Recipe Book Vol. 4

If you've been following the page for awhile -- you're familiar with the recipe book blogs. If you're new here -- this is where I share the "recipes" for what I've been cooking up recently. I use that term loosely because I mostly operate on vibes in the kitchen, but I like to throw together an outline that you can add/take away from at your own discretion. And these ones from our first week back were definitely winners!

Homemade Basil Tomato Soup, Adult Grilled Cheese

The ultimate comfort food and my favorite lunch growing up. And I didn't need it fancy -- gimme a can of Campbell's and Kraft singles on Wonder bread and I'm happy as a clam. But as a 26 year-old man, I thought it was only right to try and elevate it -- and one of my taste-testers proclaimed it "the best grilled cheese she's ever had" (just because she's my girlfriend doesn't mean she's biased, right?)

Ingredients

The Soup:

• 8-12 Tomatoes -- I used the "off the vine" from Aldi, but I'm sure you can use any type. I used 10 + the rest below and it made enough for 3 people, and leftovers for 4 meals.

• 1 Onion -- lot of recipes use a Red onion, I used white

• 2 Bell Peppers -- I used a red and an orange, and if you like peppers you can use more for a stronger flavor

• 1 Jalapeno -- I used 2 and it was a mistake. "Far too spicy" some said (softies if you ask me)

• Garlic -- using a bulb of garlic or fresh cloves would be best, but I just loaded up on garlic powder and it was fine

• Basil -- as much or as little as you like. I opted for a lot because I love basil and used about 3/4 a cup.

• Parmesan -- I used about 1/2 a cup just to thicken it up a little

• Vegetable broth -- used 1 cup, can use more or less depending what consistency you're going for

• Heavy cream -- I wound up using about 3/4-1 cup because the jalapenos made it so spicy and we needed to neutralize it a little.

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 -- you'll roast all the veggies for 30-40 minutes

2. Quarter your Tomatoes -- slice em' into 4's and spread them out on your sheet/s

3. Slice your peppers, onion -- I went for about 2-inch squares of each and spread them around

4. Slice your jalapeno -- I cut off the stem and tip then quartered it leaving in the seeds/pith -- which gives it a lot more spice

5. Add your garlic -- if using cloves, just spread about 12-16 cloves around your pan and roast with the veggies. If using powder, just hit those veggies liberally

6. Season -- I hit the veggies with a good amount of salt, pepper, balsamic before roasting as well

7. Bake at 400

8. Blend and add basil -- I did this in batches because I had so much, but dump the roasted veggies into your blender, blend to your preferred consistency, and dump in a large pot. Blend the basil with the veggies to really incorporate -- can add more later if you want.

   1. ***ideally, you have a hand/emulsion blender and can do this in the pot and add your veggie broth/cream first -- but I do not, so I just blended all my veggies first and added the broth/cream after in the pot***

9. Add your broth and cream -- 1 cup of broth, 1/2 a cup of cream is what I started with, but taste as you go and add more if needed. More broth -- thinner, more cream -- milder taste/creamier

10. Heat -- on medium-low until you're ready to serve!

Ingredients

The Adult Grilled Cheese:

• Sourdough Bread -- a necessity, the best bread for a grilled cheese

• Cheese -- I got Havarti, Gouda, and Pepperjack slices -- and also had come shredded Colby Jack and Pimento spread in the fridge, and we made all types. All are great options.

• Granny Smith Apples -- I thought it was weird too, but believe me it hits. Can also use Pears.

• Prosciutto -- our meat of choice, can use Turkey or whatever you like though.

• Butter -- for the bread, or can add it to the pan if you prefer

Steps:

Obviously making a grilled cheese is simple, but I'll give my assembly-steps:

1. Butter your bread

2. Heat a pan on medium-low

3. Add half your cheese to bottom bread

4. Thinly-slice your apple -- I used an apple cutter and sliced each piece even thinner, about 4-6 per slice of apple

5. Add the Prosciutto

6. Add the rest of your cheese on top bread

7. Grill to golden brown -- you can use a pan cover to help melt the cheese as well

8. Enjoy!

Tilapia Tacos and Oven-Baked Tortilla Chips

Was cooking for 4 and thought what's easier than tacos when feeding a group? And these were very easy -- even with me trying to level them up a bit and trying my hand at making homemade tortilla chips for our salsa and queso appetizer.

Ingredients

• Tilapia -- frozen bag from Costco, thaw before cooking of course

• Tortillas -- we're firmly team flour tortillas, and they worked great for the oven-baked chips too. I think corn tortillas would be better for chips if you're going to fry them -- but for the tacos, we go with the small flour ones.

• Bell Peppers -- I used a green and a yellow, I think green are best for these

• 2 onions -- white onions because we had them

• Cheese of choice -- some people don't like cheese on fish tacos, so skip if you don't. I used some shredded Mexican cheese because we griddle them off and the cheese helps the tortillas stick together better

• Pico de Gallo -- or salsa/sauce of choice. I used a little sriracha mayo as well and HIGHLY recommended.

