The weekend before Thanksgiving, as I was preparing my shopping lists and getting prepared for the holiday feast, I made a bit of chicken stock to use in my gravy and stuffing. The house filled with the wonderful aroma and had me craving chicken noodle soup. So after I portioned out what I needed for Thanksgiving dinner, I set aside enough to make a pot of chicken noodle soup for my husband and I to enjoy. Not content to only have soup, I used a leftover baguette and some frozen Velveeta cheese to make mini grilled cheeses for us.

Lucky for me, I froze a few bowls of the soup, because I knew they would go to waste in the refrigerator with the impending Thanksgiving feast. This past week, instead of enjoying my vacation, I’ve been in bed with the flu, and I have to say the chicken noodle soup does indeed make you feel better. (more…)

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Comfort food, Dairy free, Lunch, Soups by Courtney

It’s funny where you might stumble upon a recipe. Sure, there are sites that are dedicated to recipes, such as Epicurious and blogs like this one. There’s the back of a package – like the Nestle Toll House chocolate chips and their famous cookie. One place I hadn’t anticipated, though, was when I went to Cypress Grove’s website to read up on their newest addition to their cheese line up, Truffle Tremor.

When I was putting together a cheese course of local cheeses, and I picked up Truffle Tremor in part because I love Cypress Grove’s Humboldt Fog, so I thought I’d try the newest cheese on the block. The Tremor was so good, so creamy, that I decided to pop over to the website to find out more about it. That’s where I stumbled upon recipes. (more…)

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Comfort food, Gourmet, Lunch, Quick and Easy, Vegetarian by Courtney

Once upon a time I ran across this idea on YumSugar to bake an egg in a ramekin lined with ham. It looked delicious, sounded yummy, and seemed so easy. So this week when I decided I wanted something hearty for breakfast, but really didn’t have the time, I quickly pulled out a few things from the freezer and refrigerator to make a similar breakfast.

A while back I had bought a pound of proscuitto because it was all the store had, so I’ve been keeping it in the freezer (which is really handy — it’s sliced so thin, it defrosts in a minute). I had some pesto from the grilled cheese paninos I made earlier in the week, so I decided a dollop of that would give me some flavor and some veggies in my breakfast (hey – basil and parsley are leaves!!). And of course, there was the egg. (more…)

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Breakfast, Brunch, Gluten free, Quick and Easy by Courtney

It’s been a while since I posted a recipe that uses the vegetable stock that is so easy to make. This is one of those recipes that I throw together when I’m really not in the mood to do anything, and it’s a great way to use up leftover vegetables you have in the refrigerator. The basics are vegetable stock, soy sauce, and frozen Chinese dumplings, and you can build on the soup from there.

Start with enough vegetable stock for your soup. For me and my husband, I used a 4 cup frozen cube, which I melted while pulling out everything else I wanted to throw in. (more…)

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Dinner, Lunch, Quick and Easy, Soups by Courtney

Eggs are something that have grown on me over the years. I’ve went from not eating them to loving just about every type of egg you can serve up, so long as they’re a bit wet (unless it’s tamago, in which case, dry is fine).

One of my favorite ways to prepare eggs is with Thai chilis. The heat of the eggs, the sweet, savory flavor of good onions, washed down with a bit of tropical juice (mango or guava being my favorites) sets the tone for a great day. And they really don’t take all that long to make. Chop the onions to get everything going, and pull out the rest of the ingredients while they saute, and you’ve added on 5 minutes at the most to your standard, plain scrambled egg. (more…)

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Breakfast, Dairy free, Gluten free, Indian, Quick and Easy, Vegetarian by Courtney