Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

As you all know, I absolutely love the website 101cookbooks.com.  I check with anticipation everyday to see what new additions the author has posted.  When a new post pops up, I feel a rush of excitement to see what type of dish, ingredients, and/or recipe she has put together.  It is such an inspiration to me.  (Not in a religious type of way but in a food type of way-a soul invigorating food type of way.)

As you also know from all my soup posts, this website has wonderful, delicious soup recipes.  Today's recipe is another one I took from 101cookbooks.com.  Here is the link: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/vegetarian-tortilla-soup-recipe.html

Because this soup is basically a complex tortilla broth, I decided to add a can of corn and a can of pinto beans to the broth when I was making it.  I topped the soup with feta cheese crumbles we had in the fridge and some smoked sun dried tomatoes.  I specifically bought the sun dried tomatoes for this recipe but didn't realize until later that they were smoked.  Although I wasn't sure if they would work with the tortilla soup spices, the smoky flavor actually combined with them perfectly.  It just added to the depth of the soup.  

Matt kept eating the tortilla strips off the oven tray so we didn't have many left for topping the soup.  Clearly with the quick disappearance of the tortilla strips, they were great on their own.  They were also  super easy to make and a really fun addition to the soup.  I would highly recommend trying this recipe out when you are needing a spicy Mexican soup pick-me-up.  Enjoy!

Strawberry Pretzel Jello=Delicious!

What is the saying?  "Patience is a virtue." Well, that would be a good way to describe the character of my oh-so-patient mother. She willingly puts together this Strawberry Pretzel Jello at every Powell holiday event.  And I mean, every Powell holiday event: Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, my brother's birthday, the anniversary of the day they got their dog. Again, I mean, every event.  We Powells just love our Strawberry Pretzel Jello.

Before watching my mother make this recipe for the blog, I did not realize how much time (and love) she puts into it.  It is not a difficult recipe, it is just a long process to get the dessert completed.  It has multiple steps were cooling is a requirement or it just won't turn out right.  But I would like to reiterate, the time it takes to make this recipe is so worth it! This is a delicious jello dessert.  Thanks Mom for sharing the recipe and for making this again and again.  We appreciate you (and the wonderful jello).

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Strawberry Pretzel Jello
(passed from mother to mother in our family)

Pretzel Crust
1 cup broken pretzels
1/2 cup melted butter
5 tablespoons sugar

Creamy Filling
1 9oz whipped topping such as cool whip
1 8oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar

Jello Topping
1 large strawberry jello
2 10oz frozen strawberry packages
2 1/2 cups boiling water

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Blend crust ingredients in a food processor until well blended and crushed.  Press crust into the bottom of 9x13 pan.  Make sure they are packed into the bottom of the pan.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Cool.  Do not add filling until the pretzel crust is completely cool.

For filling, blend filling ingredients in a mixer.  Layer the filling on top of the cooled crust. Be gentle when spreading the filling onto the pretzel crust.  Make sure the filling seals the crust completely.

For jello, heat water until boiling.  Add jello and mix until it is dissolved.  Add frozen strawberries to the jello.  Let the jello cool.  After it has cooled, gently ladle the jello mixture over the filling.  Be sure to not create any holes in the filling because this will cause the pretzel crust to get soggy.

Let strawberry pretzel jello set overnight before serving. Enjoy!

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Another Wonderful Thanksgiving

Yes.  You are correct.  That is snow.

After a brief Thanksgiving hiatus, I am back to blogging.  Because Matt and I were blessed to be in
Ohio with family, I don't have any new recipe for you today. I do have one coming though within the next couple days.  It is a recipe we have every Thanksgiving (and pretty much every other holiday) around the Powell household.  Until then, below are just some of the special memories we made over the holiday.  We had such a wonderful time hanging out with everyone!  Thank you for hosting us and making us feel so special.

Sweet Ava

Brayden making gingerbread house icing with Gramma.

The final results. (Gingerbread houses are harder to build than they seem.)

Smiling Audrey

Playing in the dirt. 

Goofy and gentle Harlie

Turmeric Broccoli and Chickpeas over Whole Wheat Couscous

This little gem of a recipe came out of not planning a meal for our Thursday night dinner.  On Thursday I realized that we had basically eaten everything green out of our refrigerator.  These items were the most substantial items we had in our fridge at the time: broccoli, chickpeas, two yukon potatoes, goat cheese, and whole wheat flour tortillas. When ingredients are limited, the creativity gets to kick in.

