I love a good bargain.  I was at the farmer’s market yesterday and a vendor/farmer sold me 14 lbs of tomatoes for $5!  I’ve now made two dinners from it already and still have more tomatoes left.  Ha ha.  I love it.  I’m so wishing fall to come, despite my best efforts it was a scorching hot day, I still made soup.  I love soup in the fall.  I could eat it every single day plus my kids devour it.  Great vitamins and empty bowls.  A mom’s dream.

Ingredients:

14 regular sized tomatoes, washed, top removed and quartered
Olive oil
Sea Salt
Pepper
2 stalks of celery, washed and chopped
1 large onion, peeled and diced
4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
32 ounces, chicken stock (I used organic)
2 bay leaves
12 basil leaves, fresh & chopped
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions: 

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Place the quartered tomatoes on the baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and sea salt.  Roast for 40 minutes.

In your Dutch oven over low/medium heat, drizzle a bit of olive oil and once hot, add the onions and garlic.  Sauté for 4-6 minutes and then add the celery and stock.  Once the tomatoes are done roasting, add them to the Dutch oven along with the pan drippings.  Add the basil leaves and bay leaves.  Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat.  With a hand immersion blender, puree the soup.  Once completely pureed, turn to a very low setting and let it simmer for at least one hour but up to 4.  Add the cinnamon and adjust any other spices that you prefer.

I topped the soup off with this Jalapeño Chobani Yogurt Dip.

https://kneadtocook.com/?p=2092

— Knead to Cook

I love a good corn chowder.  This recipe is an old favorite of my family.  Super healthy & packed with flavor.  I personally can’t wait to make this with fresh corn, when it’s in season.  The roasted poblanos add a depth to this chowder that’s quite unexpected but so welcome.  Can’t wait for you to try this recipe.

Ingredients:

5 poblano peppers, halved & seeded
6 smaller red potatoes, peeled & quartered
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1 red pepper, seeded & chopped
3 cups of yellow sweet corn (I used frozen)
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
1 cup of milk (I used 2%)
1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper
Cilantro for garnishing

Directions:

Over a hot grill, place your peppers skin side down and grill for 7-9 minutes or until nicely blackened.  Remove and place on a plate and cover with plastic wrap.  Set aside.

In your Dutch oven, place the potatoes with enough water to cover, and cook for 20 minutes or until fork tender.  Drain and mash the potatoes with a fork – then set aside.

In your Dutch oven, heat the olive oil and add the onion, celery, bell pepper and cook until softened.  Season with the salt, pepper and cumin.

Once the poblanos have cooled, remove the charred skin with with your fingers.  It should easily peel off. Then chop the peppers into bite-sized pieces.

Add the potatoes and peppers to the Dutch oven.  Then add the corn, stock and milk and simmer for 45-60 minutes.  The potato will help thicken the chowder up.  Ladle into bowls when you’re ready and top with some fresh cilantro.

— Knead to Cook

Wow!  It’s pretty  much all I can say.  Vegan.  Perfect for a cool evening.  Comforting.  Low fat.  You get the picture.  A must try!

Ingredients:

1 tbl of olive oil
2 lbs of organic carrots, washed and chopped
5 tsp of grated ginger
1/4 of a larger size yellow onion, diced
4 c of vegetable or chicken broth
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of coriander
1/2 tsp of white pepper
1/4 tsp of cinnamon

Directions:

In a large Dutch oven, heat the olive oil.  Add the diced onions and cook until translucent.  Add the ginger and cook for 4 minutes.  Then add the carrots, broth & spices.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer.  I then ran my hand immersion blender through the soup to puree.  If you don’t have a hand blender, carefully ladle batches into your blender.    Then return to the Dutch oven.  I cooked this for about 3 hours over a very low flame.  Can be served in about 1 hour or simmer for up to 4.  Keep an eye on the broth level and add if you need additional.  Optional:  Garnish with green onions.

— Knead to Cook

Okay it clearly isn’t tomato season yet but I’ve been craving roasted tomato soup.  What to do, what to do?  Roast them!  Roasting tomatoes will take even the most horrid, hard, normally tasteless tomatoes and make them pure perfection!  Here’s how…

Set your oven for 275 degrees.  On a large cookie sheet take 6-8 larger tomatoes and quarter them.  Make sure your cookie sheet has sides to avoid dripping.  Drizzle them with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Then add 6-8 smashed garlic cloves.  Place in the oven and let roast for 4-6 hours.  If you don’t have that kind of time on your hands or are more impatient, bump the temp up to 325 for about 3 hours.  You’re house will smell incredible while roasting!!!  It is the most intoxicating smell 🙂

Once you’ve removed the tomatoes from the oven, simply set aside.

Soup ingredients & directions:

Roasted tomatoes (about 3-4 lbs)
2 tbl olive oil
1 tbl sea salt
Ground black pepper
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbl butter
1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes
2 c of chopped fresh basil
1 tsp of dried thyme
1 tsp of Rosemary
1 qt of chicken stock or vegetable stock (vegetarian option)

Directions:

In a large Dutch oven, pour 2 tbl of olive oil & butter in the pan.  Let this heat up and then add the onions and garlic.  Cook until translucent over medium flame.  Add the remaining ingredients.  With a stick blender, blend the soup until completely pureed.  You can also use a food mill or work in batches with your blender.  Season to taste.  To serve, top with Asiago shavings.  Enjoy!

— Knead to Cook