Roasted Pepper Vegetable Tomato Soup

January 8, 2016January 7, 2016 / ktbuchs87

Roasted Pepper Tomato Vegetable Soup | Life Healthfully Lived You guys know I’m having a thing with soup lately. Especially now that Christmas and New Year’s are over. Brothy soups chocked full of vegetables, herbs, and spices sound pretty amazing right now. Plus, winter has finally decided to come out to play and cold temperatures always make me crave warm meals like soups or stews.

This is my soup of the moment because of two reasons. 1. It is absolutely delicious and 2. It is quick and versatile. While the base always stays the same, I can change the vegetables up to whatever I have in my fridge. Sometimes that includes mushrooms or leeks, other times it’s more peppers and some corn. Roasted Pepper Vegetable Tomato Soup | Life Healthfully Lived

If you can’t or don’t want to do a certain vegetable I have in this recipe, then don’t put it in your soup. If you want to add a vegetable that I haven’t included, go for it! That is the beauty of this meal. As long as the main components are there, you can play around with the other flavors.

If you’re looking for a lighter meal that will still fill you up, give this soup, or any soup for that matter, a try!

Roasted Pepper Vegetable Tomato Soup

2-3 red or orange bell peppers
1 cup carrots, peeled and sliced
1 cup celery, sliced
1 cup onion, diced
1 leek, green top cut off and white part sliced thin
8 oz package of bella mushrooms
1/2 cup corn kernels
2 cans fire roasted diced tomatoes
6 to 8 cups vegetable broth or water
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp roasted garlic or 3 cloves minced
2 tsp Mexican oregano (regular if you can’t find Mexican)
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 and arrange the peppers on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat. Roast the peppers until the are slightly brown and starting to collapse. Remove and let them cool. Once they are cool, remove the skins and slice into strips.
If you would like, you can toss the mushrooms with a little oil, salt, and pepper and roast those for 15 minutes.
Heat a little olive oil in a large dutch oven or stock pot. Saute the carrots, onions, leeks, and celery until they are soft and starting to brown on the edges. Sprinkle with a little salt and add the roasted peppers, mushrooms, and corn. Stir everything together.
Add in both cans of roasted tomatoes and then the vegetable broth or water. Make sure all the vegetables are covered with liquid. Add all the seasonings and bring the soup to a bowl.
Once boiling, cover with a lid and lower to a simmer. Let it simmer for 20 minutes. Taste the soup and adjust the seasonings as needed.

DIY Wednesday: Ketchup

August 5, 2015August 5, 2015 / ktbuchs87

A few weeks back I did a DIY mustard post, so I thought it was only fair that I did a ketchup one too.

Ketchup is probably one of the most used condiments. Kids put it on everything, fries seem naked without it, and congress keeps trying to tell us that it counts as a vegetable. While that last one might take some extra convincing, there is no doubt that we love our tomato based condiment. And one of the big reasons why?

Sugar

Almost all store bought ketchup has some form of sugar, whether it’s high fructose corn syrup or organic sugar. Sugar is sugar no matter what and store bought usually has a lot of it. But the one good thing I did notice about ketchup is that it doesn’t have a lot of other ingredients which make it an excellent candidate for making it yourself.

I’m betting that you already have all the ingredients you need to make your own ketchup and once you see how easy, and cheap, it is to make it yourself I’m pretty sure that you will be whipping it up all the time.

The other good thing about making your own ketchup is that you can make it to your taste and jazz it up with different spices. Get adventurous and make your own flavor combos for your ketchup!

DIY Ketchup

1, 6 oz can of tomato paste (pick a brand that has nothing but tomatoes in it. I used Contadina)
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup water (more if you want a thinner consistency)
1 tbsp maple syrup or honey
1 tsp molasses
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 to 1 tsp salt

Combine all the ingredients into a medium saucepan and whisk until smooth. Bring the sauce to a boil and then lower to a simmer.
Cook at a simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring often
Remove from heat and allow the ketchup to cool completely before storing in a jar or squeeze bottle in the fridge.

Variations:

Curry Ketchup: Add 1 teaspoon of curry powder

Spicy Ketchup: Add 1-2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper

Fiesta Ketchup: Add in 1 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp cumin, and a squeeze of lime juice

DIY Wednesday: Ketchup | Life Healthfully Lived

Behind the scenes: Olaf is less than thrilled with my ketchup photo shoot!

Tomato Cucumber Salad and Old Favorites

July 31, 2015 / ktbuchs87 / 1 Comment

Does anyone else watch TV shows that they have seen a million times? I do. All the time. While I love watching new shows and finding new things to love, a part of me loves the comfort of an old favorite. If you know anything about me, you can probably guess which show I always turn to.

Friends

I own all of the episodes on DVD (even though they are now on Netflix, I still watch the DVD version because there are scenes that are cut out on the Netflix versions) and I will routinely watch them over and over. I can pretty much quote whole episodes, recognize obscure lines, and know what each scene looks like. If Marta Kaufmann and David Crane called me up and told me they needed someone to recreate every single episode on their own, I would be perfect for the job.

