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Angie's Show and Tell Day with a Spicy Roasted Red Pepper Soup, 70s Toys That Would Poke An Eye Out, Inappropriate Candy Cigarettes, and a Beautiful Kaffe Fasset Quilt!! 

1/7/2017

 
So this week turned out to be a
​little frosty, eh?!
.
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Always nice to drink a warm comforting tonic first thing
in the morning though.

This is a mug of warm water with:
Juice of One Lemon
3/4 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. turmeric
1 Tbsp. Raw Honey
One dash Cayenne Pepper
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Something else warming up the inside spaces is this dehydrator with beef jerky drying in it.
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Here's the recipe I used. 
It's called Jerky Lover's Jerky - Sweet, Hot, and Spicy

​Quick note: The recipe as written will handle
THREE lbs. of meat, not just ONE lb.

​I made 26 lbs of beef total this season.
26 lbs!!!!


After all that beef dried in the dehydrator, it netted like 18 pieces.


Exaggeration a bit but still,
​

they shrink like the old Shrinky Dinks from the 70s.

​
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Remember those??? Remember burning yourself on the oven and pan?





​
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​Frankly I don't remember my Ma (or anybody's Ma) ever being this excited to help kids shrink dinks in the oven in the 70s. :)



​

​

But hey, at least those same 70s parents made up for it by letting us kids blow giant super elastic bubble plastic balloons that I'm sure had
​
no toxicity in them whatsoever.
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And what about the Click Clacks...aka Clackers.
Man, I LOVED THOSE THINGS!!
Did you know they were banned? Cause they broke up into little shards of glass. Probably poked someone's eye out, too.



​

But I digress, let's get to what this post is really about:
Roasted Red Pepper Soup!

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Do you like spicy? This soup is spicy! ​
It's also super healthy, has delicious flavor and is packed full of red peppers.
​Red peppers are full of vitamin C and are an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.


The spiciness comes from that ONE lone jalapeno,
​which gets seeded and deveined even.
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If you want less heat, just use ***HALF*** a jalapeno.


​
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This recipe is
from the
Better Homes and Gardens Publication

Soups & Stews.


​This mag is on newstands right now.

Roasted Garlic and Red Pepper Soup
​From Better Homes and Gardens Soups & Stews Publication 2016

Ingredients
  • 2 whole garlic bulbs
  • 1 large onion, sliced
  • 1 tablespoon snipped fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 4 large red sweet peppers
  • 1/3 cup firmly packed stemmed fresh parsley sprigs
  • 1/3 cup firmly packed stemmed fresh basil leaves
  • 1 fresh jalapeno chile pepper, seeded and chopped* Angie's note: Use only 1/2 jalapeno for kids
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • Bottled hot pepper sauce
  • 1 32 ounce carton chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup half-and-half or light cream
  • Shredded fresh basil (optional)
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Cut off the top 1/2 inch of the garlic bulbs to expose ends of individual cloves. Leaving garlic bulbs whole, remove any loose, papery outer layers. Place bulbs, cut ends up, and onion in a small baking dish. Sprinkle with rosemary; drizzle with oil. Quarter sweet peppers lengthwise; remove stems, seeds, and membranes. Place peppers, cut sides down, on a foil-lined baking sheet. Roast garlic,onion, and sweet peppers for 20 to 25 minutes or until garlic feels soft when squeezed and peppers are charred and very tender.
  2. Bring foil up around peppers and fold edges together to enclose. Let stand about 15 minutes or until cool enough to handle. Using a sharp knife, loosen edges of skins; gently pull off skins in strips and discard. When garlic is cool enough to handle, squeeze garlic paste from individual cloves. Discard skins.
  3. In a blender or food processor combine garlic paste, onion, sweet peppers, parsley, basil leaves, jalapeno pepper, black pepper, crushed red pepper, and hot pepper sauce. Cover and blend or process until nearly smooth. Add 1 cup of the broth; cover and blend or process until smooth.
  4. Pour pureed mixture into a large saucepan. Stir in the remaining broth and the half-and-half. Cook over medium-low heat until warm. If desired, top servings with shreded basil.


​So
let's start this soup by roasting two full heads of garlic and an onion.
Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with fresh rosemary and pop in the oven.
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After about 20-30 minutes the garlic bulbs and onions are roasted.
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​

​
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Okay, so I should have kept the bulbs in longer cause when I popped them out of their paper,

they certainly weren't of a
"paste" consistency,
but they were roasted and soft.






 I threw the quartered red peppers in to roast and
blister up...

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​I stuck the roasted peppers in a plastic baggie for ten minutes so it would be easy to remove the skins...
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​
A bowl of yummy smoky, roasted sweet peppers
just waiting to go into soup.

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I prepped the remaining ingredients...

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​



Because I have attention issues, I arranged everything on the counter in an effort to stay focused when blending the ingredients in the correct order.
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​



So basically all that arranging was a waste of time, you pretty much throw everything in the blender at the same time except the chicken stock.
By the way, throw the stock in the blender at this time too, otherwise the blender will just gum up with the peppers and such.
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​

And this is the base for your soup!
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​
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Throw
​the soup base into a pan on the stove on medium-low heat.






