Happy New Year!!!  One of my resolutions is to start posting more on my site, so here is my first post of 2014.  It has been a wonderful Holiday season filled with family, friends, and of course, lots of food!  I haven't stopped cooking since December 23rd!  As an added bonus, we had 2 extra days off in Massachusetts because of a great big snowstorm, which meant we had 2 total weeks off from school.  It gave me a few days extra in the kitchen experimenting.

I love soup on cold days.  This soup is unbelievably good.  I took from different recipes, tweaked a bit, and came up with this recipe. Don't be put off by the long list of ingredients, they all go in the crockpot together and cook, it's so easy!  It is worth the time and effort to make your own enchilada sauce. I have listed the recipe below, but in a pinch, you can use a can.  Make sure you buy good quality tortilla chips.You will not be disappointed, I promise!!

Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup with Avocado Relish

1. 1 lb. chicken breasts (no need to cut up
2. 1 15 oz. can rotel tomatoes or whole tomatoes mashed
3. 1 medium onion chopped
4. 10 oz. enchilada sauce - either canned or recipe below
5. 1 small can chopped green chile peppers
6. 2 cloves garlic minced
7. 3 3/4 cups chicken broth
8. 1 tsp. cumin
9. 1 tsp. chili powder
10. 1 15 oz. can black beans rinsed and drained
11. 1 tsp. salt
12. 1/4 tsp. black pepper
13. 1 bay leaf
14. 1 10 oz. bag frozen corn
15. 1 16 oz. container sour cream
16. crushed tortilla chips

Combine all ingredients except for sour cream in a crockpot.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or high for 3-4 hours.   Take out 2 cups of your soup and blend in a blender or use an immersion hand held blender and blend right in your crockpot.  Add your sour cream and and stir well.  Serve with Avocado relish, tortilla chips and a squeeze of fresh lime juice.

Avocado Relish

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/3 cup chopped green onion

1 tsp. grated lime zest

3 oz. crumbled queso fresco (mexican cheese - can be found in most grocery stores)

1 peeled and diced avocado

mix all ingredients well and cover.  

Easy Enchilada Sauce

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon flour

1/4 cup chili powder

2 cups chicken stock

10 ounces tomato paste

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

In a medium saucepan heat oil, add flour, smoothing and stirring with a wooden spoon. Cook for 1 minute. Add chili powder and cook for 30 seconds. Add stock, tomato paste, oregano, and cumin. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. The sauce will thicken and smooth out. Adjust the seasonings..

Holiday Time!!!

It has been a very long time since my last post!!!  Life gets crazy and things get forgotten, but I assure you that I have been busy in the kitchen as usual.  I clicked my last Holiday purchase online today, and I am done!!!  For those of you that haven't started yet, you do have an advantage.  When you start early, you buy more, so you will be richer than I on December 26th :-)

This recipe is one that I got from a friend years ago, that I have adapted.  It was way to heavy on fat, so I have cut some out and am sure that the taste will be just as good!  Being Italian, we have always had "The Feast of Seven Fishes" on Christmas Eve.  As you can imagine, this can be complicated and time consuming.  This dish allows you to use most of your fish in one pot!  This is amazing, and really easy.

I promise to be posting again before the Holidays!!!

CHRISTMAS EVE FISH SAUCE

1/4 cup olive oil

1 stick butter

1 onion finely chopped

1 lg. can whole tomatoes - broken up

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. parsley

1 1/2 cups reunite table wine

1 lb. shucked clams with their liquid

1 lb. scallops

1 lb. uncooked shrimp

1 lb. cooked lobster meat (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1.  Add olive oil to lg. pan and saute onions till translucent.

2.  Add garlic and saute 1 minute.

3.  Add butter, tomatoes, spices and one cup of wine and simmer for 1 hour.

*after simmering for one hour, you may cool the sauce and refrigerate overnight.

4.  Add clams with juice and remaining wine and simmer an additional 30 minutes.

5.  Add shrimp, scallops and lobster and cook 20 more minutes.

6.  Serve over linguini or pasta of your choice.

I have been busy getting into the Holiday season, but I am back! 

