Danish Split Pea Soup with Dill

I have loved pea soup since forever, when Gram used to make it on Sundays.  Of course, she used to cook a ham bone in it, and that is no longer my cup of tea, so I have been making a vegetarian version.  Then I came across this Danish split pea soup with dill, and I was intrigued.  It's mostly the same soup, but with the addition of celery, celery root, and carrots, and lots of fresh dill added at the end of cooking.  This changes the color of it a little bit, do don't be freaked out at the slightly less than appealing color or orangeish-brown green!

The recipe suggests adding lightly fried onions at the end along with he dill, but let's be honest here: the dill is the star of this recipe.  It takes pea soup to another level.  The fried onions aren't necessary - but the dill is.  I think I will be adding dill to my pea soups from now on!

I had no celery root, by the way, so I added a couple of potatoes.  I think they thickened it up, maybe a bit too much but I sort of like thick mushy soups!

Recipe:

Danish split pea soup with dill
from Rhubarbarians (best blog name ever)
serves 6

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
2 celery stalks, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
1/4 of a celery root, diced
6 cups vegetable stock
2 cups dried green split peas, rinsed
1 sprig of thyme
4 tablespoons chopped dill, divided
salt and pepper
2 medium yellow onions, sliced

Instructions:

1) Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over medium high heat.  Add the chopped onions and saute until golden, about 15 minutes.

2) Add the next 6 ingredients, through thyme, and half of the dill.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover, and simmer over medium low heat for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until peas are soft and soup is fragrant.

3) Meanwhile, saute the sliced onions in a skillet over medium high heat until crispy.  Remove from skillet and set aside for topping.

4) Season soup with salt and pepper.  Serve topped with crispy onions and fresh dill.

Triple Chocolate Poke Cake

My favorite cake to bake is remission cake.  It never looks the same or has the same ingredients, but it's by far the best one to make.  Every time my uncle Scott's lymphoma is in remission, I bake him and his family a remission cake to celebrate!  Luckily two weeks ago, I got to make another one.  He loves chocolate, so I found this triple chocolate poke cake on Pinterest and decided to try it out.

Have you ever made a poke cake?  You literally poke holes in it once it's done baking, and pour a glaze over the top.  The idea is that the glaze fills in the holes so the cake is extra moist and has pockets of chocolatey sauce inside!

Here's a rule of thumb that I learned while making this poke cake: less is more.  Less holes, that is.  I poked so many holes that the cake looked like brown swiss cheese.  I figured, more holes must be better than less holes!  Unfortunately, then I ran out of glaze real fast.  It barely filled half of the holes, and the ones it did fill weren't even completely full.  Then you are supposed to sprinkle chocolate shavings on the top, which I did, and they sort of looked like brown saw dust, and they melted a little too.  The cake, in short, looked like crap.

I was horrified.  In an attempt to fix its cosmetics, I filled my holes with whipped cream and covered it all with sprinkles.  Then I frantically delivered it to my aunt and uncle and told them not to tell me if it sucked.  This was the picture I got sent later:

 along with a text that the cake was "the best chocolate cake ever," and an offer to return the favor in exchange for smoked salmon! Haha.  No thanks to the salmon, but I was really happy to find that my ugly cake was still delicious.  Since Scott compared it to the legendary chocolate cake of his childhood, I supposed I would have to share the recipe with you, even though I tried to pretend it never happened.  Just don't go overboard with the holes and all should be well!

Recipe:

triple chocolate poke cake
from The Two Bite Club

Ingredients:
for cake:
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup mik
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
for glaze:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
chocolate shavings (freeze a chocolate bar, then use a vegetable peeler to shave it)

Instructions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 baking dish.

2) Ina  mixing bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and beat for 3 minutes with an electric mixer.  Stir in the boiling water; the mixture will look very thin and runny.

3) Pour the mixture into greased baking dish.  Bake for 45 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.  Let sit for at least 10 minutes.

4) Meanwhile, add all the icing ingredients to a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute.  Cool for 5 minutes, then beat with an electric mixer for 3 minutes.

