Beer Cheese Soup with Garlic Rye Croutons

It's that time of year here in the Upper Midwest. The weather is cooler and the colors on the trees are changing. It's awfully gorgeous out, except for that whole 35 degrees thing this morning when I woke up. YUCK! The worst part is that the husband had to go run marathon #17. That's 26.2 miles people!!! That's quite an accomplishment!

So while he is running his marathon I had a few hours to kill before meeting him at the finish line. Since it was such a cold morning I decided it was time for soup! And not just any soup, but beer cheese soup! Oh and I added garlic rye croutons. Delicious. You can use any kind of crouton you wish, but there is nothing better than homemade croutons and the slight bitterness of the rye goes wonderful with the sharpness of the cheese. So on those cold days where nothing sounds better than a good bowl of rich, yummy soup try this recipe and make your tummy happy!

Beer Cheese Soup

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
2 Tbsp. Butter
4 Tbsp. Flour
1/2 cup onion, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup carrot, diced
1 12oz. bottle of dark beer (one you would enjoy drinking)
1/4 lb. Vermont Cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 lb. Smoked Gouda cheese, shredded
1/4 lb. Gruyere cheese, shredded
1 cup milk or cream
4 cups Vegetable broth or stock
1 Tsp. Salt
1/2 Tsp. Pepper

Garlic Rye Croutons

1/2 loaf Rye bread, cubed into 1/2 inch pieces
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning

Note: Before you start to cook anything make sure you have all your dicing and shredding done as this soup tends to assemble quickly.

Heat the milk/cream and vegetable stock together in a pot. Do not boil as this may cause the milk to curdle.

Heat the oil and melt the butter in a heavy pot over medium heat. Cook the carrots, celery, and onions until soft. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two. Add the 1 tsp. of salt and the 1/2 tsp. of pepper. Sprinkle in the flour and stir until completely incorporated. Allow the flour to cook for a few minutes.

Add the beer and stir in well, scraping the bottom of the pot to get up all of brown bits off of the bottom (so much flavor there!). Whisk in the milk and stock mixture. Allow this to cook over medium high heat, stirring frequently until it starts to thicken. Using a immersion blender, blend until smooth(or if you don't have an immersion blender you can add small batches to a regular blender and blend til smooth. Don't add too much to the blender or it will expand too much and you will have a big mess!!!) You can omit this step if you like a chunkier soup.

Add the cheese and stir with a whisk until melted. Allow to cook over low heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While the soup is cooking, toss the rye bread cubes on a cookie sheet with the olive oil, garlic, and Italian seasoning. Make sure to coat all the bread cubes well. Put them in a 425 degree oven and let them toast for 10-15 minutes or until brown and crispy.

When the soup is done cooking serve in bowls and top with the croutons. Enjoy!

Note: This soup reheats very well if you don't gobble it all down right away.

White Wine Mussels

As a vegetarian that only eats seafood for her "meat" based protein, I love it! Over the years I have come to love Mussels. A lot of people have an adversion to them, but like almost everyone I know, if you try them you will most likely like them. They are great as a appetizer or if it's just one or two people, serve them with a crusty piece of bread for soaking up all the extra broth like I did for this recipe.

I used white wine to make the broth. You can use almost any white wine you like, however my only two suggestions when choosing a wine to cook with (and this goes for any recipe, just not this one) is to pick a wine that is not too sweet and one that you would be happy drinking. This will make all the difference in your recipe.

Ingredients

1lb. Mussels
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
2-3 garlic cloves minced
1/2 bottle of white wine
Large piece of french bread

First, a few things I have learned about mussels over the past few years. The first thing is the MOST important and could save you a trip to the emergency room. When you get your mussels home clean them with a scrub pad in cold water. If you see any mussels with broken shells or that are not fully closed discard them immediately. They are dead and eating them will make you very, very sick. If you get your mussels from a good grocery store (make sure they have a clean seafood counter) or seafood shop you should not have any dead ones in the mix. You will have one or two per pound at the most.

Second, once your mussels have been cleaned and the beards (the seaweed or hairy looking things near the hinge of the mussel) have been removed (most come debearded, but it's always good to double check) add about a quarter of a cup of flour to a large bowl of ice water and soak the mussels in the mixture for an hour or two. This will remove any grit still remaining in the mussels.

Now you are ready to cook them and enjoy!

