Have a recommendation? We'd LOVE to hear it!
Salutations Readers!
Kalamazoo has good food.
Great food, in fact. We have made it our mission to check out all the local eateries one at a time - and more for our own poor memories than any other reason, we'll be chronicling our adventures in food here. And some places float our boats way more than others, which is why we have developed the very scientific five golden forks rating scale. Ok. It is not scientific at all. It is actually quite unscientific. But, it is something. And now, you can search all of our reviews by the forks rating. YAY!

But, wait! There's more!
Kalamazoo Foodies no longer just eat at restaurants then review them. There are recipes posted, some easy, some less easy, all delicious. There are, or will be, book reviews, the new Foodie Movie Review-y which will focus on movies about food or ones that have a lot of beautiful food in them. There are other food musings, and hopefully soon contests and so much more. But, Foodie Friends, it is all about food. Because we love it!
And, we want to hear from you!
We want to hear your comments on our recipes and reviews. We want to know where you love to eat. And, we are looking for GUEST bloggers to broaden our horizons a bit. And, if you haven't found us on Facebook, you should do that too. Like our page for other fun Foodies stuff like photos, polls, and more.

SO KALAMAZOO PATRONS - where do YOU love to eat? Because we'd love to check it out and share our thoughts here. Give us a comment below, and quickly! Our tummies are grumbling in anticipation.

A Note from the Foodies about our typical fair:
So, you may notice as you read our blog that we often order the same thing wherever we go. OK, maybe not quite, but we do often order similar things. Kristin has her caprese salads and mushroom dishes. Kate has her baked goat cheese and things with tofu. Well, readers, we wanted to let you know that this is absolutely intentional. A) We love those things, so why not order what you love? And, B) It is a lot easier to compare apples to apples than it is to compare apples to comquats. So, we like to order similar things to have a good sense of how to compare them. Just wanted to let you in on that little secret. Bon appetit!

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Foodies at Home: Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup

We have had to change our ways a bit with this new life we are in. And, one of the biggest changes is the amount of time we have in the evenings. By the time we are all home, it is almost 6 pm. And, the little guy usually goes to sleep between 8 and 9 pm. So, we are talking about a 2-3 hour window to eat dinner, play, take a bath, do a load of laundry, etc. Especially since Mr. Foodie and I are still in sleep survival mode and are pretty much going to bed when the baby does.  So, we have been exploring new ways to express our Foodie-ness.

One thing we don't want to do is rely on take out/fast food. In addition to the health/nutritional concerns, who wants to spend all that money? So, we have been experimenting with both make-ahead freezer meals and the trusty old crockpot. Though this recipe wasn't our first crockpot adventure, it is the one I can most easily blog on at the moment (since it is someone else's recipe...).

So, here you have it... Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup in the Crockpot

We made some minor adjustments like: 
  • Added extra tomatoes. A small can of the Del Fratelli seasoned ones (with garlic and herbs).
  • Used Parmesan Rind instead of grated Parmesan.
  • Minced the carrots, celery, and onion in the food processor to make the soup creamier. 
  • Followed the suggestion of cutting the cream with milk for a lighter soup. 

And, you know what, this was pretty excellent. It made enough that we were able to freeze some and will enjoy it a few more times! YAY!

I am not sure that we will go with the Parmesan rind again. I am curious what the grated Parmesan would do to the texture of the soup. Instead, we end up with these delicious melty rinds that were fun to chew on, but I am not sure they added much to the flavor or texture of the soup.

Long and short of it is, we will be enjoying this soup for a few more meals, and will  likely be making it again soon. I have suggested crockpot soup once a week. We will see how that goes.

Oh, and be sure to pick up a loaf of good crusty bread to go with the soup. It makes it a delectable meal!
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1 comment:

Kp said...

HECK YES crock pot (I said that like Napoleon Dynamite, just so we're clear.)

November 14, 2012 at 12:44 PM

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