Lots of good stuff coming up.

I went thru my mounds of recipes this weekend, and countless magazines to find something new to try. Between the constant callings for "mommy", and the little fingers of the boy trying to rip all my pages, I did manage to come up with some stuff to share this week and upcoming weeks. So, stay tuned, I may not post every day, but I will at least try to make something new twice a week.

Coming up...

Pumpkin Chiffon cake
Potato leek gratin
Harvest soup

My Autumn wreath

Before

After

I love going to my local Homegoods this time of year as they are setting out all the Fall and Halloween stuff. I scored some really cool dishes that you will see in upcoming posts and I also scored a wreath that needed a little TLC. I really enjoyed fixing it up. It looked pretty to begin with, but needed a little something extra.

Grilled cheese with Havarti, bacon and caramelized onions

OH...MY...GOSH! This was so good I wish I saved more of the ingredients from the soup just to make more sandwiches! A friend of mine suggested that I put bacon and caramelized onions in a grilled cheese sandwich, so I went with it and it was beyond awesomeness! Thanks Tricia

I don't have a recipe for this, so I will just tell you whats in it and you can add and or adjust your ingredients to make as many as you like. For ONE sandwich I used the following;

2 slices sourdough bread
4 slices precooked bacon
2 slices Havarti cheese (one on the bottom of the ingredients, one in the top)
about 1/3 cup caramelized onions

I used a grill pan (flat pan with raised grill lines) and put a heavy pot on top of the sandwich, since I don't have a panini press, this works just as good. I placed one slice of bread, buttered side down, then one slice cheese. then 4 slices of bacon laid out, then onions, then another slice of cheese, then last slice of bread buttered side up.  Grilled until golden brown on medium high heat.

Bacon and caramelized onion chowder

This soup turned out pretty good, would be awesome on a cold winter night. It basically is baked potato soup with a caramelized onion base. The onions really make the soup pop with flavor, nice sweetness to go with the potatoes. Here is the recipe, courtesy of the Costco in the kitchen cook book. I tweaked it a little to make it a tad easier, not that it was hard, but who doesn't want cooking to be easy?

3 tablespoons butter, divided
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 jumbo sized sweet onion, peeled and vertically sliced (I used 1 1/2 medium white onions)
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 package diced potatoes
3/4 cup cooked bacon (I used about 8 slices of fresh cooked bacon)
2 ounces of cream cheese, cubed
3 cups whole milk
Sour cream for garnish
 chopped fresh parsley for garnish
Shredded cheddar cheese for garnish

*Set a 3-quart stock pot on medium-high heat for 30 seconds. Add 2 tablespoons butter and olive oil; stir in onions and saute until lightly browned and caramelized (about 10-15 minutes). Remove onions and set aside.
*Add carrots and 1 tablespoon of butter to pot and saute until carrots are tender, about 2 minutes. Add potatoes and saute until slightly browned. Stir in onions and bacon.
*Reduce heat to medium; add cream cheese, stir until melted. Add milk and cook, gently stirring, until soup begins to thicken.
*Serve with a dollop of sour cream, parsley and cheddar cheese.
**Makes 6-8 servings

Tortilla crusted goat cheese-and asparagus quiche and Pumpkin cheesecake dessert.

Yummy Quiche!

Quiche after cooking.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Things I learned today...1)I'm not a baker. I have tried to make cheesecake before and didn't like the way it turned out, today's pumpkin cheesecake didn't suck, but I wasn't impressed, Phil on the other hand, didn't complain. 2) I think I have the worlds most patient 9 month old, he happily sat in his high chair most of the day in the kitchen while I cooked, he had fun chewing on a ginger snap and a spatula!! 3) There IS a reason I have a  Kitchen Aid mixer and a food processor.  4) Cooking is super fun, and I'm excited I now have a blog to share my journeys on!!

