Disney's Loaded Baked Potato Soup

I guess I should get back to this blogging business! It's been a long time, and I've sort of been stuck in a cooking rut. I've made a few new things here and there, but nothing felt blog worthy. I will play catch up to what I've missed and hopefully now that it's getting warmer, I'll get excited to try new things again!

After a week long vacation to Disneyland with my family, I thought I would share some tasty Disneyland favorites!



Disney's Loaded Baked Potato Soup
(Thank you Disney Parks Blog! Original recipe can be found here)

Serves 6

1 pound bacon, roughly chopped (I found this to be optional. Maybe because I am a vegetarian. :) I just cooked some on the side for my husband and kids and let it be a topping)
**4 Tbsp butter ** (Because I omitted the bacon from the actual recipe and used it as a topping instead, I needed a fat for the veggies to cook in and the flour to combine with to make a roux. I used butter instead.)
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
3/4 cup celery, diced
4 large Russet potatoes, peeled and diced
4 medium red potatoes, diced
1/4 cup flour
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
Coarse salt and pepper to taste
4 cups heavy whipping cream (Okay...I did try this the first time, but had a hard time eating it knowing how much cream was in it. The next time I went down one step and used half and half and couldn't even tell the difference. Next time I am just going to use milk. It has a roux in it so it will thicken up nicely)

Optional garnishes: chopped chives, bacon bits, sour cream, shredded cheese and scallions

1. In a 6-8 quart stock pot over medium heat, fry bacon until crisp (or melt butter if using butter instead)
2. Remove bacon and drain on paper towels, reserving half for garnish. In bacon fat, cook onions, carrots and celery until the onions are translucent. Add potatoes and cook for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Whisk in flour and stir constantly over low heat until the flour is cooked and the mixture has thickened slightly, (about 5-7 minutes). Add stock and half the bacon. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Over medium-high heat, bring the soup to a simmer and cook for 25 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Mash some of the potatoes for a thicker, creamier texture. Add the cream (or half and half/milk) and simmer for 5 minutes. Adjust thickness by adding water or stock. Soup should have a creamy consistency.
6. Season to taste and garnish with toppings.

Buca Di Beppo Apple Gorgonzola Salad with Italian Vinaigrette

I am a vegetarian. I love vegetables. I like salads when they are made well, but I rarely LOVE salads. I eat them on a regular basis, but don't make them very often. I think they taste better when someone else makes them. :) I also am a little funny when it comes to putting fruit on salads. I'm just not usually a big fan. I don't like to mix sweet and savory. I like them better separate. I don't like the sweet potatoes with marshmallows served at Thanksgiving. Weird, I know. I'd probably like them if they were savory roasted sweet potatoes or something along those lines. I'm weird. As my husband would say "wonderfully weird" (Thanks 'Friends'!)

Back to the salad ... I went to Buca Di Beppo (we don't have one where I live, the closest one is 80 or so miles away) with my family and my mom ordered a salad. Not just any salad. This salad. I was hesitant, but tried it. I LOVED it! I think it's one of my favorite salads, hands down! It's delicious. Even my husband who doesn't eat salad very often craved it for dinner one night, so I had to look up a copycat recipe online. (Thank you Google!) It tasted exactly the same. Try it! You won't be disappointed. If you are. . . sorry in advance.



Buca Di Beppo Copycat Apple Gorgonzola Salad with Italian Vinaigrette
(Thank you meemoskitchen.blogspot.com!!)

Ingredients:
1 granny smith apple (chopped, and sliced for garnish)
8 oz romaine lettuce (washed and chopped)
2 Tb Gorgonzola cheese (crumbled)
2 oz Spiced California Walnuts (chopped .. recipe below)
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup Italian vinaigrette (recipe below)

Preparation:
Make spiced walnuts. (They take roughly an hour) While waiting for walnuts, make the vinaigrette. (This will be best if it sits for at least a half hour) While waiting for walnuts and vinaigrette to sit, slice and chop apple. Chop lettuce and crumble cheese.

Once everything is ready, mix vinaigrette into lettuce. Add chopped apples, 3/4 of the walnuts and 3/4 of the Gorgonzola cheese. Toss well. Plate and garnish with remaining walnuts, cranberries, apples and cheese. Serve immediately.

