And then we ate popcorn and cookies for dinner.

We woke up to sunshine and blue skies today. I was so excited I ran outside to take a picture, and then turned into an icicle. Don't let this blue sky fool you my friends, it's -10 outside right now, with a -25 wind chill. I'm a firm believer that on days like today, people should skip work, bake, build a fort,  drink hot cocoa, sing Kumbaya, and read stories by the fireplace.

Apparently in the real world people have to go to work, and Tay has a huge trial competition this week so no time for fort building. But there's always time for popcorn and chocolate chip cookies! So that's what we had for dinner. And it was almost as good as Kumbaya and storytime.

When we aren't eating popcorn for dinner, we have soup once or twice a week. It keeps use warm during these chilly winter months. Mmmmm . . . soup and fresh bread  . . . that's almost as good as Kumbaya too. Here are a few that we have in or monthly rotation:

Minestrone Soup (from Tia)
1 lb. Italian Sausage (I use ground turkey)
1 C diced onion
1 C sliced celery
1 C sliced carrots
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 (15 oz.) can Tomatoes
1 (15-16 oz.) can Tomato sauce
2 C. water
5 tsp. beef boullion
1 tsp. dried parsley flakes
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. basil
1.4 tsp. pepper
{add at the end...}
1 (15 oz.) can red Kidney beans (undrained)
1/2 C elbow macaroni
1 C cut green beans
1 C sliced zucchini

In large pot, brown sausage. Add all ingredients EXCEPT beans, zuchini, and macaroni and Simmer for 20 mins. Add remaining ingredients, and let simmer until noodles are soft and cooked. 


White Chili 
- I would wait and add the salt until after finished, and then salt to taste. It gets too salty quickly.


Tortellini Sausage Soup
- I prefer a little less parsley than the recipe calls for and use turkey sausage. 

Chicken Tortilla Soup 

Put the following ingredients in a large pot and cook on medium heat for 1 hour.

3-4 chicken breasts (depending on how "chickeny" you want it)
20 oz can diced tomato
1 can beef broth
4 c chicken broth
1 can tomato soup
1 - 10oz can diced tomato with green chiles
1 chopped onion
3 garlic cloves
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder

After 1 hour of cooking - take chicken breasts out and shred them with two forks. Put shredded chicken back into pot along with 1 can of corn and 1 can of black beans (drained & rinsed). Cook for 15 more minutes.

Serve with homemade tortilla strips.

We love any of these soups with cornbread or Lion House Rolls.  Also, all of these soups taste better when eaten while wearing warm sweats just out of the dryer. It's a proven fact.

Then for dessert, have a snowball, or just gnaw baby's chubby little hands. Delightful.

Enjoy!

Three Signs of Fall

1. Comfy sweats and slippers are out of hibernation.

Rainy evening. Warm feet. Sleeping baby. Husband time. And Chuck! Our new favorite show! We just got hooked on Netflix. Thank you, Netflix for making mail exciting again. And thank you, Netflix for introducing us to Chuck. We are half way through season one, so quite behind. Love it. What you can't see is our happy bellies full of fall decadence. 

Such as:

2. Fall Breakfasts.

Pumpkin waffles with maple walnut apples. Because everything is better with pumpkin.


 Recipe here.
This one is a favorite at our house, with just a few changes:
- I use normal flour when I don't have cake flour and it works fine
- I don't always have wheat germ and I usually add about a TBS. of flax seed
- I do 1/4 cup of oil instead of shortening. (It just makes it a little more heart healthy)


Mmmmm.

3. Mmm . . . Comfort Food.

Chicken Pot Pie.  My friend The Barefoot Contessa knows how to do it.

Ingredients:

3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

3 Tbs olive oil

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

5 cups chicken stock (she says make your own, I sure didn't)

2 chicken bouillon cubes

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

1 chopped yellow onion

3/4 cup flour

1/4 heavy cream

2 cups diced carrots 

2 cups frozen peas

1/2 cup minced fresh parsley

Cube the chicken breasts and cook in a skillet.  Remove from heat.

Heat the chicken stock in a small saucepan dissolving the bouillon cubes.  Let simmer over medium heat.  In a large pot melt the butter.  When the butter is melted, add chopped onion and saute over med-low heat for 15 minutes or until translucent.  Slowly add flour to the onions, stirring constantly for 2 minutes.  Add the hot chicken stock to the onions and flour and stir until thick.  Add 3/4 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoons pepper + heavy cream.  Add your cubed chicken, peas, carrots and parsley.  Remove from heat.

