Comfort Food

I was so excited for a nice, cozy, hot soup on a chilly fall day. Then the day I made it ended up being super sunny and warm. What gives?

As you'll soon see, this recipe calls for sweet potatoes. I always knew there was a difference between yams and sweet potatoes, but I never really knew what it is. And, although I knew there was a difference, that didn't stop me from believing that they are interchangeable. So, I've done some research aaaaand I'm more confused then when I started. Sometimes the internet can seem pretty useless.

So I got out my handy dandy Mary Margaret McBride Encyclopedia of Cooking Copyright @ 1959. It was my grandmas and it makes me miss her. I really need to use this thing more often, it's a gem.

This is what it told me.

So, yea. I'm still a little confused, but it seems like it's not a huge deal if you use yams, when sweet potatoes are called for, or vise versa because you aren't going to find any "real" yams around these parts anyway. 

Broccoli Cheddar Soup


You will need:

• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
• 2 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups half and half
• 1 lb russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped 
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 cups chopped broccoli florets
• 1/2 lb sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (about 1 1/3 cup)
• croutons for topping

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes.

Add the potatoes, chicken broth, half and half, bay leaf, 2 cups of water, 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and let simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile steam your broccoli. I used the frozen Wegmans Organic Broccoli that steams in the bag. 

When the potatoes are tender, remove the bay leaf from the soup and either transfer the soup to a blender and puree until smooth, leaving the filler cap slightly open to release steam (you may have to do this in batches), or puree the soup in the pot with an immersion blender. Return the soup to the pot (if using the blender), and thin with water if necessary. Return to a simmer over medium low heat; stir in broccoli and season with salt and pepper.

Add the cheese and stir until melted. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with extra cheese and croutons if desired.

I feel like next time I would add more cheese and maybe two different types of cheese, to give it a more cheesy taste and creamy texture.

Source: Food Network Magazine

It Takes, On Average, 66 Days To Form A Habit.

I usually don't make it past day 4. I've become increasingly aware of this lately.

Fennel-Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Potatoes


You will need:

• Lemon, 1 large
• Fennel seeds, 1 1/2 tbsp
• Salt, 1 tsp
• Black Peppercorn, 2 1/2 tsp coarsely crushed
• Garlic, 3 large cloves, chopped
• Olive oil, 1 1/2 tbsp
• Pork tenderloin, 1 1/4 lb
• 2 Yams
• 2 Russet potatoes
• Olive oil
• Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel and chop yams and potatoes into 1 inch cubes. Coat evenly with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 30-40 minutes, turning often.

Grate 1 1/2 tsp zest from the lemon and squeeze 1 tbsp juice into a small bowl. Add the fennel seeds, salt, pepper, garlic and oil and stir to combine. Place the pork in a roasting pan and rub all over with the spice mixture. Let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes, or cover and refrigerate up to overnight.

Turn the oven up to 450 degrees. Remove potatoes and cook pork until it is brown outside and barely pink inside and the temp reads 145-150 degrees. About 15-20 minutes. Put the potatoes back in the oven for the last 5-10 minutes.

Cut on the diagonal into slices 1/2 inch thick, and serve with potatoes.

Roasted yams are one of my new favorite things:).

Source: Williams Sonoma Weeknight Cookbook

"This is no ordinary apple, it's a magic wishing apple...

One bite and all your dreams will come true."
Snow White should have known better, that old lady was creeeepy.

For some reason I was afraid of baked apples. I don't know why? Maybe it was just because I hadn't made them before and I chose to make them for the first time when people were coming over. I really should stick with making things I've made at least once before when other people have to eat it too:). Maybe one day I'll learn my lesson. Needless to say they came out really well! I didn't fall in love with any recipe I saw on-line so I kind of made it up as I went.

Baked Apples


You will need:

• 4-6 medium sized Gala apples
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 cup golden raisins

You can also add walnuts or pecans. When I make these again I will probably add some oats, make it sort of apple crispy-ish:).

Wash your apples and peel the top inch or so from the stem. Core the apples, not going all the way through to the bottom. I don't have an apple corer so I used a sharp knife, cutting into the top diagonally. Then I used the blunt end of a spoon and surprisingly the core came out pretty easily, in one chunk. Make sure all the seeds are removed.

 These are the apples only cored half way.

Cut the very bottom off of your apple to give it a flat surface to sit on. Remember to make sure you're not cutting too much off so that you make a hole in the bottom, allowing the filling to leak out!

Mix together your brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, raisins and any other fillings you're using. Fill each apple with approximately 2 tbsp of filling. Pour 1/2-1 cup of apple cider into the bottom of your 3-4 quart baking dish and place your apples in. Put a pad of unsalted butter on each apple.

Cover with foil and poke a few small hold in the foil with your knife. Bake for 45min to an hour at 350 degrees.

Test your apples by sticking them with a fork, when they are tender and the fork goes in easily, they're finished.

You could pair these with so many things. We had them with Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Ice cream. But it would be good with a caramel ice cream, caramel drizzle, whipped cream- the list goes on (or top them off with a little rum, or bourbon or some Navan from the apple pie martini drink last week:))! One recipe I saw had you drizzle maple syrup over them before you baked them, which sounds amazing to me, but I know some don't like maple as much as others:).

Any way you make them, and anyway you serve them, I hope you enjoy!

(p.s. Props to Stephanie for getting her baked apple into my blog!)

