Broccoli-Cheddar Soup Bread Bowl

Broccoli cheddar soup is definitely one of my favorite go-to soups. It is relatively easy and quick to make, and I almost always have frozen broccoli on hand. I've tried several ways, adding and taking out ingredients as I had them available, but this batch was the best by far. It was thick, smooth, and creamy, with a perfect balance of flavors. I had some large bread rolls so I hollowed them out to use as bread bowls, and it was a perfect meal. Try it yourself!

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken stock

1 cup milk

1 cup frozen broccoli florets

1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt

1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar

3-4 tbsp butter/margerine

Salt & black pepper

Step 1: In a sauce pot, bring butter, chicken stock and milk to a simmer. Cook the broccoli for 5-10 minutes, until heated through and soft.

Step 2: In a blender, combine the soup, spices, cheese, and sour cream. [You can use an immersion blender if you're fancy enough to have one] Reserve 1 cup if you want broccoli chunks in the finished soup. Blend until smooth and return to the pot. Heat through, about 5 minutes.

Step 3: Hollow out a large round bread roll by cutting at an angle with a sharp knife all along the edges. Pull the middle out, and fill with hot soup. Sprinkle a little cheddar on top, and enjoy!

This soup was so good I had to have two bowls. Luckily the bread roll was big enough that I had plenty left for dipping. If you'd like to make this vegetarian soup vegan, just omit the milk and cheese, maybe use some vegan cheese product instead.

What's your favorite soup to eat in a bread bowl?

Vegetarian Pepper Pizza with Acorn Squash Sauce

Pizza is popular in nearly every country and among all age groups. Who can resist a chewy doughy crust, tangy or creamy sauce, and toppings to make your mouth water? With infinite variations, pizza can range the gamut from a whole-grain & veggie-packed near-health-food to an unapologetic grease-laden diet disaster. Everyone has their own favorite topping and style.

Of course most people know that pizza is native to Italy. The History Channel website wrote up a nice article about the history of pizza you should check out for more information. The city of Naples, founded in 600 B.C., was home in the 18th & 19th centuries to a large working-class poor population. As such, they needed food which was cheap and easy to eat quickly. Flat bread baked with various toppings such as tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and cheese, met this need. However, pizza did not catch on worldwide until the late 1940s.

Italian immigrants to America brought these recipes with them when they immigrated in search of jobs. Quickly, the smells and tastes of these flat breads began to grow in popularity, and local custom varieties began springing up. Toppings branched out from the typical tomato, basil, cheese, or anchovies and grew to include things like pineapple, BBQ chicken, bacon, and even dessert pizzas. Chicago became known for its "deep-dish" pizza with inches-thick crust, while New York City style meant thin crust pies with a slice bigger than your face. Chains spring up and now popular American-founded brands are represented in over 60 countries worldwide. 

This pizza I came up with was made with a bare minimum of ingredients, the dough does not need time to rise, and I packed in the veggies. The acorn squash hidden in the sauce makes it a bit sweeter than I'm used to, which I didn't mind. But if it's too much, try adding tomato paste and olive oil rather than diced tomatoes. And as always, don't be afraid to experiment! Have some asparagus left in the fridge? Ran out of mozzarella but have some blue cheese? Want to spice it up with jalapenos? Go for it!

Ingredients:

DOUGH

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp salt

1 1/2 cup warm water

SAUCE

1 can diced tomatoes

1 acorn squash

Dash Italian seasonings

Dash garlic salt

TOPPINGS

1/2 cup spinach

1/2 jar roasted red peppers

Handful banana pepper rings

~2/3 cup mozzarella cheese

Step 1: Cut the squash in half and microwave 5 minutes, cut side up, with water in it. Flip and microwave another 5 minutes. Repeat until the squash is fork-tender and peels easily.

Step 2: In a blender, combine the can of tomatoes (with juice) and squash. Blend until it makes a smooth puree. Add spices here.

Step 3: In a large bowl, mix the dough ingredients. If too stiff, add more water or olive oil. If too wet or sticky, add extra flour. Sprinkle some flour on a flat surface and roll the dough out. Use your hands to shape it into a circle.

