First Day of Fall = Soup!

This picture was taken in the Adirondacks this same weekend last year! It actually has been feeling like fall here for a couple of weeks. We don't eat much soup in the summer, but now that it's chilly outside we'll be having lots of it!

I made this tomato soup for Friday night supper.

Creamy Tomato Soup

• 4 slices bacon
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cans (28 oz. each) tomatoes (I like to do one can of peeled, whole tomatoes and one can of crushed, but I've used lots of variations, and they all work!)
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 T sugar
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 T balsamic vinegar (do NOT omit! [in my humble opinion!])

Heat a large, deep pot over medium heat; add bacon and cook until barely crisp. Remove bacon and reserve. Remove and discard all but one tablespoon of the drippings. Add garlic and cook, stirring, over medium heat, one minute. Add tomatoes and their juices, breaking up whole tomatoes with a wooden spoon. Add broth, sugar and black pepper; bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes with cover ajar. Cool for a while, then puree soup with reserved bacon. Be careful, hot soup in a blender can go fearfully awry! Return pureed soup to pot, stir in cream until incorporated, and heat through, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in vinegar. This soup only gets better-- make the day before for best flavor!

Saturday, Rosemary made pumpkin soup for us! I have always thought, "Bleagh!" when I heard about pumpkin soup, but it was really good! It wasn't overwhelmingly pumpkin-y or spicy like pumpkin pie, just subtle goodness! There's lots of pumpkins around this time of year, I'll be making this soon.

Rosemary's Pumpkin Soup

• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 3 T butter
• 2 cups cooked mashed pumpkin (Rosemary cooked the pumpkin, whole, in the microwave)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 T sugar
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. ginger
• 1/8 tsp. black pepper
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup half-and-half (I only had cream in the house, it worked fine)

Saute the onion in the butter. Add the rest of the ingredients, except for the cream. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Puree in a blender (carefully!), then add the cream and heat until hot (do not boil).

This next soup freezes well, and contains quite a few vegetables. A lot of the ingredients come from the can, so it's very fast to throw together.

Beef and Barley Soup

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 (16-oz.) can tomatoes, cut up
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 quart water
• 1 (16-oz) can whole kernel corn and juice
• 1 (8 oz.) can water chestnuts
• 6 stalks celery, sliced
• 1/2 cup barley, uncooked
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 2 bouillon cubes
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp. basil
• 2 tsp. seasoned salt
• 1 tsp. paprika
• Carrots, sliced (I usually use a 10 oz. bag of frozen carrots, or 4-5 fresh carrots)

Brown meat and drain excess fat. Put all ingredients in Crock-Pot and stir. Cook on high 4 to 5 hours or on low 8 hours. Can also be done using kettle on top of stove, simmer a little over an hour.

I've got a lot more delicious soup recipes, but right now I have a wiggly 18-month old doing acrobatics on me, her personal jungle gym. Time to quit!

Differing Ideas on Sunday Night Supper

I eat one thing for breakfast-- raisin bran. Ever since I was about seven or eight, I have clung to my bowl of raisin bran to start the day off right. (There was a brief flirtation with both Frosted Mini Wheats and whole grain toast with banana and peanut butter, but raisin bran won my heart back.) The problem is, I really like lots of other breakfast foods-- pancakes, French toast, eggs, oatmeal. I just don't like to eat them in the morning. I love to cook them for supper, though!

Evan is a latecomer to the idea of breakfast. It is only since he started working construction that he even eats breakfast. And he's fairly lukewarm on eggs, oatmeal, and the rest. He likes suppers with MEAT in them!

The one time our differing ideas can coexist fairly comfortably is Sunday night. Evan would be perfectly happy eating a bowl of popcorn while vegging with his computer, but he will eat something if I make it. Since he doesn't have high expectations for Sunday's supper, breakfast foods are okay.

Until tonight, when I geared up to make pancakes, and Evan rebelled and said he wanted leftover spaghetti! Cheyenne, trying to be cool like Daddy, echoed him. So I heated up a leftover hamburger and Evan warmed up spaghetti. I'm still thinking of these pancakes, though. They're from an old Betty Crocker book Mom has. I have an older one from the sixties, but this one is from the forties or earlier. I love the illustrations in it, but it is inexorably falling apart. The index has been missing since I was a kid, so you have to guess where in the book a recipe might be. While Mom does the bulk of the cooking in our family, these pancakes are something Dad always cooked.

Betty Crocker's Buttermilk Pancakes

• 1 egg
  
• 2 cups buttermilk (the recipe actually says 1 1/4 cup, but I like them lighter).
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 2 T shortening (I usually use butter)
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt

The recipe just says to mix them all together, but I find it's easiest to cut the butter into the flour with a pastry cutter or a fork, then dump the rest of the ingredients in and mix until just blended. It should be fairly lumpy still. Bake on a griddle or frying pan at medium high heat, flipping them over once the bubbles in the batter pop. Dollop butter on them, drench them in NY maple syrup, and enjoy with a side of bacon and a large glass of milk! This recipe makes 16-18 pancakes; if you want to halve the recipe, you can still use a whole egg, it works just fine.

Okay, in the interest of fairness, here is what Evan wanted tonight. It's what he ALWAYS wants to eat. Anytime I ask Evan for input on the menu, this is what Evan says: "Spaghetti."

This recipe is from the Rival Crock-Pot cookbook. It's tripled, since Evan ALWAYS wants spaghetti. It's an awesome freezer food-- it's handy having frozen containers of spaghetti sauce for a quick supper.

Evan's Spaghetti Sauce (Tripled)

• 1 lb. bulk sausage (such as Jimmy Dean's sage flavor)
• 2 lbs. ground beef
• 3 T butter
• 3 T olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  
• 3 medium onions, finely chopped
• 3 (28 oz.) cans crushed tomatoes
• 2 T salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1 T leaf basil
• 1 T leaf oregano
• 3 (6 oz.) cans tomato paste
• 3/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

Brown the sausage and ground beef. Drain the meat, then dump it in a big (6 qt., at least) Crock-Pot with all the other ingredients. Cook on Low for 8-10 hours, or on High 4-6 hours.


If you don't want to make enough sauce to feed the Russian Army, here is the original, un-tripled version. This will fit in a smaller Crock-Pot. Actually, both recipes would probably work on the stove-top, simmered on low heat and stirred occasionally.

Spaghetti Sauce (Original Proportions)

• 2 T butter or olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 can (28 oz.) Italian-style tomatoes, mashed
• 2 tsps. salt
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. leaf basil
• 1 tsp. leaf oregano
• 1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
• 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
• 1 lb. ground beef, browned