Starting Over

I haven't posted on this blog in an entire year. I really had planned on keeping up with it and starting to get my recipes organized - but that failed. So...I'm trying again this year! I've been reading some amazing blogs lately and feel like this would be a great place to corral a lot of different topics - food, travel, workouts, beauty. Anything and everything.

Who knows...maybe I'll even get a follower this year :)


xoxo,
K

Super Bowl Beer Battered Cheese Curds

P worked in Madison, Wisconsin for awhile during our time right out of college. Madison was great - great weather (minus the winter!), tons to do, great college nightlife and of course...great food. Whenever we are in Wisconsin whether it be to visit Madison or go on vacation in Door County it is a requirement that we try the cheese curds at every restaurant we go to. Cheese curds sound gross. I never wanted to try them. But once you get past the "curd" part of it you will realize that these are delicious and glorious little nuggets of pure joy.

In preparation for the Super Bowl that's coming up we decided to try out a recipe for Beer Battered Cheese Curds. They turned out pretty good! Make sure you add plently of seasoning to the batter and serve with dipping sauces - ranch is my favorite :)

Beer Battered Cheese Curds

• 1 bottle + 1/4 of another bottle beer (we used our latest kegerator purchase Two Brothers Cane and Ebel)
• 2 cups flour
• Cayenne pepper (add as much or as little as you want!)
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 bag of cheese curds (the squeekier the better!)
• Vegetable oil

Mix all ingredients (not the curds or the oil) in a large bowl. It should end up being the consistency of thick pancake batter. Put in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat about 1/3 of a saucepan of vegetable oil to around 350 degrees.


Once the oil is ready, dump the curds into the batter and coat. Working in small batches (or they will stick together in a huge curd ball) drop the battered curds into the oil. Cook until browned on all sides. Put on paper towl lined platter. Make sure to let the oil get back up to 350 degrees before starting the next batch. Serve warm with dipping sauce.




CHEERS!!!


Adapted from Alton Brown



Kale Chips

Lately I've been trying to find a way to get more vegetables in my diet. P and I rarely make a vegetable side dish with our dinners - my dad would be so disappointed!! I came across this recipe for kale chips on a few different blogs. Apparently kale is a great source of vitamins and minerals - good thing for my diet plan! This recipe is so easy and tasty I actually made the chips on my lunch break from work!

Kale Chips

• Half a bundle of fresh kale
• Sea salt
• Olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a large cooking sheet with parchment paper. Chop kale into uniform-ish sized pieces (about the size of a normal chip). Put chopped kale in a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil and salt. Toss so all peices are covered with oil - adding more oil if necessary.

Roast kale for about 10 minutes - or until crunchy. Serve immediately - or kale will loose its crunch.



CHEERS!

Toffee Cheesecake

Sorry for the slight hiatus! We have been busy with wedding planning and just life in general. I have started cooking more - which usually means more misses than hits!

P decided last weekend that he wanted a cheesecake - more specifically a Heath toffee cheesecake. So I went to my go-to cheesecake recipe and adjusted it slightly and came out with a really good new recipe! It is super creamy with just a hint of toffee. It was so delicious!

Toffee Cheesecake 

For the crust:

• 12 chocolate graham crackers
• 5 Tbsp melted butter
• 1/4 tsp coarse salt
• 1/4 cup sugar

For the cake:

• 2 1/2 pounds cream cheese, softened
• 4 eggs, room temp
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup Heath toffee bits

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pulse graham crackers in a food processor until they turn into crumbs. Add sugar, salt and butter and mix together so all crumbs are moist. Spray a springform pan with flour spray and pour crumb mixture in. Using a glass, push crumb mixture into bottom and up sides of the pan. Put in the oven and bake for about 12-14 minutes, until set. Then let cool.

Bring oven heat down to 325 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to a boil on the stove. Add cream cheese to your mixer and beat until creamy and smooth. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Beat in salt and vanilla extract. Add eggs - one a a time - until just combined. Add sour cream and beat until combined. Pour in toffee bits and use a spoon to combine.

Wrap bottom of springform pan with foil so it is completely covered. Pour filling into pan and shake to even it out. Place the pan into a roasting pan and fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until the water hits half way up the springform pan. Bake for about 1 hour 45 minutes, just until the center is set (it will still jiggle slightly). Take the cake out of the water bath and let cool for 20 minutes. Place cake in refrigerator overnight to set.

