Roasted Red Pepper Soup

This recipe and picture came from my sister Becky, who is a great cook! She told me about it and it sounded so yummy I asked her if I could put it on my blog. I have had roasted red pepper soup before, and it is delicious! This would be a great soup to serve in a bread bowl, and it looks so pretty with the swirled sour cream on top.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

3 Tbs. olive oil
1 small sweet onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced
1 36 oz. jar Roasted Red Peppers, rinsed and drained

2 14 oz. cans Hunts fired roasted tomatoes
1 Tbs. brown sugar

3 cups water
1Tbs. balsamic vinegar

5 Tbs. sour cream

Saute the onions in the olive oil until soft, then add the garlic and cook 5 more minutes. Add the peppers, tomatoes, sugar, and water and simmer for about 25 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the vinegar then transfer to a blender and puree. Pour back into pot and season with salt and pepper.

Ladle into 6 bowls and combine the sour cream and about 2 T. water in a Ziploc bag. Snip off one corner and "draw" and swirl on top of each serving!

If you don't want to buy the roasted red peppers you can make your own by rubbing 4 red bell peppers with olive oil and placing under your broiler till blackened on all sides. Then you take them out and place them in a covered container for about 15 minutes and peel and de-seed them. The blacker the skin is the better it comes off!

Bacon Rolls

Thanks to my sister Becky for this great recipe! My husband loves sushi, I don't, so this recipe is great because it's got enough of the sushi ingredients to make him happy, and no raw fish to gross me out! The flavors all go really well together. I watched my sister make these on New Years Eve, so tonight was my first attempt at them and they turned out pretty good. I always had the impression that California rolls were hard to make, but they're not. My sister had all of the tools, the sushi serving set and the rolling mats, but they are not necessary.

Bacon Rolls

2 c. sushi or short grain rice
strips of bacon
strips of cream cheese
2 ripe avocados, sliced in strips
green onions (cut top and bottom off and then slice in half to form strips)
Seaweed wrappers
Soy Sauce, ginger, wasabi for serving

Cook the rice with 4 c. of water.
While rice is cooking cook bacon on stove top until done, or cook on a sheet pan at 425 for approximately 20 minutes.
Let rice cool, if rice is not sticky enough add 1 Tbs. rice vinegar and 1/2 Tbs. sugar, stir gently to combine.
Lay out seaweed wrapper, place a thin layer of rice over seaweed leaving 1" space on top, dip fingers in water to prevent rice from sticking to fingers.
Place 1 slice bacon, 1 slice cream cheese, 1/2 green onion, and 3 avocado slices at bottom. Roll up tightly, before you reach the end, dip your finger in water and run it along the top edge of the seaweed, finish rolling and press down on wet side to seal. Continue with remaining ingredients. Dip sharp knife in water and slice "logs" into 1 1/2" rolls. Serve with soy sauce, ginger, or wasabi.

Ooey Gooey Peanut Butter Brownies

The name alone is enough to make me salivate....
Just imagine pure bliss and that's the feeling you'll get when you taste these little pieces of heaven! The brownie and the marshmallow together are amazing, and you think, can this get any better? And then you bite into the peanut butter chips, wow.


Ooey Gooey Peanut Butter Brownies

1 box brownie mix (I always use the Betty Crocker regular fudge brownies)
2/3 c. vegetable or canola oil
1/4 c. water
1 egg
1 regular sized jar marshmallow cream
3/4 c. Reeses peanut butter chips
1/2 c. sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350.
Grease a 13X9 pan.
Beat together brownie mix, oil, water, and egg. Pour about 2/3 of batter into 13X9 pan, spread and bake for 10 minutes.
Combine marshmallow cream, peanut butter chips, and milk. Pour over brownie bottom leaving about 1 inch space all around the sides.
Drop by spoonfulls the remaining brownie batter.
Bake for approximately 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool and serve, delicious!

Meaty Nacho Dip

This dip is so good! Sometimes I just crave it so I'll make up a batch. It's cheesy, and meaty, and spicy (but not too spicy :)
I love making it on Super Bowl Sunday!

Nacho Dip

1 lb. Jimmy Dean regular sausage
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can Rotel (original)
1 large block Velveeta cheese

Brown sausage and drain.
Cut up velveeta into cubes and place in slow cooker. Pour sausage, soup, and rotel over top. Turn slow cooker on low heat and cook for 2-3 hours until cheese is melted and it's hot! Tortilla chips or soft pretzels go good with this.

