Dinner is Ready

Hubby and I were invited to a dinner party last Saturday evening, wonderful friends, beautiful table, delicious food and wine on a blustery Fall evening, perfect. Scott was given a dinner party for a Christmas gift by Shawn and Jannette. They fussed, a lot. Sometimes it's fun to have a last minute dinner with friends and sometimes it is special to fuss. Especially when you're invited and someone has fussed a lot. Michael and Barb also joined us.
I asked Jannette for her soup course recipe and she emailed me last night. I made it for tonight's dinner. It is delicious, pretty in the bowl and perfect for a Fall evening. I've copied and pasted her recipe so that it appears here in its exact state with a small insert. Because you know how I can change things up, and really this recipe needed no changes.
So, if you canned tomatoes this Summer, enjoy.
Curry Tomato Soup5 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium to large onion, chopped
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1/2 tsp baking soda (do not omit the baking soda, as it counters the acidity of the tomatoes)
1 C milk (can be whole milk or lowfat), I'm a whole milk kind of girl :)
1/2 C heavy cream
salt and freshly ground pepper

Heat oil in large saute' pan or dutch oven. Saute' onion ever medium heat until tender - about 5 minutes. Add curry powder and cook until fragrant, less than 1 minute. Add tomatoes to pan, as well as the baking soda and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and continue to simmer, partially covered, about 5 minutes.

Stir in milk and cream (I temper my milk and cream mixture with the tomato mixture, it seems to work a little better).
R.E.S.P.E.C.T. the Blender
Jannette had a small incident during her party prep and makes reference to the very incident in the recipe. I wish you could see her and Shawn's reenactment of said incident. Oh, did I mention we had some good laughs on Saturday evening?-tami

Pour soup into a blender and puree' until creamy and smooth (don't forget to place the lid on the blender container :) it helps with kitchen clean-up ). Return to pan and reheat to a simmer, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Serve. You can add a swirl of sour cream to each bowl.

The soup was one of many courses on Saturday evening, tonight it stand alone with beer bread on the side.

Trash to Treasure

This morning on my way to work I made a special delivery.
You may remember the feather trees. I packaged them up with some matching feather covered eggs, a good luck note and a coffee card.
Then I delivered then to Vicky.
It takes courage to disagree with all the other commenters. I know Vicky has STYLE and that she would do something creative and groovy with the feather trees.
I brought them to her workplace. Vicky was thrilled and knew exactly where she would use them. The feather trees are in a better place.

Thanks Vicky! I just know you'll make me wish I had them back.

Trading Recipes

I planned to post this bread recipe this week, after several requests. Meanwhile, yesterday I visited Janice's blog and she had posted a stew recipe from me. Definitely random but ideal for readers because my stew on her blog and her bread on my blog are perfect together for a Fall dinner.

ARTISAN CRUSTY BREAD

1 5/8 c. warm water (just make it the same temp. as your wrist)
1 tsp yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
3 c. flour
In large bowl, stir together water, yeast and salt, then add flour. Stir until ingredients are mixed. Place lid on bowl and let rise 6-24 hours (it doesn't raise to be huge). One to two hours before baking, scrape dough out onto floured surface (it will be very sticky) and cover with flour and shape into ball. Let sit on counter 1-2 hours.

Place glass casserole dish with lid in oven and heat to 450 degrees. The key is in heating up the dish before you put the dough in it. When oven reaches temp, take the dish out and spray w/oil and drop dough into dish, you will hear it sizzle. Put lid on dish and bake 30 min. with lid on, then remove lid and bake another 15 min. The hotter the bread the crustier it is. It is best if you can wait at least 30 min.-1 hr. It is even better if you can have it done 1-2 hours before - then the crust isn't so hard. But still crusty.

The bread leftovers make delicious French Toast the next morning for game day breakfast.

A Bit Random

*I love Fall.

*I love the cozy feel of Fall. Last night I made bread to have with our dinner, turned on the furnace and...

Lit some candles. Cozy.

Every year when I take out my Fall decorations I see these feather trees, have no idea what to do with them and put them back in a closet. They were given to me at a tag sale. They look like Fall, but the feathers kinda creep me out. Please give me ideas, tell me they are really cool, tell me to donate them to the thrift store or tell me just how badly you want them for your home. I might give them to you or trash them or use your creative idea for a lovely Fall display.

I was given the best care package and letter for a military mom ever. I hope I can do this for a mom someday.

Treasury of Memories is closing. Old news. I went, saw the line and left. It needs to be more than 20 % off for me to wait in a line for hours. Today it is 40% off. Now they have my attention. The reason I'm not too panicked is that I have several projects in mind and in my house. Stockpiling may be a strong term but I usually do have supplies on hand in case creativity strikes. I think I will miss the TOM girls more than the actual store. They always made my projects look good.


Hubby is off this weekend. Plans are made. The bridge is open and driveway is now accessible. So, I am off to Costco and TOM and Target and the mall.

And when I get home there better be feather tree ideas in my comments!

It's a Win Win

When I go to the Fair I always visit the Farm Friends display. It is informative and usually they have beautiful photographs. I am on the look out for the freebie cookbooks too. If a friend is working the booth I ask for the cookbooks. Farmers promoting a product have good recipes. It's a well known fact that if the product looks good and tastes good we'll buy it. It's a win win.

This year I was given a copy of Fresh by Darigold. Loved the recipes and the photographs are beautiful. Darigold had some copies left and donated them to the museum gift shop for us to sell. I priced them at $4 for you, less than the retail of $4.95 + $2.95 s & h. It's a win win.

This weekend my favorite Farm Friend left me two* copies of the new issue of Fresh on my desk. So when I got to work I had a nice surprise. Again packed with recipes and beautiful photographs. This copy is $5 and available here. It's a win win.

I feel a bond with Darigold, I buy a lot of dairy products**. And my house came from Darigold. When Mr. B built the Stone House he built it from the stone and brick of the old Darigold building. As they tore down, he carried it home and built up. That was around 1925. Two weeks ago when I got to work and a copy of this black and white photo was on my desk I was thrilled. Mr. Zuidmeer dropped it off for me. He knew I'd like a copy. He knew the history and my history and put it together. It's a win win.

I am thankful for my town and all the connections. Living in a small farming community is a win win.

*Shelly, I have your copy ;).
**I kept buying milk at my usual pace after Sam left, yesterday I realized I had four gallons in the fridge. I guess we don't drink a gallon a day anymore. Butter consumption has not gone down...

Around Here

Around here the corn is being harvested. Cornfields make great neighbors.

Around here on Thursday we may drive on the driveway. Concrete is curing. Saturday I got groceries, drove up, put on the flashers, jumped out and put everything on the driveway. Hubby was home to help carry in. My house is messy cuz I kinda know that no one can stop by...

Around here the gardens are all looking like the last rose of Summer. I need to pull things out and trim back.

Around here Fall is in the air. It was pretty chilly this morning at 5:40 as I jogged down to my car to go to boot camp. I am starting to get some Fall things out in the house. And starting to think about some serious Fall cleaning. I baked a batch of Oatmeal cookies with craisins and white chocolate chips this morning. I was ready for the smell of cinnamon baking.

Around here my day is full of appointments, errands and appointment making. Max's football game is at 5:30 so I think I'll make supper to go and have a small tailgate party with Hubby in the bleachers.

Around here it is different without Sam. He called and is doing well. He needs to eat faster, he has lots of blisters from his boots, and is either hot or cold. Still focused and ready for the challenge. We miss him. A. Lot.