happy fall y'all!

it's been a while since i posted, but that doesn't mean that i haven't been busily cooking, baking and creating, but simply that life has gotten in the way of my blogging.

 that and the fact that i tend to forget that i have a blog; pioneer woman i am not. ;)

as the weather has been getting cooler and i have been transitioning my wardrobe and my decor towards fall, i have been craving all of the traditional fall foods (some of them making me curious why they are considered "fall foods", but things that i don't really crave in the spring and summer months). i had my first Starbucks PSL (pumpkin spice latte),

a splurge that will most likely not happen again this season as they are now a whopping $4.91. YIKES!! but it was delicious none-the-less.

 i wore my boots and leggings for the first time, and now feel as though i need several more pairs of boots as i had forgotten how comfortable and warm they are. here are a few of my current favs:

steven by steve madden bolerro

nine west kedan

lucky aida

jessica simpson tustiny

and these adorable desert bootie wedges:

dolce vita pura

and pulled out several jackets and sweatshirts. 

i had very mixed emotions, because i will be honest, i DETEST being cold. but the thought of "new" (stored away) clothes, new foods,  and an approach to thanksgiving and Christmas (my all-time FAV!!!) could not make me happier. therefore, i have decided to embrace fall.

topher (my husband) made the most incredible suggestion that we have soup night every week. i was so excited since i have been pinning soup recipes on pinterest (which if you have not yet discovered pinterest you need to stop everything and head right over there).

*warning*- it is very addictive!

wednesday night has been deemed soup night at our home and

i selfishly decided to start our soup night tradition with my favorite soup- french onion!!! and it was, as always, absolutely heavenly.

Here is the recipe that i concocted up for ours:

French Onion Soup

3 pounds yellow onions, cut into 1/8" pieces

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter (or margarine)

1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

2 Tablespoons sugar

8 cups chicken broth

2 Tablespoons flour

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon dried thyme (or 2 tsp. fresh), ground finely

1/4 cup dry white wine (optional)

8 ounces Gruyere (or cheese of your choice. i also like it with provolone or swiss) cheese, sliced or grated.

1 crusty baguette

It is a little difficult to slice the onion to 1/8" slices, so i will show you how my mother, who is the best cook that i know, taught me how to slice onions many years ago... it's the best method that i have ever seen.

 begin by cutting off both ends of the onion (the "root" and the "stem ends)

 cut through one of the onion "layers" and peel that layer off with the "skin"

cut the onion in half down the center

turn each half on it's side and starting at one side cut into 1/8" slices. the "rings of the onions will then fall apart into thin strips.

like this.

and just a little hint, if you store the onions in the refrigerator and cut them while they are cold, your eyes won't water much, if at all.

melt the butter at medium heat in dutch oven (or a large pot)
*if i haven't yet mentioned it, i am loving every opportunity to use my Le Creuset 'french oven'.

add the onions to the melted butter

 add the salt and sugar

toss to coat onions evenly with butter, salt and sugar. cover and cook for 10 minutes.

remove cover and cook, stirring frequently, for an hour and 1/2. onions will caramelize and turn a lovely brown color. make sure to scrape the bottom of the pot to loosen the dark "caramel" that is forming

once onions are an even brown color add flour and stir for 2 minutes

it will look something like this (although possibly without that eerie looking smokey haze)

add the chicken broth 

add the thyme and bay leaves and bring to a boil.

lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes

[if adding wine, add and simmer 10 more minutes.

add more salt if needed.]

and your soup is ready!!!

at this point ladle soup into oven-safe bowls or small crocks. 

if you like your onion soup with the bread floating on top (which i don't), place a slice of the crusty bread on top of the soup and then grate or place a slice of cheese on top of the soup.

place in the oven under the broiler until the cheese is browned slightly and bubbly.

 enjoy!!!!

happy fall y'all!!!

semi-simple sushi

Over the past 4 or 5 months i have been more than slightly addicted to japanese food... namely SUSHI. those of you who share my cravings realize how easy it is to fall into such an addiction. I am not sure if it is the fish, the rice drenched in soy sauce, or the crunch of the vegetables... likely the combination of all of the of the above. But whatever it is, i have been wanting it often. And as my fellow sushi eaters know, good sushi does not come cheap... in reality, even the sub-par grocery store sushi rolls can cost close to $10 each. so i had to come up with a more cost-efficient answer to my cravings.

Now i am sure that any trained sushi chef would cringe at my attempts at homemade sushi, but i think it tastes pretty delicious and it keeps me from sending myself and my new husband (who i have recently brought over to the dark side as a sushi lover himself) to the poor house. 

this is my handsome husband enjoying sushi the night that we got engaged... he definitely knows the way to my heart! :)

Simple Sushi-

I will say that the initial investment towards homemade sushi is a little pricey, but it definitely saves a TON in the long-run. (for me within a couple weeks).

Step #1- make your sushi rice according to the package instructions (well, for the most part. i have found that i need to add more water than it says on the rice package. just watch it closely).

I found this rice at publix, but any sushi rice should work.

After cooking the rice I add 1 Tablespoon of rice vinegar per each 1 cup (uncooked) rice that I have made.

Next you will need the seaweed ('nori') sushi wrappers. they sell them at many grocery stores. i got this pack of 50 sheets at whole foods about 3 years ago... in other words, they go a LONG way.

I place one sheet of nori on a sheet of waxed paper (i tried the bamboo mat and honestly, it's easier for me not to use it).

