Creamy Asparagus Soup

Tasty, light and full of flavor. This deliciously creamy asparagus soup was brought to me by my roommate and Kitchen Confidante. It is the perfect meal for a chilly November day and has the lovely healthy factor hidden away in its array of flavor. Enjoy!

Find the recipe here! Creamy Asparagus Soup

Apple Coffee Cake

My roommates went apple picking and came back with such an abundance of apples that I have been able to make this cake three times in the last two weeks, and every time it is has been finished within two days! It's so quick and simple, but also so moist and delicious that you will want to find the best hiding spot for it so that you can gobble it down all by yourself. This recipe was one my mom always makes and is adapted from Anne Lindsay's Smart Cooking recipe for cinnamon coffee cake.
Ingredients:
1 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup butter (softened to room temperature)
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flower
2 tsp basking powder
3 Apples (I like Macintosh but you can use Cortland or any other red apple) peeled and sliced
topping:
1/2 lightly pack brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease and flour a a square 9 inch baking pan. In a small bowl mix together the yogurt and baking soda and then set aside (the mixture will increase in volume because of the baking soda). In a large mixing bowl, mix together the butter and sugar until throughly mixed. Add in the vanilla and egg and beat well. In another bowl, sift together the flower and baking powder. Add the yogurt mixture and flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture alternating between the two (add a little bit of each the beat, add a little more then beat etc).

In a small bowl combine the topping of brown sugar and cinnamon. Spread half of the cake batter into the bottom of the cake pan. Line up the apples along the top to create a single apple layer (don't have to overlap). Sprinkle the apples with half of the topping mixture.

Spread the remaining cake batter on top of the apple layer. Sprinkle the remains of the topping mixture on the top. Put in the oven for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool on a dry rack for 10 to 15 minutes before eating.

Chicken Fajitas!

This photo does not do justice the the deliciousness of this dish.

I love fajitas. Whenever I go to a Mexican restaurant, I order the chicken fajitas and excitingly await the arrival of the steaming hot metal skillet, loudly sizzling with an assortment of red and green vegetables and meat. Served with flour tortilla and a variety of condiments, this build-it-yourself meal is simply mouth watering. Although this interpretation of the dish is extremely Americanized, the Tex-Mex flair allows it to easily become an quick homemade dish that involves the most simplest of ingredients.
Ingredients:
- 1 chicken breast
- 1/2 red bell pepper
- 1/2 green pepper
- 1/3 cooking onion
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp Old El Paso Fajita Seasoning
- Two flour tortilla
- Lettuce
- Grated cheddar cheese
- Salsa
- Sour Cream
Directions:

Cut your peppers, chicken and onion into strips about 3 inches long, 1/2 inch wide. In a sauce pan over medium heat, fry the chicken in olive oil until no longer pink (trick to cooking chicken: wait until the pan has heated up before putting the chicken in). Add a spoonful of water to the chicken and sprinkle half of the Old Eld Paso seasoning in and stir.
Add in the peppers and onion, mix together, then add the remains of the seasoning along with another spoonful of water. Fry together until the onion is slightly brown and the peppers have softened. If you have chili pepper flakes or chili powder, add them to the mix for a kick of spice. Once done, take the pan off the stove top and immediately transfer onto a flour tortilla. Top it off with shredded lettuce, salsa, sour cream and grated cheddar cheese. Roll it up like a wrap and enjoy! Also delicious with an avocado or guacamole.

Ready to eat!

Pumpkin Seeds

My go-to snack at Halloween is obviously a mini chocolate bar... but when magically that box of Safe-to-Share's has halfway disappeared, I was resort to munching on roasted pumpkin seeds instead. You get that salty kick you need after eating so many sweets AND you have something to do with all the pumpkin guts you just scraped out of your jack-o-lantern.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degreee F. Scrape out your pumpkins with a metal spoon and sift through the insides, picking out as many pumpkin seeds as you can. Clean off the seeds in a strainer under cold water until most of the orange pumpkin goo has come off (it's okay if some stringy bits remain... it's impossible to get them perfectly clean). Dry off the seeds between two dry clothes (or paper towel). In a bowl, mix the seeds with a little a bit of olive oil (about 1 to 2 tbsp... don't soak the seeds). Spread them out onto a a baking pan lined with parchment paper (or sprayed with cooking oil). Lightly sprinkle a thin layer of salt over the seeds and then place in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes, tossing the seeds half way through. Keep an eye on them and remove them from the oven when they are golden brown. 

I like to eat them on their own but they are also great in a fall salad!

Happy Halloween!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

The picture speaks for itself. Chewy, moist, chocolaty goodness in a cookie form. So delicious, so quick... the only problem with these cookies is you have to hide them from your roommates so they don't eat them all by the end of the night!

Ingredients: 
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2/3 cup cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line baking pan with parchment paper. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy (this is best to do with a hand mixer, but if you don't have one you can melt the better into liquid and mix by hand. This will make the texture of the cookies a bit different). In a separate bowl sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture into the butter mixture and mix until well blended. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Form batter into tablespoon balls and drop onto the baking pan. Put in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, allow to cool a minute on the pan before transferring the cookies onto a cool rack. Perfect with a cold glass of milk.

Taken from allrecipes.com

Shrimp Pad Thai

There is nothing like quick and easy homemade pad thai. It tastes just like Thai Express... if you were to take out the preservatives, saturated fats, sodium, processed vegetables, fake - authenticity... (basically everything that makes it so good) Okay, it's impossible to replicate the deliciousness of fast food Asian cuisine but this homemade pad thai will satisfy when you have that irresistible craving for thai food but have already maxed out on your monthly fast food limit. Now to make this recipe as easy as possible, I used a pre-made pad thai sauce (you can always make your own but it involves ingredients that I neither had or had heard of) and found it to be pretty good. So far i've only tried one brand but I am tempted to try out some others in the future.
Ingredients:
- Egg Noodles (about half a box)
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 10 large shrimp
- 2 cloves of chopped garlic
- green onion (about 5 to 6 stems) cut into about 2 cm peices
- 1/2 jar VH Thai-Market Pad Thai Sauce (Original)
- two handfuls of bean sprouts
- 3 tsp soy sauce
- lime
Directions:
Soak your egg noodles in a bowl of HOT (not boiling) water. Leave them there for about 20 minutes or until they are soft, unattached from each other but still have some firmness to them or else they will taste mushy. Drain the noodles with cold water.
In a wok over medium heat, scramble the eggs in a tbsp of olive oil (about 5 minutes) and then remove them from the wok and break into smaller pieces. Set aside.
Wipe down the wok with a paper towel and pour in the remaining olive oil. Throw in your shrimp and cook them until they are pink and hot. Push them to the side of the wok (out of the oil) and add your chopped garlic and green onions. Fry them together for about two to three minutes (until you can strongly smell the flavors) and then combine with the shrimp.
Add the egg, noodles, bean sprouts and half the jar of VH Pad Thai Sauce then fold all the ingredients together. Once it is all mixed together well, add the soy sauce and stir. Let it sit covered for a few minutes to allow all the flavors to soak in. Serve with a wedge of lime, crushed peanuts and soy sauce to add any missing flavor to your meal.

This recipe I got off of Wok With Ray and is adapted from the cookbook "Steamy Kitchen Cookbook"