Lasagna with Italian Sausage

This lasagna recipe was adapted from another Betty Crocker recipe. The difference between this one and the original is the tomato product used. The original recipe just called for canned tomatoes. That wasn't enough for me, so I made a pot of homemade tomato sauce and just used that instead.

I've actually only made lasagna once before in my life. The recipe called for the noodles that you don't have to boil and an extra wet sauce, for the noodles to cook in. It was a watery, gross mess. Ever since then, the thought of making it has always intimidated me. 


This was absolutely delicious. A certain someone who lives with me ate half of it in 12 hours. Literally =) The recipe says it's eight servings, but I think it's more like 10-12. This was a HUGE pan of lasagna. And if you serve it with a salad or some fresh baked Italian bread, it is DEFINITELY more than 8 servings.

Lasagna with Italian Sausage
(Recipe loosely adapted from this one.)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. of hot Italian sausage
• 4 cups of your favorite marinara sauce (I like this one)
• 12 lasagna noodles
• 15 ounce container of ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan, divided
• 3 cups of shredded mozzarella
• 1/4 cup of parsley

 Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 Degrees. 
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add lasagna noodles and cook and drain as directed on package.
3. Saute the pound of Italian sausage. Drain the meat and put back in the pan. Add the tomato sauce and let cook together on low for 5-10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile in a small bowl, mix the ricotta, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese and the parsley. 
5. To assemble:
1. Spread 1 cup of the sauce mixture in a 13x9-inch baking dish. Top with 4 noodles. Spread 1 cup of the cheese mixture over noodles; spread with 1 cup of the sauce mixture. Sprinkle with 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat with 4 noodles, the remaining cheese mixture, 1 cup of the sauce mixture and 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese. Top with remaining noodles and sauce mixture. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.  
6. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for 15 more minutes, or until the cheese is golden & bubbly. Let sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

French Toast Souffle

I didn't like this recipe at all. Maybe it's because I made one big one instead of 4 smaller ones, but it was a soggy mess. Besides that, the flavor was not very good, it had to cook about 15 minutes longer than the recipe said, and the top was getting too brown while the inside was still basically wet bread.

I don't plan on making this recipe again...

French Toast Souffle
(Recipe from this one.)

Ingredients:

• 1 small loaf of french bread, cut into 1 inch cubes (5 cups)
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup of half & half
• 1/4 cup of maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon 
• Powdered sugar for serving

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, half & half, maple syrup, vanilla and cinnamon. 
2. Add bread cubes and toss until all of the cubes are coated. Pour into souffle dish.
3. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes larger souffle.
4. Dust with powdered sugar and serve.

 

Italian Stuffed Peppers

 There are about 4,000 recipes out there for stuffed peppers. But I was in the mood to make the more traditional, Italian-style variety. At my bridal shower, I received a Betty Crocker cookbook as a gift. When I was flipping through my cookbooks a couple of weeks ago, I remember how everytime we had peppers, my mom always mentioned how the Betty Crocker recipe was the best she had ever had. So of course, I had to make it.

Stuffed peppers aren't exactly the most healthy food. Yes, you're eating a whole pepper, but you're also eating ground beef, a lot of rice and cheese. To make this a little more figure friendly, I used extra lean ground sirloin, low fat mozzarella cheese and brown rice instead of white. I've never really liked brown rice, but I've been using it more and more lately, and it's actually growing on me. In the peppers you couldn't tell a difference.

Stuffed Peppers
(Recipe adapted from this one.)

Ingredients:

• 4 decent sized green bell peppers
• 1 lb. of lean ground sirloin (Italian sausage would be great here too!)
• 1/4 of an onion, finely diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 cup of cooked brown rice
• 1/2 t. salt
• 15 ounce can of tomato sauce (or homemade marinara)
• Mozzarella Cheese 
• Olive Oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook rice. If you use brown, be aware that brown takes about 40 minutes to cook, so plan ahead.
3. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cut the tops of of the peppers and scoop out the seeds & membranes. If your peppers will not stand on their own, cut a tiny slice off of the bottom to make them steady. Drop the peppers (gently!) into the water and let them cook for about 5 minutes. Remove and let drain when finished.
4. In a medium skillet, heat olive oil on medium heat. Add onions and cook until tender. Add garlic and cook for just a minute or until fragrant. Add the meat, mix together and let brown.
5. Stir in rice and one cup of the tomato sauce. When mixed well, spoon the mixture into each pepper.
6. Stand each pepper up in a 8x8 baking dish, cover tightly with foil and cook for 45 minutes.
7. Uncover and bake for 15 more minutes. When the peppers have 5 minutes remaining, remove from the oven, cover with cheese and then put back in until the cheese is melted.

