Tomato Soup | Back to School

And just like that, we're not spending the day baking donut cakes in the kitchen.  Emma's at school and here I am in a quiet house working on my computer.  This scenario seemed impossible just last week.  There were points in the summer that I would've gone to great lengths to have a quiet morning sitting at my computer with my entire brain to work with.  And now that it is here, I'm wishing it was still summer break and the only thing on our agenda was going for a bike ride and heading to the pool for lunch.

The other side of the story is that I love my work.  Last year when kindergarten started, I reclaimed a real workweek for myself that I hadn't had since she was born.  I truly enjoy my time working alone at home and after a breezy summer I'm glad to be at the grind again.  I also love the routine of the school year.

This morning after Mr. Darcy and I went on our long, leisurely stroll, I sat down to my desk brimming with ideas for the new season.  I have so many things I'd like to share - ideas for easy weeknight dinners, to-go lunches for working parents, tips for streamlining household chores, and of course, new products to make it all happen.

We spent much of our summer in the garden at The School House.  (Above, Emma's lemonade stand.)   About once a week Emma and I would venture out there and collect a basket of tomatoes, an armful of zinnias or hydrangea and fistful of basil.  We would walk down the road and pick up peaches from the neighbor's farmstand and whatever else we needed to fill in the gaps of our menu.  I'd like to think Emma's summer was filled with the tastes and scents of summer produce... mixed with the smell of chlorine and ice cream.   I want to bottle that up for her.  (Not the chlorine - ha!) I wanted to turn our garden tomatoes into something she could enjoy while at school and maybe she would be reminded of our carefree, wonderful summer spent in the garden.

One of Emma's favorite meals is "red soup and bread."  It started when we would frequent our favorite cafe, Bella Napoli, when she was little.  On a really cold day I would order the minestrone for myself and a bowl of red sauce for her.  She would eat it with a spoon and dip an entire basket of bread in it.  And so it started - Red Soup & Bread.

Navy Fleur Block Print Napkins, $34 for 4

It is one of her favorite lunches to take to school.  I send the soup in a small thermos and a bag of sliced baguette.  Since we had an abundance of tomatoes this summer (from our 16 plants!!) I made some big batches of homemade "red soup."  (I also made Garden Tomato Sauce, recipe here >)

I portioned them out into the small and medium plastic containers (here) that come in my set of Plastic Kitchen Containers.  This is the lunch I'll turn to when I haven't been to the store in a couple of days and we're out of all of the normal lunch option.  I'll be able to pull one of these out of the freezer... instead of having to shop by school and pick up a lunchable on our way (which we've also done several times)!

"Red Soup" (Tomato Soup) Recipe

8-10 Tomatoes** (or 3 x 28 oz. cans of crushed tomatoes)
2 carrots, minced
1 large white onion, diced
1 stick of butter
4 cups of chicken stock
2 teaspoons of sea salt (more to taste)
2 tablespoons fresh thyme
1/2 cup of cream

Begin by sautéing onion and carrots in the butter until slightly softened.  Add tomatoes**, chicken stock, salt and thyme.

**If using fresh tomatoes, remove the core, cut into quarters then blend until liquified in a blender or food processor.  If using canned, just pour them right in!

Cook for 1 hour until reduced.  Remove from heat.  Cool at room temperature for about 30 minutes.  Transfer to a blender with a ladle until blender is half way full.  Put lid on, but remove steam/pour lid and cover loosely with a towel.  The hot liquid will cause the lid to want to pop off if left sealed.  Blend until smooth.  Add the 1/3 of the cream and blend until creamy and smooth.  Pour into freezer containers.

I don't worry about removing skins or seeds - the entire thing goes in and gets blended up.

Plastic Kitchen Containers, 18 for $8

Navy Fleur Napkins

Since this was my first day back at "work" I decided to make myself a grilled cheese to go along with the soup for the photos.

Freezer Tip : One of my favorite short cuts is to always make an extra and throw it in the freezer.  Even for leftovers, if we have an entire portion of something leftover and no one wants it for lunch the next day, it goes in the freezer.  I can't tell you how many times that has saved me from having to go get takeout.

Someone is saying, "really, freezing a pre-assembled grilled cheese? aren't those easy to make fresh when you want them."  Yes, but sometimes we're out of bread and sometimes we're out of cheese.  So, because it is just as easy to make two as it is one, now I have an easy dinner/lunch in the freezer for Emma on a busy night if the fridge is empty and Mike and I have dinner plans.  Otherwise, we'd be running through Chick-Fil-A...

Happy Back to School!!  xoxox

Fresh Summer Tomato Sauce for Pasta | Gardening

Emma and I spent the day at The School House on Sunday making fresh tomato sauce.  I had made some last weekend for dinner with Mike's parents and it was so delicious, I decided to make a huge batch while real summer tomatoes were plentiful.

In Lexington there are so many farmstands that have wonderful (inexpensive!) local produce.  The garden at The School House is still a couple of weeks or so away from having "plentiful" tomatoes, but we are picking several baskets full of cherry tomatoes right now and we did pick our very first big tomato this week.  Soooo, I guess I'll be doing this all over again in August with the tomatoes from our own garden from the 16 plants we have (yikes!).

For this large batch, I used all of these 12 large tomatoes + 4 onions + 3 sticks of butter.   It made 7 x 8oz. containers (Plastic Kitchen Container Sets, 18 for $8 here) of sauce to put in the freezer or give away.  

We especially like this sauce with large rigatoni.  After cooking the pasta, I place the rigatoni directly in with the sauce and let it cook for 2-3 minutes, allowing it to soak up the sauce.  I served it with Pesto Grilled Chicken topped with melty fresh mozzarella and it was the best meal we've had all summer.

