Recipe Box: My Grilled Cheese

There are certain foods that people can get very defensive and opinionated about. One such food item I am sharing today—grilled cheese. It is the classic sidekick of soups of all varieties and itself can come in a few different forms. I read an article a few years ago asserting that buttered white bread and two slices of American cheese was the true formula resulting in the perfect cheesy sammy (excuse me while I channel my inner Rachael Ray!)

I have my own opinions on the matter. Since I have been such an active grilled cheese consumer from youth to adulthood midnight snacking, I feel I have room to speak. I am not a white bread eater and when it comes to American cheese, I have to admit that I am a hater. Sorry...you can't tell me that it is the yummiest cheese in the case.

Recently, I was lazily constructing a soup and grilled cheese lunch and through slight alterations discovered my new favorite way to eat this timeless sandwich:

- Na'an (wheat preferred)
- 2 slices of pepper jack cheese
- butter melted in the skillet

Still simple, yet different enough to be a little exciting. Note: It may be sad that right now this feels like the most daredevil move of my life. I broke some na'an into pieces sized to my desired portion and to accommodate the cheese slices. Melt butter down in the skillet; I feel weird spreading it directly on the na'an. Then proceed as normal. Enjoy!

<3 Ashley

How do you take your grilled cheese?

Homemade Soups

Over the past few years, I have gained an appreciation for spending time in the kitchen. Since moving away to college I have found myself wanting to get more creative and shake things up with the meals that I make for myself. A girl can only eat so much pasta in a week! Last year are started making homemade soups. It started when I was sick with a cold one day in the winter and did not have any chicken noodle on hand, but I did have the key ingredients. I looked up a simple recipe and was very pleased with how yummy it was.

Since I have expanded my soup horizons with a number of recipes. Pumpkin, mushroom, chicken and orzo, and butternut sweet potato soups are now all tried and true in my recipe book. I discovered this morning that today is National Homemade Soup Day, so I thought it would be appropriate to throw it back and share the links to my two favorite recipes that I have tried so far:

Pumpkin Chipotle Soup

Mushroom & Brie Soup - this one gets better ever time and I recently tried it with goat cheese instead of brie...delicious!

<3 Ashley

What are your favorite soups to make?

Recipe Box: Gingerbread Cookies

Image: here

As Christmas draws near, I find myself facing the panic of searching for gifts for my friends. Considering our very meager college bank accounts, I am of the opinion that none of us should feel compelled to buy gifts. A dinner together is what I am content with. However, each year we get the message in our group text, "We need to hang out. I have your Christmas gifts" and I go into cardiac arrest. You can't receive and not give a gift for Christmas! So in recent years, I have resolved to combat this by baking a bag of cookies for each of my friends. Last year was sugar cookies with homemade icing. This year, I have been in the mood to bake some delicious gingerbread cookies.

Turning to Pinterest, I've discovered the recipe from The Parsimonious Princess. The recipe is simple and contains just a few ingredients compared to some of the other recipes I considered. I am not baking until Tuesday, but I wanted to share with you now in the case that you too are searching high and low for a Christmas cookie recipe!

What you need:
- 1 1/2 c. (3 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1 c. brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 c. molasses
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 3/4 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
- 2 tsp. ground ginger
- 5 c. all-purpose flour

What to do:
- Combine butter and sugar in large bowl until smooth. Incorporate eggs on at a time.
- Add molasses and mix
- Combine baking soda, spices, and flour in a separate bowl. Add the wet mixture. Mix until smooth
- Let the dough chill for a couple of hours.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Roll out on a floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness
- Cut into desired shapes and place on lined or greased cookie sheet
- Bake 10-12 minutes
- Cool. Decorate. Enjoy.

<3 Ashley

What is your go-to Christmas cookie?

Recipe Box: Peppermint Crunch Dark Chocolate Cookies

Image: here

This past Saturday my roommates and I spent some time at our friend's house baking with her mother (spoiler alert: that friend is studying abroad currently! Haha!) Last year, her mother came to our apartment and we knocked out 11 types of cookies in 6 hours. This year we did not boast the same stats, but only because we were under an actual time constraint. But we did manage a solid 8 cookies between 10 AM and 2:30 PM! One of them, I will share with you today. The peppermint crunch dark chocolate cookies are everybody's current favorite I believe. What's not to love? Dark chocolate + peppermint = holiday happiness.

