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Awesome Easy Tomato Soup

September 15, 2008 by Laura 111 Comments

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Homemade Tomato Soup

It’s almost that time of year again… The time when we can warm up at lunch with a grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of tomato soup!

I LOVE this recipe that was given to me by my friend Anne…who got it from her friend Anne. (Yeah, like that’s not ever confusing.) Along with canning lots of tomato sauce and tomato juice and salsa, I love canning several jars of Anne’s tomato soup for the winter! (Wait, which Anne is that?)

Most of the tomato soup you’ll find at the store will have high fructose corn syrup or sugar in it…

This recipe has no sugar…which is amazing because it tastes so yummy and sweet! Once when Matt was eating some, he asked at least three times, “This really doesn’t have any sugar in it?” :)

Homemade Tomato SoupYum

5 pounds chopped tomatoes
1 cup chopped onion
3 Tablespoon butter
1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Put everything in a big pot and cook it for about 3 hours. Then, put it into your blender and blend until smooth. Freeze it, or can it following these canning methods (25 minutes in the water bath).

I love having recipes like this that are so simple to make and healthy for my family!

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Great Lunch Idea! Black Bean Salsa

August 26, 2008 by Laura 36 Comments

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When you’re trying to eat a healthy diet, figuring out exciting lunches can be a challenge. And if you are trying to pack a healthy lunch to take to school or work, it can be even more of a challenge. This yummy Black Bean Salsa is delicious, good for you, and super easy to put together.

Pack it up “to go” with some blue corn chips, some fruit and a Peanut Butter Honey Bar, and you’ve got a great lunch that’s easy to take anywhere.

Black Bean SalsaYum

Great Lunch Idea! Black Bean Salsa

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Author: Laura

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

1 cup dried black beans
5 tomatoes, diced
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 cup frozen corn, steamed and cooled
¼ cup chopped cilantro

Instructions

Soak beans in water overnight.
Drain and cover with fresh water in saucepan.
Bring to a boil, then simmer for 45 minutes.
Drain.
In large bowl, mix together beans, tomatoes, onion, corn and cilantro.
Stir together.
Store in refrigerator.
Serve with corn chips or baked tortilla chips.

Make this salsa even easier by using canned black beans and canned corn…then all you have to do is quickly throw all the ingredients into a bowl and stir!

Mmmmm…I LOVE this stuff!

Need more “to go” lunch ideas?

The Make-Ahead Lunch Box

Look through all the recipes listed in our Make-Ahead Lunch Box series. Lunch can be so much more than a sandwich and carrot stick! All of the ideas will work great to make ahead, then pull out to pack for a lunch.

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Swiss Steak Trivia

July 21, 2008 by Laura 14 Comments

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Here’s a quick and yummy Swiss Steak recipe for you…perfect to make with the great fresh vegetables you can find in your garden or farmers market!

It’s not like I have oodles of spare time on my hands…but I just had to take the time to wonder…

Why is Swiss Steak called Swiss Steak?

Did it originate in Switzerland? Do I need to dress like I’m from Switzerland when I’m preparing this dish? Must I learn to speak a new language in order to serve Swiss Steak?

These very important questions came to mind as I stood cooking our most recent Swiss Steak…so I googled it. Because I knew that as soon as I posted this recipe, I’d be swarmed with emails from all of you, full of questions such as these. I just couldn’t leave you hanging with so many unanswered questions. Hey, I’m here for you.

Get this! According to Wikipedia…Swiss Steak does not come from Switzerland at all. (Which is a huge relief because I am not a good student of foreign language.)

Swiss Steak is named Swiss Steak because the meat has undergone a process called “Swissing” in order to make it tender.

I’ve never “swissed” my meat before…nor do I remember learning to “swiss” my meat in Home Economics in high school. Imagine that…I’ve gone all these years without ever “swissing”.

Apparently I purchase my meat already “swissed” in the form of “Cube Steak”. How about that? I never knew that the cube steak in my freezer had been “swissed”. I’m willing to bet that some of you have some steak in your freezer that has been “swissed”. Eh? Am I right?!

Now that you have all the background information you could possibly ever need (and oh so much more) about Swiss Steak…here is my recipe. (Take heart…the recipe is VERY SIMPLE compared to all of the swissing detail you just received.)

