Simple Tomato Soup (Campbell’s Copycat)

It’s cold today. COLD. Twenty degrees F, to be exact. It’s soup weather! Last night when I served this, it was six degrees, and “felt like” eighty gazillion below zero(that last fact has not been verified by anyone but me). And what’s more comforting and hearty than tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich on the side? Well, I’m sure everyone has their favorite, but for me, this one’s right up there at the top of the list! My family loves Campbell’s Tomato Soup, but I haven’t bought any in a long time because it has high fructose corn syrup. No one needs that. So I grabbed some stuff and made my own.

Looking at the ingredients on the CS can, you’ll see tomato puree, water, HFCS, wheat flour, salt, vegetable oil, flavoring, ascorbic acid and citric acid. Not hard to duplicate, but that soup has that certain something, doesn’t it? I dropped the flour, salt and oil, and the two acids. “Flavoring” came in the use of vegetable stock instead of water, and a bit of garlic powder, because garlic makes everything better. What you’re left with is a velvety soup with hints of vegetables, and that telltale hint of sweet that you get from the corn syrup they use.

Penguins love tomato soup, did you know? But they'd probably ask for a grilled fish sandwich instead.

Give it a taste after you add the butter, and I’m pretty sure you won’t need salt--I didn’t need any. If you find it too velvety, add another 1/2 cup of broth, and up to 1/2 cup more if you feel you want it thinner. I’m biased, of course, but I thought it was perfect as is. Our grilled cheese sandwiches were simply Black Forest ham, sharp cheddar and thinly sliced tomatoes. A match made in comfort food heaven!

Simple Tomato Soup (Campbell's Copycat)

Makes just about 9 cups (2 1/4 quarts)

1 (26 oz) box of Pomi Strained Tomatoes (you can use a 28 oz can if you can't find Pomi)
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
5 cups vegetable broth
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp butter

In a medium soup pot, heat the strained tomatoes, tomato paste, vegetable broth, garlic powder and sugar over low- medium heat. Stir occasionally to make sure that the tomato paste and sugar are dissolving.

When the paste and sugar are incorporated, add the butter and stir till melted. Serve in mugs with grilled cheese sandwiches and some kind of cheesy cracker, because that's the law.

Store any leftovers in the fridge.

Whole Wheat Brownies you’ll actually love!

Who doesn’t love brownies? I guess there may be one or two of you out there. For the rest of you that do love them, keep reading. I’ve made them with finely stone-ground whole wheat pastry flour and your kids/family/friends are never going to tell the difference.

We all want to eat healthier, and I think the easiest way to do that is by making small changes that add up. Once you start making small changes, they have a way of snowballing. Before you know it, good things are happening all over the place!

This recipe is for Hodgson Mill’s “Have a Grain Holiday” recipe contest. The idea is to chuck the white four for a change and get that whole wheat in there. It’s  not as difficult as it seems. Last year, I did a Whole Wheat Whisky Gingerbread. My daughter still talks about that one--she loved it, whole wheat flour and all!

I’ve taken the white flour out of these brownies and brought in the whole wheat pastry flour as a replacement. Now, does this make these 100% healthy? No, of course not--they’re still brownies. And it’s the holidays, so we all indulge somewhat. The brownies, even with whole wheat flour, are so rich, dark and fudgy, that no one would ever guess the change that was made. Go ahead and try these, you won’t believe how decadent they are!

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Click here and enter to win one of 50 Baker’s Holiday Gift Packs, including whole wheat flours, baking mixes, and more from Hodgson Mill, valued at $85!

Added bonus: Click here to get a coupon for $1.00 off any 5 pound flour or cornmeal from Hodgson Mill!

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I also have $25 worth of assorted Hodgson Mill products to give away to one of you! Hodgson Mill uses grains that are of the highest grade, produced domestically wherever available, and purchased in the United States. They use only stoneground milling to ensure, unlike other mills, that their products contain the entire nutritional benefit of the grain. And Hodgson Mill has a commitment to solar and wind power at our mill and an award-winning recycling program.

How could you not love all of that? See below to enter!

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Decadent Whole Wheat Brownies

Makes a 9"x13" pan

This makes a lot--good for holiday parties, potlucks, etc. The mini chocolate chips I use are Ghirardelli, in a 10 oz bag. You're dividing it into 3 and 7 oz portions in this recipe. In case you’re wondering, these got big thumbs up all around.

To make the Christmas decorations, I simply used candy melts from the candy making section at any craft store. Melt them, pour into a zip top bag and snip a small corner off the bag. SMALL. Make your shapes on parchment paper or foil, and set aside to cool. I stuck them on the brownies using a simple ganache, and I'll include the recipe below. I free handed the decorations, as you can clearly tell, ha! They give the brownies a nice, old-school homey look. Yeah, that's what I'm going with! You can also just dust with a small amount of powdered sugar for that “snowed on” look.

3 (1-oz) squares of unsweetened chocolate
3 tbsp cocoa (I use Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa)
3 tbsp canola oil
3 oz of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup butter
1 tbsp espresso powder or instant coffee
1 tbsp Raspberry Liqueur, optional
5 eggs
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1 tsp salt
7 oz (remaining chips from the bag) mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a 9 x 13" pan with foil, and lightly grease the foil.

