Days of Red Plaid, New Boots and Pesto Steak Pizza

Rainy days make me want to curl up surrounded by candles and do some writing or read a good book. Sometimes those days are just a fantasy in my mind and no matter how much I dream about it, it's just not a reality. But Addy and I have been enjoying being home a lot more these days. I'm trying to venture out a little less and group our errands together or do them on days I'm already out with work, etc. Addy has also mentioned she just wants to stay home too, which is pretty cute. 

So this particular day called for red plaid for me. 

I was happy. 

And for Addy, it meant wearing her new pink boots she got for her birthday. 

I love this girl. 

These boots were made for walking...

So we walked. 

And she enjoyed throwing rocks in a formally dry pond. 

These days the weather is changing all the time...

This week, I made another batch of basil pesto which inspired a meal at the bottom of this post. 

And speaking of inspiration, we were inspired to whip up a taco pizza, inspired by Pioneer Woman in her latest Food Network episode. 

No regrets here...it was fantastic! 

And the second half of the dough went toward our Basil Steak Pizza (below). 

This week, I received a new cookbook I ordered in the mail. 

I'm super excited about Lisa Leake's work on her blog first and now in her first cookbook. 

The goal: cutting out processed foods from her families diet in 100 days. 

I've learned so much about how our food is made, food labeling, the food industry and some surprising culprits that have given rise to many health problems and diseases. 

Eventually, I'll share some of those revelations here on the blog. 

For now...here's the cookbook in all of it's pretty glory! 

Josh and Addy have had some fun times together lately. 

They took a walk to a park while I was at work one day. 

Addy is loving going down the BIG slides by herself these days! 

And her and Josh headed out with our friends for a double daddy/kid date, their first ever! 

I had such high hopes and excitement for this adventure for them...

I took a shower and decided to spend a little extra time straightening my hair...it's the little things these days. And then I went to a coffee shop to read (also a simple luxury...). 

But after about an hour there, I found myself distracted. I use to look forward to those moments to myself in a coffee shop, journaling, writing, reading, sipping on a hot mug of coffee. 

These days, I get so excited for those moments and when they come, I feel lonely and can't focus. 

I saw a little girl walk in, Addy's age, and she was wearing the same sweatshirt that Addy has. 

I saw Mom's juggling two, three, four kids. 

I saw friends walking together and stopping for coffee. 

I saw families hanging out. 

It just made me feel out of place, in a weird way. 

And then I got a text from Josh: "Guess who got car sick?!" 

And that was it. 

I texted back and didn't hear anything. 

I assumed the one who got sick was Addy. 

Since she had just finished a week of being tummy sick with me, my first thought was, "oh goodness, it's back." But Josh was convinced it was just car sickness (a first for Addy). 

I gathered up my stuff and ran home, thinking they were already home but they hadn't made it yet. I quickly changed my clothes, thinking she would be covered in vomit, pulled my hair back and made sure the bathroom was cleared so I could throw her in the tub and hose her off. I grabbed towels and watched for them to get home. Don't you think I could work in the ER???

Well they arrived a few minutes later, Addy and her car seat weren't covered in vomit. She was calm, the dad's were calm. I guess they had already gotten things cleaned up. It wasn't as bad as I had expected. Josh wanted to take them to the park so they did. 

Finally, a new family favorite recipe to share after all of that excitement. 

I shall call it: 

Pesto Steak Pizza. 

We grilled up some steak in a simple rub. 

I grabbed a few tomatoes from our garden that is still producing many of those beauties! 

I zested some lemon and lime and squeezed the juice in along with some cilantro. 

We had some leftover homemade pizza dough in the fridge I needed to use up. So I very rustically rolled that out and added some homemade pesto with melted butter. Then I baked it at 450 degrees for about 10 minutes until it bubbled up a bit and was cooked through. 

Josh sampled the steak. 

My jealousy grew as he made this face and ooo'd and awed...

Josh sliced up the very delicious and very tender steak. 

And pause for a commercial break as Addy would like to show you her latest empty spice jar from mommy. She loves using these in her kitchen for "cooking." 

And now back to our regular broadcast...

