March 5, 2015
by Ashley
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Asparagus Soup

Sometimes I find myself with food in the fridge that I had every intention of making, yet I forgot completely about. I came into that problem recently with some asparagus. The asparagus was in desperate need of attention and needed to be used immediately. But I couldn’t stomach the idea of eating that much asparagus in one setting. So, I set out to find a good soup recipe that I could just puree the asparagus and eat it that way.

I found this recipe by Guy Fieri. I basically did the same recipe but skipped the parmesan breadcrumbs and garnishes. I also had to shrink the recipe down as I only had one bunch of asparagus. See below…

Asparagus Soup

1 tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, minced
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
1 bunches asparagus
1 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 cups lightly packed baby spinach
3 cups water

Heat up a dutch oven with olive oil. Add in shallot and cook for 1 minute, don’t brown. Salt & pepper a little. Add in trimmed asparagus that have been into smaller pieces, about 1 inch long. Cook 3 minutes. Add in peas and cook another minute. Deglaze dutch oven with white wine for one minute. Pour in water and bring to a simmer for 10 minutes. Puree soup mixture in a blender with the spinach added. Strain the soup back into the pot and bring back to a boil for 5 minutes.

I served this soup with a drizzle of good olive oil over it, fresh cracked pepper and shredded parmesan.

It was easy and awesome! Especially if you want a ton of veggies in one bite!

March 4, 2015
by Ashley
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Baguettes

I have been trying to perfect my baguette making skills for quite a few years now. I decided to try a new baguette recipe from Paris Boulangerie Patisserie Cookbook by Linda Dannenberg. It is called Baguette Parisienne, and they turned out pretty well. I just need to find out how to get a better crumb on my baguettes, but until I figure that out we will just have to enjoy these homemade baguettes.

Baguette Parisienne

1 3/4 cups water, warmed up to 110°F
1 tbsp dry active yeast
4 cups all-purpose flour (if weighing, 560 grams)
1 tbsp kosher salt

Combine water and yeast. Let sit for 5 minutes to bloom.

Add flour and salt to a stand mixer with a kneading hook attachment. Pour in bloomed yeast and water mixture. Knead for 15 minutes until dough is sticky, soft but firm. Pour into a clean bowl and cover with a cotton cloth. Let sit for one hour or until it is doubled in size.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and cut into four. Each quarter, flatten with palms of hands until dough is a rectangle. Then fold short ends into center from each side and press down. Turn and press down with palms of hands and fold into itself again. Then roll out into a skinny baton shape. Let rest on a floured surface with a cotton cloth seperating them from each other. Rise for 45 minutes.

Add a pan of water into the oven while preheating to 450°F.

Turn baguettes onto baguette pan or use a pizza peel to put directly onto a baking stone. Bake for 15 minutes at 450°F. Remove the pan of water and bake at 400°F for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before eating.

I usually freeze what we aren’t goint to eat, wrapping them in foil. To reheat, I put the bread, still frozen, in a 400°F oven for about 10 – 15 minutes. Take out of the foil and put back into the oven for 5 more minutes, or until the crust feel crisp, not soft.

March 3, 2015
by Ashley
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Carrot, Zucchini & Mushroom Bread Balls

I have been on a search for new recipes I can use in my Bella Cakeball Maker. Finnegan loves banana bread made in it, and I thought I could work on finding a savory recipe that would include vegetables and be a better option for his lunches. I came across a couple lot of muffin recipes and came up with my own recipe out of them. These can be made into mini muffins, but I make them into bread balls.

Carrot, Zucchini & Mushroom Bread Balls

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup zucchini, shredded
1 cup carrot, shredded
1 cup mushroom, diced
1/2 cup mozzarella
1 tsp ground garlic
1 tsp ground oregano
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 egg
3 tbsp olive oil

Mix all of the dry ingredients with the vegetables. Pour in the wet ingredients and mix everything together. Heat up cake ball maker. Put in about 1 tbsp of batter per hole and let cook for 4 minutes a batch. Check the balls to make sure they are cooked in the middle. If they aren’t finished, give them another minute or so. These freeze well and can easily be warmed up in the microwave to be packed for lunches.

