My New Favorite Soup

I looooooove soup. Living in snowy Colorado has only intensified my love for soup. It’s so warm and filling and makes me feel all happy on the inside.

And when I saw this recipe for a sweet potato soup with greens and sausage, I must admit I was intrigued. But Smitten Kitchen has never steered me wrong before. So, I decided to make this for a fall dinner I was going to.

My friends were skeptical when I told them what I was making. There may have even been some wrinkled noses. I didn’t even care.

And for once, I was actually organized in this whole cooking thing. The night before, I chopped up my onionsand both kinds of potatoes and put them in bags in the fridge to just dump in the pot the next day. Brilliant, I know.

Oh, and I like this picture because it makes me look like I have an alien hand.

After work on the night of the dinner, I threw the sausage in the pot, and it filled the kitchen with the best smell. I used smoked chicken sausage, but you could use whatever you like. The original recipe used chorrizo. I also used kale, but that’s because I had kale on hand. You could also use spinach.

After the sausage is cooked, drain on a paper towel. Add to the drippings the onions, spices, etc., making sure to scrape up brown bits. Then add the potatoes and chicken broth. (Exact instructions are at the bottom!)

Finally, add the kale and cook it all until everything is tender. If you use spinach, add it closer to the end, since it won’t take as long to cook as the kale. A few minutes before serving, put the sausage back in.

I don’t want to understate just how yummy this soup. One of the biggest critics even had two bowls. Her exact quote? “This is not the thing that I was expecting to like tonight.”

Job well done

Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup (Adapted from SmittenKitchen.com)

Makes 8 servings

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 10- to 11-ounce fully cooked smoked chicken sausage, cut into slices, then quartered
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 pounds red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams; about 2 large), peeled, quartered lengthwise, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• 1 pound white-skinned potatoes (2 medium), peeled, quarteredlengthwise, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• 6 cups low-salt chicken broth
• 1 bunch kale, rinsed and roughly chopped
• 2 cans of white beans, drained
• cayenne pepper, to taste

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add sausage; cook until brown, stirring often, about 8 minutes. Transfer sausage to paper towels to drain.

Add onions and garlic to pot and cook until translucent, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Add all potatoes and cook until beginning to soften, stirring often, about 12 minutes.

Add broth; bring to boil, scraping up browned bits. Reduce heat to medium-low, add kale, beans, cover, and simmer until potatoes are soft, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.

Using potato masher, mash some of potatoes in pot. Add browned sausage to soup. Stir in remaining 1 tablespoon oil and a dash of cayenne pepper. Season with salt and pepper. Divide among bowls and serve.

Dulce de Leche Bat Cookies

I know it would have made more sense to post this recipe earlier. You know, before Halloween. But considering the fact that I finished them at 11:45 p.m. on October 30, that wasn’t really a possibility.

There are a few reasons I decided to make these cookies. First of all, they have dulce de leche. Dulce de leche is like caramel on speed. It’s soooo yummy. And, you can buy it at the grocery store in a can. Which is great, since a bunch of the recipes I have found require boiling a can of condensed milk in a pot of water. Which is basically like telling me to smear hot caramel on my arms. Because that is the same kind of result that I would have gotten. So, this lovely Latin woman saved me from third degree burns.

Thank you, mi amiga.

Another reason I wanted to try this recipe is because it meant that I could buy these ADORABLE little cookie cutters. Aren’t they the cutest little things you ever did see?

I did have to tweak this recipe a tiny bit. Because even Martha Stewart isn’t perfect. My first batch came out rather burnt.

Sad, huh? So, I decreased the temperature and shortened the cooking time. Also, and this is important. I baked all of the cut-out cookies together. Because they cook for about a minute less than their cookie sandwich counterparts. Does that make sense? I apologize if not.

Oh, and I also think you could not do the cut-out bat at all, and just have these yummy little chocolate dulce de leche sandwich cookies. Or do a white cookie, a heart cut-out and some strawberry jam for Valentine’s day. Or some kind of Christmas cut-out for the holidays.

The possibilities are endless, I tell you!

Dulce de Leche Bat Cookies (Adapted from MarthaStewart.com)

Ingredients Makes 18

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa
• 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dulce de leche

Directions

1. Whisk together flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder. Beat butter and sugars with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg, yolk, chocolate, and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture, and beat until just combined. Shape into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate 30 minutes, or until firm but still pliable.
2. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut out 36 rounds with a 2-inch cutter, and space 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Using an aspic cutter set, cut a triangle, point side up, in the center of half the cookies, and then use the half-moon cutter to make one “wing” on each side of the triangle. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 350. Put all uncut cookies on one baking sheet, and bake 6-7 minutes. Next, put all cut cookies together and bake 5 to 6 minutes.
4. Top each uncut cookie with 1 teaspoon dulce de leche and a cutout cookie.

