Baked Sunday Mornings: Tomato Soup Cupcakes

Yes, you read that title correctly. For this week's Baked Sunday Mornings assignment, we were to make the Tomato Soup Cupcakes with Mascarpone Frosting. As bizarre as this cupake may sound, I actually have heard about these before reading the Baked book. I can't say that I ever thought I'd be baking them, though! Lucky for me, then, that this cupcake came up in the rotation for the group.



I've gotten used to setting aside huge chunks of time to make the Baked recipes, and I'm fine with that. However, if you're looking for a nice, easy recipe that is still just as elegant as the other offerings in this book, I definitely recommend that you give these a try. I was able to throw this whole thing together, including frosting the cupcakes, within my two year-old's naptime! I can't beat that!

So, what's up with the whole tomato soup thing, anyway? Where did this originate? Who ever thought to put a can of tomato soup in their cake batter, and then feed it to their loved ones? I really don't know, but they must have been on to something. This is one of those oldey-timey cake recipes that has been passed down for years, and I'm sure a lot of people hold this cake near and dear to their hearts. It is basically a spice cake, almost reminiscent of a carrot cake, without the carrot. The "secret" ingredient (not so secret if you know the title of the recipe, though!) dyes the batter a pale, pretty orange hue that still does not betray its identity. I mean, who would ever guess that the cake is orange because it contains some Campbell's?

As I said before, the cake itself came together in no time flat, and baked up beautifully. I loved the nice, domey tops on these! Next comes the frosting, which was a Mascarpone/Butter combo. I've made many a cream cheese frosting, but this was my inaugural batch of mascarpone frosting. While I've heard mascarpone described as a "fancy cream cheese," I actually think it's kind of its own thing. It's good, don't get me wrong. It just was not what I had expected. The frosting, to me, tasted very sweet, almost like a buttercream. Again, that's fine, but I supposed I was in for a tangy, tart/sweet topping to my cake and instead it tasted just sweet. Also, I think that maybe I just whipped this up wrong, because I accidentally threw the butter and mascarpone in the mixer at the same time. Only after this did I read in the book that the butter was supposed to be mixed first, all by its lonesome. Oops. My frosting, as a result of this (perhaps?) seemed a bit thin or something. It was not at all fluffy, but it spread just fine.

I'm glad I tried these, but I can't make any promises that I would bake them again. If I wanted a spice cake, I would probably just make a regular spice cake, sans soup. As for the frosting, if I absolutely had to make the cupcakes again, I would sub in just a cream cheese frosting for the mascarpone. Later this week, I'll be making Martha Stewart's Tiramisu Cupcakes, and they call for a mascarpone frosting as well! The preparation and ingredients differ from this one, so we'll see if I like that one better. Check out how the other members of Baked Sunday Mornings felt about this recipe by clicking on the link here.

Chicken and Shrimp Corn Chowder

I kinda threw this soup together not long ago when I was suddenly struck with a chowder craving. You know, it's funny that I had such a craving. I never really ate chowder growing up, and I haven't even eaten it that much as an adult. But we had recently visited a restaurant in St. Louis that served this amazing chowder, and I was smitten.

Rich and creamy, and loaded with shrimp, chorizo, andouille sausage, and peppers and onions, this chowder was a knockout. I couldn't resist finishing the entire bowl, despite the fact that we had already eaten a couple of courses before this one. I spared myself the embarrassment of licking the bowl when I was done, but I assure you that I would have if I'd been in the privacy of my own home!

So I knew I would not be able to fully recreate this wonderful chowder, but I set out to at least satisfy my urges with something that would be substantially lower in calories and fat, but still yummy. I think I was pretty successful. The chowder I made used a Food.com recipe as its point of reference, but I changed it up here and there. I posted my full recipe below, and I'm pretty happy with it. It hit the spicy notes, thanks to jalapeno and cayenne peppers. It hit the sweet corn notes, with pureed whole kernel corn and frozen corn added to the mix. It was full of textures, it was creamy, and it was very satisfying. It's a much more affordable way to enjoy the chowder, so I'd like to continue to tweak this and work on it some more. After all, sometimes you just have to improvise when faced with cravings for delicious, yet expensive, things!




