Broccoli Cheese Soup

I blasted my heater on the way to the gym today. It was a chilly 68 degrees. Don't laugh. This Arizona/Florida girl likes the heat. Anytime I have to put real shoes on, besides my flip flops, I get grumpy and agitated. The cool front had me craving some real comfort food and it seems like I always turn to Mel's Kitchen Cafe for that.

Let me tell you something about broccoli cheese soup. A couple of years ago I was in charge of making soup for 250 women. We had a couple of different flavors but the broccoli cheese soup was gone WAY before the others. It tends to be a crowd favorite. This soup is thick, creamy, cheesy, and easy to make. I love the flavor that the Swiss cheese adds.

Broccoli Cheese Soup
Source: MelsKitchenCafe

1 3/4 cups chicken broth
1 small onion, diced finely
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, preferably sharp or extra sharp
1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
3 cups chopped, lightly steamed or blanched broccoli (I left mine in pretty big chunks)

DIRECTIONS:
Note: I used Mel's tip of cooking the broccoli in a glass bowl covered in saran wrap in the microwave for 3-4 minutes while you prepare the rest of the soup. The broccoli comes out perfect.

Simmer chicken broth and chopped onion for 15 minutes in a covered small saucepan, until onions are soft. Heat milk in microwave for 1-2 minutes.

In a separate medium-sized stockpot, melt butter then add flour, salt and pepper. Cook together, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes, then whisk in warmed milk. Stir and heat together on medium heat until soup starts to thicken, about 5-8 minutes. Add warmed chicken broth and continue to stir until well blended.

Add cheeses and stir until completely melted. Stir in cooked broccoli. Add more salt and pepper to taste, if needed. Mine was really thick because I think I added more broccoli than it calls for but that's how I like it. If you need to thin it out you can whisk in some more milk or chicken broth. If it's too thin, you can simmer it a bit longer to thicken it up.

Serve immediately in bowls or bread bowls. Makes 4 servings.

Pumpkin Spice Rolls and a Giveaway

*****************Giveaway is closed*****************

The winner is The winner is Whitney Owings. Thanks for entering!

These pumpkin spice rolls have the perfect texture and would be great for Thanksgiving. They taste divine with some butter and a drizzle of honey. I used my Fast Easy Bread Kit to cut the rising time in half! You can also make these without it...it will just take a little longer :)

Today to win your own Fast Easy Bread Kit just head on over to Fast Easy Bread and become a follower. Once you have done that, leave a comment here with 1) your name 2) your email 3) and tell me that you are now a follower. Because we know you are busy, the contest with run until Thursday, December 1st at noon, EST. Good luck and Happy Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Spice Rolls

Source: The Sisters Cafe

4 tsp active dry yeast (or SAF-Instant Premium Yeast from Fast Easy Bread Kit), or approximately 2 envelopes
1/4 cup milk
5 1/4 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom (left this out because I didn't have it)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 3/4 cup pumpkin puree, or a 15 oz can of pure pumpkin
egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with 1 tbsp of water)

Heat milk to between 110 and 115 degrees (feels warm) on the stove or in the microwave and pour into the bowl of your stand mixer; stir in the active dry yeast (or SAF-Instant Premium Yeast from the Fast Easy Bread Kit), and let stand for at least 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom, brown sugar, and salt, and mix well.

In a separate large bowl, lightly beat the two eggs, then stir in the melted butter, and the pumpkin puree. After the yeast has been activated, add the wet ingredients directly into the bowl of your stand mixer, and stir to combine. Then add 1/2 of the dry ingredients (flour and spices) from the other large bowl, and stir to mix the dry and wet ingredients together. *At this point add 1 teaspoon Liquid Soy Lecithin if using the FastEastBreadKit). After it is well mixed, add the remaining 1/2 of the dry ingredients and mix again.

Using the dough hook, allow your machine to knead the dough for you until it is smooth and still somewhat sticky (3-5 minutes). Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, and cover to let rise for approximately 1 hour or double in size (only a half hour with FastEastBreadKit). Lightly grease a jelly roll pan or 9X13 pan and line with parchment paper. To shape, take a piece of dough (about 1/4 cup) and start forming a round, smooth ball by pulling the sides to the center and pinching to seal. Place, pinched side down, on a counter and lightly roll dough into a ball. Space them in the pan so they are just barely touching the sides of one another; they will expand during the second rising time and during baking to completely fill the pan. Makes 18-24 rolls.

After your dough is shaped, cover it loosely, and let it rise for another 1-1 1/2 hours (cut this in half with FastEasyBreadKit). Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350 degrees . Once your bread is ready to bake, brush the top lightly with the egg wash. Bake bread for approximately 25-30 minutes or until browned.

Serve with butter and honey.

