Smooth & Creamy Tomato Soup

I got this one from a friend who has written a book that includes a lot of recipes. She asked me to test out several dishes and give her feedback. She's in luck, because this one got a favorable rating from the entire family! My 4-year-old made a yummy noise that the girls have adopted (it sounds more-or-less like slurping) and said, "Delicious!" My toddler was practically licking the bowl by the end of the meal. (He also had a large amount of soup in his hair, so maybe licking it isn't saying much.) I served it with some crusty bread and fresh fruit, and we will definitely repeat this dinner.

Of this soup, my friend says, "It turns a beautiful dark orange color, so it doesn’t look like its store-bought counterpart, but it’s absolutely delicious." We agree. Smooth & Creamy Tomato Soup
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. butter
1 small onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/4 tsp. baking soda
4 cups fresh or canned (drained) tomatoes, chopped
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. garlic
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups milk

Heat oil and melt butter in a soup pot on medium-high heat. Add celery and onion and sauté until soft. Add soda, stir until the mixture turns yellow and lets off a distinctive smell. Immediately add tomatoes, salt, pepper and garlic. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 5 to 10 minutes. At this point, you want the mixture to be thick with little liquid. If it’s still thin, turn up the heat and boil off some of the liquid. Pour into a blender and puree, or use that handy immersion blender.* Pour soup back into pot and add milk. Heat, stirring until thickened.

*At this point, you can refrigerate or freeze, and then just take it out, (thaw, if necessary), add the milk, and re-heat. You can also add more or less milk to your own taste.

Summer Soup

This one comes from Favourite Farmhouse Recipes: Traditional Country Fare, a small cookbook I picked up when we lived in England a few years ago. This can certainly be eaten during any season, but it uses up some of the plentiful green things that come from summer gardens. I've adjusted the measurements in the original recipe from British to American.

Two of my three children, including the toddler, really liked this for dinner last night. My oldest asked if I would make it again tonight. She'll have to settle for the leftovers, I suppose.

Summer Soup
2 T. butter
1 onion, finely chopped
6-8 pieces of bacon, chopped
½ cucumber, peeled and cubed
1 potato, peeled and cubed
1 head of green leaf lettuce, cleaned and shredded
1/3 cup + 1 T. flour
salt & pepper
Pinch of mixed herbs
1 ½ cups chicken or ham stock
1 ½ cups milk

Melt the butter in a large pot. Add bacon and cook until nearly crisp. Add the onion, cucumber and potato. Slowly sauté until onion is soft. Add the lettuce; cover and cook for 5 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour and salt & pepper and mix well. Add the herbs and stock. When it thickens, add the milk and simmer gently until the potato is cooked. Put in a blender and process until smooth, then return to the pan; or use an immersion blender. Heat through and serve.

Pasta with Lemon Cream Sauce

This has a nice light taste to it, although I'm sure the cream doesn't make it so light on the calories. Oh well!! I got this from http://www.allrecipes.com/, and adapted it just a bit. I serve this with green peas on the side, which the adults tend to mix in, while the kids eat them separately. To make this dish a little heartier, you can add cooked chicken and broccoli (or the aforementioned peas).

Pasta with Lemon Cream Sauce
2 T. butter
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup chicken broth
zest of one lemon
juice of one lemon
zest of one lime or approx. 2 tsp. lime juice
1 lb. pasta of your choice (We like bowties or rotini.)

In a sauce pan, combine the butter, cream, and chicken broth. Simmer over medium heat until reduced by about half. As the sauce simmers, heat salted water until it comes to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and put into a serving bowl. Add the citrus juices and zest to the reduced cream sauce, pour over the pasta, and stir to combine. Eat!

Tip for Juicing Citrus Fruit: Zap your lemons, limes, etc. in the microwave for about 20 seconds and you'll get more juice out of them. You can also roll them around on the counter with the heel of your palm.

Chicken Delicious...A Little

I invented this recipe one Sunday afternoon when I was short an ingredient or two for another favorite recipe. I had already begun cooking the chicken, so I had to figure out something to do with it. A quick perusing of the fridge and freezer, and voila!

The dish met with a favorable response from the family as we sat down to dinner. "What should we call this? We should name it," I said. My then-5-year-old daughter exclaimed, "Chicken Delicious!" As the meal progressed and she wasn't eating anymore of it, we asked her why not. "You said it was Chicken Delicious. Why aren't you eating it?" I asked.

"Well, maybe it's just Chicken Delicious...A Little," she answered. The name stuck.

Chicken Delicious...A Little

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 T. olive oil

2 T. sun-dried tomatoes

2-3 oz. frozen spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed of excess moisture

approx. 1/4 lb. chicken, cooked and shredded

1 can refrigerated crescent rolls

approx. 1/2 cup cottage cheese

Cover tomatoes in water and let soak as you prepare other ingredients. Sauté garlic and onion in oil. Drain tomatoes and coarsely chop. Add tomatoes and spinach to pan and sauté for another few minutes. Stir in chicken and turn off heat.

Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Open crescent rolls and spread on the sheet, as shown:

Top with cottage cheese and then chicken-spinach mixture, going down the center of the dough. Fold dough over top of filling and bake 375°F for 10-12 minutes. (Check after 10 minutes.) Remove from pan and cut into pieces to serve. Serves 4.

"1-2-3 family bean!"

I remember a mealtime ritual from my childhood. I recall it as a fun game. Its origins are uncertain, but I'm sure my parents invented it as a means to get their four children to eat the less desireable items on our plates. Whenever someone said, "Family bean (or potato or carrot or meatloaf)!" everyone at the table was required to simultaneously take a bit of that food. As parents of young children ourselves, my husband and I now frequently invoke this rule at the dinner table. Of course, as I did, the children think it's a game.

Four years ago I decided to compile a family cookbook from amongst favorite recipes of my parents, my brothers, and their wives. Two years ago when the collection was finally complete and I was ready to take the book to the local copy shop, I decided to title it Family Bean! in honor of the dinners of my childhood.

Now I've decided to blog about the cooking adventures in my own kitchen (and the reception they get at my family dinner table--will we have to invoke "family bean"?), sharing my recipes, my successes, and (rarely, I hope) my failures. You'll see some old favorites, as well as the new recipes I invent or acquire from magazines, cookbooks, and friends.

Happy cooking...and eating!