On that note,  I am extremely happy with the quiche, wow, that was super yummy!! It was really easy to make, the only thing I might do different next time is to add more goat cheese, to me, you can never have enough goat cheese. The cheesecake...left a little to be desired, I'm not the best at baking like I said before, I don't mind doing it but I'm usually disappointed at the end result. One defense, my oven sucks, I had to paint the number of the degrees back on the oven knob cause they had come off with age, so I don't think they are 100% accurate. All in all, the cheesecake tasted pretty good, but it was a little over cooked and the crust was a little well done, other wise it was okay. I'm sure if you like to bake and your oven doesn't suck it will turn out just fine!!

Here's today recipes...ENJOY!

Tortilla Crusted Goat Cheese-and-Asparagus Quiche

Care of Everyday with Rachel Ray Magazine

Serves 4

Prep time 25 minutes/Bake 30 minutes (mine took 40 minutes)

Four 7 inch wheat tortillas

10 Asparagus stalks, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 red onion finely chopped

4 ounces sliced mushrooms (about 1 1/2 cups)

salt and pepper

one 4-ounce log goat cheese

3 eggs

1/2 cup plain yogurt, preferably Greek-style

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a greased 9 inch pie plate, overlap the tortillas to make a crust, place om a rimmed baking sheet. Meanwhile, fill a large nonstick skillet a third of the way full with salted water; bring to a boil. Add the asparagus and cooked until crisp-tender, about 1 minute; drain, rinse under cold water and pat dry.

2.Wipe out the skillet, add the olive oil and heat over medium high heat. Add the onion and mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and cook until the mushrooms are golden, about 3 minutes. Stir in asparagus, season with salt and pepper. Spread evenly in the tortilla crust, then crumble the cheese on top.

3. In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs and yogurt and season with salt and pepper, pour into the tortilla crust. Bake on the baking sheet until just set in the center and lightly golden, about 30 minutes. Let rest for about 10 minutes before serving.

 

Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake

Makes 16 servings (must be pretty tiny pieces!)

38 ginger snaps, finely crushed

1/4 cup butter, melted

4 pkg (8oz each) cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1 can (15oz) pumpkin

1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

Heat oven to 325 degrees, mix crumbs and butter and press onto the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan. Beat cream cheese and sugar with mixer until blended. Add pumpkin, spice and vanilla, mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time until just blended. Pour into crust. Bake 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes or until center is almost set. Loosen cake from rim of pan, cool before removing rim. Refrigerate 4 hours. Serve with a dollop of Cool Whip and a dusting of nutmeg.

 

My first Dutch baby!

My father in law usually makes Dutch babies for the family, but now it was my turn to start the tradition at home with my family. So I made a Dutch baby for breakfast last Sunday and it was super yummy. Its pretty much just eggs, flour, milk and butter. Not a lot of ingredients, but man is it super tasty. I like to have syrup on mine, but the rest of the family likes honey and jam too. I hope you enjoy as much as I do!!

Recipe-
Big Dutch Babies
*Pan size 2-3 Quarts, 1/4 cup butter, 3 eggs, 3/4 cup milk and flour
*Pan size 3-4 Quarts, 1/3 cup butter, 4 eggs, 1 cup milk and flour
*Pan size 4-4 1/2 Quarts, 1/2 cup butter, 5 eggs, 1 1/4 cups milk and flour
*Pan size 4 1/2-5 Quarts 1/2 cup butter, 6 eggs, 1 1/2 cups milk and flour
Select the recipe proportions to fit your pan, and get out the ingredients you'll need. Put butter in pan and set into a 425 degree oven,  then mix batter quickly while butter melts. Put eggs in blender container and whirl at high speed for 1 minute. With motor running, gradually pour milk, then slowly add flour, continue whirling for 30 seconds. (With a rotary beater, beat eggs until light and lemon colored; gradually beat in milk, then flour.)

Remove pan from oven and pour batter into the hot melted butter. Return to oven and bake until puffy and well browned- 20-25 minutes, depending on pan. Dust with powered sugar if you wish. Serve at once.

*You need a paella type pan for this Dutch baby, pan should be shallow and no more than 3 inches deep.