Tuscan Bean Soup

I guess I've been on a Pioneer Woman kick lately. And who can blame me? Her blog is a hoot, and her food is so, so good. I don't make her recipes a whole lot though, because they typically are not all that healthy. This soup is different. It's got very little fat, could be made completely vegetarian if you switch the chicken stock for vegetable stock and has about 200 calories a serving. It also contains a bunch of kale, which is anutritional powerhouse.

I had never tried kale before this and I wish it was more readily available here in Arkansas. I had to go on a hunt for it, and came up empty handed. I'm sure I could have found some at Whole Foods, but I was not in the mood to drive 30 minutes across town for kale, so I just used some frozen that I found in the freezer section of the commissary. I was surprised to find it tasted a lot like collard greens, which were a New Years Day staple in my household growing up. You know... black eyed peas, collard greens & cornbread on New Years Day for luck & fortune into the New Year. Anyways, I loved it. I enjoyed the texture more than that of frozen spinach, so I'll probably start using more of it from here on out.

The recipe also calls for the soup to be topped with shrimp sauteed in butter and tossed with fresh parsley. I omitted that completely. I'm sure it would have been delicious, but soup & shrimp don't really go together to me. Especially since we had shrimp the night before...

Anyways, the next time you're wanting to make soup, try out this recipe. It's fantastic!

Tuscan Bean Soup
(Adapted from the Pioneer Woman)

Ingredients:

• 3 T. of olive oil
• 1 Onion, finely diced.
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced.
• 6 ounce can of tomato paste
• 3/4 cup of white wine (I used the Naked Grape's Pinot Grigio)
• 3 cans of Great Northern Beans, or cannelini beans; rinsed & drained.
• 2 t. of red pepper flakes
• 1 28 ounce can of whole tomatoes
• 1 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes; drained
• 6 cups of chicken stock
• 1 16 ounce bag of frozen kale
• Basil
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in the bottom of a large soup pot over medium heat. When the oil is warm, add onions and saute until tender. Add the garlic and cook for about 2 minutes, or until the garlic is fragrant.
2. Add the tomato paste and and stir in. Cook for about two minutes.
3. Pour in the wine, whisk together and get the cooked bits up off of the bottom of the pan. Let cook until the wine has reduced by half.
4. Add the tomatoes; juice & all. (I like to break up my tomatoes before adding them in, so I poured the contents of the can into a bowl, broke them up with my hands and then poured them into the pot.)
5. Since I used frozen kale, this step may not apply to you. If you use fresh, go read Ree's recipe. But make sure your kale is thawed. Wrap it in a clean cloth and wring out all the moisture the way you would if you were using frozen spinach. Then add it to the pot.
6. Add the rinsed & drained beans and the chicken stock. Add red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. This is a huge pot of soup, and I like salt. So I added about 2 t. of salt, one of pepper. Stir together, making sure to break up any clumps of kale, and let simmer (uncovered) for 20-30 minutes.
7. Top with with Parmesan cheese shavings and some torn basil.

Roasted Vegetables

I was flipping through Everyday Italian (Giada De Laurentiis) and came across a recipe for grilled vegetables. Graham mentioned wanting to grill shrimp, and I thought that we could have some grilled veggies as a side dish. But even with all of our shopping this past Saturday, we never picked up a basket that would allow us to cook vegetables on the grill. I had already purchased all of the veggies needed to make this, so I decided to adapt it and make roasted vegetables. I made them the same way I make my roasted potatoes and these were amazing! We were waiting on the shrimp, and we both kept plucking vegetables from the serving bowl. Everything had so much flavor, and was absolutely incredible. This is a side dish that I will DEFINITELY keep in my repertoire.

Roasted Vegetables
(Adapted from this one.)

Ingredients:

• 2 Red Bell Peppers
• 1 package of sliced baby portabello mushrooms
• 2 Squash
• 2 Zucchini
• 1 bunch of asparagus
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 3 T. of balsamic vinegar
• 2 cloves of garlic; finely minced
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Chop all of the vegetables into similarly, decent sized pieced. Everything shrinks up a lot when cooked, so do not go too small.
3. In the bottom of a large mixing bowl whisk together the oil, vinegar, garlic, salt & pepper. Pour the vegetables in the bowl and toss from the bottom, being sure to coat everything in the oil-vinegar mixture.
4. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and spread the vegetables out in an even layer on the sheet.
5. Bake for 30 minutes.

 

Blackberry Cobbler

Another Pioneer Woman recipe! Last time it was mashed potatoes... today it's a super sweet & delicious blackberry cobbler. I think this is the absolute easiest dessert I have ever made. It took about 10 minutes to put together, an hour to bake, and was absolutely perfect with more vanilla ice cream.