If baking muffins, prepare muffin tins with cooking spray. Bake in a 350°F oven for 15 – 20 minutes.

Serve with your favorite red sauce.

March 2, 2015
by Ashley
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Doughnut Muffins

I recently was reading through a couple blogs that I follow and found this recipe, only in doughnut form. Since I don’t have a doughnut form pan, I thought muffins were the way to go.

So, I got up early with Finnegan and put these muffins together. They were really quick to make and delicious. The kids both loved them.

French Breakfast Muffins

5 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup milk

2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray or use muffin cups.

Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and mix well.

Add flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg and pour milk over while mixing.

Fill muffin tins half full. Bake 15-20 minutes. Take out of pan immediately and swirl tops into melted butter, then sugar and cinnamon mixture. Makes 12 muffins. You can also skip the topping and serve with jam.

Adapted from camillestyles.com
http://camillestyles.com/food-and-drink/the-sweeter-side/the-perfect-bite-french-breakfast-donuts/

March 1, 2015
by Ashley
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Cocoa Covered Mixed Nuts

Mixed nuts are a great cholestrol lowering snack, and filling as well. I am trying to come up with new snacks for not only Paul and I, but for the kids as well. I have had store bought cocoa covered nuts before, but there are some crazy additives and fake sugars in them. Since we try not to eat a lot of fake ingredients, I figured today was a good day to experiment.

These turned out really well. Hope you enjoy them too!

Cocoa Covered Nuts

1 1/2 cup mixed almonds, walnuts and/or pecans
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp olive oil
1 – 2 tsp sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix nuts and bake on a parchment covered baking sheet for 10 minutes to toast.

Mix cocoa, salt and sugar. When nuts are done, transfer them to a clean bowl and pour the olive oil over them. Then mix in the cocoa powder mixture and stir. Put back on the baking sheet for bake another 5 – 10 minutes. You can sprinkle more sugar over the top if you want it a little sweeter.

February 27, 2015
by Ashley
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Tortilla Soup

It is really cold and snowy outside. I feel like I have been stuck home because it is too cold to be outside and my kids keep gettiing sick which makes us stay home more. My poor babies. I also watch my nieces and nephews during the week, so that helps to keep me home even more in the winter. If you have ever tried to get kids ready for winter weather, you know exactly why I am not too excited about heading out.

So instead of making the same old thing, I decided to try to switch up my normal, brothy tortilla soup into something a little different. I have made quite a few pureed soups before that we love, and thought we should try out a tortilla soup version. This is going to be too spicy for kids, but perfect for adults who like a little spice.

Pureed Tortilla Soup

1 green pepper, halved and seeded
2 jalapenos, halved and seeded
1 large onion, cut in large pieces
4 garlic cloves
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 can diced tomatoes
4 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
1/2 tsp ancho chili pepper
Salt & Pepper to taste

Garnish Options
shredded cheddar
green onions
sour cream
cilantro
broken tortilla chips
meat of choice

Place cut peppers and onion as well as the garlic on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Broil until peppers are blackened (watch out for the garlic burning), about 5 – 7 minutes. Pour can of diced tomatoes in the blender along with the tsp of ground cumin. Once broiled vegetables are ready, add them to the blender and pulse until pureed.

Heat up 4 cups of chicken broth in a dutch oven, or large pot. Add pureed mixture into the broth and stir in ancho pepper. Bring to a boil and cover. Simmer for 30 minutes. Add juice of half a lime before serving.

Garnish with cilantro, sour cream, shredded cheddar and broken up tortilla chips.

We also garnished our soup with the carnitas that we made a couple nights before.

This soup was delicious. Seriously.

February 26, 2015
by Ashley
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Painting Snow

I am a stay at home mom, and am always looking for something to do with the kids. We have had to come up with many different modes of entertainment from reading nooks in different areas of our house to picnics in the family room. Wisconsin has been incredibly cold lately, and it makes staying home a little harder. Don’t get me wrong, I love being home but the kids are getting a little case of cabin fever.

A friend of mine posted a picture of her daughter on facebook, painting the snow with watercolors. I saw the picture and immediately put snow on a baking sheet and sat my daughter and nephew down to paint. They absolutely loved it. My daughter painted for a full hour (she is 3 1/2 years old) and my nephew (who is 2 1/2 years old) played for at least 30 minutes! Win for me.

