Archive | November 2013

Cranberry Tangerine Cookies

Nov26

Plated cookiesA very fond memory I have of growing up in Germany is of baking cookies during the holidays. A popular German tradition is holiday cookie baking, where families will spend several days or even weeks preparing for the holidays by baking dozens and dozens of cookies and lining them in prepared holiday tins. When visiting friends and family you bring a box of cookies as a present and often receive one back. German cookies tend to be less sweet than a typical American cookie and often filled with fruit and nuts. This recipe for Cranberry Tangerine Cookies is inspired by the German cookies you could expect in your tin. Filled with cranberries, almonds, and tangerine, they’re the perfect bit of sweet treat you want.

Cranberry Tangerine Cookies
Yields 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon grated tangerine zest
  • 2 tablespoons tangerine juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups fresh cranberries, roughly chopped
  • 1/2 cup toasted almonds, chopped (you can also use walnuts or pecans if you prefer)

Icing

  • 1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
  • 3 tablespoons tangerine juice
  • 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

 Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 375°. In a large bowl, cream together butter and the brown and white sugar for several minutes.

sugar and butter creamed together

Add the egg, tangerine zest and juice, almond extract, and mix well. Gradually add the flour, baking soda, and salt until well incorporated.

dough with flour

Stir in the cranberries and almonds.

dough with pecans and cranberries

2. Using a cookie scoop or tablespoon, scoop rounded tablespoons of cookie dough on ungreased cookie sheets and bake for 12-14 minutes. Since every oven varies slightly, I always recommend you bake one cookie all by itself to see exactly how long you need. Better to accidentally ruin one cookie than an entire tray!

dough on cookie sheet

 

baked cookies

3. Transfer from cookie sheet to a cooling rack.

4. While cookies are cooling, mix together the ingredients for the icing.

ingredients for glaze

Using a fork or a whisk, drizzle icing over the cookies.

Iced cookies

Allow icing to set before transferring to cookie tins or eating. Enjoy!

Plated cookies

Crock Pot Cheesy Chicken Tortilla Soup

Nov11

platedsoupChicken Tortilla Soup is about as good is it gets on a cold winter night. It’s creamy, spicy, zingy, and cheesy, with every spoonful. In my opinion, The Cheesecake Factory makes the absolute best Chicken Tortilla Soup so they were my inspiration for this homemade version and I think this recipe hits the nail on the head. What’s more, it’s a perfect recipe for your crock pot or slow cooker. There are a ton of chopped veggies in this recipe so I strongly recommend busting out your food processor.

Crock Pot Cheesy Chicken Tortilla Soup
Serves 8

  • 1 1/2 pounds skinless chicken thighs (The flavor of bone-in meat is always so much better but if you prefer boneless then go with 1 pound)
  • 3 ribs of celery, finely diced
  • 2 large carrots, finely diced
  • 1 medium onion, finely diced
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chilis
  • 1 (10-ounce) package frozen or canned corn
  • 1 fresh poblano pepper, seeded and minced
  • 1 fresh jalapeño, seeded and minced
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 lime, zested and juiced
  • 1 (10.5 ounce) can chicken broth
  • 1 pint fat-free half and half (If you really want the real thing, go for it, but fat-free tastes just as good in this recipe and that means you can go back for seconds!)
  • 12 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (Plus extra for garnish!)
  • 6 corn tortillas, cut into strips
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions: 

1. Lay the chicken thighs on the bottom of the crock pot. Layer celery, carrots, onion, garlic, tomatoes, corn, peppers, spices and seasonings on top.

veggies

Pour chicken broth, lemon juice, and zest on top and stir well.

mixed raw veggies

2. Cook for 6-8 hours on LOW or 3-4 hours on HIGH. About 30 minutes prior to serving, switch the crock pot to warm and remove chicken and set aside to cool so you can shred it.

chickencooked

Add the half and half and cheese to the crock pot and stir.

soupwithcream

3. Heat a large skillet to medium high and add the vegetable oil. Add the tortilla strips and fry until nice and crispy. Remove from oil onto a plate lined with paper towels. Set aside.

slicedtortillas
sautetortillas
crispytortilla

 

4. Remove chicken from the bones and shred. Add back to the pot and stir.

5. Ladle up bowls of soup and garnish cheese and tortilla strips. I also like to add more chopped cilantro, sour cream, or avocado to my bowl. When serving for a group, I’ll fill up bowls with all of these ingredients and let people customize their soup. Lots of fun and so good! Enjoy!

platedsoup

Crock Pot Copycat Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli Soup

Nov2
Pasta_e_Fagioli

Olive Garden’s Pasta e Fagioli

I love having lunch at Olive Garden with friends to enjoy their delicious soups and salad. Their Pasta e Fagioli soup (similar to minestrone) is one of my favorites so it was a fun challenge to recreate at home. I found some great copycat recipes online which I adapted a bit but the twist on the challenge was to recreate it for the crock pot. The result is truly phenomenal and is an exact flavor copy of Olive Garden’s version! I recently had a large group of friends over and served this recipe and they all agreed it was identical to Olive Garden’s soup. There also weren’t any leftovers…Boo!

Quick note: If you want to make a true copycat you’ll need to use the ditali pasta. However, it can be a little harder to find and is also more expensive so I usually swap it out for fusilli or another small pasta.

Crock Pot Copycat Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli Soup
Serves 6-8

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 small onion, finely diced
  • 2 carrots, julienned or shredded
  • 4 stalks of celery, finely diced
  • 4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 (15 oz.) can red kidney beans
  • 1 (15 oz.) can great Northern beans
  • 2 (14.5 oz.) cans diced tomatoes with Italian herbs
  • 1 (28 oz.) can tomato sauce
  • 1 (12 oz.) can V8 juice
  • 1 tablespoon vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 tablespoons of Italian seasoning
  • 2 teaspoons parsley
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper

At the end:

  • 1/2 pound ditali pasta (you can also substitute with fusilli, macaroni, or any small pasta you like)
  • Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions: 

1. In a large skillet, brown the meat. Drain off the fat and transfer the cooked hamburger to the bottom of the crock pot.

photo

2. Pour the remaining items, except for the pasta and Parmesan cheese, over the hamburger.

Ingredients in crockpot

Stir everything together.

Stirred Together

Cook on LOW for 7-8 hours or on HIGH for 4-5 hours.

Cooked Soup

3. During the last 30 minutes of cooking, add the dry pasta to the crock pot and stir to incorporate. Stir every ten minutes or so to make sure the pasta doesn’t stick and that it can absorb enough liquid.

Soup with pasta

4. Pour soup into bowls and garnish with Parmesan cheese and serve along garlic bread. Enjoy!

plated soup