Broccoli Cheddar Soup

When I first met Panera about 9 years ago, it was love at first bite. The atmosphere, the paninis, the soups, the breads, the bagels. What more could you want in a bistro/cafe type restaurant? And even better when I discovered it was a chain and I could order my favorites in so many locations. But the recent increase in prices and skimpier portions have caused a strain on our relationship. How was I to fill this broccoli cheddar void in my stomach when they give you but a thimbleful for 3/4 of your life savings? I never even considered making it myself because I figured it was full of artificial ingredients and easy squeeze cheese. I am ashamed that I never thought of making a roux. I don't expect everyone to know what it is, but I've been an avid Food Network watcher for over a year now. It's a thickener made with melted butter, flour and milk or cream.

I barely had to do any research before I found a recipe with raving reviews as to how close it was to the real Panera thing. The soup came out amazing, and truly close to the original but I'd still tweak it in the future. Here are some of my notes:

• The soup came out very intensely cheddar flavored. I realize it's one of the main flavors, but it was pretty strong. I'd either use mild cheddar next time and/or less of it.
• It probably had something to do with the generous portions, but we had a very heavy feeling in our stomachs after eating so I might try milk instead of half and half or a combination next time. I now see that some of the others who commented on the recipe did that and it came out fine.
  
• I didn't use any salt and pepper and it was very flavorful.
• Some of the comments on the recipe page said that Panera listed dijon mustard and hot sauce in their ingredients for this soup. I didn't try it this time, but I'll probably try it next time. They didn't list quantities though!

As you can tell, I'm a little addicted to my breadmaker right now. It's so easy to make the dough! I did bagels twice last week and homemade pizza dough. Today I also made homemade french baguettes. They tasted almost perfect, but a few things I might try next time:

• A little less water in the mix. I've been adding a little extra since the bagel recipe I used recommended it for certain breadmakers. I used 1-1/4 cups water and the dough was ridiculously sticky.
  
• An egg wash on top before going in the oven. They came out nice and crispy from baking with a pan of water underneath for 20 minutes, but they weren't very brown. I'm wondering if that might help. Plus I rolled them out with some flour because the dough was so sticky, so they were very white on top.
  
• I also might try a higher temperature to assist in the browning.

In any case, they still tasted great. Not as chewy or crisp as Panera but still crisp on the outside and soft on the inside with great flavor.

Money saving tip

How have I never thought of this before? Using baby shampoo as eye makeup remover. Little 3oz bottles of eye makeup remover seem to start at around $6 and climb at an alarming rate. While a 20oz bottle of baby shampoo (name brand) is only $4. It's gentle on the eyes and totally works. Just a dab on a cotton ball with some water. Man, I wish I discovered this sooner!

15 months!

Evan had his 15 month checkup this morning. He is up to 25 lbs (he weighed in at 25lbs 2oz while holding lovey... couldn't rip it away from him and the nurse felt bad, so she knocked off 2oz for lovey). And he's 33 1/2 inches tall. He's up to the 58th percentile from the 50th for weight, and up to the 97th percentile from the 90th for height. Tall and skinny kid! Well, he does have a little bit of a belly, but oh so cute! He's been healthy aside from a few sniffles around the holidays and I'm so grateful for that!

He's got a few words that he'll actually share with you when he's not being stubborn. His first was "ball" (or "bah") and he'll use that one a lot. He has said "bath", "tada", "that", "juice", and still says mama and dada but not in reference to Jack or myself. He'll go around the room and point at things and ask "dat?" and we'll tell him what he's pointing to.

He loooves to hide now, in little nooks or forts. His favorite is behind the movie cabinet in the family room. He also hides behind the glider in his room and under the kitchen island behind the stools.



He still loves all balls and anything ball shaped (like clementines and balloons). He loves playing Xbox with Daddy. He even has a preference for the player 1 controller. How does he know? He gets super excited when you're at the top of the stairs and will point downstairs because he knows the Xbox is down there. When you ask him "Do you want to go downstairs?" he'll get all giddy and squeal and bounce up and down in your arms. And the first thing he does when he gets down there is grab the controllers and try to climb up on the couch.