5) Using the handle of a wooden spoon, carefully poke deep holes into the cake (not too many, you crazy hole poker!!!) .  Pour the glaze over the top of the cake, making sure to get some of the glaze evenly into all the holes.  Use a rubber spatula to carefully spread all the glaze if you need to.

6) When the cake and glaze are cool, sprinkle chocolate shavings over the entire cake.

Cinnamon Crumb Coffee Cake Muffins

During the Patriots game two weeks ago, Mom and Jesse talked me into baking blueberry muffins.  I have no idea how the idea came up but I agreed, using some of the blueberries Mom had frozen from blueberry picking during the summer.  Then the Pats won, yayyyyy.  Fast forward one week to last weekend's game.  I was at home, happily watching Bring It On on ABC Family (wasn't everyone?) when I got a frantic text from my mother asking me to make muffins again, because the Patriots were losing and she was feeling superstitious.  So, I did.  Alas, even blueberry muffins couldn't pull out the win for them this time.  Sorry, Patriots fans.

Anyway, after Jesse devoured probably a dozen of these muffins over the two batches, he was clearly impressed with my muffin prowess (maybe you remember Muffin Monday?  It was sort of my thing).  He challenged me to make his favorite, coffee cake muffins.  Enter cinnamon crumb coffee cake muffins.  I was actually a bit surprised that I have never made coffee cake muffins, because I went through a pretty intense Drake's Coffee Cake phase in high school.  A quick search on Pinterest led me to these muffins.

Once I had started the recipe, I kind of wished I had tried a different one.  There were typos in it (like it called for pieces of butter, rather than tablespoons, and called for cinnamon in the topping but never specified when to put it in and instead asked for it in the batter) and I was nervous.  Luckily they turned out okay (better than okay... Jesse ate them all, and in not that many sittings).  But, I am not sold that this will be my go to coffee cake muffin recipe.  The crumb topping was good - and luckily it makes up literally about 1/3 of the muffin; in fact, the topping has more flour than all 12 muffins combined - but I thought the muffins themselves weren't as light and fluffy as a good coffee cake should be.  Do you have a favorite coffee cake muffin recipe, and if so, why haven't I tried it yet?

Recipe:

cinnamon crumb coffee cake muffins
from Sugar Apron
yield 12 muffins

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons softened butter
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
5 tablespoons yogurt
for crumb topping:
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Instructions:

1) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly spray muffin pan with baking spray or use muffin liners.

2) In a medium bowl, whisk together butter, eggs, yogurt, and vanilla.

3) In another mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir it all together with a wooden spoon, just until combined.  Batter should be lumpy.

4) Scoop the batter into the muffin tin.  It should fill each cup about 3/4 full.

5) To make crumb topping, whisk together granulated sugar, cinnamon, salt and flour.  Add melted butter and stir until it all comes together.  Fluff with a fork to make a mixture that resembles coarse crumbs.  Sprinkle the topping on top of the batter of each muffin.  It may seem like a lot, but use it all!

6) Bake the muffins for 20 minutes or until the toothpick inserted into each muffin comes out clean.  Let muffins cool in the pan 10 minutes, then transfer onto a cooling rack to cool completely.  Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Buffalo Chicken Chili

I know, what is this?!  Buffalo chicken chili on Trust the Vegetarian?!  Alas, sometimes you have to do what you have to do, and this weekend, I had to make some meat.  And watch football.  Two of my least favorite things.  But I must admit, even if I loathe football, I do love going to football parties and spending the afternoon in the kitchen.  I have said it before, but I really am a dream football party-goer because I just want to cook you delicious food and let you lay on the couch and watch!  I think that's why Kenzie invited me over on Saturday, and did all the grocery shopping.  This was a recipe she had pinned and purchased everything she needed, so how could I say no?  Besides making blueberry muffins and soft pretzel bites, I also made this buffalo chicken chili.

I guess the meat part wasn't too terrible because Kenz bought a rotisserie chicken.  My mom ended up doing most of the shredded for me, too, which was awesome.  This whole recipe kind of freaked me out because I am not the kind of girl who shreds chicken or uses ranch packets, but, lo and behold, there I was doing both!  The chicken is flavored with buffalo sauce, a ranch dressing packet, and salsa.  There are even two different types of beans in there, luckily, so you aren't just eating chicken and sauce (although I am pretty sure this group would have been fine with that).  The recipe suggests adding a pint of cream; I stirred in maybe 1/4 cup because it wasn't really necessary.

