Soul Soother on a Winter Night

Last week it was so cold that it almost felt like winter was upon us.  When the days get short and cold there is nothing that I like better than a good homemade bowl of soup.  I remember when I was little I would love to come home and smell the scrumptious aroma that would waft out of the kitchen and tempt me to go to the kitchen and see if I could snag a biscuit before supper.  Fall and winter are the perfect time for me to hone in on my soup making skills and with that a need to make biscuits.  No table set with soup is complete without a nice bowl of hot out of the oven biscuits.  Now that I have talked this meal up so much I will share it with you.  If you have the company's coming soups and sandwiches cookbook both the recipes are in there, the biscuits are page 7 and the soup is page 30.

Creamy Carrot Soup

Ingredients

- 4 cups       Peeled and cut up carrot
- 2 cups       Chicken stock
- 1 cup        Chopped Onion


- 3 Tbsp       Butter
- 3 Tbsp       Flour
- 1 tsp        Salt
- 1/8 tsp      Pepper
- 1/4 tsp      Seasoning salt
(optional) -1 tsp curry powder -
- 4 cups       Milk

Preparation

Combine the carrot, chicken stock and onion in a pan.  Cook until the vegetables are tender.  Don't drain the vegetables, cool a bit then run through the blender to puree them.


Melt the butter in a pot, stir in flour, salts, pepper and optional curry.  Add the milk heat and stir until it boils and thickens.  Add the carrot puree bring it back up to heat and serve.
*In the original carrot soup recipe there is no curry in it, it is something my mom always added and it adds a certain flavour that I think makes the soup better.  If curry is not one of your favourite spices then maybe you shouldn't add it but I recommend it for a better soup.*

Biscuits

Ingredients

- 2 cups       All purpose flour
- 4 tsp        Baking powder
- 2 Tbsp       White sugar
- 1 tsp        Salt
- 1/3 cup      Butter


- 3/4 cup      Milk

Preparation

Mix the first 4 ingredients in a bowl.  Cut in the butter until crumbly.


Add the milk.  Stir with a fork or your hands until it forms a ball.  Add a bit more milk id necessary to make a soft dough.  Knead 10 times on a lightly floured surface. Pinch off pieces of dough and form into relatively even balls.  Bake at 425 degrees F for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly golden.  Serve hot out of the oven with soup for a fantastic meal, then save the rest for tomorrow's breakfast. :)

Homemade Pop Tarts

Hi there all those who may be looking for a homemade treat of a childhood favourite.  Recently, when I was cruising the bon appetit website I found this scrumptious recipe.  I made them for a breakfast I recently had and they turned out amazing.  The only alteration I would suggest is to use raspberry jam instead of strawberry since it isn't quite as sweet if you aren't one for something that is overly sweet.

Strawberry Pop Tarts

Ingredients

• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour plus additional for shaping and rolling
• 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 4 tablespoons ice water
• 12 tablespoons strawberry preserves (preferably organic homemade)
• Powdered sugar
• Fresh strawberries

Preparation

• Whisk 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour, coarse salt, and sugar in large bowl. Add butter. Using fingertips or back of fork, blend in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add ice water by tablespoonfuls, tossing until moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball. Divide in half; shape each half into disk. Wrap in plastic. Chill at least 1 hour.
• Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough on floured surface to about 13x11 inches. Trim to 12x10-inch rectangle, then cut into eight 5x3-inch rectangles.
• Arrange 4 rectangles, spaced apart, on each sheet. Spoon 1 1/2 tablespoons preserves in row down center of each rectangle. Top preserves with second dough rectangle. Using fingertips, gently press all edges of each tart to seal; press all edges with tines of fork to double-seal. Using toothpick, poke a few holes in center of top dough rectangle. Cover; freeze tarts on sheets at least 2 hours and up to 1 week.
• Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 375°F. Bake frozen tarts uncovered until golden, reversing sheets after 15 minutes, 25 to 30 minutes total (some preserves may leak out). Immediately transfer tarts to rack. Sift powdered sugar lightly over. Serve warm or at room temperature with fresh berries.