I made this exactly from the recipe as well, but I ran out of real sugar so I substituted Truvia. It worked pretty well. This was still very sweet. I've never made this before, so I don't know if it made any kind of a difference, but maybe next time I'll try it with all sugar substitute. It'll make me feel better about there being a whole stick of butter in this =)

The Pioneer Woman's Blackberry Cobbler
(Original recipe found here.)

Ingredients:

• 1 stick of butter
• 1 1/4 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of self rising flour
• 1 cup of milk (I used fat free)
• 2 cups of fresh blackberries (or whatever fruit you prefer)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt butter in a small saucepan or microwavable dish. 
3. Mix sugar, flour and milk together. Add in melted butter and mix well.
4. Spray a 2 quart baking dish with cooking spray, or butter the dish.
5. Pour batter into dish and then drop in blackberries. Make sure to evenly distribute them. 
6. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of sugar over the top.
7. Bake for one hour or until golden and bubbly.

The Pioneer Woman's Mashed Potatoes

One of the best things about the Pioneer Woman's recipes is her fantastically random commentary. So I'm going to post the recipe, but do yourselves a favor and go check it out at her website.

I've never made real mashed potatoes before. I usually just stick to instant. When you make homemade ones, you end up with a massive amount. I made these, and Graham and I ate two meals off of them, and we still have over half of that serving dish left. I know I could just cut the recipe in half, or quarter it, but I never think about it at the time.

These potatoes were delicious. They were rich, and so, so creamy. The only thing I did differently from the original recipe was to cream them with my stand mixer after mashing them up a little. I like my mashed potatoes very smooth, so to me they HAVE to be whipped, not just mashed.

The Pioneer Woman's Mashed Potatoes
(Recipe found in it's entire hilarity here.)

Ingredients:

• 5 pounds Russet Or Yukon Gold Potatoes
• 1.5 sticks of butter
• 8 ounce of Cream Cheese, Softened
• 3/4 Cup of  Half-and-Half
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions: 

1. Peel and cut the potatoes into small, similar sized pieces. Bring a large pot of water to a simmer and add some salt and the potatoes. Bring to a boil and cook for 30 to 35 minutes or until fork tender.
2. Drain the potatoes in a large colander. When the potatoes have finished draining, place them back into the dry pot and put the pot on the stove to remove some of the excess moisture. Mash the potatoes over low heat, allowing all the steam to escape, before adding in all the other ingredients.
3. Put the potatoes in the bowl of your stand mixer (or a regular bowl if you're using a hand mixer) and add 1 stick of butter, an 8 ounce package of cream cheese and about 3/4 cup of half-and-half. Mix until smooth (or your desired consistency). Next, add a teaspoon of salt and 1/2 a teaspoon of black pepper.
4. Mix until all seasoning is well incorporated and place in a baking dish. Slice the rest of the butter and place on the top of the potatoes. Cover tightly with foil and place in a 350-degree oven and heat until butter is melted and potatoes are warmed through.

Note: When making this dish a day or two in advance, take it out of the fridge about 2 to 3 hours before serving time. Bake in a 350-degree oven for about 20 to 30 minutes or until warmed through.

Samoa Bark

Who doesn't love Girl Scout Cookies? I wish I could say that I didn't. Especially when I have been known (on multiple occasions) to eat an entire box of them on the spot. I like the lemon ones. The shortbread ones are pretty good. I won't turn down a Thin Mint, but I don't get the hype with those. But the one that makes me super excited to see little kids standing infront of grocery stores selling cookies? Samoas.

There is nothing about that cookie I don't love. And since the boxes I ordered haven't come in yet, I decided to make this samoa bark that I saw on Pinterest. I was so excited with how easy this was. And as I melted chocolate and caramel, I couldn't wait to dive into these.

And when I finally ate one? Utter disappointment. Obviously these are not the actual cookies. It's an easy way to incorporate all of the flavors that we know and love and get something with the same flavors. However. It doesn't turn out well, and in my opinion these could have been delicious with one simple switch: milk chocolate in place of semi-sweet. The chocolate part of this bark (which is a pretty substantial part of them) is bitter, and it overpowers everything else going on here. These were so easy to make, so I'll probably try them again with some melted milk chocolate. I really do think that would make a world of difference.

