February 2023

There are two items in life that Cole and I will always completely agree on. First, sleeping in until 9:30 on the weeknd is the perfect schedule, and second, that brunch is always better than having both breakfast and lunch. This combo of events means that I have practiced making many different breakfast dishes overContinue reading “Cinnamon French Toast”

The first time I ever had this dish was the morning after attending a holiday party thrown by Cole’s work in a cute little town on the shores of Lake Superior. The town was so adorable, and clearly catered to tourists staying on the lake, so we decided to go to one of the localContinue reading “Huevos Rancheros”

Since I am off work in the summer, one of my favorite indulgences during those three months is sleeping in until 9:30 every day and making myself brunch instead of lunch. Even though there are so many delicious brunch foods, I try to keep it on the healthier side. More specifically, I try to incorporateContinue reading “Open-Faced Avocado Breakfast Sandwich”

How to Achieve the Perfect Runny Yolk Fried eggs are one of my favorite breakfast foods. They taste great with so many different flavor combos, whether they are served with toast, on a breakfast sandwich, or on a bed of spinach. But everyone knows that the perfect fried egg is the one that you cutContinue reading “Fried Over Easy Eggs”

Served with Hot Sour Cream Sauce As summer approaches, I’ve been trying to eat a little healthier and lighter. While I find this very easy to do with breakfasts and dinners, making lunches is always more of a challenge for me. Most of the time I just take some roasted sweet potatoes in a dishContinue reading “Spinach and Mushroom Tater Tot Egg Bake”

I know I have already posted a lot of different muffin recipes, but there is something about muffins that make breakfast special. I think it’s the fact that it’s so easy to give each person their own individual serving, and they can be made in so many different ways. I developed this recipe after makingContinue reading “Maple Apple Cheesecake Muffins”

I LOVE pumpkin. It is one of my absolute favorite ingredients, and when combined with chocolate, it is pretty much my definition of perfection. Of course, one cannot make it through a whole morning on a super sugary breakfast though, so I needed to find a way to make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins with aContinue reading “Low Sugar Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins”

Lately I have been trying to eat healthier breakfasts and lunches so that I feel a little less guilty about splurging when dinner time rolls around. However, herein lies the problem….I love chocolate. More specifically, I love having chocolate for breakfast. Usually, this means that whatever I’m eating for breakfasts is sugary and delicious, butContinue reading “Low-Sugar Chocolate Coconut Banana Muffins”

I will be the first to admit that I have a sweet tooth, especially when it comes to breakfast foods. I have always been partial to donuts, muffins, and sugary baked breakfast foods. While banana bread is typically made, one of my favorite breakfast treats is pumpkin bread.  I’m one of those people that lovesContinue reading “Sugar Swirled Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread”

I’m going to be completely honest here, yesterday was the first day that I had ever tried a breakfast burrito, but that’s all it took. I’m officially hooked. Breakfast burritos were something that hadn’t even crossed my radar until last weekend. Every autumn we take a trip down to Lodi, Wisconsin to trek through theContinue reading “Sausage and Egg Breakfast Burritos”

Even though my mom loves to cook, growing up we didn’t make a lot of breakfast food. My sister wasn’t a fan of any of the breakfast meats, and I didn’t develop a taste for eggs until I was 20. Eliminating both the meat and egg options for breakfast didn’t leave us many options left. Most of the time I would just toast up a couple of Eggo waffles before school. However, whenever my family would go somewhere for the weekend, we would stop at Big Apple Bagels first. Of course, being a chocolate lover, instead of getting a bagel, I would always get a Jumbo Double Chocolate Cream Cheese Muffin instead. 

Now that I’m older, I recognize the value of a healthy breakfast, and I actually love fried eggs now that I’ve given them a chance. That doesn’t mean that I can’t appreciate a delicious muffin here or there though. Most of the time I stick to making pumpkin spice muffins or plain chocolate chip, but lately I’ve been craving double chocolate muffins with cheesecake filling. I had been practicing making cheesecakes for dessert the last couple of months, and I realized I could easily transform the cheesecake ingredients into a filling for my muffins. Making the regular chocolate chip muffins into double chocolate chip was also a simple fix, I simply added in cocoa powder and a little more milk to offset the extra powder that was now in it. 

After a couple of rounds of experimenting with this recipe, I am completely obsessed. These are so delicious! If I wasn’t trying to be health conscious, I would probably make them up all the time and eat two for breakfast every day. Instead, these will remain a special treat here and there, which will make me appreciate them a little more too.