Tonight is Monday night football, a much loved night for football lovers.  I am, of course, a New England Patriots fan, but I have a confession to make.... I am also a New York Giants fan!  One of my former students, Rosalie Cincotta, is married to The Giants #77 Kevin Boothe.  Joe and I were lucky to attend their wedding, and have loved watching Kevin become the fabulous player he is today.

Football means pickies! A chicken wing gets hot when you turn it on. One of my husbands favorite finger food is my chicken wings.  They are easy, but delicious!!!  Give them a try at your next football party.  Make sure to have plenty of napkins on hand.  They are sticky, gooey goodness!

Sweet and Sour Wings

4 lbs. chicken wings, rinsed and patted dry

1 bottle of Wishbone Russian Dressing

1 jar of appricot jam

1 package of onion soup mix

salt and pepper to taste

green onion for garnish

Preheat oven to 375.  Put your wings on a cookie sheet and season with salt and pepper.  Bake for about 45 minutes.  Remove wings from oven and drain any fat or liquid that has collected.  Mix dressing, jam and soupmix well.  pour over wings and coat evenly.  Put wings back into oven and bake an additional 30 minutes.  If wings are not browned enough, run under broiler for 2 minutes.  Remove from oven and plate.  Garnish with chopped green onions.

I love fall!  I am so happy to live in New England and have the change in the seasons.  I especially love the leaves and fall colors.  We ventured off apple picking over the long weekend and got some beautiful apples.  I made some homemade apple sauce with some and worked on perfecting my apple cake with the rest.  It was a hit!!!

I love apples and I adore caramel, so I blended both together.  This is my Apple Caramel Cake.  I am thinking about entering into a few contests, so if you make it, tell me what you think!

APPLE CARAMEL CAKE

Ingredients

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs, beaten

1/2  cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup apple sauce

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups finely chopped apples

1/2 cup apple juice

Glaze topping for cake

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup butter

1/3 cup whipping cream

Directions:

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, soda and salt. Make a well in the center and set aside.

In a medium bowl combine eggs, oil, apple sauce, apple juice and vanilla. Stir in apples. Add the egg mixture to dry ingredients, just until moistened.

Spread batter in a greased and floured 9 x 13-inch pan. Bake at 350°F for 45-50 minutes.

In a small saucepan combine the brown sugar, butter and cream.

Cook and stir till bubbly and all of the sugar is dissolved. Cool slightly. Drizzle warm sauce over cake, when it has cooled for 5 minutes, so it can seep into the cake, keeping it moist.

Happy Columbus Day to all!  Such a funny "weather" weekend.  We went apple picking on Saturday and wore shorts and t-shirts.  Today, I woke up to frost in the backyard!  Only in New England.

I love butternut squash, or really, any kind of squash.  This is the season for those sweet, healthy, orange fleshed beauties.  I few years ago, I came up with this recipe and usually make it on the first cold day of the fall.  It really incorporates the end of summer (crabmeat) with the beginning of fall (butternut squash), so it is a good transition soup!  This soup is really easy to make.  To roast your garlic, put a whole head of garlic in foil.  chop off the top to expose the garlic cloves.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Wrap completely in foil.  Bake at 400 for about 35-40 minutes.  cloves will squeeze out when done.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND CRAB BISQUE

Ingredients

4 large cloves garlic, roasted 

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 1/2 to 2 pounds butternut squash, peeled and cubed

1 large yellow onion, diced

1 cup fresh carrots, diced

1 cup fresh celery, diced

1 quart chicken broth, divided use

1 tablespoon fresh sage leaves, finely chopped

1 cup heavy cream

8 ounces crab meat

Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Prepare roasted garlic.

In a large (at least 5 quart) soup pot over medium heat, add the butter and olive oil. Once butter is melted, add squash, onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Saute 5 minutes.

Add 3 cups of broth, reserving the rest. Cover pot and simmer until squash is very tender (about one hour).

