Cream of Tomato Soup

This is a great soup to make this summer if you grow a lot of tomatoes.

Makes about 6 servings

4 C chopped tomatoes (I usually just use canned)

1 onion, chopped

3 whole cloves garlic

Ground pepper

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp salt

3 sprigs parsley or fresh basil

3 T butter

3 T flour (to make GF substitute with GF flour or cornstarch)

1 1/2 C chicken broth

1 C half-and-half

Simmer tomatoes, onion, garlic, pepper, sugar, salt, and parsley together for 10 minutes. Remove from heat (add fresh basil if you desire) and blend to desired consistency. In a large skillet, melt butter and whisk in flour; stir until golden. Slowly pour chicken broth into flour mixture, whisking to incorporate. Stir until thickened. Add to tomato mixture, add half-and-half and simmer 5 minutes (do not boil).

Delicious served with grilled cheese.

Pretzels

I found this recipe in a book called Mitten Strings for God, by Katrina Kenison. I love these pretzels because they take about an hour from start to finish, they are a perfect activity for the children, and they taste really, really good!

In a large bowl, dissolve 2-3 T yeast in 1 1/2 C warm water.

Add: 1 T honey

1 T salt

4 1/2 C flour

Give a wooden spoon to the kiddos and let them have a go until they are pooped. Then take over and mix until you can gather the dough to kneed a bit. Then cut up into however many pieces you want. Give the dough balls to the kids to roll into pretzel shapes, letter shapes, hearts, etc. Place on baking sheet.

For salty pretzels: Brush tops with egg and sprinkle with sea salt, or kosher salt

For sweet pretzels: Brush tops with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar or sugar in the raw.

Bake for 10 minutes in a 425 degree oven.

Orange Cranberry Bread

This is a delicious quick bread, perfect for this time of year.

In a mixer, beat on high 2-3 minutes:

6 T butter

2/3 C sugar

Gradually beat in:

2 eggs

In a different bowl, mix:

1 1/2 C flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Combine in another bowl:

1/4 C milk

1/4 C orange juice

Grated zest of one lemon

Grated zest of one orange

Now, add the dry mixture alternating with the liquid mixture on low speed to the butter mixture, just to combined.

Fold in:

2/3 C chopped pecans

1/3 C dried cranberries

Bake in a greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch pan (I just use my 9 x 5 bread loaf pan) for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Sausage Braid

First, let's pretend that I actually took this picture, and made such a perfect braid from refrigerated crescent dough, shall we?

Now, in the realm of reality: I found this recipe in a Taste of Home magazine a looong time ago. I have fond memories of making it for Toni Harris' shower after Josiah. I made one--and the entire world showed up for what I was expecting to be a tiny Providence shower! More is always better with this recipe.


Ingredients

* 12 ounces bulk pork sausage
* 1/2 cup chopped onion
* 1/4 cup chopped celery
* 1/4 cup chopped green pepper
* 1 garlic clove, minced
* 1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, cubed
* 2 tablespoons chopped green onion tops
* 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley (I've been known to use dried)
* 1 tube (8 ounces) refrigerated crescent rolls
* 1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions

* In a large skillet, cook the sausage, onion, celery, green pepper and garlic until meat is no longer pink and vegetables are tender; drain. Add cream cheese, green onion and parsley. Cook and stir over low heat until cheese is melted; set aside.
* Unroll crescent dough on a greased baking sheet; seal perforations. Roll into a 12-in. x 10-in. rectangle. Spoon sausage mixture to within 3 in. of long sides and 1 in of ends. On each long side, cut 3/4-in.-wide strips 3 in. into center. Starting at one end, fold alternately strips at an angle, forming a braid.
* Brush dough with egg. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 8-10 servings.

(If, by chance, you should just happen to forget to soften your cream cheese, mixing it in with your hands works great and is really fast. Not that I've ever had any such experience...)

