Roasted Roma Tomatoes

Did you plant tomatoes this summer? We planted a chocolate cherry, a roma and a slicing tomato. All three plants have done well but the roma produced like crazy.

Roma’s make wonderful tomato sauce but aren’t the best slicing tomato. I plan to make sauce and sun dried tomatoes . How could I use them for a side dish? I found this recipe on the ever popular Pioneer Woman Cooks. I may have cooked mine a little long, a couple of them kind of exploded on the baking sheet. Although we love Caprese Salad, these were a nice change.


I am linking this to Tasty Tuesday's, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday's and Tuesday's at the Table.

New Addition - Mosaic Monday

Today I am sharing the newest addition to our family! My son Justin and his girlfriend Lily, just got a new puppy. Meet Ducky!



I am submitting this to Mosaic Monday at Little Red House.

No Cream Creamy Broccoli Soup

Summertime isn't really soup time but I had some broccoli that needed to be used before it went bad. Cream based soups are the best but they're also not the best for you. How about a recipe for a creamy broccoli soup that doesn't use cream? This recipe is courtesy of our friends at Kraft. The only change I made to this recipe was to use brown rice instead of white.

I loved this soup. It has a wonderful texture just like a cream based soup. The flavors are delicious and would make a great base for other soups.





No Cream Creamy Broccoli Soup
Adapted from Kraft
1 cup chopped carrots (about 2 medium)
1 cup chopped celery (about 2 stalks)
3/4 cup chopped onions (about 1 medium)
2 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped
3 Tbsp. Oil
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp. Pepper
4-1/2 cups Broccoli florets (about 2 small bunches)
1/2 cup Instant brown rice, uncooked
3/4 cup Milk
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

Cook and stir carrots, celery and onions in hot oil in large saucepan on medium-high heat 5 min. Add broth and pepper; stir. Bring to boil.

STIR in broccoli and rice. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 10 to 15 min. or until vegetables are tender, stirring frequently.

ADD soup, in batches, to blender or food processor; cover. Blend until pureed. Return soup puree to saucepan. Add milk and cheese; cook until heated through, stirring occasionally.

This is my entry for today's Souper Sunday's at Kahakai Kitchen!

Pink Saturday

Happy Pink Saturday! I am so proud of this plant. You see before, I met Tim I never had much of a green thumb. This is a bougainvillea we bought about four years ago. We kept it outside the first summer and it thrived. Since we live in the cold, snowy midwest and bougainvilleas don't like temperatures below 50, we brought it inside. My living room has a wonderful west facing window. My plant survived the winter and continued to grow. I am not sure why when Spring came around we didn't move the plant outside but we didn't. The rest is history, this became a beautiful houseplant.

What do you use for fertilizer for your house plants? I've been using Epsom Salt. You mix 2 tablespoons with a gallon of water. My plants seem to love it. Especially my bougainvillea, it has more blooms than ever!



I am linking this to Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound!

Corn and Basil Pesto

What's your favorite way to enjoy fresh corn? I grew up only eating corn ON the cob. As a child, I can't ever remember a dish where the fresh corn was taken off the cob. With corn so plentiful right now, I wanted to try at least a couple of dishes using corn off the cob.

This pasta with corn pesto recipe from Epicurious seemed like a perfect choice. It’s a homemade pasta sauce recipe using fresh corn and basil . The recipe called for bacon, I didn’t have any so I omitted it. Don’t tell Tim!!! The original recipe used tagliatelle, I used penne. In an effort to eat more healthy, I used whole wheat pasta.

I think I liked this better than Tim did. He thought it had too much basil. Now that may have been because he ate the dish we photographed, so it had extra sprinkled on the top.
I also think the whole wheat pasta takes some getting used to and it may not have cooked quite long enough. I loved the sweet flavor of the fresh corn and the creamy consistency it adds to the sauce. If you didn’t know better you would think cream was used in the dish.

I am linking this to Foodie Friday . This is also my entry for this week's Presto Pasta Nights hosted by Siri of Siri's Corner.

One Year Ago...Rosemary Scones.

In My Garden

Caesar Salad

If Caesar Salad is one of the salad offerings at a restaurant, Tim orders one. Me, I've never been a big fan. A few months ago when I compiled my Top 50, I included Caesar Salad. Since it's Tim's favorite salad, I wanted to know how to make one. Trying to make use of my huge library of cookbooks, I searched them for a recipe. I just didn't find one that seemed like THE one. I found this recipe on Simply Recipes. If you're familiar with Elise's site, you know her recipes are awesome. This is the ONE!! I think maybe the reason I've never been a big fan of Caesar Salad's is because I haven't tried a really good one! If you like Caesar Salad, give this recipe a try, you won't be dissapointed.




Caesar Salad Recipe
Courtesy of Simply Recipes

If you have a concern about the raw eggs called for in this recipe, you can use pasteurized eggs, or you can coddle the eggs first by immersing them in boiling water for 1 minute, before cracking them open. If you don't have anchovies available, add a teaspoon of worcestershire sauce to the dressing.

Ingredients
1/2 cup high quality extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves fresh garlic, peeled, smashed, then minced
1 baguette, preferably a day old, sliced thin
1/4 cup freshly juiced lemon juice (plus more to taste)
4 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated
1 teaspoon anchovy paste, or 1-2 anchovies, smashed and minced
2 eggs
Freshly ground black pepper (1/4 teaspoon or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon salt
4-6 small heads of romaine lettuce, rinsed, patted dry, wilted outer leaves discarded

1 In a very large bowl, whisk together the olive oil and garlic. Let sit for half an hour.
2 While the oil is sitting, make the croutons. Spread the baguette slices out over a baking sheet (may need to do in batches), lined with parchment paper or Silpat. Brush or spray with olive oil (or melted butter, or if you want garlicky croutons, dip pastry brush in the garlic infused oil you have sitting in step 1). Broil for a couple of minutes until the tops are lightly browned. (Note: do not walk away, these can easily go from browned to burnt.) Remove and let cool.
The steps up until this point can be made ahead.
3 Add anchovies and eggs to the oil garlic mixture. Whisk until creamy. Add salt and pepper and 1/4 cup of lemon juice. Whisk in half of the Parmesan cheese. Taste, add more lemon juice to taste. The lemon should give an edge to the dressing, but not overwhelm it.
4 Using your hands, tear off chunks of lettuce from the heads of lettuce (do not use a knife to cut). Add to the oil mixture and toss until coated. Add the rest of the Parmesan cheese, toss.
5 Coarsely chop the toasted bread and add (with the crumbs from the chopping) to the salad. Toss. Serve immediately.

Serves 4-6 for a main course or up to 8-12 for a side.