Steak...mmmmmm 

When the crust was baked, we topped it with strips of steak, tomato mixture and spinach. 

Oh

My

Steak

SOOOOO delicious! The crust was kinda like a soft pita. 

It was a quick dinner to throw together and we all loved it! 

And the fact that Josh and I cooked it together I really loved! 

Homemade Tomato Soup (Garden Fresh Tomatoes)

Certain parts of cooking or baking intimidate me. 

I truly wanted to can tomato soup but don't own a pressure cooker. What I read about freezing tomato soup seemed to have a lot of pro's and con's. 

With friends coming for dinner, I was going to take out some of the fresh marinara sauce I had made and froze these past few weeks and make a meat sauce for pasta. 

But then I had another thought. 

Why not try to make tomato soup out of it?! 

So here's what I did: 

I had previously made a batch of roasted tomatoes from our garden. I roasted them with onions, garlic cloves, salt and pepper and olive oil. Then I pureed them. At the time I didn't sieve the seeds out. But I also added some homemade pesto to the sauce as well. The flavor was great but I wanted the seeds out. So, I defrosted the sauce and put it through the sieve. It was so quick!

Then I made a roue with a few tablespoons of butter melted and about 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour whisked in.  

I added a cup of milk and whisked. 

Then I added a carton of low-sodium chicken broth (32 oz.). 

I added 1 cup of the tomato sauce and then added the rest of the sauce, 

whisking over medium high heat. 

I added a few dry spices to taste: 

Garlic Powder

Dill

Salt and Pepper

The picture doesn't do the final color justice but it was sooooo yummy! 

Perfect for our cloudy, rainy day. 

Cozy Table:

We topped the soup with grated Gruyere cheese and fresh chopped basil. 

Garlic bread on the side. Addy and a few others had a grilled cheese. 

Simply delicious and perfect for a cozy day in doors. 

Garden Fresh Tomato Sauce for the Freezer

Yesterday, I put Addy down for her nap and headed out to our very over grown garden to check out our tomato supply. 

When what did my eyes behold but not just specs of red but 

MULTITUDES OF RED SPECS...

I think Cocoa was concerned for his mother because as I was picking them and sweating and sweating and smiling and saying, "HOLY TOMATO HARVEST" over and over he kept looking at me perplexed. 

I had two full colanders 

My biggest bowl 

and a big tub full of tomatoes

and a few cucumbers that snuck up on us

(we thought we were done with cuc's). 

Oh my lanta... 

I don't have a pressure cooker and what my heart really desired was to can soup. 

But I decided I would roast pans of

tomatoes

fresh basil

onion

garlic cloves

salt and pepper

for 1 hour at 400 degrees. 

I wish my camera could capture the intensity of beautiful colors and smells before me. 

Smell vision anyone???

When they were roasted I let them sit in my oven till they were cool (oh yeah I turned the oven off :-)

Then I pureed them in my food processor. 

For each pan of tomato mixture I added: 

1 small can of tomato paste

about 1 Tbs. organic sugar

Then I pureed it. 

Once all of the pans were pureed I put them in a big pot and let it simmer on the stove for about 20 minutes. Then I put the sauce through a sieve. 

My friend Steph found me this Sieve (I think that's what it's called). 

The first time I made homemade sauce this summer I actually forgot I had it! 

I love how awesome it worked

I let it simmer on the stove again after it was sieved. It needed more spices to counteract the paste. But I loved how thick it looked! 

So I added some dried spices: 

Garlic Powder

Basil

Oregano

Italian Seasoning

Salt and Pepper

Josh and I agreed it tasted delicious by this point. 

Because it was midnight when I finished and I was pooped from cooking homemade orange chicken before this and cleaning up the kitchen...again, 

I decided to let the pan sit over night to cool completely. 

This morning I packaged the sauce in 2 cup increments. 

I got four bags and a good size bowl of sauce for dinner tonight out of the four pans I roasted. 

I'm thinking for dinner I might try like a Chicken Marsala with the sauce and I may add a few of the cubes of homemade pesto sauce I made a few weeks ago. Top with Parmesan or Mozzarella??? Hmmmm sounds yummy!