Chicken Lentil Stew

I thought a dark picture would look mysterious and cozy, but I'm afraid it just looks like a poor photo. I had to share anyway because this soup is AMAZING! I made this for Sunday dinner and then we had the leftovers for lunch throughout the week. It is so filling and very healthy. A must try healthy comfort food for the fall/winter months.

What you need:

1 rotisserie chicken (my go-to for soups and stews)
4 carrots peeled
4 stalks of celery
1 medium yellow onion
Several cloves of garlic (depends on your taste- I always put a bunch)
1 tablespoon of oil (I use olive oil but vegetable oil will do fine)
1 tablespoon of butter (although I usually just use more vegetable oil and no butter)
1 bag of lentils
1 small can of roasted tomatoes
1 carton low sodium chicken stalk
salt
pepper
marjoram
sage

What you do:

Make a soup stater (mirepoix) by chopping the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic and sautéing them in the oil/butter with salt and pepper until tender.

While the vegetables are sautéing, pick apart the rotisserie chicken and put the meat into a large pot.

Add the vegetables and the chicken stalk to the pot along with the lentils, tomatoes, and spices. Bring to a boil, then cover and continue to cook on low-medium heat for about a half hour or until the lentils are tender. Once done, remove the pot from the stove and use and immersion blender in the stew for about 30 seconds to a minute. You don't want everything blended, just some of the stew to give it that stew-like consistency. After that, keep warm on the stove until you want to serve. A nice hearty wheat bread goes well with this. Store the leftovers and enjoy for the week!

Left-Over Cake?

When I made that delicious dark chocolate Hershey's cake, I only had two 8-inch round pans, rather than 9-inch ones, so I made a small loaf cake as well. I realized that I should do this more often for two reasons: The obvious reason and the less-obvious reason. The obvious reason is this:

It's a delicious snack!

The less-obvious reason is that it allowed me to avoid the problem I run into with cakes all the time: I can't taste them before hand to make sure they aren't terrible! True, I can taste the part I cut off from the bottom layer to even it out, but with this cake I actually did not need to even the bottom layer out. I was also able to taste multiple bites with the frosting at various stages of making it. That allowed me to get just the taste I was looking for (as much of a burden as eating bites of cake and frosting is!). Point being, if you have extra batter, make and extra cake ;)

Dark Chocolate Cake with Caramel Frosting

A birthday is simply not a birthday without birthday cake- everyone knows that! So, for my beautiful mother's birthday this weekend, I decided to make her a cake. She likes chocolate (who doesn't!) and I happened to have some Hershey's dark chocolate cocoa powder, so I used the chocolate cake recipe on the back of the cocoa powder container with a little twist. My husband said it was the best chocolate cake he has ever had in his life, and I think that is something worth bragging about :)

I wanted something other than the usual buttercream frosting, and something fall-like but not pumpkin, so I went with caramel. It was incredibly rich and tasty, plus it was easy to spread and shape on the cake. To add a little crunch, I crumbled some caramel covered shortbread cookies and spread them between the two layers. This is certainly not a light dessert, but it is delicious and comforting. 

Here's how to do it:

What you need:

Again, I mostly followed the cake recipe for Hershey's "Especially Dark" Chocolate Cake, on the back of the cocoa carton.

Cake:

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

*my additions*
1 to 2 tbs cinnamon
1-2 tsp chili powder

Frosting:

I found this recipe on Pinterest and actually did not tweak it at all- it is amazing as is! Here is the link Caramel Frosting I am not going to repost the ingredients or directions, since they are on this website.

Filling:

1 package store brand caramel covered shortbread cookies (ginger snaps would be great, as would Oreos, animal crackers, or anything you like!)

What to do:

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 2 9-inch round baking pans (I used two 8 inch and made a little loaf as well). 

Mix sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and chili powder in a large bowl. 

Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla- beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Stir in boiling water. Pour batter into pans. 

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck into the center comes out clean.

Cool completely on wire racks. 

In a large ziplock bag, crush cookies into tiny crumbles. 

Once the cakes are completely cooled, spread a thin layer of frosting on the top of one and spread the cookie crumbles all over. If the center of the cakes raised significantly higher than the edges, you may want to even off one of the cakes by cutting the top so that when you place the second cake on top, it touches all the way around. 

