BIZZY BAKES

Another week of cooking from,Thirty Minute Pasta, by Giuliano Hazan means another way of cooking pasta.  Noodle soup is hardly new to us but sharing the limelight with the peas is new to me.  Also, I was thinking of pasta in a more traditional way (meatballs and spaghetti, lasagna, mac and cheese) and I am happy to  be making soups and salads as well as casseroles. It turned out to be a comforting dish which is based on Rice and Peas and adapted into this delicious Noodles and Pea Soup.  Hazan made this into a real shortcut soup by using a bouillion cube added to water to make the soup.  If you have a good vegetable broth or frozen chicken soup or beef broth, I recommend using it to make an even better tasting soup.   I was not disappointed with the bouillion and I guess I chose one that had good flavor but that was simply luck. Hazan suggested cutting the noodles into smaller pieces but I saw no real purpose in doing that.  I prefer the full ...

It is  traditional to have chicken soup on Friday night for Shabbos.  Sometimes, we change and have a vegetable soup or beef soup.  This week, I took a sharp turn and had cold strawberry soup.  My guests thought it was a smoothie in a bowl.  It tasted like a smoothie also.  That made it one delicious soup. In the summer heat, this is a wonderful option and I hopefully will make fruit soups more often. Cold Strawberry Soup Ingredients: 2 pints of strawberries 1 cup coconut milk 1 cup sour cream 1/3 cup sugar 2 tablespoons orange juice 1 teaspoon vanilla Method: Using a blender or food processor, blend all the ingredients until smooth. That is it.  Pour into bowls and enjoy. Tuesday's table           Waste Not Want Not Wednesday              This is How We Roll   

This photo is from another soup.  I forgot to take one after it was blended.  The second photo is a true one.  This looks just like it though. My husband is having difficulty swallowing and is on a creamy liquid diet.  I have been playing around with different foods.  The easiest is soup, any kind, due to the wonderful immersion blender.  I use it for many foods but I use it the most in soups to thicken them or smooth them out.  This time, I used some of our basic veggies to make this soup.  Usually, I go to spinach or broccoli or butternut squash.  This is what we had in the "olden days." Creamy Vegetable Soup Ingredients: 6 carrots, peeled, 1/2-inch chunks 1 large onion, quartered 2 celery stalks, 1/2-inch chunks 1 zucchini, chunked 3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes chunked 3 cups vegetable stock 2 cups water 1 teaspoon basil 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes salt to taste pepper to taste spices ...

The first time, I went through Ellie's book, "Weeknight Wonders", this soup was on my list of first choices for our cooking group, Eating with Ellie .  It sounded so right and so healthy.  Go to our site for more information. This is a blended soup and mine was rather thick and lumpy.  I added some more broth but it remained thick.  I thought about it and this made it more into a meal than a course and I left it bumpy and lumpy.  It was not a mistake.   It is another easy recipe. Toast the cashew, mix the ingredients, blend them together and cook them. Top with carrots and cashews. A snap....... Sarah selected this soup for the group and I give three cheers for her good taste in soup. Savory Carrot Cashew Soup is a soup, I think you would enjoy, so give it a try. Whimsy Wednesday                   Waste Not Want Not Wednesday           Lou Lou Girls    ...

I was at one of my favorite blogs, Ms.enPlace  the other day.  Go on over and meet   Michelle  and learn about Louisiana and good food and be charmed by her. She was making her weekly recipe for IHCC . IHCC is holding a virtual potluck in honor of Deb from Kahakai Kitchen . Deb recently lost her mother and in her memory members are cooking any potluck recipe from the numerous chefs, they have cooked from, in past years as well as presently. I saw the white bean soup on Michelle's blog and wanted to make it.  It dawned on me, if I made it, I could also post it and share my condolences with Deb.  Although, I am a week late, not having known about this in time, I still want to offer my condolences to Deb and share this recipe. Thanks to Michelle and to Rick Bayless for this recipe.  We enjoyed it. Even my granddaughter ate it up. White Bean Soup - adapted from Rick Bayless Ingredients: 1 can cannellini beans 3 cups...

