Homemade Tomato Soup

I'm in love... with this soup!!

Homemade Tomato Soup

2 cans (14 oz) chopped tomatoes

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

1 stalk celery, diced (I didn't have any celery, so mine went without and was still awesome)

1 small carrot, diced

1 yellow onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup chicken broth

1 bay leaf

2 TBSP butter

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Strain the chopped canned tomatoes, reserving the juices, and spread onto a baking sheet, season with salt and pepper, to taste, drizzle with 1/4 cup olive oil and roast until caramelized, about 15 min. (I would line the bottom with aluminum foil or else it will be a bugger to clean off - trust me :)

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, heat remaining olive oil over medium-low heat. Add celery, carrot, onion and garlic, cook until softened, about 10 min. Add the roasted tomatoes, reserved tomato juices, chicken broth, bay leaf and butter. Simmer until veggies are very tender, about 15-20 min. Add basil and cream. Puree with a hand held immersion blender until smooth. (I don't have one of these, so I use my blender - works great and it makes it easy to pour into bowls!!)

Baked French Toast

1 loaf of bread (i use white)

8 eggs mix together and then pour a little down in the pan (9x13) and then put down about 2 or 3 layers of bread and pour mixture and repeat till gone. have the bread touch all sides of the pan. You want the bread to be wet. I usually
3 cups milk have to pour a little on the top edges. They spread the topping on and cook about 45-50 min on 350.
1/2 c sugar
1 Tbs. vanilla
1/4 tsp salt Topping: 1/2 cube butter (melted) 1/2 c. brown sugar 2 Tbs. karo syrup





Carmel syrup ( it is very rich and I usually only need one batch for a double of the french toast)
2 Cup sugar
1 tsp soda
2 1/2 Tbs. buttermilk powder (in baking isle. round container. I had a hard time finding it)
2/3 c water
2 Tbs. Caro syrup
1 cup butter
2 tsp vanilla


whisk dry ingred. in separate bowl

combine all wet in a bowl except the vanilla

add dry to wet (not vanilla)
bring to boil about 7 min.
stir in vanilla
will turn from white to brown as it cools

I went to my friends house and she served this. It was super yummy. I haven't made it myself, she just sent it to me and I decided the best place to save it was on our blog. :) Enjoy.

Janey's "Green" Smoothies

This smoothie changed my life. I know that's a bold statement, but it's true!

A few people have asked me to post my smoothie recipe on here, and while I'm no "green smoothie girl" I do think I make a pretty mean green smoothie. Below is my "Magic bullet" size recipe.

1/2 cup vanilla soymilk or vanilla almond milk
1/2 cup chopped up, frozen greens (kale, spinach, &/or chard)

Blend well--like, for a full minute. No one wants a gnarly patch of spinach in their drink!

Add:

1/2 cup Greek or Non-fat Plain Yogurt (okay, or Vanilla or flavored if you want it sweeter, but I think it tastes better with plain...)
1/4-1/2 cup frozen fruit

Blend again. Drink!

Tips:
--When I buy my greens I soak them for at least 3 minutes in cold water and try to rinse them off really well, even if they are organic. Spinach and Kale are both in the Dirty Dozen.
--After I soak my greens I usually take out the cores and "thick" parts of the veggies, and then I chop them up, throw them in a ziploc, and freeze them. Then you can chunk off your "daily" portion when you want it without fear of it going bad. It also chops up finer if it's frozen.
--If you can fit more than 1/2 cup of greens in, do it! I have so much more energy the days I have a green smoothie.
--Blueberries cover up the "green" color
--Pineapple hides any bitterness from the "greens"
--Raspberries make it gritty because of the seeds. I avoid raspberries in smoothies even though I love them in real life.
--Peaches are divine.
--If the fruit is frozen, it makes it a frozen treat instead of a mushy drink. Also, I don't use ice because i haaaaaaate ice chunks in my smoothies. I'd rather have a hunk of frozen blueberry!