{SRC} Bountiful and Delicious…

boun·ti·ful/ˈbountəfəl/
Adjective:

1. Large in quantity; abundant.
2. Giving generously.

And that is exactly what I found when I went to my ‘assigned’ blog for October’s Secret Recipe Club:

Si’s A Bountiful Kitchen

Si is a stay-at-home Mom who happens to Live In Bountiful, Utah. She loves to cook and bake. And her kitchen is BEAUTIFUL!!

So many wonderful recipes to choose from. Desserts. Breads. Soups. Sides. Game. It has everything! And everything looked delicious. And every time I went back to look at the recipes again and try and choose there was a new one up. Just made it harder to make that final choice. Finally I ended up with three but I couldn’t choose between them so I did all of them.

For Breakfast:

Fresh Cranberry Apple Scones

How could I pass up SCONES!!! On Si’s blog these are actually Fresh Cranberry Scones. I searched and searched for the bag of cranberries in the freezer to no avail. I was determined I was going to make these scones so I subbed in an equal amount of diced Granny Smith Apple. O. My. Goodness!! The scone recipe was perfect and with the apples there were little bits of tart mixed in with the sweetness of the scones. They are spinkled with Turbinado sugar before baking and then topped with Whipped cream after. Si used Almond but since mine were made with apples I made a cinnamon cream and then sprinkled the whole thing with Cinnamon Sugar.

1 cup fresh cranberriesdiced apples
1/4 cup sugar
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg, beaten
Turbinado sugar

Peel and chop apples coarsely. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and 3 tablespoons sugar. Cut in softened butter. Add buttermilk, vanilla and egg. Mix well. Add apples and any juice in bowl to dough. Mix in a little milk if dough is too dry. Knead lightly a few times until all dough is gathered, and forms a ball. Place on lightly floured surface and pat into two 5 inch or one 10 inch circle, about 1 inch thick. Sprinkle with Turbinado sugar. Cut each circle into 8 wedges. Bake on greased cookie sheet for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. When scones are done, remove from oven and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
Serve with Cinnamon Cream.

Makes 8 large or 16 small scones.

Cinnamon Cream:

1/2 pint whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbl {Or to taste} ground cinnamon

Whip cream until it starts to thicken. Add powdered sugar and cinnamon. Continue whipping until stiff. Serve with scones.

*****************

For Lunch:

Butternut Squash Soup

I had some Steamed Butternut Squash sitting in the fridge. This was the perfect way to use it.

1 sweet onion, chopped
1 Butternut Squash peeled, seeded and cubed. About 5-6 cups
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon brown sugar
dash nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
3 tablespoons cream or half and half, optional

Place onion and olive oil in large stockpot cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add squash, brown sugar and seasonings. Continue to cook for about 5 minutes. Add broth and cook until squash is soft. Using an immersion blender, blend the ingredients in the stockpot until smooth. Add more salt and pepper to taste and cream, if desired. Garnish and serve.
Approx 6 servings. {I used the heavy cream and it gave the soup a nice deep flavor.}

Si a curry variaion listed on her blog but of course I remembered that AFTER I had eaten the soup. NEXT TIME!!!!

The soup was wonderful. I really didn’t think I would like it, but I did and I will make it again. It is Butternut season after all.

*****************

Can you handle just one more?? Thought you could!!

For Dinner:

Veggies Lover’s Quesadilla

You can find this recipe on Si’s Blog. Super Simple and very adaptable to individual tastes. And very, very tasty!!

I made mine with Zucchini, mushrooms, Spinach, PepperJack Cheese, red peppers, onions, and Pesto I had made before. I think Si used her veggies raw. I decided to stir-fry mine crisp tender.

Perfect!!

Thanks, Si, for all your delightful recipes!!

If you are somewhat adventurous and like to ‘meet’ new people you really should join up with Secret Recipe Club:which was founded by Amanda. It is great fun and a fantastic way meet fellow foodies AND their food.<P

 

{FFwD} Corn Soup

There is a little nip (very very little) of fall in the air. There is some (hopefully) rain coming in. The temperatures are a little more bearable. It is close enough to fall to begin enjoying some soup for lunch. Specifically -

corn soup

And how delightful it is. Slightly sweet from the fresh corn subtley fragrant with the mix of thyme, bay leaf, and rosemary. Deliciuos from the first bite to the last.

