Creamy Root Vegetable Soup

In November of 2011 we attended the Great River Wine Trail along the Mississippi River.  One of our stops included the Eagles Landing Winery in Marquette, IA. Upon arrival, they served us a wonderful Creamy Root Vegetable Soup & paired it with their semi-sweet Volga Lake Blush wine.  The soup was very interesting to me because it was something I had never tried before. It was comforting, nourishing & so rich we thought there was cheese in it. All I could think about was making this back at home on a cold winter night.  Note: We are really not sure if this recipe is as good as we thought it was because it was a long journey that day with many stops & many sips & many snacks throughout the day.  Also, some sips were bigger than others.  If it does not taste well at least we have the wine!

Creamy Root Vegetable Soup

1 lb. turnips

1 lb. rutabagas

1 lb. carrots

1 lb. parsnips

1 lb. yellow onions

1 lb. yams or sweet potatoes

Salt to taste

Prepared Dry Soup Base – see separate recipe below

Peel & cut all root vegetables in to ¾ “ cubes.  In a large stock pot, place all prepared vegetables. Cover with water. Salt to taste. Cook until tender.  Drain, reserving 6 cups of vegetable broth. 

Using an immersion blender or a regular blender puree the vegetables to the smoothness you wish (or use a potato masher for real chunky soup).  Place 2 cups of the dry soup base mix with the reserved vegetable broth in the stock pot). Stir over medium heat until thickened. Add the blended vegetables… heat & serve hot. 

Dry Cream Soup Base

2 cups instant non-fat dry milk powder

3/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup instant chicken bullion

1 tsp onion powder

½ tsp black or white pepper

1 tsp crushed basil

1 tsp dried thyme

Combine all ingredients & mix well.  Makes 3 cups of dry soup base, store in air-tight container; does not need refrigeration when storing.  This can be used with future recipes that require condensed cream soup. 

To use soup base: combine 1/3 cup of the dry soup base mix with 1 cup of water in saucepan (this is comparable to 1 can of soup). Stir over medium heat until thickened.  For richer soup add 1 Tbs. butter.

Tupps Tidbits ~ If you do not have an immersion blender do not use a regular blender to puree it does not work.  I went with the potato masher.

This is a very wholesome, low calorie, healthy soup.  At first taste, for the 2^nd time, I thought this was a very “earthy” soup…guess that makes sense with all “root” veggies.  It was not exactly the way we remembered it & maybe a different time of year with fresher veggies could make the difference.  This is NOT A KEEPER for us, but we highly recommend if you are in the Marquette area to stop in at the Eagles Landing & meet Roger & Connie & enjoy some of their wines.

Next Week ~ Top Secret Famous Dave’s Corn Muffins

Tangy Barbecue Wings and Cheese & Walnut Quesadillas

Week 3 of the New Year brought us cold, snow & a little bit closer to this year’s Superbowl.  We are still meeting our resolution of bringing you a recipe a week & actually you get 2 this week!  The Wings came to us in 2003 from Taste of Home magazine, yes folks; we have been holding on to this recipe for that long & the Quesadillas, almost as long, but from a previous co-worker who always brought into work some unique & different treats.

Tangy Barbecue Wings - makes about 4 dozen

25 whole chicken wings (about 5 pounds)

2-1/2 cups hot & spicy ketchup

2/3 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons honey

1/2 cup molasses

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 to 1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke, optional

Cut chicken wings into three sections; discard wing tip sections. Place chicken wings in two greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pans. Bake, uncovered, at 375° for 30 minutes; drain. Turn wings; bake 20-25 minutes longer or until juices run clear.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, combine the ketchup, vinegar, honey, molasses, salt, Worcestershire sauce, onion powder & chili powder. Add liquid smoke if desired. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes.

Drain wings; place a third of them in a 5-qt. slow cooker. Top with about 1 cup sauce. Repeat layers twice. Cover & cook on low for 3-4 hours. Stir before serving.

Cheese & Walnut Quesadillas

6 (6-inch) flour or corn tortillas (we prefer flour)

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (4 oz)

2/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

¼ cup chopped walnuts

¼ cup chopped pitted ripe olives

2 tsp fresh oregano or ½ tsp dried oregano, crushed

1 tbs olive oil

Salsa

To soften tortillas, wrap in foil; heat in a 350 degree over for 10 min.

Then combine cheeses, nuts, olives, and oregano; spread onto half of each tortilla.

Fold in half; secure with toothpicks.  Brush one side with oil.

In a skillet cook tortillas, oil side down, over medium-low heat for 4 min., brushing with oil and turning once.  Cut into triangles.  Serve with salsa.

Tupps Tibits ~

 for the Wings…uncooked chicken wing sections (wingettes) may be substituted for whole chicken wings; we purchased a 10 lb bag of wingettes from Sam’s Club.  You will need 2 of the 15oz bottles of Heinz Hot & Spicy Ketchup or ketchup with Tabasco sauce would work as well

for the Quesadillas… after folding them in half I placed them in the skillet, no need for toothpicks, add sour cream & shredded lettuce on the side to compliment the plate

The Wings were very moist, sweet with a touch of zip, that is where the Tabasco came in…as we say….YUMO & Lip smacking good & a Keeper!  We will defiantly make these again & again, they ranked up there next to Mom’s Oriental Wings (maybe someday we will share that secret with you).  As for the Quesadillas, sorry ex co-worker but this recipe is getting thrown out, NOT a Keeper! Boring & not much flavor…maybe it just needs more cheese.

