Freezable | I Can Cook That

Black Bean and Cheese Enchiladas with Ranchero Sauce

I have had quite the hankering for Mexican recently, so I was so happy that the October issue of Cooking Light included a bunch of delicious sounding Mexican inspired vegetarian meals. I decided to go for the Black Bean & Cheese Enchiladas, because they can easily be frozen for future lunches and dinners. I substituted a few of the ingredients for what I already had, but you can find the original recipe here.

Ingredients:

2 Cajun peppers, stemmed, seeded and chopped

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 cup chopped yellow onion

5 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

3 cups chicken broth, divided

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons no-salt-added tomato paste

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

The juice of 1 lime

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

2 cups pre-shredded Mexican-blend cheese, divided

3 thinly sliced green onions, divided

Cooking spray

10 (6-inch) corn tortillas

5 tablespoons light sour cream

Preheat oven to 400°. Prepare the peppers, onion and garlic cloves. Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan over high heat. Add onion and cook for 1 minute.

Reduce heat to medium and add the garlic and salt. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add 2 cups broth, parsley, tomato paste, and cumin.

Cook for 10 minutes, or until it thickens slightly, stirring occasionally.

While this is cooking, add the extra cup water and the chopped peppers to a food processor. Pour the onion mixture into the food processor when finished cooking. Blend until smooth. Stir in lime juice and cayenne.

Combine the beans, 1 cup of cheese, and half the green onions in a bowl.

Add 1/2 of the sauce to the bottom of a cookie pan coated with cooking spray. Add 3 tablespoons of the bean mixture to to each tortilla.

Roll up, placing the seam side down.

Add to the cookie pan.

Pour the remaining sauce over the tortillas.

Top with the remaining cheese.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Sprinkle with remaining green onions and serve with sour cream.

This recipe has so much flavor! I was really pleasantly surprised with how this turned out. I am pretty sure I didn’t allow the sauce to reduce enough, but it thickened up in the oven and still tasted wonderful.

A serving is two enchiladas, so I actually have 4 meals left over after making this. As I mentioned before, enchiladas freeze really well, so 3 are going into the freezer and one will be my lunch tomorrow, win!

To make this recipe more effective for a weeknight, you can make the ranchero sauce ahead of time an refrigerate it until ready to use. The recipe took about an hour from start to finish.

Curried Pumpkin Soup with Spicy Pumpkin Seeds

After making pumpkin pie milkshakes this weekend, I thought it was time to make a savory dish using pumpkin. The weather changed literally overnight giving Philly a very November-like day, so I was craving a warm soup that also would deliver some spicy heat. This recipe for Curried Pumpkin Soup with Spicy Pumpkin Seeds from All You seemed perfect. I kept the recipe mostly intact, adding more ginger and switching out the chili for cayenne.

Ingredients:
Pumpkin Seeds:

1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds

Soup:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 medium Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, finely chopped
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons curry powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 15-oz. cans pumpkin
1 13.6-oz. can light unsweetened coconut milk
Salt and pepper, to taste
Plain yogurt, for serving (optional)

Continue reading Curried Pumpkin Soup with Spicy Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin Pie Milkshakes & Making Your Own Pumpkin Puree

After visiting several supermarkets in search of pumpkin puree only to find they were sold out, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Amy’s Cooking Adventure had instructions on how to make my own puree using pie pumpkins so I tried it out. To test out my finished product (and as a nice pat on the back) I made pumpkin pie milkshakes to celebrate.

Bacon-Topped Meatloaf

I didn’t grow up in a meatloaf household. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve only had meatloaf once. So when my boyfriend put in a special request for meatloaf I wasn’t exactly thrilled. But he rarely asks for anything specific, and is always willing to eat whatever I make (I jokingly refer to him as “I Can Eat That”) so I think he deserves this one request. I decided to try a recipe from Tyler Florence with a few changes.