Step 4: Spread the sauce over the dough, leaving about 1 inch around the edges for crust. Layer on the toppings.

Step 5: Cover it all in cheese. You can substitute vegan cheese or just leave it off for a vegan pie.

Step 6: Bake on a pizza pan or cookie sheet at 350 for about 40 minutes, or until golden brown and bubbly.

Let it cool on a rack if you can wait that long!

Thanks Italy! 

What's your favorite kind of pizza?

Easy Halloween Themed Treats (no tricks!)

Halloween is easily one of my favorite holidays. I love to dress up, I love cooking and eating, I love candy (who doesn't?!?) and I love throwing parties. And I have a confession: I'm in my mid-twenties, and I went trick-or-treating last year. Don't judge just because you're jealous. Never say no to free candy (unless given to you by a creepy stranger. Wait a minute...)

This year I decided to throw a Halloween party for some friends, and began planning far in advance. I love cute themed dishes, and picked some of the simplest sounding ones. I made a big list of what I thought was the best ideas, and didn't really keep any recipes, I just made it like I thought it should be made. But if you're the type who wants a list and steps to follow, then continue reading below and enjoy! If you have a favorite Halloween or fall-themed dish, please share in the comments! (Or email me with "Halloween treat" in the subject heading). The one I think sounds tastiest may appear on a future post!

 Mystery Shots
These were test tubes filled with all sorts of delicious and terrifying ingredients! I had coffee, soy sauce, sriracha, dish soap, eggnog, orange juice, apple juice, grape juice, cranberry juice, water, rum, vodka, juiced carrot, cabbage or bell pepper. Obviously if the party involves kids don't use alcohol and maybe not as many gross ones. But get creative, you can put in whatever you want! And use food coloring to hide the natural color of things, it keep them guessing.

 Blood & Guts Potato Skins
Wash as many potatoes as you'll have guests and cut potatoes in half. Spray a baking pan and bake cut-side down at 350 for about an hour. Scoop out the cooked insides and place in a bowl. Add a can of tomato sauce and salsa until stuffing is reddish and goopy. The salsa is supposed to make it look like chunks of gore. Re-fill the skins and bake another 10-15 minutes, serve. I added some refried beans to some, thinking it looked kind of like mud.

 String Cheese Severed Fingers
Cut string cheese in half, use a knife to carve knuckles about halfway down. Make a slice half an inch from the edge, and insert a slivered almond as the 'nail'.

 Mummy Dogs
By far the most adorable thing, and likely the only way I'll ever make pigs in a blanket from now on. Cut hot dogs in half. Unroll a tube of crescent dough and make half inch slices. Wrap a small piece around the top, and a larger piece around the bottom 2/3. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown. Use mustard or ketchup to draw eyes.

 Monster Wedges
Cut unpeeled, washed apples into quarters such that they can still stand alone. Remove the seeds and stem. Cut another small wedge halfway down, insert slivered almonds randomly for teeth. Use whatever candy and either syrup or cream cheese or peanut butter to stick on eyes.

 Severed Hand ice cubes
For these, you need some gloves and some time. Fill gloves with water and tie well, put in freezer for several hours. When it's floating in your beverage, they look like severed hands. I used cranberry juice to make a red, 'bloody' one, you can use food coloring in the water for any color.

 On the topic of beverages, dry ice is definitely worth investing in! It was only $1.29 per pound at my local grocery store, and 5 pounds was plenty to last the whole night, throwing in small pieces as they evaporated. It bubbles and smokes, and causes real 'cauldron' noises! People of all ages are guaranteed to be fascinated by this.

Orange and Black Fruit Kebabs with Toffee Dip
Alternate chopped cantaloupe with blackberries and blueberries to create colorful skewers. The dip is 1 package cream cheese, softened at room temperature, 1 tsp cinnamon and nutmeg, 1/4 cup coffee creamer in some holiday flavor (caramel, apple, toffee, pumpkin, etc) and 3/4 cup brown sugar. Mix well, and sprinkle toffee bits over top. You could also drizzle on caramel, mix in a tub of whipped cream, or mix toffee or chocolate into the dip. Party-goers said this should be eaten with a spoon!

