Broccoli cheddar soup

I mentioned in a previous post that one of my favorite things to eat during this time of the year is soup. There's something so warm and comforting about a bowl of soup that makes it perfect for chilly weather! I used to be really intimidated by soups due to a disastrous situation involving navy beans and a ham hock (don't ask) so making something so creamy and delicious was huge for me! Broccoli and cheddar is a classic and this easily became a regular in my cold weather cooking! It's also pretty quick and easy to throw together which is a huge plus!

Broccoli and cheddar soup
recipe adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Ingredients

• 1/4 brown onion, chopped
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 4 tbl unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 3 cups steamed broccoli florets

First, steam your broccoli and set aside. Grate the cheese and set aside. Dice 1/4 to 1/2 small onion, depending on your preference, and drop it into a saucepan with the chicken broth. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until onions are soft.

 In a separate medium saucepan melt your butter and then add the flour, salt and paper. Stir constantly for about 2 minutes.

Heat milk in the microwave for 1-2 minutes until warm and then slowly whisk it into the flour mixture.

Cook together for about 10 minutes or until soup starts to thicken. Stir in onions and chicken broth. Add steamed broccoli and grated cheese and stir until cheese has melted completely.

Cut up a few thick slices of fresh bread...

And enjoy! Make this soup on the next cold day... I promise you will not regret it! XOXO

Friday Favorites: Fall Meals

(image source)

It's finally starting to feel like fall around here, and I couldn't be more thrilled. We had our first big cold front of the season and even had a few rainy days this week! I love this weather. The air is crisp in the morning and you can't go out without a jacket at night. It's perfect for cozying up under blankets and lighting pumpkin spice scented candles. Last week I talked about my favorite fall fashions, but this week I wanted to bring it a little closer to home and talk about all of the delicious flavors in fall foods. First up, appetizers!

Fall is the perfect time for soups. There's nothing better than coming home from a chilly day out to a steaming bowl of soup packed with delicious flavors. I've been wanting to cook with squash this fall so this corn and squash soup sounds amazing. I'll definitely be giving it a try!

One of my all time favorite soups is baked potato. You just can't go wrong with bacon, cheese, and creamy potatoes. This recipe from Betty Crocker looks delicious. I can practically smell it through the screen! The best part? You can throw it in the crock pot while you're at the pumpkin patch and come home to a hot meal!

 Every October there is a big chili cook-off in my mom's neighborhood. Last year we entered and won, but this year my mom will be a judge. Chili is the perfect fall meal; its hot and filling and tastes amazing served with cornbread. How fun would it be to serve up chili and cornbread in a jar to your guests? I love that it's portable and easy to bring outside for a fall dinner party!

Another delicious traditional fall meal is pot roast. Juicy meat, tender vegetables, and creamy mashed potatoes; is there any better meal than that? This roast from Jenny Steffans looks so beautiful and inviting. I've never made a pot roast, but this year I'll definitely be giving it a shot!

For dessert, nothing says fall like apples. I've been dying to go apple picking and now I have the perfect excuse... I need to make these amazing crock pot baked apples! With butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon it's just like apple pie without the crust! Can you say yum?!

I'm just gonna put this out there; pies are my specialty. Cherry pie was one of the first thing I ever baked completely from scratch when I was a teenager and my mom immediately named me the pie crust queen. I love the methodical mixing and rolling resulting in the perfect buttery, flaky pie crust. This year I really want to try some different variations of pies, including these adorable individual apple pies. Don't they look delicious?

I hope some of you are able to make some of these delicious meals this weekend and enjoy that crisp air! We're off to the pumpkin patch with family and I can't wait to continue our yearly fall traditions! XOXO

Easy and delicious pasta salad recipe

My mama has been making this delicious pasta salad as far back as I can remember. There wasn't a holiday dinner, family get together, or summer BBQ without it. I'm not sure of the exact origin of the recipe (or if my mom just made it up), but it's always a hit when people come over and try it. Personally, I think it's due to how simple the recipe really is. Even Mando likes it, and he doesn't eat anything... pickiest eater EVER! There are only 5 ingredients and it's super easy to make. When we had a few days of really hot temperatures last week I knew I wanted to make some because it's served cold and refreshing with any meal! I put some pork chops and baked potatoes on the grill and got to work!

Pasta salad

Ingredients:

• 2 12 ounce bags of tri-color rotelle noodles
• 1 bottle Italian dressing
• 1 can of black olives
• 1 14 ounce bag frozen broccoli florets
• 1 small jar of artichoke hearts

First, fill a pot about halfway with water and bring it to a rolling boil. Add both bags of rotelle noodles and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While your pasta is cooking, put your frozen broccoli florets in a steamer basket, and place it into a pot with about an inch of water. Cover and cook for about 7 minutes or until you can easily poke a fork into it.