Place the second cake on top of the first and frost the cake as usual. This frosting is very rich and the cake should be very moist, so you do not need a ton of frosting. I love frosting this cake because the consistency of the frosting was so easy to work with. I made my pattern by pressing the edge of my bent icing knife in lines along the outside of the cake and in no particular pattern on the top of the cake. 

Then I topped it off by writing a birthday message. I was going to decorate more, but I thought simple was best for this one. 

Everyone loved the cake, but almost no one could finish it because it was so rich! One thing I might try next time is using the caramel icing for the filling and regular buttercream for the rest. I'd definitely do it this way again, though! Enjoy!

Help! I ran out of coffee filters!

picture

This tip save my life! Well, that may be a little dramatic, but if you need caffeine in the morning as much as I do, I'm sure you understand.

My husband and I used to be french press people, until we discovered the Aero Press, that is. It makes an incredible cup of coffee with several benefits! Read about it here and find out where to purchase one here (FYI: I don't work for the company that makes them, nor am I being compensated in any way- I just really love this product!).

The one down side to the aero press, that we did not experience with the french press, is that we need filters. They are not at all a hassle to use, nor are they expensive. The only problem with them is running out of them. We have to order filters for the Aeropress online because we cannot find a store that sells them. A single package comes with plenty, but we can be a bit flighty, so by the time we remember to order them we are usually already out. So, on mornings such as this, I run into the terrifying problem of being without a filter. The idea of using a paper towel freaks me out, especially after researching it a bit and finding out that the chemicals and adhesives from the paper towel can get into the coffee through brewing. Gross! After a little more research I discovered the life-saving tip. Tea bags!

All I did was carefully open a tea bag and empty the leaves out. Then I fit the open bag in the space the filter would go and made my coffee normally. It worked perfectly! If you use a regular coffee pot you can do this with a couple more tea bags and simply layer them where the filter would go. I was worried that I would get the flavor of the tea in my drink (especially because it was peppermint, which can be very strong) but I did not taste anything but delicious, dark coffee. I just had to share this method. Hopefully, this post will safe many more of you from a coffee-less mornings due to a lack of coffee filters :)

Oh, also, I do not advise wasting tea- you could save the leaves and use them in a metal strainer. I did throw the leaves away but, personally, I'm willing to sacrifice tea for coffee. I would not do it on a regular basis, however. Filters are being ordered today!

Healthy Apple-Pumpkin Oatmeal

This was breakfast this morning! It's not pancakes, but it's still pretty delicious and very fall. I actually just modified a recipe I have in a low-calorie cookbook. It uses apple juice instead of cider and dried apples instead of fresh. That's really the only difference, so thank you Better Homes and Gardens!

What you need:

4 peeled, diced apples

1/2 can pumpkin

1 1/3 cup water

2/3 cup apple cider

1 1/4 cup quick cooking oats

1 tbs brown sugar

cinnamon

nutmeg

ginger

Plain Greek Yogurt

Honey

What you do:

Boil the apples, pumpkin, water, and cider.

In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients (besides the yogurt). add the spices according to your tastes. I like a lot of cinnamon! Add this combination to the boiling ingredients. 

Cook and stir for one minute. That's it for the oatmeal! What's with the yogurt you ask? Well, if you want, you can serve it over yogurt. I usually buy plain greek yogurt (because I use it as sour cream), so I add some honey to sweeten it, but this oatmeal is sweet enough that you may not want the honey. Add according to preference, of course. Enjoy your healthy breakfast :)

Quick and Easy Ginger Stir Fry

My husband always enjoys what I make for dinner and, especially in the first month of cooking for the two of us, I usually try to make something that will really impress him. This meal, which was not planned at all and thrown together in about ten minutes, was probably the one he has been the most excited about yet. I call it my Quick and Easy Ginger Stir Fry.

I had planned a meal for the night, but Derek ended up having a meeting so I decided I would just throw something easy together. Of course, when I went to the local market across the street, i got inspired to create something a little bit more interesting than I was originally planning (it was so boring that I can't even remember what it was!). The main inspiration for the dish was the bag of dry noodles I found. I have never cooked them before and love trying new things, so I grabbed them along with a broccoli cole slaw mix and a package of mixed mushrooms and I headed home. 