He loves shoes. He tries to put them on himself. He loves to stomp around in them. He loves building blocks now. We got him megablocks for Christmas and he's getting better and better at building towers. We got his bumbo seat back out and he loves climbing in and out of it himself. He loves books. His favorite right now is a 60 page Cars book (Pixar). There is a paragraph on every page and takes about 30 minutes to read through the whole thing but he sits there for all of it! Since he's not much of a snuggler at all anymore, I'll usually read the whole thing to him every night just to get my snuggles.

He's starting to eat more of the food we eat, thank God! He loves stuffed peppers - both the peppers and the filling! He had more than a few bites (which was more than I expected) of our Chicken Divan casserole from the other night. He joins in pizza night with us. We pull up his highchair next to the couch. Some other favorites are chicken tenders, quesadillas, meatballs, PB&J, and fish. Yes, fish! Lemony flaky fish. Oh I love it too, just never expected him to! He still loves yogurt, all fruits, grape tomatoes, whole grain waffles and goldfish. He'll sometimes have peas, and I made spinach pesto pasta which he loves, but other than that we're striking out on vegetables! Hopefully he'll like them more when he gets more teeth and can have them raw.

Well, that's about all that's new with the Bub/the Erv/the Evster/E-man/Skittles... all nicknames we use regularly.

Warm soup belly

There's nothing like warm soup belly on a snowy winter day. Last night I made Red Bell Pepper Soup. I was hoping it would come out like my favorite Roasted Red Pepper Bisque from my waitressing days, but it wasn't quite there. It was a lot thinner than I was expecting but still very tasty.

Ingredients

• 2 red bell peppers
• 5 2/3 cup vegetable stock
• 1 bermuda onion, finely chopped (I couldn't find Bermuda onion at the grocery store, but read that sweet onion can be substituted)
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 3/4 cup peeled, seeded, and chopped cucumber
• scant 1 cup cauliflower florets
• 1 extra large egg yolk (I never buy extra large eggs, so I just used 2 large egg yolks. Seemed fine!)
• 6 tbsp heavy cream
• 3 tbsp dry sherry
• salt & pepper

1. Preheat the broiler. Put the bell peppers on a cookie sheet and broil, turning frequently, for 10 minutes, until blistered and charred. Remove with tongs, put them in a plastic bag and seal (or a bowl covered with plastic wrap). Let stand until cool enough to handle. Don't underestimate the "sweat stage". It will be harder to peel if you go in too quickly. Peel, halve, and seed them, then chop the flesh.

2. Meanwhile, pour the vegetable stock into a pan and bring to a boil. Add the bell peppers, onion, carrots, cucumber, and cauliflower and bring back to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

3. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool slightly. Transfer the soup to a food processor, in batches if necessary, and process to a puree.

4. Return the soup to the pan. Beat together the egg yolk and cream in a bowl and stir into the soup, season with salt & pepper, and reheat gently, stirring occasionally; do not let the soup boil. Stir in the sherry, ladle into warmed bowls, and serve immediately.


Now, ever since I saw my friend Jen's latest blog post about making her own bagels, I have been dying to make them. And as you can see from the date on the post, that is about 2 days! I was a little intimidated because she put a lot of time into it! I found a shortcut recipe on another blog which uses a bread machine, which we fortunately have! They really weren't too hard at all! Some things I'll probably take into consideration next time -

• Take care when pinching the ends of the bagel together. My seals weren't the greatest and came totally apart at the boiling stage with 3 out of 8 of the bagels.
• I will not use my dutch oven for boiling next time. It takes way too long to boil the water and never really got to a rolling boil.
• The blog recipe says to let sit for 15 minutes before boiling. I read a lot of comments about leaving it to sit a little longer, so I let them sit for 30 minutes.
• I baked for about 25 minutes and they were just starting to brown. I'll probably give them a little more time to crisp up next time.

I made 4 plain and 4 sesame. I'm looking forward to trying others!

Here's our yummy lunch on a cold snowy day. Doesn't get much cozier, right?

