Le Madeleine's Tomato Basil Soup

(Copied from the Skip to My Lou blog)

La Madeleine Tomato-Basil Soup

Ingredients

4 cups tomatoes, peeled, cored and chopped, or 4 cups canned whole tomatoes, crushed
4 cups tomato juice
12 - 14 washed fresh basil leaves, plus additional for garnish, chopped
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup sweet, unsalted butter, softened
Salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
Crusty bread (optional)

Directions

Combine tomatoes and juice in saucepan. Simmer for 30 minutes over
medium-low heat. Cool slightly, then place in a blender or food
processor. Add basil and process to puree; this will have to be done in
batches.

Return mixture to saucepan. Add cream and butter. Stir over low heat
until butter and cream are incorporated. Stir in salt and pepper before
serving. Garnish with more fresh basil and serve with fresh, crusty
bread. Makes 8 servings.

Per serving: Cal 237 Fat 22g Fiber 1g Chol. 67 mg Sodium 165 mg Carbs 10g Calcium 45g

Recipe by: La Madeleine French Bakery & Cafe, Dallas TX

Notes: When I don't have fresh basil I use 1 Tablespoon dried. When making this soup for my family for a quick meal I often use half and half in place of the the heavy cream and cut back on the butter. It is still yummy, but the real thing is divine!

Black and White Brownies

Haven't made these yet, but had them at a friends. Just wow. Tasted more like fudge than brownies.

Black and White Brownies

Fish Tacos

Check out this blog post: Fish Tacos

I really, really want to try them!

The Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti

I found this recipe a few weeks ago and Michael made it last week. OMG. It is amazing. Really, really amazing.

Chicken Spaghetti

We ate every last noodle over the next few days. It reheats great in the microwave, and includes directions for making it ahead and for freezing.

I am already looking forward to making it again.

Cooking, or lack thereof

So I have not updated or done a menu in a while. Why? Well, because Michael and I are trying (with limited success) to lose some weight. That means much simpler meals. And a surprising amount of my free time is spent working on my photography class. Sorry to disappoint my adoring fans with a lack of recipes and menus! LOL

I do have an apple pie recipe to post at some point, and a link to another dessert that I hope to get made this week for bunko.

Menu Plan, Week 4

Well, I am still at it and we are still doing great on not eating out as much. I am guessing we have already saved around 150 - 200 dollars.

Oh, and in case you haven't noticed, my obsession with "cream of" soup continues. I never realized how many of my easy, tried and true favorites contain this. Well, no apologies from me - it is easy and tasty and I am not that much of a food snob anymore now that there is a two year old underfoot.

This week the list is:

Meatloaf - I made this Saturday night and it really hit the spot. Olivia really liked it too. We had some garlic mashed potatoes, cooked cabbage and asparagus to go with it.

Red Beans and Rice - I have never made this before, but had a good recipe to start from. WOW - almost as good as New Orleans.

Chop Suey Casserole - An old favorite that I have actually only made once before. Looking forward to it again.

Chicken Pot Pie - will come back with the link, need to remember how to make it.

Lastly, I was craving bran muffins and tried a new recipe. As usual, I made some changes, so I posted what I did. They rock!

Raisin Bran Muffins (6 Week Muffins)

Whew - got it all up - guess I need to start thinking about next week already. This menu planning thing is a lot of work.

Raisin Bran Muffins (6 Week Muffins)

Raisin Bran Muffins (6 Week Muffins)

1 (15 ounce) box raisin bran cereal
5 cups 50/50 wheat white flour
2 1/4 cups sugar
2 tsp. salt
5 tsp. baking soda
2 sticks butter
4 eggs, beaten
1 quart plus 2 cups buttermilk

Combine all ingredients. Mix very lightly. Batter keeps up to 6 weeks covered in the refrigerator.

When ready to bake, spoon into greased or paper cup lined muffin tins. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes. Best warm.

Notes:

This recipe is adapted from the Victorian Sampler Tea Room Cookbook.

The original recipe calls for all white flour, but I wanted to substitute some of it for wheat. I found the 50/50 at the store so just used that. It should work in any proportion.

After I mixed it and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight, it was very dry. I added the additional two cups of buttermilk (the original recipe only calls for 1 quart) the next morning.

These are wonderful bran muffins.

The box of cereal I used was 17 ounces, so I just didn't use quite all of it.

Chop Suey Casserole

Chop Suey Casserole

1 pound ground beef
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
2/3 soup can of water
1/2 c. uncooked rice
1 cup chopped celery
1 onion, chopped
3 T. soy sauce
1 can chow mein noodles

Brown and drain beef. Combine all ingredients except noodles in a casserole. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Cover with noodles for the last 10 minutes of baking.

Notes:

This recipe was a favorite of my dear friend Flossie and was taken from the cookbook in the parish I grew up in, submitted by Pat Vaughn.

I am going to substitute chopped water chestnuts for part or all of the onion when I make it because I really do not like onions.

Red Beans and Rice

Red Beans and Rice

1 onion, chopped
1 pound small red beans
1 cup chopped celery
3 quarts stock
1 pound smoked sausage
1 small ham hock
2 T. minced garlic
2 bay leaves
2 T. Joe's Stuff seasoning

6 cups cooked rice

Soak beans in water overnight to soften. Drain beans and place in crock pot with all other ingredients except smoked sausage. Cook for 8 hours or until thickened. Grill or saute smoked sausage and add to beans in small chunks. Remove bay leaves before serving over rice.

Notes:

This recipe is adapted from Class Act, Simple, Authentic Recipes from the New Orleans School of Cooking. It is cooked on the stove in the original recipe, but the crockpot works better for me. But, it did not thicken as much as it should have, so I put it on the stove for an hour or so.

