Crock Pot Tomato Soup

The weather is getting colder and rainy.  Its time for some new soup recipes. 
Yes, this is a crock pot recipe but some skillet prep work is necessary.  I found that doing the skillet step the night before makes for an easier morning. 

Ingredients
2 tbs butter
3 cans diced tomatoes
1 onion finely chopped  
1 tbs brown sugar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tbs all purpose flour
3 cups chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tbs dry sherry
black pepper to taste


In a large skillet melt butter over medium high heat.  Add onions, tomato paste, and brown sugar.  Drain the cans of tomato into the crock pot and add the tomatoes to the skillet.  Cook until tomatoes are dry and lightly browned.  Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute.  Whisk in 1 cup of chicken broth. 
Add remaining 2 cups of chicken broth, bay leaves and the tomato mixture into the crock pot
.
Cook on low for 6-7 hours on low.  Once soup is cooked used an immersion blender to  puree.  Transfer into a large saucepan and stir in 1/2 cup heavy cream and dry sherry.  Bring to a boil and season with pepper. 



 

Peppered Pork Chops

Last night it was raining so we could not grill the pork chops like we had planned.  So I had to come up with something we could do on the stove or in the oven.  This is what I came up with with the ingredients I had in the house.

Ingredients
4 bone in pork chops
3 medium onions julienned
2 red bell peppers julienned
1 tbs tomato paste
1 tbs minced garlic
2 cups beef broth
1 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper
1 cup white flour
3 tbs olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Salt and pepper the pork chops and dredge through flour.  On stove preheat oven safe skillet over medium high heat.  Add 2 tbs olive oil and brown chops on both sides, approximately 3 minutes per side.  Remove pork chops and set aside.

Add 1 tbs olive oil and onions to pan.  Once onions begin to soften, add garlic and tomato paste.  Cook for about 1 minute and add red bell pepper, dried thyme and beef broth.  Let come to a simmer and nestle pork chops back into pan and place in oven for 20 minutes or until Pork chops have an internal temperature of 160.

Panko Chicken Strips

This is an easy recipe that your kids will love.  It is also healthier than feeding them frozen chicken nuggets all the time.  I was also read the riot act by a random lady at the grocery store when I was buying Shake and Bake to make chicken for my daughter, so I decided to find an alternative.

2 lb chicken tenders
2 eggs beaten
2 cups panko
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
additional salt and pepper to taste
1 cup all purpose flour


Preheat oven to 400 degrees
On a rimmed baking sheet Mix Panko with 1 tsp kosher salt and olive oil stir until panko is coated with oil.  Bake for 8 minutes remove from oven and stir.  Bake for an additional 8 minutes or until panko has   a gold brown color.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees
Pat chicken dry and season them with salt and pepper.  Whisk the eggs in a bowl and set aside.
Dredge the chicken through the flour and then dip them in the egg and then coat with panko.
Lay them on a wire rack that is on a rimmed  baking sheet.  Bake for 12 to 15 minutes (flipping once) or until internal temprature reaches 160.

Beer Braised Ribs

I needed to make ribs for a lot more people than my crock pot could handle.  I got this idea from my brother-in-law and it worked like a charm.

Ingredients
4 tbs smoked paprika
4 tbs dark brown sugar
2 tbs kosher salt
2 tbs ground black pepper
2 tbs cayenne pepper (optional)
6 lbs pork ribs 
2 cans Guinness (or what ever beer you have available)
1 16 oz bottle of Barbecue sauce

Mix dried ingredients and rub all over ribs and let sit overnight in the fridge. 

Preheat Oven Roaster or Oven to 200 degrees.  
The next day. Poor beer in either an 18 quart oven roaster or a roasting pan.  Place Ribs on top of beer.  If using a roasting oven place lid on top.  If using a roasting pan, cover pan with aluminum foil and place in oven.  

After 8 hours, check to make sure Ribs have reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees.  

Place Ribs on foiled baking sheet.  Brush ribs with barbecue sauce.  Place ribs under broiler when the sauce begins to bubble, brush ribs again with barbecue sauce.  Place ribs under broiler again until they begin to caramelize.  

Remove from broiler and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes.  

Blueberry muffins

My daughter is starting to get bored with baby cereal for breakfast.  So I decided to make her blueberry muffins from scratch.  I did these the night before because as any mother knows, trying to cook/bake with a little one can be a little frustrating.

Ingredients
2 cups  and 1 tsp all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick of butter at room temp (I used salted but you can use unsalted)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cup fresh blueberries washed and dried


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients (2 cups all purpose flour, baking powder and salt).
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together wet ingredients (butter, sugar, eggs, milk)
Once well combined slowly whisk in dry ingredients.
Take the remaining 1 tsp flour and mix with the dried blueberries until all blueberries are lightly coated with flour.  Gently fold blueberries into batter.

Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.  Evenly divide batter among cups and bake for 25-30 minutes.
Muffins are done when an inserted toothpick comes out clean and the tops are slightly golden.

Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.
Serve warm and store leftovers in an airtight container.

Pineapple upside down cake

My husband kept promising he was going to make me a pineapple upside down cake that he had made for our friends.   Its been 7 years and I still have not seen it so I decided to make it myself.   He does not like the maraschino cherries so I omitted them from the recipe, but feel free to add them as decoration with the pineapple slices.


Ingredients
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 can sliced pineapple drained

Cake batter:
1 and 1/4 cup white flour
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup shortening
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a 10 inch cast iron pan (or cake pan) melt butter over low heat.  Once butter is melted spread brown sugar evenly over butter.  Place pineapple slice is center of pan.  Cut remaining pineapples in half and arrange around the central pineapple slice.

In a large mixing bowl combine ingredients for the cake batter.  Blend on low for 1 minute scraping bowl constantly.  Turn speed up to high and beat for an additional 3 minutes.  Pour batter over arranged pineapple.  Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool for 5 minutes and then invert pan onto a plate or cake stand.  Be careful because the melted brown sugar and butter mixture is extremely hot.

Cranberry Muffins

My husband was looking for something to eat this morning and I remembered that I had sweetened/dried cranberries from  Country Ovens in Door County, Wisconsin.  So I decided to make him some muffins.  This is a quick no fuss recipe.  

Ingredients:

1/2 cup and 3 tablespoons sugar 

2 cups all purpose flour (sifted)

3 tsp baking powder

1 egg 

1 cup milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup melted butter 

1 cup cranberries 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a large mixing bowl combine sugar all purpose flour and baking powder.  

In a separate container combine egg and milk and beat well.  Add melted butter and stir in dry ingredients.  Stir in cranberries.  

Either line or spray a muffin pan and place 1/4 cup batter in each cup.  

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.  

If you like, brush muffins with melted butter and sprinkle raw or coarse sugar on top.