Tomato-Basil Soup, by Cheryl

Poor Jon got his wisdom teeth out yesterday so I've taken a break from my country theme in order to make some soups and other liquid/soft food for him. Aside from making some of the soups from our blog I tried my hand at making some good ole tomato soup. When I went to the store I bought all of the ingredients except for the heavy cream (not on purpose) so I had to find this recipe from Cooking Light that uses milk instead. The result was still good, but I think the heavy cream would have made it a lot creamier and richer. Nonetheless, it was so delicious with some grilled cheese dipped into it and it really hit the spot on a cold day like today! Yum!

Ingredients:

4 cups chopped, peeled, seeded
4 cups low-sodium tomato juice
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves
1 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper
1/2 cup softened cream cheese
basil leaves, sliced (optional)
french baguette (optional)

Directions:

1) Bring tomatoes and juice to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

2) Put the 1/3 cup basil leaves in with the tomato mixture. Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Stir in milk, salt, and pepper.

3) Add cream cheese, stirring well with a whisk. Cook over medium heat until thick (about 5 minutes).

4) Ladle soup into individual bowls, garnish with sliced basil leaves, and serve with bread.

Gallo Pinto (Costa Rica), by Cheryl

Next up is Costa Rica! I had a hard time figuring out what I wanted to do for a Costa Rican recipe. I had thought of fried plantains which are really popular there, but Diane already posted a plantain recipe here, which is pretty hard to beat. So I went with a traditional rice and beans dish called Gallo Pinto meaning "spotted rooster", which is pretty much on every breakfast plate in Costa Rica. I didn't include the optional eggs or sausage which would accompany it since I was using it as a side dish. It's a very easy and pretty simple side that can be eaten on its own as a side or as a main dish when you put some protein in it. Yum!

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked rice
1 cup cooked red or black beans
3 tablespoons red bell peppers, chopped
3 tablespoons onion, chopped
2 tablespoons celery, chopped
1 teaspoon oil

Optional: minced pork sausage, 3 slices of ham chopped into small pieces, scrambled eggs

Directions:

1) Lightly fry the onion, pepper, and celery with the oil

2) When they are crispy add your choice of the extra ingredients (except eggs)

3) Add the rice and fry all of the ingredients togethers; allow flavors to mix

4) Add the beans

5) Cover and let them rest for a while so the flavors mix and the rice becomes somewhat liquid (this didn't happen with mine). Add scrambled eggs if desired. Serve immediately.

Slow Cooker Mole Chicken Pumpkin Chili with Hominy, by Diane

I've stumbled across another delicious use of pumpkin this week! This recipe could not have been easier or less time consuming. It has layers of different flavors thanks to the spices in the mole, and the pumpkin adds a richness to the chili that makes it even more warm and filing. The hominy in here is a fantastic idea, and is my favorite ingredient in here! I switched to ground chicken because that was what I had on hand, but I would like to try it with the shredded chicken as used in original recipe because I think that would be great too! One note: I would recommend tasting the sauce before adding it to the slow cooker as mine definitely needed more salt.

Recipe from: http://fooddonelight.com/slow-cooker-mole-chicken-hominy-and-pumpkin-chili-giveaway/

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. oil, divided
4 lbs. bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed
¾ tsp. kosher salt, divided
⅛ tsp. fresh ground black pepper.
1 onion, sliced
2 tbsp. chili powder
2 tbsp. dark cocoa powder
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. pureed chipotle in adobe sauce
1 tsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. allspice
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 (15 oz.) can pure pumpkin puree
1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes
¼ cup natural peanut butter
1 (15.5 oz.) can hominy, drained and rinsed
1 red bell pepper, chopped
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat with 1 tsp. oil.
2. Sprinkle both sides of chicken with ½ tsp. salt and pepper.
3. Brown chicken in the skillet for 4 minutes per side, and place into the slow cooker.
4. Add remaining 2 tsp. oil to the skillet over medium heat until shimmering.
5. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, place on top of chicken in slow cooker
6. To the hot skillet, add chili powder, cocoa powder, garlic, chipotle, cumin, cinnamon and allspice. Cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.
7. Add chicken broth and stir together.
8. Carefully pour into a blender and add the pumpkin puree, tomatoes and peanut butter. Puree.
9. Pour over the chicken. Pour the hominy and red pepper on top.
10. Cook on low for 4 hours.
11. Take chicken out, and place on a cutting board.
12. Remove from the bone and cut into bite sized pieces.
13. Top with cilantro.

