Broccoli Cheddar Soup

“To feel safe and warm on a cold wet night, all you really need is soup.”- Laurie Colwin

It is finally starting to cool down back East. There is a chill in the air and the leaves are starting to fall from the trees. The weather has been inspiring me to be super domestic and home cook most of my meals. When it is dreary and cold out (which I actually love) there is something very comforting about fresh baked goods and home cooked meals. 

The other day I found myself at work with a hankering for Panera's Broccoli Cheddar soup. I've been a fan of their version for a long time, but I didn't really want to go out to the nearest Panera. Instead I decided to try my hand at making my own Brocolli Cheddar from scratch. I found a couple different recipes and ended up combining a couple that I thought sounded best (and were the easiest to make without a full supply of cooking gear). I was absolutely thrilled with the end result. I think this version is excellent (and dare I say better than Paneras). 

What you need:

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 small onion, chopped 
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
• 4 stalks celery, chopped
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 pumpkin pie spice
• 2 russet potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 4 cups broccoli florets
• 3 large carrots shredded 
• 2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

How to Make: 

• Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat.
• Add the onion, celery, and garlic and cook until tender (5 minutes)

• Whisk in the flour and cook (4 minutes)

• Add the potatoes (1 min) then gradually whisk in the half-and-half until smooth

• Add the chicken broth and pumpkin pie spice and simmer

• Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, uncovered, until thickened (25 minutes)
• Add the broccoli and carrot to the broth mixture and simmer (25 minutes)

• Add the cheese to the soup and whisk over medium heat until melted (you can add water if the soup is too thick and add flour if it is too thin)

Enjoy!

I enjoyed mine with a giant loaf of crusty sourdough bread and it was perfect. I hope you like it!

Cheers X

Mediterranean Pizza

“First we eat. Then we do everything else”- MFK Fisher

I am not having the best of luck with the whole mobility thing…I strained my hip flexor a couple days after I got the all clear from my doctors about my broken bones. However, I’m so sick of being unable to do things (I’m going stir crazy) so being the incredibly intelligent woman that I am, I decided to do a ridiculous core workout with my roommate.

This was not smart.

I mean, the workout was great and I really need to get back in shape, but this was akin to just learning to swim and deciding the open sea in a hurricane is your best bet for practice. Basically, I am in a lot of pain. So when I got home from work, the last thing I wanted to do was go to the grocery store. My solution was to throw everything I had together and just see what happened. I was very happy with the end result. I ended up making a (relatively) healthy Mediterranean pizza.   

This recipe is based off of what I had, but this entire thing could be customized. You could use pesto or tomato sauce instead of olive oil or goat cheese or feta instead of mozzarella and cheddar. Honestly, the combinations are endless.

What you need:

• Extra-large tortilla
• Shredded cheese
• Onion
• Garlic
• Bell peppers
• Spinach
• Artichoke hearts
• Black olives
• Olive oil

How to make:

• Preheat your oven to 410 degrees
• Spoon a tablespoon of olive oil over your tortilla

• Sprinkle a layer of cheese over your tortilla

• Place spinach evenly throughout your pizza

• Cut up bell peppers, onions, and artichoke hearts and cover your pizza with them

• Crush garlic and season the pizza
• Sprinkle another fine layer of cheese
• Top with black olives and crushed red peppers
  
  
  
  

• Cook for 10 minutes

After cooking my pizza I decided I was done with standing around so I decided to eat mine in my bed. And it was fantastic.

Cheers X

Banana Nut Muffins

"I eat breakfast pretty much 'round the clock - muffins in the morning, scones for lunch, cereal at night - which may be odd but it is also satisfying, if only because the choice is my own"- Caroline Knapp

Today my roommate and I realized we both weren't eating our bananas quickly enough. Being newly employed, I am not trying to waste anything so ergo a need to make something with mashed bananas. Normally I make banana nut bread, but I don't have a bread pan yet so I decided to try my hand at muffins.

And they were awesome.

Bannana Nut Muffins
What you need:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 4 overripe bananas
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cups unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup of chocolate chips

How to make:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Combine flour and baking soda in a large bowl

• In another bowl mash 2 bananas with a fork

• Whip the other 2 bananas with the brown sugar

• Melt the butter and combine with the eggs and vanilla. Add to the brown sugar/banana mix.