Heat the oil in a pan (or pot) over medium heat with a tight fitting lid. Add the garlic and cook for one minute. Add the mussels and  then pour the wine over the mussels. Cover with the lid and cook until the mussels open.

Discard any mussels that did not fully open as they are dead and you can get very ill from eating them.

Serve the mussels and the broth in a bowl with the bread to soak up any extra broth. YUM!!!

Hint: Serve the rest of the wine with the mussels. Hey the bottle is open anyway so why not?!

Vermont Cheddar Mac n' Cheese

I am spending a weekend in another kitchen that is not mine. My husband and I are up North at my parents cabin for the weekend. We got up here on Thursday night and I made us Mac n' Cheese for dinner. I'm definately not a fan of the stuff in the blue box and I love using different cheeses to come up with different flavors for Mac n' Cheese. This time I used a 2 year Vermont Cheddar and a Smoked Gouda. It was the perfect blend of sharpness from the cheddar and smokiness from the Gouda. My parents constantly say they can't make good food up North cause they just don't have the means to do it up here, but I beg to differ. I constantly prove them wrong while making yummy, gourmetish dishes for my family.

Vermont Cheddar Mac n' Cheese

1 lb. pasta (rotini, penne, shells, whatever you want to use)
1 small yellow onion, fine dice
2 Cups milk
3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. flour
1 cup 2 year Vermont Cheddar
1/2 cup smoked Gouda
salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta per package directions (preferably al dente). While the water/pasta is boiling shred the cheese. When the pasta is done drain and set a side.

While the pasta is cooking heat the milk in a small saucepan, do not let boil. Also, shred the cheese and set aside.



In the pasta pot add butter and melt. Add onion and cook until translucent. Sprinkle in the flour and stir in incorporate the flour into the butter and onion. Let this cook for a few minutes to cook out the raw flour flavor.



 Add the warmed milk to the onions and stir continuously to prevent burning. When the mixure has thickened add the shredded cheese and stir until melted. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add the pasta to the cheese mixture and stir until pasta is completely covered. Serve immediately and enjoy!!!

Note: If you prefer a baked mac n' cheese double the recipe for the cheese mixture. Once the pasta had been added to the cheese place in a buttered baking dish. Sprinkle the top of the mac n' cheese with bread crumbs and 2 Tbps of butter, cubbed (as in sprinkle the cubed butter around evenly on top of the bread crumbs, don't mix them together). The butter will help the breadcrumbs brown. Cook at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes or until brown and bubbly on top. Remove from the oven, and let cool for 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Peach Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Buttercream Frosting

Thursday was one of my coworkers last days at work. He had been there for three years and is moving onto a very impressive federal position. Since I'm the one who started his training when he first started I'm pretty darn proud of him. Did I mention he is 22? 22 years old and he's got his life together better than most 30 year olds I know. So Thursday at work there was a going away party with pizza, pop, and other deliciously unhealthy things. I ran a few ideas past some of my coworkers and they all agreed that the peach and brown sugar frosting cupcakes sounded quite intriguing. I saved a few cupcakes for the owners of my borrowed kitchen and my husband. It only seems like a good way to help pay them for allowing me to use their kitchen.

I packaged the cakes in a large white cake box and brought them into work. The guys in the office pounced right away. They opened up the box and just about died from the wonderful smell of peaches and cream cheese! I didn't work so I didn't stick around to watch the cupcakes get eaten, but I can only imagine that they didn't last long. They never do.

Peach Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes 24 to 28 cupcakes

3 cups cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of nutmeg

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks or 6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup dark or light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) buttermilk, sour cream or full-fat yogurt
3 large peaches, peeled, cored, and chopped smallish



Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 28 muffin cups with paper liners.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg and set aside. Cream the butter and sugars together, beating until fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl between each addition, and then the vanilla. Gently mix in the buttermilk, sour cream or yogurt. Stir in the dry ingredients and fold in the peach chunks.



Divide the batter evenly among the prepared cupcake liners.



Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes for five minutes in the tin, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

1 1/4 cups light brown sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 cup (4 ounces or 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, cornstarch and powdered sugar. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add the sugar-cornstarch mixture and vanilla, beat until frosting is smooth and light. Chill the bowl in the refrigerator until it thickens back up a bit, about 30 minutes, then spread or dollop on cooled cupcakes.



