A CRAFT and SOUP: Minestrone for a Crowd

At our birthday party I served some soup and sandwiches. It was nice because it meant that I could spend more time with guests. Who wants to be in the kitchen alone when all the guest are over, um not me.

I have a question for all of you. If there are two people, both heavy, weighing the same amount and having the same amount of activity. Assume all things being equal between them. Person A eats 1500 calories of bad food, refined sugars, flour, processed, etc. Person B eats quality food, vegetables, fruit whole grains, 1500 calories as well, who would lose more weight or would they be about the same? What do you think? Obviously one would be a little healthier.

MINESTRONE SOUP

2 cups celery, chopped
2 cups carrots, chopped
2 cups onions, chopped
2 cups zucchini chopped
2 slices (about an ounce) of prosciutto
4 quarts (16 cups)of tomato juice
4 cups water (depending on how thin or thick your tomato juice is)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon basil (fresh if possible)
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1 can (2 cups) canneloni beans
1 can (2 cups) garbanzo beans
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil

Saute onions, carrots and celery in olive oil and butter along with prosciutto. Saute until the vegetables are golden. Add juice, water, 1 cup each of the beans and spices. Bring to a boil and then simmer for up to an hour. After you get the soup to a simmer stage, in a processor combine garbanzos and canneloni until pureed. Add only enough water to help turn it into a puree. Add to soup. Add salt and pepper to taste.


Bench Notes:

I have been known to add 1/16 to 1/8 of a teaspoon of cayenne. It gives it a flavor boost without being to overly powerful. It also helps to warm your body on a cold day.

A T-shirt bag. Sew bottom. Shape top into handles with scissors and sew to reinforce. I got all fancy and put the decoration on it. I picture it loaded with greens from the Farmers Market this Spring... Can't wait.

There's a little video on You Tube on how to make one of these with duck tape, no sewing required. Check here.

COOKIE and A CRAFT #6

Baked and dressed up with ganache. Pretty, tasty little cookies.

I have a friend who has talked about these amazing cookies that her sister makes. I asked for the recipe some years ago but never got it. My friend "M" leads a very chaotic life. No big deal. So many other cookies to make. Anyway, this year her sister lost her recipe. Being the foodie I am, my heart went out to her. It's terrible to have a favorite recipe then lose it. You go crazy looking for it. The cookies are called "Tu Tu's". Years ago I had done a search for them on the internet but came up with nothing. This year I decided to do a search to try again and to help my friends sister. I found these. Now, I don't know if these are the cookies that "M"'s sister makes but they are called Tu Tu's and they are awesome. I made them today. Yum.

Chocolate Tu Tu's
based on this recipe


2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter
¾ cup white sugar
½ c packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
3 eggs, beaten
½ c cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ c espresso
4 c flour
1c ground walnuts

1. Cream butter and sugars.
2. Mix in the eggs and the vanilla and the coffee.
3. Combine 1 cup of the flour with the b. powder, b. soda, salt, cinnamon, and cocoa. Stir into the batter.
4. Add the rest of the flour slowly, stirring after each addition, until you have a dough that can be rolled. Soft but not too soft. I used four level cups of flour.
5. Make walnut-sized rounds with your hands and place on cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Do not overbake or they will dry out too much!
After they are cooled pour ganache over top.

In a bowl place 1 cup of semi sweet morsels and one cup of bittersweet chocolate, chopped. In a sauce pan heat about a cup of half and half and two tablespoons of butter. Bring to a boil. Pour over chocolate and stir until smooth. Once the chocolate is melted, spoon onto cookies. Let set for quite a while before stacking.

Chef's hats for future foodies. Just finished them last night so I was a wee bit late posting them, but they are here now!

A Cookie and a Craft #5

I don't know if you have ever had those "Windmill" cookies that you usually see in the bulk section of a store. My parents use to buy them often. The cookies were okay if there wasn't any chocolate around. Well, I found a recipe for them and decided to give it a try. A very worthy endeavor. They are easy to make, store well until you are ready to bake and they taste amazing dunked in coffee!

It turns out that the official name for the cookie is Wainachsrollen. Who knew? I sure didn't. Thank you to AllRecipes, which is good source of recipes!

WAINACHSROLLEN
adapted from Allrecipes

1 cup butter, melted
1 cup lard, melted ( I know, but how often do you make these?)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs
5 cups flour (the recipe says 4 1/2 but I found I needed 5)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 of a pound of almonds, chopped

Melt butter and lard. Pour into sugars and eggs. Stir until completely mixed. Stir in flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Roll the dough into 6 logs and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 F and slice logs into 1/4 inch slices. Bake for about ten minutes.

* Bench Notes:

I found that three logs were too long and they grew to be a big cookie. For a smaller cookie I would go with 6 logs, about 2 inches or little less in diameter.



And my latest craft for my budding, baby foodies. Aprons. I have to prime them. I sure hope they love it as much as I do. I am crafting the same color schemed aprons, for my Mom and I as well.

