Week 4: Broccoli Cheese Soup

Copycat Subway Broccoli Cheese Soup

Since today is Super Bowl Sunday, I just had to find a way to use this new mug I received this past week.

The mug was a gift from a co-worker for my semi-retirement celebration last Thursday. It was filled with Vanilla Caramel Latte and Hershey's Dark Chocolate with Almond Nuggets. Mmmm....someone knows me pretty well.

Since it holds a lot more than the one cup of coffee I usually drink, I decided it would make an awesome soup bowl instead of a coffee mug. So, my super mug became a super bowl (or souper bowl, if you prefer).

Next came the arduous task of choosing which recipe to make. I have several soup recipes; and on this cold, dreary day, they all looked really good. I finally settled on a copycat version of Subway's Broccoli Cheese Soup.

Fírst I washed and diced the vegetables.

After sautéing them in butter, I added the frozen broccoli

and the broth

and simmered for 15 minutes.

I'm now ready to add the milk and shredded cheddar cheese and simmer another 30 minutes.

Ready to eat. Will it taste as good as it looks?

Yum!! Jim and I both really enjoyed the soup very much. This recipe is definitely a keeper!

Week 3: Peanut Butter Popcorn

Peanut Butter Popcorn

Today is National Peanut Butter Day and this past Monday, in addition to being MLK day, was also National Popcorn Day. So what more appropriate recipe to try today than Peanut Butter Popcorn. Oh yeah!

The recipe called for microwave popcorn, but I don't use microwave popcorn anymore since it's not as healthy.

Also because we have lots of regular popcorn (thanks to hubby who thinks "anything worth doing is worth doing to excess").

Normally I pop the corn in butter and peanut oil in this Whirley Pop Stovepop popper. 

But I figured with the peanut butter, I didn't need any extra butter or oil. So I decided to use the air popper.

An added bonus -- the hot air helped warm my cold hands.

Corn is popped. Now it's time to make the topping.

Which consists of brown sugar, corn syrup and peanut butter.

Bring the syrup and sugar to a boil

Then add the peanut butter and pour over the popcorn.

Yummy!

Week 1: Best Tomato Soup Ever

The Best Tomato Soup Ever

On a cold wintry Sunday morning one year ago, I decided to participate in a project where I would cook a different food each week for a year, per a weekly theme announced at reddit.com. I love a challenge, and I thought the project would be a good opportunity for me to use some of the many recipes I had been collecting.

But instead of trying some of the recipes I had already collected, I ended up only adding more to my collection as I searched the Internet weekly for new recipes to satisfy that week's theme. I thoroughly enjoyed the project--so much, in fact, that I've decided to challenge myself again this year. Though I may occasionally use the themes suggested on reddit.com, this year I intend to make my own selections from the many recipes I've already collected (and continue to collect) on my Pinterest boards. This week I chose to make The Best Tomato Soup Ever. After all, what tastes better on a blustery, cold day than a steaming bowl of soup?

I really enjoy the Sherry Tomato Soup served at Biaggis's in Champaign, and for a long time I've wanted to try and duplicate it.

So far, I've been unable to find a copycat recipe for Biaggi's Sherry Tomato Soup, but I did find this recipe for Ree Drummond's tomato soup. If it comes from Pioneer Lady's recipe collection, it has to be great!

First I sauteed the onion in butter.

Then I stirred in a little flour for thickening before adding the broth, diced tomatoes, and V-8.

The only sherry I could find was dessert sherry, and I wasn't sure how that would work in tomato soup. So, after googling substitutions for sherry, I decided to use some white wine I had left over from a previous recipe. 

I stirred in the wine and some heavy cream and heated the soup to almost boiling. Then sprinkled it generously with freshly ground pepper before serving.

It was very good--maybe not quite as good as Biaggis's, but not bad at all for my first attempt. This recipe is a keeper, or perhaps it's a tweaker.