This recipe actually builds from the two previous, with some minor changes. For simplicity, the entire recipe from start to finish is below so you don’t have to go to multiple posts to make it. The multi-pot shortens the time of making a solid chicken soup, but it is still a labor of love. Total time to cook is roughly 3 hours.
It freezes well, so it’s a great recipe to make now to have on hand for sick days!
Ingredients: (serves 8)
Chicken:
1(3 to 4 pound)whole chicken – I used a 3 pound chicken
I love the combination of chocolate and pumpkin together. So when I was trying to think of an update to a traditional cookie, my mind went right to these flavors, which brings me to this recipe for Chocolate Pumpkin Rugelach.
Rugelach are the perfect cookies for this combo. Traditional rugelach uses an apricot spread that is sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, walnuts, and raisins, and then rolled into a spiral. The pumpkin butter takes the place of the apricot spread, and mini chocolate chips are substituted in for the walnuts and raisins.
Note: I was sent samples of PBfit in order to write this post. All opinions are mine alone.
I try to do a few make ahead recipes when I have the time on my weekends to make weekdays a bit easier. I tend to focus on dinners for busy weeknights, but from time to time I’m able to whip up some make ahead breakfasts as well. My favorite make ahead breakfasts? Muffins, of course! So I decided to make Peanut Butter Banana Muffins!
Not only are muffins an easy way to make a huge batch of future breakfasts, but they also freeze well! We always have bananas around the house, so when we end up with some overripe bananas, I love to use them in muffins. This recipe adds in some PBfit powder for peanut butter-y goodness!
PBfit is peanut butter powder made by pressing roasted peanuts, grinding those peanuts and mixing in some coconut palm sugar, and a pinch of salt. The result is a delicious peanut butter powder that has 87% less fat and 1/3 the calories of traditional peanut butter. Because it’s in powder form, it works great in baked goods!
Note: I was sent a copy of AMERICAN COOKIE: The Snaps, Drops, Jumbles, Tea Cakes, Bars & Brownies That We Have Loved for Generations for review. Opinions are mine alone.
Every cookie recipe has a back story, from the chocolate chip cookie to thumbprint cookies. What’s truly interesting about these back stories is how they align with the shaping of American baking through the generations. I love cookbooks that provide a back story to the recipes, like AMERICAN COOKIE: The Snaps, Drops, Jumbles, Tea Cakes, Bars & Brownies That We Have Loved for Generations by Anne Bryn. Did you know that the first snickerdoodle cookie recipes were actually bars? Or that the first Girl Scout Cookies were baked at home to help raise money to send girls to camp?
Source: Penguin Random House
I assume I’m not alone in associating different recipes with different parts of my own life. I can’t look at a Peanut Butter Cookie without thinking of my family’s recipe, passed down from my great grandmother, or snack on a Neiman Marcus “$250” cookies without recalling many December weekends spent making them with my mom as a child.
I was first introduced to rugelach cookies — a cookie made by rolling a triangle of dough around a sweet filling — by my mother-in-law. She makes them every Christmas and has since my husband was little. So when I saw a recipe for Apricot and Raisin Rugelach in AMERICANCOOKIE, I knew I had to try them as a nod to my mother-in-law’s fantastic baking every December. This recipe differs from my mother-in-law’s version but the general idea is still there.
Rugelach cookies were first brought to America from Austrian-Hungarian immigrants, and has over time been adapted and modernized by Jewish-American bakers. Apparently, the original dough was quite time consuming to make. Somewhere along the line, cream cheese was added to rugelach dough, resulting in an easy to work with and flaky dough. Rugelach cookies have become a staple in many American households, and typically include raisins, nuts, spices and jam or preserves as a filling.
Ingredients:
Dough:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for rolling the dough
It really takes me a while to adjust to colder weather. I feel like I’m always freezing! So a warm and hearty meal is a must this time of year, especially a soup or stew.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I go through a ton of chicken broth and stock — I never seem to be able to keep enough on hand!
So when I was making my Pressure Cooker Whole Chicken, I knew homemade Pressure Cooker Chicken Broth would be the natural next step.
Making your own broth or stock is a super easy (and affordable) way to get the most out of your whole chicken!
Just a quick summary on the difference between stock and broth: both simmer bones and/or meat in water with onions, carrots, celery, and aromatics but stock is left unseasoned (no salt) while broth is seasoned.