Chicken and Shrimp Corn Chowder
adapted from Food.com
makes 4 servings

Ingredients
1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
3-4 stalks celery, diced
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 cups 2% milk
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup cooked, diced boneless, skinless chicken breast (1 small breast half)
1 cup small, cooked shrimp, tails removed and diced (about 1/2 lb. shrimp)
1 cup frozen kernel corn
1/2 tsp. ground thyme
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 (15-0z.) can whole-kernel corn
1 oz. Canadian bacon, cooked and sliced thinly into strips, for garnish
Radishes, thinly slivered, for garnish

Directions
1. In a Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, and jalapeno and cook until soft, about 5-7 minutes.

2. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Slowly pour in the milk and chicken broth, and then add the chicken, shrimp, frozen corn, and salt and pepper. With a blender (or immersion blender), puree the can of whole corn, then stir into the soup.

3. Bring the chowder to a boil, reduce the heat, and allow to simmer, from 10-20 minutes. The chowder should thicken somewhat.

4. When ready to serve, ladle the soup into bowls, then top with strips of Canadian bacon and a couple slices of radish.

Irish Potato Leek Soup with Soda Bread

So I bought a 10-pound bag of potatoes last week and then realized that I would actually need to find ways to use them all. I knew that some of them were earmarked for a potato project my kindergartener had to do for school (he was tasked to make a Mr. Potato Head using a real potato. This turned out to be the perfect project for both my kids, as both adore Mr. Potato Head!). But then what was I going to do with the other 9 or so pounds of spuds?

Around the same time that I bought them, I decided I wanted to give Irish cuisine another try. I had made an Irish dinner last year for St. Patrick's Day, and I had a lot of fun making something that represented my heritage, finally! I wanted to make something else this year, so I settled on an Irish Potato Leek Soup.



I made this on a day where it was most covenient for me to pull out the slow cooker and put it to some good use, so that's exactly what I did. After perusing different variations on an Irish Potato Soup, I finally decided to basically tweak them all and make it my own. I added cauliflower to mine, as well as caraway seed. There's just something about caraway; I tend to associate it with Irish food and thought it would work well here. I let the soup simmer away for hours, then I lifted the lid and pureed the whole thing with my immersion blender. Since I knew that the soup would lose tons of heat from removing the lid, I let it cook for another hour or so. Then, I lifted the lid just before we were ready to eat and poured in a cup of milk. I figured it would make the soup even more creamy, and just a tad more indulgent. I did make it on St. Patrick's Day, after all. We could afford just a bit of indulgence!

To go with it, I whipped up a very simple, basic Irish Soda Bread. This one's just flour (one part white, 3 parts whole-wheat), baking soda, salt, and caraway seed (my own addition), mixed gently with buttermilk until the dough comes together. The dough is then formed into a rustic, imperfect mound and baked for about 40-45 minutes.

The bread, we thought, was kinda blah. It was dense, but it was great for sopping up the soup. The soup itself was interesting and made for a good late-winter warmer, but I have to say it needed a little something more. I wish I knew what it needed, but it's just an inexplicable sort of lacking. Some salt seemed to help for my husband; I agree that this may have been a culprit. Still, I am glad to venture into Irish cooking again, even if it's just for one day out of the year. Now I feel like I'm good for another year!

Irish Potato Leek Soup

recipe by Bri

makes about 9 cups of soup

Ingredients

3 large baking potatoes (about 2 1/2 to 3 lbs.), coarsely chopped

2 medium leeks, sliced into half-moons and rinsed of all grit

1/2 to 1 small head cauliflower, chopped into small florets

6 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1/2 to 1 Tbsp. caraway seeds

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 cup milk (I used 2%)

Optional garnishes: chopped scallions or chives, sour cream, bacon, cheese, etc.

