New Favorite Soup!

I have discovered a love for this soup: Italian Chicken Soup

It is perfect- soupy, but hearty with the noodles and chicken and veggies. I particularly love that it has jalapenos in it because it gives it a tiny kick, but not too overpowering. We put parmesan cheese over the top, and mixed it all in so it was delicious and cheesy! Also, I just used half and half instead of cream, and I used canned diced tomatoes instead of whole ones. I love the little round pastas (I just found a small macaroni noodle pasta that wasn't curvy like normal macaroni).

Anyway, here is the recipe and her picture (I didn't take a picture of mine :( but it looked just like hers!)

Italian Chicken Soup

from The Pioneer Woman

1 box Ditalini pasta {I used the Barilla brand}

1 tbsp. olive oil

4 chicken breasts

8 cups chicken broth {this equals out to two big boxes of chicken broth}

1 medium onion, diced

2 green peppers, diced

2 stalks of celery, diced

2 fresh jalapenos, diced

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 can {28. oz} whole tomatoes, diced

2 cups heavy cream

1/3 cup olive oil

4 tbsp. minced fresh oregano

salt & pepper, to taste

Parmesan Cheese shavings, as desired

Sweet Potato Chicken Chili

Finally I made something! Well, I make food all of the time but this time it's something worth posting!

Sweet Potato Chicken Chili

Serves 5 and is supposedly fat burning. Woo hoo!

INGREDIENTS

1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 cloves garlic, minced

5 oz yellow onion, diced

1 ½ cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

10 oz precooked chicken breast

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp chili powder

1/8 tsp chipotle chili powder (to taste)

1 cup fresh or frozen corn

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Peel and dice sweet potatoes. Coat and toss cubed sweet potatoes with cooking spray. Spread evenly on a cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Remove pan from oven and let cool.

3. Coat large pan with cooking spray and heat over medium flame. Thinly slice onion and add to pan. Sauté onions until they are tender and start to brown. Add garlic and all seasonings. Cook for three minutes or until the mixture becomes fragrant.

4. Rinse and drain kidney beans. Pour about half of kidney beans in the blender and puree until smooth.

5. Add remaining ingredients to pan. Heat to near boiling, stirring often. Reduce heat to low and simmer while covered for 30 minutes.

NUTRITION FACTS (per serving)

Calories 251, Fat 2g, Saturated fat 0g, Cholesterol 52 mg, Sodium 627 mg, Carbohydrates 37g, Dietary fiber 7g, Sugars 7g, Protein 20g.

What I actually did (with my roommate's help) was add everything into the crock pot. Except we bake the sweet potato chunks, then added them in and cooked it for a half hour or so. We made it for my other roommates and my home teachers. As you can see, every one was excited to eat it!

It was so tasty (if I do say so myself) with the spices and the sweetness of the sweet potato. If you don't like sweet potatoes though, you can substitute them for regular ones. It just won't be as good in my opinion. :)

It's super easy and super tasty so try it!

Halloween Mini-Cupcakes!

I might have been a bit ambitious with these halloween cupcakes. I wanted mini cupcakes for sure- because they are so darling and then I can give most of them away! But 60 mini cupcakes....it was a little overwhelming. Plus I only have one mini cupcake pan so it was 5 batches in the oven! But I loved how they turned out. The pumpkins were my favorite- SO easy! The mummies were great too- I wish I had m&ms for the eyes, but I used chocolate chips. And last, the spiderwebs. I love the green...but I didn't have black and so my webs came out a weird grey/brown/icky color. Plus the green frosting got pretty hard before I did the spiderwebs, so they are kind of off looking. But overall, a fun experience, and delicious! Oh- did I mention I put zucchini in them? Healthy!...kind of. :)

Lesson Learned: Pie Crust

I have made exactly three pie crusts in my life, before this weekend. I couldn't figure out why everyone complained about pie crusts being finicky, because my three were perfect! Maybe not perfect, but they certainly were not failures. I used the same basic recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. But looking back, maybe the pie crusts were just okay, because I definitely don't remember them being fabulous compared to the actual pecan and cherry pies themselves.

So. This weekend I decided to make homemade chicken pot pie! With a real official top and bottom pie crust (man I love crust!). All I can say is...Epic Fail. The recipe I used called for like two cubes of butter- and Shenli and I don't need that! So I tried substituting some shortening (yah, because that's better for you. not.). In short, the pie crust wouldn't even roll out, was way too mushy and butter, so I ended up dropping spoonfuls of it onto the pot pie like it was biscuit dough! Then when it baked, it never browned, it got all floury and dry, and was basically just horrible.

