Cheesy Sausage & Roasted Potato Soup

It's fall again. Which means SOUP. I created this recipe based loosely off of a few soups I'd had in the past, and the desire to use roasted potatoes and vegetables instead of boiled in soups, helping with flavor and texture. This has since become my most requested recipe from friends. The hardest part is writing out the recipe, because there's no such thing as exact measurements in soup. But Instead of boring you with a hundred paragraphs of heart-felt and humorous anecdotes about how much I love cooking for my friends, let's dispense with the chitchat and get straight to the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
Baby Potatoes (about 2 pounds)
Carrots, cut in 1 inch pieces (about 2 pounds)
Vegetable Oil
Hot Pork Sausage (about 1 pound)
Flour or other thickener (3-4 Tbsp)
Chicken Stock (1 carton or 2 cans)
Salt & Pepper
Half & Half (about 1 cup)
Shredded Cheddar Cheese (4-8 oz)
Kale (approximately 1/2 bunch or several leaves, stems removed and chopped)

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375. Coat potatoes and carrots with a little bit of oil. Spread in an even layer in a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until tender, about an hour, turning the carrots occasionally. I find it best to keep the potatoes and carrots separate, because one might be done before the other. (Also note that I actually prefer to use regular carrots instead of baby carrots -- but that's just a preference). When the potatoes are tender, smash with a fork until the skins break. Turn over, and return to the oven and continue roasting until the skins are slightly crispy. You can chop the potatoes into smaller pieces if you'd like.

Brown sausage in a soup pot over medium high heat. Do not drain. Stir in flour. Add chicken stock and stir, adding salt & pepper to taste. You can also add some garlic powder if you'd like. Stir in potatoes and carrots and simmer until the mixture thickens slightly. Add enough half & half to reach desired consistency. Stir in cheese until melted. Remove from heat and stir in kale.

Serve & Enjoy.

TIPS:

• You can adjust the amount of any of the ingredients to your desired taste & consistency.  
• If hot sausage is too spicy, you can use any pork sausage. 
• Even if you don't think you like kale, don't leave it out. It really rounds out the combination of textures in this soup. 
• If you'd rather drain the sausage, you can add about a quarter cup of butter, melt into the pan before adding the flour. The mixture of a fat and the flour makes a roux, which is a great thickening base for soups and sauces. It also helps keep cheese from separating as it melts into the soup. 

Bacon Wrapped Dates

Its the recipe many of you have been waiting for. I keep insisting you don't need a recipe, I tell you all how to make these all the time. But, alas, here is the written version for you.

INGREDIENTS:

12-13 oz Pitted Dates (about 50)
1 Pound Bacon (about 16 slices)
2-3 Tbsp Brown Sugar (optional)

 DIRECTIONS:

Cut bacon slices into thirds. Wrap each date with a piece of bacon and secure with a toothpick. Place on foil-lined jelly roll pan (any baking sheet is okay, but make sure it has shallow sides so you don't drip bacon fat into your oven). Lining the pan with foil is not necessary, but it makes clean-up much easier. I also spray the foil lightly with non-stick cooking spray. I have no idea if this helps or not, but its what I do. (And this is my recipe, so I do what I want.)

Sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake in a hot oven (375-400 F) for 20-30 minutes, or until bacon is well done. Turn each piece half-way through baking.

Many recipes include stuffing the date with something before wrapping in bacon. You can use almonds, water chestnuts, goat cheese, mozzarella, etc. However, I find that just the simplicity of the sweetness of the date combined with the smokiness of the bacon and the caramelization of the brown sugar is enough to make these great. Anything else can just be overwhelming (particularly the goat cheese).

Apple Brie Crescent Tart

6 ingredients. 30 minutes. That's all it takes.

INGREDIENTS:

2 8-oz Packages Crescent Roll Dough

2 Apples

1 Tbsp Butter

1-2 Tbsp Brown Sugar

8 oz Brie Cheese, Sliced

8-10 oz Raspberry Preserves

DIRECTIONS

Spread crescent roll dough into a jelly roll pan,  Set aside.

Thinly slice apples. This is easiest with a mandolin slicer, but can be done with a knife if needed.

Melt butter in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add apples and brown sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is melted and apples are tender. Drain excess liquid from apples. Note that the sugar is not a necessary ingredient. It adds some sweetness, but the dish is still good if you choose to omit the added sugar. If you'd like a more crisp bite to the tart, omit the butter and brown sugar altogether and don't cook the apples. But make sure the apples are VERY thinly sliced so they do cook a little when you bake the tart.

 

 

Spread apples over dough. Spread out brie slices over apples.

Put raspberry preserves into zip-top sandwich baggie. Cut small tip off corner of bag, in order to use as a "piping" bag. 