In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the unsweetened chocolate squares, cocoa and oil, the 3 oz of mini chips, the butter, the espresso powder or instant coffee, and raspberry liqueur, if using--and melt over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

While that's all melting, start the next step. Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla at high speed for 10 minutes. This is where a stand mixer comes in handy, but a hand mixer will also do the job.

Add the melted chocolate mixture to the mixing bowl, along with the flour and salt. Mix until just blended, and then stir in the remaining 7 oz of chocolate chips. Let the batter sit on the counter for 20 minutes before pouring into the greased pan. That's right, 20 minutes.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and tap the pan on your work surface a few times to release air bubbles.

Bake for 25-27 minutes. The top should be shiny and the sides should be pulling away from the sides of the pan. Let them cool completely before cutting! To cut, lift them out of the pan using the edges of the foil. Cut into squares, decorate if you wish, and store in an airtight container.

Ganache Recipe

1/2 cup heavy cream
7 oz bittersweet chocolate
pinch of salt
1 tbsp raspberry liqueur, optional

Put the chocolate in a bowl, add the pinch of salt and liqueur, if using. Set aside.

Set the cream over low-medium heat in a small saucepan. Heat gently until small bubbles start to appear around the edges of the pan. Don’t let it boil.

Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Let this sit for 2-3 minutes, and then using a rubber spatula, gently stir the cream into the chocolate. Doing this gently prevents any air bubbles in the ganache.

To attach the decorations, put the ganache into a plastic zip top bag and seal. Snip off a tiny corner of the bag, and gently add a dollop of ganache to the center of each brownie. Set the decoration right on top of the ganache, and let them sit for a while to set up. Store any leftover ganache in the fridge, and then you can eat it with a spoon. That’s what I’m doing with it!

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To enter the giveaway for $25 of assorted Hodgson Mill products:

1. Leave a comment on this post telling me what kind of recipe you’d like to make with Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Flour. Use a valid email address so you can be reached.

Optional Entries:

2. Tweet about this giveaway and leave another comment here telling me that you did.

3. Share this on Facebook and again, leave another comment on this post letting me know.

I’ll choose a winner next Friday, December 14th. The winner will have 48 hours to get back to me or I’ll choose another name. Good luck!

Don’t forget to go and enter to win one of 50 Gift Packs full of assorted Hodgson Mill products!

 

Tate’s Baking for Friends Review +Cookie and Bar Tower Giveaway

I absolutely adore Tate’s Bake Shop. Have I ever been? No, It’s not close enough for me to just hop on over. This may be a good thing, however, since their stuff is fabulous--I’d be there every single day! The cookies, the brownies, the bars…and that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

Giveaway is CLOSED. The random winner is #43, Jamie. Congrats, Jamie! And thank you to everyone that entered. 

I can personally vouch for the thin, ultra crisp cookies. They’ll make you swoon. And want more. The butter and brown sugar really shine in these, as do the soft chocolate chips. The brownies? They’re the epitome of melt in  your mouth, fudgy, chocolatey goodness. They’re what other brownies can only dream about being like. You want to swoon? Get your hands on some of Tate’s brownies--trust me on this!

Kathleen King, the baking genius behind Tate’s Bake Shop, has written her second Tate’s cookbook, Tate's Bake Shop: Baking For Friends. Just like her first, Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook: The Best Recipes from Southampton's Favorite Bakery for Homestyle Cookies, Cakes, Pies, Muffins, and Breads, this one is packed full of recipes you’ll actually make. You don’t need exotic ingredients or 12 pans and 50 hands. These aren’t recipes you’ll dream of making one day because they’re so complicated--you can make these now. They’re the ones you’ll reach for again and again, and make for your family and friends.

That’s not to say that they won’t impress, because these recipes certainly will! Here are just a few of them as I flip through the book: Three Berry Crumb Pie, Cinnamon Swirl Scones, Ginger Plum Muffins, Pfeffernusse (my mom loved these for the holidays!), Chubby Tate’s (the thick, soft and chewy cousin of Tate’s signature ultra crispy chocolate chip cookies), Vanilla Bean Chiffon Cake, Blackout Cupcakes, and so many more.

So far, from this book, I’ve made:

1. The Milk Chocolate Cake, which is bordering on brownies and is not nearly as sweet as you’d think, but delectable.
2. The Raspberry Chocolate Scones, which are as far as you can get from dry scones, and have a nice touch of orange zest.
3. The Hurricane Irene Cookies, which are chock full of good cookie things--oats, chocolate chips, coconut, pecans and toffee bits, and like the cake I mentioned above, not as sweet as you’d think, but a fabulous chewy cookie with lots of great texture.

I have many more recipes bookmarked to try, as well. The Breakfast Cookies are definitely being made in the next week or so. Cookies for breakfast? I’m in!

The folks at Tate’s have generously offered to give a Cookie and Bar Tower to one of you lucky readers, and trust me when I say it, you want this. Your taste buds want this. Heck, I want this, ha! I’ll put my order in for one soon so I can splurge and share it for the holidays, but one of you can have this now!

