Vitamix Tomato Basil Soup

by 👩‍🍳 Cooking With a Southern Vibe in Music City USA 👩‍🍳, February 25, 2015

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This was absolutely delicious.  Okay, so my picture isn’t perfect, the patty-melt is in the front, the soup has been slurped up a bit.  But this is real life, not a photo shoot. :)

This was so simple, and it turned out perfect.  If you don’t have a Vitamix, I’m sure you could achieve same results in a regular blender and then heat on the stove.

2 cans of diced tomatoes (original recipe called for italian style with oregano, basil and garlic)  I didn’t have those, all I had was a can of stewed tomatoes and a can of diced tomatoes, so that’s what I used, and added a bit of basil leaves and garlic powder.

1 8 oz. block of cream cheese 

A dash of sweetener (I used 3 drops of EZ-Sweetz) or sugar, about 1-2 teaspoons to cut the acidity.

I put all of this in the Vitamix and set it to soup, in 6 minutes, I had hot wonderful tomato soup.  It keeps well, leftovers are great!

Since I used the Vitamix I didn’t soften the cream cheese to room temp, I just put it in cold, but if you’re blending in a regular blender I would soften cream cheese first...

I think I’ll try this same recipe with broccoli or cauliflower and add some cheddar cheese along with the cream cheese.  Who would have thought soup could be so easy...

 

 

Skillet Blackberry Cobbler

by 👩‍🍳 Cooking With a Southern Vibe in Music City USA 👩‍🍳, February 25, 2015

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A must make in this blackberry loving household!

I make skillet apple and peach pie, I posted the recipe last year.   This morning, my friend, Angi, sent me this recipe from Facebook for Skillet Blackberry Pie.  I would gladly give credit, but I don’t know where this originated.  Here’s the recipe, oh my, my family is going to love this!

Skillet Blackberry Cobbler

Don't make this in anything but a big black skillet~it won't turn out the same!

Ingredients
1 box of 2 refrigerated pie crusts (I prefer Pillsbury)
2 (14-16 oz) bags frozen blackberries, unthawed
1 stick butter, melted
1⅓ cups sugar (for berries)
½ cup flour
¾ cup sugar (for crust)
½ stick butter, cut into small cubes
½ cup water

Instructions
1.Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2.Unroll one pie crust and place in bottom and up sides of 12 " cast iron skillet.
3.Pierce bottom and sides of crust with a fork.
4.Bake 7 minutes; remove from oven.
5.Increase oven temp to 400 degrees.
6.In a large bowl, mix melted butter, 1⅓ cups sugar, and flour.
7.Put berries in bowl with butter/sugar/flour mixture; toss until berries are covered and mixture is crumbly.
8.Gently pour berries into skillet; sprinkle water over berries.
9.Unroll second pie crust over top of berries, sealing at the edges of the skillet.
10.Scatter the small pieces of butter on top of the crust.
11.Sprinkle ¾ cups sugar on top of crust.
12.Cut tiny slits in top of pie crust.
13.Bake approximately 45 minutes or until bubbly at edges and beginning to brown on top.
14.(I highly recommend a pie shield to keep edges of crust from burning.)

The Galloping Gourmet Spurtle

by 👩‍🍳 Cooking With a Southern Vibe in Music City USA 👩‍🍳, February 13, 2015

 

 

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Does anybody remember this blast from the past?  I’ve always been a foodie and back in the early 1970’s, Graham Kerr’s tv show “The Galloping Gourmet” started the trend, he was the first cooking show I ever watched.

He was this goofy English guy who cooked food that I would never make, but he did have great wooden kitchen spoons that he called “Spurtles.”  They even gave them away in cereal boxes, but I bought a set of them from an address he posted on his show. They’ve always been my favorite kitchen tools and they’re still going strong all these years later.

Pictured above is my collection, and yes I use that Bakelite Grease Jar.  I low carb, I always have bacon grease.  I’m going back to my roots, people, my mother always had a jar of bacon grease next to her stove, I bet yours did, too.

But back to the Spurtle.  I’ve picked up additional sets and individual pieces when they’ve been available on eBay through the years and now have quite a collection.  Some of them have holes in them, some are shorter, some are angled,one is a spatula,  but the traditional Spurtle is the one I use over and over again.  It’s the long one with a curved bottom and straight side.   They all have the GG Emblem burnt into the handles and they’re my treasures, I’ve used them daily since the 70’s.

If you do nothing else today, click and watch this video below, and if it doesn’t make you laugh until tears roll down your cheeks, something is seriously wrong with you.

Oh, The Galloping Gourmet, he was one of a kind, there were no retakes on this old television show, what you see is what you get.  Funniest thing I’ve seen in ages.

 And finally, if all this talk of spurtles is making you think you have missed out all of these years, you can still get one.  Not the original, but this guy on Etsy has copied the design and is selling them for $20.  

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Here’s the click, I would so invest $20 in one of these if didn’t have my original collection.  What’s so good about them other than nostalgia?  They are just designed so well, they have a curved bottom that gets in the corners, a straight edge that cleanly stirs sides of pots.  Oh, just buy the damn thing, trust me it’s a good thing.  ~ Jan

Trisha's Southern Kitchen, take a bow...

by 👩‍🍳 Cooking With a Southern Vibe in Music City USA 👩‍🍳, February 07, 2015

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I was making breakfast this morning, watching Trisha’s Southern Kitchen and her college age nephew and his friends were on the show.  She cooked for them and of course they were wolfing it down.

One of the guys said that in his family when someone makes something really good to eat, the rest of the family tells them to “take a bow.”  I like that, what a great family tradition and it shows appreciation.

However, even though LC was watching the show with me, he didn’t tell me to take a bow for his sausage, eggs and toast.  Hmmmm, so I’m thinking he’s either just taking breakfast for granted, or it wasn’t that good.  But I do think this is such a good idea, it’s those simple things, ladies.

Are you reading this LC? Hello!!!!!  

Men, Schmen!!!

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