Chicken Spaghetti–My favorite comfort food

I love me some comfort food. It’s always warm, usually cheesy, and normally has at least a few ingredients from the “cream of (fill in the blank)” category. And this recipe, my friends, is no exception.

But before I continue on with this yummy goodness, I would like to tell you that I got this recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks (visit her link to the right). I like to call her my food blog mother. I like to call her that, but I would like for her to never know I call her that. Because it might be creepy.

But that’s okay, because she has no idea who I am, and she doesn’t read my blog. I think I’m safe.

Anyway, this recipe is from her. And her recipes make me all warm and fuzzy. They’re the kind of foods I like to eat in when it gets cold and I start plumping up for the winter. And since it snowed today, let the plumping begin.

Okay, first you start with spaghetti. I use thin spaghetti. Not angel hair, but something between that and regular spaghetti. Boil it up in some chicken broth and water. (I use one can chicken broth, the rest water.) Note here, my food blog mother actually takes a whole chicken boils it, and cooks her pasta in the chicken water. I, on the other hand, buy a pre-roasted chicken, so that’s not an option. What can I say. I don’t have time to cook. I have to go watch Desperate Housewives.

Oh, and in addition to being lazy and buying a pre-cooked chicken, I also use frozen, pre-chopped green peppers and onions. They are my best friends. We hang out in the kitchen, talking about Eva Longoria and how she had to gain weight for this season of Desperate Housewives. And how I’m doing the same thing, but without a director telling me to. Because I’m proactive like that.

Then, you rip up the chicken, dump it all in a bowl, and add your peppers and onions. And see those red things down there? They’re pimentos. And when I first made this recipe, I nearly rebelled and didn’t use them. Because, what the heck is a pimento anyway? But I used them, and I think they’re pretty. They add nice color, and I think they taste just fine.

To the chicken mixture, you add two cans of cream of mushroom soup, a heaping cup of cheese (she uses two cups, but I didn’t have enough) the spaghetti, and chicken broth as needed to thicken. Sprinkle with cheese, pop in the oven, and wait. It is oh so yummy and it makes me oh so happy.

And you should go make a big pan right now. And it freezes really well, if you’re alone like me and you can’t possibly eat the whole lot by yourself. Or you can, but you’d prefer not to waddle.

The Pioneer Woman’s Chicken Spaghetti (slightly adapted by me–mostly because I’m lazy and my pantry was low)

2 cups cooked chicken (one small roasted chicken)
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2-3 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup finely diced green pepper
1/2 cup finely diced onion
1-4 oz jar diced pimentos, drained
3 cups dry spaghetti, broken into two-inch pieces
2-4 cups chicken broth
1 tsp seasoned salt
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook spaghetti in 2 cups of chicken broth mixed with enough water to fill pot. Cook until very al dente. Do not overcook!

While spaghetti cooks, skin chicken, take off bones and chop into bite-size pieces.

Mix spaghetti with chicken, 1-2 cups cheese and the rest of the ingredients.

Place mixture in casserole pan and top with remaining 1 cup cheese. Cover and freeze up to six months, cover and refrigerate up to two days or bake immediately: 350 degrees for 45 minutes until bubbly.

Strawberry Ganache filled Cupcakes

Wow, I made these cupcakes FOREVER ago! But man, they were good! And what’s great is you can kind of mix and match how you do them.

I made a strawberry ganache for mine, and filled the cupcakes with that yummy goodness.

I also did half white, and half chocolate

And frosted them with a buttercream frosting. You could frost them with whatever you want.

What’s best, though, is the cupcake. The rest is just details.

Chocolate Cupcakes (from America’s Test Kitchen)
Makes 12 cupcakes

8	tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 4 pieces
2	ounces bittersweet chocolate , chopped
1/2	cup Dutch-processed cocoa (1 1/2 ounces)
3/4	cup unbleached all-purpose flour (3 3/4 ounces)
1/2	teaspoon baking soda
3/4	teaspoon baking powder
2	large eggs
3/4	cup sugar (5 1/4 ounces)
1	teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2	teaspoon table salt
1/2	cup sour cream (4 ounces)

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard-sized muffin pan (cups have 1/2-cup capacity) with baking-cup liners.

