Jalpeno-Potato Chowder

The second recipe I tried out of my new vegetarian cookbook was Jalapeno-Potato Chowder.

I chopped up 1/2 a cup of onion and green bell pepper and cooked that in 3 T of butter for about 5 minutes.


I also chopped up 3 cups of potatoes and put those on to boil. I don't remember for how long, but I know that I tasted a crunchy one and let it go for a few minutes longer.


Now for the "chowder" part I added 3 T of flour to the onions and bell peppers and let that cook for about a minute and then gradually added in 2 and 1/2 cups of milk. I kind of lagged a little on the "stirring constantly" so the milk scalded a little on the bottom. Then I added corn, the drained potatoes, half of a minced jalapeno, some dried thyme, and some salt. After the parmesan cheese disaster with the risotto I was very careful about adding salt. Add a little, taste a little.


The chowder was ok on that first night. It was a little bland, so we kept adding salt until it was pretty good. What really surprised me was that it was very good for lunch the following day. It was thicker and had more flavor after sitting in the fridge overnight. So this one may be seen again, but it may be one of those make ahead meals.

Creamy Corn and Garlic Risotto

Last week was a doozy. Car problems. Computer problems. Recipe problems. I'll assume that you are only interested in the recipe problems.

I got a couple of new cookbooks for Christmas, including a vegetarian cookbook that has been on my list for two years now. The first recipe I chose out of this new cookbook sounded delicious. How can I go wrong with corn, garlic, and risotto?


I chopped a lot of garlic, measured out my arborio rice, and got out the frozen corn. I brought a tiny bit of vegetable stock up to a boil and added the garlic, then the rice and then the corn. I added the rest of the broth a little bit at a time, until the rice was cooked through.

So far so good. I tasted it and thought, "Eh, not bad but it needs a little something. Probably salt. The parmesan cheese will add salt." Then I came to the last step: "Stir in cheeses and parsley." Well, lets just say that I made the mistake of using the stuff in the green canister. Jeffrey Steingarten would be appauled. I dumped in the entire 1/2 cup that the recipe called for. Not a little bit and then taste. The whole amount. It made the risotto way too salty. Almost inedible. I hate it when I know better, but I do what the recipe says anyway.


And I was so distracted about ruining dinner that I entirely forgot about the fresh chopped parsely I had waiting on the cutting board. Brett suggested that I could add it in tomorrow when I eat the leftover risotto for lunch. Like I'm eating that for lunch! Yuck!

French Onion Soup

I have been wanting to make French Onion Soup for a very long time and now I have finally done it. I mostly used Pioneer Woman's recipe, but with one key change- I cooked the onions completely on the stovetop because I don't have an oven proof pot big enough for all those onions.

I sliced six yellow onions. I normally love chopping up an onion (as long as I'm using my trusty sharp knife.) But six? At first I was thinking that maybe this was a bad idea. The very first onion made my eyes start to water. As Zack Morris would say, "It was peeling onion day in Home-Ec."

But after I took a break, wiped my eyes, and blew my nose, I was good to go. I powered through all six onions while an entire stick of butter melted in my big pot.

I was a little worried when all those onions completely filled my pot, but with some careful stirring and lots of time they cooked down beautifully. I've put together a slideshow so you can watch the onions cook down.

The onions took about 45 minutes to start browning nicely. That's when I added the wine. It is pretty common knowledge that Brett and I don't drink. It's a personal choice that we think is healthy and cheap. We sometimes joke about all the money we've saved by not buying six dollar drinks. Anyways, we occasionally do get a bottle of wine as a gift and I always say that we'll cook with it sometime. Well this is the first time I have ever cooked with wine. This bottle of wine was particularly funny because, unbeknownst to the giver, this was the same wine that was served at our wedding, and from the same year too! I had to dig through a storage bin to find a corkscrew, but I got it open.

I added a cup and backed off. The smell that many wine drinkers probably love just smells like alcohol to me. I had a fleeting thought that I had just ruined dinner. After that cooked down for about five minutes I braved a taste of an onion and I actually liked it.

I added beef and chicken stock, two cloves of minced garlic, and a couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce. This simmered for forty five minutes.

While that was simmering along I toasted some thin slices of bread under the broiler.

I had every intention of buying Gruyere cheese but couldn't believe that in the entire fancy cheese section of my store, there was not a single piece of Gruyere. None! So I went with Provolone.

I did add some salt to the finished soup. It just tasted like it needed something... and usually that means salt. The soup was much better than the blurry picture I've taken. It was very oniony- which for me is a good thing. However it was a little winey- which for me is a bad thing. Next time I will put less wine... or none at all. I haven't decided yet.

Leftovers were a disaster. I took the container out of the fridge to find a layer of butter congealed across the top. Soooooo unappetizing. Next time I will either make less so that I don't have to deal with leftovers or use significantly less butter. Or both.

