Bacon Cheddar Potato Soup

My Vitamix recently turned one year old and in celebration I decided to (finally) share this delicious Vitamix recipe. Even if you don’t have a Vitamix, it would be pretty easy to do with an immersion blender or mixer or any other type of high-powered blender. It was super easy (and fast!) to make, and really thick and creamy. My favorite kind of potato soup!

Bacon Cheddar Potato Soup

Makes 2 servings.

2 cups skim milk
2 mediums potatoes, baked
1/3 cup shredded low-fat cheddar cheese
1/4 small onions, sliced, sauteed
1/2 teaspoon dill weed
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 ounces turkey bacon, cooked, crumbled

Place milk, one potato, cheese, onion, dill, rosemary and salt into blender in order listed and secure lid. Turn on and quickly increase speed to high. Blend 4 minutes or until heavy steam escapes from vented lid. Reduce speed to low. Remove lid plug and drop in remaining potato and bacon. Blend 10 seconds, until chopped.

Chocolate Donuts

Recently, I’ve had quite the obsession with baking donuts. I even went so far as to buy a donut pan. Obsession. I have pinned a jillion recipes on Pinterest and tried out a few (but with so-so results). Then I found this recipe on All Recipes and…we have a winner! These were yummy and cakey and oh-so-chocolatey. But, really, when do you ever go wrong with chocolate? They were delicious and now I’m on a donut roll (haha, get it? Roll? Yeah, that was bad.). More to come I’m sure!

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake Donuts

1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 425. Spray donut pan with cooking spray.

In mixer, sift flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add buttermilk. Stir. Add butter and vanilla. Stir.  Add eggs one at a time, stirring in between each egg. Beat until just combined. Fill each donut mold about 2/3 full.

Bake for 7 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool while you make the chocolate glaze.

Chocolate Glaze

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

3 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a bowl combine chocolate chips, butter and corn syrup. Microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between each time until smooth. Do not overcook. Frost donuts, add sprinkles, and eat!

Apple Pie

I spent a fun day in Julian (up in our nearby mountains) last month picking apples. It was something I’ve always wanted to do (bucket list!) and definitely something we’ll do again in coming years. Fun fall tradition! And I ended up with bags of freshly picked organic apples. Yum!

And what to do with said apples? Well, I’ve been working our way through the bags for the past month (yes, I still have some left), making applesauce, applesauce cookies, butternut squash and apple soup, apple oat bars, and eating an apple a day (at least!). What else to do with an abundance of apples?

Make apple pie! I realized I didn’t have a tried and true recipe so googled around and found a couple different recipes on All Recipes. The crust and pie came from different recipes and I slightly adapted to fit our tastes. It was so delicious! I want to make this again for sure! Another fall tradition in the making.

Apple  Pie

Crust
1 cup unsalted butter, chilled
3 cups flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup ice water

Combine flour and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer. Cut butter into tablespoon pieces; add to bowl. Use the paddle beater to cut the butter and flour together.

With the mixer on low speed, pour in water. When dough starts to clump, and before it turns into a ball, stop stirring.

Lightly knead dough in the bowl until it forms a ball. Divide dough into two parts. Flatten each part into a disk, and chill for 30 minutes. Roll out and place one crust into pie dish.

Pie
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
7 cups thinly sliced pared apples, peeled (about 5 large apples)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 egg white
Additional sugar

In small bowl, combine sugar, flour and spices; set aside. In large bowl, toss apples with lemon juice. Add sugar mixture; toss well to coat. Place apple filling into crust in pie dish; dot with butter. Roll out remaining dough to fit top of pie. Cut a few slits in top. Beat egg white until foamy; brush over pastry. Sprinkle sugar on top. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 minutes. Increase temperature to 400 degrees and bake 10-15 minutes more or until golden.

Books of the Year

A friend recently reminded me that I haven’t done a book recap in a while. So, here it is! Some of my favorites from this past year.

Room by Emma Donaghue
I actually read this a year ago, but it was good enough to make my 2011 list. It’s a very unique story and told from an unusual perspective. Warning: Keep in mind that this is about a kidnapped young woman forced to bear her attacker’s child — this doesn’t give anything away and I don’t recall the book being graphic at all, but still wanted to give that head’s up.

 

 

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer

So this is really long (almost 800 pages) but I read it in about three days. I read it on my Kindle so had no idea it was so long when I started it; otherwise I probably would have skipped it! But glad I didn’t because it was very good. Beautifully written with great storytelling. About a Jewish Hungarian family during WWII and how Hungary fared during the Holocaust. I realized that while I’ve read plenty of books about both the war and the Holocaust, I didn’t know much about how the war affected Hungary. It was an interesting, compelling read and the characters really developed over the pages.

