I’ve been really into soup lately. It’s all soothing and nourishing, and super healthy for you when you make it yourself (unless it’s cream based, of course). One of my favorites is roasted corn chowder. It’s full of natural flavor as well as being beautifully creamy – and still healthy! The trick to this soup is roasting the veggies until they are nice and toasty, which creates an amazing base flavor.

This soup is made with just a few ingredients and a couple of steps. Don’t freak out, but part of the deal is making a roux. Sure, that’s a fancy schmancy French thing, but it’s easier than you think. I’m including step by step pictures in the directions to help you along the way. Yes, that means there is whole milk and butter in this soup (which doesn’t sound all that healthy) but once all those veggies are added in, plus some other stuff, you’ve still got one fit as a fiddle soup that’s ready to eat in 30-minutes.

What you need

1 lb frozen corn

1 small onion chopped

2 celery stalks cleaned and chopped

1 carrot chopped

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

1 teaspoon water

Dash of salt and pepper

2 cloves garlic chopped

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons flour

3 cups whole milk

Additional salt and pepper

Hot sauce

How to make the goodness

Start by cranking your oven to 425 F and then chopping up the carrot, celery, and onion, and tossing them onto a big sheet pan along with the corn. Drizzle with the teaspoon of veg oil and water and liberally sprinkle with salt and pepper, and then pop into that hot oven for about 20-minutes. You can check on them in a bit.

Okay, now it’s time to start that roux. Toss together the salt, tablespoon of butter and oil into a nice soup pot. Warm over medium-high heat until things are all melty and then add the chopped garlic and flour. Give things a little stir….

Now let the flour, butter, and oil simmer together for about 2-minutes or so. Give things a stir – you don’t want this to start browning, just bubble a bit.

Go ahead and measure and add the milk and give the mixture a stir. Turn the heat down to medium and keep an eye on things. This the perfect time to check your veggies and give them a big stir.

A roux is a way to thicken a soup and right now things aren’t looking that way. The thing is, the milk needs to get nice and hot to work together properly with the butter and flour. But you don’t want things to start boiling, which might ruin your roux. Just keep an eye on things while stirring and, before you know it, you’ll notice that the liquid will start thickening up…

Once the roux pulls together, you can turn the heat way down to low – or even off – and pay attention to those veggies. If they’ve started to brown on the edges, you are ready to go. Pull them out and measure and reserve 1-cup of the veggies. The rest can go into your hot pot of happy milk.

Get out your boat motor (a.k.a hand mixer) and blend together the veggies and milk – otherwise you can puree in batches in your blender, and then add back to your soup pot. Give your soup a taste test and add additional salt to pepper as needed. Hey, if you like things spicy, dash in some hot sauce or sprinkle in some red pepper flakes.

Now mix in the cup of reserved veggies, add 1-cup of water, and bring the soup back to a low simmer over medium heat. Once things are hot and bubbly, ladle up a bowl and enjoy.

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and, instead of running out and spending a wad on stuff, I wanted to put together something tasty and easy to share with my loved ones. I don’t know about you, but Valentine’s Day screams of chocolate, so chocolate it must be. I wasn’t in the mood for putting together anything too challenging (I’m still pretty lazy since getting back from our vacation), so decided to keep it simple.

Chocolate cream cheese refrigerator cookies.

This is a tasty and easy recipe, which makes a big pile of cookies. You could even make a double batch and have enough to give to friends, family, teachers, and neighbors. Add white or semi-sweet chocolate chips for some extra love or toss in a sprinkling of pecans or walnuts. I didn’t have any of those yummies in the house, so simply chocolate cream cheese cookies it was.

Make sure to set aside some time when doing this recipe. The cookies need a bit of time to set up in the fridge, and you could totally go all fancy and use a cute cookie cutter to perfectly shape your sliced cookies.

Or you can just slice away like I did.

(still really good)

Ingredients

1/4 cup room temperature butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Dash of salt

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 1/4 cup flour

4 ounces room temperature cream cheese

What you do

Start by smoothing together the butter and sugars along with the dash of salt. Once it’s all soft and mixed nicely, go ahead and stir in the egg and vanilla.

