Roasted Red Pepper Potato Soup

This is definitely one of those soups that gets better the next day.  We liked this a lot, the flavours were really great.  I think we both decided we aren't huge fans of pureed potato in soup.  I was deciding between this one and a Roasted Red Pepper w/ Black beans soup and that may have been the better choice for our taste.

Picture courtesy of Simply Recipes...once again! 
Ingredients
4 large red bell peppers
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and diced (about 1 cup)
1 large russet potato, peeled and diced (about 1 1/2 cup) (or 2 or 3 red potatoes - and I forgot to peel mine)
3 cloves garlic
1 quart chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
1/4 cup cream or milk
3 Tbsp butter
Cayenne, salt and pepper to taste

1 Roast the red bell peppers by placing them over or under an open flame until they blacken on all sides. (I did this in the oven under the broiler.) Place the blackened peppers in a bag, close the bag and let the peppers steam for 10-15 minutes, or until the skins feel like they can easily be slipped off. Remove the peppers from the bag, peel off the blackened skins, remove the seeds. Chop the peppers roughly.
2 Heat the butter in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion and saute for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the potatoes and cook another 1-2 minutes, then add the garlic and roasted peppers. Stir well and cook for 2 minutes.
3 Add the stock, stir well and bring to a simmer. Cook over medium heat until potatoes are soft.
4 Purée the soup in a blender or food processor until very smooth. Fill the blender about halfway with the soup. Start the blender on low and keep your hand on the top, in case the lid wants to pop off from the rising steam. Once everything is well chopped, turn the blender to its highest setting and blend until smooth, about 1 minute. You might need to do this in batches.  If you know me, you would not be surprised to know I went through 2 blenders in the first, oh, 6 months of marriage...and by went through...I mean broke.  So I had to blend mine in the tiniest food processor that Cuisinart makes.  I should probably ask for an immersion blender for Christmas, or just a regular blender...
5 Return to a clean pot set over low heat. Add the cream, stir well and taste. Add some cayenne, salt and pepper to taste.  Serves 4-6.

We had this with an awesome salad with cut up chicken breast, chopped walnuts and apples, feta, and a simple dressing of evoo, lemon juice, and some italian spices thrown in.  YUM!

Jalopeno Cheese Grits & Apple Walnut Sticky Buns

I thought I would post a few breakfast items I've made recently on the weekends! 

Jalopeno Cheese Grits - from Messy Aprons.  These are soo good.  If you follow the original recipe for Shrimp and Grits this is one of Corey's other favorites.  They are amazing.  But on occasion I will make just the grits with eggs over easy for a special breakfast.  I like to cook...

1 tablespoon butter

1 red bell pepper, chopped (1 1/2 cups)

1 yellow bell pepper, chopped (1 1/2 cups)

1 1/2 tablespoons minced seeded jalapeño chilies

1 garlic clove, minced

3 cups chicken stock

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup quick-cooking grits

1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese with pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bell peppers, chilies, and garlic. Sauté for 5 minutes or until the bell peppers are tender. Combine the chicken stock and cream in a large saucepan. Add the grits in a thin stream, whisking constantly. Whisk for 6 minutes or until the grits are cooked and the mixture has thickened. Add the bell pepper mixture and cheese. Cook until the cheese melts, stirring constantly. Season with salt and pepper.

These Apple Walnut Sticky Buns are "semi homemade" from Sandra Lee.  Some day when I'm really in the mood to set aside what to me seems like it would take half the day, I will attempt some real homemade cinnamon rolls from Pioneer Woman.  But today is not that day.  These are super easy and your guests will be impressed at what you whipped up.  They will have no idea you just opened up a can of pre-made cinnamon rolls from the refrigerated section at Walmart. 
Sorry for all the links below...I copied from the food network website.  And now that I am reading this recipe below I realize that I don't think I have ever buttered my muffin pans...oops...but they never stuck so I think you can skip that and cut out a few calories.

