A Soup Disaster Waiting to Happen

For the past two years I have been holding onto a recipe from the Food Network Magazine. Although you might be thinking, 'This recipe must have some super crazy ingredient and/or preparation process because she has been holding on to it for so long', sadly it is really neither of those things.  It is called "Curried Sweet Potato-Apple Soup."  That's it.  It's just a soup.

For some reason, my instinct was telling me to just throw this recipe away.  I carried it from house to house, thinking that maybe this recipe was going to be a gem even though I doubted it deep inside.  This recipe doubt is not one that I have very often. Instead of listening to myself,  I chose to ignore my questions and forge ahead with making this recipe.  And I decided this was the week to finally make it.  Here is the recipe for your viewing pleasure:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/curried-sweet-potato-apple-soup-recipe/reviews/index.html?pn=3

Man, oh man, do I wish I would have trusted myself on this one.  Not only was this soup thin and slightly boring, I also used a lot of ingredients such as chickpeas, raisins, and whole wheat couscous to try to make it a little better.  But alas, my work was for loss!  This is surprising to me considering how many positive reviews the recipe received on the Food Network website.  Maybe I did something wrong?  I promise I won't keep writing about recipes that aren't tasty and delicious.  I will include good ones again!  In fact, tomorrow's recipe is a wonderful repeat recipe with a twist.  Until then...

Roasted Vegetables with Braised Pork Ribs

My wonderful mother has taught me so many things in life.  She has taught me how to be creative, how to drink amaretto coffees in the late morning (after turning 21 years old), how to be nice to people, and last but not least, how to roast some mighty fine vegetables.  I was reminded of her influence again yesterday when I made some roasted vegetables with our dinner.  

Last night for dinner we had homemade bread (meaning bread made in the bread machine a.k.a 'throw in the ingredients and leave it alone' bread), braised pork ribs, and roasted vegetables.  I got the Braised pork rib recipe from The Food Network website here:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/braised-country-style-pork-ribs-recipe/index.html I didn't have the celery called for in the recipe so I just left that out.  Actual pork ribs were too expensive at Publix this week so instead of ribs I used two pork chops with the bones still in.  Other than those two slight modifications, I pretty much stuck to the recipe. 

As for the vegetables, I used cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, and yukon potatoes.  I cut them into bite size pieces and then shook a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder on top.  I mixed them all around, hoping to coat as many as possible with the seasoning.  I then dumped them all out on a cookie sheet, tossed them in the oven at 350 degrees and roasted until they were tender, about 35-45 minutes.  

For me, the roasted vegetables were the highlight of the meal but in the end really everything turned out great! The vegetables! The pork! The bread!  I didn't actually eat the pork but I did try the sauce it was in.  It was delicious.  I dipped the bread in the sauce and ate it that way.  I don't count that as eating meat.  Also, I forgot to actually take a picture of the pork after it was completed.  Sorry about that.  I just have the picture of Matt eating the meal instead.  BTW- Matt gave this meal a 4.8 out of 5 chicken wings.  I'll take it. 

Caramel Pecan Cupcakes

Yesterday evening Matt and I went out for dinner at Radial Cafe.  The restaurant had recently offered a deal where for $35, you could buy a dinner for two that included two alcoholic beverages, an appetizer, two entrees, and a dessert.  What a ton of food for such a small amount of money!  Because I have been curious about their dinner menu, I jumped on the deal asap.  Needless to say, we didn't eat much for breakfast or lunch yesterday in preparation for our evening feast.  

Although everything we got for dinner was delicious, one of the standouts of the night was the praline caramel cake.  We got the dessert to-go because we were so stuffed by the time we got to the dessert  option.  Later in the evening when we finally did try to cake, Matt and I found ourselves fighting over the last bite.  It was that good.  On the way from church today, Matt mentioned in passing that he was wanting more of the praline caramel cake from Radial Cafe.  I took that as a challenge and decided I would try to make my own version.  We could save a couple bucks and I could spend an afternoon baking.  Both two wonderful, wonderful things.