What you need:
- 1 box dark chocolate cake mix
- 1 bag peppermint baking chips (note: we bought Hershey's peppermint candy bars and just broke them up)
-  1/2 c. vegetable or canola oil
- 2 eggs

What to do:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Combine mix, oil and eggs in a bowl
- Stir in peppermint chips
- Chill in the refrigerator for one hour
- Roll into balls and drop onto ungreased, non-stick cookie sheet
- Bake 7-9 minutes
- Enjoy!

<3 Ashley

What are your favorite kinds of Christmas cookies?

Sunday Brunch: Pumpkin Pancakes

Well well well...here we find ourselves enjoying yet another lazy Sunday morning. I really hope these never end. I need my sanity days. Now, my intention was to post this on Friday (really!) but that clearly never happened. So welcome to an actual Sunday Sunday Brunch brunch post. See what I did there? Low-cal calzone zone, anybody?

Anyway. I mentioned early in the week how I am basically obsessing over all things pumpkin and one of the newest and most frequent fixtures in my diet are pumpkin pancakes. Sometimes these appear with chocolate chips, sometimes they fly solo. The recipe is super easy and is actually the recipe that I posted before for single serving whole wheat pancakes, just with pumpkin and spices added!

Ingredients:
- 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- a few shakes of cinnamon and nutmeg
- 1/3 c. milk
- 1 egg
- 2 tsps. maple syrup
- 3 tbsps. pumpkin puree

What to do:
- Mix up your dry ingredients first. Then add in the rest. When it comes to the spices, you are free to do as you please. This was an experimentation for me one morning so I do not actually have measurements for you.

- I usually add about 3 tbsps of pumpkin puree to my mixture because I am only doing the single serving amount. You should probably adjust accordingly if you are making more. Also, the pumpkin will make the batter a little bit thicker so I pour in a touch more milk at the end to thin it a bit.

- Ladle batter onto hot skillet (medium low heat) and let brown on each side. Add chocolate chips at your discretion ;)

- Serve with butter and maple syrup. Enjoy!

<3 Ashley

What are your favorite pumpkin recipes? Share below!

Recipe Box: Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo

It's been awhile since I've posted a recipe for something that isn't a breakfast food; I can't help it! I identify with Ron Swanson in that way I guess. This recipe has been a long time coming. I made it when I was home for spring break and just have not found the right time to post it. Now is that time. I made this for my mother and I one night with my fingers crossed that it would be good. I will tell you that it did not disappoint. I honestly did not know how this would taste with the roasted red pepper and cream cheese together but it was pure perfection. With some spinach stirred in--which is what we were actually trying to get out of our fridge--and a bit of baguette on the side it made for the perfect meal. This recipe comes from the aptly named, Damn Delicious. I concur.

What you need (makes four servings):
- Pasta
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 c. milk (the original recipe had 1/2 c milk and 1/2 c. heavy cream...I didn't have cream)
- 4 oz. crumbled goat cheese
- 1/2 c. grated Parmesan
- 1 (12 oz.) jar roasted red peppers
- salt + pepper

What to do:
- In large pot boil water, cook pasta, drain well.
- Heat olive oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and onion. Cook, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent (2-3 minutes).
- Stir in milk (and cream if you follow the original recipe) and cheeses until cheese is melted (1-2 minutes)
- Add red peppers and puree with immersion blender or pour into a standing blender--return to heat when done.
- Salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately and enjoy! :)

<3 Ashley

Will you try this yummy sauce? 

Sunday Brunch: Blueberry Cream Cheese Pancakes

Image

This weekend we have been entertaining a guest and had to be sure to make it a good one. Happy to say that he pretty much experienced college in one night--good hosts for the win! We spent the days exploring some new places around Pittsburgh and doing some shopping. To keep with the theme of new things I decided to do something a little different with my Sunday brunch: blueberry cream cheese pancakes! Sounds yummy, right? You would be correct.

