Italian Penicillin Soup

Ingredients - Serves 8

4 tablespoons olive oil or avocado oil 

4 medium Carrots peeled and chopped

2 medium yellow onions quartered

6 cloves garlic peeled

4 stalks celery halved

Salt & Black Pepper to taste

Parmesan or pecorino rind (optional)

12 cups chicken or vegetable Broth

2 cup pastina or small pasta

2 medium lemons (juice only)

1 cup freshly grated parmesan for garnishing

0.5 cup chopped parsley (optional)

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add carrots, yellow onion, garlic, and celery. Sauté for 4-5 minutes until slightly browned and aromatic.

Introduce the parmesan rind and broth. Bring to a gentle boil, then lower heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes until vegetables are very soft.

Remove the parmesan rind. Puree the soup with an immersion blender until velvety smooth, or transfer to a heat-safe blender.

Stir in the pastina and cook for 8-10 minutes until al-dente. Add more broth if you want a thinner soup.

Squeeze in the lemon juice and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.

Ladle the soup into bowls, top with grated parmesan, black pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil if desired.

Adapted from https://www.recipesbybella.com/italian-penicillin-soup/ (because Pinterest won't let me pin the link to her site any longer.)  

Loaded Cauliflower & Chicken Casserole

•  3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or 1 lb rotisserie chicken meat)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1 teaspoon pepper, divided
• 2 heads cauliflower, cut into florets (or 16oz of frozen cauliflower florets)
• 2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese, divided
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 3/4 cup bacon pieces (about 2.8 ounces)
• 6 green onions, sliced
• 1/4 cup mayonaisse
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Arrange chicken in a 9×13, foil-lined baking dish. Drizzle chicken with olive oil and season with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Roast for 45 minutes. Slice chicken.  (If you use pre-shredded rotisserie chicken meat, you can omit this step.)

Reduce oven to 350 degrees.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add cauliflower and cook for 6 minutes. Strain cauliflower.

In a 9×13 baking dish, stir together cauliflower, chicken, 1 cup monterey jack cheese, cheddar cheese, bacon pieces, green onions, mayonaisse, garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Top with remaining 1 cup of monterey jack cheese.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Eggnog Biscotti

So I finally got around to making my eggnog biscotti that I'd been dreaming about. My eggnog flavoring from King Arthur Flour arrived and I was ready to go. Since I couldn't find any decent recipes online, I had to make up my own. I was kind of nervous about the flavor and was so happy at how well they turned out. The icing makes them even better so do NOT omit this step. So without further adieu, here's my recipe (altered from some other biscotti recipes I've tried):

Erika's Eggnog Biscotti (based on King Arthur Flour's Vanilla Biscotti recipe)

6 tablespoons softened butter
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 to 1/3 teaspoon of eggnog flavoring
1 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups flour

Icing:
Several tablespoons powdered sugar
Eggnog or soynog (as needed)
Eggnog Flavoring 1-3 drops
Sprinkling of ground nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) one large baking sheet. (I highly recommend parchment paper!)

In a bowl, beat the butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, eggnog flavoring, nutmeg and baking powder until the mixture is smooth. Beat in the eggs. At low speed, add the flour, stirring until smooth; the dough will be quite sticky.

Flour your hands and then drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Divide it in half, and shape it into two 9" x 2" logs, about 3/4" tall. Straighten the logs, and smooth their tops and sides.

Bake the dough for 25 minutes. Remove it from the oven, and allow it to cool on the pan anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F. Wait another 5 minutes, then use a serrated knife to cut the log crosswise into 1⁄2" to 3⁄4" slices. Or cut the biscotti on the diagonal—for fewer, longer biscotti.

Return the biscotti to the oven, and bake them for 25 to 30 minutes, till they feel very dry and are beginning to turn golden - watch them carefully that they do not get over browned - burned biscotti are gross. Remove the biscotti from the oven, and transfer them to a rack to cool.

While the biscotti are cooling, put several tablespoons of powdered sugar into a small bowl. A teaspoon at a time, add the eggnog until you reach the desired consistency of icing - it should be the consistency of melted chocolate. Add one drop of eggnog flavoring. Do not add more - this stuff is potent! Add a sprinkling of nutmeg and mix well and put into a pastry sleeve or a small decorating squeeze bottle to wait for the biscotti to cool. Squirt the biscotti with your icing to make a pretty squiggle pattern and allow the icing to harden before storing.

Makes 2-3 dozen biscotti.

German Potato Salad

Have you ever had German potato salad?  Most people haven't.  Most people are accustomed to the mayonnaise laden variety that I just cannot stand!  I have never been a fan of mayo and often people will put hard boiled egg in it - BARF!  (I have a difficult relationship with cooked eggs of most varieties.)

So when my husband and I got married, he would often talk about his great-grandmother's recipe for German Potato Salad.  I think that maybe I'd had it before because I had a memory of the tangy, vinegar based flavor, but I'd never actually made it myself.

This was back in the early 2000's and so I did a web search and found a few recipes online - probably allrecipes.com which was really the ONLY decent recipe search back in those days.  I made it, the husband tasted it and he said it was okay but it wasn't his great-grandmother's.

Not long after we visited my in-laws and my mother-in-law dug out an old recipe book and lo and behold there was the recipe.  I made it soon after and the husband loved it.  Even my mother in law who isn't a huge fan of this variety of potato salad said it tasted just like her grandmother's.  I took it as a compliment!  I personally loved vinegar flavored dishes and love that this can be served warm or cold.  It gets better the longer it sits and because there is no mayo in it, you don't have to worry about it spoiling at a picnic.  I also love how easy it is to prep - no potato peeling because the peels are part of the dish.

I've since made it many more times and I've edited it some to our liking.  When I make it for others that haven't had it before (or I'm not sure of their taste preferences) I will make it with less vinegar.  So without further adieu, here is my edited version.

German Potato Salad

• 3 lbs of red potatoes - cut into large chunks, unpeeled
• 6-8 slices of bacon (turkey or regular) - if you use turkey, I highly recommend adding a few teaspoons of oil to your pan since it will not generate the oil you need like regular bacon does.  I use olive oil.
• 1 larged diced onion - I like to use a mix of red and yellow onion
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1-2 tablespoons sugar (to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/2 -1 teaspoon salt (to taste)
• black pepper to taste

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.  Add potatoes and cook until tender (but not falling apart).  Drain and cool.
2. In a large skillet, fry bacon until crispy.  (I like to cut bacon into small pieces before cooking.)
3. Add onion and saute until soft.
4. Add flour and then slowly add water and vinegar stirring until thickened.
5. Add sugar, celery seed, salt, and pepper and mix thoroughly.
6. Pour mixture over potatoes and stir until potatoes are partially mashed but there are still chunks of potato throughout.  

Food Bloggin'

I decided to put this blog together not because I want to get into the food blogging game of blogging what I make and then trying like crazy to get people to read it.  I just wanted a separate place to blog about the food I'm making and if random people find it, it's not the one that's all about my family and kids.

I do not consider myself any kind of professional but I truly do enjoy cooking even if my kids rarely enjoy what I've made.  I have learned a lot in recent years but still have a lot to learn.  Maybe one day my kids will have less picky tastebuds and we can enjoy eating together but until then it will be me cooking and then telling them to "HUSH and EAT!"