Bruschetta a la Moi!

I have a confession. As much as I love food, I hate raw tomatoes. Don't get me wrong. I will eat tomatoes in marinara sauce but when it comes to having a slice of tomato on a burger or even a club sandwich, I always order it without.

However, there is one exception. And I'm not sure why.

I once saw bruschetta that for some reason, made my mouth water, raw tomatoes and all. I still have no idea why but I had to make it! To this day I can remember my husbands amazement that I was volunteering to eat raw tomatoes.

At the farmers market last week, they had organic, same day picked tomatoes that the husband said were awesome. So I got a pound and decided they would become the newest batch of bruschetta! 

Bruschetta:

a pound or so of tomatoes, preferably fresh or heirloom or both

fresh basil

salt

nice crusty loaf of bread

garlic

olive oil

Take the beautiful tomatoes that you've grown or purchased and cut them up into bite size pieces. Throw them in a bowl. Take the basil and tear it up and throw it into the bowl. Add salt. And add a bit more than you think you should. At this stage in the game, the husband is my taste tester salt wise and always advises on how much more should be added. 

Doesn't it look beautiful?? Normally the only time that I like the colors red and green together are at Christmas but when you make this, you can't help but fall in love with the colors and the smell. And neither could my cat. 

Yes, that is my foot and that is my cat Jack. I don't know if you have ever seen this funny animated movie where a rat cooks in a kitchen, well, Jack wants to cook. She wants to know what is going on up on the counter (where she is not allowed) and definitely wants to taste-test everything! 

But back to the recipe. While your tomatoes are soaking up all the salty basily goodness, take your loaf of bread and slice it up. I entrusted the husband with this task and I must say that I have never seen anyone use three knives to slice up a simple loaf of french bread. But three knives and a lot of crumbs later, this is what we had: 

We also got the bread at the farmers market. I really love having all this fresh produce around! 

In a non-stick skillet, add olive oil to coat the pan and turn it up to medium/medium-low. Once the oil is up to temp, add the slices of bread. You will have to do this in batches but its worth it, trust me. 

This is when the magic happens. I am about to give you the trick, the secret, the piece de resistance! 

Garlic! Put a clove of garlic on the end of a fork and as you are sauteing the bread, once you flip it, rub that fork of garlic over the bread! Its epic. But that is the trick. Finish up the bread until its golden brown on both sides and smells like garlic in your entire house. 

Once the bread is done, spoon the tomato basil mix onto the nice warm bread. Don't forget to add some of the juice that has accumulated in the bowl (thats my favorite part). 

Take a big bite and enjoy!! 

This is a super simple recipe but one that is a crowd pleaser every time! I gave my mom the recipe and when she went to visit some friends she made it and has had to make it every time she's been back. 

Thanks for reading and enjoy!! 

Curried Pumpkin Soup

Sorry for the absence. It has been a crazy week! After celebrating the husbands birthday, we spent the weekend just hanging out on the couch. We watched lots of HIMYM on Saturday then spent Sunday watching the Carolina Panthers play. Yes, I said just play. Not win. Yet. 

However, Sunday I was in utter suspense. As a final birthday present for my husband, I plotted and schemed with his sis Cleo (not biological but might as well be), who lives in Myrtle Beach to come out and surprise him with a visit. She arrived on Monday but Sunday I was so excited and really wanted to get my house super clean for her arrival but couldn't let the husband onto anything. He knew something was up and he would get a "gift" and I had worked so hard to keep this surprise for almost THREE WHOLE WEEKS, I couldn't blow it then. 

But it all worked out in the end. She arrived safely and we were able to pull off the surprise! (And he really was surprised!) 

One of the things that I love about where I live is that every Tuesday there is this awesome farmers market downtown. The food, the deals, the fresh produce! I was inspired. Since it was going to be a lot cooler for Cleo and I was really craving something warm and homey, I decided to make Curried Pumpkin Soup. And since we were already going to the farmers market, I could totally take advantage of the local produce making this the best batch I've made! 

Curried Pumpkin Soup:

2 cups or so of pumpkin

olive oil

2 tbsp of unsalted butter

1 onion (you can use yellow but I found some great mild red onions), diced

2 small pears, peeled, cored and cut into chunks

3 cloves garlic, minced or through the garlic press

curry powder (more on that later)

1/2 cup dry white wine or apple juice

6 cups chicken broth

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

salt

pepper

sour cream

In your best soup pot, heat up the olive oil and butter. Add the onion and saute it over medium heat until its tender; I think it was about 10 minutes. While that is working, you've got time to peel and chop the pears up. I got the pears at the market and when I told the guy what I was using them for A) he was madly impressed and jealous and B) scored me an extra pear provided I give a follow up review next week. 

Add the pears and the garlic to the onions. Then add the curry powder. The original recipe that I have says to use 1 tbsp of curry powder however I don't think that is enough. I think overall I used about three tablespoons but my theory is to add it until you like the way it smells. Cook it all together for another few minutes. Since we were going to have a late dinner, I sauteed it for a few minutes more to try and help the pears break down a bit more. Season with salt and pepper. 

Add the wine/juice to the pot and deglaze the pan. And remember, always use a wine you will drink as well. If it's not good enough to drink, it's not good enough to cook with. This was my first time with this particular variety and it was pretty tasty. 

At this point, add the pumpkin and the chicken broth. This being the way I cook, I just kind of eyeballed the pumpkin so it was probably a bit more than 2 cups but it came out just fine. Bring the soup to a boil. 

Reduce the heat to medium-low and let it simmer for 45 minutes. 