Now slowly add the cocoa and flour while gently stirring. Go slow otherwise you’ll have a huge cocoa flour mess! Sprinkle in the baking soda and keep mixing until the cookie batter comes together.

Cube up the cream cheese and add to the mixture. Fold together just until the cream cheese starts blending in with the cookie dough. You still want there to be nice chunks of cream cheese spattered throughout the mix.

Tear off a nice length of plastic wrap and drop in your dough. Wrap it up while rolling and lengthening the cookie dough into a long roll, about 1-foot in length and three to four inches in circumference.

Place your cookie log onto a sheet pan and then into the fridge to chill for at least two-hours. If you can let it hang out over night, even better.

Preheat your oven to 350 F and get out your chocolate cream cheese cookie dough. Release from the plastic wrap and then carefully cut 1/4 -1/2 inch slices and place on a lightly greased sheet pan leaving an inch or so around cookies.

Pop into the hot oven for about 10-12 minutes or until the cookie tops are cracked and crisp.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

With the Super Bowl right around the corner, all I can think about are snacks, snacks, snacks. Honestly, I don’t really care about the football game – I’m not a big fan of either team (because they aren’t the Packers or Niners), so I’m in it to win it on the snack front. We usually gather around the TV to yell at the players for missing the ball and laugh at the really-not-so-funny commercials.

It’s kind of a tradition.

This year I pre-made a couple of goodies to make sure they would be a hit on game day. I am already planning on making a big overflowing bowl of peanut butter popcorn. Alongside that crispy, tasty goodness will be homemade pizza with ricotta and prosciutto, yogurt covered pretzels, and also, horribly addictive sweet and spicy pecans.

For the holidays, my aunt sent us one of the biggest bags of fresh-from-the-tree pecans I’d ever seen. While looking at tons of pecan recipes, I decided to ditch all those steps for something super simple.

Sweet and spicy nuts.

This is a really easy recipe and you can tweak it to your taste and use any kind of nut you like – or a big mix of all different kinds – and change up the spices as you like.

Ingredients

4 cups raw nuts (I used pecans)

1 egg white

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon chili seasoning

1/2 teaspoon flour

Dash of pepper

What you do

Place your nuts in a big bowl. In a smaller bowl, mix together the seasonings along with the sugar and flour. Go ahead and preheat your oven to 250 F so it will be nice and warm when you’re ready.

In another small bowl, froth up your egg white. It doesn’t need to be whipped, just a bit bubbly. Now pour the egg over the nuts and give things a good stir, making sure all those nuts are coated.

Sprinkle the sugar and spice mix over the nuts and toss or stir until they are all nicely coated. Evenly distribute the nuts on a lightly greased sheet pan and then pop in the oven for 40 minutes. You can check on the nuts after about 20 minutes and give them a stir.

Give the hot nuts a dash of sugar and salt and then let cool before munching.

Enjoy!

After a long day I want things super simplified when it comes to dinner. I try to cook a homemade meal every night, but sometimes I need a bit of help.

There’s nothing wrong with using a boxed or canned item to make dinner easier.

I’ve also got a budding chef that’s really into helping right now, so while cruising up and down the aisles at the grocery store, something caught my eye.

Chef Boyardee Mac & Cheese. Already made in a can.

Sure, I’ve loved Chef Boyardee products forever with their saucy good pastas. But this? Mac & Cheese in a can had to come home with us.

Cooking with your kids encourages them to try new things and also introduces essential kitchen skills. Even young tots like mine can do lots of things to assist with making dinner.

I had a tasty idea for using that Chef Boyardee Mac & Cheese, and she could totally help.

After getting out a cutting board, butter knife, and a handful of mushrooms, she got busy cutting away while I had time to prepare the rest of the meal without her attached to my leg.

The thing is, Chef Boyardee is running a contest right now (December 29 through March 11, 2012) with a final winner getting a year’s worth of groceries and ten weekly $500 cash prizes.

