Garden Grown Tomato Soup

Written by Cheryl on . Posted in Cheryl's Kitchen.

It’s September, and if you have a garden, you are fortunate enough to enjoy a healthy harvest of fresh vegetables, including my personal favorite, home grown garden tomatoes. My garden was able to grow some spectacular tomatoes this year, in spite of the relentlessly hot, dry weather we experienced all summer. There is nothing better than home grown tomatoes, as well as the many options for enjoying them. This year I was compelled to try something new with my incredibly sweet, mouth watering, and delicious tomatoes. After all these years, I tried my hand at fresh tomato soup with a recipe I came across in the first cookbook I ever bought right after I moved to Denver after graduating college. I had no idea if the recipe was any good, or if I was wasting perfectly good tomatoes by trying...

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Cheryl’s Colorful One Pot Pasta Toss

Written by Cheryl on . Posted in Cheryl's Kitchen.

I really don’t love to cook. I used to, but I’m just kind of “over it” right now. But, I do like to eat, and don’t like to eat out or order take out, either. Not only is it outrageously expensive these days, but I want to be the one in charge of the ingredients that go into my meals. I’m a control freak, and wear it as a badge of honor. Recently my husband was out of town for a few days and I had the luxury of either cooking or having a nice meal of cheese and crackers for dinner. Scrounging through my pantry, I was inspired by a bag of tortellini, punctuated by  the basil plant sitting on my window sill perched beside a bunch of fresh tomatoes I bought the day before. My creative juices started to flow and my brain went into overdrive. Using those 3 simple...

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Light Lemon Basil Pasta

Written by Cheryl on . Posted in Cheryl's Kitchen.

It’s August, and it’s hot outside. Really, really hot. The thought of cooking is about as appealing as scheduling a root canal. However, the pressure is off and so is the heat with this quick, easy, and delicious lemon basil pasta with chickpeas. Not only is it fast and tasty, it offers the phenomenal nutritional and health benefits of chickpeas. Here is the basic recipe, but do feel free to give it an extra nutritional punch by adding some fresh veggies from the garden, such as zucchini, tomatoes, kale, or peppers. Ingredients: 8 oz. farfalle pasta 1-2 TBSP olive oil 3 cloves minced garlic 1 can drained chickpeas, reserving liquid dash salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes 2 TBSP capers juice from 1 lemon 1 cup grated pecorino Romano cheese 1/2 cup shredded fresh basil Directions:  Cook...

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Vanishing Vegetable Soup

Written by Cheryl on . Posted in Cheryl's Kitchen.

I love soup, and I love cooking it. However, sometimes the recipes end up being rather blah, and I’m left staring down a pot of leftovers thinking “meh.” I don’t want to eat that, and it ends up in the garbage disposal, which hurts my soul. I hate throwing food away. But, true to my incomparably stubborn nature, I keep trying. And trying. Instead of following a recipe exactly as written, I have also begun taking a few liberties, using my imagination and whatever ingredients I have on hand that might work out. This vegetable soup recipe originally called for either beef or chicken, but I decided to use nothing but veggies. The result? By the end of the second day, there wasn’t a spoonful of leftovers in sight. My husband and I ate the entire pot, and the garbage...

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Fresh Green Veggies and Pasta

Written by Cheryl on . Posted in Cheryl's Kitchen.

Nothing quite says spring has sprung like fresh green vegetables, and this fast and fabulous recipe is a great way to get more vegetables in your diet. Even though it has a cream and butter sauce, I like to think that the health benefits of the broccoli, asparagus, and snow peas levels the playing field. In my opinion the sauce isn’t nearly as rich and decadent as other cream based pasta sauces, but maybe I’m just kidding myself. Regardless, it is a very tasty recipe that feels light and healthy. You can boost the health benefits by serving it with a fresh green salad with an olive oil and red wine vinegar dressing. See? Guilt free pasta in a delicious cream sauce! Ingredients: 2 cups fresh broccoli florets 1 cup fresh asparagus, cut in 1-inch pieces 2 cups sliced fresh zucchini 1/2...

