Cream of Asparagus Soup

Spring is here, and to get in the mood I wanted to make something green. I browsed through the Joy and Best Recipe. I'm not a big spinach fan, but I found Cream of Asparagus soup in Everyday Food. It turned out really really good. Too bad my kitchen looks like Regan MacNeil dropped by.

Makes 8 servings

For the soup:

3 tbs salted butter
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped shallots (4 lg)
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
3 tbs flour
3 lbs asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1/3 c heavy cream
3 tbs fresh lemon juice

Garnish:

1/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar
1/4 cup minced shallots

In a large stock pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add shallots, thyme, and red pepper flakes. Cook until the shallots are soft and semi-transparent. Add the flour; cook until incorporated - about 1 minute.


Add the asparagus and 6 cups of water; season generously with salt. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until the asparagus is bright green and tender - about 2-4 minutes.

Working in batches puree the soup in a blender until very smooth. Stir in cream and lemon juice. Salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with finely shredded cheddar cheese and minced raw shallots.

Oreo Cookie Ice Cream

Yum yum. Another hit...and very quick to make. My cousin's 2-year old daughter, Sylvia, kept saying, "It's cold!" with every bite. So cute.


I have a 1983 Waring Ice Cream Maker given to me by one of my aunts a couple of years ago. The salt and ice cubes are pretty messy. I am thinking about upgrading to a Kitchen Aid attachment. This recipe is adapted from the Waring cook book.


2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
10 crushed Oreo cookies
4 whole Oreo cookies

Pour cream directly into ice cream container. Add sugar, vanilla, and salt. Stir with a spoon until sugar is dissolved. Start your machine up. When the ice cream is ready to go into the freezer, stir in crushed and whole cookies. Cover ice cream directly with plastic wrap to ensure no ice crystals form on the top while in the freezer. Let set for at least 4 hours. This will keep for about 2 days in the freezer.

Quiche Lorraine

This was a big hit...and very easy to make. I adapted the recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. This is my go to book for every day cooking. I love their Mac and Cheese - with just a few added spices.


1 frozen 9" deep dish pie crust
4 beaten eggs
1/4 cup sliced scallions (about 2)
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
large pinch of nutmeg
8 slices of bacon
1 1/2 cups of extra sharp cheddar cheese (6 ounces)

Preheat oven to 325. Slice bacon strips in half and cook them in a frying pan. Place cooked bacon on paper towels to remove excess fat. Slice them into 1/2 pieces. Defrost pie crust for about 15 minutes before filling with egg mixture. In a large bowl, stir eggs, half-and-half, scallions, salt, pepper, nutmeg together. Stir in bacon and cheese. Pour egg mixture into pie crust. Place pie crust on a baking sheet just in case it spills over. Back in the over for 40-50 minutes or until a knife is inserted near the center and it comes out clean.

If you're making this ahead of time, let cool and refridgerate. Reheat in an over at 350 for 20 minutes.

Muffin Success?

Well, I think there's something wrong with my oven thermometer. We have a removable one, and it shot up to 500 degrees when the oven was clearly set at 375. I was afraid to let the muffins stay in there any longer than needed, so I think they could have gotten a little more golden brown. They were a little bland too. Not a blueberry explosion. Maybe tomorrow they'll taste better - sorta like leftover pasta.

Easter Cooking Bonanza

My mother is hosting Easter this year, and asked me to help her out. We're starting a little earlier and having brunch. I'm making Quiche Lorraine, Blueberry Muffins, and home made Oreo Cooking Ice Cream. Hopefully they all will make it out alright. I'm using The Best Recipe cookbook's ingredients for the muffins thanks to Simply Recipes. I've made the Lemon Ginger Muffins a few months ago and they were awesome. I would skip the glaze next time, it was too strong for me. However they puff out just like you see muffins at the store - I feel it's the yogurt, but I'm probably wrong. I also variated the recipe for chocolate chip muffins. But it's the first for blueberry. I'm using fresh blueberries, so we'll see what happens.

Hopefully I can recreate my past muffin success!

Stitch, stitch, stitch

Working on my tea napkins, it's going pretty good...

jello shots with a twist

I saw a project on notmartha.org where she made jello wedges in citrus rinds. The first thing that popped into my mind was, "jello shots!" So I made them for New Years Eve. Yum!!


1 giant bag of oranges (10-12)
2 boxes of jello (I got cherry and orange)
2 cup cake pans

First, I cut an orange in half. Then I took out the pulp as carefully as I could. I was using a spoon to carve around the pulp. It took a while, and got a couple of squirts in my eye.

Once each half was sitting in their own cup cake depression I made the jello. A normal receipe calls for one cup boiling hot water, one cup cold water. Instead of cold water, I subsituted one cup vodka. oh dah!

After they became firm in the fridge, I cut them into 1/8s because quarters seemed to big. Next time I'll fill them up more because there was a small gap between the jello and the top of the rind.

They came out pretty neat looking, but the color of the jello bled into the whiteness of the orange. Maybe it was the alcohol.

Amsterdam!

So we went to Amsterdam in November. It was fantastic. So many shops and cafes. The space cakes weren't half bad either =)



We had a layover in Iceland. I would love to go back, it's seemed very beautiful. All I have to say is tall blondes.

I just bought a crap load of patterns from Sublime Stitching. Right now I'm doing two tea towels that came in a kit and am putting on a dragon on one and two lanterns on the other. I haven't done any type of embrodery since, geez, 1993 - 8th grade. It's pretty easy, but when I was ironing on the transfer I think I did it too long and it went through the fabric onto the ironing board. Also, it's an old board and some waterstains transfered onto the cloth. Hopefully it'll wash out. The second one I put some paper towel under the towel.

here's my pic...took me long enough to get it the right size...

First post

Ok...my first post. I have a livejournal account...but their interface sucks...they are unreliable...and no pic hosting? what the hell is that. I'm going to start this blog for my own personal reference, mostly for crafts that I do...I want to upload a pattern and end product, so if I want to make it again I'm not racking what's left of my brain.




My first pic post....a cute picture of our bunny...he's so cute!