Broccoli Cheese Soup

Broccoli and Cheese Soup
2 T butter
½ cup finely diced onions
2 tsp garlic (freshly minced preferred)
1-2 pounds of broccoli (fresh or frozen but I prefer to use fresh)
4 cups of chicken stock
2 cups heavy cream
3 cups shredded cheese (can add more if you want)
Salt and pepper to taste

In a dutch oven pot, saute the onions and garlic in the butter until onions are nice and translucent. Add chicken stock and chopped broccoli. Simmer for about 15 minutes or until broccoli is tender.

Note: Here’s my take on the broccoli…I normally prefer using 2 pounds as I like my soup heavy on the broccoli (It’s yummy yo!) I normally use whole broccoli, willing to save some change and put in the time to chop up the broccoli. The stems are good flavor and will add body to your soup while you can reserve most of the crowns or florets.

Once broccoli is tender, pull out the florets you want to keep whole for the soup and blend the rest using a hand blender or food processor until it is nice and smooth. Add the heavy cream and let it simmer until the soup starts to bubble and thicken.(If the soup is not thick enough for your tastes, you can thicken it easily by mixing together a cup of COLD water and a tablespoon of cornstarch. Add the slurry to the soup and let it boil for a minute or two. Just keep in mind that the cheese also thickens the soup.) Slowly add the cheese, a handful at a time, stirring until it is completely melted before adding more. Salt and pepper to your taste.

Cheese Note: You can use any cheese…just keep in mind you want a cheese that melts well and smoothly. One of my favorite cheese combinations for this soup is 1 ½ cup shredded sharp cheddar and 1 ½ cup shredded applewood smoked Gruyere. So yummy.

Serve with a little extra cheese on top if you are like me. Add some crackers and viola! You have a wonderful meal! You will get 4 to 6 servings out of this, depending on the size of your soup bowl.

Pineapple Pie

So a good friend last week posted a recipe on Facebook for a Pinceapple Pie. She had seen then recipe from a friend of hers back east. The thought of a pineapple pie was intriguing…I’ll be honest in that I’ve never heard of it before. But it was a holiday weekend and it looked rather simple so we decided to give it a try.

Pineapple Pie
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup crushed pineapple (drained)
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 unbaked 9 inch pie shell (not deep dish)

Directions:

Put all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix well. Don’t be suprised or alarmed if there are still little chunks of butter in the batter. It will cook out and into the pie. Pour into unbaked pie shell and bake 50 minutes in 350 degree oven or until it sets and is brown. Note: Make sure to place the pie on a cookie sheet as it will probably bubble over.

That’s it! Let it cool…preferably cold before serving. And the verdict? Everybody LOVED it! It was so good, especially with some homemade whipped cream. Since there is not a lot of flour in the pie, the eggs become the main binding agent giving the pie a custardy feel. It was sweet but not too sweet and all that butter soaked down into to pie crust making it even flakier and yummier.

I really think it gets better. I made the pie on Sunday for that night. Tonight the hubby and I had another pie and the flavors melded even more. It was delicious! So I recommend making it a day before you want to serve or at least a good 8 hours so it can get nice and cold.

Hope you enjoy!

Cheesy Chicken Broccoli Bake

So a while back, my Grandpa got me a huge bag of broccoli. I mean HUGE. Since it’s just my hubby and me I had to ponder exactly what I was going to make with all that broccoli before it went bad…well besides steaming some for the pups. They LOVE broccoli, especially Bevo, and it’s really good for them. It makes for a healthy treat for them.

So anyways after looking at a lot of recipes one of the things we decided on was a cheesy chicken broccoli bake. I didn’t pull from any one recipe. I just pulled parts that I liked the best and came up with my own particular version. I must say that for the first time making it…it was quite yummy.

Cheese Chicken Broccoli Bake
24 oz lightly steamed broccoli
2.5 cups cooked rice (I used long grain rice cooked in chicken broth)
3 cups cubed cooked chicken
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
1 cup milk
1 cup sour cream
2 eggs beaten
1.5 T minced garlic
½ chopped onion
2 cups shredded colby jack cheese (divided)
½ cup seasoned bread crumbs
Seasonings (Salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder)

Rice: melt 2 T of butter in pot and add 1 1/4 cups long grain rice. Cook until rice gets a golden brown, normally just a minute or two. Add in 2 cups of chicken broth (you can use water or both broth and water), add a ½ tsp salt ¼ tsp cracked black pepper. Mix well and cover. Simmer on low for 20-25 minutes. DO NOT check on it! Just let it set. If you lift the lid then you let heat and steam escape and it will take longer for your rice to get done.

Chicken: I used boneless skinless chicken breasts. Heat pan and add about a tablespoon of olive oil to pan. Season  both sides of the chicken liberally with salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder (you can change the spices to suit your tastes. I just love this flavor combination on meat though.) Place chicken in hot pan and get a good sear on each side. Chicken normally takes 6-8 minutes depending on how thick the breast is. Once done pull off pan and cube into bite size pieces.