I made 1/2 to 2/3 of the recipe (kinda sorta). Instead of 3 ears of corn, I used 2. And then cut the rest of the ingredients in half. That was enough for 3 nice servings. I suppose you could increase or decrease the ingredients to suit your needs and taste. I didn’t have any celery – even after a trillion trips to the store – so I used celery salt and then decreased the salt in the recipe. That worked just fine.

Before blending the soup looked very fresh

with the yellow corn and the bright orange carrots floating in the milky broth. Not real heavy, the soup is just right for a light lunch.

The recipe is on page 60 of Dorie’s Around My French Table.

And please visit French Fridays with Dorie to enjoy the other servings of corn soup.

 

{FFwD} cold melon-berry soup.

Cantaloupe. My favorite fruit ever. When I used to visit my PaPa he would always have three things for me. Twinkies. New Archie comic-book. And Cantaloupe. Always. Without fail. These three things waited for me. Today I still love Twinkies and Canteloupe. Archie Comic books – not so much.

anyway

This week’s FFwD intrigued me. Cantaloupe made into soup. I have had Cantaloupe pie. Cantaloupe smoothie. Cantaloupe with vanilla IC. But cantaloupe soup was never a thought.

This is a cold soup. Cantaloupe. Lime Juice. Ginger. {Dorie calls for White wine, but I am NOT a wine drinker so I just left it out. She DID say it was optional.} Interesting combination. And not bad. I could really taste the ginger. The lime was in the background. Topped with a stawberry. Over all – not bad. Intriguing. But I was the only one to eat it. Good thing since I made just one serving!! Sorry, Dorie, I will stick with my sweet cantaloupe with IC or with Twinkies. But it was interesting.

Please check with the other members of French Fridays with Dorie for their soup.

 

{FFwD} Paris Mushroom Soup

This is perfect weather for soup. Yes, I know. I just said that in my last post. But this is the second soup I have made this week. And I wouldn’t have made either of them if it had been warm outside. So cold weather = soup weather. There!!

That being said here is the second soup of the week.

Paris Mushroom Soup

And it may not be pretty but the taste was sensational.

I have never made mushroom soup. I always thought it would be way to complicated. If I had known how easy it really was I would have made it years ago. But then I wouldn’t have had Dorie’s recipe for mushroom soup and it may not have been nearly as tasty. Sautee onions, garlic. Add mushrooms, white wine, rosemary, parsley. Add chicken broth and simmer. Puree. DONE!!! Yes, it IS just that easy.

It had a deep mushroom flavor with just a hint of the white wine. Excellent soup. Definitely a repeat.

The soup is served over a ‘salad’ {raw mushrooms, chives, scallions and parsley} which only enhances the flavor.

I made 1/4 of the recipe and that was a good sized single serving.

Just as Dorie promised, the hot soup cooked the ‘salad’ mushrooms just slightly. Just enough.

I will only make one change when (notice that’s not “IF”) I make it again I will leave out the scallions. I think they added a rather bitter taste to the soup which detracted from the mushroom flavor. But that’s just my opinion.

I found the recipe for the soup (but not the salad) online. So if you want to make it…..

And if you want to see how the other FFwD members liked the soup check out the blogroll.

 

{CEinMB} Beef and Mushroom Barley Soup

Cold days mean perfect days for soup. Warm. Filling. Comforting. And that is exactly what this soup was. Filled with carrots, celery, tomatoes, mushrooms, and barley this basic beef veggie soup was really tasty.

Beef and Mushroom Barley Soup

I shared it with my SIL and MIL and they really liked it. Especially the barley. And that was good because this was the FIRST time ever I have had barley let alone put it in soup. I didn’t even know where to look for it. I do now and I will add it to my regular veggie soup each time I make it.

This was such good soup. I hope you try it – soon. You can find the recipe in Ellie’s The Food You Crave on page 89. I also found it at google books. And thanks to Jennifer of The Rookie Baker. This was her pick this week.