When your pasta is done drain the water out and place it into a large bowl. Shake your bottle of Italian dressing and then pour the entire thing into your bowl of pasta. Mix well.

Once the broccoli is done cooking, throw it into the bowl of pasta. Add 1 can of black olives and a small jar of artichoke hearts. I used whole olives in the bowl below, but sliced olives might be better. I also didn't have any artichoke hearts on hand, but you can add or do without them... it tastes good either way!

Mix together all ingredients, and refrigerate for 2-3 hours. You want to serve this cold! When you're done, you can put foil over the bowl and refrigerate the leftovers for tomorrow's lunch. YUM!

Friday Favorites: Pinterest Volume 1

OKAY I'LL ADMIT IT. I'm obsessed. When I first discovered Pinterest I was busy with a hundred other projects and didn't give it much thought until one night I was home sippin' sizzurp (AKA wine) and finally signed on... and was on for the next 3 hours or so. I'm telling you, once you get on this site you get SUCKED IN. It's DANGEROUS.

In case you aren't familiar with the site, you can 'pin' images from your favorite blogs or websites and categorize them on 'boards'. I have wedding, recipe, fashion, crafty, home inspiration, and birthday party boards. You can also follow other people and their pins and re-pin them if you like them. It's so helpful to have all your ideas and inspiration in one place and I am so inspired every time I go on there.

Last week I was asking Twitter for ideas for Friday Favorites themes and my genius pal Alana suggested doing a post of all my Pinterest favorites and I was all over it! I asked her to join me, and once word got around all of my favorite ladies decided to join in the fun! And because we all love to eat cook we chose to do a FOOD theme! Since I'm more of a baker I wanted to do sweets. I hope you aren't reading this hungry, because you may drool!

Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream cake. YOU HAD ME AT CHOCOLATE! (Source)

Ice cream cake cookie cupcake. WHAT! (Source)

Cookie Dough cupcakes, my life is now complete! (Source)

S'mores cookies! Get in my mouth! (Source)

Peanut butter brownie bites, NOM! I made these last night and WILL be blogging about them next week! (Source)

And don't forget to visit Alana, Lindsey, Heather, Alyson and  to see THEIR Pinterest Friday Favorites! Have a great weekend everyone!

Recipe - Garlic Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

I make pasta ALL THE TIME. It's usually a quick and easy meal for me to throw together on a busy night. Normally I'm a marinara gal, but I also love me some fettuccine alfredo. A few days back I was having a major craving when it hit me that I've never made fettuccine alfredo from scratch before. I knew I had to get on that right away.... it couldn't be that hard! But when I started looking at recipes online I couldn't find the right one. They were all missing the ingredients I wanted or had strange spices in them. I then decided it would be a good idea to make up my own recipe (for something I'd never even made before). I just took the main ingredients for the alfredo sauce and added some of my own. I also wanted to add garlic and chicken because, obviously. Luckily it turned out great except for excessive lemon flavor, but I've adapted my recipe below to remedy that. I love how there's so many different ways to eat this dish (with chicken, shrimp, garlic, broccoli, etc.) and this is something I'll definitely be making again!

(I'm just going to apologize right now for the bad photos. I have no natural light in my kitchen and I made this late in the evening)

Garlic Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo
Ingredients

• 1lb fettuccine noodles
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 2 cloves of chopped garlic
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 cups grated parmesan
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
• Salt and pepper

Start by cooking the pasta in a large pot of boiling and salted water until tender. It took me about 12 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Chop your garlic into small pieces. Don't worry about being perfect, they can be rough and uneven pieces.

Meanwhile, add your butter to a LARGE skillet. I used the largest skillet I had and it was still overflowing so go big! Over low heat, melt the butter and then add your garlic.

Let the garlic and butter simmer until the garlic turns slightly brown.

Stir 2 1/2 cups of the cream and the lemon juice. Increase to medium heat and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from the heat. Add the pasta and toss. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of cream, and Parmesan to the skillet. Add the lemon zest, nutmeg, salt, and white pepper.

Toss the pasta mixture over low heat until the sauce thickens slightly, about 1 minute. Since I was using pre-made chicken strips I added that in at the end. I steamed some brocoli and baked some garlic bread to serve with. It was delicious!

Enjoy! If anyone else makes this let me know... I'd love to hear how you liked it!

Recipe - Easy Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwiches

We've been blessed with GORGEOUS weather in Southern California lately. Our days have been between 70-80 degrees and have felt more like summer than mid-January. Normally I love winter and the cooler weather, but it's been nice to get a break from it all and throw on a tank top!

Hot days always make me crave BBQ so as soon as the temperature started to rise I began thinking up a summer-inspired meal to cook. Because I've recently started experimenting with my new crock pot I decided it was the perfect time to make some pulled pork BBQ sandwiches I've had my eye on. All you need is a crock pot and 4 easy ingredients and you're ready to go!