Comfort and Joy- Mashed Potatoes and Mac and Cheese

I got a new issue of Simple and Delicious magazine and I bet you can guess the theme..."Classic Comforts!" I usually find one or two recipes to try in each magazine but this time I found seven! The first two have been moderate successes, so I thought I would share them with you.

Recipe number one was "Crunchy Mashed Potatoes." I will admit that it had me at "1 and 1/2 cups cheddar french-fried onions." I love those things. This recipe was so easy that it actually came together too fast. I barely had time to get everything together. I also try to clean as I go and put away ingredients that I've already used (a habit of cooking in a small kitchen for five years) but there was not a second to spare. Once the three cups of chicken broth came to a boil it was non-stop action for all of 30 seconds. I'm not joking. I added 1 cup of milk, 1 pressed garlic glove, 1/4 tsp of pepper, 3 cups of potato flakes, and 1/4 cup sour cream and whisked until it was smooth. Then it went into a casserole dish, got sprinkled with the french -fried onions and 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese, and went under the broiler for about 1 minute. I didn't even have enough time to zap hot dogs in the microwave. Fancy dinner huh? I joke, but Brett was soooo happy to have hot dogs.

It tasted good, but Brett and I concluded that it needed butter. I also conferred with my mom (the queen of potato flakes) and she uses evaporated milk instead of regular, which adds creaminess.

The second recipe that I tried was called "Spirals and Cheese." This one used a lot of pots, which I don't like, but was very easy, which I do like. While 3 and 1/2 cups of rotini were cooking to just underdone, I melted 3 T of butter combined it with 3 T of flour and gradually added 3 cups of milk. When that had thickened after a couple of minutes, I added 2 cups of cheddar cheese, 1/2 a cup of parmesan cheese, and 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper.

I drained the pasta, and poured it all back into the same pot and then added the cheese sauce. It was very thin. So thin that I thought I had done something wrong. I poured it all into a baking dish and crossed my fingers.

In yet another pot I melted 1 T of butter and added 1/2 cup of dry bread crumbs, 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese, and 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese. This only took about 10 seconds of stirring and then I sprinkled it all over the noodle mixture.

It went into the 400 degree oven for 20 minutes and came out perfect. It did taste good, but it was a little bland. We think it could have used some cajun seasoning or bacon... or both. Three pots and one casserole dish later I was starting to think how much I like Kraft macaroni and cheese.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Gingerbread House

Over the weekend Brett started work on his gingerbread house. Sunday night he mixed up a double batch of dough.

Monday night he meticulously rolled, measured, and cut the walls, roof, and base of his house. Before baking he placed Jolly Ranchers in the window holes. When the cookies baked the Jolly Ranchers melted and formed translucent window panes. We were so excited that this technique worked! I think we had seen someone do it years ago on the Food Network and we finally got around to trying it. Don't try this without a Silpat; it would be a disaster! When everything cooled, the cookies and windows pulled right off without a hitch.

Wednesday night Brett whipped up some royal icing and got to work on construction. Compared to the measuring and baking, the construction was relatively fast- only 3 hours! We made a path out of M&M's, a door out of Hershey bar, and a gate/trellis/arbor/whatever-you-call-it out of candy canes. Brett also carefully piped little picket fences onto the Silpat. My only real contribution (because nibbling on M&M's and candy canes doesn't count) to this whole project was the little chimney made out of red M&M's.

We wanted the roof to be good and dry before we added shingles, so Thursday night was Andes mint shingles night! Brett also plucked the fences right off the Silpat and secured them to the base with royal icing. He added some finishing touches and just barely had enough icing.

I've made a video of some of the process and included some of the still photos that I took before I remembered we have a video camera. We got a free Flip video camera for paying our cable bill on time two months in a row! I actually really like it, so you may see more videos popping up on the blog... if there's something interesting enough to video. Enjoy!

Christmas Candies

Brett and I spent a good majority of the weekend in the kitchen (we spent a minority of the weekend watching a Ninja Warrior marathon) and we ended up using almost five sticks of butter. Yes, that sounds like a lot. Yes, I feel like Ina Garten or Paula Deen. No, we did not eat all that butter, nor will we be consuming it over an extended period of time. In today's post I will be telling you how we used two and a half sticks of butter. I will save the other two for my next post.

I got it in my head that I wanted to make homemade peppermint patties. We've made homemade fondant filling for candy before, but it was a sticky, goopy, time-consuming, arm-deadening disaster. It was one of those things that could not get any worse, so it had to be better the second time! Making fondant requires a candy thermometer and a strong stirring arm. We heated 1 and 1/3 cups of water, 1/3 cup light corn syrup, 1/4 cup of butter, 4 cups of sugar, 1/4 tsp cream of tartar, and 1/8 tsp salt to 240 degrees. I manned the thermometer while Brett washed the sides of the saucepan with a wet pastry brush.

