Cauliflower Soup and Tomato Basil Soup

Wisconsin Cauliflower

2 tablespoons margarine or butter (1/4 stick)

1 medium onion, chopped

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups milk

1 can (13 3/4 to 14 1/2 ounces) chicken broth

1 head (2 1/2 pounds) cauliflower, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 cup Sharp Cheddar cheese

1 cup Pepper Jack cheese

In 4-quart saucepan, melt margarine or butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook until golden, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in flour and salt; cook 2minutes, stirring frequently. Gradually stir in milk, chicken broth, and 1 1/2 cups water; add cauliflower and heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer until cauliflower is tender, about 10 minutes. In blender (with center part of blender cover removed to allow steam to escape), blend cauliflower mixture at low speed in small batches until very smooth. Return cauliflower mixture to saucepan; heat over medium heat until hot, stirring occasionally. Remove saucepan from heat; stir in mustard and 1 1/2 cups cheese until melted and smooth. Garnish soup with remaining cheese to serve.

found this on ohmyrestless-soul blog

A couple things that I did differently I cut the cheese into cubes and let that ooey goodness just melt in. Also, when you mix in the blender blend REALLY well. Our first blender attempt we didn't blend as well and it didn't have the great flavor. So Ryan blended one more time. PEREFECTION!! Another thing I did differently is I put whipping cream instead of milk.  Please give this a try and let me know what you think. 

Tomato Basil

• 
  
• 
  
• 4 tomatoes - peeled, seeded and diced
• 4 cups tomato juice
• 14 leaves fresh basil
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup butter
• salt and pepper to taste

recipe found in allrecipes.com

Place tomatoes and juice in a stock pot over medium heat. Simmer for 30 minutes. Puree the tomato mixture along with the basil leaves, and return the puree to the stock pot.

1. Place the pot over medium heat, and stir in the heavy cream and butter. Season with salt and pepper. Heat, stirring until the butter is melted. Do not boil.

Since it is starting to get cold outside I thought that some soup recipes would be good. Again, I am trying to replicate  a restaurant that I love. Zupas. Try these yummy soups and I will have to post my attempt of panini without a panini press. That was fun and messy.  Grap a spoon and try these soups. Let me know what you think. 

Pasta Milano

A week and a half ago I went and saw the movie, "Eat Pray Love".  I really didn't identify with the movie too much. It is about a recently divorced woman who decided to find herself while traveling to Italy, India, and then Bali. While in Italy she eats her way through the country. Besides desperately wanting to go to Italy for the pure sake of going to Italy. I want to eat my way through Italy. Since I have two children, and I have an ambitious man who is getting his masters degree. Life and funds won't allow me to travel to Italy, just yet. So I will try new recipes that will allow me to pretend that I am eating my way through Italy.  Another thing that I LOVE to do while cooking is finding some of my favorite meals at great restaurants and trying to replicate the goodness. Now, I know that I won't always get close to these meals. However I love trying. This one may be right on. I love Macaroni Grill. My man and I would go all the time and I would always order the same thing. Pasta Milano. So yummy. When I came across this recipe I was stoked. The key to this fantastic meal is the garlic cream sauce. You must use this sauce!!! Roasting your own garlic is so stinking easy here is where you can find out how to do it. I would teach you how, but this tutorial is so easy that there is no reason for it to be repeated.

Macaroni Grill's Pasta Milano

Ingredients:

6 ounces Butter

18 ounces grilled Chicken, sliced

12 ounces Sun-dried Tomatoes

12 ounces Mushrooms, sliced

6 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan Cheese

36 ounces roasted Garlic Cream Sauce (Recipe Follows)

36 ounces Bow Tie Pasta

Directions:

1. Cook the pasta as directed on package.
2. Sauté butter and mushrooms about 30 seconds.
3. Add the roasted garlic cream sauce and Parmesan; heat thoroughly.
4. Drain pasta.
5. Add pasta to the sauté pan and mix well.
6. Garnish with Parmesan cheese
7. Serve and Enjoy.
8. Sing Italian Love Songs (Optional)

Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce
Ingredients:

1 quart heavy cream

1 head roasted garlic

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons fresh parsley - coarsely chopped

2 teaspoons salt

1 cup Parmesan cheese - grated

Directions:

In a blender process the cream and roasted garlic until smooth.