Here's what you need:
- 8 oz. package cream cheese
- 2 eggs
- 2 c. flour
- 1/3 c. sugar
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 1/4 c. milk
- 2 tbsp. butter, melted
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 1 1/2 c. blueberries

What to do:
- In medium bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add eggs one at a time incorporating them into the cheese as you go.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt. Make a well in the center of the mixture.
- Add milk, butter and vanilla to the cream cheese mixture. Pour into dry ingredients. Stir until well mixed; stir in blueberries.
- Set lightly greased on medium heat. Cook pancakes just a few minutes on each side.

I have seen other ingredients that also include lemon in the recipe which I imagine is just delicious and summer-y! 

<3 Ashley

Will you try this yummy breakfast? 

Sunday Brunch: Baked Blueberry Muffin Oatmeal

This week home from school has been so beyond relaxing. I'm happy that the break came when it did. However, I did manage to not touch any of my assignments so I have created a kind of hell week for myself when I get back. Oh well, what's a little extra work, right? I can just do it on the bus on the way back.

What I am going to miss during this next month and a half before the end of the semester (which I miss after every break) is waking up when I please and having a slow, relaxing morning with a breakfast into which I have actually put an effort. One breakfast that I made this week--as always inspired by what I find on Pinterest--was a baked blueberry muffin oatmeal. Yummy, right?! The original recipe from Mother Thyme below makes four ramekins full of oatmeal; I used a bit of math and guesswork to get it down to one serving.

What you need:

- 1 3/4 c. milk

- 1/4 c. sugar

- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

- 1/4 tsp. salt

- 1 1/2 c. old fashioned rolled oats

- 1/2 c. fresh blueberries

For the topping:

- 1/4 c. sugar

- 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

- 3 tbsp. butter

What to do:

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees

- Mix milk, sugar, vanilla and salt in saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil.

- Stir in oats and continue to cook 3-5 minutes until oatmeal has thickened

- Gently stir in blueberries and remove from heat; let sit for about 3 minutes

- In a medium bowl combine sugar, flour and butter. Mix with pastry blender or fork until butter resembles crumbs

- Spoon oatmeal into ramekins and distribute the topping over them

- Place ramekins on a baking sheet and bake in the oven 10-15 minutes

- Remove and allow to cool a little. Enjoy!

Et voila! It was as delicious as it looked!

<3 Ashley

Are you going to try this yummy baked oatmeal?

Sunday Brunch: Sweet Potato, Spinach and Egg Breakfast Bowl

Hello, folks! Happy Monday to you.

Today I want to share a fabulous food find that I stumbled upon last week. I made this delicious and savory breakfast for myself this morning for the second time; I am in love with the sweet potato, spinach and egg breakfast bowl. The original recipe is courtesy of Mara over at M Loves M. I have actually tried quite a few of her sweeter dishes and all of them are delicious. My favorite is the blackberry clafoutis which I make with blueberry instead. The woman knows exactly what she is talking about.

There are just a few alterations that I have made myself based on my own timing and patience level. Perhaps if I had just a bit more time during my week day mornings I would prepare it as it should be in the oven. However, for time sake I do it on the stove in a skillet. The recipe below will made enough for one with maybe some extra potato depending on the size.

What you need:

1 smallish sweet potato (1/4 inch slices)
olive oil
salt + pepper
spinach
1 egg
cheese
The original called for onion, but I did not have onion at the time. Feel free to add the ingredient to your liking!

What to do:

Coat the bottom of a skillet with olive oil and heat up over medium heat. Arrange sweet potato slices around the bottom of the skillet and season with salt and pepper (I also like to sprinkle some thyme on mine)

Cook potatoes for about 4-5 minutes on each side; but keep an eye on them just in case! When potatoes are almost cooked throw in spinach and cook until it wilts. Set aside in bowl.

Prepare egg to your liking. I did sunny side up like the original recipe called for. When the egg is done lay it over top of the potato and spinach. Sprinkle with cheese. (Goat in the original; I used mozzarella).

<3 Ashley

What is your favorite savory breakfast?

