Squash Soup with Beans

I participated in this round of the WC Recipe Exchange. I have been a horrible procrastinator and finally got around to making my soup today.

Sadly Adam doesn't like squash so I most likely wouldn't make this again, but it was very good for me and I liked the texture the beans gave to it. Sadly my camera batteries died as I turned it on to take a picture of the soup, so no pictures this round :(

Thank you for whomever submitted it.

Butternut Squash Soup

• 2 squash, chopped into 1" chunks
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 4-6 c. chicken broth
• 2 cans Goya pink beans, rinsed and drained

Sauté onion and celery until starting to brown.

Add chopped squash and sauté until squash is browning. Add approximately 4-6 cups of chicken broth, just enough to cover.

Keep on lowest heat possible and simmer for approximately 1 hour; add beans and cook for about 5 more minutes.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Blogging with Purpose

Elizabeth at Elizabeth's Cooking Experiments has awarded me a blogging for purpose award. I was very honored to be awarded this as I feel like I am just a normal Midwestern cook. I like to make the family favorites as well as go out on a limb.

I always love receiving comments from others, as well as seeing how many people actually look at my blog.

It's my job to nominate five other bloggers whom I feel deserve this award.

Amber at Amber's Delectable Delights. Amber's pictures and bread recipes get me every time. I have noticed whenever I am searching for a recipe I always start at her blog.

Joelen at Joelens Culinary Adventures. I love reading about all the events that Joelen does around her community and all the interest things she puts in her blog.

Melissa at Meli can cook. Meli definitely can cook, almost everything in her blog makes me drool, I love her food and pictures.

Jamie at Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats. Whenever I log into my google reader I look at her blog first, I love all her posts and desserts!

Michelle at Sugar and Spice. I love reading about all the events Michelle participates in, and all her dessert recipes.

Now, here's what you five have to do

Nominate 5 blogs that haven't had this award before

Each of the blogs must have a purpose

The nominated blogs must have a link back to this blog

The logo from this award must be displayed in your blog

M & M Cookies

I had so much fun participating in last months tasty tools I made a promise to participate in every month no matter what the tool was. I was so happy to see that this month was the scoop, I have recently bought the medium and large Pampered Chef scoops, and hope to buy the small soon.

I love these scoops. I knew I wanted to make cookies with them, but wasn't really in the mood for cookies so I called Adam up and said "If you could have ANY kind of cookie right now what would you have?"

"Ummm... M & M."

My problem was solved M & M cookies, I picked up a bag of regular M & M last week, but today when I stopped at the store they had mint so I grabbed those and made 2 batches.

These are the best M&M Cookies I have ever had... They are so soft and moist. You definitely have to try them.

M & M Cookies (Found On: Delish a Food Blog From: The Cookie Bible)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups M&M’s, divided
• 1 cup chopped pecans (I omitted)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. Beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until well blended. Add eggs; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in 3/4 cup M&Ms and all the nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto cookie sheet. Press 5-6 of remaining M&Ms on each cookie before baking.

Bake 9-11 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Yields about 3-3 1/2 dozen cookies.

Orange Cinnamon Rolls

I am not a huge cinnamon rolls except for Pillsbury Orange cinnamon rolls, I LOVE them, I wanted to make Adam and I a special Easter breakfast so I found this recipe and mixed them up.

I also have been wanting to buy a microplane and finally bought one to participate in the blogging event Joelen is hosting called Tasty Tools. I used it for the orange for this recipe, but plan to get lots of use out of it in the coming months.

These were not as good as I was hoping, but I will try them again maybe using some frosting to top with.

Sticky Orange Cinnamon Rolls (Razzle Dazzle Recipes)

• 1/2 cup lukewarm milk
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp active dry yeast

Orange Spread:

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 tbsp grated orange zest
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup almonds or pecans, toasted

Combine all ingredients except orange spread ingredients and nuts in bread pan.

Process on dough setting.

Prepare orange spread by placing butter I bowl of heavy duty electric mixer fitted with flat beater.

Add sugar, honey, orange juice, orange zest and cinnamon.

Cream together for 3 to 4 minutes or until completely incorporated and set aside.

When cycle is complete on dough, turn dough out onto well floured surface.

With rolling pin, roll dough out into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick.

Using spatula, spread half of the orange spread evenly over dough. Sprinkle nuts over the spread.

Line 10 inch square baking pan with foil and spread remaining orange spread over the foil.

Beginning with long bottom edge, roll up dough jelly roll style and pinch seam together firmly to seal.

Using serrated knife, but dough into 6 rolls. Evenly space rolls in foil lined pan and cover with plastic wrap.

Let rolls rise in warm place for 40 minutes or till doubled.

Place baking stone on middle rack of oven and preheat to 375. Bake rolls for 30 to 35 minutes or till spread in pan is bubbling and dark and the tops of the rolls are dark brown.

Let rolls cool in pan for 5 minutes.