Muffins

2 ½ cups flour

1 tbsp Baking Powder

⅓ cup Cocoa Powder

1 tsp Salt

1 ⅓ cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

½ cup (1 stick) Melted Butter

1 cup Sugar

1 ⅔ cup Whole Milk

2 Large Eggs

1 tbsp Vanilla

Cheesecake Filling

12 oz Cream Cheese

2 Egg Yolks

1 tsp Vanilla

6 tbsp Sugar

Like any baking recipe, the first step to making these muffins is to preheat your oven to 425 degrees, then you are going to start mixing your muffin batter together. When making the muffin batter, you are going to mix all of the dry ingredients except the sugar first. You are going to want a large mixing bowl for this. 

Pour the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, and salt into the bowl. To switch things up a little, I like to divide my cocoa powder in half. I fill half of the ⅓ cup with regular cocoa powder, and then I fill it the rest of the way with dark chocolate cocoa powder. When eating chocolate, I almost always prefer dark chocolate options, and this sets these muffins apart from other double chocolate muffin recipes. 

After all the dry items are combined, add in chocolate chips to the bowl and whisk them in. 

Once all of your chocolate chips are added in, take out a new glass bowl (or microwave safe at least). You will want to make sure this bowl is large enough to both hold the rest of your ingredients and be able to whisk them together. Start out by melting the butter and cream it together with your sugar. Let this cool a little bit before adding in the rest of the ingredients. Once the butter/sugar mixture is at room temp, add in your milk, eggs, and vanilla and whisk it all together. 

When your liquids are well mixed together, you are going to add them into your dry ingredients. You will want to use a rubber spatula during this next step, and you will want to continuously scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl while folding the batter together. If you don’t scrape the sides and bottoms often enough you will still have dry ingredients left on the bottom of the bowl when you start scooping it into your muffin tins. After your batter is mixed together, set it aside and start working on your cheesecake filling

For the cheesecake filling you will want to use either a stand up or hand mixer. I like to take my cream cheese out of the fridge about an hour and a half before I make this recipe. This helps the cream cheese to soften and makes it easier to mix together. 

Start with the cream cheese and mix it until it looks smooth. It won’t get entirely smooth until the rest of the ingredients are added in, but you should be able to see a clear difference in the consistency after a little bit of mixing. 

After your cream cheese changes consistency, add in your egg yolks, vanilla, and sugar. When mixing these next items together, use a medium to high speed setting. This speed will allow the ingredients to get a very creamy texture.  You are going to need to pause every once in a while during this mixing process to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. If you don’t scrape the bowl, then some cream cheese will stick to it and create lumps later if they fall into your filling. Your filling is done when it is completely mixed together and looks yellowed and creamy. 

When both your batter and filling are finished, you need to prep your muffin pans. This recipe makes 24 muffins, so you will either need two muffin pans or have to bake it in batches. I like to use muffin tins to keep the pans easier to wash. I’ve never tried making them with just greasing the pans, but I’m guessing that would work too. 

Start to fill your pans by putting one scoop of muffin batter in the base of each cup. This first scoop should be ¼ of an inch to ½ thick once it is in the cup. I lean towards the side of a 1/2 inch to keep a more solid base. 

After you have a base in each tin, add in one spoon of cheesecake filling on top of it. Warning: If you put too much cheesecake filling in, these muffins will overflow a little bit. Most silverware sets have both small spoons and large spoons in them. I use the large spoons when making these muffins. I have found that one large spoonful of cheesecake filling is perfect, but one heaping spoonful will lead to a bit of a muffin explosion.

Finally, top off your cheesecake filling with another scoop of batter in each tin. Smooth the batter over the top so you can’t see the cheesecake filling anymore. Most muffin recipes will tell you only to fill each cup ⅔ of the way full, but I fill these all the way to the rim. Filling it all the way full creates a nice muffin top, and since there isn’t any baking soda in this recipe it doesn’t rise too much that this is an issue. 

Now your muffins are ready to go in the oven! You are only going to bake your muffins at 425 degrees for the first 5 minutes of the bake time. After the first 5 minutes it is essential that you turn your oven down to 350 degrees. Bake your muffins for another 16 minutes, and they will be finished.

Because these muffins have a cheesecake filling they have to be stored in the refrigerator. When you want to eat one, just peel off the muffin tin and heat it up in the microwave for 20 seconds. This will warm it up and allow the filling to get the gooey delicious texture that melts in your mouth. You can also freeze these muffins and thaw them out for future use since this recipe makes up quite a lot.

