oz. cheese, 4 cups greens, and 2 medium onions. And then some salt and pepper and stuff. I love cooking from basic recipes, because you have a lot more freedom to jazz it up however you want.

I had feta cheese and a little hunk of sharp cheddar, which if my calculations are correct, is the exact amount of cheese needed. Because, as you know, there is no such thing as too much cheese. If you disagree, you probably shouldn't be reading our blog. Also, you're crazy.

We had large-ass onions, so I sauteed one of those.

I didn't have half and half, but after a little internet research, I discovered that 4 1/2 teaspoons of butter + some milk is the same thing-ish. Melt the butter, then add enough milk to equal 1 cup.

this is about 4 1/2 teaspoons, eyeballed.

Mix that with the eggs and cheese...

And then add the onions and greens. This quiche is greek, so I thawed the rest of the frozen spinach, and sliced up some tomato.

Pour it in the pie crust, which is on a baking sheet (so it cooks evenly).You could throw chopped tomatoes into the mixture, but I decided to get all fancy-pants and put slices on top. That's why I can blog about it. Fancy-pants.

Le Quiche

Bake at 375 for about 35-40 minutes, until your knife comes out clean. Let it cool for about 5 minutes. 

even better than it looks

new pie stand from Mama Dukes

I will definitely use this recipe again. It wasn't too egg-y, and the feta was perfect. It's a lighter, less cheesier cheese than mozzarella. I might try zucchini next time...

I can't be the only one who thinks of this song whenever I eat quiche, right?

Happiness and Cheer

For some reason, this holiday season has felt especially magical. I'm not sure exactly how to explain it, but more often than not, you could find Sanne, Figgaro and/or myself sitting in the living room, enjoying a cup of tea or peppermint hot chocolate, soft christmas music on the radio and the glow of red lights from Herbert, our Balsam fir. And we are content.

I know I promised you batches upon batches of Christmas cookies, and deliciously festive homemade meals, but that just isn't how it went this year. Sanne spent her very white christmas here with Rajiv and his sweet family, watching Christmas movies and eating homemade curry; which I hear was delicious. We're working on featuring a lesson with Rajiv's sister on this site soon...

after the thundersnow

total eclipse of my heart

someone give this girl some sugar cookies! 

Christmas curry

Meanwhile, in hot and sunny Florida, my vacation was spent avoiding the pox upon all my family's houses (including my little cousins), plus running around trying to see everyone I wanted to see. Most of my meals were booked at different restaurants, with different blasts from the past. I got to see almost everyone I wanted to see, and ate almost all the foods I wanted to eat (Publix sub- check, Chick-fil-a- checkcheck). The little bit of cooking I did get to do was at the Hill's Christmas party...

raspberry-honey-pecan brie, as usual

we couldn't decide, so we made two

this one was apricot-horseradish marmalade...

we couldn't wait, so we pre-gamed it

gratuitous food porn 

guacamole

Madaline and her elves were busy all week making sugar cookies...

... and mint chocolate chip cookies-- what?!

...and peanut butter bars, and rice crispy treats, and baklava

etcetera

new and old friends

far away friends 

and baby friends

love her

How was your holiday, friends? Did you cook/bake anything special? Did you make any New Years Resolutions? Those of you who have your own blogs, leave us a link in the comments to your own holiday adventures.

Happy New Year!!!