Directions

1. In a slow cooker, combine the potatoes, leeks, and cauliflower. Pour the chicken broth over the vegetables, then add the caraway seeds. Place the lid on the slower cooker and turn it on to low. Let it go for at least 4-5 hours.

2. After about 4-5 hours, remove the lid and puree the soup with an immersion blender. Add salt and the pepper. Pour in the cup of milk, then replace the lid and let the soup warm back up thoroughly before turning the crockpot to warm (or turning it off) and serving.

Irish Soda Bread with Caraway

adapted from Food.com

makes a 1 1/2 lb. loaf

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 cups whole-wheat flour

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 Tbsp. caraway seeds (can use more; I felt like that was not enough)

1 to 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except for the buttermilk. Slowly pour in 1 cup of the buttermilk, mixing the entire time. Add in the other 1/2 cup buttermilk as needed, 1 Tbsp. at a time, until the dough has been gently worked into a ball that holds together.

2. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Turn the dough out onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and mound into an 8-inch circle. Using a small knife, slash an X 1/2-inch deep over the top of the loaf.

3. Bake for about 40-45 minutes, until the top is very crusty and browned, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Serve warm; hot is even better.

Meatless Mondays: Red Pepper Fennel Soup

Wow, this is two Meatless Mondays in a row! This could be habit-forming. I have to say, I have been enjoying it. I can get a little tired of chicken and then chicken, so it's always great to find ways of preparing meat-free meals that are just as satisfying.

This soup is perfect for filling you up on a cold night. We've been getting hit with some snow this past week, and I tend to crave soup when the temperatures drop (or drop even lower than they were before!). I found this Red Pepper Fennel Soup on Food.com, and it was cited as having come from Rachael Ray's September 2007 magazine. I could not find this soup on Rachael's official website, though, so I have provided the link to the Food.com version down at the bottom of this post with my take on the recipe.



The soup starts with a leek and a bulb of fennel as its base. Since these are two vegetables we love to eat when we can get our hands on them, I figured we were off to a good start. I roasted my own red peppers for this; I feel like it's worth the extra time to do that instead of using a jar of roasted peppers. Fortunately, I actually did have enough extra time to do it this time! That's not always the case.

So you throw in your sliced red peppers, along with a sliced potato, broth, and some seasonings (I added fenugreek because I had just purchased some for the first time the day before I made this. I was looking for just about any excuse to try it out!). Let everything come up to a boil and simmer until the potato has cooked through. Then you pull out your immersion blender and puree the veggies. It becomes so thick and luxurious, and then you make it even more luxurious with the help of some heavy cream. I didn't want too much; the original version called for 1/2 cup, but I just put in 2 Tbsp. It was just enough for me. It made the soup slightly creamy without adding tons of fat.

To go alongside, you whip up some homemade pita chips in the oven. It's so easy; I do it every now and then, experimenting with different ways of seasoning them. This time, they had a mix of salt, pepper, fenugreek, and some fennel fronds on them. I overcooked them by a minute or two, so they were slightly charred. I thought that was actually pretty good in this case, since it matched well with the charred red peppers. I thoroughly enjoyed this meal, and was plenty full after one bowl. All that, and it was meat-free! Not shabby at all.

Red Pepper Fennel Soup

adapted from Food.com

makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients

2 roasted red peppers, thinly sliced lengthwise

1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 leek, thinly sliced crosswise (white parts only)

1 small fennel bulb, with fronds, bulb finely chopped and fronds chopped for garnish

1 (1/2 lb.) potato, peeled, halved, and thinly sliced

2 cups chicken broth

1/2 tsp. fenugreek, plus more to taste

salt and pepper, to taste

3 pita bread, split and cut into wedges

2 Tbsp. heavy cream

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a medium Dutch oven, heat 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil over medium heat. Add the leek and chopped fennel bulb and cook until lightly golden, about 10 minutes.

