Category: Homemaker

Hello Everyone! I finally used all of my tomatoes (the ripe ones) that I harvested from my yard and put them to good use. I don’t eat fresh tomatoes but I do like it when they are roasted.  They are so full of flavor when prepared that way. Tonight I made Ina Garten’s roasted tomato basil soup and it’s so good. It was a really simple recipe, but I did use my Vitamix instead of the food mill that Ina recommended. Fall is just perfect for this kind of soup.

I added parmesan cheese because I like cheesy tomato soup:)

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup (Ina Garten/Foodnetwork.com)

Ingredients:

3 pounds ripe plum tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 (28-ounce) canned plum tomatoes, with their juice
4 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 quart chicken stock or water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Toss together the tomatoes, 1/4 cup olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread the tomatoes in 1 layer on a baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes.

In an 8-quart stockpot over medium heat, saute the onions and garlic with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the butter, and red pepper flakes for 10 minutes, until the onions start to brown. Add the canned tomatoes, basil, thyme, and chicken stock. Add the oven-roasted tomatoes, including the liquid on the baking sheet. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. Pass through a food mill fitted with the coarsest blade. Taste for seasonings. Serve hot or cold.

Hello Everyone! I wanted to share this Fried Chicken recipe from the Pioneer Woman! This episode was shown weeks ago on the Food Network and I thought I could do this because I had all of the ingredients. I “rarely” prepare fried chicken because it’s just messy and I can get it so cheap at our local grocery store (it’s decent too,taste wise!). I still made it anyway, because I wanted to make a mess in my kitchen! Not really! It was good and flavorful but I think the amount of clean up afterward wasn’t worth all of the hassle. I had to cut the recipe in half because unlike Ree (the Pioneer Woman) it was just me and the Hubs.

Chicken marinating in buttermilk.

Flour with seasoned salt, paprika,pepper, thyme, and cayenne pepper.

Fried Chicken, Salad,Gnocchi

Fried Chicken (recipe: Ree Drummond; The Pioneer Woman)

Ingredients:

2 cut-up fryer chickens in 16 pieces

4 1/4 cups buttermilk

5 cups all purpose flour

3 tablespoons seasoned salt,such as Lawry’s

2 teaspoons paprika

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

2 teaspoons ground dried thyme

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, plus more for seasoning

1/4 cup milk

Canola or vegetable oil, for frying

Directions:

Thoroughly rinse the chicken, then cover all the pieces with 4 cups buttermilk and soak in the fridge overnight or up to 24 hours. When you’re ready to fry the chicken, remove the bowl from the fridge and let it sit on the counter for 30 minutes, just to take off the chill.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 360 degrees F and mix up the breading. Place the flour, seasoned salt, paprika, pepper,thyme, and cayenne (extra if you like heat) in a very large bowl. Stir together well.

In a small bowl, combine the 1/4 cup buttermilk and the milk. Pour the milk mixture into the flour and, with a fork, gradually mix until there are little lumps throughout. This will adhere to the chicken and make for a crispier breading. If necessary, add a little more flour or milk to the bowl in order to make it slightly lumpy.

Heat 1 1/2 to 2 inches of oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat until a thermometer reaches 365 degrees F. Lowe the heat slightly, if necessary to keep the oil from getting hotter.

Working in batches, thoroughly coat each chicken piece with the breading, pressing extra breading onto the chicken if necessary. Place the breaded pieces on a plate.

Add the chicken to the oil 4 or 4 pieces at a time. Make sure they aren’t sticking together, then cover the pan and fry for 5 to 7 minutes, checking occasionally to make sure the chicken isn’t getting too brown. Turn the pieces over, cover again, and cook 3 to 5 minutes more. All the while, monitor the temperature of the oil to make sure the chicken doesn’t burn.

Place the chicken on a baking sheet and continue frying the rest of the chicken. When all the chicken has been fried, remove the wings and legs to a plate and keep covered. These should be cooked all the way through by now but always check, if any pink juice or meat is visible. If so, return to the hot oil for another minute or so until fully cooked. Leave the thighs and breasts on the baking sheet.

Bake the thighs and breasts for 15 minutes to finish the cooking process. If any pink juice or meat is visible,the chicken needs to continue cooking in the oven.

I grew up eating a lot of tuna belly in the Philippines because our area just has an abundance of seafood. I do not remember eating frozen seafood, especially fish for that matter! It’s kinda different here in Washington state, the “fresh” ones are so expensive and the frozen are not the best quality I’ve had. Oh well! That’s why I get so excited to go to the ocean because we always get fresh seafood, like tuna belly. The fishermen got it in the morning, and we cooked it for dinner the same day! It was so good:) When we got back home I just prepared the rest of our tuna belly because I didn’t want to freeze anything.  I don’t mind having tuna belly for consecutive days if it is fresh and I don’t get to have it often. I marinade it in soy sauce (I used less sodium,1/2 cup), 4 or 5 tablespoon of olive oil, chopped garlic (3 cloves),then pepper. Marinated it for 4-5 hours. Then I grilled it for 4 minutes each side (medium heat). Enjoy with rice and dipping sauce (like vinegar or PINAKURAT is what I used;it’s a famous filipino vinegar.)