Balloon boy

So Evan had a first today. His first menu item at a restaurant. We tagged along with some friends for lunch at Moe's at the last minute after church so we weren't prepared with any lunch food for Evan. Fortunately Moe's has a kids eat free deal on Sundays, so we didn't waste anything trying! Evan had a cheese quesadilla and oatmeal raisin cookie. He even got his own kid cup but didn't use it because he hasn't used a straw yet. He also got a balloon! Thank God for the balloon man. We were pushing it with naptime and attention span and the balloon guy came around and bought us probably another 30 minutes of peace and quiet! He continued to enjoy it at home as you can see below.

up, up and away!

hehe, just kidding!

Too bad the balloon gives away the location of my secret lair!

3 down, 97 to go

I have tackled 3 soups out of my new cookbook. First was Chicken & Leek soup. My first time cooking with leeks. I had seen them prepped several times on Food Network so I wasn't too intimidated. My second was Bacon & Potato soup, which includes a fair amount of cabbage. My first time working with cabbage (aside from cole slaw). This week I made French Onion soup. It is a high favorite of mine and I knew I was going to be pretty critical of it. I know I'll tweak it a bit the next time I make it but I've got a great recipe to start off with. Ok, ok... I'll share it and what I plan to do in the future:

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil (I might use a little more next time, to avoid some burnage on the pan)


• 2 tbsp butter


• 4-5 onions thinly sliced (prepare for your eyes to burn!)


• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped


• 1 tsp sugar


• 8 3/4 cups vegetable stock (I realize they sell it in 4 cup boxes so you could probably get away with 8 cups. I had a little extra leftover from a previous soup)


• 2 tbsp all purpose flour


• 2/3 cup dry white vermouth


• 3 tbsp brandy


• salt and pepper


• day old crusty bread


• provolone cheese slices (the thicker the better)

1. Heat the oil with the butter in a large pan. Add the onions, stir well, cover, and cook over very low heat, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes. Uncover the pan, increase the heat to medium, stir in the garlic, sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt, and cook, stirring frequently, for 30-40 minutes, until the onions are deep golden brown. It's important to make sure they're deep golden brown. I think I gave up too early in the browning... about 15 minutes in.

2. Meanwhile, bring the vegetable stock to a boil in another pan. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Stir in the vermouth and cook, stirring constantly for 2 minutes, until the alcohol has evaporated, then gradually stir in the hot stock and bring to a boil. Skim off any foam that rises to the surface, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 40 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, prepare the croutons: cut crusty bread into cubes, drizzle in olive oil and desired spices (I used garlic powder) and bake for 10 minutes at 350.

4. Stir in brandy, remove the pan from the heat, and taste and adjust the seasoning. Ladle into warmed bowls with croutons and top with cheese.

At step #4, the recipe book calls for the extravagant $16/lb gruyere cheese. I chose to substitute the cheaper provolone cheese for the time being until I perfect the recipe someday. I also don't have the earthenware crocks that can go in the oven so I either melt the cheese with the heat of the soup or pop it into the microwave for a little bit. This is not my picture below, but what I'm shooting for in the future. Delicious looking, right?



I'm looking forward to perfecting this one, and also trying so many more from the book. I think the next on my list is something with clams or shrimp bisque.

Christmas blur

So many times I wish I had stopped to blog about the events of our holiday season, but the craziness of travel and guests took over and I am finally getting around to it. Hopefully I recall everything worth mentioning!

Well, a few weeks ago we bought our first Christmas present to ourselves... a new mailbox. We weren't expecting this one but thanks to some bored vandals we have replaced our ugly old florally decaled mailbox with a plain but new brown one. I was comforted by the fact that we weren't the only house, let alone the only neighborhood to get hit. We have been vandalized before - our solar lights along the front path of our house were smashed on 2 separate occasions a few summers back and skidmarks were left on our lawn. I was beginning to think we were singled out for some reason but at least a handful of houses in at least 2 neighborhoods were hit. We honestly weren't sad to see the old mailbox go.