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Slow Cooker Orange Chicken

Written by Cheryl on . Posted in Cheryl's Kitchen.

I love chicken. It’s versatile, high in protein, easy to digest, and if you cook it right it can be low in fat as well. It can also be easy to prepare for a low maintenance meal, leaving extra time for the things you really love to do. Like going to the dojo and beating up bad guys in my case. But that’s just me. Which is why I love cooking with my crock pot. It’s just so darn easy, and it’s a great way to cook chicken. However, I prefer to use either a whole chicken or thighs and drumsticks rather than chicken breasts. I don’t like the texture of chicken breast cooked in the crock pot, but thighs and drumsticks turn out tender, juicy, and tasty. In this particular recipe, I use bone in chicken thighs and remove the skin before cooking. Here is a quick and easy,...

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Creamy Mushroom Soup

Written by Cheryl on . Posted in Cheryl's Kitchen.

I never learned how to cook until I moved away from my hometown and my mother’s cooking to Denver to seek my fame and fortune. Since then I have become a pretty good cook if I do say so myself. However, it was a steep learning curve and there were a lot of unpalatable mistakes along the way. This mushroom soup was one of the first recipes I made that had any degree of success. Over the years, once my cooking skills improved, I changed the recipe a bit to make it even creamier, tastier, and more satisfying. In my humble opinion, it’s the best cream of mushroom soup I’ve ever had. And the health benefits of mushrooms are almost as amazing as the soup itself. Ingredients: 1 pound button mushrooms, chopped 1 Portobello mushroom, chopped 1 bunch scallions 3 cups chicken broth 2...

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Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Written by Cheryl on . Posted in Cheryl's Kitchen.

Every year my garden treats us to a plethora of zucchini. As a matter of fact, we have so much zucchini that we have to give it away. Which means that by the end of the season, every time I walk out of my house with grocery bags full of garden zucchini, the sound of slamming shutters and blinds by my neighbors can be heard up and down the street. Yes, by October, even the neighbors are over it. But, I love zucchini bread, but I also like to cut calories when I can, as long as I can come up with a palatable solution. Many years ago I took a traditional recipe and completely revamped it. I recently was craving a chocolate fix and added cocoa powder to my recipe. After all, chocolate is full of surprising health benefits, and the result was delicious. I do love the taste of the rich dark chocolate,...

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Singing Green Bean Soup

Written by Cheryl on . Posted in Cheryl's Kitchen.

Fall is the perfect time time to enjoy this tasty and tangy green bean soup.  My sisters and I grew up on this soup, and we loved it so much that my mom renamed it Singing Soup, based on the sounds of “mmmmm….mmmmm…mmmm” that filled the kitchen anytime this soup was on the menu. Whether it’s fresh green beans from your own garden, your local Farmer’s Market, or your supermarket, green beans have some surprising health benefits.  Paired with the humble and often overlooked potato (which also has a few surprising power-packed health benefits as well), this is one of my favorite recipes to enjoy this late summer-early fall specialty. True to form, I cut out the sour cream that was essential in my mom’s recipe and replaced it with low fat plain Greek...

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Cheryl’s Spontaneous Shrimp and Pasta Diablo

Written by Cheryl on . Posted in Cheryl's Kitchen.

I came up with this recipe in the sixth month of the pandemic when I had nothing planned for dinner and couldn’t stand the thought of coming up with a grocery list, let alone going to the grocery store. I looked in the pantry, the freezer, and the refrigerator, and got a little inspiration. I figured if it bombed, we could always order a pizza. However, the result was so delicious that I even surprised myself, and this is now one of my go to recipes. Ingredients: 8 oz large shrimp 6 ounces linguine 1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes ½ cup white wine ¼ TSP red pepper flakes 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 cloves crushed garlic Directions: Heat olive oil in large fry pan frying pan over medium heat. Add crushed garlic stirring constantly for two to three minutes. Add shrimp, cook for 3 minutes...

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