 

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
Um, awesome! Basically it’s a mostly true biography of Lincoln, but with vampires thrown in. Really interesting from a historical perspective, and just plain fun. Totally loved it. Same guy who wrote Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (of which I am also a huge fan). Currently filming the movie (I think Tim Burton?), which is sure to be excellent.

 

Bossypants by Tina Fey
Because I love her. I heard that it’s best to listen to the audiobook, which is actually read by Tina, but I got my hands on a hard copy first so I went that route. It’s so hilarious; i was actually LOLing (yes, I went there) at some points. A fun, easy read.

 

 

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (also, the sequel: Dreams of Joy)
She wrote Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, so this is another about a Chinese family (specifically, sisters). Recommend reading them together since Shanghai Girls leaves off on a cliffhanger, where the sequel picks right up. Both revolve around China during WWII and the Cold War.

 

 

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
I was really late in the game in reading this (it won the Pulitzer several years back), but it’s excellent and I still recommend. He’s just come out with a new book that I really want to read. Middlesex is the history of a family who migrates from Greece to Michigan, all told from the point of view of one child who happens to be a hermaphrodite and all that happens to affect their lives.

 

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens
This is a bit of a thriller, and there are some graphic moments for sure, but I couldn’t put it down. It’s also about a kidnapping (not sure why that is a theme here!) but has an incredible level of suspense to it and lots of twists and turns.

 

 

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
I just finished reading this for my book club and already can recommend it. It’s a fascinating true story about a black woman in the 50s who died of cervical cancer, but who first unknowingly had her cervical cells taken and used in research. They went on to become the first-ever immortal cells, and are still used across the world in research today. It was a fascinating read, all the more because it was a true story. Very different from anything else I’ve read in a long while.

These are just a few of my top favorites from this year. I didn’t even go into the YA favorites! That might be a separate post. 🙂 What have you read this year that I need to add to my list?

Roasted Asparagus With Tomatoes and Feta

My sweet husband got me a fantastic gift for my birthday this year: The Cooking With Trader Joe’s Cookbook: Dinner’s Done. Because I am, of course, obsessed with my local Trader Joe’s, I’ve been having a grand time working my way through this book. I love that I can get all the ingredients at TJ’s, or mix it up a bit and adapt to whatever supplies I have on hand or can find at other stores (shhh, don’t tell).

This recipe was so easy, and a nice twist on regular roasted asparagus. Plus…yum!

Roasted Asparagus With Tomatoes and Feta

Serves: 6
Recipe courtesy The Cooking With Trader Joe’s Cookbook

12 ounces (1 bunch) asparagus spears
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tomato, sliced
1 tablespoon crumbled feta cheese
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 400.

On baking sheet, toss asparagus with oil until well coated. Line up asparagus in single layer, sides touching. Sprinkle lightly with salt.

Placed sliced tomatoes in a row along the center. Sprinkle feta cheese and pepper evenly on top.

Bake 10 minute suntil asparagus is crisp-tender.

Burp Cloths

I had some extra fabric left over after I made a fabric bunting for my coworker and her Baby Gavin’s shower. I took to Pinterest and found a fairly easy tutorial for burp cloths. And thus the cloths were created! These turned out so cute and hopefully will help keep Gavin clean.

Plum-Almond Custard Pie

We’ve had an abundance of plums this fall and in lieu of eating them the traditional way (chomp chomp chomp), I decided to make a dessert (big surprise!). The sweet teeth in this house need to be fed regularly or they get cranky.

I wasn’t sure how this would taste, but it was pretty incredible. Delicious pie, and the custard filling is soooo yummy. Great way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon by getting my Betty Crocker on.

Plum and Almond Custard Pie

Recipe courtesy Baking Bites

Almond pie crust (recipe below)
3 plums (good size; don’t need to peel), sliced
1 cup plus 1 T. sugar
3/4 cup Greek yogurt
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
2 T flour
2 t. cornstarch
1/8 t. salt
1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/4 t. almond extract
2 T. chopped, sliced almonds
2 T. sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll out chilled dough on lightly floured surface until it becomes a large circle. Gently transfer crust to pie plate, press down to form a tight fit, and crimp excess crust off of the edges.

