Making: Green Tomato Soup

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 oz thinly sliced Black Forest ham, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced scallions (from 1 bunch)
1 tablespoon chopped garlic (2 cloves)
1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf
2 lb green unripe tomatoes, chopped
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preparation:

Garnish: sour cream (optional)
Preparation
Heat oil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then cook ham, stirring occasionally, until beginning to brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Add scallions, garlic, and bay leaf and cook, stirring occasionally, until scallions are tender and lightly browned, 6 to 8 minutes.

Add tomatoes, broth, water, salt, and pepper and simmer, partially covered, until tomatoes are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Discard bay leaf and season soup with salt and pepper.

Caramel Munch Mix

Caramel Munch Mix



15 cups popped popcorn
10 cups Rice Chex
2 cups Cheerios
2 cups chow mein noodles
2 cups mixed nuts (pecans, almonds, peanuts)
1 pound butter
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1 cup granulated white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

I stirred in chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and candy corns before serving this mix.



Directions:

Toss popcorn, cereals, noodles and nuts in a greased roasting pan. Bring butter, corn syrup and sugar to boil in large saucepan. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add soda and vanilla. Pour over dry ingredients and mix well.

Bake at 250 F for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread out on counter top to cool.

One Recipe of Caramel Munch Mix serves/makes 30 cups

Rock n Roll Day

Baking: Curious George 3rd Birthday Cake and Cookies

Baking : A Butterfly Birthday Cake

Baking: PinK Ribbon Cookies to support Breast Cancer Awareness

Apple Picking

Baking: Double Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Double Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2 eggs
2 cups Sugar
2 cups Flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
4 T cocoa
1 1/2 cups oil
1 tsp vanilla
3 heaping cups shredded zucchini
1 ( 6 ounce) package semi-sweet chocolate chips

For the Frosting:

3 ounces cream cheese softened
2 tsp vanilla
4 T. butter
2 cups powdered sugar

To Make the Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat the eggs and the sugar in a large mixing bowl until light. Sift together flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda and cocoa. Add to egg mixture alternately with oil. Stir in vanilla, zucchini, and chocolate chips. Pour into a greased 9x13x2 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

To Make the frosting: Beat cream cheese, vanilla, butter, and sugar until smooth. Frosting can be thinned with a little milk if necessary. Frost cooled cake in pan.

This is a super easy cake recipe and is very good. I like it best after it has been chilled in the refrigerator. The recipe comes from a sweet little cookbook that my friend Diane gave me called " How does your Garden Grow ?"