Soup kinda day.

I love soup. I seriously could eat it every day. If it has pasta in it then I'm even happier. If it has pasta and is really super easy to make, then I'm in love. This soup can be made vegan pretty easily, and vegetarian no problem! I also am exited to jazz it up a bit more next time. I made the soup in 15(!) minuets and made mt new favorite open faced sandwich to accompany.  I'm going to tell you how to make both!

Ingrediants:
Soup:
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth (i used TJ chicken)
1 pack fresh cheese tortellini (i'm sure there are vegan options somewhere)
Half bag of Baby spinach
sea salt
pepper
Parmesan cheese for sprinkling on top. (optional)

Sandwich:
Lovely whole grain wheat bread
goat cheese (I used TJ medallions)
Avacado
lemon
sea salt

Soup:

Bring broth and 1 cup of water to a boil in a large saucepan. Turn the heat down and add the tortellini. Simmer about 6 min until the pasta is cooked (make your sandwich at this time). Stir in the spinach ( i found it best to do one hand full at a time) and cook about 2 min to wilt. Add salt and pepper to taste. After you serve it, add Parmesan cheese to the top. This soup does not undergo any amazing chemical changes that create unique and complex flavor compounds. This soup tastes EXACTLY how you expect it to taste. It's simplicity is the whole point. However, I plan to try to add to it up in the future, and will report back on any successes.

Sandwich:

Place bread in the toaster until it begins to form a crusty top. Remove and spread on the goat cheese. Go as thick as you like. Place back in the toaster for about 1 min (give or take. you have to pay attention to this). Remove avocado from its skin, slice, and salt it. Fresh from the toaster, spread the avocado onto the bread. Squeeze a bit of lemon juice onto the top and enjoy.

This quick meal is perfect for dinner, and you'll have (soup) leftovers for lunch. Enjoy! 

Luv,

Vanessa*

You're the Brussles to my Sprout

Brussels Sprouts. The words alone send many a nine year old running from the table. Many, but not this lady. My desire to devour every leafy green food was one part that I was just a really adventurous eater, and three parts I loved eating food that looked like tiny versions of other foods. Basically, I would voraciously devour anything that perpetuated my imagination and my constant need to play dinosaur. Yes, I tried Brussels sprouts because they looked like tiny cabbages. But that is not the reason that I loved them. I loved them because they are friggin' delicious. Geeze are they just the most fabulous vegetable out there. I'm aware this isn't the most popular view, but this recipe is here to change your feelings, views, and hopefully your taste buds for the better. 

Ingredients

• 2 lb Brussel Sprouts
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 5 cloves garlic, minced(drizzle with a bit of olive oil to keep moist)
• 1 lemon, juiced and zested
• 3 tbsp Gruyere, grated
• sea salt
• pepper

1)Begin by cutting the butts off every single sprout, cutting them in half, and removing the outer layers until you see a lighter green color inside.  This will take FOREVER. it was by far the worst part of this recipe.
2)Add the butter and olive oil to the pan and heat up )Med-High heat) . Before the mix starts to brown add the entire pile of sprouts. Saute 7-8 min on each side. You want the outside to get beautiful and brown and the insides to soften. Your kitchen will smell like heaven. After the first 7-8 min add the minced garlic.
3) Reduce the heat to low and add the salt and pepper to taste.
4) Pour in to your prettiest serving dish and sprinkle with the shredded Gruyere. I added about half and left the rest for my guests to add as they pleased. I also poured the lemon juice and zest into a cute little squeezy bottle as John isn't a big lemon fan. I enjoyed them with and without the lemon, so go with what you like here.

