That’s right. Paul is gone for just a couple of days, and I am taking full advantage of it by making girlie food that he refuses to eat. Maybe refuses is a little strong….he just doesn’t like it but will eat it if he has no choice. Tonight a friend is coming over to give me a Mary Kay makeover and we are having pasta with portabello mushrooms (how do you spell portabello…is it portobello?) courtesy of the Pioneer Woman.



For lunch today I made myself creamy roasted tomato soup and was so excited about it I thought I would share the recipe with you. I made enough for just one person and I eye-balled some things. So the recipe will be for one person. But you guys are smart, just double or triple or quadruple or do whatever you need to get the amount you need to feed your clan. Sorry there are no pictures. Paul took the camera with him.

Ingredients:

-3 tomatoes (I used Better Boys, I believe, but I saw a recipe that called for Roma and those have -GREAT flavor. The next time I will be using those)

small handful of cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes (I had bought a bag of cherry and grape tomatoes that was a mix. There were purple and yellow and normal red ones. So I just grabbed a few and threw them in)

-2 cloves of garlic

-1 teaspoon of sugar

-1 small finely diced onions

-1-2 cups of chicken broth

-1/2 cup heavy cream

-butter

-2-3 basil leaves

-salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Put on a pot of water and bring to a rolling boil. Drop in tomatoes and leave for 30 seconds – 1 minute. Drain and allow tomatoes to cool. Peel tomatoes, cut in half and put on a shallow baking pan.(I might try skipping boiling the tomatoes first next time and see how it comes out.)

Put unpeeled garlic cloves on pan with tomato halves. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, celery seed, red pepper flakes. Go easy on the celery seed (a lot goes a long way) and the red pepper. I have to go eat some TUMS as soon as I finish writing this. Pop in the oven for an hour (I only had about 30 minutes to do this and I thought they were ok, but a little longer would have been even better). Take out and allow tomatoes to cool in pan. I chopped up the garlic and tomatoes but after having done it, I don’t know that it is necessary.

Saute onion and sugar in a heavy pot with about 2 tablespoons of butter. Let onion cook until it is transparent. Add tomatoes and garlic and any juices from pan, chicken stock, and chopped basil. Let simmer on medium low. Keep a close watch, stirring occasionally. I was busy trying to feed Lily, so I did not keep a “close” eye on mine and a lot of the liquid cooked out and I had to add more chicken stock. Allow to cook for 20-30 minutes. You want the tomatoes to have time to cook down really well. *Some sherry would probably be really yummy in this soup and if I had any I would have added it at this point.

You could blend up your concoction at this point if you wanted, but I don’t have a blender or food processor so I skipped straight to this next part.

Put a fine mesh strainer over a bowl and pour the soup in, straining out all the big pieces. I had a few pieces of garlic, onion, and tomatoes left in my pot…and I left them there because I like texture.

Add strained soup back into pot. Add heavy cream and salt and pepper to taste. Allow to simmer on low for just about 2-3 minutes.

I like my soup a little thicker so I mixed 2 teaspoons of all purpose flour with just a little bit of chicken stock and added it to the soup. Stir constantly because it will thicken really fast. If you don’t like thick soup…just skip this part.

Pour into bowl and for added bonus put some croutons on top and maybe a basil leaf. Bon appetite.

Last week my parents came up for a visit. Mom and I looked for fabric for the baby’s room. Daddy and Paul played golf. But the highlight of the visit was on the last night when we went to eat at Mayberry’s.
After a scrumptious supper of hamburgers and spicy chicken sandwiches we decide to order some ice cream because Mayberry’s is known for their ice cream. My dad, who didn’t want any ice cream, looks at the long list of ice cream flavors and sundaes and sees a big box towards the bottom of the menu. Inside the box is written “Lock Stock and Barrel”. What is the Lock Stock and Barrel? This is the description from the menu:

…..oh yeah, there is a cherry on top. He decides this would be a great thing for four people and a baby to try to consume. So, of course, the rest of us jump of his band wagon.

The ice cream part of the restaurant is at the front, and we are at the back, away from everyone else in the place. I look over and see the waiter pull out a trifle bowl and begin to put our 12 scoops of ice cream into it! A TRIFLE BOWL! We all move from unbelief at what we have just done to uncontrollable laughter as the everyone in the restaurant is watching the guy make this thing. As he brings it to our table, heads turn to follow him and our laughter increases.

This is what the Lock Stock and Barrel looks like and this is my dad – the man who did not want any ice cream 10 minutes before this picture was taken.

My mom…she and I finished the thing off.

Out of my mom and I, of course, I am the last one eating. I blame the pregnancy.

End result

Lily was happy, full, and on a sugar high by the time we left.

Oh, and on the way out a group of ladies stopped us to ask if we finished it. Fun times with the folks.