In a large saucepan, combine garlic cream, pepper, and 2 tablespoons of the parsley.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add salt and Parmesan to mixture, stir until sauce has thickened.

Go to Costco and get the rosemary olive loaf and put little plates on your table with olive oil and fresh ground pepper, and you will think that you are there. One of my favorite lines in the movie is when talking about her Naples' pizza, "I am sorry, I am having a relationship with my pizza." Have a relationship with your pasta milano and tell me what you think. 

Almost Famous Chimichangas

I found this recipe in my new Food Network magazine. I am a sucker for any new mexican meal. This is  a wannabe from Chi-Chi restaurant. Remember that restaurant? I loved it as a kid. My grandma would take us there for fried ice cream for our birthday when we were kids. Good times. So try this recipe and let me know what you think. 

Almost Famous Chimichangas

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 white onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, diced (remove seeds for less heat)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Kosher salt
• 1 small tomato, chopped, plus more for topping
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 1/2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 15-ounce can refried beans
• 4 10-inch flour tortillas
• 1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese, plus more for topping
• Mexi-sauce, for topping (see below)
• Shredded lettuce, for topping
• Mexican rice, for serving

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Melt the butter with 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a skillet; transfer to a bowl. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in the skillet. Add the onion, garlic and jalapeno and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the chili powder, cumin, cinnamon and 1 teaspoon salt; toast 30 seconds. Add the tomato and cilantro and cook until slightly dry, about 2 minutes. Stir in the chicken and sour cream and warm through. Remove from the heat.

Brush a rimmed baking sheet with some of the butter-oil mixture. Spread 2 tablespoons refried beans down the center of each tortilla, leaving a 2-inch border on both ends. Top with 1 cup chicken mixture and 1/4 cup cheese. Fold in the ends and roll up.

Put the chimichangas seam-side down on the baking sheet; brush with the butter-oil mixture. Bake 8 to 10 minutes per side, brushing again after you flip. Top with the sauce, more cheese, lettuce and tomato. Serve with rice and the remaining beans.

Make Chi-Chi's Mexi-sauce:

Saute 1/2 cup chopped onion and 2 chopped garlic cloves in a skillet with vegetable oil. Add a pinch each of chili powder, cumin, sugar and salt; cook 30 seconds. Stir in two 4-ounce cans chopped green chiles (drained and rinsed); cook 2 minutes. Add 1 cup chicken broth and simmer until thickened, then puree. Stir in 1/4 cup chopped cilantro.

Fall Candy is HERE!!!!

I get so excited when I start to see Halloween decorations in the stores. I went to Target today and found the jackpot! Hershey kisses in special fall flavors. I got a bag of candy corn, Carmel apple, and pumpkin spice. You must try. My favorite is candy corn kisses. Love them. Go get some fast because the closer you get to Halloween the more scarce they become. Try and let me know what you think

Raspberries and Cream

I have great memories of going to my grandparents house in the summer. We would wake up in the morning and take Grandma's green colander out to the fence were there were thousands of raspberries. We would pick just a few to put on our cereal for breakfast. Whenever I smell raspberries these images come back to me. Since I have gotten older the raspberry bushes have been removed, but I will always remember those crisp Idaho mornings retrieving those raspberries. It is something that I actually spoke about at my grandma's funeral. I would love for my kids to have similar memories. So I found this fantastic farm in Mapleton that allow you to pick raspberries and blackberries till your hearts content. So along with a great friend we took our kids to the briar patch. We gave the kids their buckets and let them go. It was so much fun, a lot of work, but fun. My little gal kept telling me she couldn't wait to make raspberry shortcake jam with me. Much like the strawberry shortcake jam we made a couple of days ago. I decided for a special treat tonight to make raspberries and cream for our family night. It was so much better than I thought it would be. Go pick some berries and try this. 

Raspberries and Cream

Fresh Raspberries 

1 cup of heavy whipping cream 

1/4 cup of sugar

2 oz. softened cream cheese

Put all ingredients in a mixer ( I LOVE my red kitchen aid and use it whenever I can), and let that wisk attachment do it's magic. I let it mix until it starts getting stiff.  If you let it go too long it turns into butter. Talk about too much of a good thing. When you are done mixing then spoon into a cup and drop some fresh raspberries and enjoy. 

