easy peasy Broccoli Cheddar Soup

When I got the first glimpse of fall weather, it was all tights and soup for this girl!!! I was craving some broccoli cheddar soup and since my teacher paycheck doesn't allow daily trips to the place that holds my heart... Panera... I had to fend for myself. :)

With the help of pinterest, I found several (what looked like) good recipes for soup. I found a few crock pot recipes that will come in handy soon, but I just wanted something I could whip up after work. I stumbled across a blog that has three weeks of cheap meals that can be prepared in 15 minutes. :) There was a simple broccoli cheddar soup recipe, so I ran by Walmart, grabbed a couple ingredients, and was ready to go!

The recipe calls for:
1. Two cups of condensed cheddar cheese soup (Next time, I'd like to try one can of cheddar soup and one can of potato, but it was still way good!)
2. Three cups frozen chopped broccoli (I was lazy and didn't chop mine. I should've.)
3. Three cups of milk
4. One cup of frozen potatoes O'Brien in a pot (I cheated and just used frozen cubed hashbrowns. I have a TON left over!)

Bring to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes. Done! Its delicious! I picked up a French Baguette too, and it was the perfect complement to this tasty, cool weather, dinner. 

Pizza: from scratch.

Last night brought the beginning of a new week. Meaning a new Monday. Meaning a new week to try new recipes. I may or may not have taken a little detour to this AWESOME store called T.J. Maxx. You should go. ;) [insert glorious jingle here.] I found this delightful cookbook entitled Energy Food. The title just SCREAMED my name from the clearance shelf. Only beef with the book... it's published in the UK... so more conversions. Just when I thought I was done with those!!!

I decided to try one of the "dynamic dinners" and see how dynamite it turned out.

my pizza with charbroiled vegetables:

ingredients for dough:
14 oz. (1.75 cups) whole wheat flour, plus extra for kneading
1 envelope active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
250 ml (1 cup) warm water
1 Tbs olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
suggested toppings:
bottled tomato sauce
goat cheese
zucchini
bell peppers
eggplant

I decided that the best toppings would be fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, yellow peppers and zucchini. Mainly because those were the available things in the fridge. :)

To make the dough, stir the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Make a well in the center, then stir in the warm water and the pol. Stir to make a soft dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead dough until smooth and elastic. Return the douhg to the rinsed bowl, drizzle with oil, then cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place until it has doubled in volume.

Meanwhile, prepare the veggies. A.k.a. heat them in a skillet with (optional) oil. I didn't use any and my veggies turned out fine. The directions in the book are more detailed, but if I can do it without reading it all, you'll be fine too! Remember, the book is British. ;)

Preheat oven to 425 (with baking sheet inside). Not sure why you're supposed to do that, but oh well! It says to split the dough into two balls and make 2 pizzas, but I wanted to just make one, so the dough was thicker and I added a few minutes to the cook time. We'll see if it worked!

Spread dough, roll with rolling pin (which I have yet to locate). Spread with sauce, and top with toppings. I added to mine: authentic Italian sauce, yellow peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, and fresh mozzarella. It looks and tastes phenomenal. :)


Bon appetit! ;)

The test kitchen of Jessica: Recipe 1: Herb-and-Bean-Stuffed Tomatoes

Those of you who know my cooking expertise (or lack thereof) will smile when i tell you of my summer plans. I accepted a nannying job and the couple asked if I would be willing to cook dinner for their family. I eagerly accepted. I had months to prepare myself, so I thought I would be fine. I grew up eating things like pasta, pasta, more pasta, with the occasional hamburger helper, and rarely a hot dog or sandwich. I found my first week on the job that the family eats almost everything organic and she works for Better Homes and Gardens. She hands me a stack of recipes torn out of magazines with hundreds of words I can't pronounce, and foods I have never heard of. Google became my (even closer) best friend. Since I began, I have successfully made tortilla-and-lime crusted tilapia with corn salsa, learned how to roast a red pepper, and found the organic produce at the grocery store. And, they grow their own herbs. She told me I could use those in my cooking, but the only thing I've ever picked on my own anything except dandelions... and they didn't taste very good. SO MUCH TO LEARN!

Now, join me for my first blog about a meal... Herb-and-Bean-Stuffed Tomatoes. This is what the website says they should look like...

Let's just say that I DOUBT mine will end up like that. But you get to experience it with me! We'll see how it goes! And if you test out this recipe, please tell me how it went, but don't try to show me up. I'm NOT a chef, but by the end of the summer, I plan on renting myself out as a personal chef. ;)

Enjoy my play-by-play!

1. Cut off 1/2 inch from the top of each tomato. Finely chop enough of the tops to equal 1 cup; set aside.

2. Remove and discard the seeds and pulp from tomatoes. (Or save them for something else!)

3. In a large bowl stir together the chopped tomato, 3/4 cup of the bread crumbs, the beans, pine nuts, cheese, basil, 1 tablespoon olive oil, garlic, salt, and black pepper. Spoon the bean mixture into the tomatoes. Place the stuffed tomatoes in a 2-quart square baking dish.

4. In a small bowl stir together the remaining 3/4 cup bread crumbs, 2 teaspoons olive oil, and the thyme. Sprinkle over tomatoes.

5. Bake, uncovered, in a 350° oven about 20 minutes or until crumbs are golden brown and tomatoes are heated through.

Not too far off from the original! And it tasted okay too. ;) If you try it, let me know how it goes!