Good news! I have sucessfully not gotten sick!  I am in tip top shape for my flight tomorrow.  Yes, we leave for England tomorrow.  I am excited and scared and nervous all rolled into one.

I mentioned in my last post how I have been cleaning out the fridge before we go.  This is a soup I made that took the ends of many vegetables and made a very hearty soup in my crock pot.

As you can see, it was quite hot when I snapped the photo. This soup made enough for the both of us to eat it twice, and to give a considerable amount of leftovers to two of my co-workers.

Here’s the very simple recipe:

2 14.5  ounce cans of tomatoes.  I prefer Red Pack tomatoes because I love the flavor. I try to get the ones with basil, but they aren’t that easy to find.
1 small can of tomato paste
2 vegetarian bullion cubes
3 crushed garlic cloves
Any and all vegetables you have lingering in the fridge. Here is what I used:
-radishes
-baby spinach
-red onions
-green onions
-sun dried tomatoes
-carrots
-red and orange bell peppers
-grape tomatoes

As for seasonings, I just threw in garlic powder, sea salt, pepper (fresh ground black and white), hot paprika, a splash of Frank’s hot sauce, and a squirt of hot pepper paste , oregano, and parsley, but no basil. Can you believe I forgot to add basil? So, you should also add basil, because basil is tasty.

I just dumped and stirred up all the ingredients in the good ole crock pot and let it cook on low heat for about six hours. It was good, but a little thick upon reheating, so when you do reheat it on the stove, add a little water.

I served this with croissants, but next time I would like to serve it with pumpernickel. Mmmm pumpernickel.

This is a good soup to warm you up as our North Country days get colder. If you make this, let me know what veggies you use. I would love to know your adaptations.

Have a great day and keep cooking! We will all get together and talk soon.

Oh and one more thing, I do an October Project every year. Basically, I take a photo every day of the month and I post it on flickr. If you are interested in following it, here is a link to the set and here is the feed .

It has been a very long time since I had time to post. But, I am hanging out today to tell you all about the grape tomato, basil, and mozzarella salad that I made a while back. It is pretty easy to make.

1 package grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes, halved

1 bunch of fresh basil, chopped

1 container of fresh mozzarella balls (I used the small ones), drained

Pepperoncini peppers, seeded and chopped (optional)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Sea salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste

First, wash your basil and tomatoes well. Veggie wash is what I use. Next, halve the tomatoes and cut up the basil. I find that using kitchen shears to be the easiest way to chop herbs. If you have some pepperoncini peppers lingering in the fridge, you can also seed them and chop them up to throw in the mix. Finally, add the mozzarella balls, giving everything a good stir.

I generously sprinkled the mix with sea salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Then I drizzled the oil and vinegar over everything. After stirring the salad well, I covered it with plastic wrap and let it marinate for at least two hours.

This was good on the first night, but it was even better the next day as all of the flavors melded together.

I hope you enjoy the salad and again, I am sorry it took me so long to post anything. I have been very busy as of late. But, I promise, the next time we meet I will be talking about Cajun blackened “chicken” that is made using Quorn.

Until then, have a great day and keep cooking!