Chile Cheese Hors d'oeuvre

Need a new appetizer, or a potluck dish for some of those holiday parties that are coming up.  This is a recipe I grew up with and it was a go to potluck dish for any party my parents attended. My mom would actually bring copies of the recipe with her as it was inevitable someone would ask for the recipe.

Chile Cheese Hors d'oeuvre
8 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3 cups mixed jack & cheddar cheese (shredded)
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
2 4 oz cans diced green chilies

Beat eggs until light and fluffy.
In separate bowl mix together flour, baking powder & salt
Add dry mixture to eggs
Fold in cheese and chilies
Bake @ 350 in a 9X9 greased pan for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean

Chicken Pot Pie

I love Chicken Pot Pie, like absolutely love it. The perfect mixture of crust and filling, such a great comfort food on a crisp night. The kids have gotten really excited by using cookie cutters, so as you can tell they decorated the top of the pot pie using their pumpkin cookie cutter. I found this recipe in the Winter of 2008 and it's become a favorite. I think one of the things that make this such a great recipe is we make our own homemade crust which really does make a huge difference, it may seem like "one more step" but it's quick, easy and well worth the extra few minutes to have your own homemade crust.



Chicken Pot Pie
Crust:
2 cups flour (sifted)
3/4 cup butter salted, softened
6 tbsp cold water
Put flour in a bowl, cut in butter until crumbly
Add water until ball is created (may need additional water)
Put in fridge for 4 hours (I've made this both ways by refrigerating and not refrigerating and don't notice a difference. I will say if you do refrigerate make sure to take it out at least 30 minutes before you're ready to use otherwise it's impossible to roll out.)

Filling:
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt & pepper
1 tbsp garlic
1 onion, chopped
1 3/4 cup chicken broth (we use our homemade bone broth)
2/3 cup milk
1 lb cooked chicken, cubed
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 cup celery stalks, chopped
1 cup potatoes, chopped
1/2 cup frozen peas

Preheat oven to 400F
Melt butter.
Add salt, pepper, onion and garlic
Whisk in flour, then add chicken broth & milk (continue to whisk)
Cook & stir until thick
Add potatoes, carrots, celery & cook until desired firmness of veggies
Add chicken & peas
Mix well, pour into pie crust.
Cut slits into crust
Bake @ 400F for 30 minutes or until brown and bubbly

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies

Salted caramel is my kryptonite, but it has to be a good salted caramel. There's a lot of imitation salted caramels, I've had many  disappointments, many that got my hopes up so high only to be crushed by the first taste.  When you've tasted good salted caramel, you know what to expect, you know what your tastebuds are searching for. So I'm always very hesitant when I see a recipe/food "claiming" to be salted caramel. Well I found a recipe that definitely lives up to it's claim. So now I share my kryptonite with you...Enjoy

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup salted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 egg yolk, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
6 wrapped caramels, cut into the size of half a sugar cube (I used Trader Jacques' Fleur De Sel Caramels)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Sea salt (I used pink Himalayan)

Mix the flour and baking soda in a bowl, set aside
With an electric mixer or stand mixer, cream butter and sugars together.
Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla bean paste and mix well
Gradually add the flour mixture and stir until a dough forms
Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts
Chill dough for 30 minutes in the refrigerator
Preheat oven to 350
Drop by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet
Gently press a few pieces of caramels onto the tops of the cookies
Bake for 8-10 minutes, until edges are slightly browned
As soon as removed from oven gently sprinkle with sea salt
After cookies have set (about 2-3 minutes) move to cooling racks 

Since I've already tested this recipe I have definitely worked out a few of the bugs from the original recipe. I added walnuts, because personally I cannot eat a chocolate chip cookie without them and it adds a nice texture and a little bit of additional salt.  I also found the original recipe called for the caramels to be much bigger, but I made them quite a bit smaller for a few reasons. I didn't want to have a really sticky, chewy piece of caramel in my cookies, more than anything I just wanted the caramels for added flavor so the size I used worked perfectly for flavor and didn't leave a huge chunk of caramel in the cookie. So keep in mind if you're wanting that chewy, sticky piece of caramel then make sure to cut your caramel bigger.  This could easily become one of your go-to cookies this holiday season during cookie exchanges, dessert parties, a plate of cookies for the neighbors... etc as this cookie not only has great flavor but is something more unique than your standard chocolate chip cookie. 
Enjoy!  

Butternut Squash, Sausage & Kale Soup

In my effort to experiment with more and more Fall produce I searched out a recipe to utilize a butternut squash, we typically eat the butternut in a pureed soup (I posted the recipe last Fall if you want to try that one as well). Originally this recipe called for sweet potatoes but I opted for butternut squash knowing the flavors would work.