Ingredients:
1medium sized onion, quartered
2carrots, cut into large chunks
2stalks celery
6 clovesgarlic
2bay leaves
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 sprigs fresh thyme
10 whole peppercorns, omit for stock
1/2 teaspoon salt, omit for stock
the bones of 1 chicken carcass
8cupswater, or as needed
Note: If you’re making this immediately following making a chicken in your Pressure Cooker, you won’t need as much water.
My husband says he doesn’t like soup, but he honestly just doesn’t like thin broth soups, like traditional chicken noodle soup. So I’m always in search of soup recipes that are thicker based — not necessarily from cream. Pureed vegetable soups have become a favorite in my house!
This recipe from Saveur for Red Lentil and Butternut Squash Soup mentions that it originates from Palestine, but I haven’t been able to find a similar butternut squash and red lentil soup to confirm that. No matter where this recipe originally comes from, the result is a perfect colder weather soup- creamy, filling, with a little bit of heat!
Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 medium carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 medium white onion, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon crushed red chile flakes
1 pound peeled, seeded, and chopped butternut squash
salt and pepper, to taste
6 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock to make vegetarian/vegan)
Note: I was sent a Cosori Premium 6qt multicooker in order to write this post. Opinions are mine alone.
I’m not going to lie, pressure cookers have always kind of intimidated me. I was under the impression that they were difficult to use, and easy to mess up.
Well, after trying out the Cosori Premium 6qt pressure cooker over the past couple of weeks, I’m here to tell you they are actually quite easy to use!
source: cosori.com
Pressure cookers are definitely having a moment right now, but they’ve actually been around since the 1600’s in some form or another. Pressure cookers use steam pressure to help cook food faster. When cooking tough meat, pressure cookers help tenderize the meat and cook it surprisingly quickly in the process.
source: cosori.com
The Cosori Premium 6qt pressure cooker is actually a multicooker – it’s a pressure cooker, hot pot, steamer, slow cooker, food warmer, sauté pan, yogurt maker, and rice cooker – all in one! The unit has 17 smart cooking programs, but you can also adjust the cooking time, temperature, and pressure cooking levels to customize your cooking.
source: cosori.com
I couldn’t wait to test the pressure cooker out! I immediately thought of barbacoa – super tender and shredded meat (typically lamb or beef) with seasonings, so it’s time to try making Pressure Cooker Barbacoa Beef Tacos!
We eat a lot of tacos in my house, so I knew this would be a perfect test of the pressure cooker’s ability. This recipe actually uses two of the features available -” sauté/brown” and “meat/stew” pressure cooking. The Cosori premium pressure cooker is quite large (6 quarts!), so I decided to make a huge batch for future dinners. (It’s always helpful to have a full freezer for busy fall weeknights.)
Note: If you’ve been considering purchasing the Cosori Premium 6qt pressure cooker, click on this link and use code UCS9PK3K to receive 10% off! (The code is only good through October 31, 2018, so be sure to purchase before then!)
Ingredients: (makes 12 servings)
6 garlic cloves
1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
1 chipotle in adobo, plus 3 tablespoons chipotle in adobo sauce
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons ground oregano
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
zest and juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 cups beef broth, plus a tablespoon or two, divided
The school year has begun. I don’t have kids, but I am married to a teacher, so this time of year gets pretty hectic. Which means it’s about time I started stocking my fridge and freezer on weekends so weeknight dinners are a bit more manageable.
These Tex Mex Stuffed Peppers are a super tasty (and easy) make-ahead meal. You can cook these over the weekend and reheat during the week, or freeze before cooking, thaw, and cook when ready to eat!
Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
4 tablespoons taco seasoning
1 cup jarred salsa (mild or medium)
1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (8 oz) box of yellow rice, cooked according to package directions
I mentioned in my Blueberry Chia Seed Jam post that you’d see it pop up in a recipe shortly, and here it is! This No Bake Blueberry Lemon Icebox Cake is a great make ahead dessert that’s a beautiful end to a barbecue or summer dinner party.
If you’re not familiar with icebox cakes, they are layered frozen cakes traditionally made with whipped cream and chocolate wafers. This Bon Appetit version incorporates some of my favorite flavors, blueberries and lemon, to create a beautiful Blueberry Lemon Icebox Cake!
This isn’t a cake that involves much precision or patience, and looks pret-ty darn good even when giving off that “homemade” vibe, like mine does. You also don’t need any special tools – just a 9×5 loaf pan, some plastic wrap, and a hand mixer. An offset spatula would also come in handy if you have one.