I hope these muffins provide you with many delicious breakfasts in the future! Enjoy!

Cole and I both love chili so much, and luckily, there’s so many different ways to make it! I don’t even feel guilty that this is my fifth different version of chili in my recipe box because each version tastes so different. When I first started cooking with venison last year, my good friend Dan told me to make sure I add some sugar to the meat while cooking it to cut out some of the gamey flavor. Knowing that many people like to make chili that varies between sweet and spicy, I decided to lean into the concept, and make a stew that has enough spices in it to give it  heat, but I also add in some of my favorite baking spices to compliment the venison. I know that a swift glance at the ingredient list can leave one questioning my judgement, but I promise everything balances each other out in the end. If you had a successful hunting season last year and want to try something new, give this chili a try. 

1 lb Ground Venison

½ cup Diced Bell Peppers (any color will work)

1 tbsp Diced Jalapeno Pepper

1 ½ tsp Minced Garlic

½ tbsp Dried Onion Flakes

1 tsp Cinnamon (divided between steps – see directions)

⅜ tsp Nutmeg (divided between steps – see directions)

⅜ tsp Allspice (divided between steps – see directions)

½ tbsp Dark Brown Sugar

1 can Large Butter Beans (rinsed and strained)

1 can Kidney Beans (rinsed and strained)

1 can Pinto Beans (rinsed and strained)

1 can Black Medium Chili Beans

1 can Petite Diced Tomatoes

2 tbsp Chili Powder

1 tsp Cumin

½ tsp Ground Chipotle Chili Pepper

1 heaping tsp Salt

1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce 

1 tsp Crystal’s Hot Sauce

2 cups Water

1. Deseed both the bell peppers and the jalapeno pepper, then dice into small even pieces. The bell peppers should be in about ¼ inch chunks, and the jalapenos should be cut into as small of pieces as possible.

Kitchen Tip: Peppers are one ingredient that I like to always keep in the house, but they go bad so quickly. To get around this issue I prefer to flash freeze them and keep them in the freezer. Follow the link to flash freeze and store your own peppers.

2. Heat a large skillet and brown the venison. Once it’s browned, add in the peppers, garlic, dried onion flakes, ½ tsp cinnamon, ¼ tsp nutmeg, ¼ tsp allspice, and the dark brown sugar into the meat. Continue to cook until the peppers are softened, then pour all the ingredients into the bottom of a slow cooker. 

Kitchen Tip: Venison should be lean enough that you shouldn’t have to strain the meat, but if for some reason there is a lot of grease in the pan, scoop the meat and peppers out with a slotted spoon instead of dumping everything right into the pot. 

3. Rinse and strain the butter beans, kidney beans, and pinto beans, then add all three of them to the pot. Also pour in the black chili beans, and petite diced tomatoes.

4. Sprinkle in the chili powder, cumin, ground chipotle chile pepper, salt, Worcestershire sauce, and Crystal’s hot sauce. Stir to combine.

Kitchen Tip: Tabasco can be used instead of Crystal’s, but overall, I have found Crystal’s has a better flavor.

5. Pour in the water and the remaining ½ tsp cinnamon, ⅛ tsp nutmeg, and ⅛ tsp allspice. Stir one last time before putting the lid on the pot.

6. Cook in the slow cooker for 5-6 hours on low. 

Even though it may seem strange to add cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice into chili, the flavors these three spices bring when combined with the heat of the other ingredients makes such a subtle difference that elevates this chili above all other chili in my opinion. If you are looking for something different, but are in the mood for chili, look no further than this recipe. For the perfect meal, try combining this dish with my Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Muffins, and garnish with crackers and a small amount of shredded cheddar cheese.

Not in the mood for venison but still want chili? Try some of my other chili recipes instead by following the links below.

Chili Two Ways

Harvest Turkey Chili

This summer, one of my goals was to figure out how to make pizza completely from scratch. Pizza has always been a staple in my husband’s family. When we were dating his family would have a regular Friday night pizza tradition for dinner. Since I usually was hanging out with him on the weekends it meant it was a tradition that I got to partake in quite frequently. 

After we got married, I knew he was slightly disappointed that we didn’t do Friday night pizza on our own, but since we were still in college, ordering pizza once a week wasn’t quite in the budget. He would have been fine having frozen pizza, but since I try to stray away from processed foods, I wasn’t okay with a frozen product being part of our weekly diet. 

