Tortilla Soup

I feel that I have neglected my blog, but I just haven’t been cooking much.  Let’s just blame it on my being under the weather.  One food that has been very comforting to me while I’ve been sick is tortilla soup.  We served it to our parents when they were in town last weekend and they loved it.  This recipe is one my sister shared with me a while back.  It’s one of my favorites because it is great leftover- and my lunch solely consists of leftovers.

Black Bean-Tortilla Soup

1 C chopped onion (1 large)
1 T cumin
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 T olive oil2 14-oz cans reduced-sodium chicken brother
2 C chopped tomatoes (2 medium) – I just use canned diced tomatoes
1.5 C frozen whole kernel corn – I tend to use canned corn
1 4.5-oz can diced green chile peppers, undrained
1 15-oz can black beans, drained & rinsed
.25-.5 C snipped fresh cilantro
2 C coarsely crushed tortilla chips

In a large saucepan cook & stir onion, cumin & garlic in hot oil about 5 min. or until tender.  Carefully add broth, tomatoes, corn & chile peppers.  Bring to boil; reduce heat.  simmer, covered about 5 min. or until corn is tender.  Stir in black beans & cilantro (I add as a garnish); heat through.  Divide crushed tortilla chips among 6 soup bowls; ladle soup over chips.  If desired, garnish each serving with shredded monterey jack or cheddar cheese, avocado, sour cream or additional tortilla chips.

Mmmm…blondies

I love the nest cooking board and tonight Annie’s Eats blog post about blondies caught my eye and I had to make them.  She’s right- they’re a great dessert because I have all the ingredients for them on hand.  Her instructions were great so I am going to copy and paste them.  I used toffee bits, chocolate chips and pecans as my mix-ins.  So yummy!  I had never lined a pan for baking before but the foil definitely makes getting the blondies out easier.  Plus you just wrap it in foil to store and you don’t even have to wash the pan.  I will be using that tip in more of my baking. 

Basic Blondies

Ingredients:
7-8 tbsp. butter, melted
1 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup flour
¼ tsp. baking powder

Mix-ins of your choice (see options below)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°. Line an 8×8” baking pan with foil and spray lightly with non-stick cooking spray. In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter in the microwave. Allow to cool for 5 minutes. In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix the brown sugar with the melted butter and beat until smooth. Beat in the egg and then the vanilla. Add the salt, flour and baking powder and mix until just combined. Stir in your choice of mix-ins with a wooden spoon. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread to level the top. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until set in the middle. Allow to cool on a wire rack before cutting into squares.

Mix-in ideas:
½ – 1 cup chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips or butterscotch chips
½ cup chopped pecans, walnuts or almonds
½ cup M&Ms
½ cup chopped Reese’s peanut butter cups
¼ cup toffee pieces½ tsp. mint extract, in addition to or in place of the vanilla extract

Source: Blonde Ambition in the Kitchen

Chicken Olive Cacciatora and Garlic Parmesan Orzo

I love orzo but have never cooked it myself so I have been looking forward to making Garlic Parmesan Orzo from allrecipes.

Ingredients:

1 c orzo pasta, cooked according to package

1 1/2 tsp minced garlic (I used 3)

1/4 c butter, cubed

1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese (grate before you start, I made the mistake of trying to do it while I was cooking and didn’t have enough time)

2 Tbsp milk

1 Tbsp fresh, minced parsley (omitted)

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

In a large skillet, saute garlic and butter until tender. Add the orzo, Parmesan cheese, milk, parsley, salt, and pepper. Cook and stir until thoroughly heated.

Growing up, Chicken Olive Cacciatora was one of my favorite recipes. The chicken is so moist and flavorful. I have always made it in the oven but my orzo was almost ready so I quickly made it on the stove. This is my quick and easy adaptation for two.

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-2″ squares

3 Tbsp olive oil

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1/2 c dry white wine

2 Tbsp vinegar

10 black olives

10 green olives (I only had black)

Combine all ingredients in skillet and cook on medium heat until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

Sunday Morning Waffles

Mark and I love our lazy weekend mornings.  He cooks breakfast a lot since he is the morning person but today I decided to make waffles.  The recipe I grew up with is my favorite waffle recipe.   