We also did a side of Spanish-style rice with these -- plus the homemade Tortillas chips. We just used the microwave bag from Aldi and I think it's very good -- especially with a drizzle of queso.

Steps - Tacos:

1. Slice your veggies -- thin slices of peppers and onions

   1. ***for extra credit, marinate your veggies for an hour before you cook them. Put em' all in a ziploc with olive oil, taco seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic powder -- then dump in the pan with oil when you're ready***

2. Cook your veggies -- in a pan, medium heat to get some color on them first for about 10 minutes, then down to low for another 10-15 minutes until well-sauteed. I seasoned with salt, pepper, taco seasoning, garlic powder -- good amount of oil in pan.

3. Cook your Tilapia -- if you have an Air-fryer, I highly recommend that method. Needs to hit 145 internal, I cooked them for 10 minutes at 400 and flipped halfway through and they were perfect. Can also pan-sear or bake in the oven

4. Heat your tortillas -- I just tossed in the microwave for 20 seconds to loosen them up for assembly.

5. Assemble your tacos -- chop up the tilapia and put a scoop or two on the tortilla. Then a scoop of veggies, then a spoonful of salsa/pico/sauce, then some shredded cheese on top

6. Fold, crisp up the tacos -- fold in half and press them down well. heat some oil on a griddle/pan on medium-low heat, press down a taco on one side and make sure it holds, heat for a few minutes and flip.

7. Repeat the process -- for as many tacos as you're making

8. Serve with your side -- enjoy!

These would also be good with a slaw if you'd rather have that than sauteed veggies/salsa/etc -- but I'd add that slaw after crisping up the tortilla shells so the slaw stays cool/crisp.

Steps - Tortilla Chips

1. Preheat oven to 375 -- I started at 350 and they were taking a long time, just make sure you're watching them as they cook. Amount of chips/size of the pan/space between are big factors.

2. Slice your tortillas into chips -- the size tortillas we had, I cut each one into 1/8's -- essentially like slicing a pizza into triangles. I even used a pizza-cutter.

3. Put into a bowl and toss with oil -- go light on the oil to start, if they get too soggy they won't get as crispy in the oven

4. Spread on a pan, season -- don't want them piled up on your pan -- spread them out and bake in batches if needed. Once on the pan, spray them with oil, then sprinkle some flaky salt on them before baking

5. Bake -- I let them go for about 6-8 minutes, bird-dogging them the whole time until they started to get lightly browned. At higher temps, they'll cook quicker -- but are easier to burn.

6. Add a little more salt -- serve and enjoy with salsa, queso, guac, etc

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

And lastly, a meal I did NOT like growing up because it wasn't my beloved Tomato Soup -- and maybe because I saw chicken noodle soup as a "sick food." But my mom makes the BEST homemade noodles every year for Thanksgiving (my favorite Thanksgiving food) and she left us a bag in the freezer -- so I figured I could give Chicken Noodle soup another shot.

Ingredients

Amounts of each ingredient are dependent on how much you want to make -- I made a full pot basically, and it's enough that we'll have leftovers for a week. So if you want a smaller batch, cut the below in half.

• Chicken -- We used 2 breasts

• Chicken broth -- needed about 6 cups -- only had 4 on hand, so added 2 cups of veggie broth from the tomato soup we made and added some chicken bouillon

• Carrots -- Used 4-5 and diced them small. Can also add celery, but I don't like celery so didn't include it

• Onion -- 1 full, white onion diced small

• Noodles -- we lucked out and my mom had homemade noodles for us, but use whatever you like in a noodle soup.

• Seasonings -- salt, pepper, paprika, poultry seasoning, bouillon, garlic powder, bay leaves, and onion powder is what I went with. Just improv'd the seasonings -- can Google what goes into a typical chicken noodle

Steps

1. Cook your Chicken -- can do this concurrently with step 2, but we just boiled the chicken till it hit 165 internal temp, then shredded it with a hand mixer (or use two forks), then seasoned the hell out of it.

   1. ***Can also just buy a rotisserie chicken to save you some time***

2. Cook your Noodles -- boil your noodles per the box instructions

3. Chop your veggies -- we have a chopper which helps huge, highly recommend. But I like to dice them small, some people like the round-bigger pieces of carrot -- do what you like.

4. Set Noodles and Chicken aside when done

5. In a large pot, heat oil over medium-low heat -- dump in your veggies and cook them down for a few minutes

6. Add your broth -- I just dumped all 4 cups of Chicken broth + 2 cups of Veggie broth and added some seasonings to taste for the broth

7. Add your Chicken and Noodles -- lower heat to Low, add in all your hearty ingredients, and let simmer on low for a few minutes and incorporate everything

8. Serve -- with another adult grilled cheese or some garlic bread -- enjoy!

If you liked this blog and haven't checked out my previous recipe book volumes -- I've linked all 3 below!

Screenshot the steps/ingredients of any recipe that looks good to you (or bookmark the link to this blog in your browser) and let me know if you give any a try!