Homemade Soft Pretzels

I had always wanted to learn how to make soft pretzels and then I found this recipe on the King Arthur flour website. It was more simple than I thought it would be! These pretzels are perfect, they have that bagel-like skin on the outside and the chewy middle, yum!

Soft Pretzels

1 Tbs. sugar
2 c. room temp water
2 tsp instant yeast (also known as bread machine)
5 1/2- 6 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp non diastatic malt powder (I mail order mine from King Arthur OR substitute sugar)
1 Tbs. salt

Combine in bowl (or KitchenAid bowl) sugar, water, and yeast; stir to combine. Add the malt powder (or sugar) and salt. Add enough flour to make a soft (but not sticky) dough. Knead for 6 minutes. Place in oiled bowl, turning once to coat, cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 450.
Divide the dough into 16 pieces. Roll each piece into a log and shape the logs into pretzels (or doughnut shape, they are easier!)
In large pot, bring 6 c. water and 2 Tbs. baking soda to a boil. Put in four pretzels at a time, let cook one minute. Remove with slotted spoon to greased baking sheet. They should have a skin on them. Continue until all pretzels have been boiled. Paint each pretzel with egg glaze (egg mixed with 1 Tbs. water) and sprinkle with salt or seeds. Bake at 450 for 12-15 minutes or until pretzels are well browned.
Yields 16 soft, chewy pretzels. Delicious dipped in nacho cheese.

Bread Bowls

I went to Paradise Bakery the other day for lunch and I ordered their soup in a bread bowl. I was so excited because usually everything there is so good, and I love soup in bread bowls, but it was not good at all! It was dry and tasted like cardboard. So ever since then I've been craving a good bread bowl. What a great idea, instead of having to wash your bowl, you just eat it! These took quite awhile to make, but they turned out delicious. I made my corn chowder recipe which is also posted on this site. I got this recipe from King Arthur Flour, they have the best bread recipes!

Bread Bowls

7 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp instant (also called bread machine) yeast
2 1/2 c. room temp water
2 Tbs. non diastatic malt powder (I order mine from King Arthur flour, or you can just use sugar!)
3 tsp salt
2 egg whites

Mix two cups of the flour with the yeast and water, let sit for 1 hour. Add the malt (or sugar), salt, egg white and remaining flour, mix until it's a shaggy mass. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes, then knead for 6-8 minutes by hand, or 5-7 minutes using your KitchenAid with dough hook. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise 2 hours.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and divide into six equal parts (about 8.5oz. each) Roll each piece into a tight ball and place seam side down on a baking sheet. Cover and let rise 1 1/2 hours. Uncover the loaves and let them sit for 10-15 minutes so they form a "skin", which will make them better able to hold soup or stew.
Preheat oven to 425.
Before placing in oven, mist oven and rolls with water. Bake for approximately 20 minutes until they are a deep, golden brown. Turn off oven and prop open door to let moisture escape. Let rolls cool in oven for 20 minutes, transer to wire rack to cool completely.
To use cut small slice off top of roll and scoop out inside bread with a fork (see picture) leaving about 1/2 inch of the bread all around the bottom and sides. I save the excess bread for dipping into the soup. Enjoy!

Gingerbread & Caramel Almond Squares

I can't say enough about these gingerbread cookies. In the past I've always had hard, over spiced gingerbread cookies, but one day I found this recipe on kraftfoods.com and I've been making it every Christmas for the past five years! They are so soft and the flavor is delicious. I altered the recipe to make it into a drop cookie so I didn't have to spend the time to roll and cut, but I'll include both versions- the roll out and the drop. In the pic the gingerbread cookies are on top, I drizzles icing over them and sprinkled with red and green sugars.

Gingerbread Cookies

3.4 oz. box Instant Butterscotch pudding
14 Tbs. butter, softened (3/4 c. plus 2 Tbs. is what it ends up being)
3/4 c. packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbs. ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl beat together the pudding, butter, and sugar until smooth. Stir in the egg. Add the baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and flour.
Bake for approximately 12 minutes.

*For roll out version change the butter to 3/4 c. and the flour to 2 c. After combining all ingredients, cover and chill in refrigerator for 1 hour until firm. On floured board, roll out dough to about a 1/4 inch thickness, cut and bake for approximately 10 minutes. Bake just until the middles of the cookies puff up. They should not be browned on the edges if you want chewy cookies.


Caramel Almond Squares

My mom found this recipe and I love it because it is so quick and they are SOOOO good!

1 bag pretzel squares (at our store they are Snyder's brand)
1 bag Rollo candies, unwrapped
almonds

Preheat oven to 350.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or aluminum foil. Place pretzels all over pan and add a Rollo on top of each one. Place in oven and cook for 3 minutes. Remove and press one almond down in the center of each candy. Let cool and harden. Delicious and highly addictive!

Fantasy Fudge

I love this recipe because it turns out great every time and it's pretty easy to make. I like adding pecans or walnuts to it.

3 c. sugar
3/4 c. margarine (not butter!)
5 oz. evaporated milk
1 pkg. semi sweet chocolate chips
1 7 oz. jar marshmallow cream
3/4 c. chopped nuts
1 tsp vanilla

Line an 8X8 pan with aluminum foil and grease, set aside.
Place chocolate and marshmallow cream in a large bowl, set aside.
In large sauce pan combine sugar, margarine, and milk. Bring to a full rolling boil over medium heat (not medium high, or high, just medium). Immediately turn your timer on for four minutes. Place your candy thermometer in the pan and cook until 234 degrees or for 4 minutes, whichever comes first. Immediately remove from heat and pour over marshmallow and chocolate. Stir until thoroughly combined. Stir in nuts and vanilla. Pour into pan and place in refrigerator until hardened, cut into 1" squares and serve!

Homemade Caramels

Yum, this is my favorite Christmas treat to make! It's soft and chewy and exactly what a caramel should be, I love them. They are fairly easy to make, you must have a candy thermometer though! :) Trust me, if you try to make them without one you will cry, pull your hair out, and have a Christmas baking mental breakdown (I know, it happened two years ago, and then I bought a candy thermometer and I've been good since!) Every Christmas these are the most requested, and the first to go.

Caramels

2 c. heavy whipping cream
3/4 c. Karo light corn syrup (must be Karo, generic brands don't turn out as well)
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter, sliced

Line an 8X8 inch pan with aluminum foil. Grease with butter, set aside.
Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan (I use the largest one in my pan set)
Bring to a rolling boil over medium heat (not medium high or high, just medium, be patient this can take a little while)
Plop the candy thermometer in and cook until the mixture reaches 245 stirring frequently, remove IMMEDIATELY and pour into prepared pan. Let sit until hardened, I always just let it sit on the counter overnight.
When cooled and solid, remove from pan and cut into 1/2"-1" squares depending on how big you want them. Wrap in wax paper and they are ready to eat!
Now, if for some reason they did not turn out here are some helpful hints for the next time you make them:
If they are light in color and too soft, or if they stick to the wax paper, you did not cook them long enough.
If they are darker and hard you cooked them too long. You still may be able to use them if you put the pan in the oven for a few minutes to soften it up, and then you can cut them.
As long as you stir frequently and watch the temp they should turn out perfect!

Chicken Bell Pepper Chowder

This recipe came from Paula Deen and it is soooooo good! It's silky smooth and packed with chunky vegetables and chicken. I served this with sourdough bread slices brushed with olive oil and put under the broiler until they were lightly browned, so yummy! (Sourdough bread makes anything good though!) I know there are lots of ingredients, but is really worth the effort, from start to finish it took me about an hour to make this and it made lots of soup, a whole large stock pot full. I would say it would serve 6-7 adults. (My husband loves pepper, that's why the soup in the pic has pepper all over it!)

Chicken and Bell Pepper Chowder

1/4 c. olive oil
3 large carrots, cut into 1/2 inch dice
2 sweet onions, cut into 1/2 inch dice
5 stalks celery, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 green bell peppers, sliced into strips
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp dried Thyme
1 Tbs. chicken bouillon granules
4 cans chicken broth
1/4 c. chopped cilantro
3 cups diced grilled chicken
1/2 c. butter
1 c. flour
1/2 tsp hot sauce, or more to taste
1 c. heavy cream

Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the carrots onions, celery, garlic, peppers, salt, white pepper, cumin, and thyme. Saute for 7-8 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to soften. Stir in the the chicken bouillon. Add the chicken broth and cilantro, and cook for 10-12 minutes, or until the carrots are tender. Stir in the chicken and cook, stirring frequently, until the chicken is heated through. In a skillet melt the butter and add the flour, stir for about 3 minutes, do not let brown! Ladle one cup of the soup mixture into the flour mixture, whisk to combine. Gradually add two more ladles full of soup. Pour back into soup pot and stir to combine, let cook for approximately 3-4 minutes until thickened. Remove from heat and add hot sauce and heavy cream, serve hot with some good bread!