Week Day Food

Wow, late again. Such is life. Meanwhile, here are today's offerings. Enjoy!

BEST TOMATO SOUP EVER

This comes from Ree Drummond of The Food Network's The Pioneer Woman. Total Time: 40 min; Prep: 25 min; Cook: 15 min; Yield: 6 to 8 servings; Level: Easy

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/best-tomato-soup-ever.print.html?oc=linkback

Ingredients

1 medium white or yellow onion

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter

Two 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes

One 46-ounce bottle or can tomato juice

3 to 6 tablespoons sugar

1 or 2 tablespoons chicken base, or 3 chicken bouillon cubes

Freshly ground black pepper

1 cup sherry, optional

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions

To begin, dice the onion. Melt the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven. Throw in the onion and cook until translucent.

Now dump in the diced tomatoes and stir to combine. Add the tomato juice.

Next - and this is important - in order to combat the acidity of the tomatoes add 3 to 6 tablespoons of sugar. Now, you'll want to start on the low side, then taste and add more as needed. Some tomatoes and juice have more of an acidic bite than others. (For what it's worth, and I realize it's not worth much, I use 6 tablespoons of sugar.)

Next, add 1 or 2 tablespoons chicken base to the pot. I added 3, and it wound up being a little too much.

Now you can add lots of freshly ground black pepper. Stir to combine, then heat almost to a boil. Then turn off the heat.

Add in the sherry if desired. Stir in the cream. Add the basil and parsley and stir.

Serve the soup warm!

TWICE BAKED POTATOES

Prep Time: 10 Minutes - Cost: $
Servings: 4 - Difficulty Level: 2

Find this recipe at: http://diabeticgourmet.com/recipes/html/175.shtml

Ingredients

4 Medium potatoes, baked

1 cup low-fat cottage cheese

1/2 cup low-fat milk

1 tbsp onion, minced

Freshly ground black pepper

Paprika

Dried Parsley Flakes

Directions

Cut potatoes in half lengthwise. Scoop out potatoes, leaving skins intact for restuffing.

With wire whisk, beat potatoes with cottage cheese, milk, and onion. Spoon mixture back into skins.

Sprinkle with paprika flakes and black pepper.

Bake for 10 minutes until just golden.

Nutritional Information Per Serving: Calories: 73; Fat: 7 g; Sodium: 316 mg; Cholesterol: 3 mg; Exchanges: 1 Bread

LASAGNA PRIMAVERA

This comes from FamilyTime.com, and starts off, "Using oven-ready lasagna noodles makes this recipe simple to prepare...and layering vegetables into the lasagna is a brilliant way to add flavor and lighten up this delicious dish." Serves: 8 (about 1 1/2 cups each); Prep time: 40 minutes; Cook time: 45 minutes

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons light butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups skim milk

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 medium zucchini, or summer squash, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced (about 3 cups)

1 package (10 ounces) cremini mushroom, , sliced (about 3 3/4 cups)

1 medium red pepper, cut into 2-inch-long strips (about 1 1/2 cups)

1/2 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2-inch-long pieces (about 2 cups)

3 cups Prego® Heart Smart Ricotta Parmesan Italian Sauce

12 oven-ready lasagna noodle, (no boil)

Directions

Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a 1-quart saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or the mixture is golden. Gradually stir in the milk. Cook and stir for 5 minutes or until the milk mixture boils and thickens. Stir in the nutmeg and black pepper. Remove the saucepan from the heat.

Heat the remaining butter in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the zucchini, mushrooms, pepper and asparagus and cook for 10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender-crisp, stirring occasionally.

Layer 1/2 cup Italian sauce, 4 lasagna noodles, 3/4 cup Italian sauce, one-third of the milk mixture and half the vegetable mixture in a 3-quart shallow baking dish. Repeat the layers. Top with the remaining lasagna noodles, sauce and milk mixture. Cover the baking dish loosely with foil.