This week, I was the lucky lady to select the recipe we have cooked for our Eating With Ellie group.  I asked someone to pick up the ingredients, I needed but must have made some mistakes.  I found a package of stir fry vegetables and separated the snow peas, added some of the green beans and used them.  I rarely keep scallions in the house so I subbed in red pepper. I did not like the mushrooms in the soup although I usually like mushrooms.  This soup lends itself to many vegetables.  Broccoli or spinach would fit right in.  The bok choy was an excellent choice by Ellie. I would make this again with some different veggies. To find out what our other cooks thought of this soup, stop off at EwE . Full Plate  Thursday         This is How We Roll          F oodie Friday           Foodie Friends Friday                ...

Once in  a while, we find a recipe that everyone likes and wants again and this is an example.  I ate two good sized bowls before I shared with my  husband.  I wanted to hide the rest so he wouldn't find it but he did and then he ate his share of the soup.  Somewhere in the middle, I added water to the pot and stretched the soup.  I did not add more seasonings and the soup maintained its goodness,  We got another day out of it but hubby put it in the back of the refrigerator and he got even more.  I kept adding water and the goodness remained. I wonder if I had added water each day, the soup would have multiplied forever.  It would have been well worth it.  You can guess, we loved this soup and hubby is already asking me to make it again.  Let me quote: "If you would make this soup on a regular basis, you would not have to make any other soup, ever again." Sausage, Cabbage & Root Vegetable Soup  (adapted from Eatin...

This winter has been a COLD one with lots of snow and ice.  That makes it the perfect weather for soup and more soup. The magic of soup is that almost any soup is delicious, or at least, we think so, in our home.  I have proven it by the number of soups that have been made in my kitchen in the past month and we honestly loved each one. I found this soup, aptly called Sunshine Soup in Nigella's book, "Nigella Kitchen."   I could leave this book out and read it, any time, I have a few minutes.  It is a wonderful way to learn about Nigella's life and her thinking about cooking.  There are so many tips punctuating not only her recipes but also her stories. The soup is rich in vegetable broth with corn, garlic and roasted peppers.  Roasted peppers are delight by themselves; put them into a soup and the rich flavor permeates every aspect of the soup. Look out the window at the snow and eat this soup.  You will see the sun reflecting from the snow an...

I try to stay away from processed meats and salt so why use sausage?  I am going to stick to the old adage "All things in moderation and moderation in all things".  We have sausage a few times a year because it is so good but honestly, I usually put it in the freezer and forget about it until I clean the freezer or when I see a really good recipe using sausage. The idea of potatoes and sausage and of course onions and spinach seemed to be too good a combination so I put it together and we had a hearty soup. Potato Sausage Soup Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil 3 sweet sausages, diced 1 onion, chopped 1 teaspoon dried basil 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes  1 teaspoon herbs de provence   salt and pepper, to taste 2 cups chicken broth (from the freezer - mine) 3 Idaho potatoes or potato of choice 2 cups baby spinach, rough chopped 1 cup Rice Milk Method: Heat oil in a large saucepan.   Add sausage and cook unt...

Usually when I am looking for a recipe, I check out Epicurious, Allrecipes, Food Network, Eating Well of any of those generalized and wonderful sites.  In reality, it is a lot more fun to check blogs that are new to me.  Not only do I get a new recipe, I get a new blog to view and possibly a new online friend. This time, I came across, Gimme some Oven  , written by an upbeat blogger Ali who wants to make cooking easy, healthy and delicious.  She not only enjoys cooking, she enjoys people and puts the two together.  She sounds delightful and I think you might like to meet her. Potato Soup Ingredients: 3 tablespoons butter 1 cup diced  yellow onion 1/4 cup gluten-free flour 2 cups vegetable stock 2 cups milk, warmed 1 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled  and diced 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese 1/2 cup sour cream salt and pepper to taste 2 handfuls of baby spinach, sliced 1 shredded carrot Method: Place butter in a large soup pot .   Ad...