A CRAFT and A COOKIE #4

You know those peanut butter blossom cookies? The ones with a kiss in the middle. Well, I plan to make them as my brother will be here for Christmas (HOORAY). They are one of his favorites. But I wanted to make chocolate ones as well, with mint kisses in the middle. It was a good idea because they came out REALLY good. It was a bad idea because they have little mouths that keep calling me to come on over and eat them. Did you know cookies can be really loud? Dang. That chocolate dough will stay right in the freezer until the very last minute. Thank goodness I only made twelve.

MINT KISS COOKIES

16 ounces/ 1 pound bittersweet morsels
1 cup/ 2 stickes unsalted butter
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
12 tablespoons granulated sugar
6 large eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
mint kisses, unwrapped

Melt bittersweet morsels, unsweetened chocolate and butter in a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Stir often and heat just until it is melted. Remove from heat. Pour into a large bowl. Stir in sugar. Let stand for about 30 minutes.

Add eggs one at a time to chocolate mixture. Stirring until fully incorporated before adding the next egg. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Pour that into the chocolate mixture. Finally, add the chocolate semisweet morsels.

Refrigerate for at least an hour. Scoop out with a cookie scoop. Drop ball onto greased cookie sheet. Bake in a 325 F oven for about ten minutes. Remove from heat, immediately press kiss into cookie. If you dont mind them melted, you can return to the oven for one minute more. Otherwise leave them in the cookie and let it rest on cookie sheet for one minute and then transfer to a wire rack. You can also put te kisses in the freezer so they will not melt as fast.

I used 14 gauge wire and wound it around a handle to one of my kitchen tools. I then pulled it so that the spiral stretched out a little. My kids strung beads on them and then we decorated with ribbon. A cute craft for kids.

A CRAFT and A COOKIE #3

I must tell you this cookie is amazing. I took a recipe that sounded pretty good and tweaked it a lot. It made one amazing cookie. My Dad loves Pecan Sandies. I think they are made by Keebler. They are good, but wow, are they ever sweet. I decided I needed to give this recipe a go. I am so glad I did. Not only is it easy, it is delicious. Running the nuts through the processor may seem like a lot of work but in the end you are left with a lot of cookies for your efforts. That is good for this time of year. You just give them away! Also, it is one of those recipes you can make ahead of time and freeze the dough. When you are ready to make them just defrost, slice and bake.

Pecan Sandies
Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness Original

2 3/4 cups pecans, toasted
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, unsalted and chilled
2 eggs
4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Process nuts and sugars in processor. Add butter. Transfer to a mixer with a paddle attachment. Add eggs, salt, vanilla and flour. Divide dough into four equal portions. Roll into a log on waxed paper. Chill dough in fridge for at least forty five minutes or overnight. (You can also freeze the log for later use). Slice into 1/4 inch rounds. Place a pecan on top or roll sides in beaten egg, then chopped pecans. Place on sprayed cookie sheet. Bake at 350F for about 12 to 15 minutes. Sides will be a little golden.

No, I did not purposely roll that gold string into the letter "L" but it would have been a good idea. It did just kind of lay itself that way. Too funny. I got this idea from the internet. I used Christmas cards from last year. I am glad I saved them. You can make them bigger by adding more panels. The original inspiration comes from here.

BUTTER NUT SQUASH SOUP

My parents lived through the Great Depression. They taught me all my life not to waste. I reduce, reuse, recycle but I have been doing that before it was "cool". Just recently I picked up a dresser at someone's curb to pretty up for one of my daughters. Why? Because we needed it, two because it's better if I or someone else uses it rather than it going to the dump. I will show you a picture of it, came out pretty nice.



You know some people would turn their nose up at me but you know I don't care. I use to worry about someone doing that to me but these days I just don't care. What do I care about? Being mindful of our real needs, not a need that some commercial put forth to make me buy something. I no longer care whether or not I have the latest fashion find or the coolest pants or la la la. Because you know it doesnt matter. I think when I look at beautiful homes, I'm talking off the charts beautiful. I think how someone could have fed their whole community for the rest of their lives with that money. I'm thinking why are so many people living high on the hog when so many cant even afford to eat. There are children right in your own community who are sleepeing on the floor, they dont have a bed. I dont mean to be depressing but geez lets remember humanity, instead of our "imagined needs".

So I offer up this simple soup, that will keep some money in your pocket and put some goodness in your belly.


BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP
Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness original

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup apple cider
2 cups of roasted butternut squash
3 cups chicken stock
1 medium onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoon sour cream
2 teaspoons butter
2 teaspoons olive oil

Saute the onion in olive oil and butter. (I find this combination produces good flavor while also using a more healthy oil). When the onion is clear add the garlic (I find the garlic burns quickly as it is so sticky, so I add it near the end of the onion saute). Cook one minute then add cider, squash and chicken stock. Add 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. Cook for about twenty minutes. Puree and add sour cream. You can also add a doolop of sour cream to each bowl instead.

And some good news. Lucy from Sweets, Savories Etc. sent over the blog award. Thank you Lucy that was real sweet of you (and savory too). YEAH!

So I want to take a moment to say thank you to all of you who visit my blog and leave comments. Thank you. I love reading the comments. They're like little gifts in my inbox. I love visiting all of you as well. Love to hear about whats new, get ideas, and see what you are all up to. It's a great sense of community being apart of the food blogging world! No matter how far we share a common bond.