red bell pepper | Counting Our Veggies

February 1, 2014
by Jen W. 1 Comment

Week Three: Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Soup

Have I mentioned that my kids love eating bell peppers? I got these peppers out of the fridge to use in the soup and the little pepper-munchers wanted me to cut them up so they could eat them right away.

This past summer, when garden fresh tomatoes, red peppers and herbs were plentiful, I tried a recipe for garden fresh tomato basil soup from Will Cook for Friends. It was wonderful! I made it several times and made a few changes, adding more red pepper and using chicken broth in place of water. With garden fresh tomatoes months away, I wanted to try a winter version of this favorite soup of ours. Instead of fresh tomatoes, I tried canned fire roasted tomatoes from Costco.

I cut up two really big red peppers, drizzled a bit of olive oil on them and roasted them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes.

I added them to three minced cloves of garlic and half of a chopped up white onion that I had sauteed in olive oil. Then, I added two cans of the tomatoes, one and a half tablespoons of dried oregano, three tablespoons of dried basil, a pinch of sugar, a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and a cup of chicken broth. I blended it all with my handy immersion blender and added some salt and pepper to taste. Theo was curious about the noise from the blender and was the first to come try some soup. He wanted a few croutons in his.

He loves tomato soup and croutons and was quick to give it two thumbs up. (You can see his day and a half old water park wrist band, still on his arm. He refuses to let us remove it. He is just sure that he will need it when he goes back to the water park “tomorrow”. It has got to go tonight at bath time!)

I called in the girls, who were busy pretending to be super-hero-best-friend-sisters. Super hero #1 was not happy to have her super hero activities interrupted. She gave two thumbs down, but did offer to eat the rest of the soup in her bowl in exchange for croutons.

Super hero #2 was happier to taste the soup. She requested goat cheese and crouton topping and happily ate it, giving a two thumbs up rating.

Dave and I were both pleasantly surprised with how much we liked this version of the soup. We were afraid that using canned tomatoes and dried herbs would ruin it, but we found that using the canned fire roasted tomatoes gave it a nice flavor. I love the roasted red pepper in this soup. If the peppers I used hadn’t been huge, I might have even added one more. We also love our tomato soup with goat cheese and croutons.

Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Soup:

Ingredients:

4 tbsp. olive oil
2 large red bell peppers
2 cans (14.5 oz. each) of fire roasted tomatoes
1/2 of a large white onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup chicken broth (you could use vegetable broth or water instead)
1.5 tbsp. dried oregano
3 tbsp. dried basil
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar to taste
goat cheese
croutons

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Quarter and remove seeds from bell peppers. Drizzle with 2 tbsp. olive oil and bake in a baking dish at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes to roast. Saute onion and garlic in 2 tbsp. olive oil over medium-high heat in a medium soup pot. Add the tomatoes and roasted red peppers to the garlic and onions. Add the chicken broth, basil, oregano, balsamic vinegar, and sugar. Simmer for a few minutes before using the immersion blender. Make it as chunky or smooth as you like. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add more chicken broth if you think it is too thick. Garnish with plenty of goat cheese and croutons. Enjoy!

Thanks for visiting, Jen

P.S.

A few words from Lucie:

I love this soup, especially with goat cheese. I thought it was even better than the soup we made this summer and I would have eaten even more if I had been hungrier.

January 29, 2014
by Jen W. 1 Comment

Week Three: Pick a Pepper Color

“Red peppers are good. Yellow peppers are good. Orange peppers are the best!”

We tested the kids’ bell pepper theory today.

The kids have always said they like the orange bell peppers the best. We usually buy a pack of six peppers containing two of each color. We slice them all up and keep them in the same container. At meal time, they keep track to make sure that they are not being shortchanged on orange pepper distribution.

We decided to do a taste test to see if they really could tell the difference. Everyone wore a blindfold for the test and there was no peeking.

Josie went first. She was correct on the orange and the yellow, but thought that the red was orange.

Theo went second. He guessed orange for all three, getting one right.

Lucie went third. She got them all wrong, but had fun guessing.

Finally, the kids insisted that I give it a try. I got them all right!

Although there is not a huge difference, I think the red peppers are the sweetest and the yellow peppers are the least sweet, tasting more like a green bell pepper than the red or orange.

We had a fun game and the kids decided that they now think the red, orange and yellow bell peppers all taste about the same. Our left over test peppers were soon devoured! I think playing games with veggies is a great way to encourage kids to eat them. In the future, a “guess the vegetable” game could be fun.

Thanks for visiting,

Jen

P.S.

A few words from Lucie:

The pepper game was very fun today. I found out that all the peppers tasted about the same.

January 29, 2014
by Jen W. 1 Comment

Week Three: Red, Orange & Yellow Bell Peppers

After two weeks of rather challenging vegetables, we decided to go with something we know and love. My kids love red, orange and yellow bell peppers. I keep a container of sliced bell pepper strips in the refrigerator for them to snack on. Sometimes they eat them plain, sometimes with salad dressing or hummus. We frequently eat them for lunch and pack them in lunch boxes. The kids think the orange ones taste the best. I think we should do a blind taste test to check that theory sometime. Anyway, we definitely have two thumbs up ratings from everyone in our family about raw bell peppers. So, this week we decided to try cooking with them.

Since we all love bell peppers, I figured we could manage a dairy-free recipe to start the week, so that Theo could try it. No need to smother the peppers with cheese in order to make them tolerable! We chose stir-fried honey ginger chicken with peppers from marthastewart.com. I had the bell peppers already sliced and the chicken prepared. I decided to add baby portabello mushrooms to the recipe and I had those ready, too. I had ginger and garlic minced and waiting to add to the skillet.

I felt so organized as I began to prepare this recipe. Then, my printer quit working, so I had to go back and forth from the kitchen to the computer to read the recipe. Then, I found out that I did not have the rice vinegar. How can the right kind of vinegar not be in this ridiculous vinegar assortment?

I went with the white wine vinegar.

Soon, I found out that I had forgotten to take the chicken out of the skillet before cooking the veggies, like the recipe says. Oops… I figured I would make Minute-Rice while the chicken and veggies were cooking. Um. Where was the Minute-Rice? I was just sure I saw a red box in the pantry. Arg. That box was a cake mix. Here were our rice choices:

I chose the black rice. But, it didn’t exactly take 5 minutes to make. It took 35 minutes. So, the rice was ready long after the chicken and veggies. In the end, it all ended up cooked. It smelled great and the kids came running to the table.

Upon seeing their lunch, some of my tasters were in a great mood.

And some were not.

“Mama, why did you ruin the peppers by cooking them? And MUSHROOMS? I HATE mushrooms! They are slimy!”

Here is a summary of ratings for this recipe:

I really liked this dish. If I could make any changes, it would be to use less honey. I thought it was a bit on the sweet side. The kids all liked the chicken, but Josie did not like the cooked peppers or mushrooms. Theo and Lucie asked for seconds and thirds! We ended up without any leftovers.

If you ever see the black rice in the grocery store, give it a try. It turns dark purple when you cook it and tastes pretty much like regular rice, but contains anthocyanins. Anthocyanins, which are also found in blueberries, eggplant and other red and purple fruits and vegetables, have antioxidant properties.

Thanks for visiting,

Jen

P.S.

A few words from Lucie:

Today we ate red, orange and yellow peppers. We tried a new recipe with them. I give it two thumbs up. This was my favorite recipe so far and I want to make it again. I am especially glad that Theo liked it. I think Josie would have liked it better if she was in a better mood.

January 24, 2014
by Jen W. Leave a comment

Week Two: Belgian Endive with Red Bell Pepper and Prosciutto

Monday’s attempt at Belgian endive got two thumbs down from Lucie and Josie and Theo missed out on trying it. We had planned to try again with a recipe involving cooking this veggie, but then we saw a recipe for Belgian endive with red bell pepper and prosciutto from FOOD52. The recipe calls for sauteing the red bell pepper strips with garlic and olive oil, but since my kids love raw red bell pepper, we decided to use them raw.

The way we made this was very simple. First, cut the red pepper into strips. Then, cut the end off the endive and separate the leaves, so that they look like little boats. (California Endive Farms has a nice video about Belgian endive which includes a demonstration of how we prepared our endive leaves.) Next, put a few strips of pepper into the endive boat and then wrap the whole thing with a piece of prosciutto. That’s it!

I said, “Theo, would you like to try a red pepper boat for a snack?” Theo ran to the kitchen and took possession of ALL the red pepper boats.

Poor Josie! She thought he would eat them all before she could try one.

It turns out, he didn’t really care for them. He left them to his sisters after trying just one bite.

Lucie and Josie carefully tasted our new Belgian endive snack.

Josie decided that one bite was enough, but did offer to eat more plain prosciutto.

Lucie gave this combination two thumbs up and insisted that I make her another plate full. She succeeded in eating all the Belgian endive that we had left, so we may not have another recipe this week. I think the sweetness of the red bell pepper and the saltiness of the prosciutto were a great combination with the Belgian endive’s slightly bitter flavor. These would be great to pack in lunch boxes and I definitely plan to make them again.

Did you know that Belgian endive is part of the chicory family? It is related to radicchio, curly endive, frisee and escarole, as well as those blue flowers that grow along the side of the road. Be sure to read about the interesting practice of growing Belgian endive at California Endive Farms’ website.

Thanks for visiting,

Jen

P.S.

A few words from Lucie:

We tried Belgian endive and pepper wrapped in prosciutto. I give it two thumbs up. I might like to try more endive recipes someday.