Cold Weather Dinner

I feel like Winter is right around the corner. I'm not ready!!!!! We haven't even taken out our fall/winter clothes from the basement yet(mental note: Do that today.) There's a couple more things to do for the car to be "winterized" and um, I'd like my two new kitchen windows Window World! What's the hold up? These things should have been rush ordered seeing as how they messed up. I don't want the first snowfall to come with these drafty/leaky windows still here! Oh, and I need to waterproof my boots.

Here's hoping we have a mild Winter this year.

Anyway, here's a great meal to make on these chilly days.

Braised Chicken, Tomatoes & Bacon


You will need:

• Thick sliced bacon, 4 slices, chopped
• Bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, 6
• Salt and freshly ground Pepper
• Yellow onion, 1, chopped
• Garlic, 2 cloves, minced
• Dry white wine, 1/4 cup
• Fresh oregano 1 tbsp
• Red pepper flakes 1/4 tsp
• Diced tomatoes, 1 can, 14 oz, with juice

Cook the bacon in a large frying pan or Dutch Oven over medium heat, turning often, until crisp. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a small plate. Drain off all but 2 tbsp drippings from the pan. Yes, that's more then 4 slices of bacon. What can I say? We love bacon!

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Return the pan to medium-high heat, add the chicken, and cook, turning once or twice, until golden brown on both sides, about 8 minutes total. Transfer chicken to a plate.

I only made 2 chicken thighs but kept all the other ingredients the same except for the onion. I used 1/2 of an onion, chopped.

Add the onion and garlic to the pan and saute until softened, about 4 minutes. Pour in the wine and stir to scrape up the bits on the bottom of the pan. Here is when you pour yourself a glass of wine as well. Never cook with wine you wouldn't drink:).

Stir in the oregano, pepper flakes and tomatoes and their juices. Return the chicken and any juices from the plate to the pan, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low, and braise until the chicken in cooked through, 25-30 minutes.

Uncover, raise heat to medium-high, brig to a simmer, and stir in the crumbled bacon. Transfer the chicken to dinner plates, top with sauce and serve.

So good:). You're house will smell so good too, while this simmers on the stove. Serves great with mashed or roasted potatoes- yum!

Source: Williams-Sonoma: Simple Suppers

There's Just Something About Bundt Pans

That something being, they are awesome. Don't believe me? Check it out!

See, I told you:). If I had kids I would be in so much trouble, I would buy so many bundt pans haha (that would actually be the least of my problems I'm sure). You can find all those and more here.

I used the Pro Cast Original Bundt Pan.

Fresh Apple Bundt Cake

You will need:

• 1 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup chopped pecans (I omitted these)
• 4 cups chopped apples

Peel, core and chop 2-3 medium sized apples. Combine oil, sugars, eggs and vanilla in a bowl and mix well.

Sift flour, salt, soda, cinnamon and nutmeg on to parchment paper or into a bowl. Gradually add into egg mixture. The batter will be pretty thick, don't be alarmed :).

Add nuts and apples and mix well. Pour into a greased 10 cup bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean. The cake will be very moist so be careful trying to flip it onto a cooling rack. Mine may, or may not have broke in two because the pan slipped out of my hand...it all goes to the same place though, right?! (Don't worry, it landed on the counter, not the floor!)

 Because of the minor mishap with the cake I didn't get a picture of the whole thing, but it still looks good by the slice :).

Source: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,196,155165-237198,00.html

Drink Of the Future!

Matt made up this drink the other day and I promised I would share it. It was very fun and futuristic looking, it belonged at our Star Wars party!

We call it....

Future Glo


You will need:

• 1 1/2 oz. cirtus vodka (any will do, we used Belvedere Orange for this drink) 
• 1/2 oz Blue Curacao
• 1 oz Midori
• 1 oz Sours mix
• 1/2 oz sweetened lime juice
• 4-5 ice cubes

Build ingredients over ice in a blender. Blend until smooth and serve!

Green maraschino cherries kind of scare me, but they look so cool. They can't possibly have any nutritional value to them. They probably take away any nutrients you already have-ha.

Drink up, my friends:).

***Side note

Look at this tiny little baby! It feels like forever ago. I can't believe how much she's changed. Love you Evie!

Have You Ever Wondered?

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to drink an apple pie? Well let me tell you, it's pretty stinkin' good.

We have had some Navan Natural Vanilla Liqueur sitting around for a long time and haven't really used it at all. Sometimes I will open it and just smell it, it smells soooo good:). It doesn't do me any good just sitting there, smelling good though. So I googled it to find some good recipes to try out and here's what I got.

Natural Apple Pie Martini


You will need:

• 1 part(s) Navan Natural Vanilla Liqueur
• 1 part(s) Vodka
• 3 part(s) Apple Cider
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 squirt lime juice
• 1 tbsp sugar, fine or sugar in the raw

Run a lime wedge around the rim and coat rim in sugar. Combine first 5 ingredients over ice in a shaker and shakeshakeshake. Strain into your martini glass.

It also suggested warming the cider and serving it in a mug.

Adapted from: Barnonedrinks.com

I apologize for my extremely messy kitchen table (I feel like I could apologize for that in every picture..oh well:)). This drink is amazing. It really truly tastes and smells like apple pie. Maybe next time I'll add a little nutmeg. Go make one, or come over and I'll make you one. Apple Pie Martinis for everyone!!!!