Creamy Onion Soup

Thanks to some dental work I had done, I made a lot of soup this week. This quick and easy Creamy Onion Soup had dh raving about how tasty it was ... even after I told him how healthy it was. This creamy soup doesn't contain any dairy products. The creamy consistency results from the use of a potato. Who knew? LOL!

This recipe is from a really great blog that I've only recently discovered: Dutch Girl Cooking. The blog is full of great ideas and amazing photos. Be sure to check it out for detailed step-by-step Creamy Onion Soup photos. Creamy Onion Soup will be my contribution to the Bookmarked Recipes event over at Ruth's Kitchen Experiments this week.

And while you're visiting Dutch Girl Cooking, be sure to check out the recipe for Stuffed Zucchini that I'm planning to make this weekend!


Creamy Onion Soup
Recipe from Dutch Girl Cooking

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions
1 teaspoon dried thyme
3 cups beef broth
1 potato
pepper
nutmeg
salt

2 slices white bread (stale)
grated cheese
1 tbsp oil
basil

Coarsely chop onions and potato. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil or 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a large sauce pan. Add onions, potato and 1 teaspoon dried thyme. Stir; lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Cut 2 stale slices of white bread (I used wheat) into cubes. Add some chopped fresh herbs. (I used basil and parsley.) Mix with a little olive oil and salt and pepper.

Stir onion mixture. Add salt, pepper and a touch of nutmeg. Replace lid

Place bread crumb mixture into an oven safe baking dish and liberally sprinkle with grated cheese. (I used Parmesan.) Place in an oven preheated to 400 degrees for 5 minutes. Stir and return to oven until bread cubes are browned and crunchy. Remove from oven and crumble slightly.

Add beef broth to the onion mixture. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Using a blender or food processor, puree the soup until smooth.

Serve in a bowl with croutons sprinkled on top.

Pancakes with Blueberry-studded Honey Peach Sauce

I just wasn't very hungry tonight and the thought of whipping up a semi-labor intensive batch of gumbo just wasn't cutting it. Instead I checked the fridge to see what we had and decided to use up some of the fruit I picked up at the farmer's market last week. I whipped up a batch of pancakes, fried up some bacon (in the oven, of course!), and prepared the Blueberry-Studded Honey Peach Sauce that I'd bookmarked over at Inn Cuisine. Unfortunately my peaches were a little too far gone so I substituted some jarred peaches that I'd picked up at Aldi's awhile back. ::Patting myself on the back for using up stuff from the pantry:: They worked perfectly. In fact, they made the sauce really quick to put together since I didn't have to do any chopping or slicing. The sauce was delicious. The tart blueberries save the sauce from being too sweet. Definitely a keeper!

Since I've had this one bookmarked for awhile, it will be my submission to next week's Bookmarked Recipes event over at Ruth's Kitchen Experiments. Check out last week's yummy recipes here.




Blueberry-studded Honey Peach Sauce
Recipe courtesy of Inn Cuisine

1 cup honey
1/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1 quart fresh or frozen (and thawed) sliced Peaches

Combine honey, blueberries and cinnamon in a large saucepan, mixing well. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring often. Reduce heat to low, simmering for 10 minutes or until the flavors are well blended. Remove from heat, add peaches and mix well.

Serve over waffles, pancakes, French toast, pound cake, cream stuffed crepes… and anything else you dare to try!

Makes approximately 8 servings.

Simple White Bean Soup

The days are still warm here in the Midwest, but definitely not as warm as it was a week or so ago. The nights are actually getting downright chilly. They say it will dip into the '40's this week. Not necessarily time to break out the parkas but it sure motivates me to start whipping up warm bowls of soup for lunch.

This Simple White Bean Soup was one I wanted to try as soon as I saw it over at Simple Daily Recipes. We've loved every recipe I've tried from Simple Daily Recipes. And this one did not disappoint. The best thing about Jill's recipes is that while they usually perfect for kids, they are flavorful enough to satisfy the grown-ups as well. Of course, the fact that they are usually quick and easy to prepare helps too!

Even though I haven't had this one bookmarked too long, I'm submitting Simple White Bean Soup to Bookmarked Recipes over at Ruth's Kitchen Experiments this week. Be sure to check out the weekly round-up of great Bookmarked Recipes!





Simple White Bean Soup
Recipe by Jill from Simple Daily Recipes

2 (15 oz.) cans Northern Beans
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 (15oz.) can plum tomatoes or stewed tomatoes
1 (15oz.) hot chicken broth or 2 cups hot water
salt & pepper to season
extra-virgin olive oil, to serve

Puree one can of Northern Bean with an immersion blender or food processor.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Stir in the onion, and cook until it softens. Add the celery, tomatoes, and cook for 5 minutes more.

Pour in hot broth. Stir in the beans and the bean puree. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Sprinkle with a little extra virgin olive oil in individual soup bowls.

Crash Hot Potatoes

It's easy to forget that simple is usually the best but this recipe will remind you. Crash Hot Potatoes, from The Pioneer Woman Cooks, is simplicity at it's finest. Find some potatoes. Boil them. Flatten them. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt and freshly ground pepper and any herbs you'd like and bake. 450 degrees. Twenty minutes. Seriously, that's all there is to it. They are deliciously creamy on the inside and crusty-crunchy on the outside. Delicious.

If you need more direction or want step by step photos and instruction, check out the original recipe over at The Pioneer Woman Cooks, check out her recipe for Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies. Delicious!

Since I had this recipe bookmarked all summer before I got around to trying it, I'm submitting it to ththis week's Bookmarked Recipes event over at Ruth's Kitchen Experiments.