Add the cream and puree the mixture with a stick blender until very smooth (or blend in batches in blender and return to pan). Thin with remaining broth if needed.

Fold in the crab meat and sage. Season with salt and pepper and serve.  Save a few pieces of crab to garnish on top of soup.

So it was my son Jesse and my first official first day of school. (My son Nicholas reluctantly started last Thursday.)  When I asked him how it was, he said "I survived the first day of 3rd grade and made it out alive!

As usual, the first week of school is HOT!!!  When I got home, I tried to think of something that I could make that would be light and refreshing.  I had some chicken, so I threw that in my go to marinade which you can find on my blog.  It only needs an hour or so.  I also had some nice ripe peaches.  I decided to make my Peach and Fennel Salad.  For those of you who haven't tried fennel, it has somewhat of a licorice flavor and is very refreshing.  The sweetness of the peaches, the peppery taste of the arugula goes great with the saltiness of the prosciutto and the licorice taste of the fennel. The creamy goat cheese makes it over the top fantastic!  It is truly a summer refresher!  Try it on one of these warm nights, I promise you will love it.

Ciao, keep cool, and happy cooking.

Peach, Arugula and Goat Cheese Salad

• Ingredients
• 3 ripe yellow peaches, pitted and cut into thin wedges
• 1/2 medium bulb fennel, thinly sliced (you can use a mandoline)
• 1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced  
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil, for drizzling
• Juice of 1 lemon

• 
  
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 oz prosciutto, thinly sliced
• 4 handfuls of arugula
• 3 oz. crumbled goat cheese

RECIPE TOOLS

• SAVE TO FAVORITES
• PRINT RECIPE
• EMAIL

• TWEET

DIRECTIONS

Combine the peaches, fennel and onions in a medium bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and the lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper and toss with your hands.

Mix the the peach mixture with the arugula and put on a platter.  Put slices of prosciutto on top of the salad, and sprinkle with goat cheese.  

Serve immediately

I can't believe it is back to school time already... I love summer, but I do look forward to fall and some great cool nights for sleeping with the windows open.  

We were invited this past weekend by our friends Lee and Jan Wolf to their new 1800's farm house in Phippsburg, Maine.  The house has so much character, and they have about 9 acres of land with great views of the water.  We are so happy that they invited our dog Wilbur to run around with their dog Duke.  They both had a blast, as did the kids!  They don't have a t.v. yet at the house, which I think is great.  We played Apples to Apples, had great conversation, and of course, cooked!  

On Saturday night we celebrated Lee and Yan's Birthdays (yes, they are husband and wife and share the same birthday, so cool!) with Lobster, fresh native corn and champagne.  On Saturday, there was a nip in the air which felt like fall.  Lee made a great spicy chicken ramen soup.  With fall in the air, I know it's time to dig out my favorite soup recipes.

This recipe is not only delicious, it is healthy, nutritious and good for you.  If you are on weight watchers, I have calculated the points for you.  The point value is 7 points for a 2 cup serving.  This recipe will warm your soul and fill your belly!  Serve this with crusty bread to round out the meal.

Enjoy!

Turkey Sausage Soup with Kale and White Beans

Ingredients:

• 6 italian turkey sausage links removed from casing
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 bunch kale - rinsed, leaves removed from the ribs & rough chopped
• 1 19 oz. can cannellini beans
• 6 cups fat free chicken stock
• 2 carrots diced
• 1 small onion diced
• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

Directions:

Heat oil over medium-high heat in a medium sized pot. Add onion and carrots and saute on med low  for about 10 minutes till onions are translucent and carrots are tender. Add sausage meat breaking it up with a spatula or wooden spoon into large chunks. When completely cooked,add garlic and saute for 2 - 3 minutes (careful not to let the garlic burn). Add the stock, beans and red pepper flakes (if using) and stir thoroughly. Simmer on low for 20 minutes, covered. Throw in kale and allow to simmer for another 20 minutes covered. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Divide into four bowls and servehot.