Pipe preserves over apples and brie. There really is no magical art to this. Spread as evenly or as randomly as you'd like.

 

Bake at 375 F for 15-20 minutes, or until dough is cooked and cheese is melted. Let sit for a few minutes. Slice and serve. 

Quiche: Its Easier Than You Think. (And its not just for brunch.)

It seems a little pretentious. And difficult. But I promise you, quiche is neither of those things. Its a little bit of elegance very simply added to your day. 

I've been meeting with a group of women recently studying a book called "The Measure of Success" by Carolyn McCulley with Nora Shank. Its about uncovering the biblical perspective on women, work, and the home. There are women from all walks: those who work in their home, those who work in the marketplace, and those who do both. Regardless of WHERE we work, we all work (which means we don't have a lot of time for those "pretentious," time-consuming things). This week before we started we were chatting and I mentioned that I'd made a quiche that night for dinner. One of the gals I was talking to, who works in her home as a mother, seemed surprised that I would make something so difficult on a weeknight. The other gal talking with us (a mother of two) said, "I made quiche tonight too!" The first gal was blown away. We told her that quiche was much simpler than it seemed. And, let's face it, you DO NOT have to make your own pie crust these days (but even making a pie crust is much simpler than it seems, too). And I've heard that kids love quiche.

With that all said, let me show you how simple a quiche really is. 

INGREDIENTS:

1 Pie Shell (uncooked)*

4-6 Eggs**

1-1 1/2 Cup Milk**

Salt & Pepper

Cheese*** (approximately 1 cup, shredded)

Misc. Fillings**** 

DIRECTIONS:

Mix eggs, milk, salt and pepper with whisk. Place fillings in pie shell, including cheese. Pour egg mixture over filling. Bake at 375 for 30-45 minutes or until eggs are set (if you shake the dish slightly, you should not see a lot of movement in the center). The eggs will puff up during cooking, but will settle back down as it cools. Serve warm (not hot).

Well, THAT was simple, wasn't it.

A FEW NOTES:

*Pie shell: You can make your own or buy one pre-made. I've found that the ones in the freezer section (that already come in a pie tin) are actually very good. But don't kid yourself, making a pie shell only takes about five minutes, and you've probably got everything you need in your pantry (flour, shortening/butter, salt, water). I typically use the pastry recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. If you only own one cookbook, this should be it. It contains all of your standard recipes (such as pie crust).

**Depending on how big your pie shell is will determine how much egg you need. Note that you will use approximately equal amounts of egg to milk. For instance, 4-5 eggs is about 1 cup of egg, so you'll use 1 cup milk. If you don't want to "measure" your eggs, use 1 cup of milk for every 4 large eggs (so 1/4 cup milk for every large egg).

***I love cheddar, but my favorite mixture for most quiches is half cheddar half swiss. I'm not usually a fan of swiss cheese, but I love it mixed with cheddar in baked dishes.

****Some suggested fillings:

^Roasted turkey, mushrooms, asparagus, swiss & cheddar

^Bacon, tomato, spinach, swiss & cheddar

^Pork sausage, mushrooms, cheddar

NOTE that all meats should be cooked prior to making the quiche, and 1 pound is a good amount of ground meats, or 2 cups cooked meat (except bacon, don't use that much bacon...). The less filling you have, the more egg you'll use.
ALSO NOTE that ingredients that release a lot of liquids when cooking (mushrooms, tomatoes, etc) do best when thinly sliced and placed on the top of the quiche.

Quiche is actually really good once it has cooled back down a little bit (warm, not hot). And it is definitely good as leftovers. Microwave a slice for 45-60 seconds, let cool a little and enjoy. 

 

Do you have a favorite filling for quiche? Leave it in the comments for others to enjoy!

Haiti - June 2015

I can't adequately describe my experience in Haiti. I spent most of our 6 hours of flight time on the way home from Haiti writing. Processing through what I'd experienced over the previous days. Wrestling with facts vs. feelings. Wondering how I jump back into American life after all I'd learned.

*** THINGS I LEARNED ***

Not all orphans have no family. Many orphans are economic orphans. They have family, but their family can't afford to take care of them. This means that adoption isn't the only answer. What they need is education, investment, and opportunity. By teaching them a trade, they are afforded further opportunities allowing them to support their families, and helping to break the cycle of economic orphans.

Haitians don't need America. They have their own culture. They have a way of life. Its not our way of life, but it works for them. I saw some examples of how the first world failed miserably at their attempts to help Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. There were housing units built outside of Port-au-Prince in an effort to provide housing for an entire tent city of people displaced by the earthquake. However, they now sit probably 95% vacant because those people don't just need a roof over their heads. Most of them have to walk everywhere or rely on public transportation, so they need to be close to work and market.