You could probably substitute any Cajun type seasoning for the Joe's Stuff.

It is not overly spicy at all, and was fantastic with the Smoked Tobassco sauce added at the table.

Meatloaf

Meatloaf

3 stalks celery chopped (about 2/3 cup)
1 pound ground beef
1 pound sausage
3 eggs
3/4 cup catsup
4 T. Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup oats
2/3 Italian bread crumbs
black pepper
salt (if desired)

Combine the eggs, catsup and Worcestershire sauce. Place all other ingredients in a medium bowl. Add egg mixture and using your hands gently but thoroughly combine. Do not overmix.

Bake at 350 for 50 - 60 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 160. Drain grease and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Menu Plan, Week 3

I didn't get to the Poppy Seed Chicken or the Italian Noodle Bake last week, so they moved to this week and are pretty much going to sustain us through today. Not sure about tomorrow or Saturday at this point, but have some ideas, just using up stuff around the house, running through my mind.

Pork Chops and Stuffing

Pork Chops and Stuffing

4 small to medium pork chops or pork loin chops
butter
1 package pork stuffing mix (ex. Stove Top)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
3/4 soup can of milk

Lightly brown pork chops in a small amount of butter. They do not have to cook through, just brown them.

Prepare the stuffing mix according to package directions, but do not cook, just mix the ingredients together.

Combine the soup and the milk.

Spray a casserole dish with Pam. Pour enough of the soup mix in the pan to coat it thoroughly. Add the pork chops, then cover them with the stuffing mix. Pour the remaining soup mixture over the stuffing.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Notes:

This works great with chicken too.

Olivia really like it.

Poppy Seed Chicken

Poppy Seed Chicken

1 1/4 - 1 1/2 pounds cooked chicken, shredded
1 16 ounce container sour cream
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
3 T. butter
1 sleeve Ritz style crackers, crushed
2 T. poppy seeds

Heat oven to 350. Spray casserole dish (see notes) with Pam. Place cooked chicken in the dish.

Combine sour cream and cream of mushroom soup and place over chicken, spreading evenly.

Melt the butter in a medium skillet. Remove from heat, add the cracker crumbs and poppy seeds and stir to combine. Pour over sour cream mixture in casserole and spread evenly.

Bake for 45 minutes or until bubbly and heated through.

Serve over cooked rice.

Notes:
I used an 8 1/2 by 10 inch casserole dish. You could easily use something larger, but not smaller.

This is one of our favorite super easy dishes.

Easy Mock Lasagna (aka Italian Noodle Bake)

Easy Mock Lasagna

1 pound Italian sausage (hot or sweet to preference), browned and drained
15 ounce container ricotta
1 egg
3 c. shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1/8 tea. nutmeg
black pepper
8 ounces small egg noodles (or pasta of your choice - see notes), cooked to package instructions
1 25.6 ounce jar pasta sauce

Combine ricotta, egg, 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese, nutmeg and black pepper to taste in a bowl.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a casserole dish with Pam (see notes). Place cooked noodles covering the bottom of dish. Top with ricotta mixture.

Combine sausage and pasta sauce and put it on the ricotta in casserole dish. Top with remaining 2 1/2 cups of mozzarella cheese.

Bake for 45 - 55 minutes or until cheese begins to brown and is hot all the way through.

Notes:

The little egg noodles worked great in the dish because they were nice and soft and did not add a distinct flavor, like a wheat penne or the like would. But, the instruction said to cook them 10 minutes. They were PLENTY done at 6, so if you use them, watch them closely. I would recommend cooking any noodle you use no longer than the short end of the cooking time because they will cook more in the oven.

I used my 8 1/2 by 10 inch dish for this recipe. It would work in something slightly bigger, but I would not go smaller. If you go a lot bigger, you may want more cheese on top.

We really like this - it had all the flavor of lasagna with MUCH less work and mess. I would make this again in place of lasagna any time.

I might add some Parmesan cheese next time for a little stronger cheese flavor.

Baked Potato Soup

Baked Potato Soup

From Mary Harke, from LCJ cookbook

• 2/3 cup butter or margarine
• 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 4 large baking potatoes (baked, cooled, peeled and cubed – can use left over baked potatoes)
• 7 cups milk
• 4 green onions chopped
• 12 bacon strips, cooked crisp and crumbled
• 1 ¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper

Melt butter in a large pot. Stir in flour and whisk until smooth. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly over medium heat until thickened. Add potatoes and onions. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Add bacon, cheese, sour cream, salt and pepper and stir until cheese is melted.

Baked Potato Soup Kevin & Joanie Style

1 cup butter or margarine

1 cup all purpose flour

12 cups raw potatoes diced (10-12 Russets)

10 ½ cups milk

6 green onions chopped

1 ½ - 2 cups cooked bacon

1 8oz package of Hoffman’s Super Sharp Cheddar Cheese Shredded

½ 8 oz package of Hoffman’s Vermont Cheddar Cheese Shredded

1 ½ cups sour cream

1 – 2 teaspoons garlic depending on your taste

Salt

Pepper

Peal and dice potatoes – rinse under running water for 3-5 minutes, then let soak in cold water for at least ½ hour.

Melt butter in a large pot, slowly add flour and stir until smooth. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly over medium heat until thickened (will have to boil). Remove from heat and add onions, pepper, garlic & bacon

Drain potatoes and put in bottom of crock pot

Pour hot milk mixture over potatoes, stir and cover.

Cook on high for 2 ½ - 3 ½ hours, depending on crockpot.

Once potatoes are done, stir in sour cream and cheese, add cheese slowing stirring constantly to make sure it melts. Let simmer for 10 minutes after cheese is melted.

Serve and enjoy.

You can garnish with bacon, green onions, and/or shredded cheese (garnish items are extra for above ingredients)