2. Add all the roasted pepper strips except 4-6, leaving the remaining 4-6 for garnish. Add in the potato, broth, salt, pepper, and 1/2 tsp. fenugreek and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the potato is tender, about 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, place the pita wedges on a baking sheet and toss with the remaining 1 Tbsp. olive oil. Sprinkle salt, pepper, a few fennel fronds, and fenugreek seasoning over the wedges and toss to coat. Toast in the oven, 6-8 minutes, until crispy. Set aside to cool.

4. Once the potato in the soup has softened and cooked through, use an immersion blender to puree the soup (or puree in a blender, in smaller batches). Stir in the heavy cream and season with salt and pepper. The soup can be served hot or cold, with the reserved red pepper strips and fennel fronds on top for garnish. Serve the pita chips alongside, for dipping.

Mini Chicken Meatball and Orzo Soup

I wanted to post about this soup I made last week because we're heading into January, and I think we could all use something light, yet satifsying, right about now. I feel so weighed down by decadence after all those Christmas treats I've been inhaling this December. Not that there is anything wrong with holiday decadence! But going into the long winter months ahead, I feel like you can never have too many new soup recipes under your belt.

I adapted this one from a Rachael Ray recipe for stoup. That is her silly, made-up word for a soup that is almost as thick as a stew. Since I do not believe in calling soups or stews stoups, I chose to rename my version based on the changes I made to the original. Instead of using a combination of Mini Meatballs and Gnocchi (thereby making Rachael's a double dumpling stoup), I chose to go with mini meatballs and orzo, a pasta I absolutely love in soups. For some reason, I am not a huge fan of rice in soup, but I love noodles in there, so I feel like the small, long-ish shape of orzo is a good compromise.

The mini meatballs are made of ground chicken, and they have just enough Italian seasoning and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to make them super flavorful and creamy. That creaminess permeates the broth of the soup, making it feel richer and luxurious without adding a ton of extra calories. It's delicious and healthy; a perfect winter meal!

Mini Chicken Meatball and Orzo Soup

adapted from Rachael Ray

makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients

1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

4 stalks celery, chopped

2 medium onions, chopped

2 medium carrots, chopped

1 fresh bay leaf

Salt and pepper

6 cups chicken stock

1 pound ground chicken

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste

1 egg

1/2 cup Italian-style bread crumbs

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1/4 lb. orzo

Crusty bread, for mopping

Directions

1. Heat a Dutch oven over medium heat; add olive oil. Once oil is warmed, add the celery, onions, carrots, and bay leaf; season with salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, until the veggies are soft. Add the chicken stock to the pot, cover, and bring to a boil.

2. Meanwhile, place the ground chicken in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add garlic, nutmeg, egg, bread crumbs, and cheese. Combine the ingredients with your hands, then roll into walnut-sized meatballs (mine may have been a bit smaller than this) and add to the soup. Wash up, then add the orzo to the pot and cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat once the pasta and meatballs have cooked through and allow to sit for 2 minutes more. Remove the bay leaf, and serve in bowls with crusty bread on the side.

CEIMB: Tortellini-Spinach Soup

For this week's Craving Ellie in My Belly dish, I got to choose! After some careful consideration, I decided on this Tortellini-Spinach Soup. I'm really happy with my choice; it was a surefire winner for us!

As with so many of Ellie's recipes, this one is very easy to assemble. A few veggies are sauteed, then a can of tomatoes and some chicken broth is added and brought up to a boil. Shortly before you are ready to eat, you drop in a package of frozen tortellini and some fresh, thinly sliced spinach, and simmer until the pasta is done. That's it!

As usual, I took some liberties with this one. Just a couple; I wanted to stay pretty close to the original version. I omitted the crushed red pepper and added two roasted, chopped jalapenos. They gave the soup a nice smoky heat. Then, when it came time to add the can of diced tomatoes, I gave them a quick whirl with my immersion blender, so there wouldn't be any large chunks of tomato. I also left off the sprinkling of Parmesan cheese at the end, although everybody else had some on theirs. To each his own!