Ingredients:

Tomato Relish:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 bay leaves

2 red bell peppers, cored, seeded and finely diced

4 plum tomatoes, halved, seeded, and finely diced

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1 12 ounce bottle of ketchup

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Salt and pepper

Meatloaf:

1/4 cup Italian breadcrumbs

3 tablespoons milk

1 pound ground beef

1 pound Italian sausage, casing removed

2 eggs

Leaves from 2 fresh thyme sprigs

Salt and pepper

3 bacon slices

Continue reading Bacon-Topped Meatloaf

Pesto

Nothing tastes as fresh as homemade pesto. It is surprisingly easy to make and really blows the store-bought stuff out of the water. With a whopping 5 ingredients (plus salt and pepper), pesto is definitely something you need to try to make if you haven’t already! I made this to go with my gnocchi that I made for a food swap.

Ingredients (makes about 1 cup):
2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup grated Parmesan-Reggiano cheese
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup walnuts
3 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and pepper, to taste

Add the basil leaves and walnuts to a food processor.

Pulse a few times to combine.

Mince your garlic.

Add to the food processor.

Pulse to combine.

While the food processor is running, add the olive oil in a slow, steady stream.

Add the Parmesan cheese and pulse to combine.

Season with salt and pepper.

You can add more of whichever ingredient you think you need more of at any time. I prefer my pesto to be relatively firm, so I don’t use a lot of olive oil to make mine. I also tend to add more cheese on top of my pasta anyways, so I limit the amount of cheese I put into the pesto. You can also use pine nuts instead of walnuts; I just prefer walnuts.

Be sure to use high quality ingredients for this recipe if you can. Because none of it is cooked, you want basil when it is fresh, high quality olive oil with a smooth taste, and a nicely aged cheese. A little pesto goes a long way when used as a topping on pasta, so this recipe can luckily be frozen to use at a later date as well!

Gnocchi

I have wanted to try to make gnocchi for some time now. Luckily, I am part of a food swap and they were willing to let me experiment on them. Here’s hoping they turned out well! I used this article as a base for my recipe.

Note: I actually made the gnocchi twice because I wasn’t happy with the original result. I used smaller potatoes the first time (see below photo) and I found that the normal Idaho potatoes were much better for this recipe. (Special thanks to my boyfriend for a lot of his help during the making of the gnocchi)

Ingredients:
3 large russet (Idaho) potatoes, scrubbed
1 egg yolk
About 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Begin by pricking each potato all over with a fork. This will allow some of the heat to escape while it is baking in the oven.

Arrange the potatoes on a baking sheet. Cook in the oven for about an hour and a half, or until the potatoes are soft.

After removing the potatoes from the oven, cut each potato in half to allow the steam to escape.

While the potatoes are still warm, scoop out the insides into a potato ricer into a bowl.

Place the potatoes onto a clean work surface, like your counter, and form into a rectangle and allow to cool enough that they are not hot to touch.

Season the potatoes generously with pepper. Beat the egg yolks in a bowl and drizzle the over the potatoes.

Measure 1 1/2 cups flour and sprinkle a bit of flour over the potatoes as needed (the less flour you use the better). Using a pastry scraper, mix the flour and egg into the potatoes by chopping everything up and folding it in on itself, until well mixed. The dough should sort of resemble coarse crumbs.

Bring the mixture together into a ball.

Sprinkle some on the work surface. Place the dough on top and flatten into a disk.

Dust the dough with more flour. Using your hands, fold and press the dough until the flour is incorporated. Do this two more times, incorporating the flour each time. If the dough still feels sticky, repeat once more.

Divide the dough into four equal parts.

Roll each section into a long thin roll, about 1/2″ thick.

Cut into 1/2″ to 1″ pieces.

Because I was making these for a food swap, I arranged all the pieces on a cookie sheet covered in tin foil and put them in the freezer overnight.

I then divided the gnocchi into freezer bags and popped them back into the freezer.

To cook, bring a pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Drop the gnocchi into the water and cook for approximately 2 to 3 minutes, or until they float to the surface. Remove the gnocchi with a slotted spoon and top with whatever you prefer: tomato sauce, pesto, butter, etc. (I’m a big fan of tomato sauce with some pesto mixed in, yum!)

I tried a few of these and they were pretty good! I hope that they continue to get better as I make them but I thought this recipe turned out well, here’s hoping those in the food swap agree!

