Leftover Soup

When the temperature outside drops below 50, I just want to become a recluse.

I don't want to go outside for ANYTHING.  I would rather stay inside and scrounge up some food, instead of going out to get something. Unless that something is soup...

I love soup.

Like really, I LOVE it.  I would brave the coldest ice storm, as long as I knew there would be soup once I got inside.  I enjoy all kinds of soup -- chicken noodle, vegetable, chili.

So much so, that over Thanksgiving break Mom told me that I was not allowed to make anymore soup.  Now that I am back at school, though, I can make as much soup as I want.

And I think I will... This one uses leftover turkey and various vegetables from Thanksgiving to make a delicious, spicy, and warming soup....

Leftover Soup
serves 4 - 6, depending on how much you love soup...

2 cups cooked, chopped turkey (I used Thanksgiving leftovers, but you could use rotisserie chicken)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup brown rice
1 can corn, drained and rinsed
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes, no salt added
1 small can tomato paste
1 package taco seasoning
any leftover vegetables you have lying around (I am using cauliflower)
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

In a large saucepan, saute garlic and turkey in olive oil over medium heat, until both are golden brown.  Add beans, corn, and vegetables.  Let cook for 2 - 3 minutes.

Add tomatoes, tomato paste, and 2 cans of water.  Stir.  Add taco seasoning, and stir again.  Let simmer for 5 minutes.

Add rice and let cook for 20 - 25 minutes.  Serve with a crusty loaf of bread.

Refrigerate or freeze leftovers, and enjoy this wonderful soup again and again.

A Birthday / Thanksgiving Feast

As you all can probably imagine, I am in heaven this week...

I have had an excuse to cook or bake EVERYDAY this past week.  On Monday, I made the yeast rolls for Thanksgiving.  On Tuesday, I made Angel Food Cake for my mom's birthday (Happy Birthday, Mom!).

Angel Food Cake is way more difficult than I thought it would be, though.  My egg whites got so huge that they overflowed in my bowl.  And, then, you have to hang it upside down for an hour after baking.  Now, if that isn't scary, I don't know what is...

Last night, I made a vegan version apple tarte tatin for my birthday.  I went on pure improvisation, which makes me a little nervous.

And today, I get to make the entire Thanksgiving meal.  My mom is actually pretty mad at me because today is my birthday, and I refuse to let her or anyone else help me in the kitchen.  Apparently, you are not supposed to make your own birthday dinner....

But, I don't usually follow the rules.

On the menu today:
- Yogurt-marinated roasted chicken
- Pan fried green beans
- Twice baked potatoes
- Glazed carrots
- Whole wheat yeast rolls
- Vegan apple tarte tatin

I am really excited about getting to make it ALL... Hopefully, it will keep us full for a shopping-filled day tomorrow. Bring on Black Friday.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Yogurt-Marinated Roasted Chicken
adapted from Fine Cooking
serves 4 - 6

4 lb. chicken
2 cups non-fat yogurt
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/4 cup rosemary, chopped
1/2 onion chopped
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
Salt and pepper

In a large ziploc bag, mix yogurt, garlic, parsley, rosemary, onion, and lemon zest.

Remove backbone of chicken, break breastbone, and place chicken in marinade bag.  Place in large bowl and leave in refrigerator overnight.

Preheat oven to 450.  Remove chicken from bag and put it skin-side-up in a broiler pan.

Season with salt and pepper.  Roast chicken, uncovered for 45 - 50 minutes (thermometer in thigh should read 170).

Transfer to a cutting board, tent with foil, rest for 10 minutes before carving.

Chocolate Cheesecake Bundt Cake with Mocha Glaze

Dear Vanderbilt,

I love you, but lately you have been cramping my style...

Over the last two weeks, your rigorous academics have caused me to miss out on life.

Has the newest Harry Potter move come out yet? I have no idea... Maybe I will get to see it by the time it comes out on DVD.

Randy Moss is a Titan?!?! News to me.

I had to ask my mom yesterday who won the Governor's race in Tennessee.  Bill Haslam did, in case you are a Vanderbilt student, too.

Matt Costa, sorry I missed your concert... I had papers to write.

But what I didn't miss was National Bundt Cake Day.  That's right, Vandy, you can't keep me totally in the dark.

In celebration of National Bundt Cake Day, I decided to make my own.  This cake is rich and chocolatey with a hint of coffe and cheesecake.

It is so good that I wish everyday was National Bundt Cake Day, and I mean that.

