Cabbage Soup

My most favorite soup ever is Cabbage Soup from Big Boy. The Elias Brother's kind, not the Frisch's. Back in my previous life I was a waitress at Big Boy. Favorite part of my job, besides coming home with cash every night? Dinner. A slim jim with a cup of cabbage soup at a 50% discount. Ah, those were the days.

Anyway, a long time ago (even before my Big Boy days) I set out to duplicate the recipe. Over the years I've come pretty close but I've given up on perfecting it. Much like the coney dog, I can get a reasonable duplication at home, but the real thing is reserved as a special treat when we go home to visit.

Note: Like all of my other soups, this makes an enormous batch. Cut in half (or quarter) as you see fit.

Cabbage Soup

1 64 oz bottle of V8 vegetable juice
4 cups beef broth (I use water and bullion to make mine)
2 large cans of diced tomatoes
1 medium head of cabbage
2 12 oz bags of frozen sliced carrots (or fresh, if you prefer, I use whatever I have on hand)
2 lg green bell peppers
1 small onion, diced
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

Mix V8, tomatoes (with juice) and beef broth in a large stock pot. Add salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Chop green pepper into bite size pieces and roughly chop cabbage. Add cabbage, carrots, green pepper and onion to pot and cook until the vegetables are tender.

This time I had a little asparagus hanging around, so I threw that in as well. I'm usually a cabbage soup purist and don't like to add many other vegetables, but it occasionally I like to throw something extra in.

Potato Soup

I love making soups, especially in the fall. I can only think of one soup that I really don't care for, split pea, and my absolute favorite is cabbage. Tonight I played around with my standard potato soup recipe, and I think it turned out pretty well. The spice measurements are purely guesstimates here. Usually when I'm making something I end up adding things and I always forget to measure, so take it for what it's worth, and play around to suit your tastes.


1 medium onion, diced
1/4 cup butter, divided
5-6 large potatoes, cubed
3 cups chicken broth
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp dill (dried)
2 tsp pepper
1 tsp parsley
1tsp celery seed
1/3 cup flour
3 1/2 cups milk, divided

In large pot, sauté onion in 2 tbsp butter until soft. Add chicken broth, salt, dill, pepper, parsley and potatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover, simmering until potatoes are tender. Mix 1/2 cup milk and flour in small bowl and add to potatoes, stirring constantly until combined. Add remaining milk and heat through.

Greek night!!

One thing that I really miss from home (besides Slurpees and coney's, of course) is good Greek food. In Houston there is a Greek restaurant that always gets rave reviews. Gary and I tried it out one evening, and found it to be just ok and VERY expensive. I found a recipe for Greek style lemon chicken rice soup (one of my favorite Greek dishes) and thought I'd try it out. It was delicious!! Gary thought it was a bit too lemony, but I really liked it. I made an extremely large batch, as I do with most soups, so I can freeze it. The recipe here is enough for a small army, but can easily be cut in half (or even less).

Greek style Lemon Chicken Rice Soup

20 cups chicken broth (I used water and bullion to make my broth)
1 cup fresh lemon juice (about 6 lg lemons)
1/4 cup Greek seasoning (I used Pampered Chef, but any kind will do)
pepper
1 large onion, chopped
1 lg head celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 12 oz bags of frozen carrots, cooked until tender
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, melted
9 egg yolks
5 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded in large chunks*
2 cups cooked white rice


In a large stock pot bring broth, lemon juice, Greek seasoning and pepper (to taste) up to a slow boil. In a separate pan sauté onion, celery and garlic in 1 tbsp butter until tender and add to broth with carrots. Combine butter and flour and slowly add to broth, stirring constantly. In a separate bowl whisk egg yolks until thinned a bit. Add 2 ladles of hot broth to bowl and whisk well. Slowly incorporate egg mixture into soup, stirring constantly. Add shredded chicken and bring soup back up to a slow boil. To avoid mushy rice in the leftover soup, I cook the rice and add it to individual bowls.

* I cooked my (frozen) chicken in the crockpot with Greek seasoning, 1/2 cup water and 1/4 cup olive oil on high for about 5 hours. You can use any kind of shredded chicken. A rotisserie chicken from the grocery store would work just as well.

I served it with warmed pita bread and a fresh green salad.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

I had some ground beef and no ideas as to what to do with it. I've fallen into a bit of a food rut these days and my usual go-to meals didn't sound good. I thought I'd try to make stuffed bell peppers. After asking Facebook and a few friends I had a bunch of different recipes and not one that stood out to me. So I invented one myself, using all of the other recipes as inspiration. They turned out better than I expected and Gary even requested that they make it into our regular dinner rotation.

I used red bell peppers because they were the biggest peppers I could find and were the same price as green bell peppers. Green, yellow or orange would work just as well and change up the flavor a bit. You could also use a variety for color/presentation and to suit different tastes. I also made a large enough batch that I could freeze half of it for a quick meal. You could easily half this recipe if need be.

