Ok. There's a story here. We were babysitting a girl in my ward once on a cool fall day. She was helping me pick the last of the carrots from my garden and she asked me if I could make her some carrot soup. I thought, "carrot SOUP?!?". But, I hopped online and looked up some recipes. This is what I found, and modified. It was yummy!
Carrot Soup with Orange and Ginger
3 Tbs. olive oil
2 leeks, including tender green portions, thinly sliced (I used an onion, as I didn't have leeks handy, but I think leeks would be awesome!)
6 carrots, about 1 lb. total, peeled and thinly sliced
1 red potato, about 1/2 lb., peeled and coarsely diced
1 1/2 tsp. peeled and minced or grated fresh ginger (I omitted the ginger, because I didn't have any, but you can throw it in if you like)
5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
2 tsp. grated orange zest
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
In a large saucepan over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the leeks and sauté until just slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add the carrots, potato and ginger and sauté until the vegetables are just softened, about 5 minutes more.
Add the stock, cover partially and simmer until the vegetables are completely softened, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat.
In a blender or food processor, puree the soup in batches, leaving some texture, and return the soup to the pan. Alternatively, process with a stick blender in the pan until the desired consistency is reached. Set the pan over medium heat and stir in the orange juice and zest. Season with salt and white pepper.
Ladle the soup into warmed bowls. Serves 4 to 6.
This is my friend, Robin's recipe. It rocks! Always a big hit at parties!
1-2 cups marinated artichokes (rinsed and chopped) (I get mine from Costco)
1 can crabmeat (also rinsed)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
bake at 325 for 20 minutes
serve with Fritos.
I got this recipe from my friend, Jeannette, It's awesomely good! Give it a try...
6 c. apples - sliced
1 T Lemon Juice
1 T Water
Mix well and place in an 8" square pan
Mix together:
1/3 C. butter
1/2 C. Oats
1/2 C. Flour
3/4 C. Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Cinnamon
Mix well, pat on top of apples
Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.
So after a few discussions with Julie (The other contributor to this Food Blog) We have decided to make some changes. We want to open the Blog up to other contributors. We would like to document all the Family Recipes. Old, New, Tried, and even Fried. So First we are going to change the URL and the Title of the Blog. Now taking all suggestions... And allowing contributors. P.S. don't feel intimidated, by the Entries with 800 photos. A simple Photo of the End result will suffice, and maybe a few of the tornadoes that take over the kitchen during the process. Or not. So who is in?
Have you ever set out to make something and halfway through realized you were missing a key ingredient? How about 3/4 of the way through? What if you were adding the final and main ingredient and realized it wasnt what you thought it was? I currently have a big double batch of Split Pea soup on the stove. I put all the ingredients into the pot for Lentil Soup. Went to grab the Lentils and realized they were split peas!!! So I guess we will see how it turns out in a couple of hours.
Surprise surprise, it turned out alright.
Dice an Onion, 3-4 cloves of garlic, two carrots, a handful of parsley and an entire clump of celery. trim of the bottom of course and any brown tips. But dice up the leaves as small as you can, the heart of the celery and the leaves are where all the flavor is. put that all in a pot with some Olive Oil (Extra Virgin) of course and saute for a few minutes. Add some salt to help draw out the moisture. after the carrots have softened and everything else is basically translucent, add a tablespoon or two or three of Butter, add equal amounts of flour and stir like mad the flour will burn if you let it sit still or have too much heat, but you do want the butter and flour to brown a little. Then add a box of chicken stock. Or a couple of cans, or 3-4 cubes of chicken, or vegetable bullion. or whatever you have on hand. If you added cubes, then you will want to add some water to make the broth. At this point I pull out the immersion blender and have a little party in the pan. You could however pour the contents into a blender or a food processor. when you have a thick non chunky consistency, pour back into the pan (if you poured out), and over med-high heat add a cup of cream or two. this combined with the flour under heat will cause the soup to thicken. I then salt and pepper to taste.
I used the recipe for Italian bread bowls. It made six perfect sized and very tasty bread bowls. I actually only cooked four of them and after letting the bowls rise the first time, punching them down and then shaping, I froze two, so it will be interesting to see how they cook after being frozen.
For our Halloween Party tonight, we made mini caramel apples. They were absolutely darling. And yummy.
Here's how we did it.
Fine a large glass, microwavable bowl. Add 2 cups of sugar, 1/2 cup corn syrup, 1 cup butter and 1 can of Sweet and Condensed Milk. Microwave for 2 minutes, or until the butter is melted. Stir. Microwave for 3 minutes and stir again. (stopping to stir is IMPORTANT to evenly distribute the heat). Repeat the 3 minute microwave and stir. Repeat again. Repeat again. Voila! Homemade Caramel.
Next get the assembly line ready. You will need some apples...preferably tart ones. You will also need a melon baller, some bamboo skewers, and some fun sprinkles and nuts and other decorations. Oh...it's also very helpful if you have little candy paper things. (see picture above)
Use the melon baller to scoop out balls of apple. Skewer the apple on the part that shows the skin. dip in the caramel. roll in the sprinkles. Put on your beautiful platter in the papers. Serve at your party. Watch the guests admire and enjoy!
