Hearty Broccoli Soup~

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! As it gets colder and colder, we all end up craving more comfort foods that make us all fuzzy and warm inside. And in my opinion, what does that better than a thick soup? So in honor of this crisp autumn weather, here’s a yummy broccoli soup recipe! I made this recipe over Thanksgiving break. It is rich, filling, and full of delicious flavor! So give this recipe a shot, and I guarantee that you won’t be disappointed!

Ingredients:

·      2 cups diced potatoes

·      1 cup chopped onions

·      1 cup carrots, thinly sliced

·      ½ cup minced celery

·      1 cup water

·      2 cups chopped broccoli

·      4 cups milk

·      2 chicken or vegetable bouillon cubes

·      1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

·      1/3 cup flour

·      1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Cook the potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, and water in a large pot for about 5 minutes over medium-high heat. Add the broccoli and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes. Add 3 cups milk, bouillon cubes, Worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Place the remaining cup of milk and flour in a small bowl and whisk until smooth. Stir the mixture into the soup and cook until just thickened. Turn off the heat on the stove and add the cheese, and stir until melted. Use an emulsifier or a blender to blend the soup until smooth, serve in bowls, and enjoy!!!

Kitchen Hacks Part V

Happy Monday! I don't think I've ever said this, but thank you to those that take a look at this blog! I started doing it for fun about a year and a half ago because I really enjoy cooking/baking, and I'm really thankful towards those that check it out! Plus the views really help motivate me to find and try out new recipes as well as experiment with useful tips when being in the kitchen. So thanks! ^_^ And without further ado, here's Kitchen Hacks Part #5!

1.     When you need to open a new stick of butter, place it on the butter dish and slice into tablespoons using the markings on the wrapper as a guide. This way you don’t have to keep slicing butter in the middle of cooking, and precut tablespoons of butter soften faster than the full solid stick of butter.

2.     You can cut butter cubes easily by taking maximum 4 tablespoons of butter and slicing using an egg slicer.

3.     If you want to butter toast but forgot to leave the butter out to soften, use a vegetable peeler to create thin ribbons that can easily be used to butter toast!

4.     Place your cheese grater with the cheese in a large plastic bag and grate away without getting your hands dirty and preventing flyaway pieces.

5.     You can create your own vertical roaster by taking a bundt, or tube, pan by taking your seasoned poultry and sliding it onto the center post with the legs facing downward so the poultry is vertical.

Chocolate Truffles~

So here’s the story: during fall break one of my best friends and I decided to make chocolate truffles, but we wanted to follow a simple recipe, so we used one we found from BuzzFeed. Big mistake; the truffles did not turn out well at all. One of them didn’t thicken, so we tried adding flour, so it just tasted like sweet flour, and the other never solidified. Oh well, we tried and had fun, so no loss, but it prompted me to try a different recipe out. So here are some delicious chocolate truffles coming your way~

Ingredients:

·      10 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

·      3 tbsp butter

·      ½ cup heavy cream

·      1 tbsp light corn syrup

·      ½ cup Dutch process cocoa

·      8 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

Place the 10 oz chocolate and butter in a double boiler and heat gently for a couple minutes. Heat the heavy cream and corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat until simmering. Pour the cream mixture over the chocolate mixture and let stand for a couple minutes. Stir the mixture gently until all the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth and creamy. Pour the mixture into a glass baking dish and chill in the fridge for an hour. Using a spoon, scoop the chocolate onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and chill for an additional 30 minutes. Place the cocoa powder on a plate, and melt the 8 oz chocolate in a small saucepan (do NOT let the temperature exceed 94ºF). Remove the truffles from the fridge, shape into balls, and roll the balls in melted chocolate and then dust with cocoa powder. Place the truffles back onto the parchment paper pan and chill in the fridge for at least an hour. There are your beautiful chocolate-y truffles!

Kitchen Hacks Part IV

And here is Part 4 of the Kitchen Hacks series! I hope these are helping you out; I know they definitely are for me! They are super clever and fun tricks that are easy to apply. And honestly, there’s enough to worry about while you’re cooking, so having some tricks makes everything so much more manageable and fun!!!

