Three-Cheese Tomato Orzo Soup

 

Aside from the cheese, I consider this soup to be a healthy meal option. It's quite quick and easy to make (half hour if everything is available), and is a huge hit at my house.

Start with:

• 1 diced yellow onion
• 2-3 cloves minced garlic
• 1 Tbsp olive oil

Heat the olive oil in a soup pot and brown the onions over medium heat - just a few minutes until they're tender and translucent.  Add the garlic and brown for another minute or two. 

Add (feel free to be flexible with amounts - this is just a guideline):

• 2 (28 oz) cans of whole or diced tomatoes - I use whole and cut them up a bit. They seem a bit more flavourful than the diced ones. Add the liquid from the can also.
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup fresh basil if available, or a couple of teaspoons of dried basil
• 2 tsp oregano
• 1-2 tsp sugar, to taste (if I use more yogurt because it needs to be used up, another tsp of sugar or so is helpful)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Simmer until well-heated throughout, then blend with an immersion/stick blender. Add cheese as desired - I used a sharp vintage white cheddar (love Tillamook cheese!), a bit of parmesan and some Friulano cheese, a staple of my Italian grandmother-in-law's kitchen.  Probably about 1.5 cups of grated cheese. Add pre-cooked orzo pasta to add some weight to the soup if desired - I love this.  Serve with basic buttered biscuits and enjoy! 

Whole Wheat Buns

I have searched high and low for a light, fluffy, whole wheat-ish bun recipe. My previous attempts had always failed, giving me dense or small buns that tasted good but were a bit of a chore to eat.

No longer.

I found a recipe for light wheat rolls and it has worked for me on several occasions. This may be due to the high yeast content, but the reason really doesn't concern me. These are light and fluffy, and I can make large hamburger-sized buns or divide them into 32 small dinner rolls with a single batch.

Mix yeast into water and let stand for about 10 minutes:

• 1 3/4 cup warm (yeast-friendly temperature) water 
• 2 packages active dry yeast (1 package is about 2 1/4 tsp)

Mix separately:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup melted butter or margarine
• 1 beaten egg

Mix yeast and water into flour mixture and then add 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup at a time.  Stir until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl (I love my KitchenAid mixer for this).  Add more flour if necessary.  Then knead either in stand mixer or on well-floured surface until smooth and elastic - about 8 minutes. The dough should be sticky but not so much that it gets all over your hands - it should hold mostly together. 

Oil the bowl, turn the dough to coat, then cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled.  At that point, punch it down and let it rise again.  If my kitchen is warm the first rise takes about 45 minutes and the second one only half an hour or so.

Turn out onto floured surface again, divide into about 16 large buns or 32 small ones (anything that's a multiple of 8 is easy to divide).  Roll into balls and place on a greased cookie sheet.  I choose to cover them with greased/oiled plastic wrap and let rise again in a warm place until buns have doubled in size.  They will look large and puffy and round.  I don't usually butter the tops of the buns but if you like the glossy look feel free to do that. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

Bake for 11-15 minutes depending on the size.  Be careful not to have them too close to the top or bottom elements - I find the tops brown very quickly if I don't put them on the centre rack.  They should be golden brown when finished, and when you turn them over they should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Let them cool on a rack and enjoy!

Mixed Berry Whole Wheat Muffins

These muffins are healthy!  Yay!  This recipe is from skinnytaste.com, found here.  I recommend checking out her pictures, because I can't do these muffins justice.

I cut down the sugar even a tiny bit more and have found that it's best when using a very flavourful fruit for the puree - if using strawberries as suggested, make sure they're small and fresh... I wouldn't recommend frozen large ones that come in a package because they make the muffins a bit bland.  I also wouldn't recommend pureeing a blueberry and blackberry mix... because though the muffins will still taste great, they will look black and burnt!  My favourite rendition uses a tart applesauce, made in the crock pot from my in-laws' apples.


Mix together:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup white flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

In another bowl, mix:

• 1 1/2 cups pureed strawberries (from about 16 oz strawberries) --> or applesauce
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp melted butter or margarine

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones, then add 1 cup of berries and fold them in. I recommend raspberries and blackberries - blueberries work too but I prefer the more tart taste of the others. 

Bake at 325 degrees for about 25 minutes - toothpick test. Mini-muffin bake time can be shortened by a couple minutes.  Enjoy!