Ingredients

1 Granny Smith apple

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup brown sugar

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

2 (8-count) tubes refrigerated cinnamon rolls

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice

1 to 2 teaspoons water
vanilla extract to taste

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Generously butter a 12-count muffin tin.

Peel, core and dice the apples. In a medium bowl stir together the diced apples with the walnuts and brown .

Divide the apple mixture evenly into the muffin tin. Put cinnamon buns, cinnamon side up, on top of the apple mixture. Put the muffin tin on a baking sheet and bake until the tops are golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes or what cinnamon roll container says.

Remove the muffin tin from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Put a clean baking sheet on top of the muffin tin and flip to remove the sticky buns.

In a small bowl, combine 1 container of the vanilla frosting with the cinnamon or spice, vanilla, and 1 to 2 teaspoons of water. Mix until very thick and of pourable consistency. Drizzle over buns and serve.

Blackened Tilapia w/ Mango Salsa & Graham Cracker Cookie Bars

I can't take credit for making this fabulous mango salsa...this was all our friend Joe.  I have never had it before but it was so good.  Sort of sweet with a major kick.  I believe the ingredient list included mangos, tomatoes, jalopenos, avocado, red onion, cilantro, lemon & lime juice....and other things I'm sure I missed!  I just blackened some tilapia filets (or any white fish or chicken would work) by coating them with blackened seasoning on both sides and cooking for a few minutes each side on a skillet coated with just a touch of olive oil.

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This "cookie" recipe if you can call it a cookie I found on who else... Pioneer woman!  They are super easy, I think they take a whole 15 minutes to make.  Start by preheating your oven to 350 and cover the bottom of a cookie sheet (with edges!) with graham crackers.  Then bring 2 sticks of butter and 1 cup of sugar to a boil in a sauce pan and allow to boil for 5 minutes.  At this point I got a little impatient and decided to dip my extra graham crackers in the boiling goodness.  I would highly recommend not skipping this step.  Once you are finished boiling you will pour and spread the caramel sauce over the graham crackers and then bake in the oven for 7 minutes.  Once you take this out of the oven (it will be bubbly still), immediately sprinkle 1 cup of chocolate chips over hot caramel.  Let the chocolate sit 1 minute until it starts to melt and then spread it over the caramel.  Finially you can finish by sprinkling chopped pretzels, almonds, candy canes, etc. over the top.  I stuck with pretzels because you can never go wrong with the sweet and salty combo!  You must make these now.  You could whip them up before you hubby is out of the shower like I just did!

Half Bath Re-do & a Mexican Chef Salad

I think we have both been wanting to repaint since we moved in a year ago but just weren't ready to make the decision.  Our half bath downstairs and our living room were both browns and they were nice looking...but we realized our house was becoming very brown.  Our sofa, chair, and most of the furniture is dark brown (most of these purchased before we moved into this house).  So it was time for a change!  Here is the color of the bath before...notice we are halfway into construction at this point:

Decided to go with a Grey

Corey took the floorboards up

And a couple new coats of paint and bead board and chair rail down

Sorry for the lighting in this one, I hadn't figured out how to turn off the flash yet apparently...good thing the camera class is in a few weeks!

On to food!  Another of Corey's Mom's recipes - and an absolute favorite of ours!  Mexican Chef Salad:

Brown 1 lb lean ground beef then season with 1 pkg of taco seasoning.  Mix in 1 can black beans to warm them (sometimes I also throw in some frozen corn at this point).  Chop up your choice lettuce, we used a bunch of red leaf lettuce last night.  Mix Lettuce, beef and bean mixture, shredded cheese, crunched up Frito's, diced tomatoes.  Serve in bowls with ranch, salsa, or sour cream (or all three if you are us)!  Yummy!

