Tomato Tortellini Soup

There is nothing like soup.

It is by nature eccentric:

No two are ever alike, unless of course,

you get your soup from a can.

Laurie Colwin, Author of "Home Cooking"

There's nothing wrong with soup from a can. I am definitely not a food snob, and prepared soups offer tons of convenience and versatility. This recipe actually uses a couple of cans of tomato soup to add flavor and body to the final finished product. I am not averse to using a can of cream of chicken soup or cream of celery soup in a casserole or some other recipe either.

But I do love making homemade soups in the wintertime. I have my old standbys. But I'm always on the lookout for something new, too, and I couldn't resist this one while scrolling through Facebook. See? Something good comes from Facebook. 

I did some recipe revision since I couldn't get all the ingredients locally. And I think it turned out well. But I've also included a link to the original recipe, which used a slow cooker. That would be a great option if you're going to be gone all day.

I was surprised the recipe didn't have added salt. However, the flavorful Italian sausage, the prepared tomato soup and the chicken broth offered just the right amount of salt without adding more. 

If you have leftovers - like we did - you will likely need to add a little milk as you reheat it. Pasta invariably absorbs liquid. If you try it, let me know what you think!

 

Tomato Tortellini Soup

Adapted from Plain Chicken blog

 

1 lb. Italian sausage

32 oz. chicken broth (or water plus bouillon)

28 oz. can petite diced tomatoes with sweet onions

2 cans tomato soup

1 tsp. dried chives

1 20-oz. package refrigerated cheese tortellini, uncooked

1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened

In a Dutch oven, brown Italian sausage; drain fat. Add chicken broth, tomatoes, tomato soup and dried chives. Cover and bring to boiling. Turn down heat to low. Add cheese tortellini and cook until done. Put heat on low and add cream cheese, stirring frequently to melt. Serve when cream cheese has melted and made a creamy broth.

The original recipe used a slow cooker. You can combine the broth, tomatoes and chives and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. When it's 15 to 30 minutes before you want to serve the meal, put the tortellini and cream cheese in the slow cooker with the broth and turn it up to high. 

Note: The original recipe used two 8-ounce containers of chives and onion cream cheese spread, softened. That's not an ingredient I can buy locally. I used only 1 regular 8-ounce cream cheese and added the dried chives. HERE is the link to the original recipe from the Plain Chicken blog.

 

Parmesan & Pesto Baked Tomatoes

We've had a bumper crop of tomatoes this year ... no thanks to me. However, our tomatoes are about to call it quits, but Eric's parents sent some Iowa-grown tomatoes home with us after Brooke's big birthday party. So I'm still savoring homegrown tomatoes before I have to give them up for the tasteless grocery store versions this winter.

We've eaten our share of BLTs and I've sliced them up into fresh salads. Just cut and salted, they've provided a taste of summer as a simple side dish. I've made panzanella several times. Cheese Dreams have taken me back to my childhood and my old Betty Crocker for Boys and Girls Cookbook.

But, when I saw the recipe for Parmesan Pesto Baked Tomatoes, I thought this would add more variety to our garden bounty.

It's a super easy recipe, which you can easily adapt for two or 10 (as long as you have enough tomatoes). I used prepared pesto on top of the homegrown tomatoes, then sprinkled with freshly-shredded Parmesan cheese.

I served it with Beef Enchilada Mac & Cheese, but it would be a tasty and colorful accompaniment to many main dishes. Enjoy!

Parmesan Pesto Baked Tomatoes

Adapted from Skinnytaste

4 medium tomatoes, halved
Salt & pepper, to taste
Basil pesto (purchased or homemade)
Freshly-shredded Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange the tomatoes on a baking tray. Lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top each with about 1 teaspoon pesto and a generous sprinkle of freshly-shredded Parmesan cheese. Roast the tomatoes until the Parmesan cheese is slightly browned and melted, about 18 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven and serve immediately.

Panzanella

Panzanella served with grilled chicken and grapes. Yum!

Mama Mia! That's about the extent of my Italian.

But Mama Mia! Panzanella is a yummy addition to a summer menu, especially for someone who loves tomatoes as much as I do.

Panzanella is a classic Italian salad made with stale bread and tomatoes. The purists don't want to add a bunch of extraneous ingredients. But what do they know? I looked at several different recipes and ended up adding some other vegetables for texture and color.