Buca Di Beppo Italian Vinaigrette

Ingredients:
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
3/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt
1 pinch black pepper
1/8 cup red onion, chopped fine
1 1/2 tsp garlic, minced
3/4 cup olive oil

Combine the vinegar, oregano, dry mustard, salt and pepper in a blender. Add the onion and garlic. Blend together while slowly adding the olive oil. By adding the olive oil slowly, it will emulsify with the other ingredients creating a thicker vinaigrette. Let vinaigrette sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving. This is best made shortly before using.

Spiced California Walnuts
(Recipe from the California Walnut Board)

Ingredients:
1 egg white
1 Tbsp water
2 cups California walnuts (halves and pieces)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice

Preheat oven to 225 and line a large shallow baking pan with foil.
Combine egg white and water. Beat until foamy. Add walnut halves and pieces and toss to coat. Pour the mixture into a strainer and let drain 2-3 minutes.
Combine sugar, cinnamon and allspice in a plastic or paper bag. Shake to mix.
Add the walnuts; hold the bag shut and shake vigorously to coat the nuts.
Spread the nuts in one layer on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
Cool completely, stirring occasionally and breaking nuts apart if stuck together. Don't worry if they stick to the foil, it's easy to peel them off.

Store in a tightly-capped jar.
Makes 2 cups.

Vegetarian Chili

As cold, rainy, perfectly crisp fall weather approaches, I tend to want more soups and warming comfort foods. Last night just happened to be a "I think we should have chili and cornbread" day. This chili was delicious and totally filling! You won't even miss the meat.




Vegetarian Chili
(Adapted from Emeril Lagasse and Jessie Tirsch's "Emeril's New New Orleans Cooking"

Makes 6-8 servings

2 Tbsp canola oil
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions (about 3 small onions)
1 cup chopped red bell peppers
2 Tbsp minced garlic
2-3 serrano peppers, stemmed, seeded and minced
1 medium zucchini, stem ends trimmed and cut into small dice
2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels (about 3 ears)
1 1/2 pounds portobello mushrooms (about 5 large), stemmed, wiped clean and cubed {I only used 2 and it turned out really good}
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
4 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped {Honestly, I wasn't in the mood to peel my tomatoes, so I just seeded and chopped them and they worked fine for me}
3 cups cooked black beans (or 2 15-ounce cans of black beans), rinsed and drained
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup vegetable stock or water
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves (Do not add to the pot if you're planning to freeze chili)

**Optional toppings: cooked brown rice, sour cream, greek yogurt, cheese, diced avocado, chopped green onions (scallions)**

1. In a large, heavy pot or dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add the onions, bell peppers, garlic and serrano peppers, and cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes.
3. Add the zucchini, corn and mushrooms, and cook, stirring, until the vegetables give off their liquid and start to brown around the edges, about 6 minutes.
4. Add the chili powder, cumin, salt and cayenne, and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
5. Stir in the tomatoes.
6. Add the black beans, tomato sauce and vegetable stock, stir well, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes.
7. Remove from the heat, and stir in the cilantro. Adjust the seasoning to taste.
8. To serve, place 1/4 cup of brown rice in the bottom of each bowl. Ladle the chili over the rice and top with whatever garnishes you choose.
Serve immediately and enjoy!

Garlic Scallion Noodles

There are some days where all I want are noodles. It doesn't matter what flavor, what type of noodle ... just noodles. I tell my husband all the time that I should have been born Italian. :) One day for lunch I was looking online for a quick and simple noodle recipe for lunch that I had all the ingredients for already. This is what I found and it didn't disappoint. They were quick and quite tasty! Even my picky 3 year old ate a bowl full (and that's saying something!).



Garlic Scallion Noodles
(Recipe from weekofmenus.blogspot.com)

Ingredients:
8oz (half a box) of angel hair or thin spaghetti noodles
4 Tbsp (half a stick) butter
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2-4 scallions, finely chopped
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1-2 Tbsp of brown sugar (based on your own personal preference of sweetness)

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse.