Besides my mom saying that it was a bit too spicy for her, the carnivores loved the chili.  They liked it served with tortilla chips, but I think it would have been great over rice too.  It's definitely a good football party dish!  Go Patriots?

Recipe:

buffalo chicken chili
from Reasons to Come Home


Ingredients:
4 cups shredded chicken
1/2 red onion, diced
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 bottle buffalo sauce (I used a mixture of 2 different sauces per request!)
2 packages dry ranch mix
1 can chicken broth
1 cup chunky salsa
1 can great northern beans, drained and rinsed
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup heavy cream

Instructions:

1) Saute the diced onion with olive oil.  Add shredded chicken, ranch seasoning, and buffalo sauce.  Saute for a few more minutes.

2) Add beans, salsa, and chicken broth.  Simmer on low until heated through and thick.

3) Stir in heavy cream before serving.

Black Bean, Sweet Potato and Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers

2016 is still going to be my year.  I keep saying it event hough I have been sick for all of it so far!  I'm on a new antibiotic starting today so hopefully I will be able to swallow without wincing soon.  And more importantly (or is it?), I will have the energy to make myself a good meal after work!

With last weekend being a long weekend, I did manage to force myself off the couch (out from under my heated blanket) and into the kitchen for a few new great recipes coming your way.  I'll start off with these delicious stuffed peppers.  Jesse mentioned that stuffed peppers are among his favorite meal, and I was pretty surprised when I saw no stuffed peppers on my blog yet.  I'm 90% sure I made some before, but I think it was before my blog started, and I don't recall them being earth shatteringly great or terrible, so even though I remember where the recipe came from, I decided to start fresh.  I came across this lovely little idea: stuffing the peppers with a healthy, protein-filled mixture of quinoa, onion, black beans, diced sweet potato, tomato, and lots of fresh cilantro.  Toss a jalapeño in there if you are feeling wild, but there's already lots of flavor going on.  I did add some crushed red chili flakes, which made it super spicy if you ask me, but since Jesse doused his peppers in hot sauce, I guess he didn't think it was hot enough!

Besides the comments I was already bracing myself for, ("what is that stuff?  What's wrong with rice?"), this healthy vegetarian meal went over better than I had expected.  Jesse ate three entire peppers (2 halves each) over the course of the night (we decided he likes to have about 10 small meals in a day).  As always, they were compared to his mother's peppers, but were announced to be "different, but still very good!"  I will take that.  I was happy to have lots of the tasty filling left over (the recipe says it makes 3 stuffed peppers, but I manage to stuff 4 and still have extra filling, which was perfect for lunches!).  I just finished off the last of it, and even if it was spicy according to my tastes, I am kind of sad that it's gone.

Recipe:

black bean, sweet potato, and quinoa stuffed bell peppers
from Ambitious Kitchen
makes 4 stuffed peppers

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 yellow onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 jalapeno, seeded and diced
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups vegetable broth, divided
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and finely diced
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and finely diced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes if desired
salt and pepper
3 - 4 large bell peppers (I used red and green), seeds removed and cut vertically
3/4 cup reduced fat shredded colby jack cheese

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a saute pan over medium-high heat, heat olive oil.  Add onions, jalapeño, and garlic, and saute until the onions begin to soften and turn translucent, about 4 - 5 minutes.  Place into large bowl and set aside.

2) To cook quinoa, rinse with cold water in a mesh strainer.  In a medium saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups of vegetable broth to a boil.  Add in quinoa and bring picture to a boil again.  Cover, reduce heat to low, and let simmer for 15 minutes or until quinoa has absorbed all of the water.  Remove from heat and fluff with fork.  Place into bowl with vegetables.

