Paula Deen's Hearty Vegetable Soup

My new favorite chef is Paula Deen and with me being on a soup kick, while looking through her cooking magazine I came across this veggie soup. And me being me, I of course made some mistakes! :) I forgot to pick up spinach so I just left that out. The recipe called for 1 can (15 oz.) great Northern beans, drained. I picked up a 16 oz. bag of dried Northern beans. Tastes the same but I added the entire bag, when I should have only added about half the bag. So after I made the soup, I had to take out half of the beans just to actually be able to taste the soup. After I did that, the soup tasted great!

Ingredients:

1 tbsp butter
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
1 small zucchini, sliced lengthwise and cut crosswise into thin slices
1/2 cup chopped onion (I used pearl onions)
2 cups tightly packed fresh baby spinach
2 (14.5 oz.) cans diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano
2 cups chicken broth (or veggie broth)
1 (15 oz.) can great Northern beans, drained
1 cup frozen cut green beans, thawed
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp salt

To pre-soak the beans, heat 4 cups water and beans. Bring to a rapid boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, place a lid on the pan and let cool for 1 hour. Drain.

In a Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add carrots, zucchini, and onion; cook; stirring occasionally, for 5-6 minutes or until veggies are tender. Add spinach, stirring until wilted.

Add diced tomatoes, broth, beans, green beans, pepper and salt. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes.

Pre-soaking the Northern beans..




Raw veggies...




Diced tomatoes, chicken stock and Northern beans..




Veggies cooking in butter...




Everything added to begin simmering..




Less beans!




Enjoy!



**NOTE: I've made this soup again after the first time and instead used one can of Great Northern (or cannellini) beans and the serving size of beans to soup was just perfect!

Benihana's Ginger Salad Dressing

Here's another recipe obtained from the book "Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2" by Todd Wilbur. I love this dressing! I forgot to buy fresh ginger, so I used 1 tsp of dried ginger instead. It makes a great dressing and I'm also going to try putting it on chicken in the near future!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup minced onion
1/2 cup peanut oil (I used veggie oil instead)
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp fresh minced ginger
2 tbsp minced celery
2 tbsp ketchup
4 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp granulated sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Blend on high speed for about 30 seconds or until all the ginger is pureed. Chill in refrigerator.

Using my chopper to mince the onions..




Minced veggies...




All the ingredients ready to be blended....




Blended dressing...




Served with lettuce and carrots....Enjoy!

Olive Garden's Italian Dressing

I own the book: "Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2" by Todd Wilbur. As you can tell from the title, it holds tons of recipes used by restaurants. Besides soups, I love salads so I decided to make the Olive Garden's dressing. This recipe was not included in this book, but in another book by the author. And it's super easy to make and tastes awesome!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup vinegar
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup veggie oil
1/4 cup corn syrup
2 1/1 tbsp grated Romano cheese
2 tbsp dry pectin
2 tbsp beaten egg
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp dried parsley flakes
Pinch dried oregano
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes

Combine all ingredients in a blender and pulse for 30 seconds. Store dressing in the refrigerator.

All the ingredients in the blender...




Ready to be blended in my bullet. I love my magic bullet!




Ready to eat! Enjoy!

Easy Noodle Soup

I love making chicken noodle soup, sans the chicken and this recipe is super easy, as long as you have green onions, carrots, chicken granules and noodles! Plus, you can easily add anything else you want to add to it. I like this combination the best. This is my go-to meal when I'm not feeling good, like tonight, or just for an easy dinner.

Ingredients:

6 cups water + 6 tsp chicken granules
Handful sliced carrots
4-5 green onions, sliced thinly
2 handfuls of frozen egg noodles

Heat water and veggies to boiling. Add noodles and cook 12 minutes.


Veggies and broth simmering...




The noodles I use...




Enjoy!

New Kitchen Appliances

Thought I would share some of my newest kitchen stuff I've gotten recently!

I received this for a Christmas present this year-love the red color! It's the mini version of the original so you have to fill up the water every time you use it, which is totally fine with me! I bought the little stand soon after and filled it mostly with iced tea, hot tea, hot chocolate and of course some coffee. So far, I'm loving it!




