Yes, I realize the picture doesn't look like much, but believe me, that's some crazy-tasty soup right there!
For tomorrow's dinner, I planned on cauliflower soup since I had almost all of a head in the fridge with no real plans for it. Plus, I'm a soup junkie. I perused recipes on the 'net today before heading to town to run some errands, then I got busy as soon as I got home. The recipe is a little vague simply because I have the awful habit of not measuring when I cook, but I got most of it stored up in my lil' head for now. Gotta get it out quick!
Cheesy Cauliflower Soup
1 head cauliflower, broken into florets (cut the large ones in half for faster cooking)
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
Water (just enough to cover these veggies once they're in the pot)
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese (preferably yellow for color, although white would work, too)
1 c. fat-free half and half
1 heaping Tbsp. cornstarch
Add the cauliflower, onion, celery and bouillon cubes to a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook over medium-high heat until they're quite tender (10-15 minutes or so). Fork test them for softness if you're unsure.
Once they're soft, blend in batches in a blender or food processor until smooth. I left the last 1/2 c. or so unprocessed because it didn't fit with the earlier batches, and I refused to blend that small amount all by itself. Return all of it to the pan. Turn the heat to medium and add the cheese; stir to help it melt and become smooth.
Mix the half and half (must be cold!) with the cornstarch in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Shake until well dissolved; add to soup and stir. Heat through, on the verge of boiling (to thicken), but do not bring to a full boil. Served with crusty bread or crackers. Or just slurp it down as is, 'cause that's ok too!
There, it's that simple! I'm glad I made it tonight so we can reheat at our leisure tomorrow for dinner; I'll probably be home later since I'll head to the gym after work. Hopefully it reheats well; I'm not too worried though.
My sister and I feel like some of the best cream-based soups we've ever had come from Flamingos in Shawano, Wisco, so they're kind of our standard that we judge cream soups against. Well Sissy o' mine, this recipe beat their soups hands-down. Perfect creaminess. Subtle but still noticeable flavor. Salty, but not overly so. What can I say? I'm a soup rock star! Enjoy some this Fall folks --- I promise you won't be disappointed.
This post is linked to Miz Helen's Country Cottage Full Plate Thursday for 9/29/11. Head on over to check out more fab recipes!
Last Monday night's dinner was supposed to be a pizza braid, but that morphed into personal calzones since I was working with sticky dough and wasn't sure I could pull off the cuts and braiding. No worries, mate, it was still a tasty meal, and the best part was being able to personalize the fillings in each one. Tiny Tot #1 wanted cheese only, Tiny Tot #2 wanted pepperoni and cheese, and Buppy and I each had sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, sauteed onions, black and green olives and cheese. Lets just say the kids' calzones were much easier to seal than the adult ones.
The hardest part (if you can call it that) about this recipe is sealing the edges of each calzone. The dough didn't really want to cooperate, but I showed it who's boss, and only a little cheese managed to escape from one of the lesser-filled ones.
I used this pizza crust recipe made in my bread machine (does it get any easier?) to start with. Once it was done, I plopped out the dough, kneaded it a little (with oiled hands because it was sticky), then divided it into 4 equal portions. I rolled each portion out as best I could to look like a little mini pizza, then topped with sauce, each person's requested fillings and cheese. For a calzone, you basically just fill up half the mini pizza with your toppings/cheese, fold the empty half over and do your best to seal the edges. Hence Tiny Tot #2 calling dinner 'pizza folded over'. I did the 2 for the kids first, and while they were baking made mine and Buppy's. I made sure to poke a few holes in the first batch to allow some steam to escape, but that was unneccessary in the bigger ones because I tore the dough a bit. I'm gonna say I did it on purpose so I wouldn't have to go through the hassle of poking the holes. Believe what you want.
Give calzones a try sometime. They're a nice twist on the original pizza and could easily be stuffed with whatever you want. Be careful with super wet ingredients though, because if too much water cooks out of something (i.e. raw veggies), your dough will get soggy. I suggest sauteeing fresh veggies before cramming 'em in.
Lastly, to those of you who have asked about finding inexpensive bread machines --- there were 3 at my local Goodwill last time I checked (2 weeks or so ago). Good luck finding one in your area!
*Linked to Miz Helen’s Country Cottage Full Plate Thursday, 4/28/11.