If that’s not encouragement to get in the kitchen and get creative with the Chef, I don’t know what is!

While prepping our dinner I kept finding myself distracted while watching my daughter cut her way through those mushrooms. I was so proud of her and her budding knife skills.

She helped me mix things together and then was more than excited to sit down to dinner and enjoy what she had helped to make.

Cheesy Chicken Florentine!

This recipe is so good, super easy-and healthy (for real-under 300 calories per generous 1 cup serving and full of vitamin-packed spinach)!

This dish, that easily serves six, can be on the table in less than 30 minutes and uses one pan, which makes clean up a snap.

Serve alongside garlic toast and a few sliced tomatoes for a complete meal.

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 lb chicken breast tenders, cubed

1 c chopped mushrooms

1/2 t pepper

1/2 t dried rosemary

10 oz box of frozen chopped spinach at room temperature and drained of water

2 15 oz cans of Chef Boyardee Mac & Cheese

1/2 c reduced fat sour cream

1/2 c shredded mozzarella

Directions

Place a 12-inch frying pan over medium-high heat and add the oil, chopped onion and garlic and stir.

Add the cubed chicken tenders along with the pepper and rosemary and let things brown for about five minutes stirring as needed so the chicken doesn’t stick to the pan.

While you’re stirring the kids can chop the mushrooms and squeeze the water from the spinach by pressing it in a colander.

Once the chicken has started to get toasty around the edges, add the spinach and mushrooms to the mix and stir.

Go ahead and turn off the heat under the frying pan and crank the oven to 400 F.

While it’s preheating, mix in the Chef Boyardee Mac & Cheese along with the sour cream to the chicken.

Sprinkle with the shredded mozzarella and pop into the oven for about 20-minutes or until the top is all bubbly brown. Dinner!

What’s your favorite Chef Boyardee product? Use it to create your own unique recipe and then share on the Chef Boyardee Facebook page for a chance to win!

Enter Chef Boyardeeís Make It Boyardeelicious Recipe Contest from December 29, 2011 through March 11, 2012 for your chance to win free groceries for a year as well as one of ten $500 weekly cash prizes. Then visit Chef Boyardeeís Facebook page from March 26, 2012 through April 8, 2012 to vote for your favorite recipes from the ìMake It Boyardeelicious Recipe Contest.î Each day, one voter will be selected to win a $100 cash prize.

Be sure to visit the Chef Boyardee Roundup page on BlogHer.com to check out other bloggersí recipes!

This week was totally overwhelming. We are in the process of refinancing our house and were waiting on pins and needles at the beginning of the week on the appraisal, I headed into the city to meet with someone up close and personal about an exciting work adventure, there was preschool with the tot, and then two conference calls on Friday.

We had high hopes of getting a sitter for a friend’s party on Saturday night, but things just didn’t work out and the husband went solo. As much as I would have enjoyed hanging out and enjoying much needed adult time, I was exhausted, so spent a few hours with a book and some silence.

This week’s dinners started out with a bang and then kind of lost momentum. Our stuffed chicken breasts didn’t look nearly as appealing as they tasted, and frozen pizza dough saved me on Saturday evening.

But we did have two vegetarian dinners this week and I tried to keep going with our plans to ditch the carbs. By adding additional veggies to our meals we still had full plates – and full tummies.

What was your favorite meal this week at your house? Link up a recipe to share, or leave a comment telling me which recipe from our meals this week you would like me to share tomorrow!

*Top row from left to right: Mushroom stuffing stuffed chicken breasts with roasted celery and white beans, healthy beef stroganoff made with plain yogurt over spinach and egg noodles, noodle free eggplant lasagna. Bottom row from left to right: Pounded boneless chicken things over veggie filled rice with a green onion pan sauce, lean cheeseburgers with baked zucchini fries, mushroom and garlic cheese pizza with fresh ricotta.