Dirt Cake
Make a package or 2 of chocolate pudding and refrigerate. Crush up a handful of Oreos in a plastic bag with a rolling pin or your fist and sprinkle on top as the 'dirt'. Add gummy worms and viola! A dessert no kid (or grown-up) can resist. You can get creative and add mini tombstones, trees, ghosts etc to look like a real graveyard too.


Doritos Pumpkin Cheese Ball
Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of this, but trust me when I say it is adorable! Mix 2 packs cream cheese, softened, with onion soup mix or dried onion, 1/4 cup sour cream and 2 tbsp ranch dressing. Make it into a ball, roll it in mashed-up doritos chips, wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least an hour before serving. Use the stem of a green bell pepper as the pumpkin top.

 Have a spook-tacular Halloween!

Broccoli cheddar rice

Everyone has days when they just don't know what to make with dinner. Maybe you have a perfect roast in the crock pot, or stopped on the way home for burger meat but don't know what to go with it. This is a recipe for one of my go-to side dishes, broccoli cheddar rice. A while back I posted on how to make it in a slow cooker, now I'll tell you it can also be done in the oven! This was perfect because I had a whole chicken roasting in the oven, so I just whipped this up and popped it in there with it. Super simple, filling and tasty.

Ingredients:
1 cup rice
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1 cup broccoli florets
About 3 tbsp butter/margerine
Garlic salt

I don't know why it won't let me flip the photo. I tried uploading it four times...

Step 1: Into an oven-safe dish (small-ish, or double/triple the recipe and use larger) pour 1 cup water, 1 cup milk and 1 cup rice. Mix it up well. Add a few tbsp margarine, broccoli and cheese on top.

 Step 2: Pop it in the oven at 350-375 for about 20-30 minutes (depends on the temp. I had it at 375 for the chicken so it only needed about 21 minutes to cook fully).

Full meal with the chicken, broccoli cheddar rice and candied carrots.

Cheeseburger Mac

This classic student-loved recipe is still delicious as an "adult", though you can fancy it up with different cheeses and noodle shapes if you want. Super simple to make yet very filling. It's like macaroni & cheese only beefier.

Ingredients:
1 pound of macaroni
2 cups of cheese (any kind, shredded or cubed)
1 pound of ground beef
1 cup of milk

Step 1: Boil the macaroni for about 7 minutes, until al dente. Meanwhile, brown the ground beef and drain the fat.

 Step 2: Drain the pasta, add it back to the pan. Add in the cheese and milk, heat until the cheese melts, stirring often so the cheese doesn't burn to the bottom of the pan. Add the beef back in, mix well.

I used half cheddar and half pepper jack cheese, so it was a little tangy. I'd recommend trying it. You can use any kind of cheese and noodle shape you want, and even add veggies if you're feeling crazy.

Breakfast Pitas

A friend had bought several wheat pitas and didn't want them all so she gave me a few. Being that I was moving in three days and didn't have much food left in the fridge, I used up the rest of my eggs to make breakfast pitas! So between this post, my breakfast strata, country-style skillet and short cut, you have no excuse to not be well-fed in the mornings!

Ingredients:
1 wheat pita
2 eggs
1 tbsp sriracha
1/4 cup shredded cheese

Step 1: Break the eggs into a sprayed frying pan and cook until whites harden. Flip and cook on the other side another 2 minutes.
Step 2: Cut one half of the pita open to create a pocket. Stuff the cheese into it, and then the cooked egg on top.
Step 3: Squeeze on a little bit of sriracha (or Tabasco, or salsa, whatever). Then fold one open end over, rolling the pita into a little football-shaped taco. Enjoy!

The nice thing about pitas is that they are portable, and more spill-proof than burritos, which tend to leak out the end.

Breakfast Strata

This breakfast strata is filling, delicious, cheap and surprisingly easy and customizable. All your typical breakfast favorites make an appearance: eggs, milk, bread, cheese. Then you add in some breakfast meats if that's your thing (bacon, sausage, ham) and/or some vegetables if you like that sorta stuff (spinach, onion, peppers, asparagus), bake it up nice and warm and gooey and enjoy! Whatever you like and have on hand can be mixed in. This turned out divine!