Getting photobombed while I was taking these photos.  

Eating chips and dip, of course!

I bought a "real" seeded large watermelon.  I don't think Emma had ever seen real watermelon seeds...

These tomatoes came from our garden.  I'll share some more photos and the plans for the School House garden soon.  The extreme heat and lack of rain has done a number on the grass, so it isn't the prettiest for photos.  But, I'm still developing the longterm plan that I'll share soon.

Fresh Summer Tomato Sauce

We made a triple batch of this recipe.

4 large tomatoes
1 large onion
1 stick of butter
1 tablespoon of sea salt

Dice two of the large tomatoes and put them in a large saucepan.    Chop the other tomatoes into large pieces and blend them until pureed.  Pour them into the saucepan.

Peel the onion and cut in half.  Place it in the saucepan and add the butter.

Cook on medium until bubbling, then reduce to low to simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally to keep it from sticking to the bottom.

Let cool, then scoop out onions.  Pour into freezer containers or serve with pasta.

Half of the tomatoes were diced like this and went straight into the large sauce pot.

The other half of the tomatoes went into a blender and were blended completely - skins, seeds and all.

I poured the pureed tomatoes in with the diced tomatoes + butter + large onions peeled and cut in half.  It cooked for about 2 hours on a medium-low simmer.

After it had reduced and cooked for 2 hours, I let it cool on the stove for another hour, then used a large slotted spoon to pull out the onion pieces.  I separated the onion pieces into another bowl, then put them in a freezer bag.  I think they'll be great for chili in the fall.

I spooned the sauce into 8 oz. Plastic Kitchen Containers.  I put all of the containers on a Large Sheet Pan, then put them in the fridge to cool completely before I put the lids on.

I labeled them "Summer Tomato Sauce 7.15.18" and got them read for giving and freezing.

And, of course I forgot to take a final photo of them with their lids and labels on.

Here is my favorite meatball recipe below, along with our other favorite tomato sauce made from canned tomatoes.  It is based on this same super simple recipe and hands-down THE BEST sauce.  Our family is obsessed!

Easy Homemade Meatball Recipe >

I make these with 3-4 pounds of ground beef at a time and keep them in the freezer.  These + tomato sauce from the freezer makes the best quick comforting dinner - a Sunday tradition at our house.

 Our Favorite Spaghetti Sauce Recipe >

So fresh summer tomato sauce is our favorite, but every other time of the year this sauce using canned tomatoes is so, so good.  Made with just canned tomatoes, butter and onion - so simple and delish.

Perfect BLTs | Summer Lunch at The School House

Emma and I treated the girls to lunch this week at The School House.  I really like simple food in the summer so BLTs were the perfect lunch for a super hot July day.  The School House has been open for 3 months now, so it was a good time to catch up with the team to get some feedback from them.  They have done such an amazing job taking over the packaging and fulfillment and teaching themselves the business.  We have very few packaging errors (and when one or two pops up - they take it so personally!) and they really do take pride in making sure each package is beautifully assembled.  I LOVE how well they take care of my customers.  

Read more about The School House, here >

The School House is in my hometown of Lexington, Missouri.  It is about an hour from my house, so try to get there once every couple of weeks.

When we do, we always stop by the local farmstands to see what's in season.  Our favorite is my cousin's - Fahrmeier Farms.  They have strawberries early summer, and now they have blackberries and tomatoes.  In the fall, they have beautiful pumpkins and family activities.

When I shared our berries on Instagram, I had so many of you ask where we'd found them, so I thought I'd share : )

Fahrmeier Farms

9133 County Farm Rd

Lexington, Missouri

(816) 289-2496

Of course, there is no need for a recipe for BLTs... but using the right ingredients is important.  I hardly ever order one at a restaurant unless I know they know what they're doing.  Same with caprese salads.  They can be great or terrible.

Good Bread : I used brioche from Whole Foods.  It was my first time buying it there and OMG - I don't know if I'll ever be able to use any other bread again.  So delish.  Buttery, soft.  

Good Tomatoes : Real tomatoes.  When you slice them you shouldn't see a "wagon wheel" shape, but fleshy and red all the way through.  They don't have to be heirloom, but usually the 'home grown' label is good enough.  I've found now that some "heirloom" have been farmed to look right, but don't even taste great.  I salt them with sea salt before putting on the sandwich. 

Lettuce : Soft lettuce.  I don't like romaine or iceburg on a BLT, but a soft lettuce like butter or this red leaf. 

(Do I sound crazy yet?!)

Bacon : Has to be crispy.  If there is any chewy aspect, I'm out.

Mayo

Whole Foods Brioche

I can't wait to make French bread with this... not that there is any left.

See the flesh all the way through?  Wagon Wheel tomatoes (not these) were hybridized to ship and transport well without getting squashed.  So, the made them firm and hard... instead of juicy and delicate like these.

I bake bacon on a baking sheet with parchment paper for 20 minutes at 375.   You can find baking sheets and parchment, here >

This is my favorite pasta salad - Barefoot Contessa's Pesto, Pasta & Peas.  If you have pesto in the fridge (like I do in the summer, here is my recipe), then it is super easy to make.   I've simplified the recipe to be simply : Bowtie Pasta, Pesto, Thawed Sweet Baby Peas & Parmesean.  

Blackberries from Fahrmeiers Farm.

There are a couple more weeks of blackberry picking, then tomato season will be in full swing.  They would love for you to come visit!  One of these days (maybe Fall?), we'll have an open house at The School House and you can stop by at both (we're just down the road).

Fahrmeier Farms

9133 County Farm Rd

Lexington, Missouri

(816) 289-2496