When I found out this morning that it was National Popcorn Day, everything changed. I love popcorn and it’s turned into my new super-healthy and crunchy snack sans butter but with a sprinkling of salt and a dusting of sugar. It hits the spot and is also pretty low on the calorie front. But, Thursdays are preschool days, so we headed out and my popcorn plans were put on hold until our return home.

After getting home and finishing a conference call, I got to work. I had been craving peanut butter all day, so munched down a sandwich while planning my popcorn making – and then it happened.

Why not make peanut butter popcorn?

It would either be deathly addictive or super horrid – or maybe a bit of both making it wonderfully delicious. I got to popping some popcorn and making the creaming peanut butter sauce.

Um.

Wonderfully delicious.

And this tasty and healthy snack is really easy to make and perfect for a mid-day treat or while watching late night movies – or for game day! I thought I was the original creator of this amazing concoction, but discovered there are a couple of other phenomenally smart people that came up with the combination also. This is my original recipe, but feel free to check out others and adjust as you’d like. My recipe is a bit on the healthy side, ensuring you won’t feel horrid about snarfing down the whole bowl.

Ingredients

4-6 cups fresh popped plain popcorn (1 c dry kernels popped results in about that much)

1/4 c creamy peanut butter

1 tsp honey

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp water

1 tbsp butter

Salt

What you do

Pop up your popcorn. If you’re using a microwave kind, select a plain style free of butter or salt. I popped up my own in a big stockpot using 1c dry kernels and a drizzle of vegetable oil.

While things are popping away, melt the butter, honey, brown sugar, and water in a small saucepan – or toss it in the microwave when your popcorn is finished. Once things are all bubbly, smooth in the peanut butter and warm until everything is all gooey.

Dump that popcorn in a big bowl and then drizzle the peanut butter sauce over the popcorn. Use a big spoon to toss the popcorn with the peanut butter mixture until everything is coated. I left my freshly popped popcorn in the stockpot, dumped in the sauce, and then held the lid in place while shaking that popcorn like crazy.

That popcorn is HOT so let it cool in your bowl before shoving a big hand full in your mouth. Give things a good dash or two of salt and then snack away!

*You know what else would make this amazing? A dash of cinnamon, or even a dash of paprika! Have fun

I just love quinoa – and I’m a big fan of butternut squash. Quinoa is easy to cook (really) and so healthy for you. Not only is it packed with protein, it’s also low in cholesterol, carbohydrates, and has hardly any calories. With a nutty, crisp flavor, it’s great as a side or main dish. And, butternut squash isn’t anything to complain about either. Full of antioxidants and also low in calories, butternut squash can be enjoyed savory or sweet.

This was our winner from last week’s dinners, and I enjoyed the leftovers cold the next day for lunch. Even if you’ve never cooked quinoa before, you’ll have success with this dish – really, it’s that easy.

And, hey. Not a fan of blue cheese? Leave it out – or crumble some feta or shred on some Parmesan.

Ingredients

1 butternut squash, skin and seeds removed then diced

1 small onion chopped

1 big clove garlic chopped

1 t olive oil

1/4 c water

Dash of salt and pepper

4 c fresh spinach leaves

1/4 c crumbled blue cheese

Cooked quinoa (don’t worry, I’ll tell you how to make it later)

How to make it

Start by cutting off the skin from the butternut squash and then cutting in half. Scoop out the seeds and then chunk the squash into 1-inch pieces.

Go ahead and crank your oven to 400 F and dig out your biggest non-stick-but-safe-for-the-oven sauté pan. 12-inches is a good size, and if you don’t have a non-stick, you can use a regular one – things might just stick a bit.

Slice and dice the onion and garlic and add to the butternut squash along with a couple of good dashes of salt and pepper and the water and olive oil. Give things a stir and then toss into the hot oven.

Now get 2-cups of water boiling with a dash of salt. Once things are simmering away, add 1-cup quinoa, turn down the heat, and cover things up for about 10-minutes or so. Check back every once in a while to make sure your quinoa isn’t burning at the bottom or to add more water if things look dry. Give things a stir and then taste for doneness. You should end up with lots of itty-bitty swirls that are nice and tender and fluff with a fork.