Not too long ago, I made an Italian Egg Drop Soup with Mini Meatballs which is similar to the soup, we made tonight in our Ellie Krieger group, Eating With Ellie (EwE). I knew, I would like tonight's soup, Shotgun Wedding Soup which is also of Italian origin because it had chopped turkey, spinach and egg drops, as did the previous soup.  I liked the meatballs better than the browned turkey but it was still a very good soup. It contained, onion, (garlic), ground turkey, salt, black pepper, broth, parsley, eggs and spinach.  It was easy to make and I had it ready quickly for my hungry hubby.  He is happy that once again, I am cooking Ellie Krieger recipes and so am I. All the members who made this soup will be found at this site dedicated to Eating with Ellie.  We welcome new members so come on and join in or if you just want to cook, on occasion, that is also fine with us.   On  February - 5 - Peggy  has chosen Penne with Grape Tomatoes, Spina...

I made something similar to this, in the past, but the meatballs had rice in them and the seasoning was different.   I am sure, I am not the only one who does not want to repeat recipes but after a certain amount of time, without even knowing it, finds it has to happen.  I found out about this one, when I went to get my photo and saw a picture and grabbed it.  My mistake  of course, was that it was a different soup.  Below is the photo and you probably can see, why I confused them.  If you look closely, you can see the rice in the meatballs and even the way, I broke the egg down is different. Italian Egg Drop Soup - adapted from Rachel Ray Ingredients: 4 cups vegetable  broth 1 pound ground turkey Salt and pepper 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg 3 tablespoons grated onion 1/2 cup corn flake crumbs 4 eggs, divided ( 1 & 3) 2 tablespoons  parsley, finely chopped 1 bunch scallions, very thinly sliced 1 tables...

When, I first started blogging, I used a lot fewer ingredients than I use today, particularly in the area of produce.  I was a lettuce, tomato and cuke kind of person, of course using potatoes and onions.  I didn't use too much more.  I did buy lots of frozen vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower and i still do. If you asked me about leeks, kabacha, bok choy, even garlic.  (I knew what garlic was but not what it looked like.)  We ate well despite these limitations. If you have followed the blog, you probably have seen my, praising a new vegetable that I just "discovered" and now use frequently.  This happens regularly.  Thanks to the groups I have cooked with and recipes with some of the exciting additions, I now call them friends.  Leeks is one of these - newish to our household and other than the dirt, it comes with, I love it.  Tonight's soup was great and I think the flavor was from the leek. All I know is, I made enough for...

I was about to make a Rachel Ray Potato Cake when I remembered, I had torn out from a Food Network Magazine, a recipe for a potato cake that looked more interesting.  Rachel's used sliced potatoes like a crust and the Food Network recipe used mashed potato.  I will always vote for mashed over sliced. This is the epitome of comfort food.   The mashed potatoes are creamy, the cheese adds zest and roasted red peppers were just right.  I am proud, I took only one generous slice.  Hubby ate the rest of the nine inch cake. My guess is children would like this even with the red peppers.  Next time, I would like to add caramelized onions to the cheese mixture.  I used smoked Mozzarella because I had it, in the house.  I had gotten it for my grandkids but they left a good share of the package behind.  It worked perfectly. Sicilian Potato and Egg Cake   Adapted from Food Network magazine - November 2014  Sicilian Potato and Eg...

T his is supposed to be a baked potato soup but due to limited time, I boiled the potatoes.  Other than that, I basically followed the instructions with a few minor modifications.  I left the directions for baking, thinking it might be a more interesting recipe.  Boiled potatoes worked out fine and we had a delicious soup.  I admit, I am a big fan of potato soup and have not met one, I didn't like. Baked Potato Soup -   adapted from Cooking Light September 2007 Ingredients: 3 baking potatoes  1/2 cup brown rice flour  4 cups 2% reduced-fat milk 1 cup reduced-fat shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese, divided 1 cup reduced-fat sour cream 3/4 cup chopped red onion, divided Topping: chopped red pepper, chopped red onion, shredded Cheddar (a small amount of each for each bowl of soup) Method: Preheat oven to 400°. Pierce potatoes with a fork; bake at 400° for 1 hour or until tender. Cool. Peel potatoes; co...