2 heaping teaspoons pure cocoa
1/2 cup boiling water
3/4 cup hot milk
1 teaspoons honey
Mix the cocoa and water together till smooth
Add the hot milk and honey
I like this heated in the microwave to make it pipping hot.
Add whipped cream or marshmallows
This is a take off of my Roasted Tomato soup and a soup my friends had at Tavern on Main in Wakefield, R.I.
3 containers of grape tomatoes
6 ripe plum tomatoes cut into quarter size pieces
8 cloves of garlic
2 large sliced onions
6 to 8 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 teaspoon sugar
Mix everything together and oven roast at 425 degrees until the tomatoes start to pop and the onions are soft.
Everything should get a nice light caramel glaze.
This takes at least twenty minutes but sometimes mine takes a lot longer because of the moisture in the tomatoes.
Take out of the oven and let cool.
Try not to eat everything now. This is too good.
Put everything into a food processor and pulse till smooth.
Strain into a soup pot and you have this beautiful creamy tomato liquid.
Turn the heat to medium low
Add 8 ounces grated mozzarella cheese
3 slices American cheese
2 slices Provolone cheese
One cup of 1/2 and 1/2 milk
Twenty basil leaves. My basil was very small so add ten big leaves but you do need more for garnish.
Adjust your salt now
Heat the soup just until the cheese is melted.
Place in a bowl with some fresh basil and fresh oregano on top
Serve with hot crusty bread maybe a meatball or sausage on the side.
Tavern on Mains soup had a smokey flavor. I’m sure you can get that same flavor by using a smoked cheese.
Melted gruyere is fabulous but very expensive.
My kids said this tasted just like the top of a pizza hence the name was born.
Meatballs:
One pound of ground turkey
One egg
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Mix everything together.
Make into one inch meatballs.
Place in a greased pan lined with stick free foil
Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees with the chopped carrots
Broth:
6 cups water
6 big chicken thighs with the skin and bones
1 teaspoon salt
Bring everything to a boil
Cover and simmer for about an hour.
The chicken should fall off the bone.
Take the chicken out of the pan and strain the broth into a clean pan.
Refrigerate until the fat from the broth has solidified.
Scrape off the fat and discard.
Take all the meat off the bones and try not to eat it all.
Put the meat into the broth.
Add the carrots and meatballs and cook on medium high heat.
Cook frozen gnocchi in their own pan according to the package directions.
Drain and add to the simmering broth.
Taste your broth because you may need more salt.
Serve plain or with grated Parmesan cheese.
This is also delicious with rice, noodles, spinach or broccoli.
This is such an Italian biscuit in my house.
Every neighbor has a slightly different recipe.
This is my Moms recipe and I love it but I did change the wine.
One cup oil
One cup of a sweet red wine. My Mom would use whatever red wine she had on hand but I like the taste of the sweet red wine.
One cup of sugar
3 heaping tablespoons of baking powder
One teaspoon salt
4 cups all purpose flour
Mix everything together and kneed till the dough is soft.
Roll into long ropes on a floured surface.
I make my biscuits into hearts but you can make circles or sticks.
One egg beaten very well.
Place on a silpac and brush with the beaten egg just to give the biscuits a nice glaze.
Place in a preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes then keep cooking in the oven till they are golden brown. This usually takes maybe a couple of minutes more.
Always look on the bottom of the biscuit to see if it is a good color.
Cool and place in a airtight container.
Serve with your best pot of tea or coffee.
Two clean slim washed eggplants cut into bite size cubes
One sliced onion
3 cloves chopped garlic
3 tablespoons oil
One lemon at least 1/3 of a cup of juice
One chopped fresh red pepper
1/2 cup fresh basil
1/2 cup fresh mint
3 teaspoons fresh oregano
One tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
Heat the oil and cook the onion, garlic and eggplant till it is almost soft about ten minutes. Stir fry often.
Add the red pepper, herbs, honey, salt and pepper.
Cook until the herbs are fragrant about another five minutes
Add the lemon juice
Let it come to room temperature.
Add 1/2 cup olives and 1/2 cup French feta cheese.
Toss together.
Serve over arugula dressed with lemon and olive oil.
Drizzle with just a touch of good olive oil and another squeeze of lemon.
Serve as a salad, side dish or a sandwich in pita bread.
I never heard of pesto humus either.
I was in Stop and Shop just wandering around getting a couple of things and I found this.
Should I get it , shouldn’t I get it?
Well I did.
When I got home I tasted it and loved it.
Now what do I do with it?
Pizza was my first choice.
Roll out 8 ounces of pizza dough nice and thin.
Place it on a Crisco greased pan
Spread half a container of the pesto humus on the dough.
Put 8 chopped sun-dried tomatoes on the humus.
Place 1/2 chopped red onion as your next layer
Fry one small package of mushrooms in two tablespoons oil.
Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt and red pepper.
Top with three or four big handfuls of shredded mozzarella cheese.
Bake in a 475 degree oven for 10 minutes or until the bottom crust is crisp and brown.
This was really easy and delicious.
Next time I may add artichokes, olives and feta cheese.
I found another recipe for my grandchild who is allergic to dairy.
I’m so happy because he loves chocolate.
3 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt. Only use kosher salt or else it will be too salty.
2 egg whites
One whole egg
8 ounces of dairy free chocolate morsels
Sift the sugar, cocoa and salt together.
Set aside.
Beat the egg whites until they are whiter but not stiff.
Add the whole egg and mix into the whites
Add the dry ingredients and mix well.
It forms a pretty, silky chocolate batter.
Add the chips and fold them into the batter.
Drop one full tablespoon on a baking pan coated with parchment paper or a Silpak.
Place the cookies at least two inches apart.
Bake at 350 degrees for 14 minutes.
I did not grease the baking pan but when I made my second batch I did spray the silpak just a little.
These cookies only have the fat from the dairy free chips so they do stick a little.
Wait till they are cool before removing them from the pan.
The cookie is chewy and delicious.