Thanksgiving Ideas

I had some Thanksgiving foods to post but my Internet has been down for a couple of days and it's been so frustrating. My husband actually has to work on Thanksgiving this year so I'm going to a friend's house on Thanksgiving and then having another Thanksgiving the day after with my husband and some friends. If I had to cook every single menu item (and thank goodness I'm not), this is what I would make...

Pumpkin Pie Dip

Brie En Croute

Ruth's Chris Sweet Potatoes

Loaded Mashed Potato Casserole

Roasted Asparagus with Browned Butter

Pecan Pie Bars

Pumpkin Dump cake - from my old roomie Jill

Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake

Cherry Cheese Pie - A Larson tradition

Thankful Rolls

Caramel Apple Cider Cookies

I've been avoiding blogging because I'm not sure the last few weeks of a crazy pregnant women should be documented.

You don't really want to know that instead of craving chocolate I've been craving Glade Clean Linen carpet deodorizer. It's definitely some form of pica. I have enough non-crazy genes left in me to actually abstain from eating it, but if I could I would. So instead of having dessert I find random reasons to sprinkle this on a 2x2 foot area of carpet and vacuum so that I can at least smell it. It has the same affect for me. Last pregnancy my pica problem materialized in the form of Lysol lemon disinfecting wipes.

...or do you really want to know that my baby girl has a mullet...in the womb.The one advantage of being high risk is that I get a detailed ultrasound every week. I asked yesterday if the baby had hair and the tech said, "Yes. In the back."  Awesome. She's all set for late nights with daddy watching Swamp People.

Do you really want to know that at the park last week a little boy kept trying to lift up my shirt to get his ball back?

...or that the only reason I go to the gym lately is so that I can look at food on Pinterest while I'm stretching. Nope. Didn't think so.

But you do want to know about these cookies - another find on Pinterest that I've had on my "to-try" list. My friend Kaela sent them to work with her husband. Her husband and my husband work together and John thought they were so good he saved one for me and brought it home for me to try. They are full of caramel apple flavor with a surprise of caramel in the middle. The texture of the cookies is to die for. Almost good enough to make me give up my clean linen carpet powder.

I like mine heated up in the microwave for about 5 seconds to make sure the caramel is nice and gooey. I think they would be great with a warm cup of hot cocoa. Kaela's food blog has a new location so make sure to check her out at Cookin' and Kickin'.

Caramel Apple Cider Cookies
Source: Cookin' and Kickin'; original recipe The Cooking Photographer

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (7.4 oz) box Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Instant Original Drink Mix (10 packets - found next to hot chocolate mix)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 (14 ounce) bag of Kraft chewy caramels

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper (you need this so that the caramel doesn't stick to the bottom of your cookie sheet).

In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.

With an electric mixer, cream together butter, sugar, salt and all 10 packages of apple cider drink mix powder, until light and fluffy.

Beat in eggs, one at a time.

Add vanilla and mix well.

Gradually add flour mixture to butter/egg mixture. Mix until just combined.

Scoop out cookie dough ball about the size of a walnut (about 2 tablespoons).

Flatten the ball of dough slightly in the palm of your hand. Press the unwrapped caramel into the center of your dough and seal the dough around it, covering it completely.

Shape the dough into a ball, and place on parchment covered cookie sheets about 3 inches apart.

Bake 11-14 minutes, or until very lightly browned around the edges. They may not look quite done in the center but that is OK.

Once the cookies are done, carefully slide the parchment off of the baking sheet right out onto the counter.

Allow cookies to partially cool on the parchment. When cookies are cool enough to be firm but still slightly warm, carefully twist off of parchment and allow to finish cooling upside down on the parchment or on a cookie rack. If they are not upside down while they cool they may drizzle caramel out the bottom.
 
Makes around 2-3 dozen cookies. Eat at room temperature or slightly warmed in the microwave.

Thankful Rolls

Last year I saw this really cute idea for "Thankful Rolls" over at the Idea Room and made these rolls for our Thanksgiving dinner. You can liven up your Thanksgiving table conversation with these creative rolls that have a personalized message inside...kind of like a fortune cookie.

It makes it really interesting when you include your guest's names in the messages. My friend Wendy was our host last year and her son-in-law happened to get this roll. Thankfully they have a good relationship or it would have been awkward.

Just write down your message on a piece of paper and wrap it in a rectangle of aluminum foil. Place it in between two dough balls from your regular dough recipe and then let your dough rise.

                           

You can make either regular sized rolls or mini-rolls like I did here. I used the leftover dough scraps from my Lion House Rolls and baked them in a mini-muffin pan. Bake your rolls as you normally would according to your recipe directions.Then at dinner we had a separate "Thankful Rolls" basket that we passed around and read in the middle of dinner. It's a fun way to get the conversation going and to remember why you are celebrating Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Waffles

I love Daylight Savings in the fall. I'm not a morning person anyway, so it gives me an extra hour to get going and get my happy on for the rest of the day. I can't tell you how many bus stop mishaps I've had. I've showed up at my son's bus stop with my workout shirt on backwards or inside out. Then there was the time I showed up with a partial face mask on I had put on the night before. Awesome.