All in all, we really enjoyed this soup and I'm happy to be adding it to my soup rotation. However, if there's one criticism I would make, it's the fact that my tortellini were a tad on the large side. They weren't easy to eat within a soup. I found myself chopping them up with the side of my spoon so I could have more bites of tortellini per spoonful of broth. It's a small complaint though, and I'm sure it's an easy fix. I'll just buy littler pasta shapes next time!

To find out how everybody else made out with this soup, be sure to check the CEIMB blogroll, here. I couldn't find this recipe on Food Network's website, so I posted it below as Ellie has it written in the book. Enjoy!


Tortellini-Spinach Soup
from Ellie Krieger's So Easy
makes 4 servvings

Ingredients
1 tsp. canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced (1 1/2 cups)
2 ribs celery, chopped (1 cup)
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 14-ounce can low-sodium diced tomatoes, with juice
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
3 ounces baby spinach, sliced into ribbons (3 cups)
1 9-ounce package fresh store-bought spinach-and-cheese tortellini (2 cups)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (1 1/2 ounces)

Directions
1. Heat the oil in a 4- or 6-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until the onions are translucent and the garlic is softened, another 3 minutes. Add the carrot, celery, oregano, thyme, and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, until softened, 5 to 6 minutes.

2. Add the tomatoes with their juices and the broth and bring to a boil; reduce the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Add the spinach and tortellini and cook until the tortellini are cooked through, 6 minutes. This soup will keep for up to 3 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Serve topped with Parmesan cheese.

3. For a lunch to go, put the warm soup into a wide-mouth thermal container designed to hold food. Pack the Parmesan cheese in a separate small bag. And don't forget a spoon!

CEIMB: Tomato-Tortilla Soup

This week's Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe was Tomato-Tortilla Soup, chosen by Mary over at Popsicles and Sandy Feet. I remember making this soup last winter and loving it, but I never blogged about it. I think it's probably just because I was so bad at blogging back then, and not because this soup wasn't memorable! In fact, it was a very welcome repeat here at my house.

I just adore the simplicity of this meal. Just saute some onions, then add garlic and cumin. Throw in your jalapeno, two cans of diced tomatoes (I used one can of regular and one can of tomatoes with diced green chiles), and a carton of chicken broth, along with some dried oregano. Let it simmer for a brief period, then you're ready to blend it!

This was my favorite part. Since the last time I made this, I've acquired an immersion blender (thanks, K and E!) and I am a bit obsessed with it. It makes such quick work of pureeing a soup, among other things! Best of all, with this soup you're able to make it as chunky or as smooth as you'd like it to be. I opted for almost completely smooth; that's just my personal preference.

To finish off this soup, you remove it from the heat and add some lime juice. Then, you can top if off with some fresh cilantro and sour cream, as well as corn tortilla strips that have been baked until crispy in the oven. I love the corn tortilla strips! I had to make twice as many just to have enough for the soup; we all kept snacking on them before the soup was ready. I added some scallion tops and fresh lime zest to the garnish; I think it just added a little something extra special.

My husband went for his soup with sour cream, and I left mine without it. (That's why at the top of my post you see one bowl of soup all decked out, and then this last picture above is my sour cream-less version.) My hubby also had a grilled cheese alongside his, which he said was fantastic dipped in the soup. My son drank his through a straw, so whichever way you choose to ingest this soup, it's spicy and warming, tangy and tart, and just plain awesome.

Thanks to Mary for choosing this; I'm so glad I was able to revisit this, and give it the proper blog love it deserves! You can check out the full recipe on Food Network's website, here. And don't forget to check the CEIMB blogroll for everybody else's results!

Almost-Vegetarian White Bean Soup with Cheese "Crackers"

This soup is amazing. Really, I'm not just saying that because I made it. I can be honest here and tell you that I wasn't expecting to love it as much as I did. But it completely exceeded all my expectations. I don't even care that we're heading into summer; I just want to make this soup again, and again.