Here it is...

Butternut Squash, Sausage & Kale Soup

2 tbsp oil

1 lb sausage

1 lg onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

4 cups chicken broth (we use our homemade bone broth)

2 cups butternut squash, diced into squares 

1 (28oz) can diced tomatoes     

1 cup dried pasta (loved it with Orecchiette)

1 cup roughly chopped kale

salt & pepper to taste

Parmesan for garnish

Heat oil in large stockpot over medium-high heat 

Add onion and sausage, cook for 5-7 minutes, until onion is translucent and sausage is slightly brown

Add garlic and cook 1-2 minutes

Add chicken broth, butternut squash and tomatoes, stir to combine

Bring to boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 5 minutes

Cook pasta on side until al dente and add to soup (you could cook the pasta in the soup but we are very particular about how al dente we like our pasta so we always choose to cook separately)

Stir in kale and season with salt & pepper

Serve with Parmesan

Enjoy!

French Onion Soup

We've been in search of a French Onion soup for a while, and every recipe I read just wasn't quite right. That was until I read Chef Gordon Ramsey's cook book and found the recipe I had always dreamed of, I think one thing I like most about this recipe is we made our own brown chicken stock for the base of the soup. So here it is, one of the best French Onion Soups I've ever had. I'll start with the recipe for the brown chicken stock

If you don’t have time (or let’s be real energy) to make your own stock. Just use 6 cups bone broth 

Brown Chicken Stock

1 chicken carcass

1 carrot

1 onion

2 sticks of celery

1 leek

olive oil 

a sprig of thyme

1 bay leaf

3 cloves of garlic, peeled

2 tbsp of tomato puree (we love Pomi)

2 tbsp flour

Preheat oven to 400F. 

Place chicken carcass in a roasting tray and put in oven for 15-20 minutes

Chop carrot, onion, celery and leek into large chunks. Heat some oil in a pan and add the chopped vegetables, along with thyme, bay leaf and garlic. 

Sauté for a few minutes until golden brown, stirring frequently. 

Add the tomato puree and cook for another 4-5 minutes until the mixture is rich brown in color. 

Five minutes before taking the chicken carcass out of the oven, lightly dust it with flour. The flour acts as a thickening agent, and soaks up all excess fat. Return carcass to oven for final 5 minutes, then add the bones to the pan of vegetables. 

Now cover bones with just enough cold water (cold water only) to cover the bones. 

Bring stock to boil, turn heat down, skim the scum off the top and let simmer for an hour. 

Pass through a sieve and it's ready to use as a base for your French Onion soup.

French Onion Soup

5 tbsp butter

5 onions, peeled and sliced

1-2 heads of garlic peeled and sliced 

5 bay leaves

4 tbsp apple cider vinegar (recipe calls for Sherry vinegar but I couldn't find it)

2 tbsp flour

6 cups chicken stock (we used a mixture of stock and remainder water)

12 slices of baguette (depending on how many you're feeding 2 per bowl)

2/3 cup Gruyere cheese, grated

Heat the butter in pan

Fry onions, garlic and bay leaves slowly until golden brown and caramelized

Add the vinegar and stir to deglaze the pan, scraping up all the brown residue

Sprinkle in the flour and cook for a couple of minutes

Add the hot stock and bring to boil, then turn heat down and simmer for 30 minutes

Preheat oven to 475F

Pour soup in heatproof bowls

Top with 1-2 slices of baguette and grated cheese

Place bowls on a baking tray and place in preheated oven until soup is bubbling up through the bread and cheese is golden brown

Enjoy!

Beef Stew with Parmesan Dumplings

With the crisp evenings upon us nothing sounded better last night than a comfort food and I remembered I had found a beef stew recipe with parmesan dumplings and I was more than excited to try them.  This turned out to be the best beef stew I've ever had in my life, and everyone in the family couldn't get enough. What was wonderful was the texture of the dumplings, they added a great saltiness every time I got a little bite with my stew.