There is no such thing as the Haitian public school system. Schools are private, which means it costs money to send a child to school. With the level of poverty in Haiti, this means that many children are not afforded the opportunity to go to school. Many families who can afford to send children to school can only afford to send one child, which means they have to choose.

[Photo Credit: Lindy Nance]

God is at work in Haiti. Haitians were created in the image of God just like you and me, and He desires to redeem ALL of His children.

*** WHAT WE DID ***

Two of Pastor Pudens' daughters

We spent a couple of afternoons at orphanages in Port-au-Prince (Source de la Grace) and outside of Gonaives (Desire), but the majority of our time was spent at Village de Vie in Gonaives. We spent our days playing games, coloring, getting our hair braided (even the guys...), doing crafts, teaching Bible lessons, and of course lots of snuggling.

One morning a few of us got to "help" the mammas with some laundry (and by "help" I mean we tried). Our attempts were met with joyous laughter (because we're really not that much help), but it was time well spent and helps build relationship with the mammas as well. They are responsible for taking care of the orphans day to day, so a little help (even bad help) brings them joy.

[Photo Credit: Stacey Gibson]

*** WHAT'S GOING ON ***

The Global Orphan Project is a global orphan care and orphan prevention ministry. Orphan care isn't just about feeding and clothing orphans, but about breaking the cycle to prevent future orphans. 

[BREAK THE CYCLE]

* Education * GO Project and the village orphanages are not just feeding hungry faces. They're giving the children an education to help them succeed in life.

* Training * The Pathways program provides an opportunity for the children in GO Project's orphan villages who are aging out of care to be trained in a trade/skill in order to be able to support themselves and a family as an adult. Because many of Haiti's orphans are economic orphans, this is vital in orphan prevention.

* Opportunity * Connections with job creation organizations such as Papillon give Haitians a chance at a good job with a living wage.

 [RESTORATION]

[Photo Credit: Lindy Nance]

* Broken Relationships * Pastor Pudens Innocent of Village de Vie knows the names and stories of all of the orphans in his care. Although the staff at Village de Vie care well for the orphans, there are broken relationships that have caused them to be orphans: death, abandonment, etc. Pastor Pudens knows that although the child's physical needs must be met, there are also deep emotional scars that must be healed.


* Reconciliation * Pastor Pudens desires for the children to be reunited, if possible, with their parents or other relatives. Because many of Haiti's orphans are economic orphans, there are often possibilities of reuniting children with their biological families.

* Jesus * The children are taught that above all else: Jesus saves. Jesus loves. Jesus heals. These children were created in the image of God. He has adopted them into his kingdom where they are not orphans, but cherished sons and daughters.

*** MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT ***

[Photo Credit: Adam Lynch]

One afternoon I spent some time holding a little boy and walking around the orphanage grounds. He was content to be held and lay his head on my shoulder. At one point he began singing in English "This is the day that the Lord has made." He and I sang the song together several times. I remember thinking to myself, this IS the day that the Lord has made. He planned for me to be there at that moment, showing His love to His child.

*** AFTERTHOUGHTS ***

I've been considering myself undecided as to whether or not I will return to Haiti. I haven't made the decision to return, nor have I made the decision not to return. But at the same time I'm already mentally making plans for coming back. And I can't image not holding these children again.

I guess it's time my head and my heart get on the same page.

Also, since this this IS a food blog, here's the obligatory food pic from my trip.
Level of fish consumer: Expert

See also (links):

Thousands of children are living in orphanages in Haiti but not because they are orphans.

Stateless now homeless: despair on the Haiti border.

Papillon Enterprise

The GO Exchange

The Global Orphan Project

June 2015 Haiti GO Project Vision Trip Team

Chicken Tacos with Mango-Avocado Salsa

Yesterday my food blog turned 3. I celebrated by making chicken tacos for dinner. Since I failed to invite you over to enjoy them with me, today I'll share the recipe with you. The coating used on the chicken is the same as that used for the Bang Bang Shrimp tacos. While you can certainly use the Thai Sweet Red Chili Sauce on the chicken, I feel like that can over power the Mango-Avocado Salsa flavors. You could also season the un-cut chicken without the corn starch and grill. Then dice the grilled chicken. This would be healthier, but not crunchy like the chicken gets with corn-starch and frying. NOTE: This is also really good with fish. Use a meaty white fish like halibut for best results.

