Dan made soup.

Last night as I laid under the covers flipping through a magazine before bed I stumbled across a recipe that excited me enough that it was all I could think about today (well almost....obviously I was thinking about other goofy things as well...but that's another story for another time). Sitting at my desk this afternoon my mind was made-up that I was going to come straight home to attempt to make what hopefully become the first of many batches of roasted red pepper & tomato soup. From scratch....even the roasting.

And while by no means is this is a food blog, I ended up impressed enough with my end results that I figured that it was worth sharing the recipe. It's not often that I stumble across a new recipe that's as fool proof as this one...that said, make sure you block off about 1-1/2 to 2 hours to make your own batch...it takes a bitta time to get everything just right! 

Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Soup

4 red peppers (I always buy the smaller bagged ones....if they're larger, use 3)

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (buy the good stuff!)

1 cup diced sweet onion

3 cloves of garlic (or if you're like me and don't wanna go overboard with garlic-y fun, use 1/2 tsp of ready minced garlic)

1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary (chop it fairly fine)

1 28 oz can of whole or diced stewing tomatoes (grab the basic ones without added spices)

1 cup of water

1 pinch of sea salt

1 tsp of granulated sugar

So, first off, you'll want to preheat your oven to 375F. Wash your peppers, cut the tops off, discarding the seeds and inner membranes. Grab a baking sheet (or a cake pan), line with parchment paper, placing peppers cut side down. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until blistered looking.

Once your peppers are ready, you'll want to place them in a bowl (I used tongs to do this); cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap....this lets the peppers steam and loosens the skins. Leave for 20 minutes.

While your peppers are steaming, grab a large pot and heat your olive oil over medium heat. Toss in your garlic, onion and rosemary. Saute for ten minutes (ps. your place will smell amazing!), or until everything is softened. 

At this time, you'll want to peel your peppers....which can get messy....and then add to the pot, followed by your can of tomatoes, water, salt and sugar. Cover and cook on medium heat for 20-25 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Once your soup has finished cooking, you're going to want to grab your blender  (or in my case lug out your blender....I swear, I own the first blender ever made...so heavy) at which point you'll want to puree small batches (I did about a quarter of my soup per batch). 

Pour your pureed soup into bowls and serve with a drizzling of olive oil, crumpled cheese and fresh rosemary sprigs (the oil drizzle really sets it off).

Even though it took awhile, this is hands down one of the easiest recipes that I've tried as of late. In the end I think I may have ended up with about 4 decent sized servings of soup. I'm thinking the next time I make it I'll definitely double the batch.

If you're in a hurry and are starving...grab some canned soup, if you've got some time to play around (and have a chocolate bar in the freezer that you can nibble on like me....), then this recipe is so worth trying!

So after making this recipe as well as the pumpkin soup that I made last Thanksgiving, I now know that I've basically figured out pureed soups....I'm thinking it's time to crack out the slow cooker and see what sorta stew I can dream up....mmm.....stew! Something meaty, flavorful and filling (get your minds out of the gutter)!

Stew tuned! Haha.

D-


***Recipe based on the roasted red pepper & tomato soup recipe featured in the February 2012 Style at Home magazine

Muffin man.

What better way to wrap up a busy weekend and by spending the evening making muffins? Sure Lady Gaga sings about them (indirectly that is...) but could she make my amazing carrot pineapple muffins? Probably not. Well, okay, she probably could, but they'd be missing the touch of 'Dan' that makes them that much more amazing.

Pretty tasty looking huh? This time of year I'm all about comfort foods...and these bad boys certainly fit right into that category!

So how'd I make them? 

Why I'm glad you asked!

Dan's Carrot Muffins

All purpose flour - 2 cups

Packed brown sugar - 3/4 cup (I cut down to 2/3 cup)

Baking powder - 1 tsp.

Baking soda - 1 tsp.

Salt - 1/2 tsp.

Cinnamon - 2 tsp. (if you're not a huge cinnamon lover like me, but down to 1 tsp.)

Large eggs - 2

Cooking oil - 1/2 cup (I use sunflower oil)

Grated carrot - 1-1/2 cup

Crushed pineapple & juice - 1 cup

What you'll want to do is mix preheat your oven to 400F (200C) and then combine the first seven ingredients in a large bowl. Mix together, creating a well in the centre.

In a second mixing bowl, toss in your eggs and beat until frothy. From there, mix in oil, carrots, pineapple and juice. Pour into the well that you made earlier. Stir only to moisten....you should end up with something like this - 

This recipe makes a very lumpy batter....so don't be scared and over-beat. Next, either grease your muffin tins, or line with papers and fill tins 3/4 of the way full. Kind of like this -

Place in your heated oven and make for roughly 20 to 25 minutes. Remove and let sit for five minutes. 

Next up, dig in!

Wanna make these guys even healthier? Replace your 2 cups of flour with 1-1/2 cups of flour and 3/4 cup of natural bran.

Uber tasty and no bluffin' with any muffins required....

What comfort foods do you gravitate towards this time of year?

D-

Dan does Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends! I hope that wherever you were you had your fill of turkey, pilgrims, buckles and pie! Well, okay, maybe no pilgrims or buckles, but plenty of stuffing, mashed potatoes and everything else!

This past Friday evening, Mister and I planned and executed our own little shin-dig and while it didn't turn out exactly as planned, but we still had a blast putting everything together!

