Freezer Pleasers

 

With an the arrival of a baby coming, I spent a few days last October cooking soups and casseroles to freeze, so that we could have easy meals for a couple of weeks.  In doing so, I learned a helpful tip that I wanted to share. When fixing soup to freeze, pour the cooked soup (after it has cooled down) into ziploc bags.  Place them flat in a cake pan and sit them in the freezer.  (I put them in the cake pan in case the bag leaks.)  When the soup has frozen flat, stand them up in the freezer, allowing for extra space to store other things.  It takes up so much less room this way than freezing the soup in a bowl!


 To thaw the soup, I put it back into a cake pan (again in case of leakage) and place it into the fridge until it thaws.  Then pour the soup into a pot and warm it up!

Bread Bowl

A delicious addition to any soup is a bread bowl.  One of my favorite eateries is Panera, and the sourdough bread bowl with broccoli cheddar soup is my "usual".

While I can't reach the greatness of a bread from Panera, I do have my own bread bowl recipe, that is pretty good.

The first thing that you have to do is mix the bread dough together.  Mix 1 and 1/2 cups of flour, 1 package of yeast, 1 tbs of sugar and 1 tsp of salt together.  Next heat 1/2 cup of water, 1/3 cup of milk and 1 tbs of butter, until the butter is melted.  Stir this into the dry mixture, and then add 1 egg.  Mix well and add more flour as needed to make the dough easy to handle. Sprinkle a surface with flour, and knead the dough until it is smooth.  Cover and let the dough raise for 10-15 minutes.

This is enough dough for one bread bowl. Double the recipe for two bowls, triple for three, etc...

The hard part of the bread bowls is the dough maintaining it's bowl shape while cooking.  Putting the dough into a bowl into the freezer, and allowing it to partially freeze to maintain it's shape, helps in the cooking.

After the dough is shaped, place it on a cookie sheet and into the oven at 400 degrees and cook until the dough is cooked through.

 Cut out the top, like you would when you're cutting into a pumpkin.  Take out extra dough if needed, then add your favorite soup.  Enjoy!

Cheddar Broccoli Soup

Even though Spring is arriving, there are still a few chilly, rainy days to come, as I can see here today.  Those days are still good for soup, and that's just what we had a few days ago.  Without any meat in the kitchen, and few groceries, this cheddar broccoli soup caught my eye.  It's super quick and easy, and even extra special when served in a bread bowl!  (Watch for that recipe on Friday.)

First melt 2 tbs of butter, and add some onion powder to the bottom of a soup pot.  Next add two cans of cream of chicken soup and 2-3 cups of milk.  A package of frozen broccoli (thawed) needs to be added next.  As the soup continues to cook on a low heat,  lastly, you add 1-2 cups of cubed velveeta.  Continue to stir the soup occasionally, so the cheese doesn't stick.  Add salt, pepper, or other spices to taste.

When it's warm, you have a delicious cheddar broccoli soup.

Chili con Bacon?

Since the arrival of Fall, I have started cooking the fall foods!  It's so very exciting.  Of course with Fall comes soup, and with soup comes Chili.  It's a natural progression you see.  My chili is usually made just like my mother's, and it's rather delicious.  However, after watching a cooking show (darn Food channel is taking over my life), I decided to try a new recipe for chili.

First you take small pieces of bacon and brown them in the bottom of the pan.

When it has browned, add chopped green peppers, onions, and red peppers.

 

Ground beef comes next.  With that you add chili powder, garlic, salt, pepper, parsley, and crushed red peppers.

Brown the ground beef, while stirring.  When the beef is browned, added two cans of diced tomatoes (undrained).

Continue to cook on medium, and add tomato juice.  When the chili is hot, turn the burner to low.  Eat and enjoy!

This chili was pretty good, but the bacon caused it to be rather sweet.  That was an interesting addition.  I personally don't like sweetness in anything besides desserts (and sweet tea of course!)  Still, it was nice and hearty, and just perfect for watching football on a fall day!

Grandma Gregory's Goulash

 

Goulash is a relative name.  There are lots of things that I've heard called goulash.  "What's in that pan?"  I would ask.  "Goulash," was the response.  I would start to get excited, because I love goulash.  When I fix it, I make a big pot, and I can eat the leftovers for days.  I like it hot; I like it cold; I like it in the pot, nine days old.

However, my excitement would soon diminish.  I guess I'm a goulash snob.  There's only one way that I like it, and that's Grandma's way.  So, here is the "right" way to make a delicious pot of goulash.  It's pretty easy too!

1. Brown a pound of ground beef.  Drain the grease off of it.  (If you like, you can add just a few pieces of chopped onion for flavor.)  

2. While the hamburger is browning, boil a pot of water.  When the water starts boiling, add a box of pasta.  (Most people use Macaroni noodles.  I, however, really enjoy rotinni, but it all depends on my mood.)  Cook the pasta until it is soft, and then drain off the water.

3.  Mix the beef and cooked pasta in the pasta pot.  Add tomato juice.  (Here is where one of the big mistakes is made in goulash, in my snobish opinion.)  I think that the only way for the goulash to be is runny, like soup.  I always use at least half of my 46 oz can of tomato juice.  I save the rest of the juice, because as you reheat the goulash on other days, it starts to get dry.  I add the extra juice then.

4. Turn the heat to a medium level. Add salt and pepper to taste, and mix while the goulash heats up.  (The second atrocity against this dish is sugar.  Many people add this to their goulash to give it a sweet taste.  Blah!   Dessert is supposed to be sweet, not the main course.) 

So, there you go, a quick and easy recipe that ends in a delicious dish.