Party Food: Tomato Canapes

If you're having a party, chances are you're going to need food. While it's very easy to go to a big box store and buy all those adorable little frozen appetizers that they've got all ready to go for you, there's something about making your own. I'm a big fan of "make some things, buy some things" as our time is truly precious and well, you just can't fit it all into a day's work (or sometimes even a week's work). I guess we just pick and choose what we have time to make and do. And I'm a big fan of slicing the work up into spurts: do a little this day, a little more the next and so on until the job is done.

That said, with a little planning and some extra freezer space, there are plenty of appetizers you can make and freeze ahead of time!

When I was growing up, my Aunt Lynnie had a yearly Christmas party at her home.  I can't quite remember the age, but at some point, I was asked if I might like to help out in the kitchen as one of the servers. It was A BIG PARTY. Aunt Lynn had dozens of appetizers and they were all made ahead, labeled and stocked in her big stand up freezer in the basement pantry. My teammate, Renee and I would bake and restock the warming trays as the guests devoured every single treat my Aunt had prepared. It was a labor of love and one that I cannot soon forget. I do believe I've adopted a lot of her interests over the years and making tasty foods is certainly one of them. To help me out, I have all of her copious notebooks where she's written down her menu plans for every party, Garden luncheon, bridge group and family dinner. In addition to those notes, I also have her recipes!

I've shared several of her recipes over the years and one of my favorite party food appetizers is Spinach Balls. I've even started making it as a side dish at dinner as my kids really do love them and well, it does have spinach in it!

When I was prepping for Sophia's first birthday party, I decided early on that it was going to be somewhat simple, as simple as Crafty can be at least. I went with a Sweets and Savories menu and the recipe that follows is a winner indeed! My friend, Marijke, shared Tomato Canapes with me while I was going over my menu plans-  I'm so glad she did. You can make these ahead and use some store bought bruschetta to make it even easier to assemble!

Tomato Canapes

adapted from: Food Network, Paula Deen

Large jar of prepared bruschetta, drained

3 packages of mini phyllo shells

1/2 cup mayo

1 cup shredded mozzarella

8 slices real bacon chopped up into bits

Instructions:

1. If you've bought yourself some prepared bruschetta, I'd go ahead and drain the majority of the liquid from it so that these little phyllo cups don't end up all soggy bottomed. No one likes a soggy bottom.

2. Leave the phyllo cups in their trays and spoon a little bruschetta into each one, I'd say this is about a half of a regular sized teaspoon (not the measuring type of teaspoon, the one in your silverware drawer)

3. Stir together the mozzarella and mayo (I used light mayo) and use this to "frost" each of the phyllo cups

4. Chop up a few strips of bacon or open up a bag of bacon bits- whatever you've got time for and sprinkle that on top of the frosted phyllo cups

5. Now you can do one of two things, freeze them for later or bake them now! For freezing, I just kept them in their safe little plastic containers and used press 'n seal to seal them tightly. I then put them in a large freezer bag.

To Bake: preheat your oven to 350° and bake for 10-12 minutes. Serve hot.

All-American Chili

I was craving chili the other day and did a search on here only to discover that I have never posted my favorite chili recipe!

FOR SHAME!

I had to remedy that pronto!

I've been making this chili recipe for a long time now. My mom's chili is very good, but I love the addition of turkey sausage, wine and a mix up of beans in this one. The original recipe just calls for light kidney beans, but I'm here to say you can mix that up and use whatever you have on hand! In this case,  black and cannelini (which, by the way, are also called white kidney beans) beans were what was in my pantry. I did consider running to the store as I also had ZERO green peppers... but no. I kept repeating that old mantra: Fix it up, wear it out, make it do, go without. Or something like that. I had red peppers in the fridge, so into the pot they went. Always remember, a recipe is a guideline. Make it the original way at first and then play up the parts you love or vice versa. 

This recipes makes PLENTY, so you'll have some to give away or to freeze for another wintery day when you're craving chili.

Now, as I mentioned in this post, (which has a very similiar looking photo! lol) I grew up eating chili on mashed potatoes, so don't freak out about my picture there. That's just what I like. My husband... purely a tortilla chip and chili kinda guy. The kids ate this, too, but only the first day and refused leftovers. Fickle people.

As written, this is not a spicy chili at all. So if you like the heat and can take it... by all means turn up the volume. This is great for feeding a crowd of varied "heat indexes", the spice lovers can toss in their hot sauce of choice and the weaklings will love it.

All American Chili
adapted from Cooking Light, 2003

2 links sweet Turkey sausage
2 small onions, diced the way you like
1 green pepper (or red), chopped
1 lb lean ground meat
1 jalapeno pepper (I often forget this), diced
1 1/2 - 2 Tbs chili powder
1 Tbs brown sugar (optional, I left it out once and didn't notice)
1 Tbs cumin
3 Tbs tomato paste
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 tsp salt
2 bay leaves
3/4- 1 1/4 cups red wine, Merlot (the amt is based on how much I have left in the bottle ;-)
2 cans whole tomatoes, undrained and coarsely chopped
2 cans beans, light kidney or combination black and cannelini works
shredded cheddar
adobo seasoning

1. Heat large pot and add turkey sausage, squeeze out of the casings and sauté. Add onion, peppers, ground meat and jalapeńo. Continue to sauté, about 8 min., until meat is cooked. While cooking, use back of spoon or fork to crumble meat.