INGREDIENTS:

Chicken Breast, diced

3-4 Tbsp Corn Starch
1 Tbsp Lemon Pepper (I like to use the Mrs. Dash kind with no salt)
1 1/2 Tbsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Salt (omit if your lemon-pepper contains salt)
1 tsp Ground Black Pepper 

1-2 Tbsp Oil

1 Mango

1 large Tomato

1 medium Avocado

1 Lime

salt

garlic powder

Fajita-size tortillas

DIRECTIONS:

Put corn starch, lemon pepper, chili powder, salt and pepper in large resealable bag. Seal and shake bag to mix up ingredients. Add chicken, seal and shake (leave some air in the bag when you're doing this to aid in allowing the mixture to coat the chicken). Remove chicken from bag, shaking off excess coating. Heat oil in skillet over med-high heat. Add chicken and cook til done (coating should get a little crispy). Remove from heat. Drain chicken on paper towels if needed.

Dice (small pices) and mix together mango, tomato and avocado* in small bowl. Add a pinch of salt, a small shake of garlic powder, and lime juice and mix well.

You can heat your tortillas any way you'd like, but I like to heat them over my gas stove, using a wooden tongs to move it around and flip it so it doesn't burn. This doesn't take very long. 

Put chicken and salsa in a warm tortilla and enjoy. 

I also like to add a little mixture of sour cream and tomatillo (green) salsa (combine 1/2 sour cream and 1/2 tomatillo salsa -- its really that easy).

*A tip for cutting the avocado: Once you halve the avocado, cut while still in the peel, then remove with a spoon.  I like to add a little bit of salt, pepper, garlic powder and a couple drops of lime juice to the avocado.  This is to guacamole what pico-de-galo is to salsa.

Cinnamon Rolls

My family has a long history of baking buns. From Zweiback to ordinary dinner rolls, the Fast women just know how to bake buns. I'd always loved my Aunt Carolyn's recipe, as they are slightly sweet (and scrumptiously delicious). One time she gave me a dozen buns for my birthday. It might have been my best birthday ever.

A few years ago I decided to try my hand at baking buns. I pulled out an old church cookbook (the best kind of cookbook there is), and found a recipe for sweet buns. I gave it a try, and they were absolutely delicious. In fact, I now get asked to bring them to Thanksgiving every year.

Recently I was inspired to make cinnamon rolls and thought the sweet roll recipe would make really good cinnamon rolls. So, I gave it a try. Now, as the baker of said cinnamon rolls I may have been slightly partial, but they were amazing. I shared them with my fellow volunteers at our 5:00 service at church, and I certainly didn't hear any complaining (mostly because its not okay to talk with your mouth full).

INGREDIENTS:

Rolls:

2 cups warm water
1 pkg yeast
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
5 cups flour, plus flour to knead


Filling:
1 Cup (2 sticks) butter
2 Tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp (approx) half & half (enough to make the filling spreadable, but not too runny)



Caramel Topping:

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
Chopped pecans (optional)


Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups (approx) powdered sugar
1 Tbsp (approx) milk


DIRECTIONS:

Rolls:
Mix yeast and 1 tsp sugar into warm water. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat shortening, salt and 1/2 cup sugar together until well blended. Alternately mix in flour and liquids with mixer. Stir in remaining flour by hand until dough, when kneaded, does not stick to hands or bowl and has a satin finish. Grease bowl lightly. Let rise two times. Make into rolls or buns and let rise. Bake at 350 until browned. Baking times varies depending on the type of roll. When I make buns, it takes about 20 minutes. When making cinnamon rolls, baking time is closer to 30 minutes for large rolls. Recipe makes about 2 dozen large buns or rolls, or 3 dozen smaller buns or rolls.

Filling:
Mix ingredients together until well blended, adding half & half last (to desired consistency). Split dough in half and roll each half into a large rectangle. You may need to let the dough sit a minute in the middle of rolling. This will help the dough to relax so you can continue to roll it out without it shrinking back too much. Spread 1/2 of filling onto each portion of dough, going clear to all edges except the bottom (long edge), leaving about 1 inch of dough uncovered to seal the rolls.

Starting at top (long edge), roll up the dough.

Pinch together to seal the top edge of the dough to the roll.

Using about 18 inches of clean sewing thread (or a serrated knife), cut into desired amount of rolls.

 Place rolls cut-side up on greased baking dish. If using the caramel topping, place topping ingredients into pan before placing rolls into the pan.

Let rolls rise one last time, then bake until browned, about 30 minutes.


Caramel Topping:
Divide ingredients by the number of pans. Spread brown sugar across pan. Pour melted butter evenly over sugar. Sprinkle with desired amount of chopped pecans. Place cut cinnamon rolls on top of mixture, let rise, and bake as directed above.

Once baked, flip rolls onto tin foil so caramel side is up.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
In a large mixing bowl, mix cream cheese and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla and powdered sugar (1 cup at a time). Add enough milk for desired consistency, spreadable but not too thin.

Frost cinnamon rolls immediately upon taking them out of the oven with a thick layer of frosting.

 *****

If you want to split the recipe between caramel/pecan rolls and frosted rolls, simply halve the ingredients for the toppings.