What did I do wrong??? I started researching pie crusts, and I realized--I did everything wrong. Warm ingredients (my kitchen is so warm that my shortening is always almost liquid) and definitely over mixing. So I decided to give in and actually try a pie crust recipe the right way. Luckily, beef empanadas were on the menu this week!

So the day before, I made the pie dough. I used this wonderful recipe and it will be my go to recipe for savory crusts now! I tried to do everything perfectly. I froze the butter before, then cut it into little chunks. I washed my hands in cold water, and I made sure the water in the recipe was ice cold. I only mashed in the butter until I had little smaller-than-pea size butter balls (I read somewhere that pie dough isn't mixed together. It's just coating the butter in flour! Weird concept). I only kneaded the dough once with my palm and then let it "relax" in the fridge overnight.

The next day I took out the dough, floured up my work surface all nice, and rolled it out thin- rolling in only one direction. I read I'm supposed to roll one way, then turn the dough a quarter turn, roll some more, etc.

Man. Can I just say, AMAZING? Even Shenli noticed how good this dough was (I baked the empanadas in the oven so they turned nice and golden brown!). It was flaky, crisp, it tasted amazing, and it truly stole the show from the beef filling. This dough was PERFECT! The pictures are horrible, but I am officially converted to pie dough the right way. Doing it the night before made it much easier- and the relaxing in the fridge was just what it needed. WOW. I can't get over it. So flaky! Thank goodness Thanksgiving is almost here because I want to try my new found pie dough skills on apple pie, peach pie, pecan pie, cherry pie, everything! (except pumpkin. ew.) This was not just a lesson of pie dough though, this is a lesson to me to learn all I can about why recipes call for the strange methods they do!

Recipe Review: Egg Drop Soup

We are feeling a little sickly in our home this week, so I have been searching Pinterest all day long to find new soup ideas! Once we got sick of regular chicken and noodle and cream of mushroom, I have decided to try a few new ones--maybe a french onion, pasta fagioli, and we're having chili on Friday night for the Ward Halloween Party, so that'll be great!


I have never liked egg drop soup--but I'm also not sure if I've ever had it (can you tell I was a picky kid?) Just the name egg drop turned me off from ever doing more than just dipping my spoon in once or twice at a restaurant. But in my search for soups, this one sounded so warm and brothy- perfect for our sick bodies on a cold day. Plus I had all the ingredients on hand!


I wasn't as happy with this soup as I could have been. My main problem was that the soup wasn't the burning hot warm-your-whole-body-as-it-goes-down soup I had hoped for. By the time I served it (and maybe I could time this better next time) it was just warm because the egg gets poured in after it is taken off the heat. So that takes some time. And I wanted longer egg strands. Is that possible? Oh well, I really can't complain. We just had a dinner that took like 12 minutes to prepare and we have leftovers too!

Egg Drop Soup
from Gimme Some Oven

Ingredients:

• 4 cups good chicken broth
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 tsp. soy sauce
• 3-4 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
• 3 green onions, sliced thin
• 1/4 cup corn or creamed corn (optional)
• salt and white pepper to taste (I used about 1/4 tsp. each)

[We also added some shredded cooked chicken -Eliza]

Method:

Pour the chicken stock into a room-temperature pot, and whisk in the cornstarch until it is well-blended.  Add in the garlic, ginger and soy sauce.  Turn on the stove and heat over medium-high heat until boiling, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs in a small measuring cup or bowl.  (I find the measuring cup easier for pouring.)

Once the soup is boiling, turn off the heat.  Then while using one hand to continually stir the soup in one direction with a fork, slowly pour the whisked eggs into the soup.  (This will create the nice egg ribbons!)  Then gently stir in the sesame oil, green onions and corn (optional).  Season with white pepper (be careful) and salt (depending on your chicken broth, be generous).

Serve immediately.

Lesson Learned: Banana Oatmeal Cookies

It's pretty much a weekly thing that I buy too many bananas and end up with "ripe" ones (why are the black mushy ones called ripe?). So I am trying to branch out of the regular banana bread and try new banana creations! These low-fat banana oatmeal cookies from Skinny Taste sounded good from the moment I saw them. The only problem? Mine. are nothing. like the picture.

