{ rich & creamy tomato basil soup }

It's chilly outside, and if you breathe in deep enough, you can almost smell the first frost in the air. The leaves are changing, and the world is pumpkiny and perfect. I love fall so very much -- it never ever gets old.

We're heading to a local apple orchard this afternoon to do some picking, so I thought having a warm pot of soup waiting on us when we return would be a comforting and perfect way to end the day.

Tomato basil soup sounded like a good choice, only this one is super-naughty. The butter and cream can be tasted (and savored!) in every bite.

I doubled the usual recipe this time, as I wanted plenty of leftovers. So don't be confused by some of my pictures if things look excessive. The normal recipe makes plenty for a family dinner though.

Sidenote: Ty, the husband who doesn't like chunky, vegetable stuff, says this is the "best" tomato soup he's ever eaten. Aidan, my 6-year-old son who is also the pickiest eater on planet Earth, loved it. Paige, my 2-year-old who eats anything, ate this too (so her opinion on the subject is actually no big deal). ;)

Rich & Creamy Tomato Basil Soup
(adapted from chef in training)

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter

2 heaping tablespoons minced garlic

1/2 cup flour

1 1/2 cups half and half

 1 1/2 cups light cream

2 1/2 tablespoons chicken base (I use Better Than Bouillon)

2 (28 oz.) cans petite-diced tomatoes

1 cup tomato puree

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped

1/2 teaspoon pepper, more if needed TT

1/2 teaspoon salts, more if needed TT

milk, if needed, to thin to desired consistency

Process

1. Melt butter over medium heat in heavy saucepan or dutch oven.
2. Once melted add garlic and sauté for a minute or two.
3. Stir in flour and make a roux, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes.
4. Once roux is formed, slowly pour in half and half and light cream, stirring as you pour.
5. Stir in chicken base, diced tomatos, tomato puree, sugar, basil, pepper and salt. Stir until heated through.
6. Using a ladle, spoon soup into blender and pulse briefly, breaking up the tomato chunks, but still leaving a nice, thick texture to the soup. Repeat, as needed, until entire batch of soup has been blended.
7. Return soup to pot. If needed add milk to soup to thin out to desired consistency (I didn't need to add any).
8. Serve hot, garnished with a sprinkle of grated cheese and fresh basil leaves.

{ special strawberry cake }

Summertime and strawberries go together like baseball and hotdogs (and cold beer).

We enjoyed a low-key 4th of July yesterday, as Ty has been busy on duty in Boston Harbor during most of the holiday festivities. His time at home has been limited, but this same time last year, we had just received the news that he would be leaving within the week for an extended deployment out of the country ... so this year, we very much appreciate any time we have just being together.

Back to strawberries ... Ty's favorite. And now it seems Paige's as well (Aidan likes strawberry 'gogurt' squeezers, if that counts for anything). Strawberry layer cake was the plan, and it was an easy one to put together. Make one for the strawberry lover in your life, and appreciate our freedoms, as well as those who have sacrificed to bring them to us.

God bless America, home of baseball, hot dogs, strawberries, and gogurt squeezers.

Strawberry Layer Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
(adapted from DaveRamsey.com)

Ingredients
Cake
1 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1 box white cake mix
1 - 3oz. box of strawberry Jell-o
 24oz. frozen, sliced strawberries (thawed)

Frosting
3 sticks of butter at room temperature
8 oz. block of cream cheese at room temperature
6 cups of powdered sugar
about 6 tablespoons of juice and pulp from strawberries

Process
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare three eight-inch round cake pans by lining bottom of pans with wax paper sprayed with non-stick baking spray and lightly floured.

Using a potato masher or a fork, mash strawberries into small pieces. Measure one cup for the cake and set aside. Separately reserve about 6 tablespoons for use in the frosting.

Combine cake mix, oil, eggs and dry strawberry Jell-o in a mixing bowl and beat until blended. Stir in cup of mashed strawberries until blended.

Pour mixture evenly into the prepared cake pans. Bake 30 minutes at 350. Cake is done when toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool cakes in the pans for 10 minutes, then gently turn cakes out onto plates to cool completely.