We hosted my in-laws for an overnight on Saturday the 18th before all heading down to Amish country in Pennsylvania for an overnight visit to Jack's grandparents and uncle. We met up with Regan and Strom in PA who drove up from Virginia with their sweet little kitten. We all stayed in a quaint Mennonite-run B&B, which we've stayed at a few times now. 8 of us (all except Joseph) crammed into the 2 bedroom "home away from home" for the night, and it always leaves us feeling like we just took the best vacation. Of course we had a great time with the grandparents and "Uncle/Nephew/Cousin Skip/Mac/Jim/Seamus McDade/McDaid" (he has a new preferred nickname each time we see him it seems and I can't bring myself to call him the latest - "Ugly Stick"). Grandmom of course went above and beyond as usual... plenty of food and desserts, and very generous with her gifts. Doobie was pleasant and conversational which was a bonus as he's in agonizing back pain most of the time now. I of course knew the timing of our gift would fall at the most inconvenient time, but it all worked out. We ordered a photo book for them and had it shipped straight there since we didn't think it would make it here in time before our trek down there. After 2 hours of trying to say goodbye on Monday and finally having our coats on and making our way towards the door, the phone call came that the package had arrived downstairs. I wouldn't have stressed so much if I hadn't planned on making a visit to my aunt and uncle on our way home who were about 15 miles away. Well, coats came back off and I called my aunt to let her know we were running behind. It all worked out. The photo book came out great, and they loved it and we got to see her face as she turned each page!






We somehow made it out of there around 3 (originally attempting to leave at 1), and weaved the country roads to Kinzers where my aunt and uncle live. I hadn't seen them since our wedding 4 years ago, so I was excited to visit, even if only for an hour. It was very nice catching up, and an extra special treat to hear Uncle Malc say "Holy Mackerel!" as I came in the door. He had a stroke about 7 or 8 years ago, so "Holy Mackerel" is a speech for him!




After a short visit we were back on the road, our second consecutive day of driving 6ish hours. Evan didn't take to it so well, nor did he the previous day. We pushed through the frustration with some internal screaming and a few tears on my part, with the hopes that we could convince the family to take a day off from driving and crash at our place for an extra day. Well, there were some plans in Maine that couldn't be put off so the next day (Tuesday), we were on our way again - another 6ish hour drive! We stopped in Freeport at LLBean for a clothing exchange, and a much needed break from the car. It was a Christmas wonderland and an experience in itself just to be in the Flagship store!

We rejoined the family (They got about a 2 hour head start from NY) around 9:30pm finally able to kick up our feet and take a break from driving/riding for the next 5 days (I must admit, Jack did 95% of the driving and I'm eternally grateful for it!).

The next few days were laid back and relaxing - Christmas movies, cocoa, way too many sweets, and lots and lots of family time. One day, after a fresh blanket of snow was laid, my father-in-law dug out the old kiddie sled for Evan. We bundled him up and everyone headed outside to watch. It was a pathetic sight indeed. Evan was all tears the whole time. He did a little better with someone supporting his back since he kept toppling into the snow, but not an ounce of eager excitement was emitted. Didn't stop all of us from cracking up at the pitiful lad.






I'm not sure who it was that first discovered how perfect the snow was for packing into snowballs, but it wasn't long before a snowbrawl fight (spelling is intentional) broke out. Jack took this opportunity to exercise his filmmaker skills and set up some wicked slo-mo snowball attacks and then in about 5 minutes put together this "movie trailer".

The Snow Day from Jack McDade on Vimeo.

Christmas Eve quickly arrived, which is the big day in the McDade household. We prettied ourselves up and headed out to the Christmas Eve service which was rumored to be much different than the usual program they'd put on the past 19 years. Well, I had only been there once before and didn't actually get to witness much of it since Jack and I were trading Evan-watching in the foyer for the duration. No childcare at the second service! From what I heard, it was a terrific service!

Then we all headed to the traditional Christmas Eve party at friends of the family and enjoyed the renowned "chowdah". Jack, Evan and I bailed early to get the Mr Fussypants to bed (Evan that is, not Jack!).

Soon after, the rest of the family came home and we had our birthday party for Jesus which included delectable cheesecake, and the march of the baby Jesus figurine to the Nativity set. Soon after, us "kids" were willingly banished to the basement for a little last minute wrapping, bonding time and anticipation building while the "grown ups" played Santa and organized the gift piles, lit candles, got a fire going (not hard with a gas fireplace!) and laid out platter after platter of sinfully delicious sweets. Word to the wise - save Regan's gourmet brownies for last... just a few bites and you're done for the night!

