three- day coconut cake

I am guest posting on Whatever Dee-Dee Wants today, go check it out to get the recipe for this coconut cake!

roasted tomato soup & grilled cheese croutons

I am so anxious for Thanksgiving because you know what Thanksgiving means? Yes, good food and entertaining family time. But it also means in less than a month I will be listening to Christmas music and searching for the perfect Christmas tree. Pure happiness. In the mean time, I'm making soup and grilled cheese while dreaming about my grandma's turkey, marshmallow covered sweet potatoes, dumplings and biscuit stuffing.

The tomato soup is so fresh and flavorful and I'm not sure it gets much healthier than this, at least not on this blog! I used my George Foreman to grill the grilled cheese and made sure to get it extra crispy so it wouldn't get too soggy in the tomato soup. And if you like a little heat, I loved the spicy kick from the colby/pepper jack cheese slices in the grilled cheese. I think a pimento cheese grilled cheese would go great with this soup too. But the best thing about a grilled cheese is that you can use any cheese you'd like! 

for the tomato soup:

recipe adapted from Closet Cooking 

2 pounds of tomatoes, diced

1 red pepper, diced and seeded

1 onion, diced

1 carrot, diced 

4 gloves of garlic, unpeeled

olive oil

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp paprika

1 tsp oregano

2 c. chicken stock

1/4 c. heavy cream, optional 

handful of basil, chopped

Preheat the oven to 375°F. 

Place the tomatoes, red pepper, carrot, onion and garlic on a baking pan and drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes. Place everything but the cream into a sauce pan and simmer for 15 minutes. Puree with a hand blender or regular blender to desired consistency and mix in the cream and basil. 

for the grilled cheese croutons:

 (makes one)

2 slices of sourdough bread

2 slices of cheese (I used colby jack & pepper jack slices)

1 tbsp butter

Butter one side of each slice of bread. Place one slice of the bread in the pan/grill, buttered side down, and top with cheese and the remaining piece of bread, buttered side up. Cook until golden brown and crispy, about 4 minutes on each side. Flip and cook the other side for about 4 minutes. Cut the edges from the grilled cheese and cut into squares. 

stuffed peppers

I have been so busy these past few weeks if you haven't noticed by my lack of posts! This weekend I went to Asheville to visit my old roommate with my current roomie and would love to share my eats but I think if I posted another picture of food I've eaten without posting a recipe, I would only have one reader left (thanks mom). So here it is, a recipe! 

My go-to throw together meal is always a Mexican mix... diced peppers, onions, jalapenos, monterey jack cheese, chicken, cilantro, a few slices of avocado, a sprinkle of Penzeys 4/S seasoning and I'm happy. So when I saw these stuffed peppers, a twist on my favorite go to meal, I couldn't wait to try them. The recipe called for rice but I've been on a quinoa kick recently and love how you can pretty much add it to any savory dish for some extra protein (ok yes, and carbs). These stuffed peppers are seriously delicious and don't take long to throw together for a quick dinner. Oh and they freeze well. 

Stuffed Peppers

makes 4; recipe from Paula Deen

4 red bell peppers

1 c. cooked quinoa or rice

1/2 pound of hot italian sausage

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 beef bouillon cubes

1/4 c. sour cream

1 c. diced tomatoes

1/2 c. green onions, chopped

1 c. shredded mexican cheese 

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 c. hot water

Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

Cut tops from the peppers and remove seeds and ribs. If your peppers don't stand up straight, cut off part of the bottom of the pepper to level the base. 

Cook quinoa based on box instructions and set aside. 

In a pan, saute the ground sausage, onion, garlic, 1 beef bouillon cube and a sprinkle of salt, pepper and garlic powder. Saute until the onions become translucent. Turn the heat off and drain the fat off. Add the quinoa, cheese, sour cream, tomatoes, green onions and soy sauce to the sausage mixture and stir together. In a small bowl, mix hot water and 1 beef bouillon cube and pour into a shallow casserole dish that is big enough to hold all the peppers. Stuff peppers with filling. Cover dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and spoon the juice from the bottom of the casserole dish into the stuffed peppers and bake for an additional 10 minutes.