Ingredients:
6-8 eggs, lightly beaten
2 slices bread
1-2 cups cheese (cubed, sliced or shredded)
1/4 cup milk
4 slices ham (or bacon or crumbled sausage)
1/2 cup chopped spinach

Step 1: Beat the eggs and add the milk, mix well. Lay the bread in a sprayed 8x8 oven safe pan.

Step 2: Layer the meat, veggies and cheese on top of the bread.

Step 3: Pour the eggs over top.

Step 4: Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes, until the eggs are fully cooked. Let it cool a few minutes, cut into pieces and enjoy!

Tastes even better than it looks, which is pretty darn good!

The bread is slightly mushy but holds texture, and the flavor combination was just perfect. This can easily be vegetarian, but it's just not the same without eggs so I'm not sure if it can be vegan. Maybe a tofu egg substitute? I'll have to dabble more in vegan cooking in the future.

Faster breakfast skillet: Corned beef hash & eggs

This is the short-cut version of my breakfast skillet recipe. Because sometimes we have an extra 10 minutes in the morning, but not 30. By using canned beef & potatoes you eliminate the time needed to dice up and pre-cook the potato.

Ingredients:
1 can corned beef hash
2 eggs

sprinkle shredded cheese

 Step 1: Open the can and put it in a frying pan. Doesn't that look tempting? Haha... but we will eat it anyways!

 Cook the beef and potatoes about 5 minutes, until the potatoes start to crisp and turn brown. Put half the mixture into a bowl and save the other half.

 Step 2: In the same pan, spray with cooking spray and crack 2 eggs. Cook a minute until the whites harden. Flip the eggs and cook on the other side. If you like runny yolks, you can cook just a minute and place on top of your beef hash. I like my yolks cooked through so I left it in the pan about 5 minutes total.

 Step 3: Slide the eggs on top of the hash and sprinkle on some cheese if you like.

I'm sure the health level of this is questionable at best, but you can't beat it for a hearty, stick-to-your-ribs breakfast in only 10 minutes!

Picnic favorite: 9-layer Taco Dip

I'm going to a park to play volleyball with some friends, and we will grill and have a picnic afterwards. Everyone brings something to share. I wanted to make something different from your typical hot dogs and chips type food, and anything taco-related is always a hit, so this is what I came up with. Since I already had the majority of ingredients, only needed to buy the lettuce and tomato, this was super cheap. Even if I had to re-buy everything, for a party of 10 or so people this is a cheap side/dip. It is nearly filling enough to count as a meal!

Ingredients.
1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup taco seasoning
8 oz cream cheese
8 oz sour cream
1 can refried beans
1/4 cup salsa
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1/2 ripe tomato
1/4 head of lettuce, shredded (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup sliced black olives

Step 1: Brown the ground beef in a skillet. While cooking, layer the cream cheese on the bottom of an 8x8 pan with a spoon.

 Step 2: Spread the sour cream on top of the cream cheese. Now you have 2 layers of cheesy goodness to build your mexi-masterpiece on top of.

 Step 3: Open the refried beans and mix it up in the can. You can heat this first, I just scooped it right out of the can and layered it on.

 That's 3 if you're counting.

 Step 3: Once beef is cooked, add the taco seasoning and 1/4 cup water and cook until the water boils off. The beef should now smell tangy and reminiscent of Taco Bell. Pour that over the beans and spread evenly.

 Step 4: Add as much salsa as you like on top of the beef. I just put about 1/4 cup since I'm adding real tomato as well.

 Step 5: Add a healthy handful of shredded cheddar or whatever type of cheese you like. We're up to 6 layers now...

 Step 6: Cut the lettuce into small strips and cover the cheese with crunchy green goodness.

 Step 7: Dice up a big fresh red tomato into small chunks and add those on top.

 Step 8: Sprinkle the sliced black olives on top to complete the pretty picture.

And there you have it, 9 layers of tasty chip-read dip! You can of course omit any layers you don't particularly like, and it's also an option to toss this in the oven or microwave for a few minutes after the cheese layer to warm up the meat/beans/cheeses before topping with the fresh veggies if you like it warm.