Happy Saturday! You know what I love about winter? It’s totally normal to eat soup numerous times a week. I adore soup. I even crave it during summer…although Peter usually doesn’t go for the idea of hot soup in a Georgia summer. What can I say? It’s easy to cook, flavorful, light, and pairs perfectly with sandwiches – which are another favorite of mine.

Yesterday for lunch we had some homemade tomato soup. Love. Is there anything quite as comforting as tomato soup on a cold day?

Ingredients

• 6 vine ripe tomatoes
• 2 medium red peppers
• 1 medium onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
• olive oil
• 1 - 6 oz can tomato paste
• 2 boxes of organic vegetable broth

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice tomatoes in half and remove all seeds. Slice and rough chop the red peppers into large pieces. Quarter the onion.

Place the tomatoes cut side up on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper along with the other vegetables.

Drizzle everything with olive oil and cover with fresh thyme sprigs. Roast in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.

In a large pot, put 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat. Add tomato paste and allow to heat for a couple of minutes. Add all the roasted vegetables and thyme (remove from sprigs!) and stir for another few minutes until blended.

Add the vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Then, reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes.

Ladle into a blender 2-3 cups at a time and blend to a smooth consistency. Be sure not to overfill the blender. Repeat as necessary.

A perfect wintry soup dinner served. We had ours alongside some light chicken salad sandwiches for a delicious lunch.

This recipe is courtesy of my father. He actually just started a blog as well. I apparently am rubbing of on the family. 😉  His blog is a political one though, so I got the pleasure of sharing this recipe. I assure you it is GOOD!

Now we are off to a busy day with a few errands and a visit with Peter’s family.

Question of the Day – What are you up to this Saturday?

Apparently I have lost my mind to title a blog post that. I also have lost my mind from making the insane decision to finally replace all the batteries in M’s toys that previously had died. It’s been a long time coming. I should have just done that for her for Christmas. It’s like they are all brand new. And loud. Very, very loud.

Back to the title of the post. I like balls – Mama Pea’s sugar cookie dough balls and my favorite Oreo balls. I have a holiday party and cookie exchange to attend tonight. I could not decide which treat to make. I really wanted to try Mama Pea’s balls and I always look for a reason to make Oreo balls. What to do? Make both!

I made the Oreo balls with the holiday red creme cookies, which tinted my hands red for awhile, and topped the truffles with a sprinkle of candy cane. How beautiful and festive!

Since I already had the candy cane look going on and I despise sprinkles, I opted for the snickerdoodle version of Mama Pea’s dough balls.

Plus, who doesn’t like cinnamon and sugar? You might reply - “Who doesn’t like sprinkles?” Well, I don’t, you smart alec.

I also had to make an appetizer to share with the group. For a holiday party a couple years ago I made these spinach phyllo roll-ups and everyone loved them. Why mess with something that obviously works?   Although, I did go daring and used goat cheese instead of the feta. Heck, why not? They are insanely delicious. And insanely not super duper health food.

Spinach Phyllo Roll-Ups from Kraft Recipes (site has video demonstration)

• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 pkg.  (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained
• 1 cup feta cheese goat cheese
• 1 tub  (8 oz.) Garden Vegetable 1/3 Less Fat Cream Cheese
• 4 green onions, finely chopped (oops! forgot these at the store)
• 15 sheets  frozen phyllo (14x9 inch), thawed
• 1/3 cup butter, melted I used butter flavored cooking spray on the Phyllo sheets – its easier and quicker

1. Mix first 5 ingredients together and set aside.

2. Roll out phyllo sheets flat and place between damp towels or plastic wrap.

3. Lay out 1 phyllo sheet on your working area. Spray with butter spray. Add 2 more sheets for a total of 3 layers, with butter spray between each layer.

4. Spread 1/5 of spinach mixture along the short side of the phyllo. Fold in edges and roll up to make a log. Spray log with butter and make cuts in top at 1 inch intervals. Repeat process until achieve 5 logs.

5. Bake in 375 oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cut each log into 6 slices on the 1 inch marks made before baking. Serve!

Note: You can also freeze some of the rolls in plastic wrap or storage bags and bake them (after thawing) up to 3 months later.

Like I mentioned, these aren’t the healthiest things out there, but honestly I don’t care. When it comes to making things for parties, I usually opt for the tried and true recipes and classic favorites. I do like making healthier recipes and sharing them with friends/family, but rarely do so for special occasions. Plus, I enjoy the recipes as well and its fine by me to have them every once in awhile.

• What types of things do you like to make and bring to group parties, the office, other social gatherings?
• Is there a food you don’t like that people don’t quite understand? My hatred for sprinkles is more a texture thing. They get added to things where they just ruin the texture!