Tortilla Soup

My second attempt at soup was easier and also delicious.
I have at least ten different soup recipes bookmarked so It's hard to pick the next on I'm going to make, but I looked so delicious I had to try it. And you know it was good because boyfriend took it to work the next day.  The recipie is from How Sweet It Is.
Tortilla Soup
4-6 servings
2 tbs. olive oil
1 medium onion
1 red pepper
3 garlic cloves
1 tsp cumin
1 pinch of cayenne pepper
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
32 oz low sodium chicken stock
4 oz can of green chilies
1/2 cup enchilada sauce (I used medium for extra spice)
1/4 cup sour cream

In a large pot add olive oil and heat on medium heat.
Chop your onion and pepper and throw them in, saute until soft.
 Mince your garlic cloves and add that, also sprinkle in the cumin and cayenne and stir.
Cut up your chicken into your preferred size chunks or shred them, and brown on each side.
Pour in chicken stock, chilies, and enchilada sauce.
Bring to a boil, reduce and simmer for 30 minuets.
Right before serving, stir in sour cream.

My First Panini= Best Sandwich I've Ever Made?

Finding something to make for dinner for my and my boyfriend is hard, I'm picky and we both like food with lots of flavor, I thought I was bad about it until I met Josh. So yesterday I searched for hours until I found a meal that sounded good, not to mention that I'm on a budget so I needed something that I didn't have to buy a cartful.

I came across this Italian Panini on Pass the Sushi and It sounded really good with soup, (I'll post the recipe for the soup I made tomorrow), so  I bookmarked it right away. 

Sadly, I do not have a panini press at my parents house, nor my boyfriends, but I knew It could still be delicious.

I defiantly recommend trying this once, Josh and myself loved them, he devoured his within minuets. I know, the bread raised my eyebrows when I bought it, (I found it at Walmart and I was so excited because it was less than $2 and I thought I was going to have to go to a more expensive store to get it.), but it wasn't as hard to cut as I thought. 

I changed the ingredients a little bit, the original recipe called for Fontina cheese, but I used white american cheese; also, I substituted sliced sandwich pepperoni and sliced salami for turkey bacon, its healthier and isn't as greasy as normal bacon. 

Crispy Italian Panini

If you get 1 loaf of the break it'll make 2-3 sandwiches

Focaccia Bread

Olive Oil

Sliced ham, I used brown sugared lunch meat

Turkey, I bought low sodium lunch meat

Turkey Bacon

White American Cheese

Fresh Ground Pepper

Cut the bread into halves or thirds, and then cut them in half through the side so that each pice is a sandwich.

Preheat the panini press or pan to medium heat

Cook the bacon, turkey bacon doesn't take very long

Drizzle olive oil on the inside of your bread slices and add the ground pepper

Layer the meat and cheese as preferred

Put the sandwich in the panini press or in your pan and apply pressure with a spatula. 

If you use a pan, flip the sandwich over  and apply pressure to the other side.

Remove, you can slice it in half if you want and enjoy!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Sorry to everyone, I know I haven't posted in a while, I attempted Fried rice last week, but my misfortune made it not post worthy, (don't worry, I'm determined to make it again and master it). In my defense, I had never made rice before in my life. On a positive note, I found my pictures of my baked potato soup that I made maybe a month ago and got excited that I did take pictures, I haven't quite mastered "food photography" yet, but I'm trying!
Also, I've had a couple of people asked me how they could subscribe to my blog; all you have to do is have or make a google account and click "follow" on the right side of the blog, I'm sure if you don't have an account if you click "follow" It will prompt you to create one, If you don't want a google account, follow me on twitter! There is a link at the top of the blog on the banner. I always post an alert when there's a new post, but it is my personal account and you will get all my other posts. So I would say defiantly follow the blog if you like it!
This soup was my first attempt at soup, I've made chili twice, but I don't count chili as a soup.
I was quite pleased with the ending result, soup has always been a favorite of mine and I'm a potato soup fiend. Me and the boyfriend liked it so much, he took some to work the next day for lunch and I froze the rest and we already ate it again.
I got the recipe from Real Mom Kitchen
Loaded Baked Potato Soup
makes 8 servings
4 large baking potatoes or 8 small or medium potatoes
2/3 cup butter
2/3 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
6 cups of milk
1 cup of sour cream
4 thinly sliced green onions
10 bacon strips cooked and crumbles
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese 




Scrub potatoes, pat dry & cover with foil. Bake for 75 minutes at 350 or until tender; cool completely. Or microwave them like I did until cooked, then peel and cube the potatoes.
In a large pot melt the butter, stir in flour, salt and pepper until smooth. Use a whisk to make sure any lumps from the flour are smoothed out.
Gradually add milk a 2 cups at a time. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for a couple minutes or until thick.
Reduce heat to medium-low. Add potatoes. Heat until warm.  Mix in sour cream.

Winter is the time for peppermint, and coffee!

I'm always looking for a reason to bake and my co-workers are always happy for a treat waiting in the break room. I've never made cupcakes from scratch before, so I decided to make them my guinea pigs for my first batch. These cupcakes sounded so good, I loved my last experience baking with mint and coffee baked goods are always delish! Nevertheless, I was super nervous! My parents and boyfriend always try everything first, and they told me that the cupcakes were really good! Even better, everyone at work loved them too! I had to improvise with the ingredients a little, and they seemed to take forever to make, and I admit, I cheated with the frosting (don't stone me!),  but from what everyone said, the cupcakes are totally worth it! Pure & Yummy posted this recipe before me and here it is:
Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes
makes 35 cupcakes
2 2/3 cups flour
2/3 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
2-3 tsp. espresso powder (I couldn't find this so I used my dads instant decaf coffee)
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup whole milk
1 cup strong brewed coffee
1 tsp. peppermint extract
2 sticks unsalted butter- at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and like your cupcake pans with your paper liners.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir together.
In a another medium sized bowl, combine the milk, coffee and peppermint extract.
In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugars. Beat on medium high until light and fluffy, 2-3 minuets, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Blend in the eggs one at a time.
Mix in the dry and liquid ingredients alternating between the two. Begin and end with the dry ingredients.
Pour the batter into the cupcake liners; about 3/4 full. Bake 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. let cool for 5-10 minuets, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

after all that work, I wasn't in the mood to make the peppermint frosting. Knowing myself ahead of time I bought a container of buttercream frosting. I don't usually like to not make something from scratch, but I gave myself a break, being the first time making cupcakes.
I put all the frosting in a bowl and added a dash of the peppermint extract and red food coloring and mixed it together, adding more food coloring until I got the color I liked.

White Chocolate Raspberry Bliss

My freshman year in college my friend Adriana brought a white chocolate raspberry scone from the student center pretty much everyday to psychology and would give me a pice and I was so in love with them, but for some reason, they stopped having them. So, when I found this recipe made by Hot Polka Dot I was so excited to make them that I made them for christmas, and they were almost everyones favorites. I've had a couple of people ask me for the recipe before I even started this blog so I wanted to make sure that I posted this as one of my firsts. These cookies are delicious and super easy to make, minus the "marbling" which after a few times of making these I still haven't mastered. Did I mention that these were my boyfriends favorite cookies, too? So good luck, and enjoy!
White Chocolate Raspberry Cookies
makes 3 dozen
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and put a rack in the center of the oven.
In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla and blend.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flower, baking soda, and salt, then blend the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Finally, mix in the white chocolate chips.
Scoop a heaping tsp of dough onto the baking sheet for each cookie then round and smooth it with your fingertips.
Spoon about 1/2-1 tsp of raspberry jam onto each cookie (my boyfriend say the more jam the better). Then, using a small paring knife, marble the jam into the dough.
Bake 10-11 minuets until the edges are golden brown.
Let cool for a few minuets and the put on a cooling rack.

Does apples mean healthy?

I've been wanting to make these cookies for about a month, and so I made my excuse Valentines day. Carmel has been a favorite of mine and my mothers for quite a long time, so I love making cookies with them. I got this recipe from Hot Polka Dot, who is a genius and made this one up, and the biscuits from my last post. I know they look delicious, but these cookies were harder to make than chocolate chip cookies (and a lot messier!). I used Fiji Apples, because they were the cheapest but the original recipe didn't specify. I used like two and a quarter apples and I think that was too much, so only use to and less is defiantly more with the apple in these.

Caramel Apple Surprise Cookies
makes 20-36 cookies


1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla 
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup apple, skinned and chopped
3 dozen caramels, slightly flattened. 

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars. Then add the eggs and vanilla.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg*. Then stir it in with the large bowl.
Gently mix in the chopped and skinned apples.
Put the dough in the freezer for 30 min - an hour and preheat the oven to 350 degrees, also line your cookies sheets with parchment paper.
When the dough is stiff, scoop a tablespoon and take a flattened carmel, put the carmel in the middle and then cover it with the dough. Make sure the carmel is completely covered and that none is sticking out. Put the scoop onto your cookie sheet.
I had 6 cookies per cookie sheet. Once, yours is full, put the cookies in the oven for 10-11 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. let them sit for a few minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

*This is from the original recipe, it's not on the list of ingredients and i wrote the author of hot polka dot and asked about it, i put a few sprinkles of nutmeg in my dough but I think that it will be fine without the nutmeg.

My cookies turned out really big so if you're going to make these try to make your scoops really small, its really hard with the apple and the carmel but trust me, if you can do it it'll be worth it!
They turned out delicious and I think this recipe is going to be a keeper for me!

Cheddar Biscuits

Tonight I'm un-freezing my chili from the annual chili cook-off and making these cheddar biscuits to go with! Hey, I'm not actually cooking the chili so I figured I'd go the extra mile and make a bread for the first time. I saw this recipe from Hot Polka Dot ; who made this one up herself! I can't wait until I know what I'm doing and can be that creative. One time I tried to make a cheesy pasta and I put too much cheese and it was so disgusting.. anyway here's the recipe:

Cheddar Biscuits
makes 1 dozen
2 cups flour
2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup of salted butter; cold and cubed + 2 tbsp salted butter; melted
2 cups grated medium cheddar cheese
1/2 cup green onions; chopped
1 cup of milk
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and position a rack in the center. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cream of tarter, sugar, and salt. Cut the butter with a pastry blender or knives until the mixture resembles course crumbs.
Mix in the cheese and green onion.
Add half the milk at first, then after that's mixed in, add a little bit more milk at a time making sure not to make the dough too wet and sticky since you may or may not need all the milk.
It should feel like soft dough.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead it 10-12 times until it's smooth and not crumbly.
Divide the dough in half  and form each half into a rectangular log. With a sharp knife cut each log into 6 squares and place them evenly spaced onto the large baking sheet.
Bake the biscuits for ten minuets then mix the garlic powder  and brush it on the top of the biscuits ( you might need more butter).
Put the sheet back in for another 2-4 minuets until the biscuits are golden brown
Let cook or serve warm and enjoy!

Also I put garlic into the dough as well as on the top with the melted butter
Well, how do they look?