Baked Tomatoes

4 ripe tomatoes 1/2 c butter
2 c fresh bread crumbs
1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp hot pepper sauce

Heat oven to 350.
Slice stem ends off tomatoes. Cut them in half and place cut side up in a baking dish.
Melt butter in a skillet. Stir in bread crumbs, cheese, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, thyme and hot sauce. Place 2 Tbl of mixture on each tomato half.
Bake 30 min, until topping is browned.

Baked Sweet Potato Wedges

A Paula Deen recipe.

1/2 c + 2 Tbl butter
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 sweet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into lengthwise wedges
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 400.
Melt butter. Remove from heat and add cinnamon. Add sweet potatoes and toss.
Season with salt and pepper.
Roast about 25 minutes until tender.

Lemon Tuna and Pasta

Sorry, no picture. I was too busy eating. But here is another quick and tasty meal I wanted to share. I more or less made it up myself (inspired by a few recipes I saw online).

Ingredients:

1 package of linguine
2 lemons
1 cup of heavy cream
1-2 cups of frozen peas
2 cans of white tuna (tastes better)
1 small red onion
2-3 cloves garlic
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Start boiling your pasta.
2. Next chop the onion and mince garlic and sautee in some oil.
3. Add cream to the onions/garlic mix.
4. Zest your lemons, and juice them and add both the zest and juice from both lemons to the cream mix. Also add some salt and pepper.
5. Just before your pasta is done, add your drained tuna and frozen peas to the cream/garlic/onion/lemon mix. Then add your drained pasta. Mix everything well, and let it simmer for a little bit until the peas are soft enough, but still a bit crunchy (2-4 minutes).

Preparation time: 20 minutes?

Enjoy your meal.

Balsamic Tomato Soup with Baguette and Zucchini

Here is another delicious and easy meal for you that my family loves. Most of you got to try the soup at Kari and Darcie's little Farewell party at my house.

The bread I just bought (French Baguette). You definitely want a bread that's a bit crunchy for this soup. The zucchini I simply sliced and sauteed in some olive oil with salt and pepper and some finely chopped onions (1 small chopped onion and 4 zucchinis). Only sautee it long enough that it gets tender but still has a bit of bite (about 5-10 minutes).

The Soup:

Ingredients:

2 cans of whole tomatoes (28oz)
1 big onion
4-5 garlic cloves
5-6 oz of heavy cream or evaporated milk
1 cup of beef broth
3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp of soy sauce
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 tbsp of sugar

Directions:
1. Get out a 9x13 glass dish, and preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Drain tomatoes and put in glass dish, chop onion into big chunks, and sprinkle over tomatoes, peel garlic and also throw on top of tomatoes.
3. Mix together 1/2 cup of beef broth as well as vinegar, soy sauce, oil and sugar. Mix well and pour over tomato mix. Bake the whole thing for about  45-50 minutes.
4. Blend your baked tomatoes and add the cream and broth after you blended the whole thing. Enjoy the soup now with your crunchy bread and zucchinis.


I'd say the actual prep time for the soup as well as zucchinis is maybe 30 minutes at best...

Chickpea Salad

Here is another recipe that I love. It's also healthy, fairly inexpensive, and easy to make.

Ingredients:

1-2 cans of Chickpeas
2 cans of tuna
1 nice fresh big bunch of parsley
3-4 tomatoes
1 small red onion (or bigger if you like red onions)
olive oil
salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Get out a big bowl. Open your chickpeas and tuna, drain all of them well and toss it in the bowl.
2. Chop up your parsley and add it to the bowl.
3. Chop your tomatoes and red onion and add it to the bowl.
4. Add some olive oil and salt and pepper to taste (it usually needs a fair amount of salt, but taste first and then add more)

Toss it all up, and you're done. You can also add some chopped cucumbers if you like.

Mexican Lentil Stew

I don't know what to say about this dish. It's healthy, it's cheap, and it's easy. I can't say I love it, but every time I eat it, I end up surprised that I do enjoy it. The main reason why I'm posting this recipe is because this is one of Sophia's favorite dishes. She'll seriously eat easily 3 bowls full of this stuff. I figure if one child likes it, it just may be a hit with other kids.