And visit CEinMB to see how much, I hope, the other members liked this soup.

 

{FFwD}leek and potato soup,….

….smooth or chunky, hot or cold.

It was wonderful chunky and HOT!!!

I have only cooked with leeks one other time and that was because Nancy had found a recipe for a TwitterCook some months ago. I still don’t use them often, but I do enjoy the flavor they add to different dishes. This soup called for 3 leeks and I thought it would be too onion-y, but the leeks are very mild in flavor and just enhanced to the taste of the soup.

Topped with some shredded gruyére and chopped chives, it was a perfect soup for a very unseasonably cold night here in the Deep South!!

Dorie did say we could make the soup chunky or smooth, so I removed part of the soup and pureed it in the Food Processor (since my immersion blender drowned a few days before!!) We ended up with a nice smooth textured soup with plenty of chunky pieces of potato. Almost a potato chowder. One thing that surprised me about this soup – it only used ONE potato. Most potato soups use lots of potatoes. THe one potato, with all the leeks, was perfectly potato-ey.

The next time I make potato soup, it will be this one. Too good not to make again.

You can find this soup in Dorie’s Around My French Table on page 66/67. And as long as you have the book, you might as well join us in

 

{CEinMB}tortellini-spinach soup

It has been a little chillier than usual the last two nights. The temps have been in the lower 30s. It hasa been perfect weather for a fire at night, hot tea (and scones) in the morning, and eh, let’s see. I know there was… oh yeah, This Soup!!

Ellie’s tortellini-spinach soup

As is usual with Ellie’s recipes this one is simple, with basic tasty ingredients that are tolerant of change. I did follow the recipe exactly as written, or at least I tried. The only tortellini I could find was a tri-color three cheese tortellini. And I am glad it was because it made the soup so festive. Red. Green. White. Great colors for the holiday season. And it was extra flavorful, too.

The soup is full of onions, celery, garlic, carrots, shreds of fresh baby spinach, and topped with Parmesan Cheese. Absolutely perfect soup!!! So glad I made the whole recipe rather than the one serving I was contemplating.

Now you need to go out and buy a large package of tortellini and make this soup. The recipe is HERE!! Or on page 90 of Ellie’s So Easy! Thanks to Bri for a great pick. It is definitely on my list of cold weather dishes. And visit the other members of CEinMB for their soups.

 

{CEinMB} Tomato/Tortilla Soup

I know that all of you have one of those lists! You know the one I’m talking about – the I Have Got to Cook/Bake This!! list. And if you do, it keeps getting longer and longer and…

This week I finally marked one of those ‘gottas’ off my list. It wasn’t the recipe I had listed, but it was the same soup.

Tomato-Tortilla Soup

There isn’t much difference between all the recipes for this I have in my folder, but this one is probably healthier than most. After all, it IS an Ellie recipe. The soup consists of simple ingredients – diced tomatoes, onion, garlic, chicken broth, tortillas. And handy spices – cumin, oregano. I had everything (almost) on hand (for a change) and made if for lunch one day. And it was quite tasty. 1/2 of the recipe was plenty for two filling and delicious meals.

If you have made this soup before from Ellie’s The Food You Crave then you know there is NO CHEESE in the recipe. And if you read this blog occassionally you also know usually I CANNOT leave a recipe alone. Well this was no exception. I like my foods spicy but not HOT. So…

I left out the jalapeño peppers.
I left off the sour cream and sprinkled Mexican Blend Cheese over the top.
I left out the lime juice (but only because I didn’t have any)
And next time I will increase the spices a wee bit.

But that’s all. The only changes I made. I loved the soup without any of those. And put probably more cheese than I should have. But, hey, you only live once….

I also made my own Tortillas which I sprinkled with Emeril’s Southwestern Seasoning. That added a little extra kick.

If you want to try this version of Tomato/Tortilla Soup you can find it on Popsicles and Sandy Feet which is Mary’s blog. And it was her pick. Thanks much, Mary. It was a tasty pick!!.

You can also find the recipe on Ellie’s page.

OR you could just buy Ellie’s The Food You Crave and find the recipe on page 76.

Vist the rest of the Ellie Fans and see their take on this soup.