Potato Leek Soup

I seriously am in LOVE with this soup! It's from Shad's friend Mark Weinberg  who is also an amazing photographer! And I've never bought, cooked, eaten, or SEEN a Leek before! But can say now that I have! Anyway, its delicious so enjoy! 

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped leek
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
2 cups whole milk
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups chicken broth
2 pounds cubed, peeled Yukon gold or red potato
1 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper


Preparation:
Heat butter and oil in large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add leek,
celery, and bell pepper; cook 4 minutes or until vegetables are tender,
stirring frequently. Combine milk and flour in a small bowl, stirring with
a whisk. Slowly add milk mixture to pan, stirring constantly. Stir in broth,
corn, potato, salt, and freshly ground pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce heat,
and simmer 20 minutes or until potato is tender.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 1/3 cups)

Sarah Tanner's Date Bran Muffins

Ingredients:

6 C Bran Cereal (2 Cups Bran Buds 4 C Raisin Bran)

1lb Chopped Dates run through blender

2 C boiling water

½ C butter

1 tsp salt

5 tsp Baking Soda

1 C chunky applesauce

1 quart buttermilik

5 C flour

2 C sugar

5 eggs

1 C chopped walnuts

 Directions:

Pour boiling water over ceral and dates and let stand. Cream butter applesauce, sugar, and eggs. Sift dry ingredients together. Add to creamed mixture alternating with buttermilk. Stir in bran date mixture and nuts. Bake in muffins tins 400 degrees 15 min. Keeps up to 6 weeks in fridge. Makes lots!

Mom Maygren gave me this recipe over the phone. If you need any clarification give her a ring.

Recipe from Token Asian Friend (from Seriously, So Blessed!)

We have not tried these cookies, but heard about them from a link off Token Asian Friend's blog. Anyone brave enough to try this recipe? 

Bacon chocolate chip cookies from Never Bashful with Butter

(the story behind these cookies is an interesting read)

3/4 cup butter(It has been suggested that using 1 full cup of butter works best due to cookie dough dryness)
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon hazelnut (or almond) extract

*Edit- It has been suggested that the almond flavouring may be overpowering to the flavour of the cookie, feel free to add this ingredient to taste*
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg (It has been suggested that using 2 eggs works best due to cookie dough dryness)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups bacon bits (if preferred, you can separate the dough into two parts and only make half of the dough into bacon cookies, in which case you’ll only want to use 1 cup bacon bits)

*An important note- Be sure to use real bacon bits, not Bacos *See large print at the bottom of this post*

Also, you can make your own bacon bits, just make sure you pat down the bacon chunks with paper towels to remove as much extra bacon grease as possible. *Edit* one of my readers made their own bacon bits and found out that apparently it takes about 2lbs of bacon to make 2 cups of bacon bits, just for future reference.

Directions-

preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.

Beat together the butter, sugars, flavouring and eggs until creamy. In another bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and stir together. Dough will be slightly soft. If you want a cakier cookie, add another half cup of flour. Add in chocolate chips and bacon bits. Stir until well integrated. Place dough on a sheet of waxed paper and refrigerate at least an hour. Remove dough from fridge, pinch off 1 1/2 inch pieces of dough and roll into balls. Set dough balls about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten dough balls slightly with your fingers in the center.

Bake cookies for about 10 minutes, or until the dough starts to turn golden brown. Allow cookies to cool on a cooling rack while you ready the glaze.

Maple cinnamon glaze-

2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon maple extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon *edit- it has been suggested that 1 teaspoon may be a bit much, so go ahead and add to taste*
enough water to make a thick glaze (I used about 3 tablespoons)

Mix all ingredients together until smooth and creamy. If lumpy, use a whisk.

Spread a small amount of the glaze on the top of each cookie and top with a small piece of crisp cooked bacon.

Festive Tossed Salad

We made this for our Christmas brunch, and Hallie and Mike like it enough that they will definitely make it again. 

Festive Tossed Salad 

From Taste of Home 

With its unique medley of fruits and festive look, this salad is a holiday tradition at our house. Our three grown daughters have come to expect it. One forkful reminds us of all the things we can be thankful for. -Jauneen Hosking, Greenfield, Wisconsin

SERVINGS  8-10

CATEGORY Salads 

PREP 15 min. 