To make icing, mix softened butter and cream cheese in mixer bowl until smooth. Slowly add powdered sugar and mix well. Add reserved strawberry juice with pulp by tablespoon to give the butter cream icing color and a touch of strawberry pieces. Do not add too much juice or your icing will be too thin.


Chill frosting for about 10 minutes before use. Assemble cakes, frosting between layers, and generously covering the top and sides.

Store the finished cake in the refrigerator until ready to serve -- the cream cheese frosting softens quickly, especially in the summer. Garnish with fresh strawberries just before serving.

{ soft coconut-lime sugar cookies }

Two of my favorite culinary loves: lime and coconut. Combine them together and the result is magic (and a great summer cookie!).

Soft coconut-lime sugar cookies
(adapted from The Cookin' Chemist)

Ingredients

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
• 1-1/2 cups sugar, plus 1/3 cup for sprinkling
• 2 oz. cream cheese
• 1 Tbsp. finely grated lime zest
• 6 Tbsp. salted butter, melted and still warm
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 Tbsp. coconut milk (plain milk is also fine)
• 1 Tbsp. lime juice

Process

Preheat heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

 

Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and coconut together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

 

Place 1-1/2 cups sugar, cream cheese, and lime zest in a large bowl.

Set aside remaining 1/3 cup sugar to use in final steps.

 

Pour warm, melted butter over sugar and cream cheese and whisk to combine (some small lumps of cream cheese will remain but will smooth out later).

Whisk in oil. Add egg, coconut milk, and lime juice; continue to whisk until smooth. With a rubber spatula, fold in flour in small amounts and mix until soft dough forms. The final dough will be

slightly softer than most cookie dough. For best results, handle the dough as little as possible when shaping the cookies.

Use a scoop to form equal-sized cookies, approximately 2 tablespoons each, and evenly space them on prepared baking sheets, 12 cookies per sheet. Lightly press down on cookies to partially flatten (dipping fingers into water reduces sticking). Sprinkle tops evenly with remaining sugar and discard any remaining.

Bake, 1 tray at a time, until edges are set and just beginning to brown, 11 to 13 minutes, rotating the tray after 7 minutes.

Cool cookies on baking sheets for at least 5 minutes (I let mine sit for about 15 minutes). Using a wide metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack and cool.

Serve at room temperature.

{ shoyu chicken }

Over 20 years ago, Ty's first assignment in the Coast Guard was at USCG Station Maui -- tough one, right? As a young, single guy, he lived large on a small budget. He still talks about his Maui days as if they occurred last week, rather than decades ago. Some of his favorite recollections seem to revolve around the food he ate and the friends with whom he shared it.

Ty loves pretty much any type of Asian food, but Shoyu chicken (Hawaii's answer to teriyaki chicken) remains one of his favorites. Chicken thigh meat is marinated in a sweet, spicy soy sauce marinade, then grilled and served with rice (shoyu is Japanese for soy sauce). Last night, I finally got around to diving in and making it for him ... and it didn't disappoint. According to Ty, it was some of the best he's ever had.

We'll be making it again. And again. It's a simple, healthy dish that packs a ton of flavor with just the right amount of kick and that perfect grilled chicken char that's so good.


Add a glass of cold white wine, and it's the perfect meal.

Shoyu Chicken
(adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 cup soy sauce
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup water
•  6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small yellow onion (or 1/2 large), chopped
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground paprika
• 5 pounds skinless chicken thighs

Process

1. Whisk together the soy sauce, brown sugar, water, garlic, onion, ginger, black pepper, oregano, red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, and paprika in a large glass bowl.
2. Trim any extra fat off the chicken, and add chicken to the soy sauce mixture. Use tongs to maneuver chicken around the bowl to evenly coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and marinate the chicken in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour (the longer, the better!). I marinated mine for about 4 hours. 
3. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium heat.              
4. Remove the chicken thighs from the marinade and discard the remaining marinade. Grill the chicken thighs on the preheated grill until cooked through, about 15 minutes per side.
5. Serve with a white rice.

{ dulce de leche }

One of my favorite sweets in the world is leche quemada (burned milk) candy, available at the checkout counter at most mom & pop Tex Mex restaurants where I grew up. It's made from dulce de leche, or "candy of milk." It has such a sweet, distinctly creamy taste that so much reminds me of Friday nights in the summertime and being a bit tipsy on margaritas.