I'm a big cheese person overall, although in 2010 I definitely discovered certain cheeses I do not care for, which surprised me. Cheeses like Manchego and Edam topped the charts, and I still find it so odd that Buppy and the kids both loved them. Ah, to each their own. One cheese I love atop a nice crunchy salad is blue. I'm not usually picky about what kind, although some are undoubtedly better than others. Recently, there was some on sale at a local grocery store (I love their discounted cheeses and meats), so I picked some up. While I really enjoyed it, we weren't eating a lot of salad before Christmas and I had no green olives to stuff.
Blue cheese, blue cheese, what to do with you? Lucky me, I received my newest Taste of Home magazine right when we got back from our Christmas vacation to Wisco, and there, in the "light" section, was a recipe for pork chops with blue cheese sauce. I figured it was meant to be. And what more perfect day to find it and try it out than for our New Year's Eve meal. "Light" blue cheese sauce on a nice, hearty steak? Yes please!
"Light" Blue Cheese Sauce
Slightly adapted from Taste of Home, December and January 2011, p.69
Original submission from Kathy Specht of Clinton, MT
1 green onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. jarred minced garlic (equivalent to 1 garlic clove)
1 tsp. butter
1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch
2/3 c. skim milk
3+/- Tbsp. crumbled blue cheese
1 Tbsp. chicken broth
Mix cold milk and cornstarch in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake well to combine. Add chicken stock and refrigerate the jar. In a small saucepan, saute green onion and garlic in butter until tender. Slowly add the milk/broth/cornstarch mixture and stir. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2+/- minutes or until thickened. Add cheese and stir until completely melted. Serve over beef or pork steaks.
The verdict? Very flavorful without being overpowering, which surprised me. I think I'm a bigger lover of blue cheese than Buppy, so I was worried it would be too strong for his tastes. It complemented the steaks quite nicely and had a smooth, velvet-y consistency. Overall, I'll keep this and make it again next time I need a quick, easy and delicious sauce. Enjoy!
A few weeks back I hit a soup-making phase. I've always loved soups, but within a week or so I'd made a French onion & mushroom soup, cheese-beer soup, Southwestern chicken soup and another one that currently is escaping my memory. The Southwestern chicken soup was Buppy's new all-time favorite soup, but it came completely from my head and I (silly me!) didn't write down what went into it. Shame on me. He'll never get his favorite soup again. As for the French onion & mushroom soup . . . well, that kind of went the same way.
The cheese-beer soup recipe came from Recipe Girl and was quite tasty. Having grown up for a time in Wisco, we pretty much love all things beer, cheese and/or sausage. This had 2 of the 3, which is a good start. I won't go into great detail about the recipe as it can be found at her site, but I will say that my only modification was to sub in cornstarch for the flour. I've never been a flour-thickening person; never cooks out right for me, but to each their own. Oh, I also omitted the parsley because I never have that stuff on hand. Kind of a big 'why bother' in my opinion, but again, to each their own.
The soup was good, although it was on the thin side. Great with crusty bread dunked in it, but not really substantial enough to hold up as a meal on it's own. Even with more cornstarch or flour, it would still be a rather brothy soup, which is fine with me as long as I have some good bread. We could definitely smell the beer in it when it was pulled from the fridge and as it was reheating. Mmmmm.
Anyone else try this or have an even better recipe for cheese-beer soup? Lemme know!
Ah, my 2nd attempt at cheese fondue. I'm pretty much ready to bath myself in this stuff.
I found a recipe on the 'net, but decided to change things up a bit when I saw the price of Emmentaler that day at the grocery store. What fun is life if you can't make up your own fondue rules, right? Right. So instead of Emmentaler, I used Gouda. While not the easiest cheese to shred, it made the fondue so rich and creamy. This is definitely a keeper.
Three Cheese FondueAdapted from AhLimP's submission on allrecipes.com
1 c. white wine
1 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. all purpose flour
1 tsp. minced garlic
7(+/-) oz. Gruyere, shredded
7(+/-) oz. extra sharp white cheddar, shredded
7(+/-) oz. gouda, shredded (or chopped as gouda is hard to shred)
Melt the butter on low heat in the fondue pot. Stir in the flour to make a roux. Cook 1 minute, give or take, so the flour taste cooks out. Note: my heat was a little too high at first, so I added the wine after about 30 seconds so the roux wouldn't burn. Add the wine and garlic to the mixture and stir well. Add the cheeses, a handful at a time, and continue to stir to melt everything. Once it's all melted and creamy, start dippin'!
