Summer Kitchen Must Haves!

With it being summer, I notice I cook quite a bit with tomatoes and chili peppers of different assortments so here are my kitchen must haves this summer...

Jalapeno peppers... I enjoy them so much I went and bought an almost totally mature patio plant so I don't have to buy them.

Tomatoes... same thing, bought a patio assortment of them

Limes... I love to use them in soups and salsas for a very clean taste but also in drinks like cranberry ginger ale cocktails, fresh lemon-lime aid etc.

Lemons- I often just use the lemons for the zest but again, we all love lemonade in the house, I like to make lemon drink with soda water, lemons and honey

tortilla shells- for wraps and semi home made chips

Parsley... I LOVE this herb so much that I also am growing it, I garnish with it, cook with it, add it to raw dishes etc. It adds a great color and taste to almost all dishes. I have even been known to add it to home made mac and cheese

Low fat cream cheese... you would be amazed at what you can use this with and it gives your non diet side a creamy solution with a low fat appeal. Once in a while I just want something extra and I garnish a lot of soups and salsas with it.

Celery- I can't stand to eat celery as is, just like tomatoes but I do love to cook with it, especially in soups. Throughout my blogging here you will probably find a ton of soup recipes by winter because I could literally live on it! I use celery always in my soups. so it is more of a annual must have.

Apples... Apples are great for the kids to snack on and to make last minute meals that aren't fattening but sure do taste it. My kids love it when I bake apple slices and though I use butter, I only use a little bit and we don't have to feel guilty.

Other than that, I just wing it for the most part. Go with what you feel, what do you find yourself buying a lot in the summer? Hopefully you will start to be buying a lot more fresh produce and annoying the poor cashiers with all your buys :)

Corn Salsa

Yet another hit with my guests at any get together... I got this from a spa recipe, altered it just a hair and it is great to serve with the tomato and chili pepper soup!

1 can of corn
1 can of diced, stewed tomatoes (you will drain and blend them)
1/2 cup small diced jalapeno peppers
1/2 cup finely diced red onions
2 Roma tomatoes diced in small bits
1/4 cup lime juice, fresh if possible
2 tbs cilantro or parsley (I prefer parsley because I don't like the taste of cilantro)
1/2 tsp pepper
Salt to taste

Drain the corn, then in a cake pan or what ever you want to use, put some olive oil to coat the bottom, dump the corn out and spread it out evenly to roast at 350 degrees for about ten minutes (at least until it looks like the edges are getting a little tougher)

Drain the stewed tomatoes as much as possible, then blend for only a few seconds to have a thick paste like consistency. Don't really worry about what it does or doesn't look like, you just want the slimy chunks to be more paste like.

Chop ALL of the ingredients but the corn of course because that is roasting, juice a fresh lime if you have one (a tip for juicing a lime... cut in half, stab a fork in it and cup the lime half with one hand, hold fork with other and just twist the fork around in side over a bowl. No need for fancy gadgetry, or just use the juice in a bottle.

Put all ingredients in a small bowl, dump lime juice over it and stir.

Once the corn is done, dump that in, you will most likely have to scrape it out, as it will naturally stick to many pans. Cover and place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, you can serve right away but it is better if let sitting a bit to absorb all the flavors!

TORTILLA CHIPS:

Buy small sized tortilla shells depending on how many guests you have make that many shells.
Don't be afraid to get messy here, this is the fun of cooking. Put some oil on a plate, stick your hand in it and barely coat the shell on both sides. You can just set the shell in the oil but I find that makes them too heavily coated. Once they are done on both and you have made as many as you want, stack them, slice them like pizza wedges, spread them out on a baking sheet and season. You can use anything you want. We like garlic salt or Lawyrys seasoned salt, but the possibilities are endless. Bake for only a few minutes on 350, be sure to check them as they will burn quickly. Once they are a nice golden brown and some will bubble up, don't worry, you can remove them. Make as many as you need

You can also add more tomatoes and go ahead and blend one or two in a blender or food processor if you like a more runny salsa.

Tomato and chili pepper soup (not spicey)

This recipe is not my own but all of my friends and I love it! When ever I have a get together I make it and rarely do I ever have left overs. If you love home made soups you will love this and I hate eating tomatoes but I can eat this soup until I want to bust, it is very healthy for you and is a great alternative to those awful tasting weight loss cabbage soups that you NEVER want to eat after the first bowl.

Soup
Flour Tortilla shells (small size)
1 tbs Olive oil
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/2cup of an Anaheim chili pepper (Finely chopped)
1/2cup of a jalapeno chili pepper (finely chopped)
1 tbs. minced garlic
1/2 cup diced celery
3 pounds fresh tomatoes (I actually use two cans of stewed tomatoes and three fresh roma's)
2 cups vegetable stock, I have used water and it is perfectly fine so long as you season your soup just a little more with something you like.
1/2 cup fresh finely chopped parsley
1 tbs fresh lime juice
salt to taste
2 tbs chopped chives for garnish
2 tbs green onions for garnish


In a medium saute pan, put olive oil, onion, both chili peppers and celery and saute until tender.

In a blender blend tomatoes until you have a soupy texture. Once the sauteed items are done, take half of the mixture and add to the blender, blend that into the tomato mix as well. Once that is done, dump in a good sized soup pot. Add the vegetable stock. If you are using water, I recommend seasoning with something like a low sodium seasoning salt, or Mrs. Dash or something from the health food store.

Be creative, taste it as you go and add until it tastes right to you. Soup is not a rigid thing to make, you can go crazy or bland it is entirely up to you!

Cook on low heat for about a half an hour.

Tortilla chips:
While you are simmering the soup and stirring it once and a while, take some more olive oil and very lightly oil both sides of a tortilla shell. Do this to about 4 shells. Then season with again your favorite seasoning, I like to just use some garlic powder or Mrs. Dash original blend.

Place them on a cookie sheet or baking stone and bake until golden, don't let them get brown at all, they will be too tough. Sometimes you will want to poke a few holes with a fork in them as they will bubble up as they bake.

Once they are done, stack them when they are cool enough to handle and take a pizza cutter and cut strips as thick or thin as you want. Then cut them in half as you will be using them in your soup.

Chop your chives and green onions too.

I take my ramekins and put shredded Mexican cheese in one, some low fat sour cream in another and the onions and chives in another and just throw spoons in each and let everyone use what they want to dress their soup. Then I put the tortilla chips I just made in a larger bowl and by then the soup is ready to go.

If you want your soup to have more heat to it, add more peppers and make a day or two ahead of time. This allows the heat from the seeds to meld with the flavors of the soup, I personally love hot food, so the longer I can let it sit in the fridge the happier I am!

Enjoy!

PS, lime marinated shrimp and corn salsa also go great in the soup, look for those recipes next!