1.     Don’t want garlic smell all over your fingers? Crush your garlic by placing the garlic in a plastic bag and whacking it with a rolling pin!

2.     If you have stains on your cutting board, blot distilled white vinegar with a sponge on the surface and rinse with hot, soapy water.

3.     To remove burnt-on food from pots and pans, fill said item with 2 inches-tall water and add ¼ cup baking soda and ¼ cup distilled white vinegar. Bring to a boil and let it boil for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it cool to room temperature. Drain and wash like usual.

4.     Want to organize the lids for pots and pans? Use a metal file sorter to load the lids up. Now you can see each lid and its size, and it’s not just a giant pile in a drawer.

5.     If you need some extra counter space, place a cookie sheet or cutting board over an open drawer.

Healthy Dessert and Breakfast Dish – Parfait Tart

To pair with the lovely meal I made for my family during fall break in October, I created a healthy parfait tart so that it wouldn’t be too sweet and there would be plenty of healthy aspects to it so my grandparents wouldn’t feel guilty partaking. It’s simple and delicious, and can be eaten for dessert after a big meal, or for breakfast the next day!

Ingredients:

·      1.5 cups oats

·      1 cup finely chopped walnuts

·      1 tbsp sesame seeds

·      5 tbsp coconut oil, melted

·      1/4 cup honey

·      1 tsp vanilla extract

·      1/2 tsp cinnamon

·      2 cup greek yogurt, vanilla or plain

·      Assortment of fruits for decoration

Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Combine the oats, walnuts, sesame seeds, coconut oil, honey, and vanilla extract in a bowl. Press the mixture into a tart pan and spread it evenly throughout the pan and up the sides. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden, and once you remove it from the oven use a spoon to press the mixture back down and up the sides again. Allow the crust to cool completely. Fill the crust with the yogurt and decorate with fruit, and you’re all set!

Kitchen Hacks Part III

Here is Part 3 of the Kitchen Hacks series! If you have any tricks that you’ve used while in the kitchen, comment below and let me know what you use! I’d love to learn more ideas, and I’ll definitely give you a shout-out too ^_^

1.     If you have two glass containers stuck together, you can release them easily by placing ice cubes in the top and resting the bottom in warm water. The temperature difference allows the two to eventually slide apart.

2.     Group similar products in the fridge in their own labeled bins. This way you’ll know exactly where to go in the fridge when you’re looking for specific items.

3.     Label all your leftovers with what’s in it and the date you made it so you know when it goes bad without the upset stomach to show for it ^_^

4.     If you want to keep your small thermometer in the pot without having to hold it for an extended period of time, attach a large metal binder clip to the side of the pot and slip the thermometer through the metal loops, and now you have a thermometer holder!

5.     You can prevent dirtying a cutting board just to cut a banana by pealing only half the banana length-wise, leaving a strip of the peal down the length. Set the banana down on the skin-side and slice the banana.

Kitchen Hacks Part II

Hello! I hope last week’s Kitchen Hacks was helpful! When I discovered these tips and tricks in the kitchen, I was blown away! These ideas are ways to make your time in the kitchen easier and more fun, so make the most of them!

1.     To prevent a flour cloud from coating your counter when using a stand mixer, drape a very damp, clean towel over the mixer, shielding the bowl from view.

2.     Don’t like when you pour liquid out of a bottle and it runs down the side of the bottle, making it sticky?  Wrap a band of paper towel around the bottle and secure with a rubber band. The paper towel catches the drips, and you can just discard it when it gets dirty!

3.     Have a big pot of threateningly hot boiling liquid? To prevent it from continuing to heat, you can move it off the hot burner onto another one, but if you throw a couple ice cubes in, you can drop the temperature quickly enough that the boiling stops fairly quickly and the ice cubes won’t dilute the taste too much.

4.     To get the residual soft, sticky cheese off your cheese grater after use, rub hard, stale bread crust over the dirty grater to remove most of the cheese. Rinse with hot, soapy water and you’re all set!

5.     Sometimes a small zester/grater with all its small grates can be hard to clean, but a toothbrush can get in there and clean it off well for you!