These are the ingredients I used for the sauce, which I made over the meal. It's just soy sauce (I use lite in order to cut out some of the sodium), ground ginger, curry powder, chili powder, onion powder (of course fresh onion would be great in this!), and some lemon juice.

What's great about this dish is that, aside from cooking the noodles, everything can be done in one pot. 

I also found a lot of recipes for making your own noodles from scratch. I think I'm definitely going to try that next time!

What you need:

1/2 package of egg noodles (I cooked the whole package but left some out because it would have been too much for the amount of vegetables and sauce I had. Just play with it to see what works for you.)

1 package broccoli cole slaw mix

1 package mixed mushrooms (Throw in whatever veggies you want- anything would work! I highly recommend the mushroom, though.)

garlic

onion powder (or fresh onion)

lite soy sauce

ground ginger

cumin

chili powder 

lemon juice

How to do it:

Cook your egg noodles (I just threw mine in some boiling water for a couple of minutes just to soften them up, but they cook in the pan.)

In a large frying pan or sauce pan, sauté some garlic in about a tablespoon of vegetable oil (I love garlic, so the more the better for me. I used probably a couple spoonfuls of chopped garlic, but adjust to your liking.). 

After about a minute add the mushrooms and the broccoli mix. You'll want this mixture to sauté for a bit, until the mushrooms start to get tender but not floppy. 

While this is cooking, you can add in the spices. I'm generous with the onion powder. If it were a fresh onion I'd put a whole small one in or half of a large one, so I use between 5-8 strong shakes of the powder. For the other spices, you really want to play with what you like. I use plenty more cumin than chili powder and, while I want the ginger flavor to come through strongly, the spice is much more potent than some other spices, so I can use less and still get a great flavor. I usually cover the top of the food with spices and then mix it all in. 

After that, mix the noodles in. 

Now it's time to add the sauce sauce. Make sure you have enough to create a light sauce. You can really play with what you like here. I like a more subtle soy sauce flavor than Derek does, so he adds some more on after I serve it. 

The last thing you want to add is just a hint of lemon. 

Mix it up and taste it, then modify whatever you think needs modification. More ginger? More onion? Whatever works for you. 

This meal really only takes about 10 minutes, if that, so it is a great option for a quick dinner or lunch. Next time, I definitely want to add a protein. Beef or shrimp would probably be good, but really any meat would work. Have fun! Oh and enjoy with a glass of wine, of course :)

Fall Wedding Shower Basket

Fall is definitely close by! Along with all the usual joys of fall (apple picking, leaves changing, pumpkin spice lattes, etc.), this fall will also include my sister's wedding. With the wedding less than two months away, we are getting very excited. A couple of weekends ago the bridesmaids and wonderful mother-of-the-bride threw my sister a movie-themed wedding shower. Liz, my sister, is a huge movie fan, so we tried to incorporate her favorite movies into the shower. I will post shower pictures soon, but today I wanted to share with you the fall basket my mom and I put together for the couple.

For my wedding shower (only four months ago!) my mom and sister gave me an "Italy Basket" (our honeymoon was in Italy) filled with things like Bath-and-Body Works Italian scented candles and soaps and a Moka Pot for espresso with a couple of espresso mugs. Since my sister is getting married in the fall, we decided we would make her a fall basket.

First of all, the basket itself is part of the gift. It will make a great laundry basket. What you can't see at the bottom of the basket are some pieces of the Lemax Spooky Town Collection from Michael's. On top of that, we have some fall-scented soaps from bath and body works, and the scarecrow in the front is an oven-mit (so cute!). Then we have these:

I got this idea from Pinterest. It's just orange yarn (I wrapped it around a balled up paper towel) with pine cones on top. The pinecones were actually from a bag of potpourri, which smelled like cinnamon- these two bits from it alone made the whole basket smell delicious!

The other thing we have in there are mugs my mom and I painted for Liz and her fiancé Andy. If you have not painted pottery before, it's a lot of fun and very relaxing.

Finally, we put some jars of homemade hot chocolate in the mugs.

"His" is chocolate-peanut butter hot chocolate (I added reese's chips- and that is probably the only time I will have peanut butter in my kitchen. As delicious as it is, I am sadly allergic) and "Hers" is pumpkin spice hot chocolate. 

We put all of this fall fun together in the basket, threw in some tissue paper, and set it out. She loved it!! Baskets are such a fun way to give a personalized gift to someone special. The possibilities are endless!

