Roasted Cauliflower Soup

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

After so many holiday sweets it was definitely time for something a little bit lighter. Cauliflower, in my mind, is one of those vegetables that is kind of disappointing. It doesn't have a particularly strong flavor and pales in comparison to it's cousin broccoli. That being said, soup is the perfect vehicle to cauliflower. The flavor becomes infinitely more complex after roasting and the addition of a few herbs and other flavors makes this an instant classic.

Ingredients

3 pounds cauliflower florets (about 2 large heads)

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 teaspoon coarsely ground sea salt

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme, minced

4 cups chicken stock

1 3/4 cups almond milk

Pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Cut the cauliflower heads into medium florets. Place in a large bowl and toss with the olive oil, salt and minced thyme. Spread out in one layer on a large baking sheet and place in the oven. After twenty minutes, remove the cauliflower from the oven and flip the florets over. Place back in the oven for another twenty minutes. Meanwhile place two cups of the chicken stock and all of the almond milk in a large pot and bring to a low simmer. Regular milk, of course, can be substituted for the almond milk but I really enjoy the nutty flavor that almond milk adds to this soup.

Once the cauliflower is finished roasting, add it to the large pot on the stove. Using an immersion blender puree the mixture until your desired consistency. I prefer a thick puree but some may like to leave a few cauliflower florets intact. Add the remaining two cups on chicken stock and season to taste with pepper and any additional salt if necessary. Garnish with extra thyme and enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie with Gingersnap Crust and Walnut Ganache

Pumpkin Pie 

with Gingersnap Crust 

and Walnut Ganache

I'm just going to come out and say it without making any apologies. This, is a sinful dessert. The creamy pumpkin filling is made even more luxurious with sweetened condensed milk, the gingersnap crust has such a punch of flavor and is the perfect buttery companion to the filling. And as if the pie weren't decadent enough already, the praline ganache sends it completely over the edge. Pumpkin and ginger are two flavors that, to me, are so reminiscent of the holidays that it seemed only natural to combine them in this delicious dessert. Definitely enjoy this on a day you're not trying to be healthy because it is worth every single tasty calorie. Not to mention that it is incredibly easy to make and requires very few ingredients.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups gingersnap cookie crumbs (about 1 1/2 sleeves of cookies)

6 tablespoons butter, melted

1 can pumpkin puree

3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk

2 egg yolks

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar

2/3 cup chopped walnuts

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Make the crust by combining the ginger snap crumbs and melted butter in a large bowl and mixing with a fork until well blended. Add the crumbs to a nine inch cake or tart pan and evenly press over the bottom and up the sides using the bottom of a measuring cup. Bake until set and a bit darker in color, usually 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

In a bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, condensed milk, egg yolks and salt until well blended. Pour the filling into the cooled crust, return to the oven, and bake until set and beginning to brown on the top, about 30 minutes. Remove pie from the oven, cool to room temperature and then chill in the refrigerator, at least 1 hour or until ready to serve.

While the pie is cooling, combine brown sugar, chopped walnuts and vanilla extract in a small saucepan over medium heat. Heat until the sugar is dissolved stirring often. Pour over the pie and allow to set before serving. Slice the pie, serve and enjoy!

Cranberry Oat Bars

Cranberry Oat Bars

Some technical difficulties with my camera have kept me from updating my blog for quite some time now but finally a trip back home for Thanksgiving has given me access to the family cam. These cranberry oat bars are a little something I whipped up as a dessert contribution. After making the cranberry sauce filling on the stove and seeing how easy it was I can't imagine how anybody uses that jelly canned stuff! Cranberrys can be so tart even after adding a cup of sugar so I love how the warm cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice in these bars offset the tartness of the cranberry. These travelled extremely well to my upstate New York Thanksgiving table, are easily cut into small or large squares for anyone to enjoy and can be frozen for a few weeks if necessary.