In a heavy skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Add scallions and garlic. Stir and cook, without browning the garlic. Cook until the garlic smell is fragrant and filling the room, about 5 minutes. Add sugar and soy sauce, and cook for another minute. Increase the heat a bit and throw in the noodles. Quickly saute the noodles until they are all coated with the garlicky butter mixture.

Serve immediately. Garnish with additional scallions if desired.

Spaghetti Sauce

I love spaghetti, but jarred sauce is expensive and not nearly as good as homemade sauce. Here is a sauce that is very good that doesn't need to cook all day long. It takes as long as the noodles take to cook.


Kelsie's Awesome Spaghetti Sauce:

1 large can crushed tomatoes in puree
1 small can tomato sauce
1/2 large onion, diced
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
Basil (fresh is best, dried works fine)
Oregano
Dried parsley
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese
1lb spaghetti noodles

Also good with mushrooms, or ground beef if you want to add them. Add anything you like, but I leave mine as a simple tomato and basil sauce.

Pour a little olive oil into a large sauce pan or a tall sided frying pan. Add diced onion and minced garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Saute until onion is tender. Add a palm full of parsley, a palm full of dried basil and a few pinches of oregano. Oregano is pretty strong, don't add too much. If you are using fresh basil, add a handful of fresh leaves now and save a handful for the very end. Once the herbs are added and mixed in dump in tomatoes and tomato sauce. Mix well. Simmer covered (so it doesn't pop all over your stove) until noodles are finished. Taste. If it is missing any salt, pepper or any other seasonings add them. If you are using fresh basil, throw the second handful in right before you add to the noodles.

Once the noodles are finished cooking, drain and put back into pot. Pour sauce over noodles and toss to coat. Put some freshly grated parmesan cheese on top and toss again.

Enjoy!

Cake Pops

Cake pops have exploded all over the internet! One day I had never heard of them, and the next day I saw them everywhere! Some of them are so cute and creative (you should definitely google cake pops and look at some of the images for ideas!). I decided to try my hand at them and see if I liked them or not. I tried them two ways, with the stick pointing into the air (cake down on the pan) and the stick going down (like an actual sucker). Putting the cake on the pan was a lot easier for me. If you want them to be like actual suckers, put them in a piece of styrofoam to keep their shape.

My husband totally loves these! He asks me to make them all the time. I mean who doesn't love cake? And little tiny bite size pieces on a stick? Can't get much better than that! These are perfect for any sort of celebration. A party, wedding, baby shower, bridal shower ... you name it.




Cake Pops

Ingredients:
1 box cake mix (cook as directed on box) - I made two batches, one was chocolate and one was red velvet
1 16oz tub frosting (I used chocolate for the chocolate cake and cream cheese for the red velvet)
1 package of chocolate bark or candy melts (if you want to drizzle with additional colors, choose as many as you'd like)

Sucker sticks

Directions:
1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl. Break apart either with hands or my kitchen aid mixer was really fast!
2. Mix thoroughly with 1/2-1 tub frosting. (I used about 3/4 of a tub of frosting). Again, you can mix with your hands...or a kitchen aid mixer works really well!
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. I used my cookie scooper to get a consistent size and I ended up with 48)
4. Chill
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
6. Insert about 1/4" of one end of the sucker stick into the chocolate and then insert the sucker stick into the ball. (This will hold the sucker sticks in like glue and makes it easier when you start to coat the cake).


7. Chill again
6. Reheat chocolate if needed. Roll balls in chocolate and place on wax paper until firm. Drizzle with additional colors if you choose and decorate as desired!

**If your melted chocolate is a little too thick and weighs too much for your cake pop, you can thin it out a little with a little bit of vegetable oil**

White Chocolate Orange Cookies

White Chocolate Orange Cookies
(Recipe found at www.landeeseelandeedo.com)

1 cup butter (not margarine), softened to room temperature
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 1/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp orange zest
2 cups white chocolate chips

Mix butter and sugars until creamy. Beat in egg. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix in. When you have a good dough consistency, add the orange zest and the white chocolate. Bake 10-12 minutes at 350. Cool on wire racks.