In a big bowl combine the cream of mushroom soup, milk, sour cream, garlic, eggs, onion, and 1 cup of cheese. Season with salt and fresh cracked pepper. Mix in the steamed broccoli, chicken and rice. Mix well and then spread out into a 9 by 13 cooking dish. Top with the remainder of the cheese and bread crumbs.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. Turn the oven to broil and continue to cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until the top is a nice golden brown.

And there you go! Enjoy!

Shepard's Pie

1# ground beef
1/2 onion diced
2 cans of corn, drained
3-4 cups of mashed potatoes
1 1/2 cup shredded colby jack cheese, divided
Salt and pepper to taste

Brown ground beef with diced onion, salt and pepper and drain. Place ground beef into a 9″ pyrex pie dish. Add the drained corn on top. Cover with 1/2 cup of cheese. Make mashed potatoes (you can totally use instant if you are short on time). I use 3-4 cups but I also like it potato heavy. You can cut it down to 2 cups if you so desire. Spread the potato on top, making sure you cover all the meat, corn and cheese. Add a little bit of salt and cracked black pepper to the top and then cover with the remainder of the cheese.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until the cheese is a nice golden brown. Serves 4-6 depending on portion size.

Pasta Primavera

Pasta Primavera (My own take on a classic)
Pasta Primavera is one of those classic pasta dishes from the 80’s or if you’ve been to many a hotel hosted conference like I have. It is full of veggitables and has a light sauce, sometimes creamy sometimes not. I poked around the recipe world and read so many different takes on it I ended up shaking my head and pushed away my laptop and decided on how I wanted it to taste.

1# spaghetti noodles
2 cups cubed ham (you can use chicken or shrimp if you want meat or leave it out to keep it meat free)
1 diced red bell pepper
1 diced green bell pepper
1 cup diced mushrooms
2 T garlic (can use less if desired)
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 parmesan cheese (or a romano parmesan blend)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
pinch of nutmeg

Bring a pot of salted water to boil and cook pasta per directions on the packet. Reserve a cup of the cooking liquid.

While pasta is going, brown the ham to a large skillet until lightly seared. In same pan, add the butter, bell peppers, garlic and mushrooms. Sautee the ham and veggies until the veggies are slightly al dente. Add heavy cream and seasonings and cook over medium heat until sauce is bubbly. Add Parmasen cheese and stir. Taste sauce to make sure the seasonings are to your liking. Pour over drained spaghetti and toss gently. If the sauce is too thick for your taste, you can add some of the reserved cooking liquid to thin it out.

Makes 5 6 ounce servings. Add a little bit more cheese to each serving.

Monkey Bread Muffins

My hubby and I love monkey bread. The only problem is that we have this compulsion to eat it all when I do make it normally in a bundt pan. So why not make it into muffins? We can eat a little at a time…when we want another one it is just a quick 30 second pop in the microwave to warm it up.
And it sounded so good! So I got everything together and went at it.

Monkey Bread Muffins
1 can of Grands Buttermilk Biscuits
1 cup Sugar
2 T Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
2 T Butter, melted

Mix the Sugar, Cinnamon and Nutmeg into a bowl. Cut each biscuit into eight pieces. Dip the pieces into into the butter and then coat with the sugar mixture. Place 5 or 6 pieces into a muffin tin (spray the muffin tray with Pam first). Top each muffin with any extra sugar mixture. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 13-17 minutes. You want make sure that the bottom pieces cook well.

Cool for a few moments before gently taking out each muffin. And then enjoy!

Mexican Mocha Mousse

 

There is this Mexican restaurant that my family used to love to go for Sunday Brunch when I was younger. They had this wonderful mousse that I always had to have for dessert. It was light, airy, slightly chocolately, slightly coffee and oh so yummy. Even when we pretty much stopped going there, I still remember that mousse. Finally one day I started to tinker around the kitchen and came up with this. Imagine my surprise when I took a taste of the finished product and was immediately transported to that Mexican restaurant and those times with my family. It has since become a favorite of mine and my hubby’s. Enjoy!

Mexican Mocha Mousse
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 T Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 T prepared coffee (I normally just make a small cup of really strong instant coffee)
4 T sugar
2 T unsweetened Cocoa (powdered)
Additional cinnamon (optional)
Dark Chocolate shavings (optional)

Place the heavy whipping cream, vanilla, and coffee in a mixing bowl and start to whip lightly. Once there is a little bit of air into the whipped cream, add the cinnamon, sugar and cocoa. (Note: I normally do this so the dry ingredients don’t sink to the bottom. I just find it mixes better.) Whip until there are stiff peaks.

Keep refrigerated until serving time. Portion out into 4 4oz servings and garnish with cinnamon and dark chocolate shavings (optional). I normally serve with cinnamon sugared pita chips or cinnamon sugared tortilla strips. Enjoy!

