Beer Cheese Soup

 

Another snowy day in the northern plains and the need for some warming comfort soup.  I've been unable to find my favorite soup in the grocery stores lately so I created my own.

Beer Cheese Soup ~

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

1 - 32 oz low sodium chicken stock

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

1 - 15 oz jar of Cheez Whiz

1 cup Triple Cheddar Easy Melt Cheddar Cheese

3/4 cup warm beer

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/4 tsp paprika

2 dashes hot sauce (I used Frank's)

Melt butter and stir in the flour a Dutch oven.  Allow to cook for a minute over medium heat.  Gradually whisk in the chicken stock making sure there are no clumps.  Add in the cream.  Cook until it's thickened, stirring frequently.  Stir in the Cheez Whiz and cheddar cheese and stir until melted.  Add in the rest of the ingredients.  Allow to cook for another 30 minutes, still stirring frequently.  The restaurant that I used to get this with served with popcorn.  I made my own wheat croutons.  

Pumpkin Waffles

 

Pumpkin season is still going strong here.  Today I made pumpkin waffles for brunch and served it with some Cinnamon Syrup that I had in the freezer.

Pumpkin Waffles

1/2 cup pumpkin
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
4 tbsp butter, melted
2 large eggs, separated
1/4 cup  brown sugar, packed
1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1 dash nutmeg

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.  In a larger bowl, combine pumpkin, egg yolks, melted butter and buttermilk.  Add in egg whites.  Gradually add in dry ingredients.  Bake as per waffle manufacturers instructions.

Makes 8 waffles

Cinnamon Syrup

1 cup light corn syrup
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tsp cinnamon
1 dash nutmeg
1 cup evaporated milk

In a large saucepan, mix together corn syrup, sugar, water and spices.  Bring to a boil for 3 minutes.  Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes.  Stir in evaporated milk.  Serve warm

Pumpkin Cake & Cream Cheese Icing

 

'Tis the season for everything pumpkin.  I bought a small sugar pumpkin and baked it yesterday to use in making a cake.  This cake is the perfect size so you don't get overwhelmed by too much pumpkin - it's an 8 x 8 size.  

Pumpkin Cake & Cream Cheese Icing

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp allspice

Whisk the dry ingredients together and add in ~

2 large eggs

1/4 cup canola oil (or 1/2 cup and no apple sauce)

1/4 cup apple sauce

1 cup pumpkin

1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix all until completely combined.  Pour batter into a greased 8 x 8 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  Do a toothpick check in the middle to make sure it's completely baked.  Cool before icing.  It's a good idea to take out your icing ingredients to soften while you are baking the cake.

Cream Cheese Icing

1/4 cup butter

4 oz cream cheese

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

Use a mixer to get the icing ingredients completely mixed together.  Spread out evenly over the cooled cake.  Store in refrigerator.

Buckwheat Waffles

 

Buckwheat pancakes are my favorite pancake and bring back many happy family memories.  The other day, I was wondering if I could make a buckwheat waffle so I decided to try.  It worked and is delicious.

Buckwheat Waffles

1 cup buckwheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 large egg, separated
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 1/4 cup buttermilk

Sift all dry ingredients into a large bowl.  In a small bowl, beat egg whites until light and fluffy.  Gradually mix  buttermilk, egg yolk, and butter into dry ingredients.  Gently fold in the egg whites.

Bake per your waffle makers instructions.

Makes 5 waffles

Ham & Corn Chowder

Cooler temperatures meant turning off the air conditioner and thinking about soups to warm up with.  I baked a loaf of honey wheat bread and made this soup since I had some corn to use.  

Ham & Corn Chowder

1 cup ham, diced
2 tbsp butter
3 cups milk
1 cup carrots, diced
3 ears of sweet corn, shucked and cut off cobs
2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
2 dashes hot sauce
1/4 tsp paprika
1 bay leaf
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Melt butter in the bottom of your soup kettle or dutch oven. Stir in the flour.  Gradually whisk milk into the flour mixture.  Bring to a simmer and add in the carrots, potatoes and bay leaf.  When slightly tender, add in corn, ham and seasonings.

Meatballs & Gravy

I needed some comfort food this weekend after round 2 with the stomach flu last week.  It was a good way to kick off my return to food with a new recipe.  I used my recipe for the meatballs from Swedish Meatballs but increased the amounts of things since I used 1.5# of ground beef instead of 1# as I had in that recipe.  As I was about to scoop the meatballs and put into the pan, I received a phone call telling me I should add cheese to the middle.  I put some Havarti into each.  

Meatballs & Gravy

Meatballs

1/3 cup Panko bread crumbs

1/3 cup milk

1.5 lb extra lean ground beef

¼ tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp parsley

1 large egg

Place the Panko bread crumbs in a bowl and pour the milk over it and allow to set for 10 minutes.  Add in the remaining ingredients and mix completely.  Scoop out into meatballs and place in a hot frying pan or Dutch oven with 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. 

Remove the meatballs from the Dutch oven.  Deglaze the bottom of the pan with 1/4 cup red wine.  Melt 1/4 cup butter in the bottom.  Whisk in 1/3 cup flour and let cook for 1 minute before whisking in 4 cups beef stock gradually.  I added 1 tbsp Beef Better Than Bouillon for extra flavor.  Whisk in 1/2 cup sour cream and 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce.  Return the meatballs to the Dutch oven and allow the gravy to thicken over medium heat.  Add salt & pepper to taste.  Serve over mashed potatoes or noodles.

Air Fryer Mexican Pork Chops

Pork chops are always good and this recipes spices them up.  There's a hint of sweetness due to the brown sugar that caramelizes on the outside with the chili powder and cumin.



Mexican Pork Chops

4 pork chops
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
t tsp salt 
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, chili powder and cumin.  Dip pork chops in and place in your pre-heated air fryer.  Cook at 360° for 14-16 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 145°.  Turn the chops over at 7 minutes.