A Hard Week Calls for Comfort Food

This week has been a very hectic, emotional, and draining one. Preparing food for ourselves hasn't been the best or healthiest this week what with everything going on. One evening in the middle of the week, the temperature outside was cool and autumn-like. C decided that for dinner, he wanted Toad in the Hole again, and so we went out to Superstore to get the sausage that we needed (as well as the ingredients for my grandma's 80th birthday cake). We decided to get 2 different kinds of sausage. An Italian pork one for C and a breakfast turkey sausage for me. C handled the Toad in the Hole while I figured out how to use up the squishy tomatoes and prep up the side dish.

First, the sausages need to be cooked in cast iron skillets. We had a couple of different sizes so C made 2, one small one for me and one larger one for himself.

While the sausage was cooking, he mixed up the batter for the popover. Instead of just cooking the sausage over the stove, he also put both skillets into the oven for the last bit of time. I know that this would definitely help the popovers rise even higher. Once the sausages came out of the oven, the batter needed to be immediately poured into the pan (the sausages and any fat drippings, stay in the pan) and then put right back into the hot oven.

Batter being poured into the hot cast iron pans

Once the Toad in the Holes are put back into the oven, they have to stay in there and bake until the popovers are puffy and browned. If the oven door gets opened during this baking time, the popovers could fall. So, I had chopped up the squishy tomatoes and some garlic and put those in the oven to roast a bit before the Toads went in so that they were able to finish cooking while the popovers were in and everything could just come out at once.

 a Once, the Toads puffed up and were browned, then both came out of the oven to cool slightly and were ready to be cut up. These babies turned out amazing! It's pretty awesome when your husband knows how to cook well. I can trust that what he makes is going to be not only tasty, but that he keeps in mind that I do want and like to eat healthier.

Giant "his" and "her" Toads

His Toad in the Hole, starting to fall slightly

Both Toads, fallen and ready to serve

Again, the crisp cool temperature outside made a fresh tomato soup seem like a comforting dish to have in the fridge for the week and to pack for lunches. My mom has an amazing garden in her huge backyard, and she very sweetly shares much of her bounty with us. We had some leftover sweet basil and rosemary in the herb bag she had left for us so I decided to chop those up for the soup since they were beginning to wilt.

Fresh herbs from mom's garden

The fragrant roasted tomatoes and garlic were added to a pot. I sauteed half of a leftover onion prior to this and left it in the pot. Leftover chicken stock (homemade, and reduced sodium store-bought varieties) was added over the onion and tomato. Do you see the leftover trend here? I had a bit too much zucchini that I had prepped for dinner so I  dropped some of that into the pot with the fresh chopped herbs. One of the nicest things about soup is that it's very forgiving about the ingredients that you add in. It's the perfect vehicle for leftover veggies.

Roasted tomato soup before being blended

Meanwhile, as all of this other cooking is going on, my vegetable rule with dinner and lunch still stood. I had picked up some zucchini and yellow squash from Superstore (my mom hadn't yet dropped off fresh ones) so I chopped those up into hearty bite-sized chunks and simply sauteed them in a pan until there were still crisp but tender and warm.

2 Different coloured veggies for dinner

Right before sitting down to eat together, I got C to puree the roasted tomato soup so that it could simmer on the stove and develop its flavour while we ate. I tasted a little spoonful and it was a beautiful fresh clean flavour. There's a definite satisfaction in creating a tasty, healthy, fresh-tasting dish that will last for a week, out of ingredients from the fridge that might otherwise have just been tossed in the garbage. Please, treat your leftover ingredients and produce in the fridge as precious pieces to a tasty puzzle. All you need to figure out is how they go together. Once you find the right fit to a couple, the picture becomes clearer, and the rest of the ingredients will become obvious and fall into place. Try not to throw anything away.

Fresh roasted tomato soup

The soup was simmering, dinner was hot and so we sat down to take a deep breath and enjoy a healthy dinner together, on the couch while we watched another episode of "our" newest show, Fringe, season 2. The meal was perfect. Warm, comforting, and satisfying in amount of food and flavour. Just what we both needed.