Jalapeno Ginger Butternut Squash Soup

When I first came across this recipe for Jalapeno Ginger Butternut Squash Soup, I was intrigued by the ingredients. Never would I have thought to add jalapenos and ginger to a butternut squash dish. It seemed so odd, and yet so delicious as well. This weekend, the weather began feeling a bit more… autumnal. So I used this wonderful weather as an excuse to try out this recipe. I altered the original recipe a bit, but you can find the original here.

Ingredients (makes about 8 servings):

2 tablespoons olive oil

6 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tablespoons grated ginger

1 jalapeño chile, seeded and chopped

1 tablespoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

4 pounds butternut squash, peeled and cut into 2-in. cubes

3 cups water

3 cups chicken broth

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

1/4 cup coconut milk, plus more for serving

I’ve attempted to peel and cube butternut squash in the past. And it is absolutely not worth it. It takes forever and never seems to yield as much as you think it will. So I wimped out at bought the pre-packaged pre-chopped stuff. And I am so happy I did. I ended up using 3 20 oz containers of the butternut squash.

Begin by chopping your garlic and jalapeno and grating your ginger.

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over high heat. Add the garlic, ginger and jalapeno and cook stirring constantly for 1 or 2 minutes.

Add the cayenne pepper and cook for another 30 seconds, stirring.

Add the squash, chicken broth, brown sugar, and 3 cups water.

Bring to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes or until the squash is fork tender.

Add about 1/3 of the soup to a blender. Remove the top middle piece of the blender top to allow hot air to escape. Place a paper towel over the opening and puree until smooth. Add to a large bowl. Repeat with remaining soup.

Be very very careful doing this! I managed to burn my hand pretty badly when removing the top off the blender. Ouch!

Stir in the coconut milk and serve. I added a tiny bit more of the coconut milk on top of a poured serving and swirled it.

This was a surprisingly tasty soup. The smooth texture is really nice and the butternut squash taste shines through, with a hint of coconut milk. There is a very slight heat at the end from the jalapeno and cayenne, but is definitely not spicy. I honestly couldn’t taste much of the ginger, so next time I might add a bit more. This soup can also be frozen so I look forward to enjoying it in the colder months, but it only took maybe 40 minutes from start to finish so this can easily be made on a weeknight.

Corn Chowder

I have so much corn, it’s getting ridiculous. For the past three weeks my CSA share has come with 6 ears of corn and well, I’m corn-ed out. So I decided to make a corn chowder that I plan on freezing to enjoy when I’m craving corn in non-summer months. I’m hoping the texture of the chowder doesn’t change after freezing. I found this recipe on Simply Recipes, and chose to make it without the bacon. I also had green bell peppers from my CSA share, so I used that instead of buying a red pepper.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter

1/2 large yellow onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

1/2 large carrot, chopped (about 1/3 cup)

1/2 celery stalk, chopped (about 1/3 cup)

3 ears of sweet corn, kernels removed from the cobs (about 2 cups), cobs reserved

1 bay leaf

3 1/2 cups milk, whole or low fat

1 medium Yukon Gold potato, or Russet, peeled and diced

1/4 green bell pepper, chopped (about 1/4 cup)

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Prepare all your vegetables.

In a large saute pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until soft.

Add the carrot and celery and cook for another 4 or 5 minutes.

Cut the corn cobs in half and add them to the saute pan.

Add the milk and bay leaf.

Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a light simmer (low heat, maybe even the “warm” setting).

Cover and cook for 30 minutes. Do not boil; make sure it is just at a light simmer. This is to prevent the milk from burning.

Remove the cobs and the bay leaf. Turn the heat up to medium. Add the potatoes, green pepper, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper, to taste.

Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.

Increase the heat again and add the corn kernels and thyme. Bring to a boil. (Last time) reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

I had a bit of this just to make sure it turned out alright, and it was really good! I wish I had cut the vegetables much much smaller, I found it to be a bit too chunky. This is a hearty colder weather dish, so I can’t wait to break this out when the leaves begin to change.

Garlic Scape Pesto

I’m sure you read this post title and was wondering why I’m making Garlic Scape Pesto.

