Paradise Bakery Fire Roasted Tomato Soup

Girls, you know how much I love that Fire Roasted Tomato Soup from Paradise Bakery and this did not disappoint. It was very easy too. Here is what you need:

2 medium onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil
28 oz can San Marzano whole tomatoes (I couldn't find this brand, but the generic worked fine)
14 oz can Muir Glen fire roasted diced tomatoes (I found this at Wal-Mart)
8 oz can tomato sauce
6 oz can tomato paste
4 cups water (chicken stock) (Jen, the woman I stole this from, said she might try chicken stock to make a deeper flavor, I did about 1/2 water 1/2 chicken stock which was great, but I think all water would be just fine too.)
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cups milk

1. Start by sauteing the onions in olive oil until they are translucent then add in the garlic.
2. Stir in the tomatoes and water and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 30 min.
3. Use an immersion blender, food processor, etc. to puree this mixture. Make it as chunky or smooth as you like.
4. Put your puree back in the pot and add the milk and seasonings. Um, um good!

Mine did not end up as smooth as Paradise Bakery's, but it was still so delicious. It makes a lot, but we had no problem finishing the whole pot after a few days.

Chicken Parmesean Bundles

I got this recipe from the Kraft website and it was quite delicious.
I promise, it's much better than my crappy pic makes it out to be.

What you need:

4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, well drained

1-1/4 cups KRAFT Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese, divided

6 Tbsp. KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided

6 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1-1/2 lb.), pounded to 1/4-inch thickness

1 egg

10 RITZ Crackers, crushed (about 1/2 cup)

1-1/2 cups spaghetti sauce, heated

Directions:

HEAT oven to 375ºF.

MIX cream cheese, spinach, 1 cup mozzarella and 3 Tbsp. Parmesan until well blended; spread onto chicken breasts. Starting at one short end of each breast, roll up chicken tightly. Secure with wooden toothpicks, if desired.

BEAT egg in shallow dish. Mix remaining Parmesan and cracker crumbs in separate shallow dish. Dip chicken in egg, then roll in crumb mixture. Place, seam-sides down, in 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.

BAKE 30 min. or until chicken is done (165ºF). Remove and discard toothpicks, if using. Serve topped with spaghetti sauce and remaining mozzarella.

A few things:

1. When I first made this recipe I cut it in half because this is supposed to make six. I ended up only using one large chicken breast because it was so huge after pounding it out I was able to make three bundles with it, so you may not need all six chicken breasts like the recipe calls for.

2. I used frozen spinach, but if you have fresh talk to mom. She used fresh but had to cook it a certain way first.

3. If you're scared of green things, don't be. You can barely taste the spinach, but if you must it will still be good without it.

Enjoy!

P.S. There is a tutorial video here.

Sesame Chicken

Emily gave me this recipe and I have it written on a stained piece of paper I have to hunt for every time I want to make it. High time to get it typed up and easy to access since we like this dish every so often. (As you can see, not my photo, but now you get a better idea of the end result).

Sesame Chicken

4 small or 2 large chicken breast
1/2 c. cornstarch
canola oil

Cut chicken in bite size pieces and put in a Ziploc bag with the cornstarch. Toss until well-coated. Add enough oil to the bottom of a skillet and fry chicken to medium brown.

Sauce:
1 1/3 c. water
1/4 c. sugar
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. oyster sauce (I've yet to buy this so it gets left out)
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
2 Tbsp. cornstarch

Prepare sauce by mixing the ingredients above in a saucepan. (You need to babysit this and not multitask like I tend to do). Stir over medium heat until thickened. Pour over chicken and simmer three minutes. Add steamed broccoli and sesame seeds. We like to serve over rice, but noodles would be fine too.

Breakfast Casserole

I got this recipe from a ward cookbook and thought it was easy and delicious. Sorry, no photo--use your imagination! I don't usually do anything big for breakfast unless it's a holiday or we do breakfast for dinner--either way, I thought it was very good.

Breakfast Casserole

2 lbs. shredded hash browns
6 eggs
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. hot pepper cheese, grated
3 c. cheddar cheese, grated (I didn't use this much and reserved some for near the end of baking time to melt on top)
1 1/4 lb. Canadian bacon (you could also use ham--and once again I didn't use quite this much)

Beat eggs with milk, add cheese and Canadian bacon and mix. Pour over hash browns and mix. Place in greased 9x13" baking dish and refrigerate overnight. Bake 1 hour at 350. Serve topped with salsa and sour cream if you like.