Sunday Late Lunch

Sunday found me at home with Estelle and Claire (Claire had a slight runny nose and cough). So, while Erik, McCall and Elizabeth were at church I made one of our favorite soups with some home made bread.

The soup is almost completely made from things from our garden, excluding the chicken bullion, onion and garlic. (Some day I'm going to try growing garlic and onions -- maybe next year.)

I thought I'd share these delicious recipes...

Healthy Soup (From Sister-in-law Cheryl)

1 c. onions, diced
8 garlic cloves, minced
8 chicken bullion, or packets (dry)
6 c. zucchini, thinly sliced
2 c. carrots, thinly sliced
2 c. chopped tomato (or canned diced)
4 tsp. parsley
1 tsp. basil
1/4 tsp. ground pepper

Combine onion, garlic, and bullion (pound bullion to make crumble). (I add tbsp. olive oil which Cheryl does not which is why I've renamed it from very healthy soup to healthy soup!!) Saute until onions are translucent. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes. Add 8 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook until veggies are soft, about 20-30 minutes. Using a slotted spoon remove 2 cups of veggies from pot and reserve. In blender puree remaining soup (I just use an immersion blender right in the pot). Return vegetables to pot with puree and heat.

Julie's Whole Wheat/White Bread (From Sister-in-law Julie)
1 1/2 c. warm water
1 Tbsp. yeast
3 1/2 c. white flour (2c. ww and 1 1/2 white flour)
1 Tbsp. oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. honey

Mix water and yeast in a small bowl or measuring cup and set aside. Add flour, salt, oil and honey and combine in mixer with kneader attachment. When yeast mixture has foamed add to flour mixture. Combine in mixture until well mixed. Check the dough, if it seems to sticky add a little more flour and combine. Shape dough into a loaf and place in a greased loaf pan. Let rise for about 20 minutes. Bake at 350 degree's for 30-35 minutes.

Enjoy these yummy recipes!

Strawberry Shortcake

I purchase a large thing of strawberries from Costco for Swedish pancakes and so I needed to come up with something other than freezer jam to use them up, I've made pie so much and so I wanted something different so last night I whipped up Strawberry Shortcake and this is now my favorite recipe for strawberry shortcake. I don't understand why people us that spongy stuff from the store or store biscuits when these are so easy and so much better. I love the egg and sugar top. It makes a crunchy caramelized top to the shortcakes which I love. If I had some of that larger crystal (natural) sugar I might use that next time but the granulated work just fine!

Shortcakes

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 T. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

3 T. sugar

8 T. butter, chilled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 lg. egg, beaten

1/2 c. milk (I use slightly more)

1 lg. egg white, lightly beaten

2 T. sugar

Heat over to 425 degrees. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, sugar in bowl (I use food processor but can use bowl and pastry cutter). Scatter butter pieces over mixture and pulse five times. Continue until flour is pale yellow and resembles coarse cornmeal. Turn mixture into medium bowl.

Mix beaten egg with milk; pour into flour mixture. Combine with rubber spatula until large clumps form. Turn mixture out into floured surface and lightly knead until it comes together. Roll out to 3/4 inch thick (about 9-6 inch square) being careful not to overwork dough. Flour a biscuit cutter (any like shaped cutter would work - I've even used a glass in years past.

Place on cookie sheet and brush with egg whites and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake until golden brown about 12-14 minutes. Cool 10 minutes.

Split along natural crack on the side and place bottom on serving plate. Spoon portion of fruit over bottom piece and dollop of whipped cream. Cap with top piece (I repeated the fruit on the top).

*****For the strawberries I crush/mash up about a cups worth of strawberries and maybe 1/2 c. sugar and then add another cup of large sliced strawberries.

Pie Crust & Strawberry Rubarb Pie

I was preparing pie crust to make a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie for my family tonight. There are lots of recipes out their for pie crust but the one from Cooks Illustrated is my favorite. It uses a combination of butter and shortening. The butter makes it flaky and delicious, the shortening makes it workable and holds together well. I use my food processor for all of it by simply pulsing the mixture. I love their cookbook The Best Recipe http://www.amazon.com/Recipe-Editors-Cooks-Illustrated-Magazine/dp/0936184388/ref=sr_1_10?e=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217180837&sr=8-10

They spent countless hours researching each recipe to come up with the very best, tried and true collection. It is like a cooking bible at my house. Their flour less chocolate cakes are another one of my favorites (mmm...maybe tomorrow for family night we'll make that...when's lunch? All this food talk has me hungry.)

My Strawberry Rhubarb Pie recipe comes from Erik's grandma with some modifications by me over the years.

1 1/4 c. sugar

4 tbsp. flour

2-3 tbsp. instant tapioca

1/8 tsp. kosher salt

2 c. rhubarb stalks, cubed

2 1/2 c. strawberries, quartered

2 tbsp. butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine in a small bowl, sugar, flour, tapioca, and salt. (You can substitute corn starch for tapioca.) In a larger bowl combine rhubarb and strawberries. Add sugar mixture and combine until fruit mixture is covered. Dump into prepared pie crust. Dot with butter. Cover with remaining pie crust for the top, crimp edges.

Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees, bake for 30-40 minutes more until crust is browned. Allow to cool at least an hour before serving. (The cooling process is what thickens the mixture, if you can't wait long before serving it will still taste good, it will just be runny.)

There is nothing like a yummy pie baking in the oven on a summer afternoon! It just makes the whole family happy! Enjoy!