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Homemade Tomato Soup & Mozzarella Basil Grilled Cheese

To continue with the rainy weekend (see previous blog post about the pumpkin spiced lattes), I made homemade tomato soup in the crock pot, along with mozzarella, basil, and pesto grilled cheese sandwiches.

I found it to be a pretty simple recipe, though it didn't yield quite as much soup as I had hoped for. I like to make extra to take to work for lunches, and unfortunately, with two of us eating it, there wasn't quite enough to save for leftovers. That isn't a deal breaker. You could always double the recipe with no problem, as it's very easy with step by step instructions.

Prep starts the night before you plan to make the soup, with coring and deseeding of roman or plum tomatoes, cut them in half, and cut up two cloves of garlic to combine with them. As it sits, the tomatoes really absorb that flavor. I'll post the full recipe at the end of the post.

The next morning, you combine the tomatoes and garlic with a can of vegetable broth and basil in your crock pot. I cooked it on low for 8 hours, but you can also cook it on high for 6.


Here is the starting product. 

I also found that the tomatoes softened and cooked quicker, and you don't necessarily have to go the full 8 hours if you're getting hungrier early in the day. The amazing aroma of the soup tormented me all day. The basil gave it a nice Italian feel, and I was ready to eat this by 3pm! 


This is right before the tomatoes were ready to be put in the blender to smooth. 


The tomatoes blended with the basil and garlic. It was chunkier than store bought tomato soup, but had a great texture. 

Next, I prepped the sandwiches to go along with the soup.


I spread jarred pesto on whole wheat bread, along with mozzarella slices, tomato, and basil leaves. The recipe said to do it on a panini press, but I just put them in a grill pan and it worked just as well.


When all is said and done, this is what your meal will look like. It was very flavorful, and the basil gave it just the right kick to add some great taste. Next time I might add more garlic, but the recipe is great as is. It also didn't make much, so next time I might double the recipe. It was very hearty and filling, not to mention healthy. 

Here is the full recipe:

3 lbs plum tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 can (14.5 oz) reduced sodium vegetable broth
¼ cup basil leaves, plus 15 large leaves for sandwiches
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
10 slices of whole grain bread
1 tbsp jarred basil pesto
8 oz fresh mozzarella
1 large tomato

-The night before cooking, core, halve and seed tomatoes. Thinly slice garlic and combine in a resalable bag with tomatoes. Refrigerate overnight.
-in the morning, combine tomatoes and garlic with broth and ¼ cup of the basil leaves in a slow cooker. Season with salt and pepper, cover and cook on high for 6 hours or low for 8 hours.
-Once soup is almost done, heat Panini press. Place 5 slices of the bread on work surface. Spread ½ tsp pesto on each slice. Cut mozzarella and tomatoes into 10 thin slices each. Place 2 slices of the mozzarella on bread. Add 3 basil leaves to each sandwich and top each with 2 slices tomato. Top with 5 remaining bread slices and coat both sides of sandwiches with nonstick cooking spray. Cook sandwiches in Panini press for 3 minutes until browned and cheese is melted.
-While sandwiches cook, ladle half of the tomato mixture into a blender. Blend until smooth. Add remaining tomato mixture to blender if there is space. Blend until smooth. Divide among 5 bowls. Serve with a sandwich. 





Crock Pot Pumpkin Spiced Latte

It  has been quite the rainy weekend here where I am, and with the cooler and cloudy weather, I've been perusing some recipes. The first one I tried this morning is Crock Pot Pumpkin Spiced Lattes.

I've always been a fan of Starbuck's version, but with the cost, it tends to turn people away. This recipe cost me about $10 total to make, and it made well over 4 servings. (I halved the recipe. The full recipe could easily serve 8, depending on the size mug you'll use.)

The recipe is very simple. You need strong coffee and milk. I will post the full recipe at the end of this post. Here are some pictures of the process:


This was the very beginning process before the crock pot heated up. 


The finished product, 2 hours after combining ingredients. The pumpkin, cinnamon, milk, and coffee blended well together. 



It was a very good mixture, and tasted better than Starbucks. Next time I do it, I will probably add a tad bit more coffee and pumpkin, and a little less cinnamon. 

Here is the complete recipe - I halved it and it still made quite a bit, but the full recipe might be a good amount for parties and larger crowds:

Ingredients
6 cups of milk 
4-6 cups of strongly brewed coffee
1/2 cup of pumpkin puree
1/2 cup of vanilla extract
1/2 cup of sugar
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
3 cinnamon sticks
Instructions
In your crock pot, combine the milk and coffee.
Whip together the pumpkin, vanilla, sugar and cinnamon and pour into the crockpot.
Mix together well.
Toss in 3-4 cinnamon sticks.
Cover the crockpot, and cook on high for 2 hours.



Keywords - A Science

Hello readers! Long time, no blogging! I hope this finds you all well!

Since we spoke (typed, read) last, I have been trying to think up ways to get my books more exposed. New covers, new descriptions, new advertising.... the (boring) list goes on and on....

Tonight I got to thinking about keywords. Keywords meaning phrases and search terms people type in at the top of the Amazon.com page to find the exact type of book they are wanting to read. As a writer, you'd think that this would come easy. Sure, think up 7 phrases that you MIGHT think a reader would put.... well, that's simple.... as a reader, what would I put? If you haven't already learned this about me, I'm not like the average person.... I usually like things that most people don't. If a critic likes a movie, I hate it... and vice versa. So, that tactic of thinking like other readers did not work.

Amazon gives you the option to put seven keywords when updating/uploading your books. Seven seems like a lot, seven seems like not much at all - it's all in the eye of the beholder. So, what do readers often search when looking for a book? Are they broad terms that will bring up tens of thousands of results? (Kindle books, romantic books, ebooks... These are more genre specific that would have tons of options falling under that umbrella.) Then you think of more specific terms. (Firefighter romantic suspense, drug addiction fiction, organized crime romance.) Being more specific is good, but also bad. How many people are going to search that exact term? The reason I ask is this - those more specific terms are geared toward the books that I have already published. The Firefighter Heroes Trilogy, Murphy's War, and Reformed are the three specifically tied to those keywords... The broader terms are also geared toward them, but how many other books will pop up as well?

I'm slowly learning that keywords are a science. What might work this week might not work next week. They change just like people change. It's a new challenge, but I'm actually having fun with it. Right now I have some specific keywords listed under my books -

-Firefighter Romance Ebooks
-Firefighter Romantic Suspense
-Drug Addiction Fiction
-Organized Crime Romance
-Crime Drama Romance

Of course, I get 7 keywords per book, so this isn't all of them, but it gives an example of some of the things I've put to try out. If they don't work, I'll try something new. That's all I can do!

 I know as readers, most don't care, but next time you go to Amazon in search of a book, keep in mind that keywords can and are a big deal to writers. It's not the sole way to get a book exposed, but lately, it's a way to get it on the first or second page of the search result after you type in your phrase. Next time I'm looking for a specific book, I'll think about this as well.

--Happy Reading!
J.R.