Below is a recipe for a caramel cake I got from smittenkitchen.com, a blog I have been following recently.  Here is the link: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2007/12/caramel-cake  As you will see, her cake was specifically a full fledged caramel cake.  I tweaked the icing, halved the recipe, and added the chopped pecans to ours.  I also turned them into cupcakes.  When making the icing, I ended up adding about 3/4 cup of powdered sugar to the caramel sauce.  I wanted to thicken the icing up a little bit.  

These cupcakes turned out so well!  The yellow cake is moist and not too sweet.  The caramel icing/glaze is also so good.  It is pretty sweet so it balances well with the yellow cake.  Matt has already asked me to make this recipe as an entire cake for his birthday. Matt said it gets a five out of five chicken wings in his book.  If you try them, I hope you enjoy!

The World's Easiest Dutch Oven Vegetable Pot Pie

Below is the recipe for the "World's Easiest Dutch Oven Vegetable Pot Pie."  Yes, you are correct.  I did just write that.  The claim in this blog post is quite a large one.  In my mind, since I did not know of anyone else claiming this title yet, I am going to take it for this vegetable pot pie recipe.   If I am being honest, I don't actually know if there is an easier Dutch Oven Vegetable Pot Pie out there in the recipe world.  But even if there is, I can say this recipe is really really easy!  I promise.  Cross my heart.

I have recently had a slight obsession with pie crusts.  You can just do so much with them!  They are always delicious and can be used savory or sweet.  Luckily, Matt shares my love for the pie crust.  Although I had sat down on Saturday and scheduled our meals for the week, at some point during the week I got off schedule.  Oh, I remember now! I burnt two of the three pie crusts when making that chocolate pie.  That's right.  So anyway, with all the burning action going on, I found I needed to improvise later on in the week.

I had a cream of celery, lots of vegetables, chicken broth, and one remaining pie crust left so I decided to make a vegetable pot pie on Wednesday night.  I have eaten lots of pot pies so I figured I could come up with a recipe for one too.  Below is the delicious recipe result from my experimenting.  This vegetables pot pie actually turned out so good that Matt had two full servings of it.  I hope you enjoy!

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The World's Easiest Dutch Oven Vegetable Pot Pie

1/2 of a medium onion, chopped
3 medium carrots, chopped
4 stalks of celery, chopped
3 medium yukon potatoes, chopped
2 ears of corn, shaved
1 can of 98% fat free cream of celery soup
15 oz can of chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
2 big handfuls of spinach
1 pie crust

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Chop onion, celery, and carrots.  Pour about 1 tablespoon of olive oil into the bottom of a dutch oven.  Turn heat under dutch oven to medium.   Place chopped vegetables in dutch oven.  Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  While vegetables are cooking, chop the potatoes and add once chopped.  Shave ears of corn and add to vegetables. Continue to stir every couple minutes.  Add and mix the can of soup, chicken broth, garlic powder, and cayanne pepper to vegetables.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to a low boil.  Turn off heat under the dutch oven at this point.  Add big handfuls of spinach and mix into vegetable filling.  Place pie crust on top of vegetable filling.  Cut small slices in top for ventilation.  Place uncovered dutch oven in preheated oven.  Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and bubbling.  Cool for 10 minutes and then serve.

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Baked Tomato Risotto

Today is Friday.  One of the best days of the week.  When you begin Friday, you know the two days before you hold so many possibilities of freedom.  Freedom to get up whenever you want, to eat lunch/dinner whenever you get the urge, to go wherever your heart leads you.  I love the weekends.

Today's recipe was made on a Thursday evening on the eve of the weekend glory.  Unfortunately, this dish was anything but glory-filled in the eyes of my supportive husband.  Although I enjoyed this dish, sweet Matt didn't seem to get into the tomato sauce on rice aspect.  In the end, watching him eat while trying to act like he was enjoying this dinner was one of the best parts of the meal.  He was trying to hard to like it.  After thinking it over, he concluded the sauce would have been better on pasta.  I did agree that it needed something else with it, something a little more substantial.  However, I ate it that night and the next day for lunch, loving it both times.