Candied Pecans

How cute is this bowl...I wish it were mine...but it is not.  I really need to shape up with my picture taking of my recipes.  This little snack I also made up for NYE and it may have received the most compliments of them all!  Wow, I have made candied nuts before but they did not turn out near as good as this recipe did.  And sooo easy!  The recipe (and picture) is from Kevin and Amanda.  I did a half batch of this and used half pecans half walnuts.  It looks like a lot of coating at first but once it cooks it is just perfect.  Also, I missed the part about spraying the pan first...don't do this, trust me :)  But trust me on this and do make this recipe for your next party or just as a nice gift for someone.

Candied Pecans

2 egg whites
2 tbsp water
1 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
4 cups (16 oz) pecans
Preheat oven to 225. In a large bowl beat the egg whites and water. Add pecans and stir to coat. Whisk together the sugar, salt and cinnamon, then pour over the pecans, stirring to coat. Spread pecans on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray and bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Italian Beef Sandwiches

This is a great easy meal to make in the crockpot when you have company in town.  It cooks all day and makes the house smell yummy and makes it easy for everyone to jump in when they are hungry.  It is very convienent when you will be gone all day or feel like relaxing, you can throw it together in the morning and its done that afternoon.

This recipe is from Eat at home.  Pictures courtesy of eat at home as well

1 large roast (fat trimmed if needed)

1 package Good Seasons Italian dressing

1/4 cup vinegar

1 Tbs. sugar

1-2 cans chicken broth

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 package brown gravy mix

1 green pepper, sliced

1 small jar pepperoccinis with juice

Poke the meat with a fork or knife and put it in the crockpot.  Mix all the ingredients and pour over the meat.  Let it marinade overnight or cook it right away on low for 8-10 hours.  Or, be like me and don’t fix it until lunch time then crank it up on high and cook it for 5-6 hours. 

Shred the meat and serve on hoagie buns with the peppers and sauce for dipping or just do it like we did and pour the juice right on top with some motzerella cheese.  I think it would also be great without the bread and that is probably how I'll end up eating some of the leftovers.

NYE

We had a party at our house on NYE this year.  We were a little nervous how it would turn out but it was a blast!  Corey had the brilliant idea of doing a white elephant gift exchange with your choice of wine, beer, or liquor.  It was a really good time and I think we'll do it again.  The gifts ranged from Natty Ice beer to a fifth of Jack Daniels.  Here are the appetizers I made for the party:

Pancetta Crisps w/ Goat Cheese & Pear - I got this idea from my friend Katie's Christmas party.  They are phenominal and so easy.

16 thin slices pancetta

16 teaspoons soft fresh goat cheese (from 5-ounce log)

2 very ripe small pears, halved, cored, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices

Fresh thyme leaves

Preheat oven to 450°F. Place pancetta slices in single layer on large rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with pepper. Bake until golden, about 10 minutes. Using spatula, slide pancetta crisps onto platter. Top each with 1 teaspoon goat cheese and 1 pear slice. Sprinkle with thyme and serve.  (I didn't have fresh time and worked just the same).

Puff Pastry w/ Cranberry and Brie

This is something I made form thanksgiving from Closet Cooking.  This time I decided to make them small & bite sized. 

Two Sheets Frozen Puff Pastry

One round Brie

Cranberry Sauce

Cut pastry into small squares, place small piece of brie (rhind removed) on each square and top with one or two teaspoons cranberry sauce.  Pull corners up and over to contain brie and cranberry.  Bake at 350 on ungreased baking sheet for 15-25 minutes.

Here is the original recipe picture

Seven Layer taco dip
This has been a long time favorite when ever we all get together.

1 pound ground beef
1 pakage taco seasoning
1 can refried beans
1 jar salsa
1 container sour cream
1 pakage shredded cheese
green onions, black olives, or other add'l toppings you might like

Brown beef and add seasoning.  Spread beans along bottom of a 13 x 9 dish, then meat, then salsa, then sour cream, then cheese.  Top with any toppings and serve with tortilla chips.  Yummy!