Basic Waffle

2 eggs, separated
2 cups buttermilk or sour milk
2 cups unsifted flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon (cardamom or nutmeg may be substituted)
1/2 cup butter (margarine or oil may be substituted), melted

Place egg yolks in large mixing bowl, whites in smaller bowl.  Beat egg yolks.  Add milk and beat well.  Blend dry ingredients then add to egg/milk mixture, beating until smooth.  Stir in melted butter.  Beat egg whites until soft peaks form; fold into batter.

Preheat waffle iron.  Bake in preheated waffle iron, set at medium heat, 5 to 8 minutes or until golden brown.

TIPS 
*    If using regular milk, omit soda and increase baking powder to 4 teaspoons.
*    Refrigerate or freeze leftover waffles.  Reheat in toaster.
*    For APPLE WAFFLES, add 1 medium apple, shredded and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.
*    For BANANA WAFFLES, place banana slices on batter before closing lid ofwaffle iron.
*    For BLUEBERRY WAFFLES, add 1 cup drained fresh or frozen blueberries to batter.
*    If using self-rising flour, omit baking powder and reduce soda to 1/2 teaspoon.

 

Savory Crescent Chicken Squares

I started my blog because I have found so many great recipes and received inspiration from other food blogs.  One blog I have found some treasures on is Good Eats ‘N Sweet Treats.  One quick and easy dish we have made several times, including this week, is these chicken squares.  I have not spent much time or energy photographing for my blog, so along with my mediocre photo of our chicken squares I wanted to post one from MrsPresley .  It tastes like hers looks- delicious!    Savory Crescent Chicken Squaresfrom Doris Castle on Pillsbury.com

1	(3-oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1	tablespoon margarine or butter, softened
2	cups cubed cooked chicken
1	tablespoon chopped fresh chives or onion
1/4	teaspoon salt
1/8	teaspoon pepper
2	tablespoons milk
1	tablespoon chopped pimientos, if desired
1	(8-oz.) can Pillsbury® Refrigerated Crescent Dinner Rolls
1	tablespoon margarine or butter, melted
3/4	cup seasoned croutons, crushed (we used the croutons on top the first time and weren’t too impressed so I omitted them this time)  DIRECTIONS 1. Heat oven to 350°F. In medium bowl, combine cream cheese and 1 tablespoon softened margarine; beat until smooth. Add chicken, chives, salt, pepper, milk and pimientos; mix well. 2. Separate dough into 4 rectangles. Firmly press perforations to seal. Spoon 1/2 cup chicken mixture onto center of each rectangle. Pull 4 corners of dough to center of chicken mixture; twist firmly. Pinch edges to seal. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Brush tops of sandwiches with 1 tablespoon melted margarine; sprinkle with crushed croutons. 3. Bake at 350°F. for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

  

Wedding Cake- Before and After

One of my favorite parts of wedding planning was tastings.  I expected to have a hard time choosing which baker to hire but for me the decision was clear- Christine Dahl.  Her cakes were head and shoulders above everyone else’s in my opinion.  Mark preffered Montecito Confections so we ended up getting our Half Dome groom’s cake from them.   Our wedding cake had two flavors: devil’s food with chocolate ganache, white chocolate mousse, raspberries and hazelnuts and lemon chiffon with lemon curd, raspberries and white chocolate mousse.  The groom’s cake was Tiramisu.  Both were a big hit with our guests.   So, why am I writing about this tonight?  We dug into the top of our wedding cake in our hotel on our wedding night but we did put part of it in the freezer the next day.  We decided since we didn’t package it well we should eat it on our 6 month anniversary instead of one year.  Our 6 month anniversary was Monday but we forgot until I was cleaning out the freezer tonight.  Mark was worried it would make us sick but we had to try it.  It wasn’t too bad, but definitely didn’t taste like our wedding day.  I really liked the fondant, but then I love Cadbury eggs so I guess that makes sense.   

Finally…cookies!

I have been telling Mark I need to bake cookies. How can I name my blog Brookie’s Cookies and not make cookies. But we are trying, though not too hard and not to much avail yet, to eat more healthy.Growing up I loved baking. My family, parents’ coworkers and neighbors enjoyed the fruits of those labors. One of my favorites was Susan’s Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Ingredients:  -1/3 c vegetable shortening-1/3 c butter-1/2 c granulated sugar-1/2 c brown sugar-1 egg-1 tsp vanilla-1 1/2 c flour-1/2 tsp soda-6 oz chocolate chips-1/2 c chopped walnuts (optional) Combine shortening, butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl; beat at medium speed until mixed thoroughly.  Blend flour and soda; add to shortening mixture.  Stir in nuts and chocolate chips.  Drop dough by rounded teaspoonful 2″ apart on baking sheet.  Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.  The great thing about this recipe is that it’s doesn’t make too many cookies so I don’t end up either eating too many or throwing them out.  

My New Favorite Wine

We had an amazing brunch at the Four Seasons Biltmore this morning to celebrate our 6 month anniversary. I had heard it was good but between the carving station, caviar station, seafood station, omelette station, waffle/crepe stations, sushi station and dessert station I was in heaven.

I am not much of a wine drinker but over the past year I have started to try more and actually found a few I like. We have been full all day from our incredible brunch, but decided to open a bottle of wine and have some salsa (which is definitely better after 24 hours). This is one of the smoothest, best tasting wines I have ever had. We are definitely going to buy more Ruffino Chianti 2005.

Lava Flow Chocolate Cake

I have been tempted not to share this recipe since we have been able to wow so many dinner guests with this amazing yet simple cake, but it’s really too good not to share. While Mark and I were on our honeymoon in Costa Rica we spent a few nights at the Four Seasons Papagayo. During our stay we made one of the best decisions of our lives (or maybe just our culinary lives) and took a cooking class. In that class we learned how to make their mouth-watering lava cake.

Four Seasons Lava Cake, with our adaptations
Ingredients
-2 c semisweet chocolate chips or 1 c chocolate chips and 1 large dark chocolate bar
-1 c butter, sliced
-1 c powdered sugar
-3 egg yolks
-4 whole eggs
-1/2 c flour

Melt chocolate and butter in a glass bowl in the microwave at 30 second intervals. Stir until smooth. Fold in sugar. Fold in flour. Add eggs little by little. Divide between 6 ramekins greased cups. Bake at 375 degrees until outside is cooked and center is still gooey. The recipe says 10-15 minutes but it usually takes ours about 20. Let cool for a minute, go around the edge of the cup with a knife to loosen. Place a plate on top of the ramekin and turn upside down until cake falls out on plate. Top with powdered sugar.

Salsa & Enchiladas

Tonight our Japanese friend Nanae came over to learn how to make Mexican food. We made some pretty simple, yet delicious recipes. The salsa recipe is from my Aunt Debbie and the enchilada recipe is one my husband grew up on. Salsa- combine the following. For peak flavor refrigerate overnight.-2 cans diced tomatoes-4 oz can diced green chiles-1 clove minced garlic-juice of one lemon-1 Tbsp olive oil-1/2 purple onion, chopped-1 tsp cumin-1/2 tsp crushed oregano (optional)-1/2 tsp salt-1/4 tsp pepper-1/2 bunch cilantro, choppedGreen Chicken Enchiladas Ingredients:-mozzarella cheese-chicken, cooked and shredded/sliced into 1″ strips-corn tortillas-vegetable oil-diced olives-chopped onion-canned green enchilada sauce (in shallow bowl)We don’t have a recipe we follow and this can be made in various quantities so it’s more a guide than a recipe. Heat vegetable oil in a pan. Dip corn tortillas, one by one, in warm oil for a few seconds until pliable. This is so you can roll the tortilla without it breaking. Dip tortilla in green sauce and coat well. Fill with chicken, onion, olives and cheese. Roll and place in pan. Cover with remaining enchilada sauce, cheese, and olives. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.