Baked with Love

Tis the season for baking! If there is one thing that I must have every single year without fail is fresh baked Christmas cookies. Every year, my grandmother makes everyone their own bag of her pumpkin and chocolate chip cookies, which are amazing! Before we went on winter break, my roommates and I went on a little cookie baking spree of our own. My one roommate's mother came over with bins full of ingredients and in 6.5 hours we produced 11 different types of cookies. Now that's commitment! My favorite cookie that we made were the raspberry almond shortbread thumbprints. I loved them so much that I just had to share the recipe with you so that you can get in on the cookie goodness yourself!

Ingredients
Cookie:
- 1 c. butter, softened
- 2/3 c. sugar
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 2 c. all-purpose flour
- 1/2 c. raspberry jam

Glaze:
- 1 c. powdered sugar
- 2-3 tsp water
- 1 1/2 almond extract

What to Do:

Combine softened butter, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring in bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Add flour; beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed. Cover; refrigerate at least 1 hour or until firm.

Heat oven to 350°F.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Make indentation in center of each cookie with thumb (edges may crack slightly). Fill each indentation with about 1/4 teaspoon jam.

Bake 14-18 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Let stand 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to cooling rack. Cool completely.

Combine all glaze ingredients in bowl with whisk until smooth. Drizzle over cookies.

<3 Ashley

What are your favorite kinds of Christmas cookies?

Recipe Box: Roasted Mushroom and Brie Soup

Yuuuuummm :)

One of the reasons I love going home over breaks (aside from the obvious I get to see my family and friends) I get to experiment a bit more with my cooking. I do that here at school to an extent; but I can do more at home since I don't have to rely on myself to buy the food--does that make me a bad child? I'm a college kid on a budget...it's the truth! Over Thanksgiving break I found a recipe for roasted mushroom and brie soup. I made and OH MY! It was too good not to share!

Ingredients:

- 1 1/2 lbs mushrooms, sliced

- olive oil

- 2 tbsp butter

- 1 onion, chopped

- 2 cloves garlic, chopped

- 1 tsp chopped thyme

- 2 tbsp flour

- 1/2 c. white wine

- 4 c. vegetable broth

- 1/2 c. heavy cream

- 4 oz. brie cheese (1-inch pieces)

- Salt + pepper

Step by Step:

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 

- Slice mushrooms (if you buy them whole like I do) and spread them out on a line cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and put in oven for 25 minutes, mixing once half way through.

- In a medium saucepan on the stove, melt butter over medium heat and add onions. Cook 5-7 minutes. Toss in garlic and thyme and continue cooking until fragrant. Add flour and stir about a minute.

- Pour in wine and deglaze pan. Pour in vegetable broth and add mushrooms. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 10 minutes.

- Add brie and heavy cream. Let cheese melt and fish out the rinds if you didn't remove them beforehand. Salt and pepper to taste

- Puree in blender until desired consistency is reached. Serve and enjoy!

<3 Ashley

Will you try this recipe? What are your favorite soups when it gets cold outside?

Sunday Brunch: Crustless Veggie Quiche

Sunday brunch is coming to you late today because, well...brunch came to us a little late today. I actually went out for breakfast this morning with my family who was visiting this weekend, and Michelle had a friend from home here as well. This is was the weekend to have visitors too! It was Light Up Night here in Pittsburgh, the Penguins played some hockey (they did lose in the shoot-out unfortunately!) and our Pitt Panthers finally pulled out a win for our last home game against Syracuse. With the determination to make brunch happen still, we elected to have brunch for dinner. After the sweetness that was the stuffed French toast last weekend we opted for savory this time around with a crustless veggie quiche.

Ingredients:
- 3 egg white
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 c skim milk
- salt & pepper
- veggies of your choosing
- spinach
- mozzarella cheese
- parmesan cheese

Step by Step:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Cook veggies (we used onion, garlic, mushroom, tomato) on the stove until tender
- In a medium bowl mix eggs, egg white, milk, salt and pepper
- Spray a pie plate and arrange veggie layer. Arrange spinach layer Sprinkle mozzarella cheese then pour egg mixture over top. Sprinkle top with parmesan.
-  Bake for 45 minutes.

As I look back on my blog content thus far, I see a lot of food. Is there anything else you guys would like to see me talk about? Not that food is a bad thing!