2. Combine butter, chocolate, and cocoa in medium heatproof bowl. Set bowl over saucepan containing barely simmering water; heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted and whisk until smooth and combined. Set aside to cool until just warm to the touch.

3. Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder in small bowl to combine.

4. Whisk eggs in second medium bowl to combine; add sugar, vanilla, and salt and whisk until fully incorporated. Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Sift about one-third of flour mixture over chocolate mixture and whisk until combined; whisk in sour cream until combined, then sift remaining flour mixture over and whisk until batter is homogenous and thick.

5. Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Bake until skewer inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes.

6. Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Carefully lift each cupcake from muffin pan and set on wire rack. Cool to room temperature before icing, about 30 minutes. (To frost: Mound about 2 tablespoons icing on center of each cupcake. Using small icing spatula or butter knife, spread icing to edge of cupcake, leaving slight mound in center.)

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White Cupcakes
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still cool, cut into 12 pieces
3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

To make the cupcakes, adjust an oven rack to the middle position. Heat the oven to 350 F. Lightly coat two 6-cup muffin tins with baking spray. Alternatively, coat the tins with cooking spray, then dust with flour and tap to remove any excess.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer on low to combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add the butter, a piece at a time, and beat until the mixture resembles coarse sand, about 3 minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until combined. Add the milk and vanilla, then increase speed to medium, and mix until light and fluffy and no lumps remain, about 3 minutes.

Fill the muffin cups three-quarters full (do not overfill) with batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean, about 18 to 20 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely.

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Strawberry Ganache Filling (From the Cupcake Blog, now defunct)

4.5 ounces (128 grams) Valrhona 85% cacao (or any bittersweet chocolate)
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt
2/3 cup strawberries, diced very fine

1. Chop chocolate and transfer into a heat proof bowl.
2. Heat cream until bubbles form around the edge of the pan, pour cream over the chocolate.
3. Let sit for 1 minute then stir until combined.
4. Add vanilla and salt. Stir until combined.
5. Add chopped strawberries and let the glaze thicken and cool. Once the filling is think, fill the cupcakes with it. You can either cut a cone out of the cupcake, spoon in some of the filling, and replace the top, or you can fill a piping bag with the filling, insert a “filling tip” and insert the chocolate (that’s what I did, mostly because it’s quicker and I was in a hurry. If you did the cone method, it would probably be more chocolatey.)

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Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (Also from the Cupcake Blog)

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3 cups powdered sugar

1. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy.
2. Add the milk, vanilla extract, and 2 cups of powdered sugar and beat at low speed, occasionally stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, until light and fluffy. Add more powdered sugar to arrive at the consistency and sweetness you like.

Pumpkin Yummies

Okay, so I know that’s a cheesy name. But my friends and I couldn’t figure out what to call them. Not really a cake. Not really a cookie. No crust, so they had a hard time calling it a bar. So yummy it is. And seriously? Sooooooo good!

I saw this recipe on one of my favorite website, Good Things Catered, several weeks ago, and just knew I had to try them. Primarily because they had bourbon in them.

So, one morning I got up early, whipped them up, and brought them in to the office. And seriously, they were gone in under two hours. Much stabbing with plastic forks ensued. To the point that when I put two pieces aside that I had promised to a friend in another department, I thought they would attack me. But the pumpkin yummies and I escaped. Barely.

So, I encourage you to make these for yourself. But beware. They can yield frightening results.

Pumpkin Yummies (adapted from Good Things Catered)

Ingredients:
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt
1 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
2 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree, drained on a paper towel lined fine strainer
2 egg
2 Tbsp bourbon
2 tsp vanilla extract

2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tsp bourbon

Directions:
-Put pumpkin in paper-towel lined strainer to get rid of excess moisture.
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line and prepare an 9×13 baking pan.
-In medium bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, spice and salt.
-Whisk to combine thoroughly and set aside.
-In bowl of stand mixer, add eggs, sugars, oil, and pumpkin until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
-Add bourbon, vanilla and mix to combine.
-Stir flour mixture into pumpkin mixture until just combined.
-Spread evenly into prepared pan.
-Place in oven and bake for about 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
-Cool completely before frosting.
-Meanwhile, in bowl of stand mixer, combine cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and bourbon and mix to combine well.
-Slowly add in powdered sugar until completely combined.
-Frost cooled bars with icing, cut, and serve.