Tortellini Salad

I got this recipe from my mother; the original recipe actually calls for goat cheese. However the first time I made it, I didn’t have any on hand, but I did have feta. I think you could use either kind and get good results; I’m just used to using feta. I like the flavor combination. 

Ingredients:

1 pound tortellini, cooked, drained and cooled (I use cheese tortellini)

6 sundried tomatoes, diced

6 roasted red peppers, diced

3 T olive oil

5 T balsamic vinegar

1—2 T oil from the sundried tomatoes (optional; I usually add just 1 T for extra flavor)

7 fresh basil leaves, chopped

2 ounces crumbled feta or goat cheese

Parsley to taste

Directions:

• Combine the oils and vinegar and whisk til thoroughly mixed.
• Pour the oil/vinegar mixture over the pasta.
• Mix in the rest of the ingredients.
• Chill before serving.
• Enjoy!

Spicy Vegetable Soup

You control how spicy this soup is—if you like it hotter, dice the adobo peppers finely and use two or three. If you don’t want it hot, then use one and either don’t dice it at all or cut it into large pieces. The heat comes from the seeds in the pepper and when they get diced, they get hot. The adobo sauce isn’t (or shouldn’t be) hot; it’s just flavorful. I’ve also found that the Lacostena brand is hotter than the Hernandez brand. I prefer Hernandez for the flavor.

As written, this soup makes about eight servings.

Ingredients:

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 C frozen corn OR one can corn, drained
2 or 3 carrots, peeled and diced
3 or 4 celery ribs, diced
1 small or ½ large white onion, diced
2 or 3 small red potatoes, diced
1 to 3 adobo peppers, diced
1 can pinto or black beans, drained
2 C chicken broth plus extra water OR use all water to make this entirely meat-free

Directions:

1. Assemble the diced ingredients in a slow cooker.
2. Add the corn, beans and adobo peppers and stir.
3. Add the crushed and diced tomatoes, and the broth. Stir again.
4. Add enough water to almost fill your slow cooker. If you have a huge cooker, you may need to add either more broth (for a brothy soup) or diced tomatoes (for a more stew-like soup).
5. Cook on low for eight hours.
6. Enjoy!

Amazing Tomato Soup

I love soup for lunch when the weather gets cooler, which tends to happen early in Boston. Last week I made tomato soup very loosely based on a recipe from Food & Wine. This is a quick soup and is ready in less than an hour from start to finish. It makes four to five servings as written.

Here’s a tip—you don’t need to peel your garlic cloves before you put them through your press. In fact if you don’t peel them, your press will be a lot easier to clean up.

Finally, I almost never add salt and pepper while cooking something. I prefer to add them at the table.

Ingredients:

1 T butter
1 T olive oil
1 small or ½ medium white onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, put through a press
2 t smoked paprika (it makes a difference to the taste so get smoked paprika)
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes (I prefer fire roasted tomatoes)
3 T tomato paste
1 ½ C water
1/3 C light cream
1 sprig of thyme until the thyme plant dies, then use about ½ t dried thyme
1 bay leaf

Directions:

1. Melt the butter and oil together in a pan large enough to hold all the ingredients.
2. Add the finely diced onion and garlic to the pan and sauté until tender and translucent, about five minutes.
3. Add the paprika and stir well.
4. Add the tomatoes with their juice, the tomato paste, the water, the thyme and bay leaf.
5. Stir well and simmer for about 15 to 30 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and stir in the cream.
7. Enjoy!

Sliced Baked Potatoes--Two Versions!

Version 1

Version 2

How do you find new recipes? I find a lot of mine while eating out or surfing the web. I ran across an image for this recipe a couple of weeks ago on Pinterest (if you want an invitation, let me know). Well I like potatoes, and these seemed pretty interesting so I thought I’d give it a try. We tend to go meatless a couple of days a week and this looked like a hearty, meatless entrée to me.

I googled sliced baked potatoes and found a handful of recipes so I sort of combined them all together to create my own.

Be warned, my version isn’t a hands-off recipe. You’ll need to tend to your potatoes about every 10 minutes until they are cooked.

Ingredients:

2 large baking potatoes, scrubbed and with the skin on
4 T butter, melted
½ C shredded cheese, your choice (I use cheddar/jack cheese from Costco)
Italian seasoning to taste

Directions:


Version 1

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Place two wooden spoons on a cutting board about as far apart as your potatoes are wide. Use the handles to hold your potato in place as you slice the potatoes and to keep you from slicing all the way through. You want the bottom of the potato to remain intact. Also, slice thinly—my slices are about ¼ inch wide.
3. Place the sliced potatoes in a baking pan. I use cooking spray only because I wanted an easier clean up session afterwards.
4. Carefully open your sliced potatoes and drizzle the melted butter across them. Don’t worry when it runs out the sides—you will be basting the potatoes with this butter throughout the cooking process.
5. Sprinkle the Italian seasoning on the potatoes and try to get some inside the slices.
6. Bake for a total of 60 minutes. Important! About every 10 minutes, pull the potatoes out and re-baste with the butter. Also turn them over. That will let all the skin get a butter bath.
7. After 60 minutes, remove from the oven.
8. Sprinkle the shredded cheese over the potatoes and return to the oven for about 10 minutes.
9. When done, place each potato in a shallow bowl. Pour the remaining melted butter over the potatoes.
10. Enjoy!

Version 2

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Slice the potatoes into thin slices, preferably about ¼ inch wide.
3. Pour about half of the melted butter into a large baking dish (9x13) that’s been sprayed with cooking spray. Tilt the pan around until you’ve coated the entire bottom of the pan.
4. Place the sliced potatoes in the so that the slices are in no more than two layers. Ideally you want just one layer of potatoes.
5. Drizzle the melted butter across the slices.
6. Sprinkle the Italian seasoning on the slices.
7. Bake for about 60 minutes. About every 15 minutes, pull the potatoes out and flip them. This helps a lot with ensuring the potatoes brown evenly.
8. After 60 minutes, remove from the oven and sprinkle the shredded cheese over the potatoes. Bake for another five minutes or until the cheese is all melted.
9. Serve with sour cream if you feel decadent.
10. Enjoy!