I bought this for myself after Christmas and I love love love it! I only used the immersion blender part of it just once but I use the chopper part quite often. I'm sure I'll start using the immersion part more as I get used to it. But I highly recommend buying one if you don't already own one!




My substitute for a KitchenAid mixer. I bought it on clearance at Target for $24.99. It so does not work as well as an actual stand mixer. In fact, it kind of sucks! I used it to make my peanut butter cheesecake. It doesn't mix up around the bowl well at all-I had to keep turning the bowl and use a spatula to make sure it mixed. And towards the end, when I got tired of rotating the bowl, I just took off the mixer and used it as a hand mixer. But as often as I bake, it will have to do until I can actually afford the real thing.

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Cheesecake Pops

The above picture is what this dessert was supposed to look like...mine didn't turn out so pretty! But they still tasted good! I found this recipe on www.foodnetwork.com while looking for a new dessert recipe for our annual girls' Thanksgiving/Holiday dinner. It looked and sounded good and it did taste good and I did get good reviews from the girls. But it was a little more difficult to make and I think the next time I make it, instead of putting it in the fridge overnight, I will freeze it so when I cut it, it won't fall apart on me and fall off the sticks. The cheesecake was so soft, I ended up taking out the sticks and drizzling chocolate over it. It worked. Oh and next time, I'll be more careful and not cut my finger open with the scissors while cutting the sticks in half!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
1 1/2 lb cream cheese, at room temp.
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 large egg yolks
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Chocolate:

5 tbsp veggie shortening
12 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli chocolate chips)

Wooden pop sticks (I used cheap wooden skewers that I cut int half)

For the cheesecake: Position rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees. Line a 8-in by 8-in baking dish with foil letting long flaps overlap on each side. Spray foil with nonstick cooking spray.

Break up the brown sugar to remove all lumps. In a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until smooth. Add the cream and beat slowly; then add the yolks and vanilla mixing until just combined. Gently stir in peanut butter. Make sure not to over beat the mixture otherwise it can cause the cheesecake to crack.

Pour and evenly spread the batter in the prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Open the oven to release some heat, then lower the temperature to 200 degrees. Continue to bake the cheesecake until the outside is set but the center is still loose, for about 45 minutes. Turn off the oven, and cool cheesecake in the oven for 45 more minutes. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.

Lift cheesecake from the pan by lifting up the foil. Transfer to a cutting board. Cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes. Stick a wooden pop stick halfway into each bar and freeze for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, place shortening and chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and heat the chocolate at small intervals, mixing well in between.

Dip the cheesecakes into the chocolate mixture, and stand on waxed paper to set, about 5 minutes. At this point, I put them in the freezer to set more quickly. Serve cold (straight from the fridge), or freeze up to 2 weeks. (Left out, the cheesecake tends to melt a little.)


Adding the cream...




Mixing up the ingredients...




After the peanut butter was added...




Cutting up the cheesecake...




Cheesecake with the sticks in before dipped in chocolate...




Finished product, minus the sticks...Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Balls

I was watching the Food Network one night before Thanksgiving and Paula Deen was on. I wasn't really paying too much attention to the show until they started talking about sweet potato balls. Sounds interesting right? I thought so too, so I started really listening. It looked pretty easy to make so I decided to try them for our Christmas dinner at the cabin this year. They turned out pretty well and it makes a perfect single serving. It also lets your guest or family member choose what they want on their serving so everyone is happy!

A couple side notes...the recipe calls for orange juice and orange zest. My mom used canned sweet potatoes, which are a little more moist than regular baking sweet potatoes. If I were to use the canned again, I wouldn't add the orange juice. The sweet potatoes were a little too moist and starting to melt. I also wasn't a big fan of the strong orange juice taste with the sweet potatoes. So next time, I'll omit the juice but keep the zest for a little added flavor.

Since there was only 3 of us, we just made 6 balls, which is the perfect amount for 1 can of sweet potatoes.