Swiss SteakYum

1 1/2 lb. cube steaks or minute steaks
4 T. whole wheat flour or unbleached white flour
2 T. palm kernel oil
2 cups chopped tomatoes
2 T. water
1 small onion, cut up into rings
½ cup chopped carrot
½ t. thyme

Coat meat in flour and cook in hot oil until lightly browned on both sides. Add tomatoes, water, onion, carrots and thyme. Salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer on low heat for 1 hour or until meat and vegetables are tender.

Serve over noodles or rice.

Enjoy the Swiss Steak…and all of the information about “swissing” that you can now use during important moments such as awkward silences or while completing crossword puzzles (five letter word for the process of tenderizing meat).

You’ll thank me later for this.

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Cheesy Turkey Sausage Stromboli

July 7, 2008 by Laura 28 Comments

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If I ask my husband what special meal he wants for his birthday or for Father’s Day…he usually grins and says, “Can you make me a Stromboli?”

It is SO YUMMY…it’s no wonder he always requests it!

Cheesy Turkey Sausage StromboliYum

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 T. honey
1 t. sea salt
1 package yeast
3/4 cups warm water
1/4 cup warm milk
1 T. melted butter
1 pound turkey sausage
2 cups white cheddar cheese, shredded
2 eggs
1 t. basil
grated Parmesan cheese

Combine flour, salt and yeast. Add water, milk, honey and butter. Knead until smooth and elastic. Place in a bowl, cover and let rise until doubled, about one hour.

Meanwhile, in a skillet cook sausage. Stir shredded cheese, one egg and basil into the sausage. Set aside.

Punch dough down and roll into a 15 x 10 inch rectangle. Spoon sausage mixture down one side of the rectangle to within one inch of the edges. Fold dough over filling and pinch to seal. Place on a cookie sheet. Cut four diagonal slits on top of the stromboli. Beat remaining egg and brush it over the stromboli. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Slice and serve warm.

This is definitely a family favorite! Hope you try it and enjoy it!

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Make Homemade Turkey Sausage!

May 12, 2008 by Laura 163 Comments

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Make this turkey sausage recipe even easier by creating a jar of seasonings for this sausage. Learn how!

We LOVE ham and sausage at our house, but from what I read, pork is not the best for you. We do eat bacon from time to time, but this Turkey Sausage is a delicious alternative to pork. It’s easy and it tastes great!

See? It looks like sausage and everything?! My family devours this sausage.

Homemade Turkey Sausage

Homemade Turkey SausageYum

Make Homemade Turkey Sausage!

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Author: Laura

Ingredients

1 pound ground turkey
3 Tablespoon minced onion
¼ teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon marjoram
¼ teaspoon ground pepper
¼ teaspoon oregano
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon thyme
½ teaspoon sage
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 egg (optional)

Instructions

Mix all ingredients.
Chill for about an hour. (If you forget to chill this ahead of time...it cooks up okay anyway!)
Form into patties.
Saute in butter.

You’ll find more recipes like this in my ebook: Think Breakfast…Outside of the Box or in my “actual book” Oh, For Real: Real Food, Real Family, Real Easy.

What can you do with this Turkey Sausage? Here are our favorite ways to use this:

Just eat it. Turkey Sausage Patties are pretty great as a breakfast meat along with eggs, pancakes, or muffins.
Homemade Sausage Gravy is amazing. I like to make a huge batch of this sausage, then freeze it browned and crumbled in 1-pound meal-sized portions. Then I just pull it out and quickly make gravy. Of course, we eat this gravy over biscuits. This means that you also need my Quick Mix Biscuits recipe.
Turkey Sausage and Red Bean Stew is a wonderful comfort food – made easier if you have this sausage made ahead of time.
Sometimes I use this sausage in my Spicy Mac and Cheese recipe.

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Make Ahead Meals: Cheesy Beef and Rice

April 14, 2008 by Laura 63 Comments

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On a day when there’s lots of activity (um…that would be every day), it’s so nice to have a meal like Cheesy Beef and Rice prepared in the freezer ready to pull out and bake. Quickly toss a salad and warm up a veggie, and your meal is made!

Over the next several weeks, while I continue to post new breakfast ideas, and great ways to eat lots of fruits and veggies – I’ll also be posting some great recipes that you can make up ahead of time and put into the freezer to have on hand for busy evenings.