Stuffed (Red) Bell Peppers

6 large bell peppers, any color
1 medium green bell pepper
2 cloves garlic
1 medium onion
2 lbs ground beef (can sub turkey, pork or combo)
2 small cans of tomato sauce
1 large can of crushed tomatoes
1 cup white or brown rice, prepared
3 tbsp greek seasoning, divided
2 tsp Lawry's Seasoning Salt, divided
3 tbsp parsley, divided
salt and pepper


Bring a large pot of water to a slow rolling boil. Cut tops off of 6 peppers, leaving as much of the pepper as you can. Remove seeds and ribs and submerge peppers. Boil for 3-4 minutes until peppers are tender. Set aside and cool.

Chop onion and green pepper and sauté until tender in a large pan. Add garlic and ground beef, brown. Add tomato sauce, 2 tbsp greek seasoning, 1 tsp Lawry's seasoning salt, 2 tbsp parsley and salt and pepper and heat through. Mix in rice and set aside.

In large saucepan warm the crushed tomatoes, remaining greek seasoning, Lawry's, parsley, salt and pepper

In a medium casserole place peppers right side up. Spoon rice and beef mixture into peppers. Take remaining rice and beef mixture and combine with crushed tomatoes, pour over peppers. Bake at 350 until heated through.

Sausage Gravy

My family is from the south, and I'm a huge fan of some southern comfort foods. But there are some things that I refuse to let cross my lips. Okra? Gross. Fresh green beans? Eww. Chicken and dumplings? I can't even talk about it without gagging. But sausage gravy? Yes, please!!

I've spent a number of years perfecting my Mamaw's sausage gravy. She passed away when I was young, so I never really had the pleasure of learning to cook from her. But I remember very vividly some of the amazing things she used to make for her family. I've known the general concept of sausage gravy, but never knew exact measurements or prep secrets. But now I think I've perfected it, and I hope that my sausage gravy would make my Mamaw proud!

1 lb ground pork sausage
3 tbsp butter
1/4 cup flour
3 cups milk
salt
pepper
honey

Brown sausage in a large skillet. Remove sausage with a slotted spoon, leaving drippings in the pan. Melt butter in the pan with the sausage drippings, making sure to scrape the pan well. When butter is melted add flour, mixing well until smooth. Cook on medium heat until flour mixture is golden brown. Add 2 tsp ground black pepper (more or less to taste. I didn't measure, so 2 tsp is a guess, but I was pretty generous with the pepper) and a dash of salt to flour mixture. Slowly whisk in milk until gravy is smooth. Add a drizzle of honey (I circled the pan twice) and sausage crumbles. Simmer on medium-low heat until thickened. You can add a splash of milk if your gravy gets too thick.

Serve over warm buttermilk biscuits.

French Toast Casserole

I've made this recipe a few times before, and it's always been a hit. It's pretty rich, and not at all low calorie, so I don't make it often. But I thought it would be a nice change of pace for Father's Day. I adapted this from a Paula Deen recipe, so you know it's got to be good.

(again no photo. sorry!)

1 loaf French bread, sliced in 1 inch pieces
Butter
8 eggs
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Place sliced bread in generously buttered 9x13 casserole dish, making sure to overlap slices. In a large bowl mix eggs, cream, milk, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg until blended. Pour egg mixture over bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 350. Bake casserole, uncovered, for 45 minutes until golden brown. Serve with warm maple syrup.

No-bake Cheesecake

I love cheesecake. It's by far my favorite dessert and I can't recall coming across a flavor that I didn't like. Up until now my favorite homemade cheesecake was always the kind you make with sweetened condensed milk. This recipe was just as easy, but wasn't quite as sweet or lemony. Don't get me wrong, I still love the original recipe, but this one is a nice change of pace. Next time I make this one, I will add a splash of vanilla extract.

(I apologize for my lack of photos. I'm terrible about photographing my recipes!)

1 graham cracker pie crust
2- 8oz bricks of cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar*
3 tbsp lemon juice*
1/2 cup sour cream*
Strawberries, cherries or your favorite cheesecake topping (optional)

In a large mixing bowl beat cream cheese, sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Stir in sour cream and mix well. Pour into pie crust and refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving. Garnish with strawberries, cherries or your favorite cheesecake topping.

* I tasted the filling and added about 3 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp lemon juice because the sour cream was a little strong. You can also substitute 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped, in lieu of the sour cream for a sweeter flavor.

Weekly Menu: May 16-22

Sunday- Out to a friends house for dinner

Monday- BLT sandwiches, cold pasta salad, ambrosia

Tuesday- Oven fried chicken tenders, leftover salads

Wednesday- Breakfast for dinner, likely strawberry waffles and bacon

Thursday- Something with shrimp (looking for ideas!)

Friday- Pizza. Not sure about homemade or takeout yet.

Saturday- Out to dinner

Weekly menu: May 9-15

Sunday- steaks with sauteed mushrooms and onions, grilled corn on the cob, grilled potatoes with onions and green peppers (A Mothers Day feast prepared solely by Gary. It was fabulous!)