Ingredients:

4 lg sweet potatoes (or 1 can sweet potatoes)
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp orange juice
1 tsp orange zest
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 large marshmallow per ball
Toppings such as coconut, crushed nuts, brown sugar, crushed fruit, etc

If you are using baking potatoes, bake until tender, then peel and mash them. Stir in brown sugar, orange juice, zest and nutmeg. Press mashed potatoes around each marshmallow, creating a 2-3 inch diameter ball.

Roll balls in topping mixture of your choice and place on a pan covered in tin foil. Bake 15-20 minutes, watching carefully for the last few minutes or cooking (the expanding marshmallows can cause the potato balls to burst open). Let cool slightly and serve.


Canned sweet potatoes...




Freshly ground nutmeg...




Fresh orange juice...




Ready to be rolled...




Marshmallows...the recipe called for giant marshmallows and we couldn't find any so we used the regular ones. And the balls turned out to be a decent size, so it worked.





Rolled up around the marshmallow...




The three toppings we used...brown sugar and sugar, coconut and crushed pecans..




All rolled up and ready to be baked. We had to put the two brown sugared balls into muffin cups as they began to melt before we could get them into the oven. They seemed to have worked just fine.




Fresh from the oven...




Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Blossoms

For as long as I can remember, my mom has always made these cookies for Christmas. Either to hand out to her daycare parents or just for us to snack on. Needless to say, these are my favorite so every year, we still continue to make them. And since she no longer does daycare, my mom sends home lots of cookies with me!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
3/4 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1 3/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Hershey Kisses

Preheat oven to 350. Mix dry ingredients and set aside.

Mix sugars, butter and eggs, beating until fluffy. Gradually add dry ingredients with wet dough. The dough should be stiff (you may need to add more flour to make it stiff if the dough is not stiff enough to handle). Make into 1-in balls, roll in sugar and place on a greased pan.

Bake for 10 minutes or until cracks appear. Remove from oven. Press Hershey Kisses into center of each cookie. Return to oven and bake 3-5 minutes longer.




Unwrapping all the Hershey Kisses...




All rolled up and ready to be baked!




Right before they went back into the oven for the last time...




The recipe made lots and lots of cookies! Mine are in the freezer since I can't possibly eat them all before they go bad! Enjoy!

Ham Pickle Roll-Ups

I was introduced to these wonderful appetizers at my old job, where several of my coworkers were obsessed with them! I've also had them at Psycho Suzi's and they were of course awesome there. They are a bit of a pain to make but they are so worth the work!

Ingredients:

Jar of firm pickles (I used Gedney)
8 oz. softened cream cheese
Deli Ham

Since the ham can easily tear while spreading on the cream cheese, it's best if you dry out the ham. When I did it, I place four slices of ham on a paper towel and used another paper towel to blot out the excess juices. Then I heated the cream cheese up a little bit in the microwave so it was extra soft. Carefully spread some cream cheese onto each slice of ham. Place a pickle on each slice and roll up. Immediately wrap in plastic wrap. Chill the wrapped roll-ups for at least an hour or overnight. When ready to serve, unwrap the rolls and slice them, carefully.

Mine were a little messy but I think I used ham that was too thin. Next time, I'll use a thicker cut of ham. I brought these to my family's xmas party and they were gone super quick! A success! Enjoy!




Ready to be rolled...




Carefully rolled up...




Rolled up and ready to sit in the refrigerator to be chilled.




All sliced and ready to go!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

I received this recipe from my boss at work, who made it for a potluck for one of our staff meetings. It makes a lot and it is super spicy but it was really good. So I decided to make it for my family xmas party. And it seemed to be a hit..I had left overs but it wasn't that much. It can easily be halved, which I may do next time.

Ingredients:

16 oz Ranch dressing
1 bottle hot sauce (12 oz.)
2 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 cups Mozzarella cheese, divided
5 cups shredded cooked chicken.

Heat ranch dressing, hot sauce, cream cheese and 1 cup Mozzarella cheese in a saucepan. Make sure the cream cheese is really soft, otherwise, it can take a while to melt down-I was in a bit of a hurry when I made mine, so there were some chunks.

At this point, you can either place all the ingredients, including the chicken, into an oven safe dish or place it in a slow cooker, which is what I did. Top with the 2 cups of Mozzarella cheese and heat until melted.

Serve with taco chips or bread. Enjoy!