I treasure a nice, flavorful soup. In 2019, my goal is to make some soups that don't include tomatoes - it feels like I'm always pulling out two cans of diced tomatoes. That being said, there is something irresistible about a good, flavor filled tomato soup. And that is this one. I found the recipe trolling Instagram one day and was candidly drawn to the turmeric. I know the health benefits of turmeric are numerous. You won't get a whole lot healthier for eating this soup but it certainly doesn't hurt. The flavor is also not bananas strong so even picky eaters (ahem, my parents) would eat this and not even know. I ended up making this soup and giving most of it away to a 91 year old neighbor. I kept an itty bitty bowl of it for myself pretty much to validate it wasn't poisonous. The recipe does not yield a whole lot. It's really just enough for 2 bowls which might be perfect. Heat the coconut oil in a sauce pan and fry the onion and garlic for one minute. Add t...
When I first moved into my new house, I brought with me 11 cans of diced tomatoes. It was nuts. Thanks to my recent run of soups and stews and chilis, I have many fewer cans in my inventory. In the near future I might have to add "diced tomatoes" back to my shopping list on the weekends. In continuing my "homemade Christmas" of 2018, I make my grandfather this soup. A couple months back he told me the San Diego is his favorite place. I didn't know of any San Diego soups but I did know Mexican food would be a good inspiration. And that's how we have a turkey posole soup. Posole soup is a traditional Mexican stew that normally calls for like a pork or chicken - but ground turkey is a healthier option. This soup can be very spicy if you want. I wasn't sure where my grandfather lands on the spicy spectrum so I held back. I swapped out the poblano pepper for a jalapeno but kept half the seeds. Compromises. Just like some soups and all chilis, this one is be...
A couple days ago I made a list of all the leftover ingredients in my fridge and tried to figure out a way to use them - or just not waste them entirely. The list included: Christmas ham, sour cream, and radishes. Radishes are admittedly an odd one. I barely like them so this might just be a complete loss there. However, I can put the ham and sour cream to use in a savory scone. In the past I have made many scone varieties including a pancetta version in 2013. In 2014 I even used the pancetta scones to try and bribe a landlord for wood floors. These ham scones are definitely more of the savory spectrum. It's nice for breakfast but if I'm being honest I also had two at 8pm last night watching Office reruns. A few notes: Ham // Although the ham was cooked, I sautéed it for a couple minutes to crisp it up a bit. Not needed but just a personal preference.  Texture + Height // This recipe doesn't get the same height as previous scones but I took a few shortcuts. I think the mix...
I have watched a whole lot of "Great British Baking Show" this year... and one thing that seems pervasive on that show is people screwing up a rolled dough. In their defense, it is usually a sponge cake and that seems hard. But, I absolutely had flashbacks to the show when I was making these swirl cookies.  Earlier in the week, we had a family baking night and the sugar cookie dough was next level delicious. Like nothing I've ever had before. Given my dad rarely bakes, I wasn't chalking this up to expert baking skills :-) ... After comparing that sugar dough and this one , I feel pretty confident in hypothesizing the difference was using powdered sugar over granulated sugar. Don't worry this cookie is still quite delicious. The orange is nice and subtle and the cranberry isn't offensive. We all know cranberry can be offensive. I'm 100% planning on doing this same recipe during blueberry season next year. Just imagine itty bitty blue swirls next 4th of July...
I'm not sure when I became a fan of gingersnaps, but it most certainly hasn't been my entire life. So, any time I have the opportunity to try a ginger cookie.... I will. My default favorite are the Trader Joes version. They are delightfully small but have chunks of ginger in them. So what makes this cookie special? Well, I'm not going to lie to you. It's a lot of sugar. They end up being so sweet you can really only have just one. Not always a bad thing for someone like myself who lacks self control. I initially came across this recipe in Yankee Magazine from Jerrelle Guy . The original recipe was a bit different. I made some concessions to make life a little easier for myself. If I'm being honest, I was really just in it for the gingersnap and the dipped chocolate. I didn't want to futz with marshmallows. Things to know about this cookie: cookie // the cookie itself is delicious. my version ended up being thin and almost a bit lacey.  size // the original rec...
Cold weather immediately calls for chili. I like chili for the meat and the comforting meal. I'm not in it for the spice or heat. I am however completely in it for the shredded cheese. It's like the "make your own sundae" of soups.  I did a sweet potato and kale soup at some point last winter. While it sounded like a good idea, the sweet potato became rather over powering.... and bland. The recipe was so mediocre that I never even wrote it up for posterity. That has to say something. I really wanted to keep this sweet potato vibe going but knew I had to be conscious of this experience. Since the potatoes were going into the soup, roasted them for added flavor was not going to be a great solution. Instead, I just "zoodled" them into much thiner and smaller pieces... and only used about 50% of what the original recipe called for.  The end result was a success. The sweet potato was definitely in the chili but by no means overwhelming or bland. The heat was on p...
It's soup season! My life is a little different these days so I don't necessarily need "travel friendly" meals like soup as much - but it is just so hard to fight the urge to make soup. When people say they don't like cooking for just one person, I feel like they haven't tried soup yet. It is just the easiest thing to put in the freezer and have again when you don't feel like cooking for one. I found this original recipe from a food instagram account that I love to follow. Despite wanting to eat a bit healthier, I have a hard time resisting a meat based soup. They are just so filling and satisfying. I often want to try and be more vegetarian but an enticing soup like this keeps me from trying harder. I did make a couple modifications to the original recipe to keep my life a bit easier. ground pork instead of Italian sausage // I absolutely hate removing sausage casing. It is the worst. So instead I grabbed some ground pork and then added additional seasoni...
At some point before Thanksgiving I discovered the "Great British Baking Show" on Netflix... and since then I haven't really looked back. I like it so much that I won't watch it as I'm falling asleep because I need to pay attention to who is star baker and who doesn't quite measure up each week.  So when I was planning a little brunch for some girlfriends, I wanted to raise the bar from my default (but creative) scone offering. I also wanted it to be approachable. While I love each recipe challenge on the show,  sometimes they can be a bit much for a casual Sunday brunch in fuzzy socks. And that is how I ended up making a raspberry frangipane tart. This recipe is literally beyond easy. While we were sitting around enjoying the spread, someone asked me how it was on scale of 1 to 10. I think it's a 3 if you use a store bought crust. It's a 5 if you make the crust from scratch and it's your first time making crust. But also making crust is easy. You ...
I haven't been cooking nearly as much in recent months so when I saw my friend Becca was coordinating a cookie swap.... I signed up fast. I needed a push to experiment... and what better than to try and impress strangers via the mail. This recipe is a combination of two forces. One? I did win my office Christmas cookie contest last year. So, I didn't want to put simple chocolate chip cookies in the mail. Two? I've been watching a lot of the Great British Baking show on Netflix. So in my head I was giving myself some Paul Hollywood criticism about imperfect shape and not perfect chocolate melting skills. All true facts. I've never been interested in perfect cookies and never been good at melting chocolate. I'm not sure exactly where I found this recipe on the internet but I'm glad I did. I've never cooked with matcha before. To be honest, I sometimes love the flavor and sometimes do not. These cookies are just small enough to be a good balance in my opinion -...