Bake for 45 minutes at 375°F. or until the lasagna is hot and bubbling. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

TROPICAL CARROT CAKE WITH COCONUT CREAM CHEESE ICING

This comes from Carroll Pellegrinelli, About.com's Desserts/Baking expert. She writes, "I grew-up eating this cake. It's so sinful, and yet, filled with good things for you. I've had house guests request Tropical Carrot Cake for breakfast. I think this carrot cake recipe is by far the best you'll ever have." Prep Time: 30 minutes; Cook Time: 60 minutes; Total Time: 90 minutes

Ingredients

The Cake Recipe:

2 cups sugar

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups grated carrots

1-1/3 cups vegetable oil

4 eggs, slighly beaten

1 cup chopped and toasted walnuts or pecans

1 - 20 ounce can crushed pineapple, drained

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon lemon extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

The Frosting Recipe:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 - 8 ounce cream cheese, softened

1 - 16 ounce box powdered sugar, sifted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup chopped and toasted walnuts or pecans

1 cup flaked coconut

Preparation

The Cake Recipe:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two bread loaf pans. Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add carrots, oil and eggs. Beat well, until mixed. Add other ingredients and stir. Put into baking pans. Bake for 1 hour or until done. Completely cool cakes before frosting.

The Frosting:

Combine butter and cream cheese; cream until light and fluffy. Add sugar and vanilla, mixing well. Stir in pecans and coconut. Spread on each cake. Store cakes in the refrigerator.

Note: This cake freezes beautifully. Place on foil covered baking sheet. Freeze until hard. Remove from freezer and wrap in plastic wrap and then in foil. Return to freezer. Unwrap totally and then defrost cake.

ROCKY ROAD CAKE

I was taking a speech class at a local junior college. One week we had to give a demonstration speech; one lady demonstrated how to make this cake, passing out copies of the recipe along with pieces of cake. It’s absolutely delicious. The icing can be used on almost any kind of cake; it would be really good on carrot cake! For the longest time, several members of my family wanted this for their birthday cakes. It can be found at my e-cookbook, Off the Wall Cooking.

1 C chopped nuts

4 eggs

1 C raisins

1 C mayonnaise

1 C mini-marshmallows

1 C water

6 oz. package of chocolate

1 package (18.25 oz) Devil’s Food cake mix w/pudding

Grease & flour 2 9" pans. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix first four ingredients in medium-size bowl. In large bowl at low speed, mix cake mix, eggs, may & water until blended. Increase speed to medium & beat for 2 minutes. Stir in nut mixture. Pour into greased & floured pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Cool in pan 15 minutes on cooling rack.

Icing (for Rocky Road Cake)

1 tsp. vanilla

1 stick butter

8 oz. cream cheese

1 box confectioners sugar

Place ingredients in bowl & cream together. When cake is cool, ice. ENJOY!

ZELDA'S (AND SHELLA'S) CLAM CHOWDER

I'd "met" Shella on a feminist bulletin board that has long since closed. She and her other half, Zelda, on a bulletin board that they then put together that also has long since closed. This was one of the recipes they shared.

Zelda wrote, "I found this recipe at allrecipes.com and altered it slightly." She also added at the end of the recipe, "This tastes really good with toasted sourdough bread! Yum!"

Also, since I lean towards vegetarianism, I'd probably forgo the clams and just make this into a potato soup.

1 cup chopped onion

3 cloves garlic

2 teaspoons dried thyme

4 cups peeled and diced potatoes

1 cup diced celery

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 (10 ounce) cans minced clams, drained with juice reserved

1 quart half-and-half cream

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Sauté onion and garlic in 1 tablespoon of butter for about 8 minutes or until tender. Add dried thyme and sauté another two minutes. Let cool about ten minutes and then blend with enough water to make a smooth paste.

In a large pot, combine potatoes, celery (I like a lot of celery so I usually add more), salt, pepper, onion mixture, and juice from clams. Augment with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes.

With the flour and the rest of the butter you will make a roux. This will do away with the raw flour taste and help to thicken the chowder. To make the roux, melt the butter in a skillet (I prefer cast iron), add the flour. Cook for about 2 minutes on a medium to high heat, stirring constantly. The color of the roux will be a light cream color when it is finished. Set aside.

Stir the half-and-half into the pot. Whisk roux into the chowder. Cook and stir until thickened. Stir in clams and adjust seasonings. Cook another 5 minutes or until the clams are heated though.