A couple weeks ago, I made Matt a dinner with broccoli and goat cheese mashed potatoes.  It was served alongside a meat item of some sort.  Since then he has been asking me to make those two dishes for him again.  That meant I got to check off Matt's Thursday dinner from the list.   He was getting two side dishes.  I also knew that we needed to use the chickpeas in the fridge because they had been there for 4, maybe 5, days at that point.  So that's when I pulled out the turmeric.  "Why turmeric?" you might say.  "Why not turmeric?" is how I would respond.  I am having a love affair with this spice right now.  It is so warm and earthy that it seems to just pull together a recipe of vegetables.  I thought I would take part of our remaining broccoli, add in some chickpeas, add some turmeric, and get myself a meal.  And that worked!

Although I only let Matt eat one bite of this dish (He had his goat cheese potatoes and broccoli. He was fine.), he said he would definitely eat it if I made it again.  That is definitely going to be happening.  It was so simple and easy to make this dinner.  We always have couscous or rice sitting around waiting to be used up.  This is also a quick and different way to use some broccoli and leftover chickpeas.  Although it was a gamble putting all these ingredients together, it turned out to a good one.  If you try it, I hope you enjoy!

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Turmeric Broccoli and Chickpeas

2 green onions
1 clove garlic
1 can chickpeas
2 cups broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric
pinch of cayanne pepper
1/4 cup of water

Begin by chopping the green onions and the broccoli.  Heat a pan over medium heat that has a splash of olive oil in it.  Add onions.  Cook for about 3-5 minutes or until slightly soften. Add garlic and chickpeas.  Stir until well mixed and let sit for 1-2 minutes.  Add broccoli, salt, turmeric, cayanne pepper, and water.  Stir well.  Let cook until the water has evaporated off which should take about 5 minutes.  The broccoli should be bright green in color by the end of this process. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve over couscous or rice.  Top with feta cheese or roasted nuts such walnuts, pine nuts, or almonds.

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Broccoli and Potato Skillet Tart

       
Dun Dun Duh (sound affect here)...... the ominous black cast iron skillet!

A couple days ago I decided I wanted to revamp our usual tart recipe.  Don't get me wrong.  I definitely love that tart recipe but I was in the mood for something different.  Something more robust.  Something more... ominous you might say.

Okay, that is a little dramatic but I did want to use our cast iron skillet during this tart cooking experience.  This big heavy black cast iron skillet was actually one of Matt's purchases pre-marriage.  He often used it for cooking steaks for himself and his roommate.  Nowadays it is still getting use but not quite as much.  I love the skillet and appreciate its searing and cooking abilities.  However I often just don't know what to do with it if I am not cooking meat.

Below is a tart recipe I created specifically so we could use the skillet.  This is a one skillet recipe which is wonderful!  Clean up for us included about five dishes and four utensils.  Not too bad, huh?  All of the ingredients in the tart could be swapped out for any other vegetable you have on hand.  Next time I make it, I will definitely add more broccoli and possibly some spinach.  Hope you enjoy!

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Broccoli and Potato Skillet Tart

1 medium leek
2 teaspoons salt, divided into 1 teaspoon each
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 medium red potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
2 broccoli heads, about 3 cups
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 oz of fontina cheese, shredded (about 1/4 cup)
2 oz reduced fat feta (about 1/4 cup)
1 pie crust

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Take the leek and chop only the white section of a leek.  (Rinse throughly in order to get out any grit and dirt.)  Place skillet on medium high heat.  Add a splash of olive oil to the skillet. Add leeks, 1 teaspoon of the salt, and pepper to skillet.  Cook leeks until soft, about 5-7 minutes.  Stir periodically to prevent burning.

While leeks are cooking, cut the potatoes and broccoli into bite sized pieces. Add potatoes and broccoli to skillet.  Mix all the ingredients together.  Add chicken broth and remaining 1 teaspoon of salt to skillet.  Stir, cooking for about 5 more minutes.  Turn off heat under skillet.

Sprinkle feta and fontina cheeses over the vegetables.  Top the cheese and vegetables with pie crust.  Make sure to cut pie crust in spots for ventilation.  Place entire skillet in the oven when it is preheated.  Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.  Enjoy!

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Split pea potstickers...who would have thought?!?

Oh man, this recipe was an adventure!  Not in a bad way.  In a really delicious slightly Asian food way.  

I have never attempted to make potstickers but this weekend I must have thought I was up for the challenge. On most Sundays I enjoy experimenting with new recipes.  I have more time to try new things and play around with ingredients.  This past Sunday was the day I decided to make this recipe: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/golden-potstickers-recipe.html.  When buying ingredients, the only immediately problem I ran into was that Publix didn't have potsticker wrappers.  However, they did have egg roll wrappers so a quick substitution was made.  I guess I should technically call this post "Split pea egg rolls" instead of potstickers.  Oh well!