<3 Ashley

Are you a quiche fan? Did you have a good weekend?

Get Stuffed: Cranberry Sauce

Image: here

We are exactly one week out from Thanksgiving and if you haven't planned your menu yet--you're a fearless last minute person, I like you--I am here to be of assistance! Granted, my family has opted to eat out this year because everyone agrees that while our dinners are usually kick a** cleaning up after is the absolute worst after you've eaten four plates of everything. However, I will be sharing some of my favorite Thanksgiving food recipes because there are some great ones out there that I have tried and absolutely must share.

Two years ago, when I came home for the first time after starting college, I demanded that the cranberry sauce not come from a can. I know I'm not the only one who thinks you taste more of the can than the sauce. I volunteered to find a recipe and make some homemade cranberry sauce. I did it and everybody loved it!

Ingredients:
- 1 bag (12 oz) cranberries
- 1 c cranberry juice
- 1 c pure maple syrup
- 3 tbsp orange juice (or zest!)

Step by Step:
- Wash cranberries and then dump in medium sauce pan
- Pour in the 1 cup of juice and the maple syrup
- Add orange juice. Stir.
- Turn stove on high heat and bring mixture to a boil
- Once it's boiling turn the heat down to medium low. Continue cooking for 10 minutes or until juice is thick. Turn off and store in refrigerator until dinner time!

<3 Ashley

Sounds yummy right? What's your favorite Thanksgiving side dish?

Sunday Brunch: Stuffed French Toast

Look at that little piece of heaven

After talking back and forth and canceling on each other last minute for the past two weeks, Sunday brunch finally happened and the ladies reconvened to talk predominately about the disappointment that is our football team and the consistent issue that is the male population. This morning we trekked out into the cold to buy a loaf of sourdough from Panera for our stuffed French toast. I am very happy to say that it was very much a success!

There was no set recipe for this since we all wanted to stuff ours with different things. Michelle and I found happiness in cream cheese and raspberries, while Megan most definitely suggests cream cheese and bananas--never really considered that combo before! I will share the basics of what we did.

Ingredients
- 2 slices of sourdough per serving
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup skim milk
- cinnamon
- cream cheese (or peanut butter or Nutella!)
- fruit

Step by step
- Slice sourdough to the desired thickness
- In a bowl, mix eggs, milk and cinnamon
- Spread cream cheese on one side of both slices of bread, arrange fruit on one slice and make a sandwich
- Soak both sides in the egg mixture--let each side sit for a bit to soak the mixture in
- Heat oil or butter in a skillet and cook French toast approximately 30 seconds on both sides or to your liking
- Enjoy!

<3 Ashley

What do you enjoy in your stuffed French toast? 

What I Made: Pumpkin Chipotle Soup

Oh yes...yes I did!

Look Ma, I can cook! If you follow me on Instagram, you saw that last night as snowflakes were falling from the sky, I was bundled up in flannel pants, a long gray sweater, Christmas lights on, cuddling up to a bowl of soup. I soup was an idea had got from Taylor over at her blog Anticipation (which I read religiously!) One mention of pumpkin chipotle soup had me scouring the world wide web for the perfect recipe.

I found several recipes and ended up just using a bit from each to make my soup--read: I bought what I could at IGA and worked with it. It was so easy to whip up and I have plenty of leftovers to look forward to.

Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion
- 1 clove of garlic (I used minced and just threw in what I thought I would like)
- 1 tbsp chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (found in the Mexican aisle)
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp cayenne
- 1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
- 2 (14 oz) cans vegetable broth
- 1/2 c. heavy whipping cream
Garnish
- cilantro
- dollop of sour cream

Step by Step:
- Saute chopped onion and garlic in olive oil for about 3-4 minute until translucent.
- Add chopped chipotle pepper and spices. Cook about 2 minutes (stir it up so it doesn't stick to the pot!)
- Pour in broth and pumpkin puree. Simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally
- Pour mixture into blender and blend until smooth--use an immersion blender if you have one.
- Return soup to the stove, add whipping cream and simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Dish out when ready and garnish as you will!

Enjoy!

<3 Ashley

Sound good? Do you have any wonderful fall recipes to share?