R.I.P Seamus Heaney

I am currently teaching my tenth grade literature class Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf. Today, in honor of this brilliant writer's life, I shared one of his poems with my class. This poem, actually, that I found here http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/177017:

Digging

BY SEAMUS HEANEY

Between my finger and my thumb   

The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.

Under my window, a clean rasping sound   

When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:   

My father, digging. I look down

Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds   

Bends low, comes up twenty years away   

Stooping in rhythm through potato drills   

Where he was digging.

The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft   

Against the inside knee was levered firmly.

He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep

To scatter new potatoes that we picked,

Loving their cool hardness in our hands.

By God, the old man could handle a spade.   

Just like his old man.

My grandfather cut more turf in a day

Than any other man on Toner’s bog.

Once I carried him milk in a bottle

Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up

To drink it, then fell to right away

Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods

Over his shoulder, going down and down

For the good turf. Digging.

The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap

Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge

Through living roots awaken in my head.

But I’ve no spade to follow men like them.

Between my finger and my thumb

The squat pen rests.

I’ll dig with it.

I also shared some articles I found about his funeral. The articles explained that people from all walks of life turned out to celebrate this man. I wanted my students to see that people are always going to be moved by beauty and that poetry is still very much alive and very much beloved by people all around the world. We are privileged to have the opportunity to study such beauty. This event brings hope that, even though there seems to be a lot of, what I would call, ugly entertainment, people are always going to be attracted to true beauty. This writing is talent. This is beauty. And beauty will survive.

Sort of Sour Cream and Onion Cauliflower Casserole

I wanted to get a picture of the completed casserole, but it was so good that we ate it before we got the picture!

I wouldn't call this a healthy meal, but I would definitely call it a healthy alternative that does not sacrifice flavor. Since we had a couple of pieces of leftover pizza to get rid of (and who's good after just one piece of pizza?!), I figured I would make a side dish. Most of my ideas for things like this come out of a desire to use the things I already have kicking around the kitchen and to spend the least amount of money

What's in it?

1 package of frozen cauliflower (cheap and easy- some nights that's the best combo for dinner)

1 package shredded parmesan cheese

32 oz container of plain Greek yogurt

Small package french fried onions (OK so they aren't a health food, but there isn't much in them and they make a nice topper)

garlic powder

onion powder

You will also need:

A small to medium sized casserole dish (if it was clean, I would have used a smaller dish than the one pictured)

oven pre-heated to 375

When I said quick and easy for this recipe, I really meant it! All you do is steam your cauliflower according to what you have. For instance, I used frozen cauliflower so I just followed the directions on the package (microwave in the casserole dish with 2 tbs water for 8ish minutes). This would also be great if you need to get rid of some fresh cauliflower -I love fresh vegetables but frozen vegetables are great on a budget and I have felt better about eating them since I discovered this link: Eating Well -Fresh vs Frozen

Next I mashed the cauliflower with an abundant amount of Greek yogurt. OK this is one of the greatest things I have learned: plain Greek yogurt tastes just like sour cream in food. I love sour cream but I always feel guilty eating it. If I replace it with plain greek yogurt (which I always do!) I am going from unhealthy to healthy because this stuff is packed with protein! Try it for yourself- it definitely works for me, but not all taste buds are created equal.

Perhaps you noticed that I am mashing my cauliflower with a fork. We got so many amazing things for our wedding, but we keep forgetting we did not get a potato masher. I imagine that would work better, so go ahead and use that if you have one. If not, a fork does the trick with a little extra effort.

When you've mashed and mixed, add about a 1/3 to a 1/2 cup of shredded parmesan cheese and a generous amount of garlic powder and onion powder. I always prefer fresh garlic and onion, but if time is tight, the powders work well. Mix it all up and spread evenly across the bottom of the dish.

Cover the top with french fried onions and pop in the oven for 5-8 minutes, until the cheese is melted.

This is definitely not filling enough for a full meal, but it's great if you need something cheesy, creamy, crunchy, and flavorful, with some healthy benefits! Enjoy!

Overview:

Steam Cauliflower

Mash with Greek yogurt

Add garlic and onion powder

Add parmesan cheese

Mix and spread evenly

cover top with french fried onions

bake for  5-8 minutes at 375

Serve and enjoy!