I am often afraid to make Asian food or even any sort of food that might have some Asian connection.  I am just not very good at it.  I think my lack of ability with this type of food is actually what attracted me to this recipe.  I always like to try new things but with this recipe for potstickers the filling consisted of caramelized onions and split peas.  These are two ingredients I know well. The process of making this dish was super easy.  The longest part was definitely cooking the split peas.  That took about 30-35 minutes. The egg rolls turned out crispy perfect and strangely good.  I wasn't quite sure what an onion and split pea mixture would taste like in an egg roll but I was very happily surprised.  I served it with a side of white rice and an arugula salad. 

When I asked Matt if he would be interested in having this recipe again, he stated, "Yes, please."  That of course was between bites of an egg roll.  We have about half of the egg roll wrappers leftover so I have a feeling I will be making some sort of egg roll concoction very, very soon.  I have some leftover chickpeas too.... I wonder how I can incorporate those two ingredients.  We will see! 

PS-Sorry again for the pictures turning a slight shade of yellow at the bottom of this post.  I am working on that small issue. 

Delicious Oatmeal and Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Bars

"It [the peanut butter bar] smells delicious." 

(slight pause) 

"It is delicious!  Oh my!" said Matt.

When you get a reaction like that from any dessert you have baked, your baking self-esteem is automatically going to move up a little higher.  As you can tell from the direct quote above, yesterday afternoon I was feeling pretty darn good about myself. 

Because the weekend had been so busy, I was excited about the idea of baking something on Sunday afternoon.  After much looking, I came across a peanut butter bar recipe on the Weight Watchers website.  Because I had all the ingredients and because Matt loves peanut butter anything, I decided to see how this lower-fat, reduced calorie recipe would turn out. 

Below is the recipe taken directly from the Weight Watchers website.  I would highly recommend trying this recipe if you are wanting or needing to make something for a large group of people.  The bars were easy to eat and had the consistency between a cake and cookie bar.  They are also slightly on the healthier side because the recipe include whole wheat flour and oatmeal.  If you make them, I hope you enjoy!

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Peanut Butter Bars

(taken from Weight Watchers website)

Bar

1 spray cooking spray

1 1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup quick cooking rolled oats, do not use instant

3/4 cup reduced fat peanut butter

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar, granulated

1/2 cup light butter, from a stick, softened

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup fat free skim milk

Icing

3 tablespoons reduced fat peanut butter

1 1/2 tablespoons light butter, from a stick

2/3 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon fat free skim milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Coat a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.

Whisk together all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.  Whisk in oats and set aside.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat peanut butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and butter in a large bowl until well blended.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition; beat in vanilla.

At low speed, add one half of flour mixture to peanut butter mixture, then one half of milk, beating just until incorporated.  Repeat with remaining flour mixture and milk, beating until well mixed.  Spread batter in prepared pan.  Bake until golden at edges and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 30 minutes.  Transfer to a rack.

Meanwhile, to making icing, combine peanut butter and butter in a medium microwavable bowl.  Microwave on high until butter is melted, about 30 seconds; whisk until smooth.  Add powdered sugar and milk; which until smooth.  Immediately spread icing evening over hot cake.  Cool completely.  Cut into 24 bars.

Weekend photos

So I haven't blogged since Thursday. I know that no one's life is dependent upon my daily blogging (praise Jesus!) but I have decided I am not going to blog every day anymore unless I have something really great to share.  Quality is better than quantity in my book.

So with that, I am going to share these photos just because I like them.  Most of them are pictures from our weekend which has been very busy.  This afternoon is the first time we have been home (and not sleeping) for more than 3 hours at a time.  It has been very nice to just get to relax, cook, bake, and take photos as I so desire.  I promise that tomorrow will bring with it a delicious recipe.  Stay tuned!

This photo is from our friend Lily's daughter's first birthday party.  The party was at 10:30am so they decided to have donuts instead of cake.  Umm....delicious!  As you can see, it was definitely a challenge to decide between all the different options.

I bought some flowers this weekend to adorn our kitchen table. I think white carnations are the world's most underrated flower.  They smell wonderful and last for at least two weeks.  They are most definitely one of my favorites.

Matt made pizza again on Thursday.  He is seriously so good at it.  In fact, he is so good at it that somehow it has made its way onto our weekly dinner list again this week.  This will be our third week in a row to have pizza.  When you find something great, why let it go?

Tonight's dinner (and a future blog) will highlight the split pea.  I made these this afternoon in preparation for our dinner tonight.  Aren't they so beautiful?!

Thanks for taking a photo journey with me.  I hope you enjoyed your weekend too!