Roasted Tomato Soup

Balsamic vinegar is one of my top favorite ingredients to cook with. The recipe below is one of my perennial favorites. I don't like sweet tomato soup or tomato soup that tastes like spaghetti sauce but the tanginess of this soup makes it a big hit with me. I got this recipe from someone else so I don't know who the original creator is. I made a minor modification in the recipe: it originally called for 1/2 cup of olive oil divided (for tomato mixture and for cooking onion) and I found that to be too much and reduced it to 1/4 cup, sometimes less.

12 large, ripe tomatoes, about 4 lbs (2 kg) total or 3 large (28oz) cans whole tomatoes, drained.
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
12 large garlic cloves, peeled but left whole
kosher salt and ground pepper
1 cup finely chopped yellow onion
2 cups water
1/2 to 1 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves (based on how much basil you like)

1) Preheat the oven to 500 F (260 C)
2) If using fresh tomatoes: core the tomatoes and quarter them lengthwise. If using canned tomatoes: drain the juice and slice in half lengthwise. In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes, oil, vinegar, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Spread the tomatoes on a nonreactive baking sheet (a glass casserole pan or stainless steel pan is fine). Roast the tomatoes in the oven until there are very dark spots, about 35-40 min. Remove from heat and let cool.
3) In large saucepan over medium heat, cook the onion in 1 tablespoon olive oil until very soft, 8-10 min, stirring occasionally. Raise the heat to high and add the roasted tomatoes and water. Bring to a simmer and adjust the heat to maintain the simmer, and cook 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4) Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Put in the basil leaves and puree in the pot with an immersion blender (or work in batches with a blender). Wear an apron!

Eat with croutons, side of salad, or grilled cheese sandwiches. Yum!

Note: I tried this with basil leaves one time and omitted it the next time and we prefer this soup without the basil leaves. It's up to you. The recipe says to spread the tomatoes in the pan to roast but I dump the entire mixture in a pan with sides so as to cook in the balsamic vinegar. I did say balsamic vinegar is one of my favorite ingredients, right?

Gluten-Free Challenge

I have to say that it's a bit frustrating to cook here. Well, more than just a bit because of the celiac issue. I know eventually I'll get the hang of it and have a collection of recipes to cook from which won't require so many ingredients either unavailable here or unavailable as gluten-free (such as soy sauce). On top of that, it's been frustrating to feed a stubborn, picky 2-year-old. I have been spending hours researching recipes, substitutions for ingredients, and finding recipes to make ingredients from scratch like worcestershire sauce, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, brown sugar, vanilla extract, etc.

There aren't a lot of gluten-free flours and other GF ingredients available here. I can find GF pasta, hazelnut meal, all-purpose GF flour, bread (which is dry and hard to swallow), corn starch, and maybe some other products that I never used in the States anyway. I need a lot more than that, namely xanthan gum. It acts like gluten does and provides the elasticity needed for soft, spongy bread.

I ran out of gluten-free oatmeal that I brought from the states so that left me with very little to choose from for breakfast. It's challenging to find breakfast foods that can last me a long time. Fruit and yogurt doesn't always cut it and I end up needing a snack before lunchtime. Fortunately, I was able to buy a crockpot last week from a family here so now I can make porridge from brown rice for breakfast.

A couple of weeks ago, I tried to make ranch salad dressing from scratch with fresh ingredients. It wasn't terrible but the recipe wasn't worth keeping. I used what is basically sourish watered down yogurt for the tart milk-based liquid ("ayran," a popular drink here) for the dressing but it was too runny. It wasn't until after the dressing was made that I realized that I could've used plain yogurt. What I didn't like was the tons of veggies left over:

The small pile closest to the knife was all I needed for the dressing. The green onions are bundled together in such a single, large item so I had to buy the whole thing. I ended up chopping the rest of the green onions and freezing them. The white container to the right was filled to the brim. It'll be good in omelets and as toppings on salads.

I also learned how to make crepes which can be a good breakfast (with scrambled egg stuffed in it - if I could eat eggs) and dessert with jam inside the crepes. I just found a recipe for raisins and bananas in crepes with vanilla ice cream scoops on top. Delish.

Anyway, for now, I will just have to make simple dinners like steamed veggies and rice. My mom is mailing me a couple of packages of GF stuff so life might get a little easier once the packages (hopefully) arrive.

**EDIT**
After hours of reading and searching, I finally came up with a menu plan for the next 5 days or so. Take a gander:

Ratatouille
Balsamic Veggies with Pasta (a variation of my friend's recipe at scarbroughkitchen-dot-blogspot-com)
Mediterranean Chicken with Vinegar Roasted Peppers
Zucchini Fritters with something else on the side
Curried Tomato Lentil Soup
Lemon Yogurt Cake

(Recipes are from kitchenparade-dot-com, glutenfreegoddess-dot-blogspot-dot-com, allrecipes-dot-com, cookitallergyfree-dot-com. Let me know if you want to know where a recipe is specifically from).

Banana Yum-Yum and Two

I made some gluten-free banana muffins yesterday. They're a big hit with A. I have literally had to hide them from her. Here's my favorite recipe for all youse who know gluten-free peeps and can pass along:

Gluten- Free Banana Bread

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup canola oil

3 medium ripe bananas, mashed

2 eggs

2 cups sorghum flour

1/2 tsp GF baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3 tbsp milk

1 tsp GF vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup finely ground pecans

1) Preheat to 350 degrees. With an electric mixer, beat sugar and oil. Add eggs one at a time and beat until smooth. Add mashed bananas and mix well.

2) In separate bowl, sift together sorghum flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry mixture gradually to the wet banana mixture, beat until combined.

3) Next, add milk, vanilla extract, and cinnamon; beat until mixed well. Fold in pecans. Bake in a loaf pan for 35-40 minutes until an inserted knife comes out dry and clean. For muffins, bake for 25-30 minutes. 

*Note: you can substitute the sorghum flour with something else. Sorghum flour is sweeter than most gluten-free flours so it's used often for baking sweets. I have used flours from beans and rice and they make the banana bread taste different so you will need to experiment. 

Credit: (I've been using this recipe for over two years and can't remember when I got it from; possibly from www-dot-celiac-dot-com.)

A little quick sewing project tonight: an applique on a shirt for A's second birthday next week. I know every mom says this about their own child and I will say it, too: "I can't believe she's turning two!"

Sorry for the yellowish tint -
I usually sew at night and take pictures of my projects at night.
At least you can make out the "2".