What a loving fiancée I have...

Yesterday I was greeted to the smell of home-cooked food. This is nothing new, to be honest, but what I experienced was so much more than a regular homecooked meal! Gary had treated me to a Creamy Tomato soup with freshly baked bread rolls. 

This sounded amazing....but it tasted even better! Wow.

I was going to have this as my first blog, but felt a foodie blog was a bit much for my first (in case it paved the way for things to come and there are so many good food blogs out there, I see no point in doing another one!) 

However, after tasting this meal again today (re-heated soup FTW), I felt I had to share. So here is the recipe for what I found was the best meal ever after coming home from work...it was tasty, fresh and filling. Not to mention on a budget!

Enjoy!

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup 

with French Bread Rolls

   For the Soup

25g butter

30ml olive oil

2 tins of tomatos

½ pot of tomato puree

1 medium tomato, skinned

Crushed basil

Salt and Pepper

1l chicken stock

250ml double cream

2tbsp cornflour

For the Rolls

335 ml warm water (45 degrees C)

10g active yeast

25g white sugar

30ml vegetable oil

6g salt

550g bread flour

Directions

1.      Heat the butter and oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in tomatoes and puree with basil. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in the chicken stock, reduce to low heat and continue cooking for 15 mins.2.      Add the cornflour (mixed with water) and continue to cook for 10 mins.3.      Transfer soup to blender and blend until smooth. Return to the pot and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and gradually mix in the cream. This ca be kept warm while the bread is cooking/re-heated via pan at a later time.

• 
  
  Meanwhile….
  1.      In a large bowl, stir together warm water, yeast and sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 10 mins.
  2.      Add oil, salt and 2 cups of flour to the yeast. Stir in the remaining flour, ½ cup at a time, until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 mins.
  3.      Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in. Cover  and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
  4.      Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Place on lightly greased baking sheets at least 2 inches apart. Cover the rolls and let rise for about 40 mins.
  

  5.      Bake for 18-20 mins at 200 C in pre-heated oven until golden brown.
  

  Information

 Contains 410 calories per portion (1/4 of soup and 1 roll)

  Makes 4 portions

  Prep Time: 2 hr 20mins, Cook Time: 45 mins, Total time: 2 hr 20 mins

My beautiful dogs

Hello and welcome to my first blog! 

I was debating what to actually post on here as I have many interests and aspects of my life. My profile can be found here, where I go into more detail about me (and in turn I guess what will be in my ever-changing blog posts). 

But then it came to me in a flash of inspiration, well more to the point I had a comment about it earlier. Kind of how you have an idea of what you want to write, but finding that first line is always the hardest! Once you have it though - everything falls into place.

So, for my first blog, I will go into a little detail about my pets. Odd, I know. But very often (more often that I would have thought) I get comments such as...
             OMG they are so cute, Where did you get them?, They are my favourite breed (even though the commentor have something completely different), I WANT, Are they yours?

So, you may be wondering what crazy kind of breed I have to get this much attention about them. Nothing special really, in my eyes....but in short, I have three Siberian Huskies. Each with a little story and individual personality. Each very cute!


We got Merlin first. He was hand picked from a breeder in Tipton, West Midlands. Not that there was anything wrong with the other, equally cute, pups...we just 'clicked'. This is Merlin relaxing on the sofa (as he usually does!) He's a very skittish dog, quite nervous and really offish until he knows you....but once he does he is the most loving dog in the world. Especially if you're holding/eating food. 



About 6 months later, we heard of a group who re-home huskies. There was a dog on there called Molly. She was about one year old, and had been starved by her previous owners for eating a hamster after she was left alone with it for several hours! She is the sweetest dog I have ever known, so very affectionate and CUTE. She's lucky to be with us because when we managed to get her she was all skin and bone :( Luckily she's put on a bit (*cough* lot) of weight! She is still nervous sometimes, but that's to be expected. She is always up for cuddles and strokes and love!


Lastly, but by no means least, we got another rescue dog. Lily was living on the streets, not sure if she ever really had a home, but she most definately does now. She is such a little pup...always playing and very inquisitive. She picks and chooses when she wants cuddles but she ALWAYS wants to play!!! I believe she has settled in quite quickly, after a face-off with Molly, but she still doesn't know what to make of Merlin as he can be a bit grumpy sometimes!


So, as far as a first post goes, I don't think it is too bad! Don't worry, this isn't a 'dog blog' at all. Just a starting point...me sharing something very important about my life.