• Mix in the dry ingredients and the mashed bananas
• Fold in the chocolate chips, nuts, and spices

• Bake for 20 minutes

nom nom nom

Cheers xx

Apple Orchard

"Delicious Autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the east seeking the successive autumns."- George Elliot 

After work on Thursday, a couple of my fabulous friends (and co-workers) and I decided to go watch the sunset from a mountain top apple orchard. We have been having incredible weather for October so we have tried to get outside as much as possible. Sitting with your friends watching the sunset from a beautiful mountain is a great way to make a work day a little bit more exciting. 

The orchard has a quaint little shop with gifts, wine, any every kind of butter you could imagine. Apple butter, pumpkin butter, peach butter...it is a mecca of unique butter flavors. I am a huge fan the apple cider baked donuts at Carter Mountain, but since I am still on my cleanse I abstained. 

For those not on a cleanse, Cater Mountain has a grill and bakery. From what I saw and how long the line was to get food, it must be pretty delicious.

Apples and pumpkins galore! It's like the mecca of Autumn stereotypes. 

We wandered around the orchards for awhile, taking in the views before we settled into a front row seat for the sunset. 

These beautiful ladies and myself settled in to watch the day fall away. 

And really, what's the point of watching a sunset if you don't have a little wine?

Everyone should try to take a little time every once in awhile to take advantage of the beauty all around us. 

In that vein, my cousin (who is an incredible photographer) spent the last 4 months working on a time-lapse project to capture the beauty of the night sky in Northern California. He made an amazing tribute to his father and it is worth seeing. Watch it here: Timelapse

Cheers xx

Cleansing

Happiness lies, first of all, in health."-George William Curtis

As I previously mentioned, I broke my ankle and foot seven weeks ago.  I attempted to execute a pirouette and failed miserably resulting in a Jones Fracture in my foot, a break in my upper ankle, and a seriously painful third degree sprain in that ankle. I was in a boot for a week before I could get into see the Orthopedic surgeon. The doctor then casted my foot for a month and then put me back in a walking boot for another three weeks. During most of this I was unable to drive (it's my right foot) and had to rely completely on my amazing roommate. However, the end is now in sight. I am a week away (hopefully) from getting a clean bill of health.

Immediately after my initial injury

All casted up

I have to say seven weeks of being almost completely stationary in addition to being stressed from starting a new job and trying to get settled after a cross country move is not the easiest thing in the world to do. Especially if you are trying to be healthy. I have lost a lot of muscle tone (not that I even had that much to begin with) and I have been surviving on a horrible diet.

In the last seven days of being stuck in a boot, I decided to try a cleanse in hopes of helping my body adjust to being more healthy and mobile. I have heard about a lot of different cleanses and I have tried a different one previously that made me feel great afterwards, but it required a high-powered blender which I don't yet have in my apartment. Therefore, I was looking for a cleanse that wasn't completely insane, but would still be effective.

Here is the 7 day cleanse I will be doing starting Tuesday:

• Tuesday: All you can eat fruit, but no bananas. 
• Wednesday: All you can eat vegetables.
• Thursday: All you can eat fruits and vegetables.
• Friday: Up to 8 bananas and 3 glasses of milk.
• Saturday: 20 oz. of lean beef and 6 whole tomatoes.
• Sunday: All you can eat lean beef and vegetables.
• Sunday: All you can eat brown rice and vegetables with pure (no sugar added) fruit juice

In addition to the foods listed above, it is important to drink at least 10 glasses of water every day and abstain from alcohol. You are also allowed to supplement any day with as much of the following recipe for soup as you would like. 

Soup:

• Water
• Onions
• Tomatoes
• Green Bell Peppers
• Celery
• Cabbage
• Lipton Onion Soup Packets

Clean Eating Shopping List 

I will also be soaking in a tub with epsom salt for at least 15 minutes everyday. Epsom salt is known for  relaxing the body, easing muscle strain, easing sprains, relieving pain, and eliminating toxins.  I personally like Lavender Scented Epsom Salt.

I will let you all know how my cleanse goes! 

Cheers xx