Beef Stew with Parmesan Dumplings
1 lb stew meat
1 onion, chopped
3 celery sticks, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 sm can chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 cup red wine
2 tins beef stock (use can from chopped tomatoes)
1 bay leaf
5 sprigs fresh thyme
1 cup chopped mushrooms (I used cremini)
salt and pepper to taste

Dumplings
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup Parmesan grated
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup milk

Drench stew meat in flour, salt and pepper.
Sear in pot until browned on both sides
Remove from pot and set aside
In the same pot, fry the onion, celery, carrots until soft and fragrant
Add garlic and fry for another 30 seconds
Pour in the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, wine and soy sauce and allow to come up to a simmer
Add the beef back into the pot and pour in the beef stock, add the bay leaf and thyme
Turn the heat down and cover with a lid. Allow to simmer until the beef is soft
Add the mushrooms and allow to cook for 10 minutes uncovered
To make dumplings:
Place the butter, flour, baking powder, salt and Parmesan in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture resembles rough breadcrumbs
With the motor running, pour in the milk slowly until the mixture comes together in a ball.
Remove and form dumplings, just slightly smaller than golf balls
Place the dumplings on top of the stew and cover with the lid. Allow to steam for 10 minutes (make sure the stew is simmering or they will fall apart)
When the dumplings are cooked through, remove the lid and serve immediately.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Fall is upon us and the weather has started to change, the leaves have started to turn colors.  The produce at the grocery store has become squashes, pumpkins and brussels sprouts.  I love trying new things inspired by the seasons, which brought me this recipe for Stuffed Acorn Squash.

1 lb ground beef
2 acorn squash (I got a small one for the kids to share and a large one for my husband and I to share)
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup mushrooms, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 egg beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp cornstarch
1-2 tbsp butter
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 350
Spread butter over the cut side of acorn squash
Sprinkle withe some salt and pepper
Place the squash, cut side down onto a baking sheet
Cook at 350 for 1 hour or until soft
While the squash is cooking brown ground beef
Add the garlic, onions and mushrooms, cook until onions are translucent
In small bowl, beat the egg,  add cornstarch
Add milk and 1/4 cup of cheese
Add milk mixture to beef mixture and mix well
Season with salt and pepper
Allow mixture to thicken for about 5 minutes
Stuff beef mixture into the cooked squash
Top with remaining cheese
Bake for 30 minutes
Enjoy!

Chicken Bone Broth in the Crock Pot

Start to an amazing Bone Broth

I've recently been fascinated with learning all I can about food for its health benefits not just for how tasty it is. In my search I've been experimenting with home fermentation. I have mastered a mean sauerkraut (both a Japanese one as well as a traditional one), I've made some pretty great kimchi.  I have delved into making medicinal pickled garlic, today I'll be making some medicinal oils, and one of the families all times favorites is what is now become a weekly ritual of bone broth.  Not only is it really tasty, either by itself, with an egg stirred into it, used as a stock for risotto, soups, or added to any cooking where you would traditionally use chicken/beef broth. But the health benefits are plentiful.

Bone broth is an excellent source of minerals and is known to boost the immune system and it helps improve digestion.  The broth itself is high in calcium, magnesium, amino acids and phosphorus which is great for bone and tooth health.  Bone broth has a high collagen content which supports joints, hair, skin and nails.  In cases of stomach bugs or vomiting, bone broth works to calm the stomach and can help shorten the illness.  

You can make bone broth from bones of chicken, lamb, fish, turkey, beef...etc.  Add in some vegetables, herbs of your choice and you have an amazing immune boosting liquid.  You can add egg shells, which are also rich in minerals and the egg membranes have nutrients that are supportive for joint health.

One thing I love about this is every time I make it it turns out differently depending on what I have in the house to add to it. We have only made chicken bone broth at this point because it's easy to find an organic whole chicken to start the broth. Although I am determined to find myself some organic grass fed beef bones so that I can make a beef bone broth, but as I said the chicken is easy.  We typically each drink a glass or so a day just heated up.  One of our favorite ways to use the broth (other than in cooking) is heat up some soup and whisk in an egg until cooked (similar to an egg-drop soup).

I buy the whole chicken, we roast it for dinner, eat all the meat and all the bones (and giblets) become the base for the broth.

Here's what you need:
2 lbs or more bones, although at this point I've only ever used 1 chicken carcass and it's turned out really good (they need to be high quality, organic/grass fed animal/wild caught fish)
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (this is crucial as it helps draw more of the mineral content out of the bone)
Salt/Pepper to taste
*chicken feet, optional (for extra gelatin)

Here's what else you can add:
**The great thing about this is this can now become your "compost" (if you don't typically compost this is a great place to put all your vegetable scraps). Throughout the week as you cut up onions, vegetables, cook with eggs you can put all the scraps and egg shells into a Ziploc and store in the freezer to use when you're ready to make your bone broth.  The options are endless depending on what your family eats.