Pour in the remaining chicken stock (I used vegetable stock cause I wanted this to be completely vegetarian) and the
half-and-half (I used whole milk).


​


​
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Heat until warm.

The soup will regain it's sharp red color as it heats up.







Fill up a bowl and grab a couple biscuits
​to dunk.
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Now this recipe as directed is SPICY, due to the whole albeit de-seeded jalapeno. Tim and I loved this!!
HOWEVER if you have little kiddos, DIAL DOWN THE JALAPENO SPICE BY HALF!! 
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​
This is such a super healthy soup.

If made with vegetarian broth instead of chicken broth,
this is a completely vegetarian dish.
Having said that I do think chicken broth adds a 
wonderful warming flavor addition.


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​I hope you try out this soup recipe sometime!




So remember when we were discussing the toys of the 70s our moms bought us?
Well...
Remember these??




And of course we played with all those toys up above with these hanging off our childhood lips.
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​Now, if you were a girl in the 70s,
besides playing Rock em Sock em Robots with candy cigs hanging out of our mouths, 
does anyone remember wearing these capes???
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This is me.  In my pink cape.
​c 1972 ish
My mom made this. It was lined with a white satin type of material if I remember correctly. 
​

Oh how I loved it!

I mean LOVED it.

Wore it everywhere.

Look at those buttons, so cute!!

It looks like I have a button on the end of my nose and am hoarding them in my cheeks too.


​




​Anyway, this isn't the 70s anymore,
so my Ma makes me QUILTS instead of capes now!
This quilt is in the guest bedroom.
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​This is the quilt opened up.
Isn't it gorgeous??!!!!!!!
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​

​I love the jelly roll pattern, so fun and fresh.
I asked mom for bright oranges, turquoises, yellows, greens, you know, happy colors! 
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She nailed it with this Kaffe Fassett fabric! 
I LOVE Kaffe Fassett fabric!!!!! It feels sooooo rich, luxurious, and the
different patterns and colors he designs is visually breathtaking!
​Modern, fresh. Speaks to his many travels.


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​

Here's the real kicker though,
Ma does all her own quilting, too!

​
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​Now my Ma is not a flashy or flamboyant person at all,
​she's very modest and humble,
​especially when it comes to the beautiful work she does.





​​

Dear Ma,

IT'S *MY* BLOG AND I CAN SHOW PICTURES OF MY BEAUTIFUL QUILT IF
​I WANT TO!! 

So there.

Love,
Angie

P.S. I burned the top of my hand on Kim's Easy-Bake Oven one day when I wasn't supposed to be playing with it. 

P.P.S. That yellow and orange Barbie camper was the best all time present ever. I can still smell how the plastic smelled on the back fold-down table.

P.P.S. Um. Candy cigarettes?   ????     ?????






Okay Friends, that's all I got for today!!!!
Stay tuned for another riveting blog post where I share a baked chicken thigh recipe that tastes JUST LIKE fried chicken out of a pan! 


I know, right!! 

Thanks for checking in!!!!

Have a good rest of the weekend y'all
and we'll talk at ya soon!!












​

Helloooooo, I'm Back!!!! Sweet Harvest Moment and A Stuffed Chicken Breast That You Will Want To Make, You're Welcome.

1/2/2017

 
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​Well hello there, Friends!!!!

Picture
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Thanks for checking in!!!

Hungry?

Want a recipe that's nice and easy?

Easy on the waistline too?
​
And doesn't require a hundred million ingredients?


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Roasted Red Pepper
and Prosciutto
Stuffed ​Chicken Breasts!



​
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Inside each of these rollups
is provolone cheese,
spinach,
roasted red pepper
and
​prosciutto.

I've made these probably 5 or 7 times in the last 3 months. ​
Tim loves them!

This recipe is straight outta  Skinnytaste website.
Click on that link there ^^^ and it will take you directly to the recipe! 


​
If you're not familiar with Gina Homolka's popular food website and blog, check it out!

​She has two popular cookbooks out.
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Amazon.com
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Amazon.com
Roasted Red Pepper and Prosciutto Stuffed Chicken
​Straight outta www.skinnytaste.com

Go straight to the Skinnytaste website to print off the recipe!