2. Add chili powder through salt. Cook for 1 minute and stir to combine. Add bay leaves- I wait so as not to crumble the bay leaves.

3. Add wine, tomatoes, and beans. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 1 hour.
(At this point, once it comes to a boil, you could turn it off, put it in a container and pop it in the fridge to reheat the next day(in a crock pot!) Chili is always better the next day.)

4. Uncover, take out the bay leaves, and cook 30 minutes more, add adobo seasoning if you think it needs a little something or some more cumin. Again, adjust the tastes to YOUR liking.

5. Serve in big bowls with a sprinkling of cheddar cheese on top (and with mashed potatoes if you're me)

Enjoy!

Creamy Tomato Balsamic Soup~ 10. 24.11

Continuing my trend this week of copying recipes from my other blog and posting them here. Before they're forgotten! Some of these haven't been made in ages.

I may have mentioned my love and affection for all things tomato- and this soup fits the bill. I may need to make it this week! heartburn schmartburn! (ah the joys of pregnancy)

I do use a foley food mill to make my soup. Ever see one of those before? One of my beloved kitchen tools. You can sometimes nab one at a garage sale or thrift store. Or raid your grandmother's cabinets and ask her for hers ;) Mine came from my grandfather and then I upgraded to a less rusty version when I saw one at a garage sale a few years back.

So handy and a  kid can operate it! 

that's Dom making applesauce!

Anyway, this soup does have a bit of wait time with those tomatoes roasting... but you'll be ever so thankful you did that step. House smelling all warm and lovely- tomatoes cooking in a beautiful marinade adding a wonderful depth of flavor to your tomato soup... yep, it's a good thing.

Creamy Tomato-Balsamic Soup

Cooking the vegetables at the high temperature of 500° caramelizes their natural sugars and deepens their flavor; the liquid poured over them ensures they won't burn. Prepare the soup up to two days ahead; reheat over medium heat before serving.

1 cup less-sodium beef broth, divided
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 cup coarsely chopped onion
5 garlic cloves
2 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes, drained
Cooking spray
3/4 cup half-and-half
Cracked black pepper (optional)

Preheat oven to 500°.
Combine 1/2 cup of broth, sugar, vinegar, and soy sauce in a small bowl. Place onion, garlic, and tomatoes in a 13 x 9-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Pour broth mixture over tomato mixture. Bake at 500° for 50 minutes or until vegetables are lightly browned.

Place tomato mixture in a blender. Add remaining 1/2 cup broth and half-and-half, and process until smooth. Strain mixture through a sieve into a bowl; discard solids. Garnish with cracked black pepper, if desired.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: about 1/2 cup)

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 120(35% from fat); FAT 4.7g (sat 3g,mono 1.5g,poly 0.1g); PROTEIN 3.8g; CHOLESTEROL 23mg; CALCIUM 120mg; SODIUM 452mg; FIBER 1.7g; IRON 1.7mg; CARBOHYDRATE 14.9g

Julie Grimes
Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2005

Southwestern Tomato & Pinto Bean Soup ~ 3.31.11

[ in a perfect world this soup would be flipped counterclockwise to appear normal. but blogger doesn't like me and I want you to see the soup all pretty in the bowl. so just tilt your head for me, to the right. there.. doesn't that look delish?]

I'm pretty sure many of you know by now my love for all things tomato, especially tomato soup (see here and here)!

I've had this in my 'to try' file for far too long so it was time to give it a go. This year, during Lent, I'm working hard on planning my menu for the week and using recipes that are simple and as many meat free choices as I can. It's been a great experiment and I'm writing down what we're having on a calendar I received for free from half price books! I love sitting down and thinking through what we'll have for the week and looking back to see what we've already eaten!

So this recipe that I clipped 6 yrs ago from Eating Well magazine was right up my Lenten alley. It has just the right amt of kick in it if you used the fire roasted canned tomatoes. And I just loved the addition of the crispy tortillas that took just a few extra minutes of my time, but were well worth it in the end.

If you're looking for a little bit of a twist on traditional tomato soup and you love the flavors of the southwest, please do yourself a favor and make a batch of this very soon!

