Soup's On!

Since embarking on my journey to embrace more soup (not literally, obviously…. hugging one’s soup leads to much pain and many burns) I have been surprisingly pleased. I have found that soup really is my friend and although I don’t think I’ll ever say something like, “Boy, could I go for a nice bowl of soup right about now!”, I do believe that I may come to a place where homemade soup becomes a regular occurrence in this house.

I’m not there yet, but I’m working on it.

It’s recipes like this one that really help move me onward towards that goal. Something hearty, with lots of deep flavor… that’s what is required in order for me to sit down to a bowl of soup. Chicken broth and some spindly noodles ain’t cutting it, folks.

Now… when I add to this equation the fact that it’s a crock pot meal… well, NOW you’ve got my attention! Not only do I not have to do a lot of work, but there is something to smelling your dinner cooking all day that makes you anticipate it. For someone who isn’t a soup lover, that’s a very good thing!

Best of all, you can change things up in this one. Rather than a regular can of diced tomatoes, try using the diced tomatoes with green chilies in it. Add diced jalapeno… or turkey instead of chicken… or whatever else floats your boat!

Most of all, have fun!

(Did I really just encourage to have fun with soup? I must be getting closer to my goal after all!)

Gluten Free Chicken Taco Soup

1 onion, chopped

1 (15 oz) can black beans

1 (15 oz) can creamed corn

1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce

1 ½ cups chicken stock

2 (10 oz) cans diced tomatoes (do not drain)

1 pouch taco seasoning of your choice

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Toppings of your choice (optional): shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, corn chips, etc…

Place the chopped onion, black beans, corn, chicken stock, tomato sauce and diced tomatoes in the slow cooker. Add the taco seasoning and stir to combine. Lay the chicken breasts on top of everything, press down slightly to submerge. Cook on low for 5 hours.

Remove the chicken breasts, shred and return to the slow cooker for another hour. Serve with toppings.

Serves 8.

Will Work For... Cookies?

Currently, I’m having some work done on my house. Nothing crazy, just some new windows and doors. I would venture to say the one perk of having home improvements done in the dead of winter is not having to wait very long to get it done. The schedule is light for them… and now I understand why.


Go right now… open your windows, turn off the heat and sit in the living room. Now just wait. The cold will creep in slowly, starting with your nose and toes. The next thing you know, you are bundled in a blanket with a cup of tea, trying not to let them hear your teeth chattering.


Fun times.

We are in the second and final day of work here… and it just occurred to me now that these poor guys do this every day. In the cold, in the rain, in the snow. Sure, I’m mildly inconvenienced with the chill in the air… but in a few hours I’ll bid them adieu, close everything up and flick my heat back on. They will move on to another house and more hours of working in the cold.

I had a moment of sympathy for these guys and decided to bake them some warm cookies. So I fired up the oven (for those of you wondering… NO… making the cookies was not an excuse to warm up my kitchen by turning on the oven, though it was a bonus!) and got to work on some flourless, dairy-free almond butter chocolate chunk cookies. Gutsy, considering it’s a new recipe. Would the guys finish my windows if my cookies taste like paste?

Well, dear friends, they were grand! (The cookies, not the guys… though they are all very nice. Grand would be stretching it, though.)

Whip up a batch to share with neighbors… or the mail man, or your child’s bus driver. Spread some warm cookie love today!

You’ll be glad you did.

Flourless Almond Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

1 cup almond butter

1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 2 cookies sheets with either parchment paper or a silpat.

In a bowl, stir almond butter and sugars together until well combined. Add egg, baking soda, maple syrup, vanilla; mix well. Stir in the chocolate chunks.

Using a small scooper, drop walnut-sized amounts of dough about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet. Bake 12 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before attempting to remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Chocolate Love

What would Valentine's Day be without a little chocolate? OK, lots of chocolate? Alas, for us... most of those lovely red heart boxes filled with a variety of chocolates is a thing of the past. Blast that horrible wheat warning!

Does that mean we have to go without chocolate altogether? No, my friends! NO! This year, I made a dessert that was laughingly called a brownie... but let me tell you now, this is no brownie. This is fudge, masquerading as a brownie. The "cake" is rich and fudgy... yet not heavy. The ganache on top takes the chocolate level through the roof.

You'll see below that you will be using a small 8x8 pan... mostly because this dessert is so rich you'll be able to feed 64 people with that little pan! Small squares... perhaps the size of those lovely little chocolates in the red heart box?... will do just fine. Decadence.

Feeling the love? Good.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Brownies (aka Fudge Squares of Love)

1 cup butter

3 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup cream cheese (or mascarpone cheese), softened

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup gluten free all-purpose flour (I used King Arthur)

1/4 tsp salt

GANACHE INGREDIENTS:

6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks

6 Tbsp heavy cream

3 Tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray 8x8 pan with non-stick spray.

In a small saucepan, melt butter and pour hot butter over chocolate in a medium bowl. Let sit for 30 seconds, then stir until smooth.

Add sugar and cocoa powder, stir. Add cream cheese, eggs and vanilla and mix until smooth.

Fold in the flour.

Pour into the pan and spread evenly. Bake for 50-55 minutes until baked evenly (especially center).