I've been trying to figure out why, because I actually tried to follow the recipe exactly! I didn't have any walnuts to put in however. So the only thing I can think of (which now I am pretty sure must be the culprit) is that I just mashed one full banana into the bowl instead of measuring the 1/4 cup it calls for. But hey- what was I going to do with extra banana? How am I supposed to know how much banana equals 1/4 cup? Why would a recipe call for only part of a banana??? I know...lame excuses.

As much as I know I should have measured the banana, that's not the lesson I learned (because I will never measure banana! I refuse!) My lesson is this: if I am uncertain about the consistency of the dough before I bake it, then only bake a few to test it out! The dough did seem pretty thin (and DELICIOUS if I do say so myself). But rather than test a few, I went ahead and baked a dozen! They turned out a little something like this:

Yes, those are flat, chewy, slightly-banana-y, almost cookies. They basically fall apart in your hands! So after I messed up those dozen, I added some more flower to the Shenli batch (aka the batch with chocolate chips!). They turned out slightly better.....

But how come neither of them look like the original picture!? I am just unhappy about this. I think I might have to crumble the flat ones up and use them as ice cream topping or mix in with my yogurt. Hmm...actually....not a bad idea..... And as for the second batch, I hope I put enough chocolate chips in them that Shenli will look past the other awful flaws!

Chewy Low Fat Banana Nut Oatmeal Cookies

(Skinny Taste)

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unpacked brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup mashed ripe banana
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups quick oats
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°; line two baking sheets with parchment paper or use a silpat.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

In a large bowl, with a mixer, cream together the butter and the sugars on medium speed.  

Add the egg, followed by the mashed banana and vanilla extract.

Working by hand, stir in the flour mixture and the oats until just combined and no streaks of flour remain; stir in the chopped walnuts.

Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of the dough onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until cookies become light brown at the edges.

Let cool on baking sheet for 3 or 4 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container so you don't eat them all in one sitting!

Zucchini Muffins: My Experiment!

I have been researching like crazy how to substitute "healthy" ingredients into my foods. Some recipes I see are just crazy- black bean brownies? cookies without any flour, eggs, butter, or sugar? And what the heck is agave nectar? But I have also been impressed that I can cut out the butter or sugar in my recipes with simple substitutions like apple sauce and honey!

So I've made these muffins before - they are AMAZING. Moist, delicate, the zucchini gives them some depth while the lemon zest and cinnamon give a lightness of flavor. So I decided this was a good and simple recipe to try to make healthy! (Also, we just got a zucchini about 2 feet long from my sister. Yay for zucchini brownies, oatmeal cookies, muffins--anything not to use the zucchini for its real purpose!)

(photo by Eat Cake for Dinner)

When I told Shenli about my idea, he said "Wow that's great! Because I don't like apple sauce, you don't like honey, and we both hate zucchini!" Okay, so in theory, none of these ingredients are really loved at our house. But somehow, put together, they are all AMAZING! (Shenli still didn't like the muffins. But what can I say- I should have dipped them in chocolate if I really wanted his attention.)

I was afraid to substitute all the sugar for honey, because I didn't know how the batter would behave. It turned out well! Here is my (my very first!) recipe below. I had to add some more oatmeal to make the batter thicker, so it's not quite a perfect halving of the original recipe.

Healthy Oatmeal Zucchini Muffins
(adapted from Eat Cake for Dinner)

1 cup Flour (next time I might try some whole wheat in there!)

3/4 cup Oatmeal

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup honey

1 egg

1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce

1 tsp. vanilla

zest from 1/2-1 lemon

1 1/2 c. grated un-peeled zucchini

Whisk together, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; set aside.  In a separate bowl, stir together honey, sugar, egg, and apple sauce.  Add vanilla, lemon zest, and shredded zucchini. Mix together the dry and wet ingredients and stir just until combined. Add more oatmeal or flour if needed until batter becomes pretty thick.  Spray mini muffin pan with cooking spray (or use melted butter). Drop spoonfuls of batter into each muffin cup and fill to the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-16 minutes (the original recipe says 21-23 minutes for regular muffins if you want that instead).  Muffins will look very shiny on the top, but will still be done as long as the top is no longer doughy.

Enjoy! I looked it up online and I believe they are about 70 calories apiece, and my recipe made 21 mini muffins. They are slightly gummy for muffins- I think it might be the honey or the apple sauce. But they are delicious and filling and my first recipe adaptation was a success! I don't know if I'm quite up for black bean brownies yet, but the apple sauce instead of butter idea is my new favorite friend!