Greek Night: The Rachael Ray Way

We had a Greek-themed dinner last night. We started out with Eggplant Roll-Ups, a Rachael Ray recipe from her 30 Minute Meals TV show. They were pretty good: grilled eggplant slices rolled around creamy garlicky cheeses and sun-dried tomatoes. I made it using a Slow Roasted Tomato recipe I found over at Smitten Kitchen. Mmmmm! Rachael Ray seems to add grill seasoning to almost everything but this was one recipe where I didn't care for it. Maybe I used to much but it seemed to overpower the other flavors of the dish. Next time I'll just use salt and pepper.

I also made the other recipe from the show: Spanikopita Chicken Meatballs with SpicyCucumber and Yogurt Sauce. I really thought I'd like it. I love pretty much every single ingredient. But somehow, I just didn't care for it. The meatballs were just sort of bland and the dip was lackluster as well. Very disappointing. I like the idea of this though and I think I'll play around with the recipe a bit and see what I can do.


Lulu over at Mama's Taverna definitely provided the star of the show: Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce and Myzithra Cheese. Unfortunately out here in the middle of nowhere, Parmesan was as close as I could come to Myzithra, but the dish was a hit anyway. The kids were originally a bit frightened of the whole peppercorns they saw in the sauce and convinced it had to be a bug but after being reassured it was only pepper, they dived right in. Dh requested that I make it again (but next time maybe I could add some meat? ...) Check out Lulu's recipe here.

Eggplant Roll-Ups
Recipe courtesy of Rachael Ray

1 large, firm eggplant
Salt and pepper
Grill seasoning blend (recommended: McCormick Montreal Seasoning)
1 cup semi-soft garlic and herb cheese (recommended: Alouette or Boursin)
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano, a couple of handfuls
A few grinds black pepper
6 to 8 soft sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (tender sun-dried tomatoes are available in small pouches in produce department)
2 cups arugula leaves, chopped
1 cup basil leaves, chopped

Heat a grill pan over high heat. Thinly slice the eggplant, a minimum of 18 slices. Season with salt, pepper and grill seasoning blend. Grill the thin slices to tenderize the eggplant, 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Combine the cheeses, black pepper and sun-dried tomatoes. Top each slice of cooked eggplant with a dab of cheese and some arugula and basil then roll up. The eggplant roll ups should have a few greens sticking out of both ends.


Spanikopita Chicken Meatballs with Spicy Cucumber andYogurt Sauce
Recipe courtesy of Rachael Ray

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus some for liberal drizzling
1 small onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped, divided
2 boxes frozen chopped spinach, defrosted.
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 pound ground chicken
1 tablespoons grill seasoning (recommended: McCormick Montreal Seasoning)
1 1/2 cups Greek style plain yogurt
1/3 seedless cucumber, peeled and chopped
3 tablespoons fresh dill
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 1/2 teaspoons, 1/2 a palm full, cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons, 1/2 a palm full, coriander
Salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a bowl combine onion and 3 cloves of garlic. Squeeze the water out of the spinach until completely dry. Separate the spinach as you add it to garlic and onion. Add feta, chicken and grill seasoning to the bowl and a liberal drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil. Mix the meat with veggies and feta and form 18 (1 1/2-inch) meatballs. Place the meatballs on a nonstick cookie sheet and bake 10 to 12 minutes until they are golden and juices run clear.

Place yogurt, garlic, cucumber, dill, lemon juice, cumin, coriander and a little salt in food processor and process until smooth. Adjust seasonings and transfer to a serving bowl. Serve meatballs alongside sauce with toothpicks.

Bookmarked Recipe: Simple Spaghetti Pie

I have *way* too many recipes bookmarked. So many, in fact, that recently I sort of gave up and made a new bookmark folder and a new Mastercook Cookbook for recipes I'm book marking now so that I don't have to dig through the 2111 recipes that I've copied into my "Things to Try" cookbook in my Mastercook software or the hundreds of others that I'd simply bookmarked --most of which give no indication of what the recipe actually is unless you click on the link. (Like that's gonna happen!)

Ruth, from Ruth's Kitchen Experiments, has come up with the perfect blogging event to help me clear out some of the recipe clutter: Bookmarked Recipes. Each week you prepare one of those bookmarked recipes and blog about it. Simple, huh? Well here we go!

This recipe for Simple Spaghetti Pie comes from Michelle over at Thursday Night Smackdown. I have to admit that I haven't had it bookmarked for long. I think she posted the recipe in July, but it looked and sounded so good, it moved right to the head of the line! I was looking for something quick and satisfying to get on the table after dh, dd and I spent a nice afternoon kayaking through the nearby wilderness area. We had a lot of fun. The weather was perfect and we had the lake almost to ourselves. Perfect! Since it was a spur of the moment trip, we didn't grab anything but the kayaks so by the time we got home we were starving! I printed out Michelle's recipe and had dinner on the table almost before all the gear was put away. Add a tossed salad and some warm bread and you have a delicious, filling meal.

Simple Spaghetti Pie
Recipe by Michelle of Thursday Night Smackdown

1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 package spaghetti, cooked and drained
6 eggs
large pinch salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper, or more to taste
1/2 c. grated pecorino cheese

In an 8-inch skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs, salt, pepper and pecorino to combine. Dump in the cooked spaghetti and mix thoroughly.

Pour the spaghetti mixture into the hot pan. Cook until the eggs are pretty well set - only the very top will still be runny - and the spaghetti is golden brown and crusty, about 10 minutes.

Run a heatproof spatula around the pie to make sure it will release from the pan. Slide the pie onto a large platter; invert the pan over the pie and flip so the pie goes in uncooked-side down.

Cook for another 5 minutes, until the eggs are cooked all the way through and the crust is crisp all the way around. Slide the finished pie back onto the platter and let rest for 10 minutes. Serve hot with tomato sauce if desired, but best eaten at room temperature.