Place another pan over rolls and invert baking pan so the rolls re resting in second pan and the orange spread on the foil is on top of them. Remove the foil. Serve warm from pan.

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Nutella Sauce

YUM!!!!!

Did you know Feburary 5th is World Nutella day, I will admit I never had nutella until a few months ago and just love it. I say a blog challenge and instantly started thinking of what to make. One thing I am not good at is creating my own recipe, I am always nervous. So I mentioned something to my mom while we were out shopping today. I got her wheels turning and she gets all the credit for this recipe :-) She created the whole thing.

We ended up finding frozen butternut squash ravioli in the grocery store, but here is my recipe from when I made them last time.

This was an AWESOME dish, it is not something I want all the time as it can be a bit sweet for dinner, but it is very good flavor and the squash and nutella compliment each other well

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Nutella Sauce (From: My Mom)

• 4 T. butter
• 2 T. flour
• 2 T. Nutella
• 1 t. cinnamon
• 1 t. nutmeg
• 1 c. whipping cream
• Butternut squash ravioli

Melt butter in large sauce pan, once melted blend in flour until dissolved.

Stir in nutella, spices, and whipping cream.

Blend until well combined and smooth.

Pour over butternut squash ravioli and enjoy.

Comfort Food Cook-off

I saw the blogging event on Is My Blog Burning this week, I knew it was something I had to participate in. I love comfort food, and truly that's what gets Adam and I through the winters, we resort back to the comfort food.

I decided the recipe I would share is one I have already shared but is truly something when it's really cold, or I'm having a real bad day I crave. Adam and I both came down with a cold this week so what better way to cure it then some comfort food.

Milk gravy pork chops with some mashed potatoes, I grew up with this recipe it was something my grandma made for us, with the pork cooked so it is golden brown and very moist then top it with some delicious gravy YUM!

Pork Chops with Milk Gravy (From: My Grandma)

• Pork Chops (I made 2)
• 1/4 c.Flour
• 1 c. Milk
• Seasoning Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic Salt

Season the pork chops, I rubbed the seasoning into the chops a bit. Fry in a pan until tender and done. Try not to overcook otherwise they are tuff.

Take out the pork chops and place somewhere to stay warm. Add milk and flour and mix until combined. Cook on medium-low until warm and hot.

Serve over pork chops, and I prefer to serve with mashed potatoes.

2008 Blog Resolutions

I say the 2008 Recipe Challenge Blog Event hosted by The Cook Mobile. I thought it would be a fun way to share my "goals" for my blog this year. This way I will feel accountable.

My 4 resolutions for the year:

1. To move my blog to it's own domain, and build a site to be what I have dreamed of my cooking blog to be.

2. To try atleast 5 yeast breads over the year, yeast is a scary thing to be, I know in the end it isn't that scary.

3. To try one crockpot recipes per week, I am going to try one new crockpot recipe each and every Monday.

4. To try more veggie recipes, Adam and I normally have one veggie with each dinner, but its cooked the same old boring way. I am excited to try new recipes!

Recipe I want to try this year...

Mac-n-Smoked Gouda with Cauliflower, I know it's not a super simple recipe but I tend to shy away from new things, I have never used nor I think tried Gouda I have had this recipe starred since starting my blog, so I REALLY want to try it this year!

Best of 2007

I can't believe the year is over, my blog is not even a year old yet, and I had over 200 blog posts, celebrated my one year wedding anniversary and had a great year overall! To end the new year, here are my favorite recipes from this year.

Appetizer: Stuffed Mushrooms
Breakfast: Clone of the Cinnabon
Snack: Carmel Nut Snack Mix
Dessert: Carrot Cake
Cookie: Coconut Cookies
Main Dish: Garlic and Citrus Chicken
Side Dish: Scalloped Potatoes
Biggest Blog Hit of the Year: Gravy Baked Pork Chops

Hope you and yours have a safe and happy new year.

Gingerbread House

Part of Adam's and I Christmas tradition is to make a gingerbread house. We have done one every year we have been together. This year I saw this blogging event I knew we could participate. :-)

Here is our house, we bought our kit at Target, which it was a very nice kit as it came with the white base and it had spots to support the sides of the houses!!!!

Homegrown Gourmet

I have wanted to participate in Homegrown Gourmet since it started a few months ago, but I never could think of a recipe that screamed MINNESOTA. But since I heard of the details I was waiting for soup to be the theme. This month is soup. I knew the perfect recipe!

Northern wild rice is an annual plant native to the Great Lakes region of North America. Northern wild rice is the state grain of Minnesota.

Wild Rice Soup (From: My Mom)

• 6 Tbsp. butter
• 1 Tbsp. minced onion
• 1/2 c. flour
• 2 (14 1/2 oz.) cans chicken broth
• 2 c. cooked wild rice
• 1/2 c. finely grated carrots
• 1/3 c. minced ham or 1/2 c. cooked chicken
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. chopped silvered almonds
• 1 c. half and half
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• Snipped parsley or chives for garnish

In a large saucepan, melt butter and saute onion until tender. Blend in flour and then gradually add broth. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil and boil for 1 minute.

Stir in wild rice, carrots, ham (or chicken), almonds, and salt. Simmer about 5 minutes, blend in half and half and heat to serving temperature. If too thick, you may thin with chicken broth.

Garnish with snipped parsley or chives.

Carrot Cake

I have wanted to make carrot cake forever, but didn't want to go through the hassle of trying to shred the carrot by hand. When I got my food processor, I promised Adam I would. We hosted a lunch get together with my family today. So I made the carrot cake for the occasion.

I also thought this was a great way to participate in the Waiter There's Something In My..... Layered Cake

Check back in the end of October or beginning of November for a round up of this event.

I even used some of my skills from cake class and drew a carrot on the top of the cake, I can't decide if it looks like a carrot or a Chile what do you think? I love Peabodys Blog, but sometimes the pictures scare me, they look too pretty. I saw she had a carrot cake recipe, and knew this was my time to try one of her recipes. I am SO glad I did, it was so moist and the frosting was creamy, it was HEAVEN!!!!!

Solid Gold Carrot Cake (From: Tish Boyle’s the Cake Book)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp fresh nutmeg
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 cup canola oil I used 1/2 c. veggie oil, and 1/2 c. olive oil
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup whole milk I used 1% that's what I had
• 1 TBSP vanilla extract
• 2 TBSP finely chopped crystallized ginger I used ground ginger
• 3 cups firmly packed shredded carrots
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped I omitted

Preheat to 350F. Butter and flour two 9-inch pans or mini muffin pans.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together and set aside.

Beat eggs and sugars together on medium speed until well combined, about 2 minutes. At low speed, add the oil, melted butter, milk, vanilla, and ginger and mix until blended, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the flour mixture in three additions, mixing until just blended. Add the carrots and walnuts and mix until blended. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans, dividing it evenly.

Bake cakes for 25-30 minutes until they are dark golden brown. For mini cupcakes, it took 15 minutes.

Invert cakes onto racks and cool completely. Frost with your choice of frosting, I used the cream cheese recipe below.

Cream Cheese Frosting (From: Peabody)

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 pound confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl; beat well until smooth. Makes enough cream cheese frosting for a 2-layer cake.

I added a little milk to get to the consistency I wanted.

Me and My Cookbook

I found another blogging event, this was a super simple, and very fun one so I knew I had to participate right away. The hard part was choosing my favorite cookbook. I have many cookbooks and like all of them for different reasons. In the end I chose my trusty Betty Crocker New Edition Cookbook. My mom had one of these growing up, it is SO beat up because we always used it, this was the first thing I asked for when I moved out, and I believe my mom bought it for us for a house warming gift. I use this cookbook whenever I am in need of a tried and true recipe, I have yet to have a failed recipe from my trusty Betty Crocker.
Look here after August 24th to see everyones favorite cookbooks, maybe you will just be lucky enough to find a new favorite!

Black and White Carmel Brownies

I found out about the browniebabe of the month from Chelleys blog, after finish drooling over her delicious brownies I knew I wanted to participate. I am not very good at creating recipes, so I thought this was a GREAT improvement for me. I have also never made from scratch brownies, so I was really proud of myself.

Black and White Carmel Brownies (From: Myself)

Brownie (From: Allrecipes)

• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine the cocoa, melted butter, sugar, eggs, salt , flour and vanilla. Mix until well combined. It should be very thick and sticky.

Blondies (From: Bakingblonde)

• 8 T. butter, melted
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla or 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• pinch salt
• 1 c. flour

Mix melted butter with brown sugar-beat until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla. Add salt, stir in flour.

Carmel filling (From: Myself)

• 1 pkg. (10 oz) carmels unwrapped
• 1/3 c. evaporated milk

Heat caramels and remaining evaporated milk in small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until caramels are melted.

Preheat oven to 350, spray 9x13 inch pan with Pam or butter.

Layer 1/2 of brownie and half of blondie mixture in pan, then place carmel mixture on top. Top with remaining brownie, and then blondie mixture. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown around the top.

Root Beer Float

I found this blogging event and knew the perfect recipe to add to it, you can check out Whats For Lunch Honey's Blog for information.

While on our honeymoon the special drink of our resort was a alcoholic root beer float. It was soo good, I think I had one every night while on our honeymoon. I don't like the taste of alcohol so this works well because it just tastes like a root beer float. I found out what was in it and now make them at home. I haven't had one in forever. But we had a party on Friday and a decided it was time to try it again. It was just as good. And I got my best friend and her fiancee hooked on them as well.

Alcoholic Root beer Float (From: Myself)

• 1 can coke


• ice cubes


• 1 shot of Root Beer Schnapps


• 2 Tb. Half and half

Put 2 or 3 ice cubes in the cup, then pour in shot of schnapps.

Pour in coke, then add half and half. You can do more or less depending on your preference.

ENJOY!