Puree the soup. You can do this one of two ways. If you have an immersion blender, USE IT! It is by far the easiest way to puree it. If you don't have an immersion blender, prepare for battle via blender. Honestly, be prepared. Don't fill the blender up with soup, use two pot holders or heavy towels to hold the top of the blender on and pray. The first time I made this many years ago, I didn't have an immersion blender yet so had to use the counter version and ended up with a counter full of soup. The heat of the soup popped the top of the blender off and it went everywhere! Take that as your fair warning to prepare! 

Return the soup to the pot if you used the counter blender and heat it back up. Stir in the heavy whipping cream and adjust the seasonings. Honestly, it didn't need much adjusting. Serve it in pretty fall colored bowls topped with sour cream, toasted pumpkin seeds if you can find them or creme fraiche (which I would love to have found). 

Because I felt like we needed a little protein to go with the yummy soup, I decided on sea scallops. Confession, I have never cooked them before. Luckily Cleo is a seafood guru and helped me to make some pretty tasty scallops. 

Originally the thought was to eat the scallops on the side but when it came dinner time, my husband put his scallops in his soup and we all followed suit because it was pretty badass. So kudos to him for having the brilliant idea to do so! 

It takes time to set up and simmer but this soup is awesome when the weather turns colder and you have great produce to take advantage of! Cleo was impressed, the husband had his pumpkin craving satisfied and I got to wear the cow apron so it was a win/win! 

This is how Cleo and I spent the day waiting for the husband to get off work. We went whale watching and saw leopard spotted seals, sea lions, an otter eating some mussels, humpback whales (above) and dolphins (below). She had been whale watching before but didn't see a whale (this was on the east coast) so it was pretty awesome that we got to see so much of the marine life out here in such a short span of time. 

Erm.....

Ok, I suck. Im sorry its been over a week since I posted anything but I promise! In the next few days I will give you the MOST AMAZING recipe for curried pumpkin soup!

I've been hanging out with the hubs, watching How I Met Your Mother and also flying in his sister for a belated surprise birthday present since they rarely get to see each other! Does that count as being busy? I hope so! But I promise in the next few days the soup is on!

Cows and Pumpkins and Stir-fry, Oh My!!

I hope everyone is having a fantastic Labor Day weekend!

For me, this has been a weekend of many firsts! First, I FINALLY got to pet a cow! For those of you who know me personally, you know this is huge. Its epic. Its life changing. I don't quite know where exactly this love of cows started but I see them and they just make me so freaking happy. When my husband was in basic training, I would always be sure to check the cow report on the way home to see if there was a letter from him. On the drive I passed three different cow pastures and if the cows were hanging out at the fence right by the road, it was a good cow report. The further away from the road made it a bad cow report. And strangely (and sadly) enough, the cow report was pretty accurate about whether or not there was a letter waiting in the mailbox. But anyway, the point is that I love cows. (I mean come on, the blog is called The Cow Apron for crying out loud!)

Another first was that I threw my husband an early birthday surprise party. Again, for those that know me, I am awful at keeping secrets about gifts and parties and all that. If I have something for someone, I want to give it to them right then. Forget this waiting crap! I'm in it for instant gratification! So the fact that I went almost two weeks without telling my husband I was throwing him a party was excruciating! And what is a birthday party without a birthday cake! I give you the pumpkin birthday cake:

I got the idea from Pintrest. You bake two cakes in a fluted bunt pan, flip one on top of the other, use an inverted ice cream cone as the stem and slap some frosting on it. For his, I used just M1-A1 spice cake mix from the box with cream cheese frosting. I had to get a little creative on the coloring though since I was out of red food coloring and didn't know it until I went to ice the cake. But I can assure you that in a pinch you can combine yellow with a bit of neon pink food coloring and it will come out orange! 

The party was a success! We had awesome burgers on the grill and hot dogs, tortilla chips shaped like the hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs from playing cards, a little bit of a fire pit going. It was a good time! 

So lets see...thats got us up to date to Sunday morning. 

As a way to wind down from the craziness of the weekend, I decided to do a simple chicken stir-fry for dinner last night. It is easy. Really, really easy. This is perfect for tricking your spouse into thinking that you've spent an hour slaving away over a hot stove when really you've been hanging out in your kitchen looking at Pintrest on your phone, occasionally stirring the pan. 

Chicken Stir-Fry:

chicken (or any meat of your choice, I've also used pork before)

peppers

onions (or in the freezer section of your local grocery store they should have a stir-fry mix)

stir-fry noodles (or rice)

stir-fry sauce 

This was the first time that I used noodles in the stir-fry instead of serving it over rice. I think I'm still on the fence about it but the husband said he really like that a lot better than rice. But its your choice. I grabbed the noodles when I saw them new in the commissary the other day. 

So slice up or dice up your chicken and cook until just about done in a nice big pan over medium high heat. 

If you are using fresh peppers and onions, now would be a good time to slice those up to desired size. If you are using the frozen ones, you could probably take your time getting them out of the freezer. But once the meat is just about done, add the veggies and cook more until they are done or cooked to your desire. 

Once the meat and veggies are done, add your sauce and let that set up for a few minutes in the pan.  The noodles came with a teryaki sauce packet that it said to mix with some water. However, when I shook the packet it sounded like it was just a powdered mix and for some reason that just sketched me out a bit too much so I opted instead for pre-made, liquid, stir-fry sauce. 

The husband was pretty happy with it and has definitely opted for the noodle option in the future. I think I might have added too much sauce but as I sit here typing this, we are eating the leftovers and I just got a "This is really good, baby." So maybe it wasn't too much. 

For the rest of the day we are going to relax and hang out with some friends. Our first labor day with him in the military kind of makes it more personal and special. It will be his first birthday as a soldier and a milestone one at that. I'm really happy that all my scheming and plotting and baking came out as planned and that our friends were here to celebrate! 

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a great Labor Day too!