RECIPES: Roasted Red Peppers, Asian Influenced Clear Soup, & Citrus Sunburst Green Iced Tea Infused with Fresh Orange & Garden Mint

How is everyone's August going so far!??! 

Well mine was going pretty decent until I got slammed with an Upper Respiratory Infection :-( 

I don't know why am I super proned to these, but they have become somewhat of an inevitable annoyance that I have to deal with every few months.  I did have a head cold two weeks ago, and that seemed to have subsided, I did end up feeling better, but then I woke up one morning last week with that scratchiness in the back of my throat :-( 

No Gooooooood!!

So I went into Immune Boost mode, and thought I'd make myself some things that not only provided comfort, but would be healthy as well.  So if you're sick right now, head to your farmer's market and pick up some VEGGIES!!

I picked up some Spinach, Mushrooms, Garlic (LOTS OF IT!) and Carrots! 

I like to buy the already pealed garlic cloves as a well as the already peeled baby carrots, 

makes prep time more of a breeze.

So this first recipe, I am going to make asian inspired CLEAR SOUP, you know that soup that you get when you go out to eat hibachi, or sushi, comes with most meals, and consists of a basic broth with the fried onion, scallion, & mushrooms slices? Yea well, I am not doing the scallion or fried onion, not cuz I don't like it, but just because I wanted to experiment a bit with other stuff, and I just LOVE me some spinach and carrots! I needed some greens which will hopefully boost my immune system a bit more...

So anyway enough with my rambling, here is my recipe!

ASIAN INSPIRED CLEAR SOUP 

Ingredients 

1 Handful of Raw Baby Spinach Leaves (not frozen)

5 or 6 Baby Carrots

1 handful of raw Mushrooms

1 or 2 Garlic Cloves

1 Chicken Buollion 

 Ground Black Pepper 

A  Small or Medium Sized Pot of Water 

So fill up your pot of water , add your 1 chicken bouillon and your finely chopped clove of garlic.

I used one clove, but if you love things extra garlicky, feel free to add 2.

Put that on a medium heat and bring that to a boil.

While that is heating up, chop your carrots & mushrooms.

I like to chop all of my veggies and place them in one bowl so I have them all in one place when I go to add to my boiling water.  By the time you're done chopping your veggies, your water should now be boiled.  I don't bother chopping my spinach since the leaves wilt and shrink in the boiling water anyway.

Now that your water is boiling and your bouillon should be dissolved and garlic cooked , 

go ahead and add your veggies (mushrooms, carrots, spinach)

Put heat on LOW and put a lid on it until carrots are cooked all the way through!

I love my carrots tender, but if you love them with a little more bite, then cook them for less time!

Once your veggies are nice and cooked, add your ground black pepper, 

turn the heat off and serve hot!

This is sure to soothe any ailments you may have...

I plan to make this all week long! 

I have enough ingredients to make a few batches.

Also the serving size with the amounts of ingredients I used, serves about 3 or 4.

The next recipe I want to share is 

Citrus Sunburst Green Iced Tea Infused with Fresh Orange & Garden Mint

So I managed to get my hands on this Sunburst Green Tea Flavored Mighty Leaf Iced Tea! My mom brewed it the first time without all of the dressings I added this time, and it was a bit too strong even for me, so I added some stuff to soften the taste a bit for those who don't like their iced tea too strong.

Ingredients

1 Mighty Leaf Sunburst Green Tea Bag

1/4 to 1/2 cup Sugar (Depending on how sweet you like yours)

1 Fresh Orange 

A Handful of Fresh Garden Mint 

Ice 

So the steps for this recipe is pretty easy!

First you boil your pot of water. 

(I don't use a kettle for making ICED teas, I use a pot, because you want room to steep your tea bags using the whole batch of water!)

And the tea bags for THIS specific tea are HUGE!! 

But they are so pretty and they smell SOOOO GOOD!!  

So once your pot of water comes to a boil, turn off the heat, and add your 1 large tea bag!

Let that steep for however long, if you like stronger tea, let it steep longer, and if you like weaker tea let it steep shorter. 

While that is steeping, go ahead and add your sugar, and stir, stir, stir! You want all of your sugar to dissolve into the hot water.

At this point you're going to let your pot of water cool, or at least become lukewarm so it is a bareable temperature to work with when you add your fruit and herbs, which we are not trying to cook! *giggles*

So now would be a good time to prep our fruit!

Cut up one orange into slices like seen in the above picture!

Also be sure to collect some fresh mint from your garden,

If you do not have a garden, you can buy it from any supermarket

(Just be careful of pesticides, YUCK!!).  Most farmer's markets these days sell organic produce, which don't use pesticides, BUT I'd give them a good rinse off anyway, cuz you really don't know where it's coming from or who is handling it :-\. 

And if you're picking from the garden, be careful of BEES!!

Bees like to pollenate around the little tiny flowers that mint grows. They do not go for the actual mint leaves, but just be careful not to get in one's path while picking your mint! I had to dodge a few :-P

If your water is still not cool, feel free to go do some other chores, or watch a show until it's ready to add the rest of the ingredients.  Also now might be a good time to take out your teabag! When you take it out, make sure to squeeze the excess water from the bag, back into your pot! Don't want to waste any! 

So once your water is cool enough, carefully poor your batch into a nice pitcher! 

Now is when you add your Orange, Mint, and Ice!

How colorful and beautiful does that look!?!?

Let's have a taste of our magical concoction!

NOW, THAT'S REFRESHING!

Let's sip on this while we make our last recipe for today!

Now I grew up in an Italian Household, and my parents often entertain, and usually have this on the antipasto menu! They are DELICIOUS, and absolutely EASY to make...

ROASTED RED PEPPERS

Ingredients 

1 Red Pepper per person

1 Clove of Garlic

A Few Sprigs of Fresh Parlsey

Extra Virgin Olive Oil 

Sea Salt 

Ground Black Pepper

So we are going to start with our peppers, I am going to make 2 for today...

Before we cook with them, let's just rinse them anyway to be safe!

After they are rinsed, dry them, and place them on a baking sheet covered with tin foil.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Pop those babies in the oven, and leave them in there for about a half hour or until the skins look like they're starting to charr and start peeling off of the pepper... You also want your peppers to feel soft to the touch, not really firm anymore, so make sure the insides are cooked before taking them out!

Take them out and let them cool before handling!!

Once they are cooled enough remove the stem/core and start peeling the skins off! 

After removing the skins, start running the peppers under water to remove all of the seeds and any skin remaining off the pepper slices.

Place them in a dish, because we are going to start seasoning these babies! 

Chop up your cloves of garlic & collect your Parsley from your garden, 

or purchase it from your local farmer's market as well! If that's the case, give them a little rinse as well...

Add your Extra Virgin Olive Oil to your peppers,

Sprinkle your garlic and parsley over the top, 

And then lastly add your pinch of sea salt and your ground black pepper!

Give that a good mixing, and you might wanna wrap this up and fridge it for 20 - 30 minutes before eating.  They are best when they are cold! 

Alrighty! It's time to try out our afternoon snack! 

I think I need a refill on that Sunburst Green Tea as well!! 

OH MY GOODNESS! 

DELICIOUS!!!

It's been a great day of experimenting in my kitchen, and showing you some recipes that I made up, or just grew up with...

Try them yourself, and let me know how you like them, or if you decide to try them, and you have your own ideas to add to them, I'd love to hear about em! 

Ta ta for now!