Turn the heat off under the quinoa and leave covered. Give your butternut squash a stir and keep on roasting for another 20-minutes or so.

While the squash is finishing up, wash and dry your fresh spinach and add to a nice sized mixing bowl.

Give your butternut squash a doneness test after about 30-minutes of roasting by poking a chunk with a fork. If it goes in easy, you’re ready to go. Pull the squash out of the oven and dump in your quinoa. Give things a gently toss and return to the oven for another 5-minutes to toast up the quinoa.

Mix the hot butternut squash and quinoa with the spinach and then top with the blue cheese. You can also add another drizzle of olive oil and add additional salt and pepper to taste.

Tasty AND healthy!

The first day of winter is right around the corner which means cooler weather along with the holidays and all those cookies and treats and parties and stuff.

I already have a nice amount of jiggle-in-the-middle. I don’t need any more.

But a girl’s gotta eat, right?

My days get pretty hectic balancing the tot and work stuff. Sometimes I don’t eat lunch until 1:30 or so when she has her “nap,” and then the adults eat dinner around 8ish. The tot eats lunch around 11:30 and dinner at 5, and sometimes I’ll have a some fresh fruit or yogurt with her during her meal times. By the time the husband gets home around 6:30, I’m famished.

Yeah, I know we are eating pretty late, but I’m not about to have dinner on the table when the husband crashes through the door. The tot is a mess and, as it is, only gets about an hour with her daddy before she conks out.

So, for now, that’s our eating schedule.

Having a really healthy and filling lunch helps me get through the day – and to stay sane and not fall apart and forget things.

(I still forget things.)

Kale is in season and I’ve always got quinoa in the house – you know how much I love it (here, here, here…). I dug around and discovered a couple of cans of white beans and a few containers of vegetable stock and realized I had the mixings for a super healthy, high protein and fiber soup.

What you need

3 cloves garlic chopped

1 small onion chopped

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp butter

1 c quinoa

6 c vegetable stock

2 15 ounce cans of white beans (you can use any kind – cannelloni, great northern, navy…)

1 c rinsed and chopped kale

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

1/4 t salt

Additional salt and pepper to taste

How you make it

Start by getting a large stock pot heating over medium-high heat. Add your chopped onions, garlic, butter and oil and let simmer for a bit. You want the onions and garlic to pick up some color – but we’re not talking blackened, so make sure to stir every once in awhile.

Now you can sprinkle everything with the salt and then add the quinoa. Feel free to rinse it first (I don’t but others swear by it) and stir the quinoa together with the onions and let toast up for a minute.

Turn down the heat to medium, add the vegetable stock, stir, then cover with a lid.

That’s it.

Simmer for about 10-minutes or until the quinoa have evolved into small swirls. Now open, rinse and drain one of the cans of white beans and add to the soup. You can also add the rinsed and chopped kale along with the balsamic vinegar. Pop the lid back on and keep simmering.

Open up that other can of beans, rinse and drain, and then mash with a fork until those beans resemble a paste. Add them to the pot and then stir the soup until everything is looking tasty.

You can simmer the soup until the kale is tender, which takes an additional 5-to 10 minutes, and then serve with a sprinkling of salt and pepper – or a couple of shavings of parmesan cheese.

Yum.

While hanging out on Pinterest the other day, I got a bit of inspiration. Everyone seems to be using their crock pots to make these amazing things – even lasagna.

Yeah, lasagna.

So I had to try it. I love lasagna and make it often. I like to mix up the ingredients to keep it fun, like using cubed and roasted chicken with a cream sauce or ground turkey with thin strips of butternut squash. I figured for my crock pot lasagna experiment I’d keep things pretty basic – you know, the good stuff. Italian sausage, a big jar of sauce, and lots and lots of cheese.

This is really easy, and you can’t mess it up.

Really.