TOTAL 15 min. 

INGREDIENTS 

• 1/2 cup sugar
  
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar 
  
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice 
  
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion 
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
  
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil 
  
• 2 to 3 teaspoons poppy seeds 
  
• 10 cups torn romaine 
  
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Swiss cheese 
  
• 1 medium apple, chopped 
  
• 1 medium pear, chopped 
  
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries 
  
• 1/2 to 1 cup chopped cashews 
  

DIRECTIONS      

    In a blender or food processor, combine the sugar, vinegar, lemon juice, onion and salt. Cover and process until blended. With blender running, gradually add oil. Add poppy seeds and blend. 
    In a salad bowl, combine the romaine, Swiss cheese, apple, pear and cranberries. Drizzle with desired amount of dressing. Add cashews; toss to coat. Serve immediately. 

Yield: 8-10 servings.   

Crushed-Peppermint Cheesecake

Mike baked this one from scratch, and it was a big hit at our brunch on Christmas day. 

Crushed-Peppermint Cheesecake 

PREP AND COOK TIME: About 1 1/2 hours, plus at least 4 hours to cool and chill

12 ounces creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, broken into pieces

3 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup sour cream
4 eggs
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup coarsely crushed peppermint candy

1. Place cookies in a heavy zip-lock plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Pour into a buttered 9-inch round springform pan and pour melted butter over crumbs; mix to coat, then press evenly over bottom and about 1/2 inch up sides of pan. Bake in a 300° oven until crust is slightly darker and looks a bit dry, about 10 minutes (leave oven on).

2. Meanwhile, in a bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese and sugar until well blended. Beat in sour cream. Add eggs one at a time, beating to blend after each addition. Beat in flour, vanilla, peppermint extract, and salt until smooth. Pour cream cheese mixture into pan over baked crust.

3. Bake until edges are just golden and center jiggles slightly when pan is gently shaken, about 1 hour. Run a knife around edge of pan rim. Place pan on a wire rack and cool cheesecake completely in pan. Cover and chill until cold, at least 4 hours or up to 2 days. Run a knife around rim again, then release rim. If any liquid has pooled on surface of cheesecake, blot dry gently with a paper towel. 

4. Decorate top of cake with crushed peppermint candy, pressing it in gently with your hands.
Yield:  Makes 12 to 16 servings

CALORIES 356 (61% from fat); FAT 24g (sat 13g); CHOLESTEROL 108mg; CARBOHYDRATE 31g; SODIUM 373mg; PROTEIN 6.3g; FIBER 0.6g 

Sunset, DECEMBER 2004

Holiday Pecans

1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 egg white
3 cups of pecan halves
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Heat oven to 300 line a rimmed baking sheet with nonstick foil, set aside.

In a small bowl, stir together sugar, salt and cinnamon; set aside

In a medium size bowl, whisk egg white and 1 Tablespoon water until foamy. Add pecans to bowl and stir until coated. Pour in sugar mixture and melted butter, and stir well to combine.

Spread pecan mixture in an even layer on prepared baking sheet and bake at 300 for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from oven and cool completely.


I tried this recipe from Family Circle and honestly could NOT quit eating them. Oh my. Love Me.

Have You Ever Wanted To Eat A Cookie Pie?

There is a restaurant in Utah called The Dodoo or something like that, that serves this recipe. Someone told me about it and gave me the recipe. The other day I was making Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies and noticed that there was a recipe on the back of the Nestle Toll House bag that reminded me of that yummy recipe. So, I made it on Friday and instead of using a pie crust I used a graham cracker crust. It still turned out mighty yummy and most of you will have all of the ingredients to make it.

NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Chocolate Chip Pie

Ingredients:
1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell *
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup (6 oz.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cup chopped nuts
Sweetened whipped cream or ice cream (optional)

Directions:PREHEAT oven to 325° F. BEAT eggs in large mixer bowl on high speed until foamy. Beat in flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter. Stir in morsels and nuts. Spoon into pie shell. BAKE for 55 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between edge and center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Serve warm with whipped cream, if desired.

NOTES: * If using frozen pie shell, use deep-dish style, thawed completely. Bake on baking sheet; increase baking time slightly.