Matt Cooking Stuff, Recipes

Grown-Up Grilled Cheese and Tomapple Soup

Tomatoes + apples + soup = tomapple soup. It’s fall and that means all is food is so much better with apple or pumpkins added. It doesn’t matter what it is. I even put pumpkins in meatloaf. Anyway, the soup is easy, and really good. I’m not a huge fan of tomato soup, but I really liked this one! Pair it with a nice grilled cheese sandwich with bacon and grilled onions and it’s a winner of a meal.

I made a few changes to the sandwich recipe though. Instead of sharp cheddar I used shredded mozzarella. And instead of red onion, I used regular white onions. We always use turkey bacon instead of regular bacon too. Nothing against bacon bacon, we just don’t buy it often. And for the bread, I used fresh Japanese bakery bread which we love. But I’ve used regular wheat before. But I think the lighter, fluffier, and thicker the bread, the better the sandwich will be.

RECIPES:

Tomato Apple Soup

Grown-Up Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Matt Cooking Stuff, Recipes

Fast Chicken Chili

Bacon, tomato, and Swiss cheese sandwiches with fast chicken chili. Not only did Aya and I like this, but my mother-in-law from Japan loved this too! Quick, easy, and high powered flavor. You can’t go wrong. To make it a little less spicy for Ellie I used mild green chilies and lessened the amount of cayenne pepper. I didn’t have a lime of cilantro for garnish, but that would really have added a nice touch of flavor.

RECIPES:

Fast Chicken Chili

Matt Cooking Stuff, Recipes

Stuffed Pepper Soup and Turkey, Apple, and Swiss Melt

So many garden green peppers to use up! Easy recipe and great on a fall day. The turkey sandwich was a nice balance. We loved this meal!

RECIPES:

Turkey Apple and Swiss Melt

Stuffed Pepper Soup

1 c chopped onion
1/4 c celery
1 clove garlic, minced
2 c green pepper, chopped
1/2 lb  lean ground beef,
1 – 16oz can crushed tomatoes
1/2 c tomato juice (I use 4 oz tomato sauce)
1/4 c uncooked white rice
3 c water
1T chopped fresh parsley
2 t sugar (takes the tomato bitterness away)
1 t salt ( to taste )
1 t black pepper

Saute onion, celery, garlic and green pepper til tender but not brown. Stir beef into vegs, cook til beef is brown. Stir in rice.  Add tomatoes, juice, water, parsley, sugar salt and pepper. Cover and simmer 45 min or til rice is cooked. Adjust liquid as necessary.

I doubled the recipe and added more salt.  I also let it simmer for about 1 hr and 15 minutes.

Matt Cooking Stuff, Recipes

Eggplant Chili

This isn’t a vegetarian chili, it’s just a chili with eggplant in it. It’s called for ground beef, but I used ground turkey instead. I have to say, this was really good! And not good for a chili with eggplant in it, but just a really good chili recipe. The eggplant adds a good subtle flavor and a nice texture. And definitely a different way to use up some of our garden eggplants.

RECIPES:

Eggplant Chili

Matt Cooking Stuff, Recipes

Tequila Lime Pork Sliders and Corn Soup w/ Crab

When I picked this slider recipe, I really had something different in my mind. I wasn’t expecting the BBQ sauce thing even though the recipe clearly states and has directions for making a BBQ sauce. I don’t know what I was thinking. However, these were really good pulled pork sandwiches, just not my favorite. The recipe did have you put cole slaw on top which I’ve never done before on a pulled pork, but I really liked.

So far my favorite is a blend. This meat and rub recipe from Cooking Light, and Neely’s sauce from the Food Network.

This was my first attempt at corn soup and I made one changes that I think drastically changed the flavor. I didn’t spend the $18 a pound on king crab and used imitation crab meat. So the flavor of the soup was a little flat and kind of boring. So this is probably worth another try, but my next corn soup endeavor will be a different recipe.

RECIPES:

Tequila Lime Pork Sliders

Chilled Fresh Corn Soup w/ King Crab