easy bistro asparagus soup!

such a quick lunch idea and a big crowd pleaser.  as good for a dinner party as it is for a quick lunch!   i love recipes like that.    even my kids can’t get enough and eat a couple of bowls each.  my 5 year old daughter calls it “las sparagas”  ala Las Vegas


easy bistro asparagus soup
rachelle’s recipe

1 pound asparagus
3.5 cups cooking water from asparagus
1 tablespoon chicken bouillon
pepper, salt to taste
1/2 cup cream (if you don’t have cream, sub 1/2 cup milk and 2 TB butter)

boil asparagus whole in enough water to cover them well.
boil about 10 minutes until bright and cooked.
reserve a few stems for garnish and put the rest in a blender with 3.5 cups of the cooking water.
blend for a couple of minutes until smooth.
  add chicken bouillon and cream, pepper and salt to taste. blend through and serve!

best ever oven beef stew

absolutely, this will be the best bowl of beef stew you have ever had.  the slow bake in the oven does wonderful things to the flavor of the stew and the meat is tender perfection.  you need to start this dish earlier than most dinners- it needs to bake a little under 2.5 hours.  the payoff is so worth it- your house will smell like heaven and you will have the best stew of your life!  your people will thank you. 

best ever oven beef stew

rachelle’s recipe (adapted from Taste of Home and Ina Garten)

ingredients

2 tablespoons flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 1/2 pounds boneless beef chuck roast cut into 1” cubes or packaged beef stew meat

1 onion, chopped

1 tablespoon oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

4 cups chicken broth  (I use water and bouillon)

1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes

3 potatoes, peeled and diced 1” cubes

3 carrots, sliced

1 bay leaf

dash worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup frozen peas (stir in after cooking)

directions

preheat oven to 350 degrees.

in a duch oven or oven-proof pot with lid, heat oil until very hot.  add beef and brown on all sides (you’re not cooking it here, not too long)  remove and set aside.

add onion to the pan and cook until tender.  

add flour, pepper and garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.  

add broth, beef, tomatoes, bay leaf and worcestershire sauce. (NO carrots, potatoes or peas yet.)

put lid on pot and bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

remove hot pot and add potatoes and carrots.  

bake 1 hour longer.

remove from oven and stir in peas, cover and wait 5 mins before serving.

Cinnabontastics! A.k.a: Up All Nights- Cinnamon Rolls

Well what else are you going to do when you can’t sleep at 4 am? My family woke up to a treat because anyone who bakes knows it’s nearly impossible to pull off hot-from-the-oven cinnamon rolls for an early breakfast!

Cinnabontastics are my tried and true Cinnamon Rolls. My recipe is just a couple of tweaks on the “Clone of a Cinnabon” recipe from All Recipes~ over 4,800 people have rated it 5 stars, so you can trust these are amazing. I frankensteined together my favorite tips from the best cinnamon roll recipes to make the singular best recipe ever. The dough in this recipe is made in a bread maker and that really saves some work.

The backstory of why I call them Up All Nights comes from when I was dating my husband. His family had traveled to visit him at University and they were leaving the next morning for a 15 hour car ride to go back home. I wanted to make a treat for them to take on their ride and I knew this recipe was amazing- so I set out to make a batch about 11pm. As a very tired yet committed beginning baker, the process took me all night long and I was delivering the rolls hot from the oven to their hands at 5am as they drove away.

Cinnabontastics

A.k.a. Up All Nights
A.k.a. Clone of a Cinnabon

Original recipe from Allrecipes

1 cup warm milk
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup butter, melted
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon butter flavoring

1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon butter flavoring
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup Karo syrup


Directions
Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer.
Select dough cycle; press Start.
After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter mixed with the vanilla and butter flavoring and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture.
Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls.
Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan.
Drizzle a half Tablespoon Karo syrup over each cinnamon roll.
Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes.
While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract, butter flavoring and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

pavlova with strawberries and cream

talk about a show stopper!  pavlova is a sweet meringue pie topped with fruit and cream.  it is such a good dessert.  it tastes very sweet and marshmallowy with a thin crispy crust.  it's an impressive and delicious for company or a special meal, and it is easy to make!  there are a couple of tricks to making a good pavlova but once you learn you will love it for life.  this is my husband's absolute favorite, it is such a yummy treat!

