RECIPE: Roasted Tomato Soup

My parents had an abundance of cherry and grape tomatoes this summer.  My cousin Brenda told me about a recipe she got from a Rachael Ray magazine for Roasted Tomatoes.  So I decided to give it a try.  Instead of keeping them for pasta salads, I decided to puree everything in the food processor.  After that, I poured everything in my fine mesh strainer to remove seeds and skins.  I had to make this over a couple of days and so it was placed in the fridge in a large plastic pitcher.  After I strained everything, it was still chilled and it tasted SO GOOD!  I decided to add a sour cream flower to the top of the soup and we ate it with grilled cheese sandwiches.  So pretty and so yummy!

 They grew yellow and red cherry and grape tomatoes.

 This basil is from my garden.

 Toss everything with oil and salt and pepper.

Sorry I didn't get all the pictures, but this is the final result.  So pretty!

Hope you have a great day!

Enjoy!

This post has also been linked to:

• Mouthwatering Monday at A Southern Fairytale 
• Mmmonday at Acting Balanced
• Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist 
• Muffin Monday at Talking Dollars and Cents 
• 2 Maids a Baking at 2 Maids a Milking
• Hearth and Soul at A Moderate Life
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace
• Delicious Dish at It's a Blog Party
• Delectable Tuesday Blog Hop at Home Sweet Farm
• Tasty Tuesday at 33 Shades of Green 
• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• Tuesday Garden Party at Oregon Cottage
• Made from Scratch Tuesday at From Mess Hall to Bistro
• $5 Dollar Dinner Challenge 
• No Whine Wednesday at Food on the Table
• Lets Do Brunch at My Sweet & Savory
• Works for Me Wednesday at We are THAT Family
• Real Food Wednesdays at Kelly the Kitchen Kop
• What's On Your Plate? at Good Cheap Eats

How Does Your Garden Grow? 7/5/11

We pulled some carrots from our carrot patch last week. 

The kids had so much fun cleaning them.

We still have a ton in the ground!

Aren't they so pretty!?!?

They got so muddy, look at their noses!  But they had so much fun.  

We made the Carrot Cake Cookies with some of the carrots.  Did you try those yet?  They are heavenly!

Enjoy!

This post has been linked to:

• Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage
• Garden Tuesday at Sidewalk Shoes 
• Bloomin' Tuesday at Ms Green"thumb" Jean
• Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer
• Cottage Flora Thursday at Fishtail Cottage
• Fertilizer Friday - Flaunt those Flowers at Tootsie Time
• Frugal Gardening 101 at Smockity Frocks
• Grow Eat Save at $5 Dollar Dinners
• Grow Cook Eat at Good Life Eats

How Does Your Garden Grow? 6/21/11

The harvest edition...

I'm a little disappointed with my garden this year.  I guess I really disappointed with the weather.  It got so hot so fast, most of my radishes bolted and I only got a couple.  I think I'll try to plant some more of these in the fall.  I've already lost one tomato plant to wilt, again.  And now my poor green beans are being ravaged by Japanese beetles.  I'm going to make that capsaicin spray.

We did pick a few things the other day:

a few tomatoes, a pile of green beans, a couple of carrots, a few radishes and tons of basil.

We're really excited about the Carnival mix of carrots.  Look at our purple carrot!

There are a ton of carrots growing in the garden.  They are not quite ready, but we were anxious to see how they were growing.  The outside was purple and the inside was orange.  So cool!

The green beans were a little "furry"...not sure if it was the kind of green bean or what, but neither the kids nor myself could stomach eating them.  I planted two kinds, but can't remember which kind this one was.  The others are pole beans and they are just now putting out flowers.  So hopefully they'll taste better.

Check out our baby watermelon!  It's about the size of a golf ball.  It's just the cutest thing ever!

The herb box is growing like crazy!  

The dill has put out flower heads.  I was hoping to do some pickles this year, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen.  However, my cousin says she has a slew of cucumbers to pickle this week.  So I'm hoping to go over and help.  I'm going to take the dill heads to see how they turn out. 

The basil is amazing!  I'm going to try to make some pesto and keep it in the freezer.  If it turns out, I'll share a recipe with y'all.

How is your garden growing?  

Enjoy!

This post has been linked to:

• Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage
• Garden Tuesday at Sidewalk Shoes 
• Bloomin' Tuesday at Ms Green"thumb" Jean
• Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer
• Cottage Flora Thursday at Fishtail Cottage
• Fertilizer Friday - Flaunt those Flowers at Tootsie Time
• Frugal Gardening 101 at Smockity Frocks
• Grow Eat Save at $5 Dollar Dinners
• Grow Cook Eat at Good Life Eats

How Does Your Garden Grow? 6/1/11

I got home this evening from working at the bakery and took a few pictures of the garden with my iPhone.  Unfortunately, I haven't any new batteries for my camera, so no really nice shots today.  At least you'll get to see what's growing.  

My herb box is growing like crazy!  In fact, Sissy went out yesterday and clipped several basil leaves to add to our Pizza Rolls.  They smell heavenly!  The dill is growing really good too.  I can't wait to see how the heads look.  I'm hoping to make some refrigerator pickles with them.

Speaking of pickles, check out the little cucumber growing there in the center of the picture.  Pretty soon, I'll have quite a few to add to a jar.  My brother has offered to let me use his fridge if I need to since his refrigerator is a lot bigger than ours. 