Unfortunately, my tomato crop has succumbed to drought and spider mites. But I take advantage of growers who still have homegrown tomatoes to sell. I hope you can find some, too, because this salad is too good to miss this summer. Weekends seem to be the time for farmers' markets - even in small Kansas towns. So find some tomatoes and enjoy!  

Panzanella

(Tomato and Bread Salad)

1/2 cup sweet onion, chopped
1/2 of a yellow pepper, chopped
1/2 of a red pepper, chopped
1 cup chopped zucchini (optional)
2 tbsp. butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
8 oz. day-old Italian bread, cut into 3/4-inch-thick slices
4 ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup fruity extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp. vinegar
2 tbsp. chopped fresh basil
1 tbsp. chopped fresh tarragon or 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/2 tsp. salt
7 to 8 grindings of black pepper

Cut bread into cubes. You can use Italian bread, multi-grain artisan bread, French bread or another favorite. Denser artisan breads work best with this recipe. Set aside. 

Combine olive oil, vinegar, basil, tarragon, salt and pepper. Mix and set aside. Coarsely chop the tomatoes and set aside.

Spray a nonstick saucepan with a cooking spray. Combine chopped onion, peppers and zucchini and put in skillet. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are crisp-tender. If they start to burn before they have reached that stage, add just a little water, then let it cook off. (You can add olive oil, but I prefer not to add more calories.) Take veggies out of the skillet and set aside.

In the same skillet used for your veggies, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add garlic and cook for 3 or 4 minutes until the garlic takes on a bit of color.  Add cubed bread. Toss in the butter-garlic mixture until the bread starts to toast. Keep tossing until the bread has developed good crispness, taking care not to burn it.

Put the toasted bread into a large mixing bowl. Add reserved vegetables and tomatoes. Toss with the olive oil mixture. Adjust seasoning as desired and serve immediately.

I don't have fresh herbs in my garden (or anything else that has survived to this point of the summer). I found basil in a tube, Garden Gourmet, in the refrigerated case of the grocery store. I liked using it because it keeps for awhile in the fridge. You could also use a bit of pesto instead of the fresh basil if you don't have it available. Or you can look for fresh herbs and tomatoes at your local farmers' market.

Farmers' Market Salad

 

Colorful and tasty: That's what's for dinner. With both zucchini and tomatoes available from our garden and beef stocked in the freezer, it was a perfect summertime meal. 

And, even if you don't have the fresh produce available out your back door, many towns now have farmers' markets available once or twice a week. Even our small town has one! 

I've enjoyed searching the Beef: It's What's for Dinner website, especially recipes from The Healthy Beef Cookbook. Dieters may not think about beef as part of a plan for smart eating. However, the Beef in an Optimal Lean Diet (BOLD) study, conducted by researchers at Pennsylvania State University, found consuming lean beef daily as part of a heart-healthy diet lowered LDL “bad” cholesterol by 10 percent, which was just as effective as the DASH diet. That's good news for Kansas cattle producers like us.

This research provides support that nutrient-rich lean beef can be an everyday part of a heart-healthy diet:

• On average, a 3-oz. serving of lean beef is about 150 calories.
• Beef is an excellent source of nutrients, including protein, zinc, vitamin B₁₂, vitamin B₆ and niacin.
• Many of the most popular beef cuts sold at retail are lean, including T-Bone, Tenderloin, Top Sirloin and more. 

This salad will definitely be on our dinner table again!

My dietitian daughter would tell me to remind you that this is not a full-sized dinner plate, though it may appear so. I've used a smaller plate for portion control.

Farmers' Market

Vegetable, Beef & Brown Rice Salad

Adapted from   

The Healthy Beef Cookbook 

published by John Wiley & Sons

Marinade time: 6 hours or overnight

Total recipe time: 50 minutes

Makes 4 servings

1 beef top round steak, cut 3/4 inch thick (about 1 pound)

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 cups asparagus pieces (2-inch pieces)

1 small yellow squash,diced

1 small zucchini, diced

3 cups hot cooked brown rice

1 cup diced, seeded tomatoes

1 cup canned garbanzo beans, rinsed, drained

1/4 cup fresh basil, thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon salt

Marinade:

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon honey

2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper 

Combine marinade ingredients in small bowl. Place beef steak and 1/4 cup marinade in food-safe plastic bag; turn steak to coat. Close bag securely and marinate in refrigerator 6 hours or as long as overnight. Reserve remaining marinade in refrigerator for dressing.