Chocolate Cheesecake Bundt Cake with Mocha Glaze

Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 small pkg cheesecake pudding mix
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup canola oil

Glaze:
4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee
1 cup sugar

Grease bundt pan well.  Preheat oven to 350.

Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder, salt, and pudding mix together in a large bowl.  In a medium sized bowl, mix eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla extract.

Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture.  Mix well.  Pour in bundt pan.  Bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean at 350.

Remove cake from oven and cool in pan for 10 minutes.  Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack.

While cooling, brew coffee.  Pour hot coffee over chocolate and sugar.  Stir well and allow to thicken slightly.  Pour over slightly warm cake.

Enjoy National Bundt Cake Day.  I know I am...

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies @ Midnight

Life Updates:

- I got a new computer on Wednesday... Yep, just like that, I went out and bought one.  Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, and Happy Graduation to myself!

- My mom's puppy chewed up my wallet. Silly little shih tzu puppy.  If you weren't so darn cute, then I would be mad at you.

- I have finished and submitted 4 of my 6 grad school applications.  Can you say relief?

- I really, really, really want to eat  HUGE breakfast tomorrow morning...

- After breakfast, I am spending my ENTIRE Saturday in bed, writing papers.  Hey, I am in bed...

- But tonight, I made flourless peanut butter cookies.  They are chewy.  They are full of peanutty goodness.  They are flourless.  They contain 5 ingredients.

They are wonderful.

You should make some right now... Trust me, it's worth it.

Flourless Peanut Butter  Cookies
adapted from Joy the Baker
makes ~ 2 dozen cookies

1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350. Grease baking sheet and set aside.

Combine peanut butter and sugar, mixing well for 2 minutes.  Add egg and baking soda.  Mix well.

Roll into walnut-sized balls.  Crisscross with forks.  Add a couple of chocolate chips to the top of each cookies.

Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes.

Transfer to cooling rack or your tummy...

I topped mine with sprinkles because I am still 4 at heart.

StumbleUpon Doughnut Holes

First things first, I want to apologize for my recent absence from SSEN.  There are several reasons for this, and I know you are DYING to know them.  So, here they are:

1. I don't know what to bake!!!!  I never thought that this would happen, but I have baker's block!  I can only think about what I am going to cook for Thanksgiving break and my mom's birthday.

2. I have 5 assignments due between now and Thanksgiving break.... Legitimate enough, right?

3. My last 2 baking adventures haven't gone exceptionally well... As tasty as the Vegan Apple Almond Bread was, it fell apart and made a mess all over the kitchen.  I barely got it out of the pan and had to struggle to get a good picture.  And the Brookies looked really weird until I cut them... So, I am being a little cautious and hesitant about my next baking adventure.

4. I recently got addicted to StumbleUpon... This is what I do in my free time.  Not bake food, but bake my brain on the Internet. NOT GOOD.  I mean, I found a website about nothing more than grilled cheese!!! How am I supposed to get anything done when I can become engrossed in 50 different grilled cheese sandwiches?!?!

Don't even get me started on foodgawker...

While Stumble has decreased my SSEN productivity, it has given me lots and lots of good recipe ideas for the blogging... (Most of which contain Oreos???)

And today, I settled on doughnuts.... That's right, doughnuts.  Warm, flaky, melt-in-your mouth, cinnamon-and-sugar-crusted doughnuts...

Thanks, Internet.

Stumble Doughnut Holes
adapted from 101 Cookbooks after a long Internet search
makes 5+ dozen doughnut holes (so gather the neighborhood)

*Warning: this is a time-intensive recipe.  Make sure you have 3 or so hours on your hands before attempting these*

Doughnut holes:
2/3 cup warm milk (not hot, you will kill the yeast)
1 tsp active dry yeast
1 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
pinch of nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

Crust:
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 Tbsp cinnamon

Mix 1/4 cup milk and yeast in bowl and set aside for 5 minutes or so. Stir butter and sugar into remaining milk and add it to the yeast mixture.

With a fork, stir in flour, egg, nutmeg, and salt until just incorporated.  Now, you are going to want to knead the dough for several minutes.  If you have a stand mixer, I would suggest using it and a dough hook.

Here's where it gets tricky... If your dough is too sticky and wet, add more flour (a tablespoon at a time). If your dough is too dry, add more milk (a tablespoon at a time).  Your dough should be pulling away from the bowl and be "supple and smooth."

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead a few times.  Shape into a ball.  Move dough to a greased bowl and allow it to sit (covered) in a warm place for an hour to rise.