All you need is a box of no-need-to-boil lasagna noodles, a large jar of your favorite pasta sauce, about 1/2 lbs of italian sausage browned, and 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese. Go ahead and gather whatever else you like in your lasagna. I always toss in some fresh spinach – and I happened to have some of my fresh homemade ricotta in the fridge.

Now get your crock pot cranking on high heat and coat the bottom with a good layer of sauce. I added about 1/4 cup of water to the crock pot, too. This way the bottom of your lasagna won’t get burnt. Cover that sauce with a few of your lasagna noodles. You can break them up to fit in the crock pot.

Sprinkle on a bit of the sausage, and any other ingredients you like, such as chopped mushrooms, olives, spinach, along with a sprinkling of shredded mozzarella. Pour on a bit more sauce and then repeat. Yup, that’s right. Repeat and then repeat, and repeat again. Leave about 1/2 cup of that shredded mozzarella for later.

It’s that simple.

I kept layering until my sauce and sausage were gone and then called it quits. I gave the top a final coating of sauce, along with 1/2 cup of water, and then put the lid on the crock pot and left it to do its thing for about 4 hours.

About a half hour before eating, I dotted the top of the lasagna with 1/2 cup of my fresh ricotta and that leftover 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella. I put the lid on tight and within minutes, my crock pot lasagna was ready to serve.

And it was good.

I love pizza. It doesn’t matter if it’s deep dish, thin crust, expensive, frozen, or from the place on the corner, I love it. There’s nothing like the crisp, crunch, and chew of the crust and then the flavor burst of the sauce and then the finishing goo of the cheese.

Perfect.

The other day I wanted to make pizza, but also wanted leftovers for the tot’s lunch the next day. So, what to do?

Mini deep dish pizzas!

Whether you brave making your dough on your own or go the quick and easy way with store bought, this recipe is versatile to fit your friend’s and family’s favorite toppings. All you need is a muffin tin, a few ingredients, and you’re good to go.

If you want to make your own crust, it’s really easier than you think – it just needs a bit of time.

Ingredients for the dough

1 package of yeast

1 cup warm water (about 100F)

2 tablespoons oil (any kind is fine)

1/4 teaspoon sugar

Big dash of salt

2+ cups flour (you can even use whole wheat!)

Dough making

Place the yeast in a medium sized mixing bowl along with the sugar and then cover gently with the warm water. Let things hang out until things get a bit frothy, which takes about 5-minutes or so.

Now you can mix in the salt and flour. So, yeah, you could really healthy-up this dough by using whole wheat – or going half and half. The day I put my mini deep dish pizzas together I used 1 cup white flour and 1 cup whole wheat and they were totally YUM.

Once the dough starts coming together, dump it out onto onto a flour dusted work surface and knead for a couple of minutes, adding additional flour as needed so things don’t stick like crazy to your hands.

Place the dough back in the bowl and cover with a clean towel. Put the dough in a quiet corner and let it hang out for about an hour or so.

The fillings and assembly….

Get out the muffin tin and lightly grease with a bit of oil. Now pinch off small golf ball sized bits of dough and gently roll with a rolling pin or press flat with your hand. Pop the round into a muffin tin and keep going until all the tins have a round of pizza dough. You should have enough dough to make 9-12 mini pizzas.

Preheat your oven to 425F and let the muffin tin rest while getting together your ingredients. This would be an awesome kid’s party or family night or game night or any night activity! Each kid can pick a tin and create his or her own perfect mini deep dish pizza, starting with a spoonful of pizza sauce.

Now fill the tins with pizza toppings such as chopped mushrooms, chopped pepperoni, crumbled pre-cooked sausage, spinach, olives…. Whatever you want! We even scooped in some homemade ricotta and then another dollop of pizza sauce.

Top each mini deep dish pizza with some shredded mozzarella and place in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the tops are bubbling and golden brown. The pizzas might ooze a bit while baking, so placing the muffin tin on a sheet tray will save your oven for any needed post-pizza cleaning.

Let your pizzas rest for a couple of minutes before attacking them with a butter knife to help ease each out of it’s tin. Enjoy alongside a big salad or eat them all in one sitting!