We were finally called up around 11pm and got some much needed coffee in preparation for the next 4 hours of gift-giving! I remember my first newlywed Christmas, and most people got wedding pictures which are much more expensive than you would think! My newlywed sister-in-law and her husband absolutely spoiled everyone, not to be outdone by well.. everyone there! I was blown away by the generosity. One gift that I wasn't expecting and I'm super excited about is a recipe book for soups. I just made Chicken and Leek soup in my new Dutch Oven a few days ago. My first time cooking with leeks, and it was delicious! I'm so excited to try the others. Although I probably won't try all 100... there are a few funky ones in there!



We wrapped up (or should I say unwrapped up) around 3am and headed to bed. I was up with Evan a few short hours later at 7:15, and was surprised to see most of the family roll out of bed by 9! We hung out in PJs most of the day and Evan had his present opening. He of course loved unwrapping more than the present itself, and would let out the cutest "ooooooh!" with perfectly circular clenched lips with every shred of the paper.

Once we were cleaned up, the preparations for the delicious feast began and some of us were able to sneak away for a few rounds of Bananagrams and Rummikub. I don't remember who won any of the rounds except one round of Rummikub. Strom was ridiculously behind... stuck with less than 30 points in his first put-down hand, drawing tile upon tile every round. In an unexpected turnaround, he ended up winning in a few rounds.... very humbly I might add *insert sarcastic cough*.

Before we knew it, the scents that were teasing us for hours were finally upon our taste buds: ham with a very special homemade cranberry mustard sauce, green bean casserole, scalloped potatoes, amish sweet bread (yes, from the B&B!), sweet potato muffins, tossed salad, pistachio salad, applesauce, and pumpkin bread.

It was all over too quickly, but I had something more to anticipate - Christmas with my family was held off for a day so we wouldn't miss it! We packed up the car bright and early the next morning, hoping to get home before the Noreaster hit and we made it! We got in around 2 and headed to Ginger's house for the Stannard festivities. Being the 26th, we were missing a few people but at least all but 1 popped in for part of it! I finally got to see my parents who had flown in a few days earlier. I must admit, my family Christmas is a bit more chaotic than the candlelight Christmas Eve at the McDades, but I'm so glad I didn't miss it! We distributed our secret santa niece/nephew gifts and surprised my parents with their Celtic Woman DVDs and concert tickets. My parents distributed their gifts and shared some videos and pictures from their epic photo safari to Africa in October. Before we knew it, the party was over and it was back to the ol' homestead for about 36 hours of recuperation and cleaning before hosting my parents for their last 2 nights.







It went too fast, but we packed in just about everything I was hoping to do with my parents - Rummikub and Bananagrams, a chick flick with Mom (Leap Year), watching the Star of Bethlehem - an amazing documentary on the cosmic poem that God wrote around the life of Jesus, highly recommended. We squeezed in a quick visit up to my uncle's farm where Evan met the horses, and LOVED them. He kept pointing them out as if to say "they're both the same!" He'd want to go in the barn and point at the horse in there, and then point out the door so he could point to the one outside, and back and forth over and over again. And the display of waterworks that arose when we walked away from the horses led me to believe he got a little more of me in him than I thought!




My parents' final night here was the traditional "Stannard 6" night where my sisters come over for some nuclear family time. We're not cliquish about it though. Jack joined us for some and Sabina/Steve/Levi joined for a bit too. It's always a great sendoff for my parents. Not wanting the visit to end, my parents stayed up with Jack and I until the impressive hour of 1am! We had a few hours with them the following morning where Jack further sold my dad on the idea of going Mac. I begrudgingly brought them to the airport around noon, begging them for a longer visit next year, and hoping to visit them in the spring.

Jack, Evan and I spent yesterday and today lazing about and recovering from the craziness of the last few weeks. We skipped a few parties, but enjoyed staying in for New Years Eve. We had a movie marathon of Invictus, and Scott Pilgrim vs the World. Two very different genres but we liked both!

And that, my friends, is our Christmas blur!