(Photo source)

Easy Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwiches

You will need:

• 2 lb pork tenderloin (make sure to trim well and remove the silver skin)
• 1 can (12 ounces) root beer
• 1 bottle (18 ounces) BBQ sauce. My favorite is Sweet Baby Rays.
• 8 Hamburger buns
  

Directions: Place the pork tenderloin in a slow cooker and pour the root beer over the meat. Cover and cook on low 7 hours. Drain well. Stir in barbecue sauce. Serve over toasted hamburger buns.

Easy and SO yummy! I served with baked beans and cornbread. Enjoy!

My first Thanksgiving [in photos]!

So how was everyone's Thanksgiving? I've had a CRAZY week (more on that later...) and am just now getting around to blogging about mine. Seeing as it's now December that's a major fail, but what can ya do?

I won this 'GiveThanks' banner in a blog giveaway and I LOVE it! It has the perfect fall colors and I knew instantly that I would hang it behind the dinner table.

This is the centerpiece I made for the table. I measured the candle and cut out a circle with a sharp knife and then I hollowed out the pumpkin and rubbed allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon inside of it. My house smelled wonderful! Once the candle was in I started cutting leaves and berries from a fall leaf garland I got from Michaels and placed them all around the candle. It was so easy and I love how it came out!





















Cayden looked so cute on his first Thanksgiving! He was full of smiles!

















As you know I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time this year! I had so much fun putting everything together but it is HARD work! I woke up and started right away baking my annual cherry pie. I made the dough and let it refrigerate while I worked on the filling. I still haven't learned how to properly lattice the top so it always looks messy but believe me, it tastes delicious!





















The funny thing is that I was going by a 14 lb turkey recipe and failed to think that my 20 lb turkey might just take a little longer to cook. We didn't end up eating until 7pm but thankfully no one complained so it all worked out! The turkey turned out gorgeous and was SO yummy! I think it may have been my biggest cooking accomplishment yet! I was so mad at my mom because she picked it up and put it on the serving tray and totally mutilated it before I got a good picture, but I did manage to snap this one which shows how yummy and golden brown it looked!

All of my sides came out so yummy! Garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, , asparagus and of course stuffing!

To top it all off, I ended the meal with a homemade apple crisp topped with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce! I made this specifically for my sister who was too full to eat it in the end! What a brat!

The day was a success! I may or may not have Tweeted 'I AM THE THANKSGIVING MASTER!' that night... But everything turned out great and I couldn't be happier to spend the day with those I love most! Mando, my mom, my sister and I sat around the table and I made everyone say what they are thankful for. (Yes, I am that person. We sounded like a bad Lifetime movie!) Hopefully this can be a new tradition for my new family.

After dinner my mom stayed the night so we could wake up early the next morning and go shopping without worrying about bringing Cayden out in the cold. We spent way too much money of course but ended up buying presents for all the babies in the family plus some crafty stuff for me to make some presents! I seriously can't wait to get started!

Giving Thanks.

As you know I made the exciting announcement that I will be hosting my first ever Thanksgiving dinner at my apartment! I’m beyond excited even if it will just be 4 of us (+ 2 babies). I’ve grown up watching and then helping my mom make Thanksgiving dinner year after year and now I get the chance to show off everything I’ve learned!

I’m going to be keeping my menu very traditional. My style of cooking is simple comfort home cooking anyway… I don’t usually cook things with a lot of ingredients (unless it’s a lot of garlic because, obviously) and I don’t cook things I can’t pronounce so the fancy schmancy gourmet dishes will not be present on my table. However, I do have a nice classic meal planned out that I wanted to share it with you all. Most of these are family recipes, but a few of them I will be making for the first time... most importantly the turkey! If you have a favorite recipe be sure to send it my way!

I’ve also been browsing the internet for some table setting inspiration. I think I have a general idea of what I want it to look like but it doesn’t hurt to get some fresh ideas!


I found this sweet little centerpiece and instantly fell in love. It is so simple but still manages to ooze Fall flavor! I plan to make one for my table as long as my pumpkin lasts another week!




















I adore this table setting. The colors and the leaves make it come together beautifully and I love how the candles spell out 'Giving Thanks'; what a fun and simple DIY project that is sure to add spice to any table!


















My mouth literally dropped when I spied this table setting. I ADORE the silver detailing! So elegant! It makes me want to run to the nearest antique shop to pick up some candlesticks. And who doesn't love a vast array of pumpkins and gourds?




















I absolutely adore flowers. I used to work in a flower shop and to this day it's my favorite place I've ever been employed. There's nothing that makes me happier than a sweet smelling and beautifully done flower arrangement. This screams Fall with the orange, yellow, and brown color pallette and I love the creative idea to plop the flowers in a hollowed out pumpkin versus a vase.


























Do you have your Thanksgiving menu planned yet? What table settings are you drooling over? Do share my friends!