Cheese Burger Soup

23 October, 201321 October, 2013Marissa

Ah, the fall season — crisp weather, autumn leaves, ripe apples, nasty allergies, and warm soup. This soup began life as a way-too-cheesey potato soup, and has now settled down as a meat soup with respectable levels of cheese.

A bit of bloggish news: I’ve added a recipe book page. It has all the recipes I’ve posted in one convenient, organized location so you can easily find what you’re looking for. I’ll keep it updated as I post new recipes.

Cheese Burger Soup

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5 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed (about 4 cups)

1 large carrot, finely chopped (about 1 cup)

1/2 stalk celery, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)

2 cups water

2 cups beef broth

1/2 pound ground beef, cooked

Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil; reduce heat. Cover and simmer until the potatoes are tender (15 – 20 minutes. Add ground beef.

6 Tbsp. butter, melted

6 Tbsp. flour

3 tsp. steak seasoning (see recipe below)

2 cups of shredded cheese (cheddar or a mixture of different types)

In a small bowl, combine ingredients except cheese. Stir into soup, increase heat to medium and cook, stirring until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat and stir in cheese until melted. Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving.

Steak Seasoning

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon paprika or chili powder

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 t teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon . cayenne or chipotle powder

1 dash each coriander and tumeric (optional)

Combine all and place in a container.

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Lemon Almond Bread

9 October, 20138 October, 2013Marissa

While visiting a friend is Wisconsin, I was introduced to an amazing almond lemon bread with some kind of glaze. It reminded me a little of the lemon bread recipe I’ve used a few times, so I decided I’d try to alter that recipe to match the almond lemon bread. The recipe I’m sharing today is my first experiment. It wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, but it has a good flavor. I think my next step will be to add extra almond, maybe some lemon juice to make it more moist, and change the glaze a little. This glaze is very lemon-y right now, especially if you try to eat the bread right after glazing instead of waiting until the next day.

Lemon Almond Bread

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3 cups flour

1, 3.5-ounce box lemon flavor instant pudding

1 cup sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups milk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

6 Tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon almond flavoring

2 Tablespoons poppy seeds

¼ cup powder sugar

½ teaspoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans.

Mix together flour, pudding mix, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In another bowl mix together the milk, eggs, and butter. Stir in extracts and mix well. Add flour mixture, along with poppy seeds. Mix until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pans and bake in the preheated oven for 35-45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Allow loaf to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes, then remove from pan to finish cooling on a wire rack. Allow to cool completely.

Meanwhile, mix powder sugar and lemon juice. Brush glaze over fully cooled loaves.

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Turkey Tetrazzini

2 October, 20132 October, 2013Marissa

We had to cook a turkey so all the beef from our butchered steers would fit in the freezer, so I have lots of cooked turkey to experiment with. My go-to recipe for leftover turkey is a rice casserole, but it calls for sour cream and I won’t have that until I go grocery shopping (by way of the library book sale) tomorrow. For my first foray into something-other-than-rice-casserole, I chose this Turkey Tetrazzini recipe from allrecipes.com.

Most pictures I saw were adding peas to it, but I opted for carrots. I also thought 1-2/3 cups of Parmesan cheese was way too much, a change you’ll see reflected in my recipe. I’m thinking next time I’ll cut the cheese on top to 1/4 cup instead of 1/3 cup — the Parmesan taste was still a bit strong.

Turkey Tetrazzini

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16 ounces uncooked spaghetti

1 cup peas and/or diced carrots

½ cup butter

½ cup all-purpose flour

3 cups chicken broth

2 cups milk

½ cup shredded Mozzarella cheese

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

4 cups chopped cooked turkey

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add spaghetti, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain, and place in a lightly greased 13x9x2-inch baking dish. Meanwhile, bring vegetables to boil in medium sauce pan and remove from heat. Drain, and spoon over the spaghetti.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour. Add in chicken broth and milk, whisking until smooth. Cook and stir until the mixture comes to a boil. Stir in about 2/3 cups Parmesan cheese and the 1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese. Remove from heat.

Mix turkey into the chicken broth mixture. Pour evenly over spaghetti. Top with remaining Parmesan cheese. Bake for 40-50 minutes in the preheated oven, until surface is lightly browned and edges are bubbling.

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Easy Bread Sticks

11 September, 20138 July, 2014Marissa

Summer weather has returned with the promise of a week’s worth of 90 degree temperatures, so I’m not baking much of anything this week. Thankfully, I took pictures last week when I made these wonderful garlic-covered bread sticks. The original recipe is from Readable Eatables’ Olive Garden Breadsticks. Her’s are so good that the only thing I’ve changed is melting more butter to brush over the top — three tablespoons just never seems like enough.