Samoa Bark

(Recipe from Cookies & Cups)

Ingredients:

• 14 ounces of good quality milk chocolate; divided (12 ounces for the base, 2 ounces for drizzle)
• 14 ounce bag of caramels
• 1 box of Lorna Doone shortbread cookies
• 3 cups of sweetened, flaked coconut
• 3 T. of water

Directions:

1. Line a 9x13 baking sheet with foil and set aside.
2. Chop the chocolate into very small pieces and melt using either a double boiler or in the microwave. (I'm lazy and didn't want to wash any additional dishes, so I used the microwave.)
3. Smooth the melted chocolate into the bottom of the lined pan.
4. Working quickly, place the cookies in the warm chocolate. (I'm OCD and lined them up perfectly, and had 4 cookies remaining.) When finished, put the pan in the freezer to set while you work on the next few steps.
5. Either in a large, non-stick skillet or in an oven on 350 degrees, toast up your coconut. Keep an eye on it, it starts to brown quickly and you do not want it to burn.
6. Place all of your unwrapped caramels in a sauce pan (on medium-low heat) with the water and stir until the carramel has just melted. Immediately fold in the toasted cococut.
7. Remove the pan from the freezer and spread the caramel-coconut mixture over the chocolate & cookies.
8. Melt those last two ounces of chocolate and drizzle over the top. Let set in the refridgerator or freezer for about five minutes.

Honey Poached Pears in Puff Pastry

My horrible iPhone photo doesn't do this delicious dessert justice. Graham and I had our date night at home over the weekend, and a date night at home calls for a more elegant dessert. I saw this on pinterest, and even though it comes off as a very classy dessert, it could not have been simpler to make.

The syrup that the finished pear is sitting in is basically diabetes waiting to happen, but it was fantastic. It was really, really, REALLY good drizzled on top of the vanilla ice cream that we had alongside it. =)

Honeyed Pears in Puff Pastry
(Recipe from Sprinkle Bakes)

Ingredients:

• 2 small pears
• 1 sheet of Pepperidge Farm puff pastry, thawed
• 4 cups water
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup honey
• 1/2 lemon
• 2 t. of cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Peel pears and core from the bottom. Cut the bottom of the pears strait across, so they will stand upright. Set aside.
3. In a medium saucepan, combine the 4 cups water, 2 cups sugar and 1 cup honey. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. When the sugar has melted, add the pears, 1/2 lemon, and cinnamon. Simmer pears until they are fork tender; about 30-40 minutes.
4. When the pears are tender, remove them from the pot and allow them to cool. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the poaching liquid. While pears are cooling, cut the puff pastry into 1/2" strips (I like using a pizza cutter for this).  
5. Wrap cooled pears with puff pastry starting at the bottom and working upwards. When you come to the end of a pastry strip, dip your finger in water and press to adhere to the next pastry strip. Continue wrapping until you reach the top of the pear. Place wrapped pears in a parchment lined pan and bake for 25 minutes, or until puff pastry is golden brown.
6. Simmer the reserved poaching liquid over medium heat until thick and syrupy.  Plate pears and top with syrup.

Spinach-Artichoke Stuffed Mushrooms

Neither of us are vegetarians, but I am trying to incorporate more meat-free meals into our weekly menu. When I saw these on Pink Parsley, I thought they looked, and sounded delicious. I've always been wary of spinach-artichoke dip after a bad experience many, many years ago. Then I learned the dip was made with mayo, and that turned me off even more. But over the past year or so I've warmed up to it again, and couldn't wait to make these mushrooms.

This was such an easy meal to make, and it turned out absolutely delicious. Our grocery store only had one pack of portobello mushrooms, but I made the recipe as it was written, and put the rest in a small baking dish and we snacked on it with some baked tortilla chips. The best part about this was the red pepper flake in the filling. It doesn't add a lot of spice, just puts a little heat in the background. So go make these. And if you're not a fan of mushrooms, make the filling by itself and serve it at a party you may be having for a stupid football game in a couple of weeks...

Spinach-Artichoke Stuffed Mushrooms
(Adapted from Pink Parsley)

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbs olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves; minced
• 4 medium portabello mushrooms; stems and gills removed
• 4 oz of softened cream cheese
• 3 T. plain Greek yogurt 
• 1 t. dried thyme
• 1/2 t. of red pepper flakes
• 10 oz frozen chopped spinach; thawed and squeezed dry
• 14.5 oz can of artichokes; drained, dried & chopped.
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, combine the olive oil and the chopped garlic. 
3. Brush the insides of the mushroom caps with the mixture and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.  Arrange the mushrooms in a single layer on a baking sheet, oiled-side up. Roast until just tender, about 10 minutes. If the mushrooms gave off excess water, use a paper towel or kitchen towel to blot up the moisture.
4. While the mushrooms roast, mix the cream cheese, Greek yogurt, the thyme and the red pepper flakes in a medium bowl. Stir in the spinach and artichokes and season well with salt and pepper.
5. Toss the breadcrumbs and the panko with the remaining olive oil and garlic. 
6. Fill the mushroom caps with the artichoke-spinach mixture and top with the breadcrumbs. Bake until the crumbs are golden-brown, about 10-12 minutes. 
7. Serve immediately.