It includes three 7-oz boxes of cookies, one each of chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and white chocolate chip macadamia nut. Two rich, buttery raspberry bars, two chocolate chip and walnut loaded blondies, and two rich, dense and fudgy plain brownies round out this crowd pleaser. Each 7-oz box contains approximately 12 cookies, and bars measure 4" x 2.75"

US shipping only.

To enter:

1. Leave a comment on this post and let me know what you’re most looking forward to trying--the cookies, the raspberry bars, blondies or brownies, and be sure to use a valid email address!

Optional for additional entries:

2. Tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment here letting me know that you did. You can do this once a day.

3. Share this post on Facebook and again, leave a comment here telling me that you shared it. You can also do this up to once per day, if you like.

That’s it--easy! I’ll choose a comment (using the random number generator) next Monday, December 10th and announce the winner on Tuesday. The winner will have 48 hours to get back to me or I’ll choose another name. Good luck!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of Tate’s Bake Shop: Baking for Friends at no charge. My opinion is my own and not influenced in any way.

Well-Together Challenge with Harvard Pilgrim Health Care-Week 4

Well, here we are, at week 4--the final week of the Harvard Pilgrim Well-Together Challenge! It’s been a lot of fun checking out the posts from the other bloggers that have been taking the challenge as well. Hopefully, you guys have followed along and picked up some great tips for better health and wellness.

What have I learned in these four weeks? I’ve learned that healthy habits don’t always mean giving up what you love. I’ve learned that small changes make a big difference over time, and if you stick with them, you’ll be better off in the long run, and you won’t have to say “Why wasn’t I doing this all along?”

I’ve also learned that healthy habits don’t have to take all day. It all adds up. You don’t have to feel like you need to work out three hours a day. A little here and a little there, and before you know it, your new challenges turn into habits that you actually enjoy!

The yoga challenge for me has been very helpful. It just feels so good to get into those stretches, and to take some time to actually breathe deeply and release that stress of everyday life. Do it in the morning and you’ll feel refreshed all day. Do it before bed and you’ll sleep like a baby. You just can’t lose! And if you’re stuck in the office all day, you can even do yoga at your desk! If your boss is wondering what the heck you’re doing, just reply that it’ll make you more productive--who can argue with that?

Be sure to also check in with Carrie at Maine Mom on the Run. She’s been trying out some of my recipes that are family oriented and pretty easy to get on the table. Which isn’t always simple, as we all know! Having a family means less time and more running around.

I’ve partnered with Harvard Pilgrim on this sponsored post but the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. You can find more ways to be well atHarvardPilgrim.org/CountUsIn. Harvard Pilgrim is on Facebook, as well as Twitter--follow this hash tag for more tips in the #WellTogetherChallenge.

This is a paid post, but as stated above, the thoughts and opinions here are my own.

Robinhood Meetinghouse Biscuits Review

Do you love biscuits? I do! When I was a kid, my mom used to make them all the time. She made the drop biscuits from the standard store bought baking mix. It was easy for her, and that’s what she grew up with. I loved them hot out of the oven with butter.

Now that I’m in charge of the biscuit making for my family, I make them from scratch, right in the food processor. It’s a good way to use some buttermilk, if you’ve got some kicking around in the fridge. And everyone in my family loves them!

Sometimes though, I’m in a rush trying to get dinner on the table, and just don’t have the room in the kitchen (I have a small island) to pat them out and cut them, and have an extra baking sheet out there, too. Or I want/need a snack and just don’t feel like making them. We all have days like that, I’m sure!

This is where Robinhood Meetinghouse Frozen Biscuits enter the picture! I received some samples from them to try in my kitchen, and wow--we were impressed! They’re a family-run business started by Chef Michael Gagné. He brought his biscuit recipe home to Maine from Virginia, and started the Robinhood Meetinghouse restaurant. Soon his daughters were bagging and selling the biscuits to-go from the back porch of the restaurant. Now they sell them in your grocers freezer, made using the same wholesome fresh ingredients that we use in our kitchens.

Their products are made without artificial flavors or colors, corn syrup, preservatives, trans-fats, or GMO’s.

These are great to keep in the freezer for an easy comfort food fix, snack, dessert, or accompaniment to your family dinners. And you can feel good about them because of the fresh, natural ingredients they’re made with, and because they’re flaky, tender and delicious! Mine came out a bit lopsided because I used an old but beloved baking sheet that’s a little warped, but they rose beautifully like biscuits your grandma would make.

We tried the Cream Cheese Biscuits, the Triple Ginger Biscuits, and the Pecan Sticky Buns. They were all just what you want in a biscuit or a gooey sticky bun, and I wouldn’t hesitate to pick some up to store in the freezer for those times when you’re short on time or just want a warm comforting snack. Check out all of their varieties! Herb Parmesan? Sign me up! Check their site for availability in your area.

A huge thank you to Robinhood Meetinghouse for setting me up with some samples! I truly appreciate it. It’s easy to get behind a product that’s all natural and that tastes as good as these do!