Here's just a run down of my typical bone broth
1 onion (no need to peel, just cut in quarters put peel, roots and all in broth)
4-5 carrots (rinse and chop roughly)
4-5 stalks of celery including leaves (can use base of celery too)
3 garlic cloves (just crushed, skin and peel left on)
3 roughly chopped green onions including root
2 ends of fennel heads and tops
1 shallot (cut in half, peel and all)
2 sprigs of rosemary
1 sprig of thyme
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp sea salt

Here's ideas of other things to add:
Egg shells
Broccoli stalks
Carrot tops & peels (if you happen to peel your carrots)

Here's how to cook it:
Add bones to pot
Cover with water (about an inch above bones)
Add Apple Cider Vinegar and let sit for 20-30 minutes
Now add all your vegetables/herbs/garlic and salt
Cook on low for 24 hours (for poultry)
Cook on low for 48 hours (for beef)
Cook on low for 8  hours (for fish)
When done, strain (with cheesecloth or a very fine strainer) and store in fridge for 5 days or in the freezer.
During the first few hours of simmering you may need to remove the impurities that float on the surface (although I've never had a problem with this), throw this part away. Usually check every 20 minutes for the first 2 hours.

Now don't be concerned if once you put your bone broth in the fridge that it becomes jello like, as that's a good sign. That's a sign of high gelatin content, feel free to scrape that off and use the gelatin for roasting vegetables, or other cooking uses.

Natchitoches (Louisiana Meat Pie)

Natchitoches, pronounced "Nack-uh-dish" is a meat pie that originated in the city of the same name near the Texas border in Louisiana. I was determined to mix up our dinner menu this week after being stuck in a rut for a little bit, and found this recipe and it sounded good. The original recipe did call for the meat pies to be deep fried but we don't typically fry things so we opted to bake them instead.

It's a simple recipe and one of the great things is you can make all the ingredients and freeze them to be served later.

Filling for Natchitoches

1 lb ground beef

1 onion, chopped fine

1 green bell pepper, minced

6 scallions, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 cup chicken broth

Mix all ingredients and set aside until dough is ready.

Dough

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

4 tablespoons butter (or vegetable shortening)

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 large egg lightly beaten

Mix flour, salt and baking powder in stand alone mixer (or food processor if yours is big enough). 

Add butter/shortening and mix until it resembles coarse cornmeal.

Add broth and egg until dough just comes together

Transfer dough to lightly floured surface and knead until dough forms smooth ball (about 20 seconds)

At this point you can refrigerate the dough if wanted, or work with it immediately

You can choose to make individual meat pies or a large one. 

Roll dough out and place meat filling in middle. 

Seal meat pies and make sure to cut slits in the top before placing in the oven

Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.

***You can make them and then wrap in foil and place in freezer before cooking to be eaten later. 

Coconut Drip Cake

Some call this a "drip cake," a "poke cake," "tres leches." I call this cake the most amazing cake I've ever eaten. Seeing that our wedding cake was coconut I've dreamed of a good coconut cake since my wedding 14 years ago and sadly haven't come close. That was until yesterday. I was a little hesitant when I made this cake for a few reasons but the main reason I like a moist, but not soggy cake. I hate eating cake and ice cream together because the ice cream melts and ruins the texture of the cake. So when I read this recipe although all the ingredients together sounded delectable it would really depend on the final product to see if the texture was too mushy.  It wasn't, instead it was the most moist, delicious, coconut cloud on a plate.  This is only the second time I've used cake flour and I will say I can never go back to All Purpose flour for my cakes or cupcakes, the cake flour really does make such a difference. I also will never use vanilla extract again now that I've found vanilla bean paste, it is the experience of actual vanilla beans without having to buy and scrape my own vanilla beans.

Cake
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup buttermilk

Topping
1/2 can condensed milk
1/2 can unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
Generous handful of unsweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350
Grease a 9X9 cake pan
Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
In bowl of stand mixer beat butter and sugar at medium speed until pale and fluffy
Beat in vanilla
Add eggs one at a time, beating well and scraping the down the bowl after each addition
At low speed beat in buttermilk until just combined
Add flour mixture in three batches mixing until each addition is just incorporated
Spread batter evenly in pan and tap on counter to eliminate air bubbles
Bake 35-40 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean
Cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes
Use a fork to puncture all over the surface of the cake
Combine condensed milk & coconut milk and pour all over cake
Let cake cool in the fridge for at least 2 hours
Using whisk attachment on a stand mixer, gently whip up cream, sugar and vanilla bean paste
Spread over cake and cover with a sprinkling of shredded coconut.
***The original recipe was double this, so 4 cups + 2 tablespoons cake four, 1 full can condensed milk, 1 full can coconut milk, etc. However seeing that there was only a few of us to serve I didn't want a ton of cake. If I was taking this to a party I would definitely double this recipe.