Blackened Chicken Alfredo

I've had this recipe bookmarked for a very long time. I'd say at least a year. So long I don't even remembered adding it to my favorites. So... yeah. A while.

Usually on a Wednesday or Thursday night, I plan our menu for the week once Graham leaves for week. This week our new puppy distracted me (and not in a fun "awww, puppies are so cute!" kind of way... more like an annoying, whimpering, whining, waking me up at 6:00am kind of way). So, I set out to plan our menu for the week about 20 minutes before we went grocery shopping. I saw this in my favorites and decided to go for it.

It was SO. GOOD.

I had never made homemade alfredo sauce before this. Making a cream sauce was always intimidating to me. Now I know there is absolutely nothing to it. You just have to be very aware of your time. It gets thicker, the longer it sets, so when it's done, you need to be ready to go!

This really was delicious and is definitely going into my repetoire.


Blackened Chicken Alfredo
(Adapted from Elly Says Opa, which is from Michael Ruhlman) 
Ingredients:

• 4 Chicken Breasts
• 1 cup cream
• salt & pepper
• Cajun seasoning (I've been using Emeril's blend for years)
• 4 Tbsp. butter, cut into about 8 small pieces.
• 12 ounces of pasta
• 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese; plus more for a garnish.
• Olive Oil

Directions:

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil. When boiling, add salt to flavor the water, and then add the pasta.
2. In a small skillet or a grill pan, heat olive oil in the bottom. Coat the chicken breasts in the cajun seasoning, and cook thoroughly. When finished cooking, move to a cutting board and let rest until the pasta is done.
3. In a pan big enough to toss the pasta, bring the cream, salt, pepper and cajun seasoning to a simmer, then lower the heat and whisk in the butter, adding one piece at a time. Turn the heat off.
4. Boil and strain your pasta. Toss the pasta and cheese in the cream. Add a little more cream if it has thickened too much.
5. Mound pasta on each individual plate, top with sliced chicken and serve. 

And just because, here is a picture of the new puppy. Her name is Hermione. Buddy is not impressed.

Pan-Roasted Fish with Avocado-Pineapple Salsa

Pink Parsley is one of my absolute, all time favorite food blogs. Everything Josie makes is absolutely beautiful, and the recipes I've made of hers have all been delicious.

She blogged about this pan-roasted fish while we were on our honeymoon, and I quickly starred it to make at home. Her photos are beautiful, and I thought that if this tasted as good as it looked, I would have a winner on my hands.

Well... unfortunately while this dinner was very good, it was not as wonderful as I hoped it would be. I made an adaption... well, more of an omission... to the salsa, and maybe if I had kept it the same it would have worked better for me. But I just couldn't bear the thought of throwing raw onion into the salsa. The purple from the red onion would have been pretty with the other colors, but I HATE raw onion. I do my damnedest to pick it out of pico de gallo in my burrito bowl at Chipotle, so I just didn't see the point. I also thought the flavors in the salsa were kind of fighting for dominance, and didn't combine very well. Some bites of the salsa were delicious, other bites were just a little strange. I'm not sure how to describe it.

Pan-Roasted Fish with Avocado-Pineapple Salsa

(Recipe taken from Pink Parsley; salsa originally adapted from Everyday Food, January/February 2012)

Ingredients:

• 2 avocados, diced in 1/2 inch cubes.
• 2 cup finely diced fresh pineapple
• 1/2 jalapeno, finely diced (the heat comes from the ribs and seeds, so remove those!)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
• juice & zest of 2 limes
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 pieces of halibut (or any other white fish)
• olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the pineapple, jalapeno, cilantro, avocado, and lime juice. Toss gently to combine ingredients. Make sure the avocado is coated in lime juice to keep it from browning. Season with salt and pepper to taste and refridgerate.
3. Make sure the fish is very dry, and season well with salt & pepper.
4. Heat the oil in an oven safe pan, and carefully place the fish in. Let them cook, unbothered, for 2 minutes. Flip them over very carefully and let cook for 1-2 minutes on the other side.
5. Put the pan in the pre-heated oven and let cook for 5 minutes (depending on the hickness of the fish) or until it flakes easily with the fork.
6. Plate the fish, and top with the salsa.

We served this on a bed of quinoa, and ate along side a side salad.

Remove the pan from heat and transfer it to the oven. Cook 5-7 minutes, or until the fish is opaque throughout and flakes easily with a fork. The cooking time will vary based on the thickness of the fish, so start checking it around 4-5 minutes.

To serve, top each piece of fish with salsa.