Southwestern Tomato and Pinto Bean Soup

ingredients:
2 corn tortillas
1 can diced green chiles or 1 poblano chile
1- 15 1/2 oz can pinto beans, rinsed
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, diced fine
1 cloves garlic, minced
2 1/2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
1- 14 1/2 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes, not drained!
1/2 tsp cumin
couple shakes red cap Goya Adobo seasoning (optional)
1/3  cup reduced fat sour cream, garnish
1 Tbs coarsely chopped cilantro- I think this made the soup stellar
1 lime, wedged, for garnish

instructions:
1. preheat oven to 425. stack tortillas and cut into strips, then in half again. you want smallish strips. scatter on baking pan or stone and toast about 10 minutes
2. Meanwhile, if using a fresh poblano ( I did not), roast it over a gas burner, turning often with tongs, until the skin is blackened, about 10 minutes. Place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let steam 5 min. to loosen skin. Scrape off skin, core and remove seeds and inner membranes and cut into 1/2 inch dice.
3. Mash 1/2 cup beans in a small bowl with a fork. Set mashed and whole beans aside.(Alternatively- you could save 1/2 a can of beans out of the soup and puree the whole pot with a stick blender or regular blender, then pour the soup back in the pot, add the whole beans and heat- I say this again, below)
4. Heat oil in soup pot over med heat, add onion and cook, until softened, 3-4 min. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 sec. Add broth, tomatoes, cumin, green chiles, beans (all), bring just to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered, 10 min. (I believe I left out the whole beans initially and pureed the soup a bit before adding in the pintos- I like my soup a little creamier and chunky, so go for what you like)
5. Ladle into bowls and garnish with sour cream, cilantro, tortilla strips and lime wedge. Enjoy!

{original recipe called for more beans and more broth, I cut it in about half and still had plenty of beans and soup!)

Simple Side bursting with color ~ 1.31.10

(I'll be adding in my food recipes from She's a Crafty Pumpkin throughout the month of February- it's about time I got them over here!)

this was outrageously delicious.

You will need 3 main ingredients:
corn (I had frozen),
grape tomatoes (sliced in half),
baby spinach (as much as your little heart desires).

heat up some extra virgin olive oil, throw in the corn, then the spinach, toss it all around as the spinach wilts, maybe some more spinach. sprinkle some kosher salt on top of that happy little frying pan. add in the toms and a twist of freshly ground pepper and....

eat

it

up

recipe from Pgh Post Gazette sometime ago ;)

Basil Tomato Soup ~ 1.22.10

I am a tomato lover- come summertime, you rarely find this house without tomatoes lined up along the counter waiting to be sliced for sandwiches, stacked with buffalo mozzarella and drizzled with olive oil and vinegar or added to salad. I heart tomatoes.

And in the winter, I love a bowl of homemade tomato soup. It's been a few years now that I stopped buying the high fructose corn syrup laden red and white can of Campbell's. I just cannot stomach that stuff. Sorry if you like it- not my cup of soup, so to speak.

So I've been on a quest of sorts to find a soup that:
a) I love and
b) the rest of the family loves, too.

I think I found it.

I've been making this one for quite some time, but I just couldn't stop thinking about how much it tasted like something I should be eating on pasta. I wanted more from my tomato soup. I'm always wanting more in life.

Well, I had this little number sitting in my "files" waiting for the perfect moment to give it a whirl. I think I didn't try it earlier b/c it involved a few more ingredients- ones that I didn't often buy: half and half and green bell peppers. I am NOT a big green pepper fan, but this soup has changed my feelings about that vegetable. I'll definitely be making this one all year long.

I love that it's chock full of veggies - the intense basil flavor helps, too. I'm a professed basil-lover as well.

Basil Tomato Soup

about 8 servings

One tip to making this in a jiffy- save your bacon grease. I keep mine in a little heat proof container, stored in the fridge. Bacon grease is our friend....it adds flavor to so many foods that you're preparing and just trust me, you'll thank me that you saved it.

(my notes in italics)

onto the soup...

Ingredients:
5 strips of bacon- just used bacon grease from the fridge
1 rib celery, chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 small carrot, peeled and diced
1 red pepper, cored, seeded and diced
1 green pepper, cored, seeded and diced
6 fresh basil leaves-chopped, divided- since it's winter, I used cubes of Trader Joe's frozen basil and added it in with the tomatoes
1 tsp minced garlic
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes
1 Tbs chicken base or 2 cubes chicken bouillon
1 cup half and half - heavy cream works GREAT, too. I bet this would be just fine without either though
3 jumbo pitted ripe olives, sliced - I omitted this entirely

Cook bacon in stockpot- or if you've got it, just use a Tbs of bacon grease. Drain all but 1-2 Tbs of drippings. Add celery, onion and carrot and cook 2 minutes or until carrot is softened up. Add peppers, half of the basil, and garlic. Cook 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and simmer over medium heat, breaking them up as they cook, about 5 minutes. Add chicken base and stir to dissolve. I also added a bit of water to my pot to increase the volume of soup, it did not affect the flavor at all, still very tomatoey and intense! Transfer to a blender and puree in batches (always be very CAREFUL when pureeing HOT foods in a blender- fill less than half full and whiz). Return to stockpot. Add half and half, olives and remaining basil. Simmer over medium heat, 45 minutes.