Roasted Tomato & Eggplant Soup

This recipe was kind of a spur-of-the-moment decision, but I’m pretty pleased with how it came out. Last night my roommate Emily came home with Creamy Tomato soup from Panera Bread and all of a sudden I found myself craving tomato soup. I’ve been attempting to post twice a week nowadays, usually on Tuesdays and Fridays, but I hadn’t thought of what to make for today (Tuesday) yet. That’s where tomato soup comes in!

This soup was influenced by a few different recipes. Last year I tried Au Bon Pain’s Eggplant Soup and found it surprisingly delicious. I’ve always loved tomato soup, but found the addition of eggplant enticing. One of the best tomato soups I’ve had in a while was at a local restaurant a town over from me. Back in September, when I had my wisdom teeth out, I couldn’t eat much other than soup and mashed potatoes. I was tired of eating soup, but found this restaurant’s tomato soup especially delicious. It was chunkier than usual and tasted like it had cheddar cheese cooked into it.

Soup also appealed to me today because I have the most horrible canker sore on the side of my tongue right now. Yesterday it was pretty painful, so I figured today it’d be starting to heal. Instead I woke up and it had just about doubled in size and was so painful I could barely eat anything. Even just swallowing or talking hurts. Not fun. After taking some medicine, my tongue feels a bit better but solid or tough food is still kind of out of the question for now.

If you are a tomato lover, you will love this soup. Roasting tomatoes brings out an incredible sweetness that you can’t really get with raw tomatoes. The roasted eggplant adds a nice, mellow flavor and the soup is finished off with some fire-roasted bell peppers. I chose to add some light cream and cheese to my soup, but you can eliminate these things if you’re looking for a soup that’s dairy-free (as well as vegan). This soup is comforting and will help keep you warm for these last few weeks of winter. It could even double as a pasta or pizza sauce!

Roasted Tomato & Eggplant Soup
makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

• Two large tomatoes, cored, seeds removed, and cut into quarters
• 1 eggplant, stem removed and sliced in half length-wise
• 1/2 of 1 sweet onion, cut into large chunks
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 28-oz can peeled or diced tomatoes
• 1 small (6 or 12 oz.) jar roasted red peppers
• handful of fresh basil, roughly chopped
• 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• optional: 1/2 cup light cream or half and half
• optional: 1/4 cup cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400ºF. Lightly spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and arrange your tomatoes, eggplant, and onion chunks on top. To prevent garlic cloves from burning, insert into cored tomatoes (see photo below for reference). Drizzle veggies with olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper.
2. Roast your veggies for 30-40 minutes, or until the tomatoes have begun to collapse and eggplant is starting to shrivel. Remove from oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes.
3. In a large sauce pan, combine your peeled/diced tomatoes, roasted red peppers, basil, chicken/vegetable broth, and red pepper flakes. Once your roasted veggies have cooled slightly, add them to the sauce pan as well.
4. Use an immersion blender to blend the veggies to your desired consistency. (Or, alternatively, transfer the veggies to a blender and then return to sauce pan.)
5. Heat the soup to low and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until hot. Stir in cream and cheese, if using. Serve with an extra sprinkle of cheese or your favorite type of bread and enjoy

After cutting up your veggies, place them on a lightly greased baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil on top and season with salt and pepper. Nestle your garlic cloves inside the tomatoes, as shown in the photo. Roast for 30-40 minutes.

Once your veggies are finished roasting, let them cool for 5-10 minutes.

Gently remove the skin from your eggplant. Grab a small chunk at the end of it and it should peel off rather easily.

Place your roasted veggies into a large sauce pan, along with the canned tomatoes, roasted red peppers, chicken/veggie broth, chopped basil, and red pepper flakes.

Using an immersion or regular blender, blend the soup to your desired consistency. (If you cook a lot and are considering getting an immersion blender, buy one. seriously. best thing ever.)

Heat sauce over low heat for 10-15 minutes, or until hot. Stir in cream and cheese, if using.