Pesto Grilled Cheese Sandwich

So that creamy tomato soup I made yesterday? This is the perfect accompaniment to it. Not that there is anything wrong with a traditional grilled cheese sandwich, but this was perfect with the soup. The soup was supposed to have basil in it, but I was out. Pesto is primarily made from basil, so I knew it would be fantastic with the soup.

I cheated a lot with this, but there isn't really a science to making grilled cheese. The inspiration for this sandwich was this one that I saw on Pinterest (of course).

Pesto Grilled Cheese
(Recipe adapted from this one.)

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of sourdough bread
• 2 t. of butter
• 1-2 slices of mozzarella
• 2 T. of pesto (I cheated and used store bought.)

Directions:

1. Spread butter evenly over one side of each piece of bread.
2. Lay bread, buttered side down, on a hot electric griddle. 
3. Lay one slice of cheese on one piece of bread.
4. Spread pesto over the other slice of bread.
5. Assemble sandwich and let cook until the outside is golden brown and the cheese is gooey.

Creamy Tomato Soup

I love soup. A lot. Even when it was 110 degrees outside this summer, I was more than happy to curl up with a bowl of spicy black bean soup.

Over the past couple of years, I've shifted gears from heating up soup from a can to making my own. Tonight was the first time I've made tomato soup. And I hate it for Campbell's, but this soup knocks the canned stuff out of the park. I pinned this on Pinterest a while ago, and I hate that it took me so long to make it!

This soup was fantastic. It was so easy to make, and it is such an economical meal. You can't get much cheaper than what is basically just a few cans of tomatoes and a can of chicken stock. With coupons, I spent about $1.50 on tomatoes, I already had the chicken stock on hand, I always have onions and garlic on hand, and I had to buy some heavy cream, which was about $1.50. So, for around $3.00, I got five good sized bowls of incredible soup.

Creamy Tomato Soup
(Recipe adapted from Everyday Occasions)

Ingredients:

• 1 small onion; diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 t. of crushed red pepper flakes. 
• 1/4 white wine (I used Gnarly Head Pinot Grigio)
• 28 ounce cans of crushed tomatoes
• 1 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes
• 1 14.5 ounce can of chicken stock
• 1 tsp of sea salt
• 1/2 tsp of fresh ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup of heavy cream
• shaved Parmesan cheese & fresh basil to garnish

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, saute onion in olive oil on medium heat for about 5 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic and saute for another minute, being careful not to burn the garlic.
2. Add the wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up some of the browned bits from the bottom.
3. Add the crushed tomatoes, the can of diced tomatoes, chicken stock, salt, and pepper. 
4. Cook the soup on medium and let simmer for 10 minutes. 
5. (This step is optional, but I wanted my soup to be smooth and velvety, so I used my immersion blender to puree some of the pieces of tomato.)
6. To finish, reduce the heat to low and stir in the heavy cream.
7. Serve with Parmesan cheese and a gooey pesto grilled cheese on the side =)

Baked Donuts

A few months ago I had an overwhelming desire to start making my own donuts. I think it has something to do with the lack of Krispy Kreme's and Dunkin' Donuts in my area. Anyways. It was going to be epic. I had envisioned all types of different flavors and glazes... cute sprinkles during the holiday seasons... but then it took me two months to find a donut pan and my enthusiasm for donuts waned. I finally found one at Michael's and I had everything I needed to start baking except for buttermilk. But I could never be bothered to pick any up during any of my 6,000 grocery store visits each month. So, my highly sought after donut pan stayed in a dark cabinet, destined to never see the light of day.

Until this weekend. For some reason, the desire to make donuts came flooding back to me this weekend. So I made a special trip to the store to pick up a small container of buttermilk and some cake flour (just in case) and I got home and immediately started baking.

And the disappointment with the finished product was overwhelming. I'll attribute my donut making failure to three things:

1. Nutmeg.
2. Not following my instincts.
3. Being in a hurry.

All three of those kind of go together, but the biggest problem I had with the donuts was the nutmeg. And if I had followed my instincts, I would have omitted it. But the pan was a Wilton pan, and the recipe was a Wilton recipe. I figured they knew what they were doing. Wrong! These donuts were SO bland. The only thing you could taste was the nutmeg. And seeing as how that's my least favorite spice, if I had followed my instincts and omitted it, they may have been better. Or, they wouldn't have had any flavor at all. But to me, no flavor is better than an overpowering nutmeg flavor.

Graham and I had an exciting day of raking leaves planned. He was outside raking while I was inside baking, and I felt guilty. So I rushed through the process, so I could join him sooner rather than later. If I hadn't been in a huge hurry, I might have pondered why there was no vanilla or almond extract in the recipe. I added blueberries to some of my donuts, and looking back, the almond extract would have been delicious in the blueberry ones. The blueberry ones were the only tasty ones, but I attribute their flavor more to the fresh blueberries and the quick powdered sugar glaze I whipped up than to the donuts themselves.