3) While quinoa is cooking, place a medium pot over high heat and fill with water.  Bring to a boil and add in diced sweet potato.  Reduce heat to medium, cover, and continue to cook for about 6 minutes or until your potatoes are fork tender.  This might take more or less time depending on how small you cut your sweet potatoes.  Once tender, drain water and place potatoes in bowl with quinoa and onion mixture.  Gently stir in black beans, tomatoes, remaining 1/2 cup vegetable broth, chili powder, cumin, oregano, cilantro, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper to taste.

3) Arrange bell peppers in a large skillet or baking pan and stuff with a heaping 1/2 cup of quinoa mixture.  cover with foil and bake for 20 - 30 minutes until peppers are tender.  Uncover and sprinkle each with 2 tablespoons of cheese.  Place in oven for 5 minutes longer or until cheese melts. Remove and serve immediately with toppings such as sour cream, Greek yogurt, or hot sauce.

Thick and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

These cookies were the result of a text from Kenzie with the link to the recipe.  Even though I am not a huge fan of baked goods, peanut butter cookies are pretty great, particularly when they are soft and chewy in the middle with a crunchy outside.  This recipe promised just that, without the work of rolling the dough balls in sugar or forking the tops or doing anything fancy.  Since I have been sick for about 3 straight weeks now and my energy level isn't at its highest, this recipe sounded right up my alley, and I whipped up a batch last Saturday night.  I mean whipped it up, too.  These were pretty quick and simple  Kenzie begged for me to bring her hot cookies, but she was patient enough to wait until the next day!

The end result was just as great as expected.  These cookies are soft, thick and fudgy - can something that isn't chocolatey be fudgy?  The insides are chewy while the outsides are crisp, and they have just the right amount of peanut butter flavor.  You want to know the secret to these?  Don't overbake them.   I know that, even as a pretty experienced baker, that's one of the mistakes I make all the time.  You really want to take these out at that moment where you think they might be done but you aren't sure.  Just go with it!

I gave them all away to Kenzie and to Jesse's family and got pretty high praise from both.  I may have to make another batch of these babies soon.  Just not today. Considering I just did laundry, vacuumed (I have pine needles everywhere... I should have taken the tree down earlier!) and mopped, and I am entirely exhausted by it!  Soon enough :)

Recipe:

thick and chewy peanut butter cookies
from Dessert Now Dinner Later
yield 1 1/2 dozen

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1)Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats and preheat oven to 350 degrees.   Cream the butter and sugars together in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.

2) Add the peanut butter, egg, and vanilla.  Mix well and scrape the bowl.

3) Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Add to the butter mixture all at once and mix until just incorporated.

4) Scoop dough onto baking sheets and bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until just set.  Allow cookies to cool slightly on the tray before transferring onto a cooling rack.  Store cookies in an airtight container.

Cauliflower and Tomato Coconut Curry

I had such a tremendous backlog of recipes all fall - I can blame my busy schedule with taking classes or something but really I have no excuse.  That's why I am totally shocked that I am now posting a recipe that I currently have the leftovers of in my refrigerator right now!  I'd better get my butt into the kitchen.  I took a bit of a hiatus during Christmas break when I was sick, but I am still sick and I still need to eat!

This curry is pretty delicious.  I love all things cauliflower these days, and they soak up the coconut curry sauce, flavored with garam masala, perfectly.  Then there are chickpeas to keep you full, sweet potatoes, spinach, and tomatoes.  Serve this colorful dish over rice, and you've got a wildly amazing little Indian dinner.  I made it last week and have been taking the leftovers to work; they reheat beautifully.


Recipe:

cauliflower and tomato coconut curry
from A Couple Cooks

Ingredients:
1 yellow onion, diced
1 pound sweet potato (4 cupped peeled and chopped)
1 head cauliflower (5 cups chopped)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
23-ounce jar of diced plum tomatoes (I just used most of a 28-ounce can of regular diced tomatoes)
15-ounce can full fat coconut milk
15-ounce can chickpeas
4 cups spinach leaves
cilantro
brown rice

Instructions:

1) Prepare the brown rice according to the package instructions.

2) Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onion and saute 2 minutes, then add the sweet potato and saute 3 minutes. Add cauliflower and 1/2 teaspoon salt, and saute for another 5 minutes.  Stir in curry powder, garam masala, cumin, and cayenne.  Add the tomatoes and coconut milk.  bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes until the cauliflower and sweet potato are tender.