Dulce de leche couldn't be easier to make, especially when made in the crockpot (yes, the crockpot). The most difficult part of the entire process was finding which aisle stocked the mason jars at my local grocery store.

Countless recipes call for dulce de leche, and each is likely worth the time. So having a jar or two on hand is a great plan. An even better plan is sticking a spoon into the dulce de leche jar at 11:30 p.m. when you can't fall asleep ... and are craving something sweet.

Just sayin'.

Dulce de Leche
Ingredients

• 3 14-oz cans sweetened condensed milk.

(yep! that's it!)

Process
Open cans of condensed milk and pour each into a pint-sized glass mason jar.

Secure the lid of each jar and place in the crockpot.

Fill the crockpot with water to just above the point at the jars where the cream is topped. Place the lid on the crockpot.

Heat milk jars on low for 8-10 hours (the longer the cooking process, the more solid the dulce de leche) -- I actually cooked mine overnight.


Once process is complete, the consistency will be thick. In order to thin the dulce de leche to use as a dip or sauce, spoon into a dish and add milk or cream. Slowly heat (the microwave works just fine) and whisk until desired consistency is reached.

{ pizza rolls ... aka, my favorite college food }

Pretty much every college kid in Texas (especially in College Station, TX) has memories of gorging on DoubleDave's Peproni Rolls (yes, that's how it's spelled) at one point or another. They were (and still are) the quintessential college grub, meeting all requirements -- cheap, portable, delicious, and easy to dunk in ranch dressing.
I can't even fathom a guess as to how many late nights spent "studying" were accompanied by cold [usually cheap] beer and a delivery of a dozen Peproni Rolls. And the most prized pages in the little coupon books that the bookstores would stuff in your textbook bags were always the pizza roll coupons from DoubleDave's.

Then I graduated (sniff, sniff) and moved away from my beloved Texas A&M. But fortunately for me, there was a DoubleDave's near our home in the Houston area, providing me with the necessary greasy fix at least once a week when I was pregnant with Aidan (and seriously craving DoubleDave's on a regular basis).



Since moving away from the Lone Star State, it's much more difficult to find some of my favorite meals -- and pizza rolls are no different. I've pretty much had to fend for myself and learn to cook our faves at home.

So here's the copycat version of DoubleDave's Peproni Rolls. Honestly, although smaller in size, they're a pretty dead ringer for the real thing (Ty says this version is actually better). And by using turkey pepperoni, you don't get that traditional DD's orange oil-slick on your plate from the dripping grease. And substituting light ranch for the real thing cuts even more calories and fat from the recipe. I mean, we're not in college anymore, right? ;) 
There are two non-negotiables when it comes to a good pizza roll experience: the first is the cheese -- it has to be provolone. The second is having a bowl of ranch dressing in which to dip the crusty, cheesy goodness.

Beyond that, you can pretty much get as creative as you'd like. Although, my personal preference never strays from the tried and true original of pepperoni and cheese ... nothing fancy on my rolls, please. This is not the time for artichokes or feta. Oh, I also like to put a sprinkling of dried red pepper flakes on my plate for an extra kick -- dip the roll in the ranch and then the pepper flakes. Yummo.

Pizza/Pepperoni Rolls with Ranch Dressing
Ingredients

• 1 bag enriched dinner roll dough (located in the frozen food case)
• provolone cheese slices
• turkey pepperoni
• ranch dressing (for dipping)
• dried red pepper flakes, optional (for dipping)

Process
Remove rolls from the freezer 1-2 hours before baking.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with foil.

Using your thumb, press the roll dough into a flat mound, continuing to pull and knead at the circle until it reaches the maximum stretching point, without ripping.

Cover the round dough disc with a slice of provolone (I use a round cookie cutter to get the correct size). Top cheese with 4 slices of turkey pepperoni.

Continue process with the remaining rolls.

Bake rolls 15-20 minutes, or until dough is golden in appearance. Some oozing of cheese will appear -- not a bad thing! It's all part of the experience when you get to peel the crusty warm cheese off the pan and nibble on it before anyone else does!


Serve hot with a side of ranch dressing for dipping sauce.