After a while I started making pizzas more often using the premade crusts from the grocery store. However, this still had it’s issues. Since we live in a small town, the nearest large grocery store is 20 minutes away, so I try to only go grocery shopping biweekly. This didn’t always allow me to include pizza in the meal plan, because sometimes the expiration dates on the crusts didn’t allow them to be kept that long. 

Now that it’s summer, and I have time off, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to figure out how to make a homemade crust. Like most of my dough recipes, my preference for making this is to use the standing mixer, but if you don’t have one of those, you could also make this dough in a bread maker. I will include the bread maker instructions at the end of this recipe. 

It has been so much fun figuring out how to make the perfect pizza crust, and my husband loves having weekly pizza nights again. He gives this recipe two thumbs up, and says the crust is the best part of it. 

The following recipe can be made two different ways depending on the quantity of ingredients you use. It can either make one large pizza or two mediums. I prefer to make enough dough for two medium pizzas because oftentimes I like to add on more toppings than my husband would, and this way we can both enjoy our own pizza styles. 

1 cup Water

1 tbsp Sugar

1 ½ tsp Active Dry Yeast

3 cups All Purpose Flour

½ tsp Salt

2 tbsp Olive Oil

½ tbsp Dried Parsley

½ tsp Dried Basil

½ tsp Garlic Powder

*Cornmeal – used after dough is made up

11 oz Water

1 ½ tbsp Sugar

2 tsp Active Dry Yeast

4 cups All Purpose Flour

¾ tsp Salt

3 tbsp Olive Oil

¾ tbsp Dried Parsley

¾ tsp Dried Basil

¾ tsp Garlic Powder

* Cornmeal – used after dough is made up

1. The first to take when using a recipe with active dry yeast is to “activate” the yeast. To do this, it needs to be mixed into sugary warm water. Notice, it’s warm water. It’s very important that the water isn’t too hot. If it’s too hot the yeast will die, and the dough will not rise. I’ve found that 80 to 90 degree water is just about perfect. To test this you can either stick your finger in the water, and if you can keep it in the water for 20 seconds with no pain it’s probably good, or you can get technical and stick a grilling thermometer in it. If this is your first time activating yeast you may want to use the second strategy until you are practiced at knowing how long you need to heat the water up. 

When you have determined that the water is the correct temperature, dissolve the sugar in and then whisk the yeast into the mixture. The yeast should be whisked until it is dissolved. After the yeast has dissolved, leave the mixture to sit for 7-10 minutes. It will be ready to use when a layer of frothy bubbles has accumulated on the top. This froth means the yeast is active and ready to work. 

Kitchen Tip 1: If bubbles do not appear at the top of the water mixture, start over. This means one of three things: either your water was too hot, too cold, or you just happened to get a bad yeast packet. Sometimes there is a bad packet when you buy yeast from the store. Even if the expiration date is still good, there is always a chance that the yeast died before you used it. If you do not start over when you notice a lack of bubbles, you will be very disappointed in your end product. 

2. After the yeast has been activated, pour the mixture into the bottom of a standing mixer. Add in all of the other ingredients except for the cornmeal. Install the dough hook attachment to the mixer and knead the dough on low for 7 minutes.

Kitchen Tip 2: The dough should have an elastic texture after the kneading process and should only be slightly sticking to the sides of the bowl. If it seems like the dough is still very sticky after the kneading time, add in another ¼ cup of flour and knead the dough for another minute to combine it in. 

3. Once the dough has been kneaded, transfer it to a large greased mixing bowl. I’ve found that this typically works better in a glass bowl. I’m not sure why, but it seems to rise more in a glass bowl than a plastic one. Cover the bowl with a thin towel. 

4. When the dough has been transferred, it is time for it to rise, or in technical terms, “proof.” When dough is proofing, it is ideal for it to be stored in an environment that is 70 to 80 degrees. Obviously, most peoples’ homes are not kept at this temperature, but find the warmest spot in your house and store it there to rise for an hour. After an hour the dough should be almost double in size. 

Kitchen Tip 3: Some newer ovens have a feature on them called “bread proof.” This is an awesome feature if you like to make a lot of homemade bread. Essentially, this function heats your oven to that 70-80 degree marker and provides the perfect environment for bread to rise in. If you have a newer oven, you may want to check and see if this is an option for you. 

5. Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and knead it with your fingers for a little bit, then reform it into a ball. If you made a batch with enough for two medium pizzas, use this time to split the dough into two identical balls. 