3) Drain and rinse the chickpeas.  When the vegetables are tender, add the chickpeas and spinach and stir for 2 minutes until the spinach is wilted.  Add the other 1/2 teaspoon salt to taste.

4) Garnish with cilantro and serve with brown rice.

Trust the Vegetarian

Do you like my new blog name?!  I was so excited about it today that it was almost hard to focus on teaching.  I was walking into school with two coworkers who were telling me there's another coworker of ours who is a fairly new vegetarian; she's having trouble finding good ways to get protein into her diet without meat.  "She hates tofu," they said, "and hasn't tried tempeh but doesn't think she will like that either."  I replied, "oh, she'll like it if she gets her recipes from me!  Trust the vegetarian!"  As soon as I said it, I loved it and announced it would be my new blog name!

Trust the vegetarian. I think it shows the changes that my blog (and life) have undergone since I started writing in 2011 (is that crazy or what?!).  Since I started writing this blog, I have become a vegetarian again.  Yes, I said again: I was meatless from age 2 - 14, for those of you who don't know; as soon as I had a dinner conversation with my mom about why chicken is called chicken, I gave it up until I was a very hungry high schooler. My parents did not condone this lifestyle, and I lived on side dishes for 12 years.  I was also very picky, and was what a nutritionist called a pasta-terian.  In short, I had a lot to learn about living a healthy vegetarian life.  I think that's partly why I gave it up when I was 14 (I still remember my first McDonald's burger on a chorus field trip - it made me sick).  Once I started cooking a lot, touching raw meat became more and more horrific, and slowly but surely, I weaned out all meat from my diet.

No, I don't miss it.  No, not even bacon.  No, it's not just because I love animals, but it is certainly part of it.  These are the questions vegetarians get all the time :)  I don't mind them.  I have plenty of vegetarian knowledge to impart, so ask away; just promise me you will try my meatless meals.

Besides changing my diet over the past 4 years, I have gotten quite adept at sneaking protein into my life without resorting to chicken or steak. I could be a good resource for new veggie eaters, or even just people who want to try to go meatless every now and then (Meatless Mondays, anyone?)  Yes, I may make weird things every now and then, but trust the vegetarian, will you?  Even my weirdest dishes can pleasantly surprise you.  Just ask my family to discuss pulled cauliflower sandwiches.

I promise to get back to the recipes real soon; I just could not wait to share this new name change with you any longer!

Oatmeal Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

One thing I love about Kenzie is that she is willing to ask me specifically for a recipe to be made for her.  She is willing to find the exact recipe and shop for ingredients if needed.  I love making food for people, but even I have to admit that my taste is not like everyone else's.  Lots of people may not appreciate a gift of quinoa-stuffed delicata squash (yes that's on my menu this week), so I need a little bit of assistance sometimes.

A couple days after Christmas, I had a notification on Facebook that Kenzie had tagged me in something.  When I clicked on it, it was this recipe posted by Quaker, with the note "make please."  How could I say no?  I had all the ingredients and they were simple, and I liked how you an't be quite sure if it's breakfast or dessert.  I mean, there's oats, and peanut butter, but also chocolate chips... I'll let you be the judge of that.  I made them and brought them over to my mom's house, much to Kenzie's happiness.

Now, side note: I should probably remember next time to put them on some sort of disposable dish when I bring food to my mother's, because my pan came back with a black circle burned into them.  The bars had to be kept up on the stove (away from Delilah), and although my mom has had this stove for probably 4 - 5 years, she still has no idea how to turn on the right units, so she turned on the wrong ones, lit these bars on fire, and burned a ring into my pan.  Such is life :)

Recipe:

oatmeal chocolate peanut butter bars
from Quaker Oats

Ingredients:
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cups brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix sugar and peanut butter using a mixer on high for 2 - 3 minutes, then add vanilla extract.  Add oats, flour, baking soda, and salt and mix on medium speed until the mixture looks crumbly.  Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.