Ingredients:
  • 8 thin chicken cutlets, 3 oz each
  • 4 (2.8 oz) slices thin lean prosciutto, sliced in half
  • 4 slices reduced fat provolone or mozzarella, sliced in half (Sargento)
  • 8 slices (2.5 oz) roasted peppers (packed in water or homemade)
  • 24 fresh baby spinach leaves (about 1 oz)
  • 1/2 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
  • 1 lemon, juice of
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • salt and fresh pepper
  • olive oil non-stick spray
Directions:
Wash and dry the chicken cutlets well with paper towels. 
Combine breadcrumbs in one bowl and in a second bowl mix the olive oil, lemon juice, and pepper.
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Lightly spray a baking dish with non-stick spray.
Place each cutlet on a work surface such as a cutting board and lay 1/2 slice prosciutto, 1/2 slice cheese, 1 slice of roasted pepper and 3 spinach leaves on one side of the chicken cutlet.  
Roll and place seam side down on a dish (no toothpicks needed). Repeat with the remaining chicken.  
Dip the chicken in the lemon oil mix, then into the breadcrumbs to coat and place on the baking dish; when done spray the top of the chicken with olive oil or cooking spray.
Bake 25 – 30 minutes.
Serve immediately.
FYI: One of the nice things about Gina's Skinnytaste website is she lists
nutritional values at the beginning of all her recipes. Check them out on her page.



​
So these are the fixins you'll need for the
​Roasted 
Red Pepper and Prosciutto Stuffed Chicken.
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Now this is the prosciutto I used, La Quercia brand. ​
La Quercia an award winning, nationally known company based out of
Norwalk, Iowa y'all!!


Prosciutto is an Italian dry-cured ham, thinly sliced,
like paper thin.

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​You can find prosciutto in the cooler section of your grocery by the bacon
or by the specialty cheeses. 

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                    I buy the "Applewood Smoked"
​when I can find it.




So the recipe calls for roasted red peppers out of a JAR. 

Well,
I always roast my own red peppers.
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​So I olive oiled up the red pepper...


​
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​And stuck it on the grill...







​
​
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​

I still had hope...









​

​
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​Uh yeah


no.




So I roasted another PEPPER up on my stovetop.
And then took off the charred skin and scooped out the seeds and veins and then sliced it for the chicken rollups.



Next I filleted the chicken breasts...they were too thick.
I could have pounded them but just filleted them into cutlets instead.

​
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​ I set everything out to make the assebly easy.




Layer the chicken breast fillet with prosciutto, then provolone, then red pepper and finally spinach leaves.



Get the next station ready...the olive oil, lemon juice and pepper mix and the breadcrumbs. 
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​
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So I read the reviews on this recipe and a couple people mentioned salt and peppering the cutlets at this time.

​So I did.





​
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Then roll them in the brumb crumbs and lay them seam side down in the pan.



​They bake quick.
About 30 minutes!
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And
they come out of the oven oozing some of that smoky provolone...
yum!



Red Alert: DO NOT OVERCOOK THESE!
Disclaimer: Spoken by experience.


​
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Tim's comments on this stuffed chicken breast were,
(and I'm quoting)
​
"Tasted like a cheese thing, crispy provolone, crispy part."
​

Then he just kept eating.

The sweetness of the red pepper, the smokiness of the provolone and the combo prosciutto and spinach really gave this dish a wonderful flavor.
That is why I have made it several times over the last couple months.
And the lemon juice-olive oil mix was brilliant!




Now here's the thing...the recipe calls for eight cutlets.
Both Tim and I ate two rollups each for dinner.
​
Coupled with a nice salad though, maybe one cutlet would fill a person up, 
​but Ima think two per adult person is more the norm. 



Okay, I know it's winter but since I haven't
posted for a while,
​I just wanted to share one of my favorite moments
​from this fall.

​





Our neighbor about a mile away (as a crow flies)
farms the ground to the west of us. 
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​


​Tim and I always look forward
to seeing this neighbor and his son who farms with him.

We don't see them much throughout the regular year.
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​Fall
is always a beautiful time of year here,

​the days are getting shorter... 
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​​



It's still often mighty warm but the smells and textures and sights and sounds let you know, this too will change.
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​


This day was an especially warm, beautiful day in October when I heard the familiar roar of the combine.

​Tim must have heard it too, cause he left his work (he still has his work gloves on) and I left my work, and at the same time and we ran over to greet our friends.
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​



Lots of catching up to do in a short amount of time.
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We think the world of this family,
rural Iowa at it's best.

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The dad got out of his tractor too,
​ and started walking up.
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And right about that same time, a van pulls in the driveway.

And all these awesome kids start piling out of the van,


running

running

running


shouting
 
"GRANDPA, GRANDPA, HI GRANDPA!!!"
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​



​One of THE cutest things I've ever seen.
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​The love and joy these kids have for their Grandpa exemplifies so many families....rural, urban, suburban. 
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So basically that is all I wanted to share,
this somewhat typical moment in time,
that took place in the middle of a cornfield
on a warm fall day.
Nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary, just pretty cool.






I'll end with this quote,

it makes me smile, 

and is so, so, on target:

​


What a bargain grandchildren are! I give them my loose change, and they give me a million dollars’ worth of pleasure.
​~Gene Perret 






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Okay, that's all I have for today!

Have a great week y'all!!

Thanks for checking in!!
I appreciate it!! 
Talk at ya soon!!





​



    Author

    Angie Madsen
    One half of a team that blends their work and personal life together
    in fun ways.





    Recipes
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