Brett poured the liquid into a 9x13 pan and we left it in the fridge until the pan didn't feel warm anymore.

Then the stirring began. We soon added 1/4 tsp of peppermint extract. It starts out thick and sticky.

We worked in shifts. When my hand hurt or my arm got tired, Brett would take over. For a while it seemed to firm up a little, but the second it felt like it was actually getting thinner, we let it rest. The last time Brett made this all by himself and he stirred it for an hour before he let it rest. We try to learn from our mistakes. After about thirty minutes we let it rest for five and this made all the difference in the world.

It quickly turned to this:

Then we formed it into little peppermint patty fillings. Brett's are the beautiful, perfectly round ones and mine are the lumpy, misshapen ones. We ended up with 136! We let them rest overnight to come to room temperature and form a little crust before we dipped them in semi-sweet chocolate.

Sooooo messy! But sooooo fun! I pretty much licked chocolate off my hands for lunch. (Don't worry, I washed them before touching any candies again.)

Isn't our tree cute? Can you spot Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa? Can you believe that this is our fifth married Christmas, yet our first Christmas tree?

Our next endeavor was the Coffee Toffees that I saw on Zoe's blog recently. This time Brett manned the thermometer while I whisked the butter, sugar, brown sugar, molasses, water, and instant coffee powder together. Brett was not pleased with the heating rate, so we cranked it up to medium-high.

Every sugar challenge I've watched on Food Network warns of the dangers of sugar burns, so I let Brett's steady hand do the pouring. I love sil-pats! I spread the sugar out with a flat spatula as quickly as I could and then Brett got ready with the pizza wheel. The recipe said to work quickly before the sugar hardened, but we actually worked too quickly. Brett's gentle cuts (so we wouldn't damage one of our beloved sil-pats) were going back together almost immediately so he kept rotating through and making new cuts until they finally stayed.

The mixture came to room temperature pretty quickly and was soon ready to be broken along the cut lines.

I dipped these in melted semi- sweet chocolate using a fork instead of my fingers.

Overall, our candy turned out delicious. I can't even begin to choose a favorite. The only problem we had was when the chocolate hardened. Some of our pieces "bloomed." This means that the chocolate became discolored. I actually think that it looks kind of neat. Some of the mints got little lizard spots on them. The discoloration does not affect the flavor at all, so I really don't care, but it is something to study up on for improving our candies next time.

We shipped tins of our candies to loved ones across the country as our little attempt at spreading some Christmas cheer. Afterall, who doesn't love homemade goodies?

Mamma's Cornbread Dressing

Every year at Thanksgiving my grandma makes her cornbread dressing and every year it is one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving. The recipe is no secret. She gladly shares it. I've tried to make it with disastrous results. The first time there was WAY too much sage. But I followed the recipe! So I asked Mamma, "Are you sure there's 1 Tablespoon of sage?" She was sure. The second time I tried to make it it was WAY too soupy. "Mamma, are you sure there are 5 cups of chicken broth?" She was sure.

You know what they say about the third time? I went with my gut (instead of the recipe) and it was indeed the charm.

I prepped all of the ingredients, which for this recipe means to make some cornbread in advance, boil and chop 4 eggs, and chop onions and celery.

Cornbread was one of the first things I ever made on my own, so I should know what I'm doing, but for whatever reason (I'll blame the oven) this cornbread needed to cook much longer than normal. I had already cut it up before I realized that the center was still batter. Oops!

In addition to the cornbread, you are supposed to tear up a few pieces of white bread. I had two sandwich rolls that were "on their way out" so I started tearing those up into a bowl. About half way through the first roll, I glanced at the other roll and saw a green dot of mold. Ugh! I sifted back through the torn pieces and found one green spot that I took out. I really hope that was it. The other roll went in the trash.

When I added the sage I went with one teaspoon instead of one Tablespoon. Despite what Mamma says, I'm convinced that there's a typo in my recipe.

I stirred up all the dry ingredients and then I poured a melted stick of butter over everything and started adding chicken broth. Instead of pouring in five cups and calling it a day, I poured a little, stirred it up, and then poured some more. I got it to the consistency I like after about 3 cups (a little soupy) gave it a taste for seasoning (see I'm learning!) and then added the raw eggs.

I baked it off, and I must say that it turned out pretty darn close to Mamma's, although not quite as good of course. Yum!

Mamma's Cornbread Dressing (with Kim's aforementioned tweaks)

1 pan of cornbread

3-4 slices of white bread

4 eggs, boiled and chopped

3 eggs, raw

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 Tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon sage

3-4 cups of chicken broth (enough to make slightly soupy)

Mix cornbread and white bread crumbs in a large bowl. Add salt, pepper, and sage. Mix well. Add onion, celery, and boiled eggs. Mix well. Add melted butter and gradually add in the broth. Mix well. Add raw eggs. Mix well.

Pour into a greased 13x9 inch baking dish. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes.