Cheddar Broccoli Soup

Ingredients:

½ medium onion

5 T butter

¼ c flour

2 cups milk, half-and-half, or whatever you’ve got

2 cups chicken or veggie broth

1 cup chopped broccoli

1 cup chopped carrots

1 cup fresh corn (game-changer)

6 oz grated sharp cheddar cheese

Salt and pepper

Directions:

1.       Chop the onion, then sauté 1 T butter in a pot over medium heat for 5 minutes. Remove onion from the pot.

2.       Melt the remaining 4 T butter, and whisk in flour quickly. Add milk and chicken broth, simmer 15 minutes, stirring frequently, until thickened.

3.       Add vegetables and simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes, or until soft.

4.       Add salt, pepper, and grated cheese, mixing until cheese is melted.

Serves 3-4

Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients:

1 embarrassingly huge stalk of Brussels sprouts, purchased at Haymarket

6 slices of bacon

1 T olive oil (if there is not enough bacon grease)

Finely grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Break off the sprouts, throw away the gross-looking leaves but keep the single leaves that still look yummy. Wash and dry, cut in half, put them in a bowl.

3. Cook bacon on the stove, not until entirely crispy, but to get off the bacon fat. Cut slices of bacon into small pieces. Toss sprouts with bacon pieces, bacon grease, extra oil if necessary, and salt and pepper.

4.       Spread sprouts and bacon pieces on a baking sheet in one layer, cut-side down. Cook for 10 minutes, then toss. Cook for 10-20 more minutes, depending on how crispy you want them.

Serves 3 people as a side, with a main dish of cookies.

Caramel Corn

Ingredients:

3 bags microwave popcorn

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup Karo syrup

Directions:

1.       Pop the bags of popcorn in the microwave. Go through the laborious but important process of dumping the bags into a bowl, shaking a little so the unpopped seeds fall to the bottom, and then scooping out the popcorn by handfuls into another huge bowl. You have to do this because a) getting an unpopped kernel covered in caramel is painful and sad and b) no matter how perfect you think your life is, you’ll never get a bag of microwave popcorn that pops every kernel.

2.       Combine the other three ingredients in a large saucepan. Stir continuously over MEDIUM heat until butter is melted, then mix in sugar and syrup. Once the mixture starts bubbling, cook for 3 minutes, continuing to stir. After three minutes, remove from heat and pour over popcorn, tossing immediately to coat.

3.       Enjoy this caramel popcorn that is soft rather than being Crunchtown, USA.

Serves a ton of people if you have a million other treats and no one is hungry for caramel corn.

Note: as long as the proportions are equal, you can make as much or as little of this caramel sauce as you want. ¼ cup of each for a mini bag of popcorn, for example.

Sweet Potato Corn Chowder

We combined a corn chowder recipe from Megan's mom with another sweet potato corn chowder recipe that we found. It tasted delightful. Somewhere there is a paper with all my notes and if I find it I will make sure to update this. Cause we need it.

Roasted Seeds

Ingredients:

The seeds from whatever autumn squash (butternut, pumpkin, etc.) you’re using for something else

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Directions:

1.       Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2.       Scoop the seeds out, separate them from the gross stringy stuff, wash them completely and dry thoroughly. They will probably still be somewhat slimy. That stuff is hard to get off.

3.       Toss with a little olive oil and salt and pepper.

4.       Spread on a baking sheet in a single layer. Cook for 10-15 minutes, tossing once during cook time. Take them out when they have reached your desired crispiness.

5.       Eat them immediately while they’re hot if you can take it. They just aren't as good the next day.

Twice Baked Butternut Squash

Ingredients:

1 large butternut squash, cut in half

¼ cup sour cream

Salt and pepper

Smoked paprika

Directions:

1.       Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

2.       Put the two squash halves in a pan with ¼ inch water, skin side down. Cover with aluminum foil.

3.       Bake for 40 minutes, or until tender.

4.       Let cool, then scoop out flesh, leaving a ¼ inch border in the shell. Mash squash with sour cream and salt and pepper, then spoon back into the shell. Top with paprika.

Note: I probably wouldn’t make this recipe again. It takes forever to cook the squash whole and I like it more when it’s cut into chunks and roasted or cooked in soup.

Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:
2 lbs butternut squash, diced
2 cans white beans
2 cans diced tomatoes
2 cans corn
1 onion
Spices?
Heavy cream at the end for fun

Can't really remember how this happened, but we did it. It tasted good. People liked it. Soups are easy. Just throw the stuff in and let it simmer.

Mexican Lettuce Wraps

Yeah yeah yeah, mainly everything we cook is Mexican and it's all pretty much the same. But we are getting good at doing it!

Ingredients:

Half an onion 

2 red bell peppers 

1 can green chilies 

1 can black beans 

1 can corn

Cumin

Smoked paprika 

Chili powder 

Salt and pepper 

Olive oil 

Toppings:

Guacamole 

Mash up an avocado with lime juice, garlic salt, a little extra salt and pepper

Sour cream 

Salsa 

Grated cheese (don't use a super fine grate cause you'll regret it)

Cilantro 

Tortillas 

Lettuce 

Start by sautéing the onion and bell pepper in olive oil on the stove in a big pan until soft. While cooking, add spices. Add the beans, then green chilies, and eventually corn when almost done. 