Here is the link to the recipe: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/baked-farro-risotto-recipe.html  If you happen to give this recipe a chance, would you mind letting me know what you think?  I would really appreciate that.  And if you do try it, I hope you enjoy!

Coconut Red Lentil Soup

Oh lentils, how I love thee!  

I have a weird affection for lentils during the fall and winter months.  These hearty legumes come in all sort of colors, shapes, and sizes.  When I walk down the lentil aisle at the Farmer's Market, I literally feel my excitement rising inside of me.  Which color will I choose?  Do I want split lentils or unsplit?  The options are endless...

This soup recipe from 101cookbooks.com lets the lentil shine.  You finish eating a bowl of this soup only wanting more.  Luckily for me, Matt had a field trip the day after I made this for dinner which meant I got all the leftovers.  In the end, the soup ends up looking like a thick chili filled with large carrots.  When I made this recipe, I actually doubled the carrots but halved all the other ingredients.  I also only had brown lentils in our cabinet so I just used those instead of red. If you half the recipe, you will end up with about four big servings.  If you are interested in experimenting with lentils and some slightly exotic flavors such as ginger and curry, I would highly suggest giving this recipe a chance.  Here is the link to one of the most perfect fall and winter soups: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/coconut-red-lentil-soup-recipe.html  Enjoy!

Sucking up to the boss with a chocolate pie

Today was my boss' birthday and with that comes a staff birthday party.  Our new data specialist loves to think of any reason to have a party or potluck to bring us all together.  When someone recently mentioned the boss' birthday, her ears immediately perked up and she said, "what are we going to do?"  When another co-worker suggested a potluck, I quickly volunteered to bring the dessert.  It was not because I had any sort of dessert in mind.  It was solely based on the fact that baking can be so much fun. So off I was, trying to determine what would be an appropriate dessert for a boss' birthday party that everyone would enjoy.

When looking on allrecipes.com, one chocolate pie quickly stood out to me among the rest.  It was called "Chocolate Cream Pie II."  You might be thinking, 'Why in the world would that pie name stand out?'  Well, it wasn't the pie name that stood out to me, but it was the fact that I had every single ingredient listed in the recipe already in my fridge and pantry.  Who doesn't love being able to make a delicious looking dessert from ingredients already in the house?  Some may call this cheap, I call it resourceful.

I would like to say that even though I burnt the pie crust twice (yes, twice!) before finishing the pie, this was a very cathartic activity for me.  Being able to stir the chocolate pudding base for minutes on end was very repetitive and soothing.  And it was so so chocolatey good! Here is the direct link to the allrecipes.com's recipe:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-cream-pie-ii/detail.aspx  I will definitely keep this chocolate pie as one to fall back on when needing an easy dessert.  I just might try to buy a pre-baked pie crust next time... 

Cloth Napkins: not just for fancy dinners

My project is complete!

About a week ago, I got to thinking.  Every night Matt and I use one of our ugly paper towels with our dinner as a "napkin."  While a paper towel is practical because you can just throw it away later, it is not 1) very festive and pretty, 2) good for the environment, and 3) soft in any sort of way.  So to combat all of these issues, I decided to make the Slye household some cloth napkins.  

I started the project on Sunday but was only able to complete the first step of cutting out the squares.  I had been planning on taking today off from work so it lent me the perfect opportunity to finish my project.  Below are all the steps I took along my cloth napkin making journey.  I ended up with 42 cloth napkins in all which took about 5-10 hours to make from start to finish.  I wasn't really keeping time so that is a very rough estimate (as you can tell).   I love them all and look forward to featuring them with coming dishes!  

First, I picked out some fabric from my large fabric stash. 

I created a pattern by cutting an 11x11 square out of a cereal box side.

And then I got to cutting.

After all the squares were cut out, I ironed down all the sides about 1/4-1/2 inch.

These are all the squares with all the sides ironed down.

Next I pulled out my very handy sewing machine and began
sewing along all the ironed edges of the squares.

First cloth napkin completed!

All 42 cloth napkins completed!

The completed project.