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More Soup Month: Sous Vide Chicken and Bok Choy Soup
It’s still Soup Month! Sous Vide Chicken and Bok Choy Soup is another soup recipe for these winter months! And it uses a cool cooking technique called sous vide (under pressure). In sous vide, the food is typically vacuum-sealed in a bag and cooked to a precise temperature while in a water bath. Sous vide can also refer to simply precision cooking in a water bath without a vacuum bag as well. In either version, it is difficult ( possible if you leave it in the bath too, too long!)to overcook the food with this method because the temperature cannot get any higher than the one you select. Also, the…
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National Meat Month: Reverse Sear Strip Steaks
Hello, all you meat-lovers! January is National Meat Month and this week, January 24 – 31 is National Meat Week! The month focus on all meats and meat week focuses on BBQ. I ate a lot more meat as a child than I do now — same with my husband. However, he loves a good steak — on occasion — even now and relishes the opportunity to visit a steak house to get a really good cut of meat cooked right. But now, sitting at a steakhouse — not ideal. So, steak at home! What is a Reverse Sear? The reverse sear is a cooking method where a thick cut…
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Instant Pot® Chicken Noodle Soup
I love January! It’s my birth month, and it’s National Soup Month. Soup is warm and filling and there are so many different tasty varieties. This recipe today is for a classic… Nothing beats a delicious bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup. Unfortunately, it can be a bit time-consuming to prepare from scratch with a chicken carcass. As a kid, we usually had the canned version of chicken soup — I think most of us did! Lots of salt! It seemed fine to my unrefined kiddie palate but now that I am an adult…not so much! Homemade soup is a different beast! It may seem daunting to some…but not with…
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More on Pizza Week: Cast Iron Pizza Margherita
This is my second post this week about National Pizza Week. I have included a recipe for a pizza made using a cast iron pan. Yum! But with that, I decided to take a quick look at using pizza stones versus cast iron when making your homemade pizza creations. Pizza Stones vs Cast Iron Pizza stones are made out of terra cotta materials and can be purchased in a number of sizes and shapes including square and round. Why is a pizza stone good for your pizza? The material that the stone is made up of is porous and soaks up any liquid in the crust making it crispier. Crispy…
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Ideas for Substitutions in Gluten-free Baking and Gluten-Free Crust!
Today is National Gluten-Free Day! I don’t typically cook gluten-free but I have tried a few gluten-free recipes. When I was in med school, this wasn’t a big topic so I wanted to learn more about it. Always curious! To commemorate the day, let’s look at gluten-free baking! When embarking on gluten-free baking it’s important to accept that the foods you love most may not taste the same in gluten-free form. However, you may find that you like them even more than before so don’t lose all hope. In addition, you need to understand that there is no identical substitute for foods and the textures and flavors will be different.…
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Slow Cooker Southwestern Breakfast Casserole
I love my slow cooker! I have said that before on this blog — my slow cooker is a magical invention. I ran a Slow Cooker Challenge on this blog last January. There are 30 days of slow cooker recipes of all types. As January is National Slow Cooker Month, this is the ideal time to find recipes for our cookers. How about a new breakfast recipe? Making a breakfast that requires little work from me is a win-win any season of the year but especially during the cooler months. You can snuggle under your blanket while your meal is cooking away… Sounds great, right? On to the recipe… Slow…
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Turkey May Not be King on Thanksgiving
Turkey has long held the top position as the family favorite for Thanksgiving. There are many ways to prepare a great turkey. Some favorites might include: Smoked Baked Fried While turkey is a staple, there are people who don’t care for it or simply want a change. It won’t break any etiquette rules to forgo turkey for something fun and new this year. If you’re looking to stress less this Thanksgiving, consider an alternative to a traditional turkey dinner. You can easily choose a theme, or simply go with a family favorite that you don’t typically serve. Here are a few ideas to try- Go international Why not try something…
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Prepping for Christmas During Thanksgiving
One of the ways the holidays become stressful is lack of time. Being pulled in too many directions creates stress and overwhelm. Streamlining activities makes it easier to batch your activities so you’re more efficient with your time. If you do double duty with holiday activities, you can actually prep for Christmas during Thanksgiving time. A lot of the prep you do for Thanksgiving is the same for Christmas. Thinking ahead and doing double duty can help you cut your activities in half and free up important time in December. If you’re focused and take some extra time to prepare, you can get twice the benefit from one action. Here’s…
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National Vichyssoise Day
It’s another National Day — today for a potato and leek (among other things) soup with a French name. National Vichyssoise Day! This soup is customarily served cold during the summer months. However, it can be served warm as well. History debates the origin of this soup. Many believe that it was created in 1917 by Chef Louis Diat in New York City. He would make a hot potato soup and add milk to it to cool it down. Others trace it back to King Louis XV’s court. The story is that the king wanted potato soup but worried about people poisoning his food. The servants had to taste it…
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Loaded Sheet Pan Nachos
Hi! Are you getting ready for the weekend? Today’s recipe could play a part in a fun weekend! It’s National Nachos Day! Yum! So here is a recipe for Loaded Sheet Pan Nachos. Cooking with a sheet pan has become really convenient, hasn’t it? Notice that red onions are used in this recipe? White onion is a more traditional choice to add flavor to the browned ground beef. However, in this case, the rest of the red onion used to prepare the Pico de Gallo is used instead. This lends a very subtle, yet distinct, sweet note to the garlic and savory taco seasoning. In addition, baby mixed heirloom…