The best thing about this recipe is it consistently turns out well and there is no kneading — you don’t even take the dough out of the mixing bowl until it’s time to form the bread sticks. They taste great with pasta and salads, and I’m looking forward to serving them with soups this winter.

Easy Bread Sticks

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Dough

1 ½ cups warm water

2 Tablespoon sugar

1 Tablespoon yeast

1 Tablespoon salt

2 Tablespoon butter, softened

4-5 Cups flour (I usually use 1 cup whole wheat, then about 2½-3 cups white)

Topping

5 Tablespoon butter melted

sea salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

For the dough, pour the water into a stand mixer with the sugar and yeast, let that sit and froth for about 10 minutes. Add salt, butter, and 2 cups of flour. Mix the dough on low. Add the rest of the flour a half cup at a time, until dough scrapes the sides of the bowl clean. Mix the dough about 5 minutes on medium speed, until its soft and easy to work with.

Let the dough rest in the bowl until doubled in size, about 1 hour, and then roll it out. Roll the dough out into a long log, spray a knife with cooking spray and cut the dough into 12-14 pieces. Roll those pieces into about 6 inch long snakes. Spray 1-2 large cookie sheets with cooking spray, and lay the bread sticks out leaving an inch or two between each one.

Place them in the oven with the temperature turned to 170 degrees. Let them rise for about 15 minutes, or until doubled in size. Alternately, they can rest on the counter until doubled in size. Once risen, brush them with the 2 Tablespoons of melted butter and sprinkle them with salt.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and bake bread sticks for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. While they are baking, combine the rest of the melted butter with 1 tsp garlic powder. When the bread sticks are golden brown, remove them from the oven and brush them with the butter/garlic mixture. Serve warm.

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Peach Cheesecake Squares

4 September, 20133 September, 2013Marissa

There’s an Amish family not far from my home who sells fresh produce. When peaches are in season, my family buys them by the crate. Usually they get eaten quickly, but if they are a bit older when we buy them, sometimes you have to bake with some. As is, this recipe turns out great, but the peach flavor was a little too subtle and it only used 2 peaches. I think I’d try doubling the amount of peaches next time.

Peach Cheesecake Bars

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2 cups ripe peaches

2 teaspoons cinnamon and sugar, mixed

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups powdered sugar

1 cup butter, cold

1 (8-oz) package cream cheese, softened

1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°F. Peal and thinly slice peaches. Place in bowl and toss with cinnamon/sugar mixture. Let fruit set.

In large bowl, mix flour and powder sugar. Cut the cold butter into the mixture. Reserve 2 cups for topping. In a 9×13-inch ungreased baking dish, press remaining mixture and bake for 15 minutes.

Beat the cream cheese until fluffy, then slowly add the condensed milk, baking until smooth. Add egg and vanilla.

Place peaches and juice on baked crust. Top with cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture over the top. Bake 30-35 minutes or until the top is slightly brown. Chill and cut into squares.

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Cheesy Broccoli Cauliflower Casserole

28 August, 201327 August, 2013Marissa

The broccoli in our garden is growing like crazy right now. We’re past the point where it produces nice, neat heads like you see in the store and have moved into the tiny-little-broccoli-all-over-the-plant phase. When the broccoli gets too out of control to handle with salads and pasta dishes, I like to make this cheesy casserole. It is a great side dish for something like breaded chicken (which is what we did for lunch on Monday).

Cheesy Broccoli Cauliflower Casserole

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6-8 cups of chopped broccoli and cauliflower (About 2-3 heads of broccoli and one small head of cauliflower)

3-4 mushrooms, sliced

Cheesy Broccoli Cauliflower Casserole recipe, ready to sprinkle with cracker crumbs — ready to sprinkle with cracker crumbs

½ cup butter

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 can cream of celery, chicken, or mushroom soup

7-8 ounces of cheese dip (such as Kraft Cheez Wiz or Tostitos Smooth & Cheesy)

½ cup crushed crackers

Place broccoli and cauliflower in medium-size pan. Put sliced mushrooms on top and add enough water to steam the vegetables. Bring to a boil, then turn off heat.

Cheesy Broccoli Cauliflower Casserole recipe, Just out of the oven — Just out of the oven

Melt butter in a 2-quart casserole dish. Add soup, onion powder, and cheese dip. Stir. Drain vegetables, then add to cheese mixture and stir. Sprinkle with crushed crackers. Cover dish and bake at 375°F for 25-30 minutes.

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