Tip: Cornstarch that gets added to this recipe is not a normal addition to cream cheese frosting. However, due to the lack of powdered sugar in this recipe, the cornstarch helps stabalize and thicken the frosting. You don't have to add it, but I would highly recommend doing so. If you don't the frosting will be very thin and runny.





Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

I know I said the next post would be of Peach Cupcakes and Mac n' Cheese, but I remembered that I made a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake. This was just no ordinary cake. This cake was awesome!!! I saw the recipe on one of my favorite websites, The Smitten Kitchen (http://www.smittenkitchen.com/).

I absolutely had to make it. I brought into work for everyone to try and needless to say, with in the hour it was gone. This cake is so rich that the slices could be very thin. Two of the guys at work learned this the hard way. Not only were their slices not so thin, but each of them had two slices and almost made themselves sick from the sugar overload.

The secret ingredient that makes this cake super awesome and decadent is the peanut butter buttercream frosting that goes in between the layers and under the chocolate gnache. Oh silly me! Did I forget to mention there was chocolate Gnache on the cake too? Oh my...how dare I forget something that important. Well read on and get ready to make on of the best cakes you will ever make!

The original recipe from the Smitten Kitchen called for three 8-inch rounds, but I made two 9-inch rounds and then sliced them in half. I would not recommend this. When the cake was sliced the layers were too thin and could not support the weight of the frosting and gnache and the cake started to collapse on itself. Stick with the three 8-inch layers. It will turn out much prettier when cut and served.

This is what I was talking about, use three full, unsliced layers instead of two sliced.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch process
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup neutral vegetable oil, such as canola, soybean or vegetable blend
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup coarsely chopped peanut brittle (I skipped this)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.

2. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk to combine them well. Add the oil and sour cream and whisk to blend. Gradually beat in the water. Blend in the vinegar and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and be sure the batter is well mixed. Divide among the 3 prepared cake pans.

3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Let cool in the pans for about 20 minutes. Invert onto wire racks, carefully peel off the paper liners, and let cool completely.

4. To frost the cake, place one layer, flat side up, on a cake stand or large serving plate. Spread 2/3 cup cup of the Peanut Butter Frosting evenly over the top. Repeat with the next layer. Place the last layer on top and frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting.

(note: Making a crumb coat of frosting–a thin layer that binds the dark crumbs to the cake so they don’t show up in the final outer frosting layer–is a great idea for this cake, or any with a dark cake and lighter-colored frosting. Once you “mask” your cake, let it chill for 15 to 30 minutes until firm, then use the remainder of the frosting to create a smooth final coating. Deb note 2: Once the cake is fully frosting, it helps to chill it again and let it firm up. The cooler and more set the peanut butter frosting is, the better drip effect you’ll get from the Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze.)

5. To decorate with the Chocolate–Peanut Butter Glaze, put the cake plate on a large baking sheet to catch any drips. Simply pour the glaze over the top of the cake, and using an offset spatula, spread it evenly over the top just to the edges so that it runs down the sides of the cake in long drips. Refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 30 minutes to allow the glaze and frosting to set completely. Remove about 1 hour before serving. Decorate the top with chopped peanut brittle.

A little "piece" of heaven in my borrowed kitchen

Peanut Butter Frosting
Makes about 5 cups
10 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2/3 cup smooth peanut butter, preferably a commercial brand (because oil doesn’t separate out)
1. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl often. Continue to beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.
2. Add the peanut butter and beat until thoroughly blended.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze
Makes about 1 1/2 cups
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 cup half-and-half
1. In the top of d double boiler or in a bowl set over simmering water, combine the chocolate, peanut butter, and corn syrup. Cook, whisking often, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
2. Remove from the heat and whisk in the half-and-half, beating until smooth. Use while still warm.


And as an end note, there is nothing wrong or shameful about making a little extra of the frosting just to eat on your own!!!

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So this is a blog...

Well, this is my first time ever having a blog. I think the closest I've come in the past is Facebook. If you've checked out my profile I'm sure you have learned that I love to cook and bake. I've got a borrowed kitchen to work with and I'm currently working on getting my own. I hope to use this blog to post my favorite recipes as I make (and find new ones). I'll post pictures and any fun stories that happen with the recipes along the way. Tomorrow I will be making Peach Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Buttercream Frosting, only to follow later on with a to die for Mac n' Cheese recipe, so stay tuned!!!