Hello all! It has been a busy few weeks. We have been trying to get back into the groove, school has begun, I am shopping less (Yay! Saving money!, and yet Nay.. It's hard...) and I am cooking more..
I have Fridays off (After working for 12 hours on Thursday .. (Cue baby cry...)) so I have decided that I will be exploring with new recipes each week.
This week? Tomato Tortellini Soup (With hidden Spinach.. My own sneaky touch..) and Arancini..
I consider myself to be somewhat of a novice cook. I did not attend culinary school, like my uber dreamy Hubster. (He is SO dreamy. Sigh**)
But this is a year of stretching my abilities.
But this is a year of stretching my abilities.
So, I will stretch my stomach. And hide veggies.
Originally, I found the recipe via Pinterest. I love Pinterest. I loved it so much that I read pins about #FirstWorldProblems for a while. Like, for 1 hour. Before I knew it, it was 12:15 AM.
Anyways, after some continued googling, I found this recipe - It was terribly easy.
olive oil
2 garlic cloves (chopped)
1 small onion (chopped)
2 (15 ounce) cans diced fire-roasted tomatoes
2 (10 3/4 ounce) cans campbell's tomato soup
2 (10 ounce) cans milk (use soup can)
10 fresh basil leaves, chopped or 1 tablespoon dried basil
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can chicken broth
3 tablespoons Italian-style tomato paste
1/2 cup light cream or 1/2 cup half-and-half
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 (9 ounce) package cheese tortellini
1 Coat soup pan with olive oil. Add onion and garlic and saute till soft.
2 Add canned diced tomatoes, basil, tomato soup and two cans milk. Stir till blended.
3 Add chicken broth and stir in tomato paste till blended.
4 Simmer for 20 minutes
5 Add light cream and parmesan cheese.
6 Add tortellini and cook till tender (at least 15 minutes)
*Note - I am not too sure why the above came out that way... I can also admit that I am not the most technologically savvy
To reduce the amount of calories, I substituted the half and half cream with more chicken stock. I meant to make my own this morning, but 2 things happened.
1) I did not have any carrots, and
2) I did not want to
So I used this sodium reduced stock. It's pretty good.
I also threw in some chopped up spinach.
To go with the soup, I made some Arancini:
I retrieved the recipe from a children's cookbook. Go ahead. Laugh it out. I can accept that you may or may not be laughing, or rolling your eyes. I never said I was a professional chef.
But in all seriousness, Annabel Karmel's "Cook It Together" is a great book. The ingredients are simple, and tasks are easy and I was able to include G in all of my cooking. I have a few recipes from this text. I have made corn fritters for G and delicious potato souflees (I did not know where the fancy, schmancy accents were on this blogger-thang). And today, I decided to conquer Arancini.
1 tsp EVOO (How Rachel Ray of me...)
1tbsp diced onion
2 oz of risotto rice
8 fl oz of vegetable or chicken stock
3 tbsp grated Parmesan
salt and pepper
Mozzarella cut into small cubes
2 tbsp dried bread crumbs
1 egg beaten to coat
oil for frying
1 Heat the oil and add the onion
2 Add rice and stock
3 Simmer for 25 minutes until cook (STIR OFTEN!)
4 Add Parmesan, salt and pepper
5 Cool then refrigerate for 3 hours or until firm
6 Once firm, divide into equal sized balls and squidge cheese cube in the center
7 Dip arancini into beaten egg and roll a mix of breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese
The recipe called for the arancini to be deep fried. I baked them at 425. I also added a bit of delicious panko in with the breadcrumbs and parmesan..
Just call me an Iron Chef.
Originally, I found the recipe via Pinterest. I love Pinterest. I loved it so much that I read pins about #FirstWorldProblems for a while. Like, for 1 hour. Before I knew it, it was 12:15 AM.
Anyways, after some continued googling, I found this recipe - It was terribly easy.
olive oil
2 garlic cloves (chopped)
1 small onion (chopped)
2 (15 ounce) cans diced fire-roasted tomatoes
2 (10 3/4 ounce) cans campbell's tomato soup
2 (10 ounce) cans milk (use soup can)
10 fresh basil leaves, chopped or 1 tablespoon dried basil
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can chicken broth
3 tablespoons Italian-style tomato paste
1/2 cup light cream or 1/2 cup half-and-half
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 (9 ounce) package cheese tortellini
1 Coat soup pan with olive oil. Add onion and garlic and saute till soft.
2 Add canned diced tomatoes, basil, tomato soup and two cans milk. Stir till blended.
3 Add chicken broth and stir in tomato paste till blended.
4 Simmer for 20 minutes
5 Add light cream and parmesan cheese.
6 Add tortellini and cook till tender (at least 15 minutes)
*Note - I am not too sure why the above came out that way... I can also admit that I am not the most technologically savvy
1) I did not have any carrots, and
2) I did not want to
So I used this sodium reduced stock. It's pretty good.
I also threw in some chopped up spinach.
To go with the soup, I made some Arancini:
I retrieved the recipe from a children's cookbook. Go ahead. Laugh it out. I can accept that you may or may not be laughing, or rolling your eyes. I never said I was a professional chef.
But in all seriousness, Annabel Karmel's "Cook It Together" is a great book. The ingredients are simple, and tasks are easy and I was able to include G in all of my cooking. I have a few recipes from this text. I have made corn fritters for G and delicious potato souflees (I did not know where the fancy, schmancy accents were on this blogger-thang). And today, I decided to conquer Arancini.
1 tsp EVOO (How Rachel Ray of me...)
1tbsp diced onion
2 oz of risotto rice
8 fl oz of vegetable or chicken stock
3 tbsp grated Parmesan
salt and pepper
Mozzarella cut into small cubes
2 tbsp dried bread crumbs
1 egg beaten to coat
oil for frying
1 Heat the oil and add the onion
2 Add rice and stock
3 Simmer for 25 minutes until cook (STIR OFTEN!)
4 Add Parmesan, salt and pepper
5 Cool then refrigerate for 3 hours or until firm
6 Once firm, divide into equal sized balls and squidge cheese cube in the center
7 Dip arancini into beaten egg and roll a mix of breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese
The recipe called for the arancini to be deep fried. I baked them at 425. I also added a bit of delicious panko in with the breadcrumbs and parmesan..
Just call me an Iron Chef.
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