Why do I continue to watch Friends over and over and over again? It’s a security blanket. When I’m feeling blue, I know one of Chandler’s jokes can cheer me up. When I’m under the weather, there is no better medicine than Phoebe’s ditzy yet surprisingly poignant logic. I see myself in some of Monica’s obsessive tendencies, Joey gives me encouragement that even if I’m not great at something if I keep at it I can achieve some kind of greatness, and who doesn’t love the on again off again relationship between Rachel and Ross?

It also connects me to the people I love. My mom, sister, and my friend Ashley are all just as big a fans as I am when it comes to Friends. I can randomly text them lines from the show and they know exactly what episode I’m watching. I often relate my life to certain scenarios and they know exactly what I mean. So to make a long story short, Friends is awesome and I’ll never stop watching.

This simple salad is almost as awesome as Friends. It’s the perfect summer side dish because it takes 2 minutes to put together, doesn’t require a stove or oven, and uses in season vegetables. You probably already have most of the ingredients, so whip up a big batch to eat all weekend long because the longer this salad marinates, the better it gets!

Tomato Cucumber Salad- based on this recipe from Rachel Ray

2 large cucumbers, peeled and sliced
16 oz cherry tomatoes, cut in half or quartered
3/4 cup red onion, diced
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp basil
salt and pepper to taste

Wash, peel, and cut the cucumbers and place into a large bowl. Wash and cut the tomatoes and add those in along with the red onion. Mix everything so it’s well combined
Pour in the vinegar and olive oil and stir once again. Finally, add in all the seasonings. Mix everything really well.
Cover and place in the fridge and if possible allow it to marinate overnight. Once it has marinated, taste and adjust any seasonings.

Also, if you’re looking for a delicious and healthy treat to cool off during this hot weekend you should check out my post on Girl.ish this week. I made a PB & J milkshake that tastes like it should be so bad for you but it’s not! Go try it and let me know what you think!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Tomato Sauce

January 22, 2015 / ktbuchs87 / 2 Comments

This is my go to sauce. I make it large batches so that I have some on hand when I need a tasty and healthy tomato sauce!

Tomato Sauce

1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp basil
1-2 tsp fennel seeds
1 14 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes (I use no salt added)
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
vegetable broth or water
salt and pepper to taste

1. In a medium sauce pan over medium high heat saute onions until soft and translucent. Add in half your minced garlic and saute another minute.

2. Add in oregano, basil, and fennel and stir to combine. Then add in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and stir to combine. Using a potato masher, mash the sauce a little to crush the diced tomato chunks. Depending on how thick or thin you want your sauce add in a little or a lot of broth or water. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper to your taste

3. Bring the sauce to a boil and lower to a simmer. Simmer the sauce for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

You can either use this right away or cool completely and store in clean jars in your fridge. Enjoy!

Moussaka Over Toasted Millet

August 15, 2014May 16, 2015 / ktbuchs87

Moussaka is a dish that I had heard of, but never seen or eaten. I knew that it had it’s origins in Greece and other Mediterranian countries and I knew that it had to do with eggplant. That’s about it. The grocery store had a sale on eggplant recently and I was trying to figure out what to make with it. Then I remembered moussaka and started looking around for a recipe. One of the most common forms of moussaka is the one from Greece. It is made up of layers of eggplant, tomatoes, and ground meat topped with a creamy sauce. I looked around at a few other recipes and decided to lean more towards the Lebanese form of the dish and eliminated the creamy sauce and ground meat. You most certainly can add ground beef or turkey into this dish if you want and you can serve it over whatever grain you have on hand.

Moussaka Over Toasted Millet

1 large eggplant
olive oil
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb of grape or cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup millet
2 cups water

1. Slice the eggplant into large rounds. Lay out a single layer of paper towels and sprinkle with a little sea salt. Place eggplant rounds on top of the paper towels and sprinkle with more sea salt. Place another layer of paper towels on top of the eggplant and let sit for about 15 minutes

2. While eggplant is sitting, preheat oven to 450 and put a large saute pan over medium high heat. Place the 1 cup of dried millet into the pan and toast until golden brown and fragrant. Move the toasted millet to a pot and cover with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then cover and lower to a simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes and then fluff with a fork.

3. Lightly brush eggplant off and cut into cubes. Place on a baking sheet and add a little olive oil and toss to coat. Roast the eggplant in the oven for about 15 minutes. Once edges are brown, remove from oven and lower heat to 350.

4. In the same large saute pan you used for millet, heat a little oil and saute the onion for a few minutes until it is soft. Add in garlic then stir in tomatoes, salt, and other spices. Add about a 1/2 cup of water and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer for about 5 minutes. Turn off heat and stir in eggplant. Take the moussaka and place it into a large casserole dish and cover with foil. Cook in oven for 15 minutes then remove foil and cook for 20 minutes. Serve over a bed of the cooked and toasted millet

I know it seems like this takes forever to make, but it actually goes pretty quickly. Plus, it doesn’t use that many ingredients and most of them you probably have on hand. This makes some excellent leftovers and you can even eat it cold the next day. If you wanted to add meat just make sure to brown it first before adding it with everything else. You could also add in extra vegetables like green pepper or zucchini and beans like chickpeas if you wanted. Enjoy!

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