Remove from oven.

Place ganache chocolate in a bowl. In a small saucepan, bring heavy cream and butter to just below a boil. Pour over the chocolate and let stand for 30 seconds. Stir until smooth.

Pour ganache over the brownies and spread evenly. Let ganache set for 15 minutes, then refridgerate until set, 1-2 hours.

Please Don't Tell My Kids...

If you happen to bump into me in Wegman’s Market and my kids are with me, I beg of you, please don’t mention to them that they had yams for a snack. The look on their sweet little faces would give away the truth of the matter… that they had no idea they did, in fact, have yams for a snack.

You see, my three-year-old is probably the pickiest eater on the planet. He figured out, at a very early age, that green foods don’t necessarily taste as good as other foods. He won’t even try kiwi because it’s green! So, nary a green veggie… nary a veggie at all… has passed his lips in a long time. That is, unless I sneak it in there.

Butternut squash bread, pasta with chopped up wilted spinach, broccoli chopped up into molecular-level sized pieces in a quiche, I’ve even gone with V8 Splash juice… any way I can get some veggies into his tummy.

Sure, some of these aren’t as ideal as others… since something like butternut squash bread still has sugar in it. But a girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do. I figure a piece of slightly sweet bread that also has squash in it has to be better than a bowl of cereal or a piece of toast for breakfast. Right?

Hence, today’s recipe. A way to get some yams into him. Yes, even delicious yams are on his no-no list. This is a gluten free sweet potato muffin (ok, ok… yam muffin) with a walnut crumble on top.

For the yam, I just microwaved it. Take your lovely yam, wash and dry it. Prick all sides of it with a fork and place it on a paper towel lined, microwave safe plate. Nuke that little guy for 2 ½ minutes. Flip it upside down and nuke it again for another 2 ½ minutes. In the end you should have yourself a nicely cooked, vitamin packed yam. Let it cool, then peel and smash it. Now you’re ready to make your muffins!

So, we have a deal? You won’t tell my kids they had yams for a snack and, if you try this recipe on your own kids (or picky husband!), I won’t tell them, either.

Let the veggie sneaking…er, snacking… begin!

Sweet Potato Muffins (aka Yam Muffins) with Walnut Crumble

Crumble:

¼ cup GF Bisquick

¼ cup light brown sugar

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ cup finely chopped walnuts

2 Tbsp butter, cold

Batter:

1 ½ cups GF Bisquick

2 eggs

½ cup cooked, mashed yams

4 Tbsp butter, melted

1/3 cup milk

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin cups with 12 paper liners.

Crumble: In a small bowl, stir together brown sugar, cinnamon and Bisquick. Cut in cold butter until crumbly. Place in fridge until ready to use.

Batter: In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, yams, brown sugar, butter, milk, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add Bisquick until incorporated. Divide batter into paper liners. Spoon tablespoons of crumble over each muffin until all crumble is dispersed.

Bake for 20-24 minutes until set.

One Lump or Two?

As I have mentioned before, I live very close to Amish country. Smack in the middle of that area is my all-time favorite tea room. This tea room makes THE best scones ever. I never asked about the fat content because I’m pretty sure I would faint upon hearing the answer. These scones were soft and luxurious… and served warm with jam, lemon curd and clotted cream.

Pardon me as I grab a napkin, I seem to be drooling a little.

Often, I would choose a white chocolate cranberry scone over their various desserts because I love them so. And if you are wondering, the answer is “yes”… I did have to go through a period of mourning over their scones.

Sure, I was sad I would never again have their bangers and mash or an English sausage wrapped in a delicate pastry. But the idea of never again having one of those scones… perish the thought!

King Arthur brand flour has come up with one doosey of a gluten free scone. Best of all, no heavy cream! Sure, there’s some butter in there… but you really can’t make a scone without butter. You can mix and match your additions to the scones to whatever your imagination conjures up… toasted coconut and white chocolate chips, dried pineapple (or any dried fruit for that matter!) or cinnamon chips! You could also cut down on the sugar and add chopped ham and some shredded cheese for a savory scone. The possibilities are endless! I went with dried cranberries and chocolate chips. I also sprinkled a little gourmet sugar on top to make it pretty.

Oh, sure. I still miss my tea room and all the possibilities that used to be there for me. But my sweet little baked good came in and filled that cobwebbed, empty space in me labeled “scone”.

I feel like I should break into a chorus of “Wind Beneath My Wings”.

Too extreme?

King Arthur Gluten Free Scones

1 ¾ cups King Arthur Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour

¼ cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp xanthan gum

½ tsp salt

½ cup cold butter

¾ cup additions of your choice (chocolate chips, dried fruit, toasted coconut, white chocolate, cinnamon chips, etc)

2 eggs

1/3 cup cold milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk together dry ingredients. Cut cold butter into dry ingredients. Add additions of your choice.

In small bowl, beat together eggs, milk and vanilla extract. Add to dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Drop by ¼ cup fulls (or, as I used, the largest Pampered Chef cookie dough scoop) on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Baked in preheated oven for 15-17 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let sit on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before removing to cooling rack. Serve with jam, lemon curd and/or whipped cream.