This week, I received garlic scapes with my CSA half share. What the heck is a garlic scape you may ask?

When garlic is growing, the scape is the green shoot that pops out of the earth. Farmers need to trim these so that the garlic can continue to grow. But the actual green shoot also packs in a bunch of garlicky goodness, although more mild and with a touch of grass smell.

The scapes are kind of scary looking but I was willing to try using them, who knows when I’ll come across these again! Because they are a more delicate version of garlic, scapes are best used raw.

I came across a recipe for Garlic Scape Pesto on the blog In the Kitchen and on the Road with Dorie which seemed like a good way to use a bunch of the scapes. I substituted walnuts for the almonds, mainly because my poor boyfriend is allergic and I didn’t want to mistakenly serve him something with almonds in it, and I added in some basil to help cut some of the scape flavor. I also cut the recipe in half to test it out, I can always make more later!

Ingredients:

5 garlic scapes, finely chopped
1/2 cup basil leaves
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Salt, to taste

Continue reading Garlic Scape Pesto

Creamy Baked Penne and Chicken with Artichokes, Tarragon and Lemon

I have no idea why the concept of a food swap stresses me out so much. But trying to find a recipe for this month was so difficult! I finally found this recipe from a blog called The Bad Girl’s Kitchen; she has a whole section of freezer-friendly meals.

Ingredients (I was making 10 servings):

Salt

2 pounds penne

8 tablespoons olive oil

6 cans of artichoke hearts, rinsed and chopped

1 medium onion, minced

8 medium garlic cloves, minced (about 8 teaspoons)

Zest from 1 lemon

1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 cup dry white wine

2 cups heavy cream

2 pounds chicken thighs

3 bay leaves

1 1/2 cups frozen peas

16 ounces shredded Italian cheese blend (about 2 cups)

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Ground black pepper

3 tablespoons minced fresh tarragon leaves

that’s quite a few ingredients

To cook the pasta, boil water in a pasta pot over high heat. Add a tablespoon of salt and the pasta and cook for 5 minutes (it will be very al dente– they will cook fully in the oven later). Drain pasta in a colander and toss with two tablespoons olive oil. Set aside.

Prep your artichokes, onion, and garlic.

In a large pot, heat 6 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the artichokes, onion, and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook until the artichokes are lightly browned (about 10 minutes).

Add the garlic and lemon zest and cook for about 30 seconds. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the broth, wine, and cream.

Add the chicken and bay leaves and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat, cover, and cook for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken registers 160 degrees.

Remove from heat and discard the bay leaves. Remove chicken and set aside to cool. When cooled, shred into bite-sized pieces. Stir the chicken back into the sauce, adding the pasta, peas, 2 cups cheese and lemon juice. Stir until combined and season with salt and pepper.

I transferred these into tupperware dishes. I included a freezer bag of cheese and put them in the freezer.

To cook, thaw the meal in the refrigerator (about 24 hours). Add to a casserole dish and top with the cheese.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cover with aluminum foil sprayed with vegetable spray. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes.

Remove foil and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes. Sprinkle with tarragon and serve.

Whew. I heated up a tiny portion of this, just to make sure it was edible. Well, it was more than edible, it was really quite good! I was impressed with how much flavor was in the dish. Thanks for such a great recipe Bad Girl’s Kitchen!

Tomato Sauce

My mom and aunts make mean tomato sauce. But sadly, they have not signed on to making sure my freezer is sufficiently filled with their delicious sauce. So I’ve finally broken down and attempted my own. Tomato sauce is quite adaptable, you can really throw in whatever you wish. Here’s my attempt at making a tomato sauce my Italian relatives would be proud of…

Ingredients:
2 cans of crushed tomatoes
1 can of pureed tomatoes
1/3 cup of red wine (whatever you already have opened will do)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons each of parsley, oregano, basil, and thyme
1 bay leaf
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and pepper
1 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil

Begin by preparing the garlic and shallots. I happened to have shallots on hand, so that’s why I used them instead of an onion. Shallots kind of taste like sweet onions with a bit of garlic to them, so I thought that would work well in the sauce.

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and shallots and saute for 1 minute.

Add the cans of tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, spices, wine, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir and bring to a boil. (Be careful, the tomato sauce pops up). Feel free to add more spices or sub in whatever you’d like.

see?

Lower the heat and cover. Simmer for 1 hour. If the sauce seems too thin, add a teaspoon of tomato paste to the sauce. Be sure to remove the bay leaf.

Tomato sauce always tastes better after its been frozen and has had time to meld all the flavors, so I still don’t know how well it turned out. I did have a bit with some spaghetti right after it finished cooking and so far, so good. I can already tell it doesn’t stack up to my family’s sauce, but hey, not to shabby for a girl with freckles if I do say so myself 🙂 I wish I had thought ahead and made meatballs with the sauce too. Meatballs add a nice earthiness to the sauce that really enhance the sauce. Next time…

Irish Stew

I joined a food swap, and the first swap is coming up next week, so I decided to make Irish Stew.

While researching Irish Stew, I couldn’t find a recipe I liked, so I decided to wing it.

I also have yet to attempt to use my slow cooker, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to do so. Here’s hoping it turns out ok…

Ingredients:

3 medium-size onions, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon garlic powder, or 3 garlic cloves, minced
4 pounds lamb shoulder, cut into chunks (can substitute in beef)
7 carrots, chopped
3 leeks, chopped
3 tablespoons pearl barley
5 cups beef stock
1 bottle of Guinness
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt & Pepper, to taste
1 bouquet of parsley, thyme, and bay leaves, plus more parsley for garnish
6 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 parsnip, peeled and chopped (leave this to prep last)
1 cup frozen peas

the ingredients took up my entire counter

Lasagna

Lasagna. It seems like such a simple dish that will result in many freezable meals (9 to be exact). Always looking for a way to have already-prepared lunch or dinner options, I decided this weekend was the time to conquer the classic Italian food. I mean, how much work can layering different ingredients be?

Three hours later, I ended up with this:

Not too shabby. Just a long process!

Ingredients for Lasagna:

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus 2 tablespoons for the lasagna

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

4 cups whole milk at room temperature

1 1/2 cups tomato sauce (recipe below)

Salt and pepper

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 pound ground chuck beef

1 1/2 pounds ricotta cheese

3 large eggs

1 pound lasagna sheets, cooked al dente

1 package (16 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

4 cups shredded mozzarella

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

Ingredients for Tomato Sauce:

Olive oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 can pureed tomatoes

Salt and pepper

2 dried bay leaves

1 tablespoon each of dried: thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary and parsley

The tomato sauce takes a good hour itself, so start this before anything else. While making the sauce, leave the milk on the counter so it can reach room temperature. Also leave out the frozen spinach to thaw.

In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and sauté for 2 minutes. Add cans of tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, and the rest of the spices (bay leaves through parsley). Simmer over low heat for 1 hour. Remove bay leaves and remove pot from heat.

Feel free to use just some store-bought sauce. I personally can’t do it. Who told all the sauce companies that sugar should be a main ingredient? Gross. So yeah, the 25% of me that is Italian absolutely cannot handle sauce out of a jar. I digress…

Next, to make the béchamel sauce, melt 5 tablespoons of butter over medium heat in another pot. When the butter is melted, add the flour and whisk until smooth, about 2 minutes.

um. “smooth”? yeah, I don’t know what happened

Gradually add in milk, whisking constantly to prevent any lumps. Continue to simmer and whisk over medium heat. Make sure the heat isn’t up too high; you don’t want the milk to burn! Stir until thick and creamy, about 10 minutes.

it should coat the back of a wooden spoon, like this

Remove from heat and add to tomato sauce. Stir until well combined. Set aside and allow to cool completely.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

While the sauce is cooling, cook the lasagna according to the package directions. Lay lasagna pieces out individually on a tin foil so that they don’t stick together.

In a sauté pan, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When almost smoking, add the ground beef and season with salt and pepper. Break up large clumps to make sure all parts of the meat are browned, until there is no more pink meat. Remove from heat and drain any excess fat. Set aside and allow to cool completely.

In a medium sized bowl, mix the ricotta and eggs. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

To assemble (in a lasagna pan):

line bottom with lasagna sheets

add 1/3 of bechamel sauce

add all of the ricotta mixture

add all of the spinach

another layer of pasta sheets

add all of the meat

add half of the mozzarella cheese (1 bag)

add another 1/3 of the bechamel sauce

one last layer of pasta sheets

add the last of the bechamel sauce

top with remaining mozzarella cheese

add Parmesan cheese and thin slices of 2 tbsp of butter

To cook, line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the lasagna pan on top, cover with tin foil and place on the middle rack of the oven. Bake until the top is bubbling, about 30 minutes. Remove the cover and bake for another 15 minutes.

woo! finally done!

Allow to cool if you plan on putting into individual containers (as I did). I find it hard to believe that something with this much cheese, pasta, and sauce could honestly taste bad. But seeing how much not-so-good-for-you things went into this, I think I’d sub in some “less” bad ingredients next time (skim milk, partially skim cheese, low fat ricotta, ground turkey).

Although this was quite the task, I think it was totally worth it. I’ve already had this for lunch one day this week and have plenty more stored away in my freezer for future meals. Yum.

so. many. meals.

Tomato Soup with Chickpeas and Pasta

I try to bring my lunch into work at least four times a week, but sometimes I am just too exhausted at the end of a week day to think about and prepare a lunch for the next day. Soups in general are great for these days; you can make a huge batch on Saturday, freeze it in single portions, and then grab when on the run. Food and Wine had a “fast” soup recipe listed so I thought I’d try it out (most soups take at least an hour to prepare).

The original recipe is linked above. I made a few substitutions, based on what I already had in my house.

Ingredients:
7 cups diced tomatoes with their juice (two 28-ounce cans)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 /2 teaspoons dried sage
2 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
2 cups water
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup orzo
2 cups drained and rinsed canned chickpeas (one 19-ounce can)
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
1/3 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for serving

First puree the tomatoes with their juice in a food processor or blender. Feel free to puree at much or as little as you want. If you like your soup a bit chunky, only pulse the blender a few times.

In a large pot (and I mean large– my Dutch Oven was almost too small!), heat the oil over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook until soft, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. (The original recipe called for 1 whole onion. That seemed like quite a lot of onion for my tastes, so I used half of the onion in my ingredients photo.) Stir in garlic.

Add the pureed tomatoes, sage, broth, water and salt to the pot. Bring to a boil. Stir in the pasta and chickpeas. Bring the soup back to a boil.

Reduce the heat and partially cover, stirring occasionally.

Partially covered? Sure

Cook for 15 minutes, or until the pasta is tender. Stir in the parsley, pepper, and grated Parmesan. Serve topped with an additional sprinkle of Parmesan.

Finished Dish

I was impressed with how quick this recipe was, maybe 35-45 minutes from start to finish. What made it even more manageable was during the down time (10 minute cooking of onion, waiting for it to boil, etc) I was able to clean up the mess I was making.

The soup was really tasty and deceptively fresh tasting (that parsley really helped!). If you like a little kick, I think a few drops of hot sauce during the final boiling stage would be a nice addition. If you don’t have and dried sage on hand, the recipe suggests substituting rosemary or marjoram.

This dish would be great to sop up with garlic bread or even a cheesy toast. I’m excited to have this for lunch some time next week!

Pumpkin Walnut Muffins

VisitPhilly.com’s Philly Homegrown section recently posted fall recipes from local eateries in Philadelphia. All of them sounded amazing and I hope to try them all in the coming weeks, but my pumpkin obsession took priority. Metropolitan Bakery’s Pumpkin Walnut Muffins were calling me. I’ve adjusted the recipe a bit, but the general idea is still very much there.

The recipe made two dozen large muffins, or 4 dozen cupcake-sized muffins. Your friends and coworkers will like you a whole lot after you make this recipe!

Ingredients:

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups lightly packed brown sugar
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups pumpkin puree, canned
3/4 cup milk
2 cups chopped walnuts

Continue reading Pumpkin Walnut Muffins