Buffalo Burgers (Canada), by Cheryl

I'm really having a lot of fun with this theme and am coming up with so many ideas! Next up, Canada! There were so many different directions that I could have gone with this since Canada is huge and has so many different regional foods. I decided on some nice hearty burgers and went down to our local butcher to look at what kinds of specialty meat they had - I ended up buying ground elk, bison, and buffalo and decided to go with the buffalo, which I've had before and was oh so good! The meat was so tender! I sometimes put blue cheese on my burgers, but I left it off this time so I could taste the buffalo. I think I'll be buying some more buffalo meat in the future. Yum!

Ingredients:

1 lb ground buffalo
bread crumbs
1 egg
salt/pepper
hamburger buns
optional toppings: avocado, tomato, lettuce, grilled onion, grilled mushrooms, cheese, etc.

Directions:

1) Preheat broiler.

2) With your hands mix the meat, some breadcrumbs, the egg, some salt, and pepper. Form wide patties and make a slight indent in the middle.

3) Broil for about 4 minutes on each side for medium.

4) Add to some toasty hamburger buns, add your toppings, and enjoy!

Belgian Ale-Braised Mussels (Belgium), by Cheryl

Not the best picture! 

Next up on the list, Belgium! So there are five foods I could have chosen from that are the essence of eating food in Belgium: waffles, fries, chocolate, beer, and mussels. Mussels are pretty fast and easy (unless you're outside of the US and then you have the long task of cleaning and debearding them) and are always delicious so I went with that! In Italy I made the classic white wine mussels often, which you can find here, so I went with a different recipe that includes braising them in a Belgian beer. I didn't follow the recipe to a tee and made adjustments as needed, but below is the original recipe. Yum!

Ingredients:

Mussels
4 strips thick cut bacon, diced (didn't use this)
olive oil
2 medium shallots, very finely chopped (substituted onions)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bottle of Belgian ale
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp fresh tarragon (didn't use this)
2 tbsp fresh flat leaf parsley
2 tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper
1 baguette, sliced and lightly toasted - for dipping

Directions:

1) Rinse the mussels under cool water to remove any grit. Scrub the shells and debeard if necessary.

2) Fry the bacon until crisp. Transfer to a paper towel. Leave a tablespoon of bacon fat in the pot.

3) Add the olive oil to the pan and turn the heat to medium. Add the shallots, garlic, and thyme leaves, and saute until the mixture is nice and fragrant, 2 minutes. Add the mussels and toss gently to coat. Increase the heat to medium-high, add the ale, cover, and bring mixture to a simmer. Continue cooking until all of the mussels have opened. About 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and discard any that haven't opened.

4) Add the butter, tarragon, parsley, and lemon juice to the broth in the pan. Season with salt and pepper and whisk until the butter melts. Pour the broth over the bowl of mussels and serve immediately with crusty bread.

What I did: I just put everything in the pot and steamed the mussels like that.

Tuna Steaks with Salsa (Bahamas), by Cheryl

Next country alphabetically on the list - The Bahamas! There are a lot of recipes from the Bahamas involving conch, but it's not that readily available in our area :) So I went with something I haven't made in a while - tuna steaks! Light and refreshing, these steaks with the salsa brought me right back to island living. Just need a rum drink to go with it :) Yum!