Breakfasts consisting of more than just cereal at our house are rare. We're usually rushing around getting dressed and my kids aren't huge breakfast eaters anyway. But Sunday, because of daylight savings time, we had a leisure morning before church with extra time to make a nice hot breakfast. And of course, they didn't get the memo about DST and were up at their normal early time.

My friend Barb sent me this Pumpkin Waffle recipe - a fall recipe she can't live without. They are soft and fluffy with the perfect amount of pumpkin and spice. My kids helped me make these, of course adding some mini-chocolate chips to their waffles. They asked for seconds, thirds, until finally we ran out of waffles...a good sign. Barb said these remind her of Trader Joe's pumpkin mix but only better. I agree.

Pumpkin Waffles

by Barbara Beck

2 cups flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt
4 eggs (separate yolks from the whites)
1 ½ cup milk
1 cup pure canned pumpkin
¾ cup (12 tablespoons) butter, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.

Next, separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. *If you have a stand mixer, you can start beating your egg whites while you prepare the rest of the batter (or just beat them later with a hand mixer). Beat egg whites until they form peaks. Reserve for later.

In a separate bowl, add the egg yolks, milk, pumpkin, melted butter, and vanilla. Mix until combined. Add the dry mixture slowly until incorporated using a mixer.

If you haven't already, take the egg whites and beat with a mixer until they form peaks. Fold beaten egg whites gently into the pumpkin batter. Spray waffle iron with cooking spray. Pour batter into waffle iron and cook according to waffle iron instructions. Makes around 8 Belgian waffles.

Syrup
In a large saucepan combine:
½ cup butter
½ cup buttermilk
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon Karo syrup
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla

Bring butter, buttermilk, sugar, and Karo syrup to a boil then remove from heat. Stir in baking soda and vanilla. Serve.

Asian Turkey Meatballs with Lime Dipping Sauce

Halloween was a major success. I trained my kids well. They know what chocolate I like and tried to get it for me (Twix, Almond Joy, Butterfinger Snackers).
My three boys can easily be categorized according to their candy consuming behavior:

The Statistician: My oldest son rarely eats candy, he just likes to collect it. He knows exactly how many pieces of candy he scored and counts it daily. I've offered to trade his loot for money or a surprise. No go. He just wants to hoard it and count it. Which makes it hard for me to sneak a piece.
The Inhaler: We never got an accurate count of my middle son's candy because he ate it from house to house as he collected it. Which I didn't mind because he weighs about 2 pounds and could really use all the calories he can get. He only eats chocolate and gave all his "candy" to the Swiper.
The Swiper: My 2 year old who doesn't discriminate who he steals candy from. He finds pieces of candy stashed in incredible hiding places and raids his brother's stashes while they're at school much to the Statistician's dismay. Is known to slam his candy against the bathroom door while I'm showering and demand, "Open? Mommy! Open?! Open?! Candy...open?!'

If I were to be categorized, I definitely would be a mix between the Inhaler and the Swiper. But now, I'm soooo over candy. I don't want to see it, I don't want to eat it...I just want it to be gone. 

Feeling the need for something healthy, I headed over to Skinny Taste and found these Asian Turkey Meatballs. We rarely do Asian food in our house but I really liked these. I made some smaller ones for my kids and let them use toothpicks to eat them. I served it with brown rice and green beans.

Asian Turkey Meatballs With Lime Sesame Dipping Sauce
Source: Skinny Taste; Makes 12 meatballs; Serving size 3 meatballs (229.1 calories)

1/4 cup Panko crumbs
1-1/4 lbs (20 ounces) 93% lean ground turkey
1 egg
1 tablespoon ginger, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 scallions, chopped
1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil

Lime Dipping Sauce
4 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons water
1 chopped fresh scallion

Directions:
Preheat oven to 500°F.

Mix ground turkey, panko, egg, salt, scallions, ginger, cilantro, 1 tbsp soy sauce, and 2 tsp oil and mix with your hands until combined well. Shape 1/4 cup meat mixture into a ball and transfer to a baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Repeat with remaining mixture. Bake until cooked through, about 15 minutes.

For the dipping sauce mix together lime juice, water, soy sauce, and remaining 1 teaspoon of oil in a bowl. Add scallions.

Transfer meatballs to a serving dish. Stir sauce, then drizzle meatballs with 1 tablespoon sauce.

Serve meatballs with remaining sauce, about 1 tbsp per person. You probably won't use all the dipping sauce.

Makes 12 meatballs.