Punch down dough and roll it out to 1 1/2 inches thick.  Cut out 1-inch circles and transfer to baking sheet (I used a salt shaker top).  Cover and let rise for 45 minutes.

Bake in 375 degree oven for 4 - 5 minutes until golden brown.  Immediately remove, allow to cool until you can handle them (no more than 3 minutes).

In a small bowl, mix cinnamon and sugar.  Dip tops of doughnut holes in melted butter, then in cinnamon-sugar mixture.  Serve warm.

Wow.... We just made doughnut holes!

Vegan Apple Almond Bread

Butter = Mmmmmm....

I cannot imagine any baked good being delicious without butter.  Maybe this is what I get for being in love with Paula Deen.

(Her sky-high, Dallas, white hair, her ungodly amounts of make-up, that Southern drawl that makes you melt like, well, butter...)

If you follow Paula Deen's philosophy butter makes everything better.  If you follow my mom's philosophy, cheese makes everything better.

Paula and my mom, they have it all wrong.  Things can be good without dairy products.  All you need is some cinnamon and some love.

My favorite cookies in the world are vegan (read: butter-less) cookies.  There is nothing in the world that beats the snickerdoodle cookies from Vanderbilt's kosher, vegetarian cafe, Grins.  They are all sweet, soft, and full of cinnamon.  They are made with love...

They are so good I made a special trip over there earlier tonight in the cold just for a snickerdoodle cookie and some Bongo Java coffee.  Can you imagine my disappointment when I realized that they were out?

And not just out of snickerdoodles, but they were out of every kind of cookie.  I was distraught.

So, on my way back to my dorm, I decided that I was going to try my hand at this vegan thing.  I mean, after all, how hard could it possibly be? (read: famous last words).

But, it turned out wonderful.  The sweetness of the apple combined with cinnamon, love, and the crunch of almonds makes this loaf of bread simply irresistible.

And yes, I am singing that song in my head...

Vegan Apple Almond Bread
adapted from other vegan bread recipes
makes 1 loaf

1 large sweet apple, finely chopped
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease the loaf pan.

In a large bowl, mix together flours, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices.

In a medium bowl, mix together oil, water, molasses, and apple.  Carefully fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Pour into loaf pan.  Sprinkle with almond slices.  Bake for ~1 hour.

Brookies

Phew...

I didn't realize that life without baking could be so productive, yet painful.  I had sugar-withdrawal jitters for 3 solid days.  I craved just about every sweet imaginable, leaving me unable to decide what to bake first.

I somehow managed to narrow the list down to 2 of my faves -- brownies and cookies.

Brownies are so fudgy and gooey.  They go with just about everything -- milk, ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, marshmallows... Heck, I bet brownies even go well with bacon.

Cookies are so versatile.  You can add oats, chocolate chips, peanut butter, dried fruit, spices, and perhaps even bacon.  Hot out of the oven, I could eat a dozen! (yep, that was cheesy).

Brownies and cookies are both SO good.  How was I supposed to decide which to make?

Make just one? NO, that's a travesty.
Make both? NO, that's excessive, even for me.
Make brookies? Yes, yes, yes!!!















Brookies are, you got it, half brownie and half cookie.

All deliciousness...

Now, if I can just keep from eating the ENTIRE pan.


Brookies
Makes 2 9x13 pans (~30 large brookies or enough small ones to feed a small army)

Preheat oven to 375.  Grease and flour 2 9x13-inch pans.

Brownies:
8 ounces semisweet baking chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract

Melt butter and chocolate in microwave on 50% power for 1:30 seconds.  Whisk together to mix thoroughly.  Add sugar, mix thoroughly.  Beat in eggs, one at a time.  Mix in vanilla extract.  Sift in flour, cocoa powder, and salt.  Mix until combined.  Set aside.

Chocolate Chip Cookies:
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Mix butter and sugars.  Beat in egg and vanilla extract.  In separate bowl, whisk together baking powder, salt, flour.  Add dry to wet and mix thoroughly.  Fold in chocolate chips.

To assemble:
Divide both batters.  In one 9x13-inch greased pan, pour 1/2 brownie mixture.  Top with 1/2 cookie dough and spread evenly.

Do the same for the other pan.  Bake for 30 minutes at 350.  If cookies begin to look too brown, cover the pan with aluminum foil and continue baking until toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool, then slice with knife sprayed with Pam (or equivalent) into 15 squares.