Tomato Basil Soup

A friend of mine sent me this recipe and I decided to make it tonight.  I made a few changes, but it still turned out great.  I served it with some spruced up Grilled Cheese sandwiches and it made a fabulous dinner on a cool, drizzly night.  Plus, it made quite a bit, so I have soup for lunch for a few days!

Tomato Basil Soup
4 cups fresh tomatoes, cored, peeled, and chopped (8-10) or canned whole tomatoes, crushed
4 cups tomato juice (or part vegetable or part chicken stock)
12-14 basil leaves, washed fresh
1 cup heavy cream
1stick sweet unsalted butter
salt
1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
1. Combine tomatoes, juice/and or stock in saucepan.
2. Puree, along with the basil leaves, in small batches, in blender, food processor (or better yet, one of those handy hand-held food blenders, right in the cooking pan).
3.Return to saucepan and add cream and butter, while stirring, over low heat. Garnish with basil leaves and serve with your favorite bread.

***I used 2 large cans of canned whole tomatoes and pureed both the juice and tomatoes together, and just didnt add any extra tomato juice or stock.  I initially strained the tomatoes and by eyeballing it, it appeared to be approximately 4 cups, so I decided to not open an additional can of juice.  It worked out great!

***I also pureed the tomatoes and basil together at the very beginning, then let it simmer with the salt and pepper and tomato juice for about 15 minutes.  Then I added the butter and cream and let it simmer for about 5 more minutes.  Turned out great!

Pot Roast Pie

I watch Wheel of Fortune just about every night.  Yes, I know that makes me a complete dork, and I am OK with that.  :-)  On the show, one of the types of puzzles they have is Same Name.  I think this could qualify... Pot Roast, Pot Pie.... I don't know.  Makes sense to me. :-)  Regardless, today's recipe(s) is a twofor.  One day make a pot roast, the next day make a pot pie with the leftovers.  Both are super easy, and both are super tasty!

Oven Pot Roast
1/2 cup flour
ground black pepper & salt to taste
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
3 1/2 lbs rump roast
1/4 cup butter
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 can water
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 baking potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 bag of baby carrots
 
1.Preheat oven to 225 degrees.
2.In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. Dredge the rump roast in the flour and cover evenly. Shake off excess.
3.In a large pot (I used a dutch oven) over medium/high heat, melt the butter and brown the roast on all sides. Place in a 4 quart casserole dish (or keep in the dutch oven) with lid.
4.In a small bowl, combine the soup mix, mushroom soup, water and white wine; pour over roast. (If using dutch oven, stir soup mixture into the drippings).
5.Cover and bake in preheated oven for 5 hours or until desired doneness.
6. During the last hour, add veggies and increase oven heat to 350.
7. Remove meat and veggies and serve.  The liquid should be thick enough (from the flour used early on) to be used as gravy.

Pot Roast Pot Pie

Left over meat and veggies from Pot Pie, chopped into small pieces

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/3 can milk
frozen peas and/or corn if desired

salt and pepper to taste

2 Pillsbury Pie crust (the pre-rolled type found by the canned biscuit dough)

1 egg, well beaten

1. Press one pie crust into a pie pan. Set aside.

2. Mix first 5 ingredients in bowl.

3. Pour mixture into pie crust and top with second crust.  Seal edges.

4. Poke holes in the top with a fork.

5. Brush with beaten egg.

6. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

It's as easy as that! Two meals for the price of one!