Ingredients:

1 cup dry red lentils (I use whatever lentils I have on hand)
2 cups water
1 T olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup finely chopped celery
1 T minced garlic (or less, but I like a lot of garlic)
1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. chile powder
1 can diced tomatoes (sometimes I add more, or just add plain tomato sauce - not pasta sauce though)
2 cups vegetable broth
1 tsp. green Tobasco sauce
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice (you can do less lime, but I often use more - it's really what makes this dish any good in my opinion)
1/2 - 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. Boil lentils in 2 cups of water, until they're somewhat tender.
2. In another pot, sautee onions, garlic and celery until mostly tender, then add all the spices.
3. Now add to the onion stuff the broth and tomatoes as well as lentils (which should basically have no liquid left in the pot). Oh, and don't forget the tobasco.
4. Cook on low heat (simmer) until everything is tender. Chop up your cilantro in the mean time, and squeeze our limes. Add the cilantro and lime juice when the stew is ready to eat.

We often add a spoon of sour cream and some grated cheddar cheese on top of our bowls, which I think is delicious, but it's good either way.

Bestest Blueberry Muffins Ever

Because I love you guys, I shall no longer withhold this wonderful recipe from you. We went blueberry picking the other day, and had all those fresh, frozen blueberries. So, before I knew it, I, Fran, was suddenly baking in the kitchen. Best decision ever. These are fantastic. So much so that I made them twice in like less than two weeks. Yup. The original recipes had grams and stuff, so I converted it for you guys as good as I could. Should work fine.

Dry Ingredients:
2 absolutely full cups of plain flour (they don't have to be heaped but definitely full to the edge)
1/2 tsp of salt
1 tbsp baking powder
6 oz sugar (normal sugar, and I think that's a 3/4 cup)
5 oz blueberries (I think that's about 2/3 cup of blueberries...)

Wet ingredients:
2 eggs
6 fl oz canola oil (3/4 cup)
6 fl oz soured cream (3/4 cup) - I substituted with fresh plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
a little less than 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
grated zest of 1 small lemon

1. Mix all the dry ingredients well in a bowl.
2. Mix all the wet ingredients well and then pour them into the dry ingredients and mix it all until you have a nice smooth batter. This worked fine with a spoon.
3. Put your batter into your muffin baking dish, and bake for about 20-25 minutes at 395 degrees.
4. Eat all the muffins in 10 minutes.

Fancy Quesadillas

Here's another pretty simple and cheap recipe for those who like Mexican food, or American Mexican, or whatever it would be. I guess for those who like tortillas, refried beans, cheese, salsa and the like. :)

Ingredients:

1 pack of tortillas (flour/whole wheat...whatever, as long as you can fold them)
1/2 can of corn
1/2 jar of salsa
1/2 can of refried beans
fresh cilantro chopped
1 lime
grated cheddar cheese
some chopped, fried/baked/out of the can or whatever else works for you chicken (optional)
enchilada sauce (optional)

1. Mix your corn with your salsa, and add the chopped cilantro and lime juice. You can adjust the quantities to your liking and to your family needs. Basically you're just jazzing up your plain bought salsa.

2. Take a tortilla and spread some refried beans on one half of the tortilla. Next, spread the salsa on top of the refried beans. Then add the chicken if you're using any, then the cheese. Fold the 'clean' half over the covered half and fry the baby in a frying pan until both sides are slightly crisp and browned, and the cheese has melted.

3. Pour some heated enchilada sauce over the tortilla when it's done (do that on your plate not in the frying pan).

4. Eat. Repeat the whole process until you have enough. I can usually only eat 1, maybe 2 of those.

This meal can actually really be quite healthy if you use whole wheat tortillas, fat-free beans, and find a good salsa that's low in sugar (and don't overload on the cheese). We really love these, Sophia included, and it's one of my favorite things to make on a Friday night or so. I should mention that these don't really taste good re-heated later. And even though it may sound a little complicated to make them, it really only takes 10 minutes, maybe 15. Unless you struggle with opening jars and cans...

Bean and Rice Salad

I told Kari about this recipe the other day, so I'll just post it here. It's pretty cheap, healthy, yummy and vegetarian.

1 can of black beans
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of corn
2 chopped avocados
2 chopped bell peppers (I used red and yellow but whatever you like/can afford works I'm sure)
5-6 chopped tomatoes
1 small red onion chopped up
2 cups boiled rice (I use instant brown rice - healthier) mostly cooled
1 bunch chopped fresh cilantro

3 limes

Throw all of that stuff in a bowl, and don't forget to drain your beans and corn before you do that. Then squeeze in the juice of the 3 limes, add some olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. You could also add a bit of crushed red pepper to add some kick, if you so wish. Mix well. Tastes best right after. Serves about 5 I'd say.