i strongly suggest you watch a video on making pavlova first, to see the tricks and the egg white consistency for making good meringue.  i like the recipe from chef john best but i will post links to two great instructional videos.


chef john pavlova video (this is great!)
joy of baking pavlova video


sorry for the choppy picture, i've tried to upload it 100x, i just have horrible internet right now, i will try to reload it soon!  :(

pavlova with strawberries and cream

recipe from chef john

3 large egg whites, room temperature 

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsps cornstarch

3/4 tsp white vinegar

1 tsp vanilla

whipped cream

strawberries

1 Tablespoon apricot jam

put sugar and cornstarch in a bowl and mix together.

in the bowl of a mixer, mix eggs on medium to the ribbon stage.

dump in a couple of tablespoons of the sugar mixture, mix it into the egg whites until the sugar dissolves, about 10 seconds.

keep adding the sugar in a couple of tablespoons at a time, until it is all incorporated and the sugars are dissolved.  it will start getting thick and shiny and beautiful!  

after you've added the last of the sugar, mix in the cornstarch and vinegar.

mix a little bit longer until the meringue forms little peaks when you pull the beaters out, it will be still look very creamy,shiny and thick and pretty.  

plop the meringue onto the middle of a silicone baking sheet or parchment paper on a baking sheet.  you want it about 6-7 inches wide and about 2 inches high.  even it out so it's nice and flat on top.  

bake in a preheated 250 degree oven for one hour, then turn oven off and let pavlova cool completely in the oven that has been turned off and the door opened.  it is normal to have a few cracks and crevices.  

oh so carefully remove your cooled pavlova from the baking sheet and transfer it onto a serving platter-  be SO careful here!

top cooled pavlova with sweetened fresh whipped cream and berries.

to make the berries pretty and glazed, heat a little apricot preserves in the microwave with a few drops of water and brush the mixture atop the berries.  the whole berries are a pretty presentation but it is much easier to eat pavlova with sliced berries on top.  enjoy! 

fashionably late!

so

 it has been forever since I've blogged.  

excuses:  

internet.  my internet here in mexico has been terrible over the last year.  like unable to upload pictures terrible.  it has been better over the past month or so, but still.  gah it's annoying!

family:  i delivered the last baby in our family, a bouncing baby girl named Estella Faye (after my darling Grammy Faye.)  my oldest was six when the baby was born, so we have a houseful of stairstep born babies.  to say i have been busy would barely touch it.

cooking: life has been crazy for me lately.  i'm starting to get into a routine now with four littles but i am the first to admit that i fed my family way too many pb&j  kinds of meals while i was adjusting!  i have found lots of simplified dishes we've been loving, so you can count on me to deliver some new easy meals that your kids and families will love.

i'm back in the kitchen, i'm feeling more myself than ever, i'm dying to blog and i have tons of yummy recipes to share with you guys!  i'm going to start off with a new favorite of our family- a delicious, super impressive gourmet-ish dessert called a pavlova.  you'll love it~!

thanks for sticking with me in the interim,  glad to be back   :)

xoxo

rachelle

white chocolate macadamia nut cookies: best recipe ever

if I had to pay money for this recipe, I would pay alot.  I've been making these cookies for years and they are my go-to cookies for surprise guests, because this is one of those recipes that tastes much more complicated than it is to prepare and they are so quick to make!    these cookies take seriously under 10 minutes to get in the oven, they are FAST.  they are beyond delicious and in my opinion, a must have recipe for everyone!

white chocolate macadamia nut cookies
recipe from taste of home, cookout 2007

1/2 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup plus 2 TB flour
1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 bag macademia nuts
1/2 bag white chocolate chips

in a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  beat in egg and vanilla.  combine flour and baking soda, gradually add to creamed mixture.  stir in nuts and chips.
drop heaping TB two inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.  
bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes until golden brown.
cool 1 minute, move to wire racks.