McBride Briar Patch 

1849 South 2100 West, Mapleton UT

pickyourown.org

Oatmeal Pancakes and Buttermilk Syrup

These pancakes are affectionately called in our home "Aunt Dara Pancakes". When Dara makes these pancakes, and her kids that have moved out, hear that she is making them they rush over. When we go visit Dara we are usually planning a trip to the happiest place on earth. She usually makes these for us before we go. They are so filling and taste so good. The oatmeal pancakes are great but what really makes it is the buttermilk syrup. This is a lot like the syrup they serve at Magelby's Fresh all you can eat pancakes. This syrup is so good it's like eating candy. In fact my little guy calls it candy syrup. Don't let the word Oatmeal fool you, these are not the most healthy pancakes and syrup ever. Trust me when I say you will enjoy every bite. So go grab a fork and give them a try. 

Oatmeal Pancakes

4 C Old Fashioned Oatmeal

1 C Wheat Flour

1/2 sugar

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

4 C Buttermilk

4 eggs

1 stick butter

2 tsp vanilla

Combine melted butter, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Mix and let stand 30 minutes. Pancake mix will be thick, spread a little with spoon on griddle. 

Buttermilk Syrup

1 cube butter

1/2 buttermilk

1/2 tsp. soda

1 cup sugar

1 Tbsp vanilla

Combine butter, buttermilk, soda and sugar in saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Serve warm

Once you have indulged in this yummy breakfast make sure you do some sort of exercise afterwards to get your heart beating again. 

BBQ Chicken Salad

This is one of our families favorites. Especially during the summer when you don't want to heat up your kitchen by using the oven. Even though it was 65 degrees today, I am still hanging onto the idea of summer. So I busted this out. Give it a try and tell me what you think. 

BBQ Chicken Salad

1 head of romaine lettuce

1/2 cup of corn

2 chopped tomatoes

1 chopped avocado 

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1 can black beans drained

cheddar cheese cubed

2 chicken breasts grilled

Obviously you can add whatever you want, but this is what we like.  We usually grill the chicken fully and then we put on the BBQ sauce. When you put the sauce on to early it just burns because of the sugar in the sauce. Our favorite sauce is Sweet Baby Rays.  I then cut some corn tortillas in strips and fried them in a skillet with vegetable oil. The oil stops bubbling and you know that they are ready.  Top it off with whatever dressing you like, our favorite is ranch. Serve it with hot corn bread with whipped honey butter.  Enjoy!!!!

Eat Out: Cafe Paesan

I am so excited to share with you my new find for some good eats. Each week I will post one of my favorite places to go eat. This week is a place that I heard about from an out of towner (I was so upset I didn't already know about it). It is Cafe Paesan (pronounced 'pie-zahn'). If you dig Cafe Rio then you will love this italian version of it. From hand pressed pizzas, enticing salads, and made to order pasta dishes it doesn't disappoint. My man and I went on an impromptu date when our kids were sleeping at Grandma & Grandpas. We walked in to a line reminiscent of Cafe Rio. We knew we were in the right place. While in line we watched pasta noodles being made. We talked with follow italian lovers to find out what is good. One lady said, "Everything I have tasted is good." We decided to go with pasta. We chose our sauce and meat and veggies that we wanted then they cook it in the pan right there, then added some fresh tomatoes and basil. Good stuff!! We found a seat and enjoyed. The atmosphere is much like Cafe Rio, instead of being in a little Mexican cantina you are in an italian bistro. Go and tell me what you think.

Price ranges from $6.00 to $9.00

Cafe Paesan is 69 S. State St. Orem, UT

Welcome to My New Endeavor

I am excited to introduce you to my new blog. I have a passion for food. It started when I was studying in college. I received a degree in Home Economics Education. I taught foods classes in jr. high, among other things. I then started my family and love trying new recipes and restaurants. I am often asked for recipes that I have made and I felt like this was a good forum for it. I love talking about food and of course eating food. In this blog I will share some how-to videos, recipes, and reviews of food from around the town. I hope that this blog can be a way to share my love of cooking and baking with those that share the same passion. So be a follower and grab a fork!!!