Remove steak from marinade; discard marinade. To grill, place steak on grid over medium, ash-covered coals or cook on medium heat on preheated gas grill. Grill, uncovered, 10 to 11 minutes until it is medium rare (145 degrees F) doneness, turning occasionally.

For salad: Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add asparagus and squash; cook and stir 7 to 8 minutes or until crisp-tender. Toss with rice, tomatoes, beans, basil, salt and reserved marinade in large bowl.

Carve steak into thin slices. Serve over rice salad. 

Notes: I used sirloin steak instead of top round. I also used dried thyme, since I didn't have fresh available. I used about 1/2 teaspoon, but you could add more to taste. The original recipe just called for a medium-sized yellow squash. However, since I had zucchini available, I used some of both.  The original recipe gave a broiler pan alternative for cooking:  Place steak on rack in broiler pan so surface of beef is 2 to 3 inches from heat. Broil 12 to 13 minutes for medium rare (145°F) doneness, turning once. Remove; keep warm. 

Nutrition information per serving: 514 calories; 15 g fat (3 g saturated fat; 8 g monounsaturated fat); 61 mg cholesterol; 593 mg sodium; 6 g carbohydrate; 7.3 g fiber; 36 g protein; 8.6 mg niacin; 1.1 mg vitamin B₆; 1.5 mcg vitamin B₁₂; 5.9 mg iron; 50.8 mcg selenium; 7 mg zinc.

This recipe is an excellent source of fiber, protein, niacin, vitamin B₆, vitamin B₁₂, iron, selenium and zinc.

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Spring on a Plate

Our first day of spring was kind of a dreary day, not that I'm complaining about the extra moisture we got. My dreary mood was probably more a function of a morning full of internet problems instead of the weather.

But our noontime meal was like spring on a plate. And, I must confess that I kind of needed spring on a plate about that time. Asparagus, spinach and spring seem to go hand-in-hand. I made Roasted Tomato and Asparagus Tortellini for our main dish, but smaller servings could certainly be a yummy Easter side dish.

It was colorful, tasty and fairly healthy. I served some fresh fruit on the side. But if you'd like a heartier accompaniment, toasted garlic cheese bread would mesh perfectly.

If you want to see step-by-step photos, check out Jamie Cooks It Up, the blog from which I adapted this recipe.

Enjoy!

Roasted Tomato and Asparagus Tortellini

2 pints grape tomatoes
1 pound fresh asparagus
5-6 cloves garlic
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 9-oz. package cheese tortellini
1 cup chopped spinach
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Cut about 1 inch of the bottoms off of each stalk of asparagus. Chop the rest of the asparagus into 2-inch pieces. Spread asparagus pieces and the tomatoes out evenly over a sheet cake pan. Peel and roughly chop 5 to 6 cloves of garlic. (Note: I used 1 tablespoon of jarred minced garlic instead of peeling and chopping fresh garlic, but you can add more to taste.) Add garlic to tomatoes and asparagus. Drizzle olive oil over the top. (The original recipe estimated using 2 to 3 tablespoons. I used less.)

Season with salt and pepper. Using two large spoons, toss the ingredients together, making sure all the veggies have a little oil on them. Roast vegetables at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until asparagus is fork tender.

When the veggies are about halfway done, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt it generously and add tortellini. Cook until done but not overcooked, usually boiling it about 5 minutes.

Drain the tortellini in a colander, and run warm water over it. Drain well and put in a large mixing bowl. Add chopped spinach. Take roasted veggies out of oven and pour into the mixing bowl, making sure to scrape any of the juices into the bowl, too.

Season with additional salt and cracked pepper, if desired. Squeeze fresh lemon juice over the bowl and add Parmesan cheese. Toss together and serve.

Note: The original recipe called for a 24-ounce package of tortellini. I used a 9-ounce package. We thought that provided a good amount to accompany the roasted vegetables. You can alter the amount to your own taste.

On a Silver Platter

This is our tomato crop for Summer 2011. Sad, isn't it?

Randy came into the house, presented it to me and said this tiny cherry tomato needed a silver platter. He has certainly watered and tended the tomato and cucumber plants with the care of a white-gloved butler brandishing a silver tray in service to a master.

