Chunky Tomato Soup

Portland grey skies never seem to leave us, until July. With cool temperatures, overcast clouds, some days I want to curl up and read a book next to a fireplace, enjoying coffees, teas, and warm bowls of soup for dinners. 

I love soups. They can be so versatile, flavorful, and simple to make. You can slow cook them, and allow the aroma's  fill your home. They are filling, and easy to use for leftovers!

Hold the Bread Please

• 1 Onion
• 3 Garlic Cloves
• Handful of Basil leaves
• 4 (14.2 ounce) cans of Diced Tomatoes 
• 16 slow roasted tomatoes
• Kosher Sea Salt
• Black pepper
• 2 sprigs of Rosemary
• 1/4 cup of Olive oil

Dice Onion, and garlic. Heat olive oil, onions, and garlic in a dutch oven over medium heat for ten minutes. Add tomatoes, salt, rosemary, basil, slow roasted tomatoes, salt and pepper. Turn down heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.

This soup is chunky and thick. If you like a thinner soup, feel free to add a cup of water.

Slow Roasted makes this soup amazing

Fresh Garden Herbs add intensity and flavors to the dish

Dice and simmer for ten minutes

Add bacon instead of bread, for a complete meal!

Roasted Tomatoes

Slow Roasted Tomatoes

I hate to admit that I have been sort of lazy this summer, and not wanting to cook much. I have been staying away from the more complicated dishes and trying to stick to the basic easy to cook dishes.

This recipe was so simple, and can turn ordinary dishes into the extraordinary dishes! Add it to salads, pizza, marinara, scrambled eggs, or my sun-dried-feta-cauliflower ,or even soups! I found myself snacking on them, because they store easily!

Loaded with tons of Antioxidant goodness!

• 16 Vine-ripened tomatoes 
• Two tablespoons of olive oil
• Kosher Sea salt

Preheat oven to 275.
Slice tomato's 1/2 inch each and place tomatoes on to parchment paper on a baking sheet. Lightly drizzle olive oil on top, and sprinkle lightly salt. Roast for 3 hours.

Make sure to chill the tomatoes before refrigerating. You can easily store these for up to a week, in a Ziploc bag.

Banana Pancakes

Banana Pancakes

I am pancake snob. You have coffee snobs, wine conesures and then me the pancake-connoisseur-snob. I am on the search for the perfect Paleo Pancake, and have yet to find one or make one. Out of all the recipes that we have tried so far none of compared to my beloved Saturday morning pancakes. 

This recipe is close to my liking! Out of all the Almond Flour recipes that I have tried online so far, the consistency of the batter is closes to pancakes. They are not to salty, the do not fall apart, no crumbling. What I would do next time is take out the Apple Cider Vinegar. My kids and their friends asked for seconds, so it does past the kid test.

As a pancake-conesures-snob, I rate this pancake recipe at a 7 out of 10. So far the other Almond flour recipes I have tried rated at a 3, so that is not to shabby! 

• 2 cups Almond Flour 
• 2 Whole eggs
• 2 Egg yokes
• 1/4 teaspoon of Celtic Sea Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of Baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of Maple extract
• 1/2 cup of Pure Maple Syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon of Apple Cider Vinegar (optional)
• 1/2 cup of Almond Milk
• 1 mashed Banana!!
• 1 tablespoon of melted butter ( optional)

When measuring with a 1/4 cup Makes 14 to 15 pancakes. 

Takes a while to cook on each side, I would recommend 3 to 5 minutes, on low to medium heat on each side. If the heat is too high, almond flour will burn easily.

Fluffy! 

Stacked and ready to eat

Garnished or accessorized? 

Notice if heat is too high, almond flour easily burns

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Broccoli Bacon Soup

It has been a while since my last post. We have been cooking, and taking photos, and chasing our kids! Mainly chasing kids! Which is why I love this recipe that I am about to share with you today! It is fast, and loaded full of vitamins. It took me under 35 minutes to prepare the whole dish.

Green Goodness!

Recently, I went over to a girlfriends house for a fun night of Bunco, and indulged in a delicious blueberry muffin. The recipe, was from the new cookbook My Father's Daughter, by Gwyneth Paltrow. Everyone knows that I have a deep love of cooking and cookbooks, I would consider it more of an obsession, to be honest.

Last week, I bought the book, and made an amazing broccoli  soup. Broccoli soup was more of an experiment to see if my daughters would eat the broccoli, with no complaints. It was a pleasant surprise when they devoured their bowls with no complaints. They loved this soup, so much they had two servings. I did modify it, it a little. Next time to add more life to the soup I will add diced tomato. We will be making more of it this week, and freezing it.

• 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil, Napa
• 2 teaspoons of Granulated Garlic, or you could use 3 fresh garlic cloves sliced
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 3 Medium Broccoli stalks, cut into small florets
• 32 ounces of Chicken Broth, or Vegetable stock
• 1 teaspoon of Celtic Salt
• 1 teaspoon of black pepper
• 5 slices of cooked bacon (omit for vegan option)
• 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese, or sprinkle of Parmesan cheese (optional, if dairy free)

This recipe is really simple. In a skillet add olive oil, and then toss in onion, broccoli, granulated garlic. Cook on medium high for ten minutes to fifteen minutes, until broccoli is green and tender but firm. In a dutch oven, add the broccoli mixture, broth, salt and pepper. Then use the skillet to fry up the bacon. While bacon is cooking simmer soup mixture on a medium high for ten minutes, and then add bacon and heat at a medium for ten more minutes.

Pour soup into a large bowl, and puree. I use my Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender. 

Serve and enjoy!

Messy looking, but tasty

Two thumbs up from our picky eater!

Thumbs up from V

My family loved this recipe so much it was gone as quickly as it was made.