To start us off, here’s a super easy recipe to put together. There’s nothing fancy about this dish, but it’s tasty just the same. This Cheesy Beef and Rice has been a long time family favorite of ours!

Cheesy Beef and Rice

Cheesy Beef and RiceYum

Make Ahead Meals: Cheesy Beef and Rice

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Author: Laura

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

1½ cups long grain brown rice
1 pound ground beef
3 Tablespoons minced onion, or fresh chopped onion
½ teaspoon garlic powder
sea salt, to taste
1½ cups sour cream
⅓ cup milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions

Boil three cups of water.
Stir in rice.
Cover and simmer for 45 minutes.
Brown ground beef with onion and garlic powder.
Mix with rice and salt well.
Stir in sour cream and milk.
Spread into a casserole dish.
Sprinkle cheese on top. Cover well and freeze.
Bake in a 350° oven for 45 minutes, or until bubbly.
Or, place frozen casserole, covered with foil, into a cold oven.
Turn oven on to 250°, baking for about 2 hours or until casserole is heated through and through.

I hope you’ll keep coming back to read more recipes of dishes that you can make ahead of time and put into the freezer! In the meantime, I encourage you to look through all of the Make-Ahead Meals we’ve shared through the years. So much time saved!

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Eat More Fruits and Veggies: Chicken Veggie Quesadillas

April 7, 2008 by Laura 22 Comments

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Continuing on the quest to eat more fruits and veggies…I came up with this recipe.

And OH MY! You MUST try these!

When you eat them…just know that they are a little messy and drippy…

But you’ll get to enjoy licking your fingers and slurping up all the good stuff off of your plate and savoring the flavor.

(Or, if you want to…use a napkin…but really..that is not nearly as fun.)

There’s a bit of everything in these: sweet, spicy, crunchy, creamy, meaty and cheesy.

Chicken Veggie QuesadillasYum

1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper
2 T. chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped sweet green chili pepper
2 T. olive oil
3/4 cup corn
1 cup cooked chicken, cut into bites
1 medium tomato, cut into bite sized pieces
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 t. chili powder (more or less according to your taste)
10 whole wheat tortillas

Saute peppers and onions in olive oil for 3-4 minutes. In a medium mixing bowl stir together corn, chicken, grated cheese, tomatoes, sour cream and chili powder. Fold in sauted veggies.

In a skillet, lay down one tortilla. Spread filling onto tortilla and top with a second tortilla. Cook over medium low heat for about one minute on each side, or until filling is warm and tortillas are slightly crispy. Continue until all tortillas are filled.

Cut into wedges with pizza cutter.

Now, go make these chicken veggie quesadillas, grab a napkin (or not), and dig in!

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Eat More Fruits and Veggies: Baked Potato with Broccoli Cheese Sauce

April 4, 2008 by Laura 12 Comments

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All week long I’ve been playing around and experimenting with fun new ways to eat more veggies!

For lunch today, I made Baked Potatoes with Broccoli Cheese Sauce…and we all liked them!!

And that means that I need to share the recipe with you…because you will surely like them too!!

Baked Potatoes with Broccoli Cheese SauceYum

6 baked potatoes
2 T. butter
1 T. minced onion
2 T. arrowroot powder
1 1/2 cups whole milk
sea salt, to taste
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen broccoli
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

When your potatoes are almost finished baking, begin making your broccoli cheese sauce.

In a medium sauce pan, stir butter and minced onion around on medium heat until the butter is melted. Stir in arrowroot powder. Turn heat up, and pour in milk…stirring constantly. Shake in some salt, depending on your taste. Continue to stir until the mixture thickens. Turn heat down to low. Add broccoli and cook and stir for about 3-4 minutes. Stir in grated cheese. When the cheese is melted, your sauce is ready! Cut potatoes open on a plate and pour broccoli cheese sauce all over it. Yum!

Give these a try! They were perfect for lunch…and simple to make too!

Hey, what isn’t good with a cheese sauce drizzled all over it?!

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Healthy Treat for Today: Homemade Pizza Pockets

March 4, 2008 by Laura 113 Comments

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Lunch time around here can be a hectic time…

These Pizza Pockets are a perfect treat that you can make ahead put in the freezer…then throw in the oven at lunchtime.