Not that it's done much good. The heat is winning this battle. Pretty much all you can do is weakly say, "I surrender."

He picked our little tomato before it fully ripened. You don't want to lose the only "baby" you've gotten. The cucumber vines have fared a little better, and we've enjoyed them on salads. But they are succumbing to the heat these days, too.

Visions of Cheese Dreams have been dancing in my head. But I will have to find someone with homegrown tomatoes to do that favorite recipe justice.

Rotten Tomatoes

Green tomatoes picked before the hard freeze overnight November 5, 2010

My tomato plants have been much more prolific at the end of their life cycle than they were earlier in the summer.

Hmmm ... I wonder if there's a life lesson there anywhere?

Anyway, I felt like I got pelted with rotten tomatoes when when I got my first hate mail on my blog last month. It was a response to The Legacy of Agriculture, which I wrote back in July, so I was a little surprised to get reaction from that post in October, but there it was.

Besides implying I'm a mercenary, the writer also disparaged my tomato crop. (I've left punctuation, etc., as he/she wrote it):

In part, he/she wrote:

You should really take off the blindfold. Grow more gmos use more chemical fertilizers spray more poison onto the food supply. All in the name of "feeding the hungry". The poor are being poisoned as corporate wallets get fatter. The farmer is stuck in the middle. The decision is clear become a mercenary and kill for money, or stand up and say I won't spray those chemicals I won't use the chemical fertilizers or grow seeds developed in a lab. Of course saying no comes with the very real risk of losing everything. However isn't it better than wearing a blindfold and pretending everything is ok. I read a previous blogging of yours about the cheese dreams and how you were only able to grow two tomatoes and one had a hole in it. Perhaps you didn't spray enough round up!

That little love letter appeared the first day of vacation. I was innocently reading my email in a motel lobby in North Platte, Neb., and there it was. What a way to begin our journey!

The writer wished me well, which I appreciated, but that didn't do much to alleviate the very real, stomach-churning realization that I had HATE mail. Or at least dislike mail. Yikes!

But isn't that part of the reason I started blogging? Isn't this supposed to be a way for me to talk about what we do and why we do it that way?

So ... deep breath .. dislike mail is OK.

And I really do hope my anonymous reader will check back and get glimpses of life on a real Kansas farm. Maybe then, the writer will discover we are a real family who loves farming and tries to do the best for our family and the world.

And, much less importantly, he/she will discover that we were able to grow more tomatoes during the summer. In my defense, the Cheese Dream post was early in the summer and we were just starting to enjoy the fruits of our (uh, Randy's) efforts.

I got to enjoy Cheese Dreams all summer long. But I also tried a new treat since I had a basket full of green tomatoes. I'd never made Fried Green Tomatoes before, but as usual, Betty Crocker came to my rescue with a recipe.

They were good, though I still say you can't beat fresh, garden tomatoes, sprinkled with a little salt and pepper - even if you have to cut around a hole or two.

Easy Panfried Tomatoes

4 firm ripe or green medium tomatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/3 cup butter

Wash tomatoes. Cut into slices. Mix flour, salt and pepper. Dip tomato slices into flour mixture. Heat butter in 10-inch skillet until melted. Add tomato slices; cook, turning once, until golden brown. Serves 3 or 4.

Cheese Dreams

I have no illusions that I am truly a gardener. But I did get two tomatoes from the County Line vines. That's two more than I've gotten for several years, so I guess it's a small step of success.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed one tomato turning from green to red. But when I went to pick it, it was rotten on the bottom. What a disappointment!

These harvested tomatoes aren't without blemishes. One had to be turned away from the lens in a photograph so you don't see the hole caused by some munching creature.

But my early harvest was enough to recreate a childhood favorite: Cheese Dreams.

Do any of you remember Betty Crocker's Cookbook for Boys and Girls?


I used several recipes from the cookbook, but one of my favorite summer treats was Cheese Dreams. This is how it was pictured in the cookbook.

As an adult, I've modified the recipe a bit. But I still love the taste of homegrown tomatoes in an open-faced sandwich.

The original recipe was:

Cheese Dreams

3 English muffins
Soft butter
6 slices bacon
6 thick tomato slices
3 slices processed American cheese

Cut English muffins into halves. Spread cut sides with butter. Cut bacon into halves. Set oven control at broil or 550 degrees.