Corn Bread

Here are two corn bread recipes that I always go back to. For Katie's birthday dinner I combined the two and was asked for the recipe. So I will explain at the end how I did that.

This first corn bread is the recipe I make all year round.

1 C milk

1/4 C melted butter

1 egg

1 1/4 C cornmeal

1 C flour

1/2 C sugar

1 T baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Beat milk, butter, and egg in a large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients all at once just until moistened. Pour into a greased 8x8 pan. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. If making into muffins decrease the time.

This next recipe is my favorite fall corn bread. I got it from my Autumn cookbook by Susan Branch.

Iowa Corn Bread

1 egg

1 C whole milk

1 T finely grated orange zest

3 T melted butter

1 1/4 C flour

3/4 C cornmeal

1/4 C sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

Whisk egg, stir in milk and zest. Set aside. Sift together dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in milk mixture and melted butter. Pour into a greased 8x8. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. Serve with "Bee Butter"

1 stick of butter whipped with 2 T honey

Okay, so I made the first recipe (doubled it) and added 1 T orange juice concentrate, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp ginger.

Luscious Slush Punch

This is the pink punch that was served today at the baby shower. Holly also served it at Erin's shower.

2 1/2 C sugar

6 C water

6 oz strawberry jell-o mix

1 can (46 oz) pineapple juice

2/3 C lemon juice

1 qt. orange juice

2 2 liters of lemon-lime soda

In a large (like a stock pot) saucepan combine sugar, water, and jell-o mix. Boil 3 minutes. Stir in pineapple juice, lemon juice, and orange juice. Divide mixture in two separate containers. Freeze until ready to use. Put contents of one container in punch bowl and add one 2 liter of pop. Or if the punch bowl is large put both in with both pops. This makes a lot! A huge punch bowl full.

Delicous Whole Grain Bread

This is a soaked wheat bread recipe from Sue Gregg's website, www.suegregg.com :

1. Blend well in mixing bowl (dough should not be too stiff); lay plastic wrap over top of dough to prevent it from drying out. Cover bowl with damp cloth. Let stand 12-24 hours:
2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (I use unpasteurized apple cider vinegar)
4-6 cups whole wheat flour (I soak 4 1/2 to 5 cups the night before and knead in more flour as needed in the morning)

2. Blend together and allow to stand 5-10 minutes until it bubbles up:
1/4 cup very warm (but not hot) water
2 teaspoons- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3. Blend following ingredients and work into dough with yeast mixture until well blended:
1/3 cup coconut oil (melt if hard), melted butter, or olive oil (I use butter)
1/3 cup honey
2 teaspoons salt

4. Knead 20 minutes, adding flour as needed. (I use my Kitchen Aid for this, and it takes about 10 minutes to knead until it feels right. Also, I tend to need the full 6 cups of flour, but I don't measure exactly. I just add the flour as a I see the dough needs it. I always start and finish kneading the dough by hand so that I can feel it with my bare hands. The majority of the time it's in the mixer though.) Knead until smooth and resistant to kneading action.

5. Place dough in lightly oiled bowl, oil top of dough lightly, cover with damp cloth; let rise in a warm place until double, about 1- 1 1/2 hours. If indentation remains in dough when poked with finger, it is ready. (Another tip: I always save my empty butter wrappers to grease pans and bowls etc., so use the butter wrapper that you just took the butter out of for the recipe to oil your bowl and the top of your dough.)

6. Punch dough down gently, turn it over; cover and let rise until double, about 45 minutes. (I will often skip this rising if I am pressed for time.)

7. Divide dough in half; shape into 2 loaves; cover; let rise until almost double, about 20-25 minutes. (Don't forget to grease your loaf pan!)

8. Bake 35-45 minutes until golden brown on the bottom. Turn loaves out on sides on a rack to cool. Brush with butter, if desired; cool completely before slicing.

*Note: the recipe also says that you can use spelt or Kamut flour although I have never tried this.