CHEERS!

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Slow Cooker Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Finally back from holiday vacation! We had a great couple of weeks with our familes and friends (minus my round with the stomach flu that's going around..). It was nice to be off from work for a couple of weeks too - nothing to stress about :) I did bake a lot over my break but didn't remember to take any pictures...so today we are starting with a delicious and super easy crock pot meal! I found it on one of my new favorite blogger's sites. It was so easy and P even said it tasted like Panera's soup!

 

Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

 

• 2 chicken breasts, cubed
• 1 cup wild rice mix
• 3 cups water
• 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
• 1 can of Cream of Chicken soup
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp salt

 

Combine water, broth, soup, thyme, salt, pepper and rice in the slow cooker. Mix with a whisk to break up the soup. Cook on high for 3 hours 45 minutes. Then add chicken cubes and continue cooking on high for another 30 mins. Serve and enjoy.

 

 

 

CHEERS!

 

 

Adapted from Baked by Rachel

Quick and Easy Chicken Noodle Soup

I consider myself very very lucky that I live so close to work and get to go home at lunch most days. With it getting colder I have started craving soup at lunch and today was no exception. I had made up some homemade chicken stock last weekend...but that didn't really turn out as I had hoped. Add that to the failed recipe pile! But that did mean that I had some shredded cooked chicken that I needed to use. I also happened to have some carrots, celery, chicken stock and noodles on hand...so I pulled together a quick and easy chicken noodle soup! This actually took very little time and it was great because I got to add as much or as little of the ingredients as I wanted. I also used the Trader Joe's delicious chicken stock which was super thick and creamy after it had gotten cooked through the whole recipe - so it made a think broth which I loved.

 

 

Quick and Easy Chicken Noodle Soup

 

• 2-3 cups chicken broth
• 1 small carrot, diced
• 1 Celery stalk, diced
• 1 1/2 cups egg noodles
• 1/4-1/2 cup shredded, cooked chicken

 

Bring stock to a slow boil in a pot. Add celery and carrots and cook for about 10 minutes or until slightly tender. Add egg noodles and boil for time on bag (around 8 minutes). After noodles are done cooking, add chicken pieces and cook for another 2 minutes or until the chicken is heated through. Season with salt and pepper.

 

 

 

 

CHEERS!

Funfetti Cake Truffles

Now starts the holiday baking season for me. My family is having our Christmas celebration this weekend in Indianapolis so I am trying to pull together some yummy cookies for the occasion! One of the things I've been making for the past year are cake truffles...people call them all kinds of different things...cake pops, cake balls, cake truffles...I go with truffles - makes them sound fancier :) I have made these with all homemade ingredients - cake and icing - and have made them with the box mix. I have to say there isn't much of a taste difference here...so if I'm short on time I just use the box cake mix and ready made frosting.

I do want to put in a shout out here for the Ghiradelli chocolate candy and dipping bars. We ordered these from Amazon after realizing that chocolate chips are NOT good for melting (the chips are made to withstand high heat so they are still in shape when baking in cookies!). We got one white chocolate bar and one double chocolate bar...they worked SO WELL. The chocolate stayed smooth and liquid for a long time so we didn't have to reheat at all during the process.

Funfetti Cake Truffles



• 1 box funfetti cake mix
• 1 can frosting
• 1/2 bar of candy & dipping chocolate bar (or 1-2 bags of candy melts)
• Festive sprinkles

Bake cake according to directions on the box. Let cool completely.

Once cool, tear the cake into small pieces and - using your hands - incorporate the entire tub of icing. You should get a mixture that is sticky and able to roll together into balls. Roll small balls of the mixture and place onto a baking sheet. Once the baking sheets are full, put them into the freezer for about 20 minutes. Towards the end of the freezing time, start melting the chocolate.

Ready one or two baking sheets covered in wax paper to put the finished truffles on. When ready, remove the balls from the freezer and dip one by one into the melted chocolate. Place finished truffles on the prepared baking sheets and sprinkle with decorations. Let the chocolate harden and store in an airtight container.

CHEERS!