The green beans and tomatoes are covered in flowers.  I'm looking forward learning how to can the green beans.  My cousin Brenda is an expert canner in my opinion.  She's going to help me.  I'm hoping I have enough to preserve, if not, I guess we'll just blanch and freeze them.  

The peppers are flowering and there's a tiny jalapeno hanging on.  The kids have been begging to pull the carrots.  I've told them to wait until their big brother moves in.  That will give them enough time to grow so the kids won't be bothering them.  

 My hydrangeas are in full bloom.  They are so pretty.  Especially my favorite purple one.  It was pink when I bought it, but our soil is so acidic, it turned it purple.  It's so beautiful to me.  It makes me so happy when I come in the door.  I want to cut them and put them in a vase, but I know they'll just die faster. 

Here's the big blue hydrangea.  It got beat down pretty badly during the last storm we had. 

The lace-cap hydrangeas are still growing humongous!  They even taking over the sidewalk!

Some of the daylilies are blooming.  These are a rusty red.  They aren't really pretty, but summer color is better than nothing.  I love the yellow centers.

Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Enjoy!

This post has been linked to:

• Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage
• Garden Tuesday at Sidewalk Shoes 
• Bloomin' Tuesday at Ms Green"thumb" Jean
• Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer
• Cottage Flora Thursday at Fishtail Cottage
• Fertilizer Friday - Flaunt those Flowers at Tootsie Time
• Grow Eat Save at $5 Dollar Dinners
• Grow Cook Eat at Good Life Eats

How Does Your Garden Grow? 5/17/11

Have you purchased your copy of my new eCookbook, Sweet Creations Volume 1 "Basic Southern Cakes"?

It's only $2.99!

A few weeks ago, my dad and brother came over to take down some trees and smooth out our yard so we can continue with our DIY Landscape project.  

I couldn't do much, but I did take pictures and move some branches, stumps and rocks around.  

I took a few pictures of the day:

My brother letting the kids move the bucket and dig in the dirt.

  Boo-Boo loves to play in the dirt...it's all over his face too!!!

My dad working on his chainsaw so he could "limb up" the fallen oak. 

As you can see, that big oak had to come down or it was liable to fall on our house in a bad storm.  Looks like the carpenter ants love it so much, they killed it by eating it from the inside.  

Have a great week!

This post has been linked to:

• Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage
• Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer

How Does Your Garden Grow? 5/10/11

Sorry I haven't posted any garden updates.  I just didn't make the time to do it.  I did take pictures though.  I have a few minutes today, so here they are.

Here's what the rose bush looked like

The peonies bloomed beautifully

I found my Jackmanii clematis...he was just a little later than the Nelly Moser.

My favorite hydrangea is starting to show it's beautiful purple color.

The blue hydrangea are starting to color out too.  

The sidewalk to the front door has been overtaken by the camellia and lace cap hydrangea.  I need to figure out how to move them.

I also found my Oak leaf hydrangea...it was hiding under the low hanging oak tree branch in the front yard.  I had forgotten about planting it out there several years ago.

I also picked up two different lavender varieties from the store.  The smell wonderful

Our garden is doing good

The lettuce is growing great, I pulled out the meslum mix.  I didn't like the way it tasted it, so I won't be planting it again...maybe I'll try some Romaine or some Butter Lettuce...

The green beans are growing like crazy!  I have bush beans on the outside and pole beans in the middle next to the tomatoes.  We hung string from a PVC pipe contraption I devised last year so they can climb up.

The cucumbers are also taking off.

I have some little flowers on our tomato plants

The pepper plants have a little crumpled leafage on the top, I'm a little worried about that, I hope it's nothing...

The beets and radishes, well, those are the most fertile seeds.  I planted them on Good Friday and they sprouted on Sunday.  Unbelievable!  I don't like raw radishes, but I saw this recipe on Ten Dollar Dinners and wanted to give it a try.  Also, my kids love to pull things out of the ground.  Last year, the carrots were hugely successful and they loved going out to see how they were doing.  Admittedly, so did I!  We could barely wait the 65 days until maturity.  In fact, we were frequently caught pulling them up to "just see how they were growing". 

The watermelons sprouted.  I'm going to try to water these regularly to make sure they grow good.

The butternut squash sprouted too.  I'm glad I marked these with the seeds packets, or I would not know which was which, they looks so similar!

We didn't plant any zucchini or squash this year.  I'm planning to add another 4' x 8' section on the end of the garden to add them in next summer.  

So far, everything is growing well, but it's just begun.  I'm sure the bugs and varmints will be feasting before long and I'll have to get the capsicum spray out. 

We also worked in the backyard and took down some trees.  "We" didn't actually do it, my dad and brother did.  I'll share those next week.

Have a great week!

This post has been linked to:

• Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage
• Garden Tuesday at Sidewalk Shoes 
• Bloomin' Tuesday at Ms Green"thumb" Jean
• Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer
• Cottage Flora Thursday at Fishtail Cottage
• Fertilizer Friday - Flaunt those Flowers at Tootsie Time
• Grow Eat Save at $5 Dollar Dinners
• Grow Cook Eat at Good Life Eats

Don't forget to check out my new eCookbook Sweet Creations Volume 1 "Basic Southern Cakes"!  It's only $2.99!