Roll everything up in a lettuce leaf and throw it in a tortilla. 

Serves 3 with some leftovers. 

Frozen hot chocolate

This is hardly a recipe... But it was good and this project is all about making Megan feel comfortable to just create in the kitchen so I say this counts! 

1 cup of milk

1 hot chocolate packet (we used no sugar added and it still tasted great)

A few ice cubes

Blend this baby up with as many cups of milk as you want and enjoy a wonderful treat. 

Note: it will separate pretty quickly so just blend it up again when you want to drink it. 

Thai Peanut Noodles

http://ourbestbites.com/2008/09/thai-peanut-noodles/

Add chicken, edamame, broccoli, julienne carrots (or any assortment of vegetables you want!)

THIS IS THE BEST PIZZA

Megan invented this pizza with her brain. Which I think basically means she is a perfect cook and everything we make from now on will be the most delicious meal we have ever eaten.

Ingredients:
1 raw pizza dough (buy it pre-made, don't bother making it)
3 T pesto
1 ball of fresh mozzarella
1 pear
1/4 cup roasted, salted pistachios
1 onion
3 cups arugula
1 c balsamic vinegar, reduced

Directions:
1. Roll out the pizza dough on a floured surface.
2. Bring 1 c balsamic vinegar to a boil, then turn down to a simmer until it is reduced by half.
3. Chop onion into slices, caramelize.
4. Chop pear and mozzarella into thin slices.
5. Shell pistachio (or buy shelled pistachios if you're made of $$).
6. To assemble, spread pesto over crust, then pile on mozzarella, pears, pistachios, and onions.
7. Cook at 400 until crust is golden brown (about 20 mins).
8. Once pizza is done, let cool for a few minutes, then pile arugula on top and pour balsamic all over.

Serves 3.

Sweet Potato Quesadillas

We came up with this as a way to use our leftover avocado cream sauce. And it was a great way. Warning: VERY FILLING.

Ingredients:

2 large sweet potatoes

1/2 onion

1 bell pepper (not green, yuck)

Olive oil

Cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika, etc.

Pepper jack cheese

2 large flour tortillas

Directions:

1. Chop sweet potatoes into a small dice, toss with oil and spices, and roast at 400 until tender (30 mins).

2. Saute onion and bell pepper in oil with seasoning.

3. Put sweet potatoes, onions, and peppers in blender and blend until mashed.

4. Grate pepper jack cheese (buy a block and grate it yourself, pre-grated cheese is inferior).

5. Spread sweet potato mixture onto half a tortilla, add cheese on top.

6. Fold in half and warm on the stove.

7. Serve with avocado cream sauce and salsa.

Serves 2 very hungry people.

Parsnip Tacos

Then we started to get more creative with parsnips. Basically anything can be made into a taco, right? Yup.

Ingredients:
Taco filling:
1 large onion
3-4 large parsnips
3-4 carrots
1/4 t cinnamon
1 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1 t smoked paprika
1 t salt
2 T olive oil

Avocado cream sauce:
1/2 c cream cheese
1/2 c sour cream
1 avocado
1/4 t sugar
1 t salt
1/2 t garlic powder

Black beans:
1/2 onion
2 cans black beans
1 bell pepper
1/4 c water
Cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika, etc.

10 flour tortillas
Pico de gallo/salsa


Directions:
1. Chop parsnips, carrots, and onion into a small dice.
2. Toss with oil and spices and roast at 400 for 30 mins/until tender.
3. Saute onion and bell pepper with spices until onion is translucent
4. Add black beans and 1/4 c water. Simmer until tender.
5. Blend all ingredients for avocado cream sauce.
6. Toast tortillas on the stove.
7. Assemble tacos!

Recommended: serve with lemonade slush (freeze pink lemonade into 2 ice cube trays, blend with remaining pink lemonade).

Serves 5 very comfortably.

Parsnip Soup

Megan has about a million parsnips from her work's farm share. We started with this soup because of a delicious parsnip soup in Mystic, CT. It didn't quite compare, but the cream did add a lot. Try with coconut milk.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
2 T olive oil
1 t cumin
1/2 t turmeric
1 t smoked paprika
1 t salt
3-4 large parsnips
3-4 carrots
1 large onion
2 garlic cloves
1 tomato
4 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup cream

Directions:
1. Chop up the parsnips, carrots, and onion into a small dice.
2. Toss the vegetables with oil and spices.
3. Roast until tender (30 mins) at 400.
4. Blend roasted vegetables with 2 cups vegetable stock.
5. Add remaining 2 cups vegetable stock and cream, heat until barely simmering.

Serves approximately 4.

Happy Birthday Megan!

Dear Megan,

For your 27th birthday, I am giving you the gift of self-sufficiency in the kitchen. I hereby swear to help you cook 28 new recipes this year, and also to document them on this blog. I can't wait to get going!

Love you forever.
Kami