They were also really... white. Like, Edward Cullen white. And I know that the golden color of the delicious Krispy Kreme donuts we're used to in the south comes from frying them, but the color turned me off a little.

On a more positive note, the pan is very cool though. It's non-stick, has six regular sized donut cavities, they baked super fast and slid out really easy. I can't wait to use it again... with a much better recipe. Jamie over at My Baking Addiction posted one for mini donuts that I'm going to adapt for my larger pan. Every recipe she posts is amazing, so I can't wait to try this one out!

Baked Cake Donuts
(Recipe from Wilton; You can get the donut pan here.)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cake flour, sifted
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp. salt
• ¾ cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp. butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425*F. Spray doughnut pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together cake flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Add buttermilk, eggs and butter. Beat until just combined. Fill each doughnut cup approx. 2/3 full.
3. Bake 7-9 minutes or until the top of the doughnuts spring back when touched. Let cool in pan for 4-5 minutes before removing. Finish doughnut with sugar topping or glaze of your choice.

Chicken & Edamame with Citrus-Ginger Dressing

Other than the Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars, this is my favorite thing I've made so far (I think for Graham it's still a toss up between the Pesto Pizza and the cornbread).

This recipe comes from Confections of a Foodie Bride. I've followed this blog for a while now, but I don't think I've made much (if anything) from here. But this recipe was posted while we were on our honeymoon, and I immediately saved it. It just looked so pretty and colorful. And it had some of my favorite things in it: edamame, avocado and red bell peppers. I don't buy the red peppers as much as I should, because they're so much pricier than the green ones. For this recipe I caved though, because I wanted the color that would only come from a red one.

Everything about this was delicious. The grilled chicken had some spice to it, thanks to the McCormick Grill Seasoning I used; the veggies were crisp and fresh; the brown rice was actually good this time (I haven't been a fan of brown rice in the past) and the dressing pulled everything together really, really well.  The only thing I changed was just to add more stuff. I added a carrot, for some extra crunch, used a whole, small avocado (Graham and I really love avocado...) and omitted the oil used in the dressing.

This recipe is definitely a keeper and I can't wait to have it again!

Chicken & Edamame with Citrus-Ginger Dressing
(Recipe adapted from Confections of a Foodie Bride)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 2 T. lime juice
• 1 T. peeled fresh ginger,grated (about a one inch piece)
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 2 grilled chicken breasts; chopped or sliced
• 1 and a half cups of shelled edamame
• 1 large carrot; peeled & diced
• 1 large red bell pepper; diced
• 1 small avocado; sliced
• 2 T. of cilantro
• 1 cup brown rice

 

Directions:

1. Cook the brown rice according to package directions. I cooked mine in chicken stock for extra flavor; but water is fine.
2. Grill chicken breasts. Remove from heat, let sit for a moment and then chop them or slice them and put the chicken in a small bowl. 
3. Dice red bell pepper and carrot and add to the bowl with the chicken.
4. Prepare edamame according to package instructions (I bought one of the bags of shelled edamame that steams it in the closed bag in the microwave). Add one and a half cups of it to the veggies & chicken.
5. Whisk the orange juice, lime juice and the grated ginger together and pour over the veggies and chicken. 
6. Pour the rice in a serving dish. Top with the chicken & vegetable mixture and garnish with the cilantro and sliced avocado. 

Enjoy!

Tipsy Tropical Fruit Smoothies

Ignore the water spots... our dishwasher sucks.

Ever had such a long day, one of those days where all day long all you want to do is go home and have a glass of wine?

Today was one of those days. I had a nearly empty bottle of Flip Flop Wines Moscato in the fridge and it was calling my name. I got home, got ready to pour myself a glass, and I realized that I also had some frozen strawberries in the freezer. And some frozen bananas. And some pineapple.

So, the idea was born to turn my boring glass of wine into a fruity moscato smoothie.

Best idea I've had in a very long time. This was absolutely delicious. Totally different from my typical green monster smoothie, and definitely helped me relax. And the best part about this is, is that you could mix up the fruit or change out the wine and make this into something completely different and equally delicious.

Tipsy Tropical Fruit Smoothies
Recipe by me =)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of frozen strawberries
• 1 frozen banana
• 1/4 cup of frozen pineapple
• 6 ounces of Moscato

Directions:

• Throw all ingredients into a blender and run for 2-3 minutes, or until perfectly smooth.
• Pour into a glass and let the worries of the day fade away.

Lemon Pepper Shrimp Scampi with Orzo

This is definitely not your typical shrimp scampi. It isn't drowning in butter and oil, and it's served with orzo instead of linguine or fettucine. Both the shrimp and the orzo were delicious, but I'm not sure I really loved them together. And while it wasn't drowning in a rich, buttery sauce, there was no sauce at all. But, it was tasty and is definitely making.