Our favorite dippers include soft pretzels, rye bagels (toasted), blanched cauliflower & broccoli, roasted pearl onions, asparagus, potatoes & cremini mushrooms, and steak.
All gone!I'm linking this post up to this week's Ultimate Recipe Swap over at Life as Mom. Her topic this week is New Year's foods, and while we're having steak this year (a gift from Buppy's dad that we received earlier this week), fondue at home would make a perfect, decadent & delicious meal for New Year's. Something to plan for next year for moi. Enjoy!
There’s beer. And cheese. In a dip. Need I say more? Well, I s’pose so, in case you want to know how to make this delicious concoction. Super simple. Four ingredients. Rock on.
This used to make appearances everywhere at parties and potlucks and shindigs [oh my!] when I was living in Wisco. Not surprising, since that state sure loves it’s cheese and beer. Since moving to MD, I haven’t seen, heard talk of or tasted this. Not to say MD people don’t make and devour this, it’s just not something I’ve come across here. Maybe I just don’t run in the right circles.
I made this last weekend for a housewarming party we were attending on Saturday afternoon. I’m not even sure what brought it to mind to make, as I’d originally planned to make a cold spinach dip. Who cares where the idea came from! Pretty much everyone [who tried it], myself included, loved it!!
Beer Cheese Dip
Adapted from allrecipes.com
2 pkg. 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, at room temp.
1 packet dry Ranch powder
2 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
½ - 2/3 c. beer [I used Ultra Amber since that’s what we happened to have in the fridge]
Beat cream cheese and Ranch powder together until smooth and creamy. Stir in the shredded cheese and beer. Chill overnight. Serve with crackers, pretzels, potato chips or in a bread bowl with accompanying bread. Yum!
Just a warning: this will seem thin when you first make it, but after you refrigerate it overnight, it magically thickens up, to the point where I was tempted to add more beer before heading to the party. I didn’t because I didn’t want it to get bitter if I added too much beer [some reviews said this happened to them], and it was perfect the way it was. Since it sat out on the counter at the housewarming party, it softened up a bit and became the perfect consistency. Enjoy!
Note: I'm linking this up to Miz Helen’s Country Cottage Full Plate Thursday for 1/27/11. For more great recipes/ideas, check it out!
I admit it, most of my recipe that I picked up while in college are things I've never actually made until now. And I feel really bad, because at that point in my life, I didn't really care where I got the recipe. I just copied it onto the computer and saved it to try at some future date. I have no idea where most of them came from, but now that's neither here nor there. I have yummy recipes and you can, too. Because nice girls share.
This is a recipe I actually have made once or twice, and I know for a fact that Buppy has made it for himself and the kids once (before we were cohabiting). I think they liked it; I know he did, but I'm not 100% sure about the kiddos. Who cares though, since their tastes change quicker than my undies. Is that sharing too much? Probably. Back to my point --- this recipe uses pantry ingredients, is quick to throw together, and you can pretty much forget it once you stick it in the oven. Unless you're like me and have an oven that bakes unevenly. Then you have to think about it again halfway through the baking process so one side doesn't over bake while the other doesn't fully bake. Take my advice and set a timer! What a pain. Ah, story of my life: the uneven-baking oven. Seriously.
Baked Chicken & Cheese
I got nothin'.
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (Mine generally run rather large, so I cut them in half and then they're the size of normal chicken breasts; if yours are small, use more.)
8 slices Swiss cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
½ c. skim milk
¼ c. reduced-fat sour cream
1 ½ c. herb stuffing mix
¼ c. melted butter
Mushrooms (optional, but I really love mushrooms!)
Place chicken in buttered 9"x13" baking dish; top with slices of cheese. Mix soup, milk and sour cream (and mushrooms, if using) together and pour over chicken/cheese. Top with stuffing and pour melted butter on top. Cover with foil and bake at 350F for 30 minutes; uncover and bake 30-40 minutes more.
Buppy's problem was that he thought this was a faster recipe than it is because he neglected to read the part about "bake 30-40 min. more after uncovering." I think he got mad at me. Not my fault Mr. I-didn't-read-the-recipe-through-before-beginning-dinner! If you've got the time, give it a try. I promise you won't be disappointed! Enjoy!
*Linking this bad boy up to Life as Mom’s Ultimate Recipe Swap for Favorite Recipes today, 2/17/11.