Monday- hot dogs and mac and cheese

Tuesday- chicken parmesan with spaghetti

Wednesday- hamburgers, oven fries, green beans

Thursday- french toast with strawberries, sausage links

Friday- steaks, oven roasted potatoes, brussels sprouts

Saturday- out to dinner

A weekly menu... why?

I try to plan my menus weekly. It helps keep me on budget, it saves me time all week not having to worry about what to make for dinner and overall lets me stress out about other things besides what we're going to eat. I almost always make enough for leftovers to either freeze and have as another meal, or to have for lunch the next day, so if it seems like I make a lot of food it's because I sometimes do. I can also get my grocery shopping done much faster, and with less wandering, if I plan my menu, make my list and get in and out of the store. I don't spend nearly the amount of money on snacks and junk as I did before.

For my menu inspiration I generally ask (or nag, whatever) Gary and Justin for what sounds good to them, I look at recipe websites, my cookbooks and family recipes, and my weekly Kroger ad. I also plan around what coupons I have. For a stretch I was obsessed with coupons. You'd really be surprised how much money you can save (and how many things you can get for free) when you clip coupons. Although I've let my coupon clipping fall to the wayside lately, when I can get myself organized and back on track I'll start up again. I really miss having a drawer full of Pillsbury rolls and biscuits at my disposal.

I've also learned along the way to buy meat when it's on sale. If chicken or roast is on sale, I'll grab an extra package. Same goes with meat that is marked down because it's getting close to the sell by date. As long as you can use or freeze it right away, it can save you a lot of money. Buying meat like this comes in handy on the weeks when the sales aren't so great. If I find a great recipe for a chicken dish and it's not on sale that week, I can just pull some out of my freezer stash.

Sometimes things happen. I do occasionally stray from my menu. That's where having a deep freezer comes in handy. I'll reuse my fresh ingredients in another dish, or move my menu back by a day and we're good to go. I did learn my lesson a few years ago. Gary and I hadn't lived in Texas that long and we were fond of shopping at Costco (this was also before kids and I realized that buying in bulk from Costco isn't always cheaper). We weren't really used to having so much space in general, much less an entire freezer full of room. So over time we built up quite the stockpile of frozen meat, veggies, and ready to heat meals. Then it happened. Our first hurricane. Ike came barreling through southeast Texas and although we escaped without damage to us our our house, we lost power. Let me tell you how sad I was when we realized that we were going to lose everything in our freezer. All total we lost somewhere around $500 worth of food. I learned my lesson though, and I don't keep our freezer nearly as stocked as I used to.

So anyway, those are the virtues of planning a weekly menu. My virtues, anyway. Hopefully someone else can benefit from my information. =)

Taco Soup

This recipe was given to me by my dear and lovely sister in law Kristen. How I have lived 30 some odd years without it, or even knowing about it, I do not know. It encompasses all of my favorite things: easy, few dishes, freezes and warms well, adaptable to different tastes and it's DELICIOUS. Think: tacos in a bowl. Feel free to make changes as you see fit. I've changed up the types of beans, the amount of taco seasoning, you can do ground chicken or turkey (or shredded even) instead of the ground beef etc. The adaptations to your tastes are endless.

Taco Soup

2 lbs ground beef, browned, drained and rinsed
1 can kidney beans, liquid included
1 can pinto beans, liquid included
1 can black beans, liquid included
2 cans corn, liquid included
2 packets of taco seasoning (I use a bit more, probably 2 1/4 packets)
2 packets of dry ranch dressing mix
1 large can of diced tomatoes (optional)

In large skillet brown, drain and rinse ground beef. (I always rinse my ground beef. It sounds gross, but really does get rid of quite a bit of the fat).

In a large stock pot add all canned ingredients, including the juices. (You can also rinse the beans and add water, but you lose some of the flavor) Mix in taco seasoning and ranch dressing mix. Add ground beef and heat through.

Serve with tortilla chips, sour cream, shredded cheese, guacamole or your favorite taco toppings.

Oven Roasted Dill Potatoes

This is one of our most favorite ways to prepare potatoes. It's relatively easy to prepare, easy to adjust quantity and it's easy to modify to your individual taste. We've also cooked these on the grill (prepared the same way) in a grill basket or on some foil if you don't have one. It's also important to note that I've never measured out the ingredients. I throw the potatoes in the bag and eyeball the spices.

6-8 lg potatoes. cut in half and then quarters to make small wedges
2 tbsp dried dill
1 tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In large freezer bag toss all ingredients together to coat potatoes well. Line a large baking sheet with foil and brush with oil or spray generously with cooking spray. Arrange potatoes in single layer on baking sheet. Bake 45-50 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

Here we go....

I need a place to keep track of my recipes. The ones we love, the ones we like, and even the ones that we agree to never speak of again. So out of that need, Tastes of Sommer is born!

Obviously this is a baby blog, and I'm still trying to figure out the best way for to sort, tag, post, rate and review. So bear with me as I work out the kinks and figure out how to do this. Any suggestions are gladly welcomed. I'd also like to know what you'd like to see on here, recipe requests and suggestions, etc.