I found this soup recipe in March's Cooking Light Magazine. In that month's issue, Ellie Krieger (who I love, of course) had done a guest feature on rush-hour meals. These recipes were all supposed to be easy and fast to make after a long day at work, or school, or whatever. Plus, they all have the distinction of being both Ellie and Cooking Light-approved. It seemed like a match made in heaven to me!

Of course, I didn't stick to the recipe word for word. The original calls for spicy pork sausage and is actually titled Vegetable and Spicy Sausage Soup with Cheese "Crackers." I did not have pork sausage on hand, and I really felt like making this soup vegetarian (with the exception of the use of chicken broth). So I played around with the formula, and this is what I came up with.

I followed the directions at first. I sauteed the veggies, then added some tomato paste and cayenne pepper to absorb into the vegetables. I then added a pureed blend of white beans, chicken broth, and the sauteed veggies into the mix. Another 2 1/2 cups of broth went in, and everything came up to a boil. (Ellie's version has you add another full can of white beans into the mix at this point, but since I'm not a crazy big fan of white beans, I did without.)

While this simmered on the stove, I went to work on the cheese "crackers." This is something I see over and over again, but I had never tried it myself. I've seen Giada make these; I've seen Rachael make these (I think), but it was finally my turn. It's very easy; I don't know why I was so scared of these turning out right.

All you do is grate some parmesan cheese into mounds, flatten those mounds into 3 (ish)-inch circles, crank some black pepper down over the tops, and bake them in a very hot oven (500 degrees) for about 3 minutes. They come out just perfect; crisp, toasty, and bubbly. They've got that almost-burnt cheese taste to them, which you either love or hate (turns out Xander hates it!). Andy and I loved these. I will be using this technique a lot more often, I think.

After the soup has had time to simmer, about 20 to 30 minutes, you can take it off the heat. At this point, Ellie adds half-and-half, rosemary, and a bit of salt and pepper, to taste. I chose to eat mine cream-free (I wasn't feeling the creamy soup that evening) but I added a touch of heavy cream to the rest of the pot, for Andy (heavy cream was all we had).

Finally, Ellie's version has you serve the soup with some previously cooked and reserved pork sausage crumbled on top, and the cheese "cracker" dipped into the bowl. Instead, and please bear with me here, I sprinkled some Boca vegetarian chicken pieces on top. I know, it's really strange. I actually meant to sprinkle some regular Boca burger crumbles on, but I had already pulled the box and the patty out of the freezer before I fully realized that I had pulled out the wrong thing. I just decided to go with it; why not? It turned out really good, I have to say. The "chicken" patty was breaded, so the breading sort of lent an extra thickness to the soup, and the pieces lent some extra texture that I thought it needed. It was a successful experiment, and one we will be repeating!

The original recipe can be found here.

Almost-Vegetarian White Bean Soup with Cheese "Crackers"

adapted from Cooking Light

serves 4

Ingredients

1/2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion

1/2 cup finely chopped carrot

1/3 cup finely chopped celery

1/2 tsp. kosher salt, divided

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 Tbsp. tomato paste

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth), divided

1 (15.5-oz.) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper, divided

4 Tbsp. grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

2 Boca burger or chicken patties

Directions

1. Heat a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add olive oil, then onions, carrot, celery, 1/4 tsp. salt, and garlic; cook for 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring frequently. Stir in 2 Tbsp. tomato paste and cayenne; cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

2. Place 1 cup of this vegetable mixture, 1/2 cup broth, and the can of beans into a food processor or blender, and process until smooth. Return bean mixture to pot.

3. Add remaining 2 1/2 cups broth to pot; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for at least 20 minutes, or until vegetables are thoroughly cooked. Remove from heat, and add the cream, remaining salt, and 1/2 tsp. of black pepper. Cover and keep warm.

4. While the soup simmers, preheat oven to 500 degrees F. On a parchment-or silpat-lined baking sheet, grate the cheese into 4 even mounds of approximately 1 Tbsp. each, then evenly sprinkle the remaining 1/2 tsp. of pepper over each mound. Flatten each mound into a 3-inch round. Bake at 500 degrees for 3 minutes or until golden and bubbling. Cool on pan for 3 minutes before removing.