Serve with an extra sprinkle of cheese and some basil.

Twice-Baked Sweet Potato Casserole

This post was originally meant to be a Superbowl recipe, but I had an extra busy weekend and wasn’t able to get on the ball in time (no pun intended… kind of. ha.) There were a couple nights over the past week when I would have had time to cook this dish and take photos, but I really need daylight to take the type of photos I prefer. This winter has been a bit of a struggle for me in that regard – during the shortest days of the year here in Massachusetts, it starts getting dark around 3:30 or 4 and all of the good daylight is gone for photo-taking. Luckily, the days are getting longer and giving me more of an opportunity to cook dinner at a reasonable hour, instead of noon like I have been. I love winter, but not the short days that come with it.

Recently I’ve been posting more indulgent recipes than usual and I’d like to get back to the focus of this blog (healthy eating), so I’ve decided to share a lightened up version of a classic.

Twice-baked potatoes have always been one of my favorites. Growing up, my dad (the foodie) would make them all fancy with Gruyère cheese and good quality bacon. When I was in college, I tried a friend’s twice-baked potato casserole and fell in love. It’s pretty much what it sounds like – the filling of the potatoes, sans the skin. It was then that I learned when you combine sour cream, cream cheese, and cheddar cheese, something magical happens. An irrestible flavor is created, similar to the base of buffalo chicken dip – tangy, salty, and cheesy.

But, I digress. In order to lighten up this dish, I made a few changes. First, I swapped out regular potatoes for sweet potatoes. I used a combination of Greek yogurt and reduced-fat sour cream, as well as reduced-fat cream cheese. Turkey bacon is substituted for regular pork bacon, and I cut the amount of cheddar cheese in half. I wouldn’t go so far as to say this casserole is guilt-free, but it will certainly save you a good amount of calories and fat. This dish is still full with flavor, and makes the perfect side dish or could even be eaten as a dip with veggies.

Technically I shouldn’t call this dish “twice baked”, because I actually boiled the potatoes beforehand. But if you prefer to bake your potatoes, go right ahead.

Twice-Baked Sweet Potato Casserole
makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients:

• 2.5 lbs. (or about 4-5 medium) sweet potatoes, peeled
• 2 Tbsp butter (optional)
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 oz. reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup non-fat or low-fat Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
• 5 slices turkey bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1/4 cup chopped scallions or chives
• 1 cup reduced-fat cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. After peeling the potatoes, cut them into large chunks and place in a large pot with just enough boiling water to cover them. Cook for 10-15 minutes, or until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork.
2. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Drain the potatoes and return them to the pot. Using a potato masher (or fork), mash the potatoes to desired consistency. Stir in butter, if using.
3. Add all remaining ingredients to the mashed potatoes, reserving about 1/4 cup of the cheddar cheese, and a small handful of scallions and turkey bacon crumbles. Stir until well-combined.
4. Transfer potato mixture to a greased 8 x 8 ” casserole dish. Sprinkle remaining cheddar cheese on top and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until cheese is melty and golden-brown. Serve with extra scallions and turkey bacon.

Boil your potatoes.

mash ‘em

don’t forget your bacon like I almost did!

Add all remaining ingredients to potatoes, reserving a bit of cheese, scallions, and bacon. Stir together until combined.

Transfer your sweet potato mixture to a greased 8 x 8″ casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese and bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes.

When the potatoes come out of the oven, top with leftover scallions and turkey bacon and enjoy

Unfortunately, before I got a chance to take photos of the final product, I dropped my favorite camera lens and broke it As I was going to pick up my camera from the kitchen counter, the strap got hooked on a drawer knob and I did not react quickly enough to catch it as it smashed onto the ground. I’m glad it wasn’t my camera that broke and I do have another lens, but the one that broke was the one I use for all of the photos on this blog. This makes a sad, sad Hannah. I’m not sure when I’ll have the money for a new lens, so I apologize in advance if my photos over the next few weeks/months aren’t quite up to par with what they usually are.