6. Before rolling out the dough into a crust shape, there is an important step to take, which involves the cornmeal. You may have noticed that many pizzas at restaurants have cornmeal grains on the bottom of the dough. Not only does this provide an excellent textural element, it also helps the dough not to stick to the pizza pan or stone during the baking process. If you are using a pizza pan, make sure it doesn’t have holes on the bottom of it. Grease the pan and then spread a fine layer of cornmeal directly onto the greased pan. If you are using a stone, you do not have to grease it first, simply spread a fine layer of cornmeal directly onto the stone. Personally, I highly recommend getting a pizza stone. They work great, and can also be used to make rolls, and even cookies on. 

7. Once the cornmeal has been spread out, put the dough ball on the center of the pan or stone and roll it out. I usually try to get the dough to at least a ¼ inch of thickness. I like a little bit thicker crust though. If you like a thin crust pizza, you will want to roll it out even further. For another textural element, spread a fine layer of corn meal along the edges of the crust.

Kitchen Tip 4: The center of the pizza always seems to cook a little less than the edges. To make sure it gets done, I recommend leaving the center a little thinner and letting the dough get thicker as you get to the edges. 

8. After the dough has been rolled out, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. When the oven is at the correct temperature, put the crust in by itself, with no toppings. Bake it this way for 5 minutes. After the first 5 minutes, take the crust out and add any sauce and toppings. I usually like to leave at least ½ an inch of crust exposed without sauce. DO NOT ADD THE CHEESE YET. Put the pizza back in the oven and cook for another 15 minutes. Finally, once the 15 minutes is done, add the desired cheese and cook for another 4 minutes, or until the cheese is melted. 

Kitchen Tip 5: The faster you can apply your toppings the better this will go. If you take too long to apply them it can interrupt the baking process and cause the dough to cook unevenly. 

Once you have mastered making homemade pizza crust, there are so many different options of recipes to create. It seems like there is an endless list of types of pizza, and they all taste better with homemade crust!

Making the dough in a bread maker is pretty similar to using a standing mixer, with just a couple of exceptions. 

1. By using a bread maker the activation process of the yeast can be cut out. This means there is no need for the sugar in the recipe.

2. Even though the activation step is skipped it is important to put the ingredients in the machine in a certain order. The water and oil need to be put in first. Then the flour and dry ingredients go in. THE YEAST GOES IN LAST. When using the bread maker, recipes turn out better if the yeast doesn’t hit the liquid ingredients until the dough is being kneaded. Make a well in the flour and pour the yeast into that well to keep it safe from the liquids until it is time for them to touch.

3. Just like with the standing mixer recipe, the cornmeal will not be used until the dough is done. Do not put the cornmeal in with the rest of the ingredients.

4. After all the ingredients have been added in, select the dough setting and leave it be until the machine says it is done. The bread maker also takes care of the proofing step, so you can skip directly to Step 5 of the regular recipe once the machine says the dough is finished. 

Like this recipe? Check out more of my pizza recipes to make a complete homemade pizza.

Fructose Friendly Marinara Sauce https://soupsonwithschallock.wordpress.com/2020/07/28/fructose-friendly-marinara-sauce/

Italian Sausage Pizza Pieces https://soupsonwithschallock.wordpress.com/2020/07/29/italian-sausage-pizza-pieces/

Being a household that eats a lot of soup and a lot of pasta, bread is a staple side that I make time and time again. One of my biggest goals of my time spent in quarantine was how to make the perfect loaf of French Bread. As I broadened my knowledge of baking, in my head, this idea didn’t seem too difficult. Before my time at home, I had always used my bread maker, but the concept of actual bread baking didn’t seem that challenging. I learned about the process of activating dry yeast, the standard time for kneading dough, how long to proof the dough to make it double in size, and researched different ways to coat the bread for the desired brownness/crunchiness of the crust. Armed with this knowledge, I set to work.

With dough that I assumed was perfect, I separated it into two logs, let it be for its second round of rising, coated it with an egg wash and let it bake. I was so proud of myself. They came out of the oven looking PERFECT. Then we ate… and yikes…that turned into a giant NOPE. Those were some DENSE loaves of bread. 

I turned back to the internet trying to discover what I did wrong. Did I need a different combination of ingredients? I really didn’t think so, but figured it was back to the drawing board. After an hour or so of reading, I discovered the problem. Turns out you cannot just form two logs of dough and expect it to turn into fluffy loaves of bread. There is a TECHNIQUE to forming French Bread. There was a correct way of rolling and shaping the dough. 