Pink Lemonade Pie

I promised a friend that this would be the first recipe I posted after rearranging my website. This is a wonderful light summertime dessert. It is easy to make and on a hot summer night it is very refreshing. It’s tart but not overly so because of the sweetness of the ice cream. And it is easy to change up the flavors if you so desire as well but for me I enjoy the tartness lemonade brings to it. It keeps it from becoming too sweet.

Pink Lemonade Pie

18 mini graham cracker tart shells (Keebler normally sells a package of 6 for a decent price) OR two graham cracker 9 inch pie shells
1 container of pink lemonade concentrate – thawed
1 quart of vanilla ice cream – softened
½ recipe of whipped cream
Diced strawberries – optional
Dark chocolate grated for garnish – optional

Note: If you do not want to make the whipped cream you can substitute it with a half container of thawed out Cool Whip. I prefer the whipped cream though…it comes out a bit lighter and tastes better in my opinion.

Make the whipping cream in a large bowl. Add thawed out pink lemonade concentrate and ice cream. Gently mix together just enough so you don’t have chunks of ice cream or whipping cream but not so much you take all the fluffiness out of the whipped cream.

If you are making the larger pies – add the diced strawberries and gently fold in. Make sure you dice them into small bite size pieces. There is nothing worse than breaking a tooth on frozen fruit. Pour mixture into pie shells. (I find using a measuring cup works well with the mini pie shells.) Top with diced strawberries. And add grated dark chocolate for garnish if desired. freeze on a flat surface for about two hours at least.

Bring out about five minutes before serving so that the mixture softens slightly. This is really important for the larger pies. If not cutting it can be a hassle.

This pie keeps really well in the freezer. So It’s nice to have on hand during the summer. I find I really like the dark chocolate on the top as it gives the pie an added depth of flavor.  You could also add a couple of dollops of the whipped cream if you make extra. Regular Lemonade or Limeade also works well.

Quick and Easy Whipped Cream

There are just certain things I no longer buy at the grocery store. Yeah, sure sometimes it costs a little bit more to make it and okay it can take a little bit more time…BUT the taste is normally oh so much better. And not to mention, nine out of ten times it was better for you as well. You can control the ingredients, the amount of sugar or salt. You know what preservatives if any that are in it. And honestly with just a few tools it is not really all that difficult.

One things I never buy any more is whipped cream or cool whip. Once I found out how simple it was to make it was no contest. And my husband will actually eat the homemade whipped cream so that’s an extra bonus…well most times.

Basic Whipped Cream
2 cups Heavy whipping cream
3 Tablespoons sugar (can subsitute with Splenda to make it truly sugar free)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients into mixing bowl and mix until stiff peaks are formed and the beaters leave trails in the cream.

That’s it! Seriously that is all that I do. What is even better is that it’s easy to adjust to suit your tastes or to do something different. You can make it sweeter or make it more vanilla. I like to add a tablespoon or two of cinnamon for dipping in strawberries. (OMG That is so yummy…one of our favorite desserts during the summer).

It holds up well to use as a frosting for a cake. Or you can pipe it onto pies or other desserts. Quick tip: if you do not have a piping bag…just snip a corner off a ziplock bag and put your piping tip inside it. Instant piping bag!

Cucumber Feta Dip

Or as my friends and husband like to call it…CRACK! Because once you start eating it you just can’t stop! Seriously this stuff is so good.

I found the basis for the recipe years ago when my friend T and I were planning a Greek Gods/Goddess costume party. We wanted most of the foods to be reflective of the theme. It is similar to a Tzatziki sauce but definitely with my own twists.

Cucumber Feta Dip
2 8 oz packages of cream cheese soften
12 oz Greek yogurt – Plain (you can use regular plain yogurt. The dip will be a little thinner)
1 cup sour cream
6 oz crumbled Feta cheese
1 large cucumber (2/3’s chopped the remaining third sliced)
1 small can of sliced olives, drained roughly chopped and reserving 1.5 TB for garnish
3 TB crushed garlic
1.5 ts kosher salt
1/2 ts ground white pepper
1 Roma tomatoes – chopped (optional)

Combine cream cheese, yogurt and sour cream into a mixer and mix until combined. Don’t worry if the dip looks really thin as the cucumber and feta really help to thicken it up. Add the chopped cucumber (I leave the peel on as I love the flavor it adds. I just wash it well to make sure it no longer has a waxy texture), olives (yes I know I can just use chopped olives instead of chopping sliced olives but I find that the flavor of the olives get lost and I like the texture of the chunkier olive pieces). Mix well.

Add garlic, salt and pepper mixing well after each addition. NOTE REGARDING SEASONINGS: I highly recommend starting the spices out at lower measurements. My hubby and I are self-proclaimed garlicholics. And the salt and pepper are to our tastes. Just mix well, taste and adjust to your liking.

Smooth out into a container and top with the remainder of the olives, tomatoes (optional) and line the pan with the cucumber slices.

Serve with pita chips or wheat thins (normally I do both. Wavy Lays will work as well)