Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

This was an easy soup to make for my boyfriend. I'll update this as I come up with better things to add, but I enjoyed it! He got sick and I wanted to make a soup, but I also wanted something that I could have (and taste). I added too much oregano, but I love adding extra spices so I didn't mind. 

This can easily be made vegan by not adding any cream or milk. I like my soup creamy so I always add almond milk. I had some half & half left over from my mac n cheese recipe, so I figured I would use it up here.

Ingredients:

Plum or Roma Tomatoes

Yellow onion

Garlic

Fresh basil

Half and half (or dairy free milk of your choice) -Optional

Veggie stock -optional

Oregano

Coriander

Paprika

Salt and pepper

Olive oil
Lemon juice
Sugar

Instructions:
1. Wash and cut the tomatoes into halves. Place on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. season with salt and pepper
2. Bake tomatoes in oven at 350 degrees F until cooked/roasted/ or however much you want to cook them. I left mine in for about an hour because I was also cooking something else
3. While the tomatoes are cooking caramelize some yellow onion and garlic in a pan.
4. Once the tomatoes are cooked, take them out and let them sit for a bit to cool.
5. Using a food processor add the tomatoes, onions, garlic, basil, oregano, and a little veggie stock. Puree this mixture. I had a small food processor so I had to do this in batches. I took my puree and put it into a deep skillet after each batch.
6. Once this is done I would recommend putting the mixture into a deep skillet like I was doing before and add in the half and half and more veggie stock depending on your desired thickness. Let this sit on medium-low heat. I only had a small amount of half and half left but I would have liked to add more to make it creamier. This is also where I added my spices, lemon juice, and sugar. The lemon juice and sugar is to keep it form being too bitter.

Homemade Mac N Cheese (not vegan)

Homemade Mac N Cheese

Hello again. Remember when I said I went to a Friends-giving dinner and I had to make food? here is the mac n cheese I made. Definitely NOT vegan. Lots of dairy and I'm proud of it. I took lactase pills- don't worry. I definitely think there's room to improve this recipe but I will figure it out. I also made WAY too much. I had enough for the party. my roommate and I, my boyfriend, and best friend. Let me know what you think?

Ingredients:

Elbow Macaroni (or whatever pasta you want)

Half & Half

Sour Cream

Cream Cheese

Milk (I only had almond milk)

Shredded cheese- sharp cheddar, cheddar jack, white cheddar, Gouda, and parmesan

Garlic

Garlic and Onion Powder

Paprika

Mustard Powder

Salt and pepper

Butter

Instructions:
1. Cook your pasta according to the directions on the box. make sure to take them off right before they are done cause they will cook more later
2. In a pot take a stick of butter and melt it down (add a second stick if you want- I used 2).
3. Add in some chopped garlic and cook that a little.
4. Add in the half and half and some milk and stir.
5. Add in 1 packet of cream cheese and sour cream. Stir. The key is to keep stirring till everything is combined. I also used a whisk to stir.
6. Slowly add in shredded cheeses. Make sure to keep stirring. We don't want clumpy sauce. if you think its getting too thick and the cheese is just getting stretchy. Add in more cream or milk or cream cheese or sour cream or any of the dairy options we have here. This is definitely not a vegan mac n cheese....
7. Once the sauce is done and to your desired thickness. Add in some spices (mustard powder, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika) I kept this batch more bland since it was for a party so I didn't want to experiment too much.
8. Now that the sauce is done. Add in your macaroni and stir gently so you dont break the noodles and you just combine them. I used a spatula and folded the sauce over the noodles carefully.
9. Should be good to eat now unless you want to add anything else. LOL

Optional: place macaroni in a greased casserole dish and add a layer of shredded cheese on top with panko bread crumbs and bake in the oven to get a nice top on the dish.

For my buffalo lovers: Add in some buffalo wing sauce into the cheese sauce and use bleu cheese in the sauce and crumble on top when serving.

FAQ

How much did I make? A LOT
Can you give exact proportions? sure. just remember I made a lot so you can definitely cut back. I know i used 2 sticks of butter, half a container of sour cream, half of the carton of half and half (it was one of the small cartons), almond milk was added to make thinner as needed (so idk this), a huge bag of sharp cheddar and cheddar jack, one block of gouda cheese, one round container of shredded parmesan, one regular sized bag of shredded white cheddar cheese... I also ended up using 2 boxes of elbow macaroni (I probably could have made about 1/2 of another box but I was lazy).
Did you follow a recipe? yes and no. I found some recipes on Pintrest and I modified them I will link the ones I looked at here and here.

Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake (not vegan)

Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake

Hello Friends! It's been awhile. I've been super busy crafting away the past month, but I finally starting cooking/baking again. I made this yummy cheesecake last night and it's for a Friends-giving dinner I am going to tonight. I made it the night before because I heard its better to let it set overnight. I also made some other yummy things last night, but I will share those later. Should I start adding more desserts to my blog? Let me know in the comments.

Ingredients:

1 packet cream cheese

2 eggs

2/3 cups of sugar

1 lemon

1/4 cup of lemon juice

6 oz of rasp berries (I just used one package I dont know how much that is)

almond extract

Agave Syrup

1 graham cracker crust (or make it on your own)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Use an egg wash on your crust and bake for a little in the oven till more brown. About 10 minutes. Use a baking sheet under the pan.
3. in a mixing bowl mix cream cheese and sugar. make sure cream cheese is softened before mixing. It is recommended to use a mixer, but I didn't have one so I did it by hand and it was fine.
4. Add in almond extract, lemon juice, and the zest of one lemon. If you don't want a strong lemon taste then you can add less of this. whisk everything in bowl.
5. Slowly add in eggs to mixture.
6. Pour this into the pan with the crust.
7. Take raspberries in a food processor or blender and puree.
8. Using a strainer strain the puree to separate the seeds. Feel free to add sugar to this mixture. I added sugar and agave syrup.
9. Using a spoon drizzle this raspberry mixture on top of the cheesecake. I used a knife and made a little design with the puree.
10. Carefully place the cheesecake in the oven and bake for 30-45 minutes until filling is cooked.
11. Once done let cheesecake cool for 3 hours or chill overnight before serving.

Enjoy!
Here's the link to the recipe I was sort of following.