Here's a sneak peek of what we did!

No too bad huh?! I decided to have a bit of fun with setting the table. I stopped at off at a dollar store & supermarket on Friday morning and found a couple of leafy garlands that I pulled apart. I then tossed in a couple of place mats that I picked up for a dollar each, threw in a bag of fall gourds and  it was feeling pretty festive!

Add in my fave yellow napkins, some swanky stemware, some candles and my silver napkin rings and we're starting to look even more festive!

Okay, so the table turned out looking pretty good, but what did we eat?!

In addition to the usual chicken, potatoes, etc, etc, I figured that I'd turn it up a couple of notches by finally making the pumpkin soup recipe that I stumbled across ages ago! There were a couple of glitches along the way that resulted in soup on the ceiling and a few burnt fingers but, other than that it turned out great! And guess, what?!? It was (with the exception of the burnt fingers and soup on the ceiling) relatively easy to make! 

 Relatively easy, but oh soooooo tasty!

Here's a quick rundown of the recipe that I used!

Dan's Uber Easy Pumpkin Soup -

1 tablespoon of butter

1 medium onion, chopped

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

2 cups of chicken stock (low sodium)

1 cup of applesauce (plain)

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 16 ounce can of pureed pumpkin, or 16 ounces of fresh cooked & mashed pumpkin

8 to 12 ounces of evaporated milk

First off, melt butter in a medium sized pot, chop onion and add to melted butter. Saute onion in butter for 5 to 7 minutes or until cooked, stirring occasionally. Next up, you'll want to add the brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and applesauce; stir and cook for four minutes. At this time, throw in (not literally) the pumpkin and chicken stock.

Stir. COVER. For the love of God COVER!!! Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer (definitely make sure that your heat is turned right down before taking lid off of pot to stir....this stuff bubbles!). Set your kitchen timer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. After this time, you'll want to uncover and pour in evaporated milk (I used a whole can)...if you want a thinner soup, use less milk, if you want a thicker soup - toss in the whole can.

Plate (or rather bowl...) and dig in! I served with wholewheat croutons, just to add a bit of crunch!

Doesn't sound too bad huh?!

And for dessert?

Well. That's another story.

One that includes me dropping A) my pumpkin spiced cupcakes on the floor and B) knocking the pumpkin spiced cream-cheese frosting off the counter while cleaning the pumpkin soup off of the ceiling...

It's a good thing Mister brought cookies! :)

Regardless of where you are or what you did, I hope that you had an awesome weekend!

D-

Around the house.

At some point I plan on giving you guys a snazzy photo tour of my humble abode - complete with before and after pictures.  However, that takes time and requires me to dust and vacuum each and every crevice of my place...which I really don't feel like doing right now (it's the weekend...can you blame a guy for wanting to be lazy?).

That said, I figured that I'd give you a sneak peek of sorts in showing you one of the favourite things in my place - the inside of my dinner and glassware cabinet.

You're probably thinking "he's nuts...on to the next blog."  But no, wait!  I promise you I'm not nuts....perhaps a bit eccentric, but not nuts.  Take a second to think about it though - I love entertaining, whether it be group of people or just one special guy.  Also, food and drink are two of my favourite things, so why not enjoy them with some nifty pieces.  That and I've got a small fetish when it comes to glassware and shiny things.  The cabinet might be full, but I'm still on the lookout for new pieces and sets to add to the mix....maybe a set of Mexican blue glass tumblers?  Or something in crystal?  Some beer glasses?  Hmmm....

D-

Black wine glasses / shakers / martini glasses - Value Village (I know!)

White ware - Canadian Tire

Wine glasses - Liquidation World ('The Cellar' line....originally from Macy's)

Carafe - The Bay (Gluckstein Home....on clearance for $4.00!)

Shot glasses - The Bay (House & Home collection)

Italian coffee glasses / lowball glasses - Real Canadian Superstore 

Thrift Thursday

Mister and I decided to make the long weekend extra long by taking today off to just kickback and relax. Obviously, this included a bit of thrifting fun with a stop at my favourite thrifting hot stop.  Yup, that's right, Value Village.  Sometimes I score, sometimes I don't.  Sometimes I'll come away with a book or plate or random trinket that makes me smile but today I hit the jackpot!

First, up this snazzy shell vase in a pale blue-green tone.  Canadian made, and kind of cool looking, this guy will look nifty perched atop a pile of books or holding small-goods on my desk.

Next up, yet another bag of shells.  What can I say?  When it comes to bags of shells I'm a complete sucker.  I've got them scattered around my place....I love the way that a couple of vases filled with them look, or how a fishbowl filled with them can help bring a guy back to Mexico....le sigh.

Lastly, we've got the piece de resistance of my haul - an AMAZING enamel fondue set!  A couple weeks ago, a group of us were out for fondue and we kept coming back to how much we loved the restaurant's vivid enamel pots.  I've seen them on Etsy and in a couple of vintage shops but wasn't ready to fork out the big bucks to buy one.  I never dreamed of stumbling across an unused set - original stickers intact, for get this - $3.99!  I can't wait to put this bad boy to use!  Drool away friends!

Not a scratch to be seen; this set is mint!  Be jealous!

Can you believe it?!?  $3.99!  

The only question left to answer is - chocolate or cheese?

D-