Arrange plum slices in a spiral pattern over the bottom of the crust. In a large bowl, whisk sugar, yogurt, milk, eggs, flour, cornstarch, salt, and extracts until smooth. Pour into pie plate. Slices may float in the custard. Do not overfill the crust.

Bake 30 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle evenly with almonds and additional sugar. Lower temperature to 350 and bake 40-50 minutes, until filling is set and knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before slicing.

Almond Crust

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup ground almonds or almond meal
1 T. sugar
1/4 t. salt
1/3 cup butter, chilled and cut into pieces
4-6 T. water

Combine all ingredients, except water, in large bowl. Rub in butter with fingers, creating a sandy mixture where no pieces of butter are larger than a big pea. Add water in gradually, stirring until it just comes together into a slightly dry ball. Knead gently so dough sticks together (should not be sticky) and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour before using, or freeze for 15 minutes.

TJ’s Chicken Tortilla Soup

I have a good life. There are a lot of things I love about it — family, friends, job, etc. — all the usual things. But when I really get down to it, one of my favorite things about my life is this:

I live within walking distance of Trader Joe’s.

I mean, really, does life get any better than this? When the store opened a year ago in my neighborhood, I knew I was going to love it. But I never realized how easy it would make my life. I do most of my shopping there now, and one of my first stops upon entering the door? You know it! The sample station!

Best of all is when there is a recipe accompanying the delicious sample (because they are always, without fail, delicious…I’m not sure how; little elves, maybe?). And that’s where I picked up this little gem that has (seriously) become one of my favorite soups ever. And I’m a girl who loves her soups. This is so easy and (obvs) all ingredients can be found at Trader Joe’s. No, they are not paying me in free Two-Buck Chuck for this post…though if they wanted to, I wouldn’t turn it away. This is just a long-term love affair that keeps on giving.

TJ’s Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 carton Trader Joe’s Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup
½ carton vegetable broth (I substituted with some chicken broth I already had on hand)
½ bag frozen roasted corn (or 1 can)
4 cubes of cilantro (or ¼ cup chopped)
1/3 cup Trader Joe’s Habanero & Lime Salsa (omg my new favorite salsa! I never thought I’d fine one to replace the deep love I have for the chipotle garlic salsa but I have!)
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 15-ounce can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
½ cup chopped onion
2 cooked, shredded chicken breasts (I just popped one giant one in the crock-pot with the rest of the jar of salsa and it was perfect!)
Tortilla chips, crumbled
Mexican cheese, shredded
Sour cream, optional
Sliced avocado, optional

Throw everything except chips and cheese into a pot and bring to boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. Serve into bowls. Top with chips and cheese and any other toppings your little heart desires. EAT!

Baby Brooklyn’s Blankies

Say that five times fast!

I loved loved loved working on this project. I’ve been dabbling a bit in quilting recently and wanted to try out my new skills on Brooklyn’s blanket. I pieced together squares on one side in cotton using two different fabrics and found a crazy fun flannel for the back side. I LOVE how this turned out!

I had some extra fabric left over and decided to get creative. I’d seen various patterns online for creating taggie blankets and went for it. I used this tutorial (found on Pinterest) to create a sweet matching taggie.

And the back side…

I’m hoping to make more of these in the future…definitely less time consuming and less intense than blankets. Love how it turned out! This set might be one of my faves. ❤

Baked Eggs With Bacon and Spinach

This was one of my favorite meals that we’ve made this year. So easy but really delicious. Can’t hurt that it also involves bacon. And it’s like breakfast-for-dinner, which is always full of awesome.

Baked Eggs With Bacon and Spinach

Makes 4 servings.
Recipe courtesy Bon Appetit

6 slices applewood-smoked bacon
1 (5-ounce) bag baby spinach (we subbed with Swiss chard)
2 whole-wheat or sourdough English muffins, split horizontally, well toasted
4 larges eggs
4 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
4 1-cup ramekins

Preheat oven to 400°F. Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat until crisp; transfer to paper towels. Pour off drippings from skillet; reserve drippings.

Add spinach to pan, sprinkle with pepper, and toss over medium heat, 1 minute. Transfer to strainer set over bowl to drain. Brush four 1-cup ramekins with drippings. Crumble bacon.

Place 1 toasted English muffin half, split side up, in each ramekin. Divide spinach among ramekins, then sprinkle bacon over, dividing equally. With back of spoon, shape well in center of each ramekin. Gently crack 1 egg into well in each ramekin, keeping yolk intact. Drizzle 1 tablespoon cream over each egg. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake eggs until whites are just set but yolks are still runny, 14 to 16 minutes.