Minestrone Soup

 I found some fun noodles at the store the other day and decided to make a minestrone soup with them in an effort to get my kids to eat vegetables.  My kids were so distracted by seahorses and octopus they didn't complain!

Minestrone Soup

Ingredients:

4 cups vegetable or beef broth
1 cup minced onion
1/2 cup shredded zucchini
1/2 cup cut green beans
1/2 cup diced carrots
4 tsp. minced garlic
1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes
2 Tbsp. dried parsley
1 1/2 tsp. oregano
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1 cup noodle of your choice

       Put all the ingredients except the noodles in a large saucepan and cook simmer for 20 minutes.  Add the noodles and cook as long as the box says.  Enjoy!

Roasted Vegetables

Roasting vegetables is our new favorite way to eat vegetables.  It brings out their sweetness and its easy.

  I love the mixed bags you can get with cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots.  We love asparagus and I even enjoy roasted brussel sprouts now.

Wash the vegetables.

                                                    Cut them so they are all the same size.

Lay them out so they are in an even layer.  Less than this would be better.  They need to be able to breath.  Drizzle on a little bit of olive oil.  I used about 1/4 cup on this batch, but less is better than more otherwise they get soggy.  Sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper.

Roast most vegetables at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  Asparagus needs less, about 15 minutes.

I love when they are just a little bit burnt and crispy.

Salsa from my Garden

We had a rough gardening year.  The place I usually do my garden was unavailable so we did a garden with our friends who had never planted one before.  It went great until the deer at everything but the zucchini.  But the good news is a friend asked me to babysit her garden for a few weeks while she was gone!  Huzzah!  Produce!

So with my excess of tomatoes and peppers I decided to make salsa.  I love fresh salsa!  I usually make a salsa from The Pioneer Woman Cookbook.  Its amazing, but she uses canned tomatoes.

Fresh Garden Salsa

Ingredients:

6 ish tomatoes or one 28 oz. can of whole tomatoes

3 peppers or 2 10 ounce cans Rotel Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies

1/2 onion

1 jalapeno

1 Tbsp. minced garlic

1/2 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. Kosher salt

1/4 tsp. cumin

juice of one lime

1/2 cup cilantro

First prep your veggies.  Core the tomatoes and scoop out the seeds.  Some are fine.  

Cut the peppers and jalapeno in 1/2 and remove seeds and the fleshy stuff inside.  

I doubled this recipe so not all of the ingredients fit in my blender at one time so I blended the tomatoes first and then the rest of the ingredients.

And ended up with wonderful fresh salsa which is our favorite condiment other than Ranch, but that is just my kids.

Cheesy Vegetable Soup

This is my favorite soup ever.  My four-year-old even loves it.

Cheesy Vegetable Soup

1 ½ Quarts water (enough to cover veggies)

4 chicken bullion cubes

5 stalks celery- diced (1 ½ c.)

5 carrots- sliced (1 ½ c.)

4 potatoes- cubed

1 onion- diced

          Cook for 15 minutes.  Then add:

1 10 oz. Broccoli

          Cook for 10-15 minutes more.  Then add:

2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup

1 lb. Velveeta Cheese- cubed

          Heat.  Melt Velveeta in soup.  Then serve.