All you need is snow, which is pretty easy to come by at least in midwest and some watercolor paints.

My beautiful little lady playing with her snow today.

February 25, 2015
by Ashley
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Lemon Curd

Recently I decided I would like to try out canning like my grandmother who always made wonderful jams and jellies. So when I came across this lemon curd recipe, I just had to try it out. This recipe is adapted from one I found on the Dyno-Mom’s blog. It is great, yet I did change it a little. I like a creamy lemon curd without zest, but feel free to add lemon zest from the four lemons if you want to.

Lemon Curd

4 Lemons or 3/4 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1 stick of butter, room temperature
4 eggs

Process sugar and stick of butter in the food processor. Add juice of lemons and blend. Then add the four whole eggs, one at a time with the machine running. Pour the mixutre into a sauce pan and whisk continuously until the mixture thickens. This will happen just before it simmers. Remove from heat and pour into sanitized canning jars. I usually get 3 1/2 jars worth of curd. Since lemon curd can’t be jarred safely from regular lemons (something about acid levels) I freeze mine that I am not planning on using for a while. Refridgerate what you plan on using in 3 weeks and the frozen jars will be ok for up to a year….if it even lasts that long. This stuff is delicious!

February 24, 2015
by Ashley
Comments Off on Crepes

Crepes

Crepes are a favorite in this house. My kids beg for crepes every morning. Not only are they delicious, they are really easy to make. All you need is a blender and crepe pan, and you are in business. I was afraid to make them for a long time, and then decided one day I would try them. They are so much easier to make then pancakes. I can start a batch and have the kids eating in less then 10 minutes.

We love different toppings, but the kids favorite is Nutella, or chocolate as they call it. We also use fresh fruit, lemon curd and homemade jams.

This is my recipe…evolved from an Alton Brown recipe.

Crepes

2 Eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour (could also try different flours like buckwheat or oat)
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup 2% milk

Put all ingredients into blender. Blend. Heat up crepe pan on medium high, spray with cooking spray or butter before pouring 1/4 cup of batter into the center of the pan and swirl to cover the bottom. Let cook for about 1 minute. Flip and cook 30 seconds on the other side. Turn out crepe onto a plate and continue. Super easy!

There are some additives and alternatives you can make to this recipe. You can add butter as my recipe originally requested. I just found that I really didn’t need it since some of the fillings were fattening enough. If you wanted to add a fat to this, add 3 tbsp melted butter before you blend. Vanilla and sugar can also be added, but as I just stated, we fill these and don’t miss the flour. Plus, if you have leftovers without sugar added, you can add in savory fillings instead.

February 23, 2015
by Ashley
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My Everyday Bread

Bread seems to be perfect for one of our first blog posts. Bread is the basis of many cultures and lives, especially our own.

I decided a couple of years ago that I would start making our everyday bread. This is an easy recipe from a cookbook we received as a wedding present. I made it as a mistake to begin with, as I thought I was making a boule. When I finally read in the recipe while the dough rising, I realized that I needed bread pans to bake it. I knew I had made a mistake, yet the mistake was wonderful one. I have tried other recipes, but keep coming back to this one.

Traditional White Bread

6 cups all purpose flour
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp butter
4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
2 1/4 cups warm water (120° to 130° F)

Mix 4 cups flour, sugar, salt, butter, and yeast in stand mixer with bread hook attached. Turn on the mixer on level 2 and slowly add the warm water. Once flour is incorprated some, add in each additional cup slowly. Let the mixer knead the bread for 10 minutes until th dough is smooth and springy. Place in a large greased bowl with olive oil and clover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 hour until doubled.

Grease two loaf pans. Gently push fist into dough to deflate. Divide dough and roll out into a 18 x 9 inch rectangle. Roll dough up tightly from the short end. Seal edges by pinching and put seal side down in the pan. Roll out second ball of dough in the same way. Cover and let rise for 35 to 50 minutes.

Bake at 425° F for 25 minutes on the lowest rack.

Adapted from Betty Crocker Cookbook Bridal Edition

I have used this as the base for many recipes and will share those in time.