Place muffin halves and bacon slices on rack in broiler pan. Broil with tops of muffins 3 inches from heat until bacon is light brown, about 2 minutes. Remove muffins and turn bacon over. Broil bacon 1 minute longer.

Divide each slice of cheese into four thin strips.

Top each muffin with 1 thick tomato slice and 2 pieces bacon. Crisscross two thin slices of cheese on the top of each sandwich. Return muffins to broiler. Broil about 1 minute or until cheese is melted. Serve at once. Serves 6.

***

These days, I use a slice of Healthy Choice 7-grain bread. I lightly toast it in the toaster, and I skip the butter.

I then slice tomatoes and cover the surface of the bread. Sprinkle with salt. Shake on just a little bit of jarred, prepared, crumbled bacon (real bacon, not bacon bits, and only 25 calories per tablespoon) and sprinkle with a little shredded cheese. Then broil until the cheese is a little bubbly.

If you want to use bacon slices, I would use the microwave.

It's really a fairly light, nutritious supper. And, it's oh-so-good with garden fresh tomatoes (even a tomato with a hole in it!)

Enjoy!

Auntie Em I'm Not

I may have to turn in my Kansas farm wife title with this confession.

I know Auntie Em and every other Kansas farm wife worth her title is a great gardener.

I am ... not.

I am an indoor girl. Give me a recipe to make. Give me a book to read. Give me clothes to fold. Give me a computer and an internet connection. Heck, give me a computer without an internet connection. But don't make me garden.

Pretty much every year I can count on someone asking me, "How's your garden this year?"

I get that deer-in-the-headlights look. I know many Kansas farm wives who are champion gardeners. And this world-class perfectionist hates to admit she's bad at anything. (I'm bad at plenty of things: I just don't like to admit it.)

It's not as if I come from non-gardening stock. My grandparents on both sides of the family were wonderful gardeners. My mother has had a vegetable garden every summer of my life. (I fervently hope for a few surplus tomatoes to come my way from Pratt County.) My sisters both seem to have a green thumb.

But me? Obviously it missed my gene mix.

So I reluctantly share my shortcomings. I can see it in their eyes: "And she calls herself a farm wife?" they are thinking.

Yes, yes, I do. But, no, no, I am decidedly not a gardener.

I love fresh produce. I just don't like sweating and weeding and dirt and icky stuff like that.

I am happy to support my local farmers' market. Since I'm rarely in Hutchinson on Wednesdays or Saturdays, I have found a produce farmer on the west edge of Hutchinson. He is my go-to supplier for fresh tomatoes later in the summer.

But this spring, I got a tomato plant at the end of a Bible study. I do love garden tomatoes. And since I got one, I thought maybe I should try to plant a few more. It has been a few years since I made a similar halfhearted attempt at gardening, so maybe this was the year, I thought.

Randy was skeptical. After 29 years, he knows me pretty well. But, good husband that he is, he helped me lay down some black plastic and helped me plant some tomatoes and a couple of red pepper plants.

"I don't think you should tell people you planted them," he advised. "Let's wait and see how it goes."

One of the pepper plants died. But there are tomatoes on the vine. (They are Early Girl tomatoes for you true gardeners out there.) I know it's awhile before I can slice them, add a dash of salt and pepper and enjoy every last morsel. But the potential is there, right?

There are even a few pear-shaped tomatoes on another vine. I always loved the yellow, bite-sized tomatoes from my Grandma and Grandpa Neelly's garden.

I guess I was so enthused that I momentarily forgot I'm not a gardener. This weekend, I actually decided to chop some weeds in the yard. (It's a good thing we don't live in town. We would usually not meet neighborhood standards, I'm afraid.)

So before the feeling passed, I went in search of some garden gloves. Once upon a time, I had a pair of lightweight garden gloves. But could I find them this weekend when the desire struck to whack away at some weeds? No, I could not.

Since I am rarely in the mood to do anything remotely like chopping weeds, I did the job with naked hands. I contemplated using winter gloves. But then I considered the nearly 100-degree temperatures and decided that blisters would be better than fainting in the heat.

When we went to Hutchinson for a friend's birthday celebration on Sunday, I made a couple of purchases.

Randy laughed at me. That's right. He laughed.

I bought a hoe and some gloves. Aren't the gloves cute? I just love those colors together. And the label said they were "recommended for raking and digging."

I promise I'll take the tags off and use them ... sometime.