Next week we will tackle a Root Vegetable Soup recipe that we achieved from Marquette, IA in fall of 2011.

Top Secret Recipe version of T.G.I. Friday’s Dragonfire Chicken

For week 2 we thought we better offer something a little more challenging & Sean came across this Top Secret Recipe version of T.G.I. Friday’s Dragonfire Chicken.  Even though neither one of us has tried this at T.G. I. Friday’s is sounded tasty ~ grilled marinated chicken breast topped with fiery Kung Pow sauce, mandarin oranges & pineapple pico de gallo.  It looks like a lot of ingredients & dishes, so will see who decides on if it is “KEEPER” or “NOT”.  T.G.I. Friday’s menu pairs this with coconut rice but we went with white rice on the side. 

T.G.I. Friday’s® Dragonfire Chicken ~ Serves 2

http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/

Marinade 

1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup honey
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/3 cup chopped parsley
1 jalapeno, seeded & chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon diced onion
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 boneless chicken breast fillets

Pineapple Pico de Gallo
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup canned sliced pineapple (chopped)
1/2 cup diced red onion
2 tablespoons minced cilantro
4 teaspoon minced jalapeno
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/8 teaspoon salt

Kung Pow Sauce 
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
4 teaspoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon chili sauce
1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
1 teaspoon finely minced ginger

Garnish

One 11-ounce can mandarin oranges 

Make marinade by combining all ingredients in a blender on high speed for 1 minute. Pound chicken breast fillets flat with a mallet & combine with marinade in a zip-top bag for 2 to 3 hours.

Make pineapple pico de gallo by combining all ingredients. Store in a covered container in your refrigerator until later.

Make the Kung Pow sauce clone by combing all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. When mixture begins to bubble, reduce heat & simmer for 15 minutes. Cover the sauce until it’s needed.

When chicken is done marinating, preheat barbecue grill to medium heat. Wipe marinade from each chicken breast & grill for 5 to 6 minutes per side or until done. Serve chicken drizzled with cloned Kung Pow sauce & pico de gallo on the side. Drain canned mandarin oranges & sprinkle some orange sections over the top of each dish.

Tupps Tidbits:  Start early enough to let the chicken marinate…due to the sugar in the marinate be careful of your grill temp, the chicken will burn easy.   Note:  Since it was 13 degrees outside we used an inside electric grill.

It was a beautiful plate, wow! It looked so special.  The marinade was a spicy sauce & the fresh salsa pitched in for some big-time taste bud stimulation & created quite a punch.  Keep your drink handy.  We debated a while if this was a keeper or not.  We enjoyed the taste but we had enough left over Pico de Gallo & Kung Pow Sauce that made us think that we were throwing too much away after all the work.  So to make it a KEEPER we decided next time to use 4 chicken breasts & served 4 instead of 2.  KEEPER!  Off to do all the dishes………….

Next week ~ To help prepare for Superbowl ~Tangy Barbecue Wings and Cheese & Walnut Quesdillas

Blueberry & Lemon Cream Parfait

  

Week one came up on us pretty fast & we rushed to pick the first dish of the New Year.  The left over cream cheese from holiday’s helped on the pick & also I knew I would be craving sweets by the end of week because you know we all diet the first 4 days of the New Year. As I was looking at the picture from the bestseller ~Mayo Clinic Diet book (page 245) I thought it looked simple, elegant and I knew it was healthy. 

Blueberry & Lemon Cream Parfait

6 oz. low-fat vanilla yogurt

4 oz. fat-free cream cheese

1 tsp. honey

2 tsp. freshly grated lemon zest

3 c. fresh blueberries, rinsed & drained well

Drain liquid from the yogurt.  In medium bowl, combine the yogurt, cream cheese & honey. Use electric mixer at high speed until mixture is light & creamy.

Stir lemon zest into mixture. Layer the lemon crème & blueberries in dessert dishes.

Serve at once or cover & refrigerate until needed.

Tupps Tidbits ~ let cream cheese set out a few minutes……what do I use the rest of the lemon for?

We decided, definitely a KEEPER but better made/served when fresh fruit is in season.

When we pick black raspberries from the back yard this summer it will be made again.

Next week ~ Dragon Fire Chicken

Welcome to 2012!

I’m Deanna, food eater & writer of the blog.  Hope you got your fill of champagne, cookies & holiday leftovers because it's time to return to the real world of everyday eating.  We are going to share with you our 52 new recipes.

We will make one NEW recipe a week, taste it & decide it if is a “Keeper” or “NOT” in our house.

About us…we both love to eat and enjoy eating at home and saving money.

Sean loves to cook & is the grill master.  I love the baking.  We are constantly finding new recipes and saving them but never make them or try them and end up eating the same thing every week.   We hope to come up with delicious recipes to spice up our and your dinner rotation.   We tried to accomplish this in 2011, we made it to 23 recipes, but I won’t say how many ended up as “Keepers”. J

The recipes are either original (created by Sean), family recipes, or have been adapted from magazines, cookbooks, newspapers, and internet. 

The majority of the recipes comes from sources, which we always credit when we can! We also “try” to keep them on the healthy side.

We are the photographer’s. The camera of the moment is a  Nikon Coolpix L18 

Only we enter the recipes, others aren’t allowed to submit recipes on their own (sorry), but you certainly can email us to tell us about something fabulous that you think we should know about or if you tried a recipe listed and if it was a “Keeper” in your house.