Ingredients

12 ounce package whole cranberries

• 1 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 package yellow cake mix
• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In a small saucepan combine the cranberries, sugar and water over medium heat. Stir occasionally for about fifteen minutes or until every cranberry has burst and the sugar is dissolved. The mixture should look more like a compote at this point. Take the cranberry sauce off of the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, oats, brown sugar and spices and whisk all dry ingredients together. Next add the eggs and melted butter and stir with a wooden spoon. The consistency of this mixture is going to be closer to a dough than a cake batter. Make sure everything is well combined, especially the brown sugar that tends to get clumpy. Reserve a cup and a half of the dough in a bowl. Then, spray a nine by thirteen baking dish with cooking spray. Spread the remaining portion of the dough on the bottom of the pan like a crust making sure to reach all edges of the pan. Pour all of the cooled cranberry mixture on top of the dough and spread evenly with a spatula. Then, evenly distribute the reserved dough on top of the cranberry sauce in small dollops. When this bakes you get gorgeous golden brown nuggets of dough and you can see the bright colored cranberry sauce underneath. Bake in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Allow to cool on a rack for an hour or so and then cut into bars and enjoy!

Baked Fries with Bloody Mary Ketchup and Maple Mustard

Baked Fries with Bloody Mary Ketchup

and Maple Mustard

There's no better way to crush a salt craving then french fries. But all the fat and grease are just unnecessary. My roommate made the split-second mid-week decision to test out our apartment oven with some baked fries. After peeling a serious amount of potatoes and seasoning them liberally we obviously needed some fun dipping sauces. When it comes to french fries I am definitely a mustard girl while my roommate is a ketchup girl, so we came up with a fun variation on each. By putting all of the classic bloody mary seasonings in our ketchup we had a spicy and flavorful alternative. Instead of the classic honey mustard we mixed dijon mustard with maple syrup for a sweet molasses-y twist. The final result was two large pans filled with salty fries and two different sauces to satisfy any dippers preference.

Ingredients

1/2 pound russet potatoes

6 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons garlic salt

1 tablespoon sea salt

1 tablespoon pepper

1 cup ketchup

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish

3 tablespoons hot sauce

2 tablespoon worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 cup dijon mustard

1/4 cup maple syrup

The first thing to do is preheat the oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit. These french fries cook in two stages, first at 450 degrees to cook them all the way through and then for the last fifteen minutes at broil to brown the fries. Peel the potatoes and cut them in to fry strips. You can experiment with other sizes like steak fries or rounds but these will take longer to cook. Put the cut potatoes in a colander and rinse with cold water to wash away the starch. This step helps the fries get crispy. Next, pat the potatoes dry with a kitchen towel and place them in a large bowl. Add the olive oil, garlic salt, sea salt and pepper to the bowl and toss with your hands to evenly coat the potatoes. Spread the potatoes evenly out on two baking sheets in one layer.

Getting these fries to the perfect crispy consistency is a little bit complicated but so worth it. Bake the fries for twelve minutes then flip them and bake for another twelve minutes. Next put the oven on low broil and cook for ten minutes, then put the oven on high broil and cook for five minutes. At this point the fries should be perfectly cooked through and a crunchy golden brown on the outside. Dip into each of the sauces (we even mixed the two sauces together and it was delicious) and enjoy!

Dark Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream

Dark Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream

This is the type of ice cream that you put in your mouth and say whoa. And guess what - it uses just 3 simple ingredients! It has a texture that is creamier than most homemade ice creams due to the use of coconut milk instead of regular milk. I added sugar and unsweetened cocoa powder to give the coconut milk a rich chocolaty flavor. Topped off with dark chocolate shavings this makes the ultimate chocolate sundae even more intense!

Ingredients

2 cans coconut milk

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Make sure the bowl of an ice cream maker has been in the freezer for at least four hours before making the ice cream mixture. Place cans of milk  and a medium bowl in the refrigerator for an hour before use. After chilling, take out the milk and bowl and combine all ingredients in the bowl. Use a whisk to make sure the mixture is smooth. Place the mixture in the bowl of an ice cream maker, turn on and allow to spin for fifteen to twenty minutes until mixture is the texture of soft-serve ice cream. Top with chocolate shavings, shaved coconut, whipped cream or whatever your favorite sundae topping is and enjoy!