2) Once the mixture is evenly mixed and crumbly, add milk on low until a dough is formed.  Fold in chocolate chips by hand.  Once chocolate chips are evenly distributed, roll the entire mixture into a ball using your hands.  Place the ball of dough into an 8x8 cake pan, pressing the dough to fit evenly into the pan.

3) Bake for 17 - 20 minutes.  Remove once the bars are a golden brown.  Let cool completely before you cut into squares.

Coconut Yule Trees

Okay this is my last Christmas post, I swear!  Nothing more shaped like Christmas trees until next Christmas!  But these little coconut yule trees are worth it.  This is one of my dad's old recipes that he used to make to give to people at Christmas time, so I decided to do it too.  My mom helped me out like she used to work with him, so it was a fun and special evening for us.

Recipe-wise, these are very easy.  You simply mix together coconut, confectionary sugar, butter, cream and almond extract.  Then it gets a little sticky when you have to form the mixture into triangles (tree shapes, obviously!).  They chill for a bit, and then you can decorate.  We decorated them with some green sprinkles, and wanted Red Hot candies for ornaments but the store didn't have them, so we used some other sprinkles.  And, if you're feeling fancy, you can add trunks and coat them in melted dark chocolate - we thought that was unnecessary.  Either way, they were cute.  My mom said these were the best candies we made, and they definitely made a good addition to our candy gift boxes.

Tonight is the first night that I am both back to work and cooking dinner.  It's hard to get back into the routine!

Recipe:

coconut yule trees
from Dad's old orange recipe folders
yield about 2 dozen trees

Ingredients:
3 cups flaked coconut
2 cups confectionary sugar
1/4 cup softened butter
1/4 cup light cream
1 teaspoon almond extract
green sugar and Red Hot candies

Instructions:

1) In a large bowl, combine the first five ingredients and mix well.  Drop by tablespoonfuls not a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet.  Chill for 1 hour.

2) Shape into trees.  Decorate with green sugar and candies.

Gingerbread Fudge

This was the second candy I made to give to people for the holidays.  It was very quick and embarrassingly easy (no cooking at all unless you count melting things in the microwave, and no candy thermometer!).  Unfortunately I never tried it, and the only person who did before I packed it up and gave it away was Jesse, who informed me he doesn't like ginger.  So I can't tell you much about it... except that it sounded great!  Its base is sweetened condensed milk and white chocolate, but it's flavored with ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg.  It certainly looked creamy and smelled spicy and sweet.  Then to make it as festive as possible, top with some Christmas sprinkles for an extra added crunch.  Isn't it pretty?

I can't believe I am sharing Christmas recipes still.  It feels like the holidays were years ago now that I am back to work!  My tree is still up and being lit every day (can I please keep it up forever?), but I know the holiday season is long gone.

In other back-to-work news, can we discuss how exhausting it is to work every day?  I'm not back in the swing of things yet.  I have taken naps after work two out of the three days this week.  And today, there's still time...

Recipe:

gingerbread fudge
from Sweet2Eat Baking

Ingredients:
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
12 ounces white chocolate, chopped
2 - 3 teaspoons ginger, sifted
1/2 - 1 teaspoon cinnamon, sifted
1/2 - 1 teaspoon nutmeg, sifted

Instructions:

1) Pour the condensed milk and white chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl.  Heat for 2 - 3 minutes, or until the white chocolate chips are almost completely melted.  Don't overheat!  Stir until completely blended, melted and smooth.

2) Immediately add the spices and combine thoroughly.  Transfer to an aluminum-foil-lined 8x8-inch baking pan.  Top with sprinkles if desired.  Leave to set.  Once set, cut into cubes and store in a cool, dry place in an airtight container.

Old Fashioned Butter Mints

I cannot believe my vacation is over!  The past few days have mostly been spent hibernating with a sinus infection.  As if my body is rebelling against going back to work, today both of my eyelids started swelling.  Cool.  2016, I had such high hopes for you!