I put about 1/4 cup of the cooled rice on the seaweed wrapper and spread it evenly to the edges of the wrapper with the back of a spoon.

this is what it should look like once the rice is spread out. the wrapper is very brittle at first, but it softens up a lot once the rice sits on it for a minute or two.

this is my secret weapon for sushi making- my julienne peeler. it makes perfect little skinny slices (juliennes) of your vegetables for in your sushi rolls.

this is what the julienned cucumber looks like

my favorite sushi fillers (for homemade rolls anyways) are cucumber, zucchini, carrots, asparagus, avocado, crab, shrimp, and cream cheese (any combination of these is tasty).

some people prefer the rice on the inside of the roll, i like it my sushi better with the seaweed inside the roll.

place your ingredients lengthwise across one end of the sushi.

use the wax paper to roll the sushi as tightly as you can. you can sprinkle your rolls with toasted sesame seeds or tobiko (orange caviar).

I generally slice each of my rolls into 10 pieces and then lay them on their side.

and here's the final product! :) YUM!!!

i like to give it a little kick with some chipotle mayonnaise drizzled over the top.

and of course, LOTS of soy sauce (low sodium) , some people like it with pickled ginger (which is something that i find rather nauseating), and wasabi...

you can make your own from powder that comes in a little can like this one or in a little bottle. it isn't quite as good as the freshly grated, but you just add water so it's very convenient. 

hope that you have fun with this one. :) 

<3 <3 <3

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we all scream... for coffee-chocolate chunk ice cream

we got a kitchen-aid ice cream maker attachment for our kitchen-aid mixer as a wedding gift. i have been wanting to try it out for weeks, as ice cream is my favorite food group. i decided that mother's day was the perfect opportunity!

 this is a picture of the kitchen-aid mixer with the ice cream bowl attachment. 

I love the fact that i don't have the mess of the melted ice and the ice cream salt during the ice cream making process. the only thing is you have to make sure that you have your ice cream bowl in the freezer far enough in advance for it to be frozen (they recommend 15-24 hours).

Coffee Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream-

(I will preface this recipe by admitting that this is an INSANELY involved process... but the results were well worth it.)

• 1 ½ cups heavy cream
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 ½ cups whole coffee beans
• generous pinch of salt
• 1 ½ cups half-and-half (10% M.F.)
• 5 large egg yolks
• ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon finely ground coffee (press grinds through a fine mesh sieve)
• ½ teaspoon instant coffee
• 3 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate, roughly chopped

***  this is only a 1/2 of the regular recipe since there were only going to be 4 of us for mother's day lunch (and i knew who would end up eating the leftovers if i made the whole batch).

1. Heat the half-and-half, sugar, whole coffee beans, salt, and 1 cup of the cream in a medium saucepan until it is quite warm and steamy, but not boiling. Once the mixture is warm, cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.
2. Pour the remaining 1/2 cup of cold cream into a medium size metal bowl, set on ice over a larger bowl. Set a mesh strainer on top of the bowls. Set aside.
3. Reheat the coffee mixture on medium heat until hot and steamy (not boiling).
4. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks together. Slowly pour the heated coffee mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly so that the egg yolks are tempered, but not cooked. Scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
5. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof, flat-bottomed spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula so that you can run your finger across the coating and have the coating not run. This can take about 10 minutes.
6. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. Press on the coffee beans in the strainer to extract as much of the coffee flavor as possible; then discard the beans. Mix in the vanilla, instant coffee and finely ground coffee, and stir until cool.
7. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator; then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions, (for the kitchen-aid attachment, mix in pre-frozen bowl for 15-20 minutes) adding the chocolate towards the end.

this is a picture of the coffee beans in the custard part of the process. honestly i don't know that the cream really soaked up much of the coffee flavor from the beans.

*** i made this a day ahead and stored it in the freezer in a rubbermaid container. although it was wonderful straight out of the ice cream maker, it was actually a perfect consistency after freezing for a day.

Um... YUM!!!!!!!

mother's day chez moi

i had so much fun hosting mother's day lunch at the collogan home this year. i don't know why, but i felt stangely "adult" as i prepared the first meal for my mom as a married woman. i guess it's about time, i am 30. :) 

i have my mother to thank for every bit of my love for cullinary experimentation and creativity... but the fact that she is an amazing cook does tend to make cooking for her slightly more difficult. fortunately she is also the most gracious woman that i have ever met, so apprehension to cook for her subsides when i remind myself that she is my mother, not my critic. 

today's mother's day lunch menu was-

olive chicken

chicken rice

grilled asparagus

greek cucumber salad

&

coffee-chocolate chunk ice cream 

and brownies

i am going to share the chicken and greek salad recipes in this post and i will do a separate post with the ice cream recipe.

olive chicken recipe-

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
• 30-40 pimento-stuffed green olives
• 3 cups chicken broth

1. Season chicken with salt. Heat oil in a large skillet (i used my le creuset french oven) over medium high heat; brown chicken in oil, about 5 minutes each side. Add garlic, bay leaf, thyme and pepper and mix well, then stir in tomatoes, olives, and broth.
2. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes- 1 hour or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear. Remove bay leaf and serve.

Greek Cucumber Salad-

• 
  

• 3 large ripe tomatoes, chopped

• 1 or 2 cucumbers, peeled and chopped

• 1/2 sweet (vidalia) onion, chopped finely

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 3 teaspoons lemon juice

• 1 Tablespoon vinegar

• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

• salt and pepper to taste

• 4 oz. crumbled feta cheese

• 10-12 kalamata olives, pitted and sliced

1. In shallow salad bowl, combine tomatoes, cucumber, and onion. Sprinkle with oil, lemon juice, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle feta cheese and olives over salad. Serve.

 

i hope that my mom wasn't too disappointed in her mother's day lunch. everyone seemed to enjoy it. :)