Tortellini Soup November 25, 2009

As I’ve said before I LOVE soup. I could eat it everyday. I think it might be the comfort of it. I have had this recipe for a couple years but haven’t made it in a while. I always remembered it as being delicious.

Recipe:

• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, chopped
• 2 ribs celery, thinly sliced
• 1 small zucchini, chopped
• 2 plum tomatoes, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cans chicken broth
• 1 can kidney beans

1. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a 6-quart saucepot or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add vegetables, tomatoes and garlic. Cook and stir for 5 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender.

2. Add broth, 1/2 cup water, beans, and Worcestershire. Heat to boiling. Stir in pasta return to boiling. Cook five minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring occasionally.

 

I’ve always loved this recipe. I had some leftover frozen corn and peas so I added that too. It has a great taste and lots of flavor. It has a lot of veggies!!

• 2 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
• 1 package refrigerated tortellini pasta

 

Double Chocolate Cake November 17, 2009

So far I’ve mostly done dinner and lunch recipes. I wanted to do a low-cal cake. But I realzied THIS IS WHY I DON’T BAKE! Actually, the baking part of the recipe was easy because it called for a box of chocolate cake mix. That was easy. The frosting was the hard part.

Thumbs Down!

The recipe told me not to follow what was on the box about baking the cake. Instead, I used 4 egg whites and a pinch of salt. I had to whip the eggs till stiff peak. I am not very good at seperating the yolk from the whites apparently. I got a little of the yolk in the egg whites, but manage to spoon it out. I got the egg whites to fluff up but not as stiff as I am sure they should have been. But the cake turned out to be ok.

The frosting was an interesting combination-which is one of the main reasons that I tried this recipe. I didn’t care for it too much. I could eat it, but I wouldn’t make it again. It had too much vanilla and the pudding made a lot of clumps that I couldn’t get rid of. I think I’ll stick to Duncan Hines frosting.

Recipe:

Cake

• 1 pkg. chocolate cake mix
• pinch of salt
• 4 egg whites
• 1 1/2 cup cold water

Icing

•  1 tub of low cal whipped topping
• 1 1/2 cup of cold water
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 pkg of chocolate pudding
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup sugar

Whip egg whites to peak stiff. Add a salt. Add cold water to cake mixture. Fold in egg whites. Put in a greased pan and back at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Let cool. Combine all frosting ingrediants. Spread evenly over cake.

http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1625,147185-224199,00.html

 

 

Beef and Barley Stew November 16, 2009

I was at Shoprite, waiting for the lady’s room to be open, when I saw a rotating cantraption ( I couldnt think of a better word, sorry) that had free recipes for anyone to take. I immediatly thought of English 329 and how I need more recipes! I picked up some and I decied to make a recipe I usually would not make. As I said before, beef is not a usual food at the Yates household. I decided that once in awhile beef can’t be that bad and the picture of the Beef and Barely Stew looked scrumptious.

Recipe:

• 3/4 lbs beef stew meat
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 (10.75 oz) can reduced sodium cream of mushroom soup
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 cup uncooked pear barley                                                                          
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1/2 cup chopped tomato
• 1/4 cup sliced green onion

In a large pot heat oil over medium heat. Add meat and brown. Stir in mushroom soup, garlic, and salt and pepper. Stir in 6 cups water. Bring to boil. Reduce hear. Simmer, covered for 30 minutes. Stir in barley. Bring to boil. Simmer covered 40-50 minutes untill beef and barley are tender. Stir in peas and corn and heat through.

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The recipe in general was pretty good. I ended up using more pepper and salt than the recipe called for. Just tasted a little bland to me. It may have been my fault, but I also found that the consistancy was a little thick for a typical stew. Next time I’ll add more water or broth. It also ended up taking a little bit longer than what the recipe said. Once again though it maybe just have been me and my own personal experience.

I like this recipe. It was decently healthy. It had veggies and barley which are both great for you. It was low fat and still had a great taste. It was a comfort food. It also defenatly was more than 4 servings.

Turkey Burgers November 3, 2009

Turkey  burgers are a delicious healthier alternative to a beef burger. Turkey contains less fat than beef. I also choose to watch my beef consumption because I have heard that cows are a huge contributor to pollution in the air. Sounds crazy I know! America is a huge beef eating country and so many cows are being breed and their flatulence contains chemicals that pollute the air! I never would have thought!

I used my handy George Foreman Grill to make these burgers. They might not have the smokey flavor that you would get using a regular grill but it’s cold outside!

ingredients:

1 pound ground turkey

1 packet dry onion soup mix

1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and I used my hands to  mix everything together. I made four nice sized patties and put them on my grill for about 10 min and flipped half way through.

This was once again very easy and the prep and cook times was under thirty minutes. I had some buns in the freezer and I popped them into the toaster. I sliced some cheese, tomatoes and lettuce and added them to the burger.

It was a nice treat to have ,in my opinion a typical summer food, in the fall. It was a very simple burger with new real thrills, but sometimes the simplest things are the best. Maybe next time I’ll experiment with putting more spices in the burger mixture. My dad and I both thoroughly enjoyed the burgers. I probably could have eaten two burgers, but I contained myself.