Lemon Pepper Shrimp Scampi
Recipe adapted from this one.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup uncooked orzo
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1/4 cup of goat cheese
• 7 teaspoons unsalted butter; divided
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 1/2 pounds peeled and de-veined jumbo shrimp 
• 2 cloves of garlic
• the zest of one lemon
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

1. Cook orzo according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain. Place orzo in a medium bowl. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon salt and the goat cheese; cover and keep warm.
2. While orzo cooks, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle shrimp with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add half of shrimp to pan; sauté 2 minutes or until almost done. Transfer shrimp to a plate. Melt 1 teaspoon butter in pan. Add remaining shrimp to pan; sauté 2 minutes or until almost done. Transfer to plate.
3. Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in pan. Add garlic to pan; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Stir in shrimp, juice, and pepper; cook 1 minute or until shrimp are done.
4. Toss the shrimp mixture, the olive oil and the orzo together. Add salt to taste. 

We served ours with a side salad and this was a delicious, quick and light meal. 

Sweet, Southern Cornbread

Make this cornbread. Seriously. Print the recipe, step away from your computer and go bake this right this moment.

I made this to go alongside the chicken chili I made and it was the highlight of the meal. Remember Graham's reaction to the chicken pesto pizza? I got the same reaction to this cornbread. He spread butter on his first slice, and I told him it didn't really need it. So, his next slice was butter-less, and he was still moaning and salivating. His initial reaction: "Ahhhhhhh."

This really was fantastic. It was sweet and moist and makes the dry, crumbly cornbread that passes for edible at so many places really sad to me. Because this was amazing. The ONLY change I would make would be to puree the corn before adding it. The kernels of corn bugged me, but the flavor was epic.

So yeah. GO. MAKE. THIS. NOW.

Sweet, Southern Cornbread

Original Recipe from A Sweet Pea Chef.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
• 2.5 t. baking powder
• 1 T. brown sugar 
• 1 t. kosher salt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup skim milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup of pureed creamed corn

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Spray a 9 inch springform pan with cooking spray. 
3. Sift together the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
4. In a smaller bowl, mix together the wet ingredients. 
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix together thoroughly. However, do not overmix. 
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  

Spicy Chicken Chili

 

This recipe for chicken chili comes from one of my favorite blogs, Annie's Eats. I've made quite a few things from her blog, and each has turned our really well. It was delicious and was the perfect, hearty dinner for our first (gray, wet and cold day) meal back in Arkansas.

But while it was delicious as is, there are definitely some changes that I'll make next time I make it. I have a very high heat/spice tolerance, and this pushed my limit and I think exceeded my husband's. It was really, really hot. He took a bowl for his lunch at work, and when he microwaved it and removed the lid, his eyes started to burn. So, I'll hold off on the chili in adobo or either use a smaller one. I think I must have used the biggest one in the can! Other than that, there was nothing in this that I don't put in my regular ground beef chili.

I did adapt the cooking method. The original recipe calls for the chicken to be roasted. I didn't feel like waiting an additional 30 minutes, so I seasoned my chicken with Montreal Steak seasoning and put in my non-stick grill pan. It was ready in 5 minutes, which is much more my speed.

I served this with homemade cornbread (the best cornbread either of us have ever eaten, by the way) and it was a fantastic (but really hot) dinner!

Spicy Chicken Chili
Recipe adapted from this one.

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless-skinless chicken breasts (well, 2 actually. I butterflied them and made four smaller ones out of the two.)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 diced yellow onions
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 3 cloves of minced garlic
• 3 diced green bell peppers
• 2 t. chili powder
• 2 t. ground cumin
• ¼ t. red pepper flakes
• ½ t. cayenne pepper
• ½ t. dried oregano
• 1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce, finely diced
• 2 t. sea salt
• 2 28 ounce cans of whole tomatoes.
• 2 15 ounce cans of beans; rinsed and drained (I used a can of black beans and a can of dark red kidney beans).

Directions:

1. Grill (or roast) the chicken breasts. Remove from heat when done, set aside and chop into bite sized pieces when cool enough to handle.
2. Pour olive oil in the bottom of a large dutch oven on medium-high heat. Saute onions and peppers until tender; about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and the spices to the pot and cook for an additional minute. 
3. Pour in the canned tomatoes, and immediately use your wooden spoon to get some of the good stuff off of the bottom of the pan. Stir everything together and be sure that the whole tomatoes have been broken up.
4. Stir in the diced chipotle, the beans and the chopped chicken.
5. Reduce heat to a simmer and let cook for 30-45 minutes (uncovered).