Here’s how I made these:

I used my regular pizza recipe…

CrustYum

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teasoon sea salt
1 cup melted butter
1 cup plain yogurt

Stir ingredients together until thoroughly mixed. You can make these pockets right away, or you can allow this dough to soak for 12-24 hours in order to break down the phytates and make the grain more easily digestible.

Pizza Sauce

1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 1/2 teaspoon basil

Stir together and simmer for a few minutes.

Pizza Pocket Fillings

Grated mozzarella or white cheddar cheese, cooked hamburger, pepperoni, olives, peppers, mushrooms

To form a Pizza Pocket

Roll a small ball of dough into a circle. Place one tablespoon of pizza sauce in the center. Put in a small amount of your choice of toppings. Fold the dough in half. Use a fork to pinch the edges together.

Lay Pizza Pockets on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Freeze for about one hour. Pop them off the cookie sheet and put them into a freezer bag…and back into the freezer.

Bake your Pizza Pockets

For frozen Pizza Pockets, bake in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. If the Pizza Pockets are thawed, bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

I love the convenience of this nutritious “fast food”! Serve them with fruit and veggies(God’s fast food!)…and you’ve got yourself a quick and easy lunchtime treat!!

You’ll find more healthy treat recipes here.

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Create Your Own “Restaurant” Fun

January 11, 2008 by Laura 41 Comments

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My kids like to eat out, but…

a) the food is usually, almost always, mostly bad for you.
b) my three year old eats a lot, my five year old eats as much as I do, my seven year old and ten year old eat as much as their Daddy, and…
c) have you seen how much their Daddy eats?
d) do you know how much it costs at a restaurant to feed a family of six who eat like five adults?

Therefore, I often try to make food fun at home, especially on Friday nights, for our family.

One of our favorite things to have is my Homemade Chicken Nuggets and French Fries. The kids love it, request it and are joyful over it when they know I’m making it.

I watch for Smart Chicken boneless/skinless breasts to go on sale (that’s the only brand of chicken I feel mostly okay about buying) and I stock up. I found it for $2.29/lb the other day which was great for Smart Chicken!

Potatoes are super cheap and we have about 40 pounds still in storage from our garden last summer (yea!). You can also try making some Creamy Mac and Cheese as a yummy side dish!

So, here’s the recipe for my Homemade Chicken Nuggets and French Fries.

(My side note: Kids may have a harder time getting used to these chicken nuggets because they are actually made of, well, chicken. Give them a try though – my kids LOVE them and cheer when I’m making them! Every adult I’ve fed them to LOVE them as well.)

5.0 from 1 reviews

Chicken Nuggets and French Fries

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

30 mins

Author: Laura Coppinger

Recipe type: Main Dish

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

For the Chicken Nuggets:
3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs
½ cup whole wheat flour
Sea salt
½ cup oil (I use Palm Shortening)
For the French Fries:
6-8 medium potatoes
1 cup oil - give or take (again, I use Palm Shortening)
Sea salt

Instructions

For the Chicken Nuggets: Cut the chicken into small nugget sized pieces and place in a bowl. Stir chicken around in the flour to coat. Heat oil in skillet. Cook chicken in hot oil for about seven minutes on each side. Salt liberally while cooking.
For the French Fries:
Scrub potatoes well and cut into thin french fries, any length you like. Heat ½ cup oil in skillet. Place half the potatoes in the oil and cook for about 15 minutes, or until potatoes are tender, yet crispy, stirring then around occasionally. Salt well. Repeat process for remaining potatoes. (I keep the first batch warm in a 200 degree oven while I cook the second batch.)

So there you have it! If I’m really feeling clever, I’ll do one of the following for the meal:

1) Wrap a few nuggets and a few fries in parchment paper and place them in a lunch sack for each of my boys. Sometimes, I’ll even throw in a little trinket if I have them around. Then the kids feel like they are getting a kid’s meal at a restaurant! They love it!

2) Give each of the boys some coins and have them sit at the table with a menu to order from. They usually order the “special” (since that’s all Mama’s Kitchen is offering!) and have to pay for it with their coins. It’s super fun and a good lesson in restaurant behavior and money.

If I’m not feeling clever (or if I have no energy left for much except eating), I just throw a plate of the nuggets and a plate of the fries on the table and we all just dig in. Hey, that’s fun too.

Have you grabbed this Simple Ingredients for Simple Meals FREE printable yet? Get it here!

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