Tada! Delicious friggin' Brussels sprouts. They were divine.
I found the original on Pintrest and you can follow me, if you really want---> HERE
This is the LINK to the recipe which inspired this lovely variation. Check out the Website where I found it: What's Gaby Cooking is simple, beautiful, and full of delightful recipes. I'm thinking about giving her Slutty Brownies a try.
Let me know if you guys try mine out!
LUV,
Vanessa*

Thankful

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I mean, I really love Easter and Christmas (and above all Halloween of course) but I love that Thanksgiving is a day intended to celebrate family, love, food, and being grateful for how fortunate we truly are. John and I headed up the mountain for the first half of the day to visit my Grandparents and enjoy lunch with my family. My grandparents provided the traditional fare (turkey, squash, potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce), my sister made the all important green bean casserole and my Mom provided amazing sweets (pumpkin bread, snickerdoodle cake and my favorite pumpkin pie). We brought the veggies. My next few posts will be the recipes for my new favorite: Brussels sprouts, glazed bacon wrapped green beans, and John's Spinach balls.

The food was all wonderful, but the best part of the day was spending time with my family! It's not often I get Mom, Dad, Alicia (my sister), and John, but it's a true rarity to also have my Grandparents. While the time was fairly brief, I truly appreciated it.

The gang's all here and ain't we a good looking bunch?  I realized on the car ride home that with the celebration of friendship, family, and decadent food I'm Thankful for Thanksgiving. This was truly a lovely one, and I can't wait for Christmas.

What are you thankful for?

Gobble Gobble,

Vanessa*

Cornmeal Thumbprint Cookies

Anyone who knows me knows that I really don't bake. I don't completely hate it, I'm just not very good. I have successfully produced maybe two batches of cookies in my life. Enter my new found social life, and the holiday season. People expect you to bake. You are a lady. Therefore you bake. It's that simple. And while I love the whole Suzy Homemaker image (i'm a little bit more Siouxsie Homemaker if you don't get this joke, you were never goth), I have just always sat a little left of the definition of "lady". I have, however put monumental effort this year into proving my boobs are not phony. My first cookies, Honey Almond cherry shortbread were such a marvelous success, that I didn't have a panic attack when I was invited to a cookie exchange. Instead I turned to the goddess of all things Suzy Homemaker-like and checked my last holiday issue of Martha Stuart Living. I selected the cranberry thumbprint cookies, and decided to make a little change. While Martha would never allow the jam to be store bought i didn't feel quite like a foray into homemade jellies quite yet. Luckily my friend Jessica made me some superb South Carolina grown strawberry jam, so i settled on that.

Vanessa's Cornmeal Thumbprint cookies

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1 large egg, separated

1)
Preheat oven to 350degrees.
then make the cookies!
Whisk (or mix with a fork) flour, cornmeal, and salt in a medium bowl. (I insist it be a cute one. Makes cooking look better) Beat the softened butter and 1/4 cup sugar in the mixer on med until pale and fluffy(2min- ish). Add orange zest and egg yolk. Mix well. Turn the speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture. I recommend spooning it in. Mix until combined ( at this point I found it to be a smidge dry. I added 1 tbl egg white and 1 tbl water until it all suck together and stopped being so grainy. this is really important in a second)
2)
Lightly whisk egg white. Scoop 2 tsp. of dough and roll into a ball. Dip into egg white and then the 1/4 cup and 1 tablespoon sugar. Place it onto your parchment* covered cookie sheet. ( *or tinfoil if that's all you have in my case) Press gently at the center with your thumb just to flatten the round a tad. Repeat till you sheet is full (12-16 cookies) then use the end of a wooden spoon to add an intent to the center of the dough balls.
Bake for 16-17 min. I found that I went all the way to the 17 min. I probably made my cookies too thick though.
4)
Heat your jam in the microwave for 30 seconds or so. I'm really super specific. You can see why baking is not my forte here. After the cookies are baked and yummy, spoon a bit of the hot(!) jelly/jam/ stuff into the indentation of the cookies. Repeat with second batch. Makes 24-30 cookies.

WARNING!!!! Let the cookies cool FULLY before you attempt to take a bite. The little f*%$kers are extremely hot, and the jam is sticky, and runny. You will burn the ever loving daylights out of your lips. Not that I would know by experience or anything...

5)
Enjoy your delicious cookies.
Luv,
Vanessa*