5. Heat 2 Boca patties (your choice of variety/flavor) according to package directions. Chop cooked patties into small pieces. Divide soup evenly into four bowls, then sprinkle the patties evenly over each serving. Dip one cheese "cracker" into each bowl, and serve.

First CEIMB Post!

I'm very excited because this past week, I was accepted into a blogging group called Craving Ellie in My Belly. Each Thursday, a member of the group selects any recipe written by Ellie Krieger that they would like to make and blog about. Ellie Krieger, whom I have blogged about before, is one of my favorite celebrity chefs, and her cookbook is the one I turn to the most when I need a new idea. She likes to focus on healthy cooking and a healthy lifestyle, with an emphasis on portion control and good fats rather than dieting and deprivation. Her food is always good, and she has encouraged me to branch out and try new things that I've been surprised to have actually liked.

Anyway, I've been reading about this blogging group for a while now, and I always wanted to join, but was worried that I wouldn't have the discipline to cook along with the group. Finally, though, I decided that now was as good a time as any, and that this would actually help me to do a better job of updating my blog. It gives me a good reason to come back every week! The rule is that you only need to cook along with the group twice a month, so I shouldn't have any problem keeping up.

Now, on to the recipe! This week's recipe was selected by, and can be found at, Grandma's Kitchen Table, and it was Lemon Chicken Soup with Orzo. I'd made this recipe before, and we had really enjoyed it, so I knew it would be a crowd pleaser. It's kind of like a standard, basic chicken soup, but then to thicken it up at the end you add two eggs. The first time I made this the eggs scared me, but I tried it anyway and was glad I did. It's really good. It's a great way to add creaminess, without actual cream. Yummy. The recipe can be found on pages 86-87 of Ellie's book, The Food You Crave. I'm glad that my first CEIMB recipe was one I was familiar with, because it made it even easier to write about. I'm thrilled to be a part of the group and I hope to cook lots of new and exciting recipes with them in the future!

There's Peanut Butter in My Soup

I have been cooking more and more one-pot meals lately. We've had lots of soup, lots of chili, some stews. Up until now I had always just used my beat-up old large pasta pot for all of these tasks. That is, until my darling hubby came home one day with a gift for me!
Here is my brand new Dutch oven. I am absolutely loving it so far. I am not used to having a big, heavy pot like this! It keeps stuff hot forever! It's such a beautiful thing.

So recently we were watching Alton Brown cooking on TV, and he was preparing a soup that was African in origin. It contained boiled peanuts, if I recall correctly. This is something that intrigued us instantly. I mean, it sounds like something that should be good, but it still is a scary concept. It reminded me, though, that there is a recipe for a similar soup in my Ellie Krieger cookbook, The Food You Crave, that seemed worth trying. It's called Sweet and Spicy Peanut Soup, which is pretty much a great way to sum it up. It is a broth-based soup, with assorted veggies, and some cayenne and black peppers. You simmer the soup for a while and then you blend it until smooth. Once you transfer it back to the pot, you top it off with peanut butter and honey. Garnish with scallions, and you're ready to serve.
I forgot to get a picture of the soup before it was pureed, but you'll just have to take my word for it that it looked completely different than the above picture, which was taken post-peanut butter. It just looked like a hearty vegetable soup. But once you add that peanut butter, it changes into a rich, reddish-brown concoction that looks velvety and decadent.
We added some bean sprout to the garnish, as well. The glare in this picture is horrible, but I think you get the idea. We really loved this soup, and we were proud that we were brave and ventured out of our comfort zone. I actually thought the sweet potato in the soup was a more dominant flavor than the peanut butter; the peanut butter makes it taste rich. It was very filling, too; a warming, comforting winter meal! The recipe for it can be found here, although it is called Nutty Sweet Potato Soup on Food Network's website. It is worth the gamble!