last night, our book club met over at mckenzy's gorgeous house, for our december meeting. the book of interest? the hunger games (which i talked about here). a couple of us dressed up as tributes, we played the santa hat game (one of my favorites!), & we also participated in a cookie exchange. i had a lovely time, & once again, i felt so lucky to have found my way into such a great, intelligent group of girls! book club is definitely something that i'll miss when i move away from shreveport.
my recipe:
my cookies:
after a couple rounds of trial & error, my nutella sugar cookies came out a success!
next up in book club, one of my favorites: to kill a mockingbird.
graphic: nutella image found here; graphic designed by me photo: iphone
a few weeks ago, i decided to tackle one of the zillion recipes i'd added to my food board on pinterest.
it was one of those saturdays: i woke up, went for a run, showered, & was ready to relax in front of the many football games going on that afternoon. i also wanted to eat something yummy. and that, ladies & gentlemen, is how the name 'football soup' was born. yes, it's true: this no-named soup recipe from pinterest now has a proper title.
you're welcome, food world.
the best way to descripe this extremely easy-to-make crock pot soup is creamy, dreamy, delicious, & addictive.
that's really the best i can do. you're just going to have to try it out yourself.
since this soup's trial run, i have made it an additional time or two, & last night saw another repeat. with this dish's growing popularity (and by that i mean popular with myself), i decided it was time for its blog debut.
i know. asparagus tart - it sounds like something i'd end up burning.
BUT i managed to make this between getting off work at 5:30 & making it to our potluck book club meeting at 7 - and on a monday, no less.. without burning it. and the finished product is pretty, edible (some have even said yummy), & different.
i'd venture to say that this recipe is extremely simple.
so, on wednesday night, i decided to make another one with my leftover puff pastry sheet & asparagus.
and yet, somehow i didn't manage to take one single solitary picture of the end result. so, my apologies, martha stewart, i'm going to have to use your photo (i hope she'll forgive me).
2 cups shredded gruyere cheese (i substituted swiss)
1.5 pounds medium or thick asparagus
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper
directions:
1. preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. roll the puff pastry onto the floured surface & arrange it to your preference. i rolled the edges in.
3. place pastry onto a baking sheet & let brown in oven for 15 minutes.
4. remove pastry from oven & sprinkle with shredded cheese.
5. trim bottoms of asparagus spears to fit crosswise across pastry.
6. arrange asparagus in a single layer on top of cheese, alternating ends & tips.
7. brush with oil & season with salt & pepper.
8. bake 20-25 minutes, until spears are tender.
on a wednesday night, lindsey, katie, & i gathered in the kitchen to cook up a sweet treat for our coworker's birthday. the requested confection? strawberry cheesecake.
technology mavens that we are, a strawberry cheesecake recipe tutorial was retrieved from youtube, which katie is so arduously consulting in the photo above (please do not let my appearance as a serene housewife who bakes cheesecakes every other day fool you - i'm no expert in the kitchen. i'm still learning).
i thought i'd share this recipe, both to benefit anyone in search of a cheesecake recipe, & to keep it in 'my files' in case i ever get a hankering for the fluffy, creamy goodness that is cheesecake (ha - if? more like when i allow myself to succumb to said craving).
strawberry cheesecake.
ingredients for the crust:
1 cup crushed graham crackers
3 tbsp. sugar
(we used sugar & brown sugar)
3 tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
(be sure to let it soften naturally first - we just straight up melted it in the microwave, which caused our crust to crumble, as it didn't have that cohesive, semi-sticky quality that most crusts have)
ingredients for the batter:
5 8-ounce packages of cream cheese
1 cup sugar
3 tbsp. flour
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs
ingredients for the topping:
box of strawberries
1/3 cup sugar
directions:
1. topping: the night before, slice up your strawberries, add sugar, stir, & place in the fridge over night. this creates that yummy, juicy, strawberry mixture that complements the creaminess of the cheesecake so well.
2. crust: day of, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, & melted butter. mix well.
3. empty crust contents into your pan & spread it out evenly. we used 13x9-inch baking pan. place in the oven (preheated to 325 degrees), for 10 minutes. then, set aside.
4. batter: soften cream cheese to room tempterature, cut into chunks, & place in a bowl.
5. combine with sugar, flower, & vanilla, & beat on medium speed with an electric mixer until well-blended.
6. add sour cream & beat again until well-blended.
7. add eggs one-at-a-time, beating on low speed to blend.
8. pour over crust.
9. bake for approximately 40 minutes, or when the center is almost set.
10. refridgerate for at least 4 hours. we refridgerated over night.
11. add topping before serving.
et voila! yummy, creamy, strawberry cheesecake!
and, on the off chance (ha) that my directions were a bit confusing, here is the tutorial:
i should note, this tutorial is for cherry cheesecake. as mentioned above, we used chopped strawberries, with sugar added for sweetness.
p.s. please feel free to send me recipes! i am always looking for something interesting to cook up in the kitchen. leave them in the comments, email me, facebook me, tweet me, etc. thank you.
