Saturday, February 27, 2010

Vegetable, Beef and Barley Soup

It's cold again in south Florida. Where is the warm and mild weather I ask? I can't exactly be thinking picnics in the park and ice cream desserts. I'm stuck in a soup rut!!!  So here comes another addition to my list of soup recipes, hearty and delicious vegetable beef and barley soup. Since I didn't use a soup bone and used vegetable broth rather than beef broth, you could exchange the beef in this recipe for chicken very easily, I would guess, and have a great outcome.

VEGETABLE, BEEF AND BARLEY SOUP
1 lb. beef for stew, substitute 1 lb. of chicken breast if you prefer
1 Tbs. oil
4 carrots, sliced
2 stalks of celery, chopped, use the celery leaves
1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 handful of fresh parsley, chopped
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes, including liquid
3 cups of vegetable broth
1 cup water
1 pkg. frozen mini corn on the cob
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup barley

Cut the already cubed stew meat into smaller, bite sized pieces. Heat the oil in a soup pot and brown the beef (or chicken).  Add the rest of the already chopped up ingredients except the barley. I used my food processor for the onion, garlic and parsley, and then gave the celery a bit of a coarser chop.  I don't like too many big pieces of onion hanging around in the soup.... Check the seasoning, cover and simmer on low for a good long while, two hours even. Add the barley and continue cooking until everything is nice and soft and smelling delicious, probably another hour or more if using regular barley (not the quick cooking kind.) When you're ready to serve, remove the bay leaf first. Then ladle the soup into a bowl. Add one ear of corn to each bowl and attach one of those cute little corn-on-the-cob holders so you can easily pick up the corn and munch away.

The next day, you can thin this out with some more broth or tomato juice.  Now go make this! Baby, it's cold outside!!!

I bought Glory brand seasoned cooking base, the roasted vegetable flavor. It's so much better than bouillon and less expensive than cans of broth. There's even a brand out there called Better Than Bouillon. These cooking bases are in the 4 to 5 dollar range, but refrigerated they last a long, long time and come in handy for kicking up the flavor of your soups and sauces, vegetables, etc.

I just had to include a shot of Ms. Peggy the Pug, who always seems to be under my feet, or under the food, looking for something, anything to drop down.  Not this time Peggy!!!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Baked Birds Nests

How many different ways can we make this egg in toast thing, right? For years I've been tearing a small hole in the middle of a slice of bread, frying it in the pan, flipping it, etc.  Here is yet another remarkable way to prepare the incredible, edible egg. The really great thing about making them this way is that you can prepare several of them all at the same time, and everyone can have their eggs and eat them too, all at the same time.  Did I just use the phrase "all at the same time" twice in one sentence? Make these this weekend!! Okay, here is what you do:

Baked Birds Nests
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Decide how many you're going to make, usually two per person. Coat a muffin pan very well with cooking spray. Using soft wheat bread, trim the crust from the edges, and gently push each slice of bread into the muffin pan to create a cup. Melt a couple tablespoons of butter in the microwave and brush the edges and insides of the bread with a pastry brush. Or if you're tired this morning, just spray the edges of the bread with cooking spray, which works just as well.  Now, break one egg into each bread cup.  Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until done to your liking. They will look slightly opaque on top after 15 minutes but are really done at that point.

Remove the muffin pan from the oven. Slide a knife around the sides of the muffin pan to remove each piece. They will come out of the pan perfectly easily and have the beautiful little shape of a muffin. Serve and season with salt and pepper.

I've decided that a medium egg fits into the bread cup better than a large egg. It will work fine using the large but may overflow a bit, which doesn't really affect the overall outcome, and now that I'm talking about it, I'm wondering who buys medium eggs anyway, right?

Great Tip! The soft 40 calorie wheat bread works great and will keep you from feeling too guilty about the carb thing.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Cheddar and Jalapeno Corn Muffins

The decision is final, at least for two of the items to serve on Superbowl Sunday.  Chili and Cornbread. But since I didn't have all the ingredients for the chili at this very moment, I decided to make the corn muffins and test them out instead. Oh, are they good!!! Here's the recipe....

CHEDDAR AND JALAPENO CORN MUFFINS
1 stick of butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup coarse or medium yellow cornmeal
1 cup flour
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar
2 Tbs. diced jalapenos (I buy a jar already to rock)

Melt the butter in the microwave in a large microwavable bowl. Let it cool for a few minutes, and then add the eggs, beating well. Stir in the sugar, baking soda, salt and buttermilk. (See my tip below for making a great substitute for buttermilk.)  Stir in the cornmeal, flour, cheese and jalapenos. Save a few sprinklings of cheese for the tops of the muffins.

Evenly distribute the batter among 12 muffin cups that have been coated with cooking spray. Don't use paper muffin liners. Sprinkle the tops with the remaining shredded cheese. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 20 to 23 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Run a knife around the sides of the muffins to remove from pans and cool on a rack.

Great Tip: For recipes like this that call for buttermilk, and who has buttermilk just hanging around in their refrigerator, measure 1 1/2 Tbs. cider vinegar into a measuring cup and add enough milk to make 1 cup. Let this stand for a few minutes while you're preparing the muffins, and proceed with the recipe. It actually smells like buttermilk, and you will never notice the difference in your recipe. This method works well for things like these muffins. I have tried this with soup recipes that call for larger amounts of buttermilk and failed miserably!!! For soups and sauces that call for buttermilk, I would stick with the real thing, but for these muffins this substitution works beautifully!