*I used carrots, corn, and green beans because that's what I had on hand. The more the merrier! 

For the Pastry:

3 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1/4 lb cold unsalted butter, diced

1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water

1 egg beaten with 1 Tbs water for egg wash

Mix flour, salt, and baking powder in stand mixer with paddle attachment. You can also use a food processor. Add the shortening and butter and mix quickly with your fingers until each pieces is coated with flour.  Mix on low speed until the fat is the size of peas.  With the mixer running, add the ice water.  Only mix until the dough is moistened and just comes together.  Dump the dough onto a floured surface and knead quickly into a ball.  Wrap in plastic and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Divide the filling among 5 oven safe bowls.  Divide the dough into 5 equal pieces.  Roll each piece into a circle large enough to cover the top of one bowl.  Place the dough over the bowl and press to make it stick.  Brush the dough with egg wash and cut slits in the top.  Place on a baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

*I don't have 5 oven safe bowls so I use a casserole dish and two mini loaf pans. Perfect to freeze and safe for the chilly days to come.

Happy Fall Eating!

Bakety Bake-Off

In my dream world I would live on the Food Network, among other things . . .

like living at Hogwarts . . .

in a musical where everyone knows the words and dance moves and busts into spontaneous song . . .

and you can jump into the sidewalk drawings like on Mary Poppins . . .

and so on and so forth.

In my Food Network world I am a Throwdown/Cake Challenge judge and have the world's tastiest recipe for everything. In the real world, whenever I try a new recipe, I ask Tay if he thinks this should go down in my cookbook or if I should continue on my quest for perfection. And then we talk about what we would do differently like we actually know what we are talking about. Which we don't. But I have discovered one of my favorite salsa recipes to date. Of course it belongs to the Pioneer Woman, who doesn't love her? The Bensons are passionate about non-chunky salsa and feel very strongly that onions should not overpower everything else. So I was excited to see she felt the same way. Tay agreed and we are big fans of this recipe found here. If you have one that you think can beat it send it my way. We'll have our own little Throwdown.

Now I'm on to my next quest: chocolate chip cookies.

So far I've tried the America's Test Kitchen recipe, the good old Tollhouse recipe, the good ol' Tollhouse recipe with vanilla pudding instead of sugar (a tip from an old client of mine), a whole wheat recipe, and a favorite recipe we made growing up. All delicious. All different. And all fattening.

Anyway, I'm going to have a bake off and have some of my very hungry Nebraska friends be the judges. So if you have a chocolate chip cookie recipe I need to hear about please send it my way. I need a recipe that deserves a song and well choreographed dance that I can share with my friends before we seize the day.

I know a lot of you who are muy talented in the kitchen. So share your talent with me!

One for all, and ALL FOR ONE.

P.S. To those of you USU girls who used to clog with me to this song . . . we really need to do that again. It's not as fun by myself.

Home Sweet Home

Taylor and I have been missing Utah this week. In a good way. We've reminisced over our walks in the Avenues, chocolate stops at Hatch's, Peach Days in Brigham City, bike rides up City Creek (well I just miss walking and bike rides in general), and just the all around fabulousness that is a Utah fall. Like right now I just really want to go to the State Fair, eat a greasy funnel cake, and then slide down the big yellow slide to my heart's content. And then ace Lindsey in an intense game of tetherball of course.

So as I was wandering around the produce aisle this afternoon what did I see? UTAH PEACHES. I was so excited!  I found this recipe on Kelsey's Kitchen, and it was divine. The perfect way to celebrate what is hopefully a LOOONG Indian Summer. We look forward to the near future when Omaha becomes home, but in the meantime, it's good to have a little bit of Utah for dessert anyway! Enjoy!

Spiced Peach Bruschetta served over Cinnamon Toasted Baguette slices

topped with Candied Pecans

Yield: 8 servings

INGREDIENTS:
• 24 1/4-inch baguette slices
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 6 tablespoons brown sugar, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped peaches and/or nectarines
• 1/2 cup chopped plums
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons chopped glazed pecans

PREPARATION:
1. Lay the baguette slices in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Stir together the butter, 4 tablespoons brown sugar and cinnamon and spread on one side of each baguette slice. Broil for 1 to 2 minutes or until bubbly and bread is lightly browned on the edges. Stir together the remaining brown sugar, fruit and lime juice in a small bowl. Spoon equal amounts over the bread slices and sprinkle with pecans.