Ingredients:
1 (8 oz) container mascarpone, at room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
the zest of 1 lemon
2 1/2 cups chilled heavy cream (leave in the fridge until ready to use)
I’m so impatient weather-wise in the spring. I want it to warm up immediately, but that’s not exactly how this season goes.
Although today is supposed to be quite nice, some spring nights can be rainy and down right chilly. So it’s nice to have a comforting meal available for colder nights that still makes use of ingredients readily available in the spring.
This Slow Cooker Spring Lamb Stew is a Greek-inspired dish is made in a slow cooker, so dinner will be ready for you when you return from work. It also freezes well, so you can enjoy it whenever the weather calls for a yummy stew.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 and 1/2 pound lamb shoulder, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice (I used 6 allspice berries; I was out of ground allspice)
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1/2 pound shallots, peeled and quartered
1 pound baby new potatoes
1/2 pound carrots, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
About this time every year, I start wishing for warmer weather. And yet, this time every year, we tend to get one more winter storm to prove that it’s not quite spring just yet.
So, given that it’s still freezing in Philadelphia, I decided to make a frozen cocktail, a Frozen Mango Daiquiri, that can help me pretend it’s nice and warm outside.
This is a fairly traditional frozen daiquiri, although I added in some cinnamon to complement the mango.
I used frozen mango chunks to make this, so it’s a super easy recipe.
Ingredients (makes 2 servings):
2 cups ice
1 (12 oz) bag frozen mango chunks
4 oz white rum
the juice of 3 limes, plus more if needed
1 tablespoon white sugar, plus more for rimming the glasses
Happy New Year! I’m a bit late in posting this recipe, but honestly, this comfort food Southern staple for Black Eyed Peas with Collard Greens makes for a delicious meal on any cold winter night.
Black eyed peas are a New Years Day staple in the South, as eating them on New Years Day is thought to bring you prosperity throughout the year.
This version is a bit of a fridge and pantry cleaner. Or, at least it was for me after hosting a New Years Eve party.
I used leftover sandwich rolls to make bread crumbs, leftover bacon from New Years Day morning, collard greens from a Blue Apron meal I forgot to make (oops), and then added in what was left of the onions, garlic, carrots and herbs I had on hand, which kind of turned this recipe into a cassoulet of sorts.
Ingredients:
1 cup dried black eyed peas
6 oz bacon, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced, divided
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 sprigs of rosemary, divided
4 sprigs of thyme, divided
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce, or to taste
about 1 cup chopped day old bread (I used one sandwich roll)
This cold snap feels like it will never end. One good part about the cold weather is I definitely do more cooking!
One of my husband’s favorite recipes I make is one for Slow Cooker Chicken and Chickpea Tagine. I wanted to try a tagine with a different meat, so when I found this recipe for Slow Cooker Lamb Tagine on the cooking section of the New York Times, I used it as a base to make a slow cooker version.
Tagine or Tajine dishes are Moroccan slow cooked dishes named after the pot they are cooked in. The dishes are typically a stew with a protein, spices, and fruit. And, well, they are fantastic; they make for a perfect comfort food meal!
I braved the cold so I could pick up the ingredients for this yummy dish. I’m lucky enough to live close to Reading Terminal Market, and La Divisa Meats in the Terminal cubed some lamb leg meat for me for this recipe. If you do not have a local butcher, lamb stew meat works too.
Ingredients:
3 pounds cubed boneless lamb leg meat
salt and pepper, to taste
2 cinnamon sticks
large pinch saffron
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
1 3/4 cups beef broth
1 cup dried apricots
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (or margarine to make dairy free, or ghee to make paleo)
One of the perks of being a friend of, or related to, a food blogger, is random food deliveries. I try to keep my sister’s freezer stocked with comfort foods, but have been neglecting her a bit recently. So when I saw this recipe for Chicken and Brisket Brunswick Stew, it seemed right up her alley and I knew I had to make it for her.
I adapted the recipe for what I could find/what I had on hand, but the general gist is still there.
My sister doesn’t live in Philly, so I need to pack her goodies up in freezer-friendly containers to give her when I see her. Zyliss recently sent me a 10 piece fresh plastic food storage container set, which is perfect for freezable foods.
The containers are 100% leak proof and airtight, and are freezer, dishwasher, and microwave safe.
Zyliss was kind enough to send a second set my way to giveaway! More details at the end of the post.
Ingredients:
3 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cups beef broth
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 lb shredded barbecue beef brisket (I purchased this at my local supermarket)