Do you still have your Christmas tree up?  I do.  I love my tree and I don't want to take it down.  It adds such a nice light to my living room!  I think I will keep it until I finish all of my Christmas blog recipes so I don't feel so behind schedule :)

I made these butter mints to give as a gift, along with some other candies.  These were by far the easiest!  The recipe is very similar to frosting, which I know sounds gross, but they end up being soft, sweet, minty little bites that are very pretty.  Plus, you get to roll out the dough and cut it with a pizza cutter, so you get to feel like you're playing with Play-Doh.  I got these - about 200 of them - done within 45 minutes.  And that included time to add 2 different food colorings, let the dogs and in out a thousand times, text people witty things, and watch the news.  You know how the week before Christmas seems to grant you the ability to do 1,000 things at once?  At this point I can hardly do one thing at a time.  Like I am trying to look up dogs to adopt.... don't ask, or tell my mom... and write this blog post... so I am not totally sure if it's making much sense.  Plus my eyelids are swollen.  Cut me some slack :)

Recipe:

old fashioned butter mints
from Averie Cooks
makes about 200 mints

Ingredients:
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 1/4 cups confectionary sugar
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
food coloring

Instructions:

1) To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter and salt and beat for 1 minutes on medium-high speed.  Add confectionary sugar, milk, and peppermint, and beat on medium-low speed until a dough forms.  If the dough seems wet, you can add more sugar (up to 1/4 cup more).  The dough will be crumbly, but will come together when pinched and squeezed into a ball.

2) Remove the dough from the mixer, separate it into 2 smaller balls (or however many different colors you want), and add one ball back into the mixer.  Add food coloring of your choice and paddle on low speed until coloring is well blended.  Color will not blend completely into each and every speck of dough, or overall, mix unto color is uniform.

3) Wash the mixing bowl and the paddle in between each color change and repeat until all balls are colored.  After the dough has been colored, you can roll it out immediately or wrap it with plastic wrap and place in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

4) Place a golf ball-sized amount of dough in your hands and roll dough into long thin cylinders about 1 centimeter wide.  Place cylinders on countertop and with a pizza cutter or sharp knife, slice cylinders into bite-sized pieces, approximately 1 centimeter long.  Store mints in an airtight container in the refrigerator where they will keep for many weeks.

Spaghetti Squash Quiche Casserole

Well it's 2016!  I had such high hopes for this year... and I spent much of the first day of it sitting in Urgent Care, waiting to be seen for a terrible sinus infection.  Ah well!  Let's hope the rest of the year goes a little smoother!

Anyway... with the end of my vacation looming closer, it's time to start thinking about packing lunches and figuring out breakfasts again.  This was a really great breakfast option, courtesy of my friend Laura at work.  She raved about this spaghetti squash quiche for weeks, and would reheat it in my microwave at school, and it did smell pretty good.  Of course, her version had Canadian bacon, and mine would not; I chose to add some garlic, mushrooms, spinach, and tomato.  And hers had swiss cheese, which I forgot to buy, so more mozzarella substituted for it.  I loved my veggie version, but I do think that my next spaghetti squash quiche will have swiss cheese for a little added kick.

I know the thought of a quiche made without a crust and with lots of spaghetti squash may not sound appetizing, but I promise you it's surprisingly quiche-like.  If you want the meat version, you'll want to follow the link to the original recipe.  I recommend my vegetable additions whether you add Canadian bacon or not!  It reheats beautifully; packing a slice for work every day made the week before Christmas break bearable!

Recipe:

spaghetti squash quiche casserole
from Healthy A La Mode
serves 6 - 8

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked spaghetti squash (about 1/2 a large squash; I microwaved mine!)
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup spinach
1 small tomato, chopped
4 eggs
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup swiss cheese
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
black pepper to taste

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8 x 8 pan (I used a large pie dish).

2) Heat a large skillet over medium heat and saute chopped onion for about 5 minutes.  Add garlic, mushrooms, spinach and tomato and cook for 3 -5 more minutes or until vegetables are tender and spinach is wilted.

3) In a large bowl, combine cooked spaghetti squash, eggs, cottage cheese, swiss cheese, vegetable mixture, and black pepper to taste.  Mix well and transfer to greased pan or dish.  Top with mozzarella cheese.  Bake for 35 - 40 minutes or until golden brown.  Allow to cool a few minutes before serving.