Recipe from here

Ingredients:

Tuna steaks
Olive oil mixed with 1/4 teaspoon soy sauce
1 lime
4 ounces freshly grated cheddar cheese (I didn't use this)

To mix for salsa:
1 small onion, diced
1 tomato, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
salt/pepper

Directions:

Brush steaks with oil mixture and broil 2-4 minutes on the first side, and 1-2 minutes on the second side. Sprinkle cheese and salsa on top of steaks and complete cooking. Serve with lime wedges (I squeezed them into the salsa instead).

Apple Cinnamon Strudel (Austria), by Cheryl

I was recently reading a travel magazine's list of their 30 best countries for food, and it got me thinking about how I love to try the local cuisine when I travel (who doesn't?) The article gave me ideas about food for the blog and how I needed new inspiration for recipes. Lo and behold my countries around the world theme! I'll be making dishes starting with the countries that I've been to (alphabetically), and then after that I'll move on to countries that I want to visit, and then random countries around the world that I may or may not visit (or in some cases, definitely won't visit!) These won't be the only posts I write and I'll put some random other posts in between them, but this has definitely got me motivated to make some new and different recipes! I should note that the recipes I'll choose are also easy to make and not full of a million ingredients that will take me hours to prepare and cook.

So to start the recipes, Austria is alphabetically first. I have to admit that I'm not the biggest fan of their food. I decided to make a dessert that is ultra tasty and not heavy on the meat (I'll save the wiener schnitzels for Germany!) This apple cinnamon strudel is easy to make and is great for dessert and is a classic Austrian dish. It was my first time using phyllo dough too, which is very delicate by the way. I think I wasted a few sheets trying to get one that I didn't tear. Serve this warm with a side of ice cream. Yum!

Recipe from food network

Ingredients:

6 layers phyllo dough
1/4 brown sugar
1 stick butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 granny smith apples, peeled, cored, and diced
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350.

2) Stack layers of dough brushing each layer with butter before topping each layer. Brush top layer with butter.

3) In a bowl combine apples, raisins, sugar, and cinnamon. Spoon filling down the left long side of phyllo rectangle.

4) Fold top edge down and bottom edge up by about 2 inches to cover filling. Roll dough up along long side to enclose filling.

5) Brush log with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden and puffed. 

Crispy Chard and Sausage Quiche with a Sweet Potato Crust, by Diane

This week I came across a recipe that I could use as a variation with my delicious new find, sweet potato crust (for original recipe, see here). This quiche was so good that I literally cursed when it hit my tongue, and the rest of it was devoured soon after. It is filling, warming, and did I mention SO GOOD??? The truffle oil in the crust absolutely knocked it out of the park, the spiciness of the sausage combined with the greens and sweet potato perfectly, and the amount of eggs was perfect (I initally got scared because it didn't cover the top of the ingredients). This dish is definitely a winner!!

I tweaked a couple things, but the recipe was inspired by: http://bydawnnicole.com/2014/07/crispy-kale-sausage-quiche-with-sweet-potato-crust-paleo-whole30-compliant.html

Ingredients:

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and shredded (I used a cuisinart to chop them finely)
2 tbsp truffle oil
5 links hot italian sausage, casings removed
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 bunch chard, leaves trimmed from stems and cut into bite-size pieces
10 eggs
salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. Grease a 9x13" glass pan with 1 tbsp of EVOO or cooking spray. Toss shredded sweet potatoes with 2 tbsp truffle oil. Press evenly into pan bottom and sides to form a crust. Bake for 20-30 minutes until cooked through and somewhat dried. Remove from oven. Reduce heat to 350.
3. While crusts cooks, brown the sausage in a large pan over medium high heat and remove with a slotted spoon. In the leftover liquid, brown the onions and garlic until translucent. Add in the chicken broth if necessary. Add in the chard until wilted and mix through.
4. Place a layer of sausage over the sweet potato crust. Top with chard mixture.
5. Combine eggs, salt, and pepper to taste and pour over chard.
6. Bake for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees or until quiche is cooked through and top of chard is crispy. Check quiche around 25-30 minutes and cover loosely with foil if it's already beginning to brown.
7. Allow to cool 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving.