Sunday Cooking

Sundays are a good day to do nothing.  It is actually my only day to do nothing.  Since I work 6 days a week it get's hard for me to just relax so that is usually what I do.  How do I relax?  I cook.  I know that it may not seem relaxing to some, but when I'm in the kitchen I know what I am doing and everything turns out as it should.  I can't say that about many aspects of my life.  So today I made a couple things for myself and I also made a couple things for a friend who just had her second baby.  First up on the roster today was Curried Butternut Squash Soup. 

To start I made a curry blend.  The original recipe calls for just using curry powder off the shelf, but when given the chance, I'll make my own of anything.  I had made a recipe awhile ago in which you made your own hot curry spice blend, I liked it so that is what I used for my soup. 

Here are my spices, ground coriander, cinnamon, tumeric, cardamom, mustard, cumin, and hot hungarian paprika.  It does have a kick to it, but not too much.  If you are not a fan of spice then either use less paprika or you can use sweet paprika.  Next you want to chop up your veggies.  Peel and dice up your butternut squash, dice an onion and chop a couple cloves of garlic.  It doesn't really matter the size of your veg because you are going to puree the soup in the end.  Heat a little oil in your pot (I tried to use very little maybe a teaspoon) add your onion and garlic.  Add a little salt and saute until soft.

The next step in the original recipe is to add everything in the pot, the squash, spices and broth.  Of course I can't really follow a recipe very well.  When you use dried spices you want to add them to the pot and let them warm up and get a little toasty so that they come back to life.  So what I did is I added my squash to the pot with the onions and garlic.  Then I added my spices and let them toast in the pan for about a minute.

After that add the stock.  You can use veggie stock and keep this totally vegetarian, I used chicken stock because it is what I had on hand.  Add the stock and like one of my favorite chefs says, BTB RTS.  Which means bring to boil, reduce to simmer.  Simmer for about 20 minutes or until the squash is tender.  Then you can either transfer the soup to a blender in batches and blend until smooth, or if you have a handy dandy stick blender you can puree the soup right in the pot (which is what I did, why dirty another piece of equipment?!)  Put it in containers to cool and you're good to go!

Such a pretty color!  On to the next!  I made some mac 'n cheese and grilled chicken for my friend and her family.  Something kid friendly and something healthy.  I can imagine that anything as long as she doesn't have to make it, just reheat it would work for her. 

Cheesy and delicious!  I thought that 2 smaller pans would be good because they can eat one now and put the other in the freezer and reheat it at a later date.  Last but not least....I made myself a treat!  I made blondies from a recipe that I found on pinterest.  I am just in love with it!  I am shocked with myself that I am actually going back to past pins and actually looking them up and trying the recipes.  This particular recipe I would like to play with.  It calls for some butter, not much, but I would like to see if I can eliminate it completely.  Also there are 2 eggs in it.  Next time I'll see if it will work with egg whites or something else.

Let me just tell you they are delish!  Once I perfect my healthy healthy recipe I will share.  Until then, happy cooking!  <3

House Hunting

So I have been looking for a house for quite some time now.  It is no easy task.  Not that I thought that I would go looking one day and the first house I would see would be the house of my dreams that I could afford and all the pieces would just fit into place.  I had no idea that the process would be this frustrating!  Even though they say that it's a "buyer's market" it is still not easy to find a house that will work.  Yes I do have a list of things that I would like in a house.  There are things that need to be there and there are things that if they are there it's a huge bonus!  I have been looking at houses for several months now and not that I thought I would be in one by now, but I thought that I would be closer.  There have been several along the way that came close but for various reasons fell through.  I got excited about all of those possibilities but then things just didn't work out.  I just have to keep thinking that those houses weren't meant to be.  When the right one comes along all the pieces with just fall into place and everything will work out.  Now here I am, again, getting close, but I can't get excited.  My fate is in someone else's hands.  So we sit here and wait, and while we wait, we cook!

It's my brother's birthday this week so he came over for dinner.  Me being the pastry chef in the family I always make dessert.  My brother is kinda plain when it comes to desserts.  Usually some kind of vanilla cake with vanilla icing.  For the past couple years I have made him my version of a strawberry shortcake.  I make my go-to vanilla cake, macerated strawberries, and white chocolate mousse.  So amazingly delicious!  This year however, to everyone's surprise he requested something different.  Cheesecake with either strawberry or raspberry.  So I went fishing around the cookbooks and the internet for a recipe.  I have a fabulous recipe, but it makes an enormous cheesecake and no one really wanted to be stuck with leftovers.  So I searched out some recipes for mini cheesecakes.  Let me tell you....Amazing!

I combined several recipes that I found and came up with these White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecakes.  They were delish!


White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecakes

For the crust
-1 1/2 c Nilla Wafer crumbs (one of my brother's favorite cookies)
-4 Tablespoons melted butter
-sprinkle of sugar
-pinch of salt

For the cheesecakes
-2 8oz blocks of cream cheese
-1/2-3/4 cup of sugar (I used vanilla sugar)
-2 eggs
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-pinch of salt
-6-8oz melted white chocolate

For the raspberry sauce
-3oz of raspberries
-1 Table spoon of sugar
-a squirt of lemon juice

-Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Generously grease 18 muffin cups.  Mix the crumbs, butter, sugar, and salt in a bowl till the mixture looks like wet sand.  Put about a tablespoon of the crumb mixture in the bottom of each muffin cup and press into the bottom.  Bake in the oven for about 5-6 minutes.  Set aside.
-Put the raspberries, sugar, and lemon juice in a blender and puree until smooth.  Pass mixture through a strainer and set aside.
-In the bowl of a mixer mix the cream cheese with the paddle attachment on med speed until smooth and creamy.  Add sugar and mix until incorporated.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Add the salt and vanilla.  Then add the eggs one at a time.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Add the chocolate and mix until blended.
-Divide cheesecake mixture evenly among the 18 muffin cups filling the cups about two thirds full.  Take raspberry sauce and drop small drops on the surface of the cheesecake.  With a toothpick swirl the sauce into the cheesecake in whatever pattern you like.   Place the muffin tin in a large roasting pan and fill roasting pan with boiling water going up about 1/2 the side of the muffin tin.  Carefully transfer pan to the oven.  Bake for 20-22 min until set.  Let cool completely before trying to remove cheesecakes from tins. 
-To remove, run a paring knife around the edge of the cheesecake and gently lift the cheesecake out of the tin.  Enjoy <3