I returned back to my kitchen, and sure enough, all of my problems were solved. If you have ever had a desire to make your own loaves of French Bread, check out this recipe. Make sure to pay careful attention to my notes about technique, because it REALLY does matter. 

1 cup and 6 tbsp Warm Water

1 tbsp Sugar

2 tsp Active Dry Yeast

1 ½ tbsp Olive Oil

1 ½ tsp Salt

4 cups Bread Flour

Corn Meal

1 Egg White

3 tbsp Water

1. The first step to making most bread is activating the yeast. This can be very easily done by warming up the water, dissolving the sugar into it, and finally, whisking in the yeast until it is also dissolved. Let this rest for 5-6 minutes. Once the time is up, the mixture should be bubbled up in the middle to indicate that the yeast is, indeed, activated. If it is not bubbled up, then throw it out and start again. 

Kitchen Tip 1: One of the easiest ways to mess up yeast activation is by having the water too cold or too hot. If you are nervous about the temperature of the water, stick a thermometer in it. Ideally, this should be between 85 to 100 degrees. If it’s too hot, then wait for it to cool down a little bit before adding in the yeast. 

2. Once the yeast has been activated, pour the mixture into your standing mixer bowl. While you can knead dough by hand, I personally make all of my bread recipes in my standing mixer using my bread hook. Add in all the other ingredients into the bowl. Mix together and knead with the bread hook on low for 7 minutes. Don’t be surprised when the dough is a little firmer than other breads. That is completely normal.

3. Once the dough has been kneaded, put it into a large greased bowl, cover with a flour sack towel, and let it rise for 90 minutes. It should double in size. 

Kitchen Tip 2: Many newer ovens have a Bread Proof option. If you are fortunate enough to have this function, use it. This setting heats up your oven to the ideal temperature for bread to rise, around 80-90 degrees. If you do not have this function, then find the warmest area in your home and let the bowl of dough rise in that room. Before I got my oven I would always set the bowl of dough on the fireplace mantel, and that worked pretty well. 

4. After the dough has risen, punch it down and split the ball in two 9 inch to 12 inch logs. Roll out the logs into a thin rectangular shape. This should be about ⅛ to a ¼ inch thick. 

5. Using your handing roll the long sides of the rectangle inward until  a long log reforms. Then tuck the edges of the loaf under it and smooth out the creases, and put the long seam on the bottom of the pan.

Kitchen Tip 3: If the loaves are turning out longer than your pan when forming them, rip off the ends, smooth out the areas you ripped off, then create a third mini loaf with the leftover dough.

6. Coat a pizza stone, or parchment lined pan with a layer of cornmeal. This will prevent the loaves of bread from sticking as much to the pan or stone during the baking process. Lay the loaves on the pan or stone, cover with a flour sack towel and let rise for another hour. 

7. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. While it is preheating, mix one egg white with 3 tablespoons of water. Lightly brush the egg wash onto the top of each loaf. Make sure to get both the sides and the top, as this is what will give the crust its toasty brown appearance and crunchy crispy texture. 

Kitchen Tip 4: The amount of egg wash used makes a big difference in appearance and texture. I vary this up depending on how brown and crunchy I want the outsides. A light brush stroke with small amounts of wash creates a lighter softer crust, and using more of the wash, and getting it into the oven while it’s still freshly wet will create a harder crust. The picture at the top of this post shows a softer crust, and the second-to-last picture represents a harder crust. It’s really all about personal preference.

8. Use a sharp knife and score (cut a slit) the bread about every two inches apart. These slits should go about an ⅛ of the way through the loaf. 

9. Bake the bread for 25 minutes and let cool a little before cutting and eating. 

Kitchen Tip 5: This bread does have a tendency to stick to the pan even with the corn meal layer. If you are using a pan make sure you put parchment paper down first. If you are using a stone, you MUST let them cool for at least a full hour before trying to separate them from the pan. If you don’t the bottom of the bread will stick to the stone.

French bread is a great side to serve with so many meals, and there is such a sense of accomplishment to creating beautiful bread loaves. While I love eating it fresh out of the oven. I also love that this recipe makes up two loaves, leaving me one to save or give away to family and friends. Since a loaf this long won’t fit in a bag, I like to store it by wrapping it in two layers to keep fresh. The first layer is parchment paper, and the second layer is freezer paper. This technique can help keep the bread fresh for about three days, if it even lasts that long! It is always eaten up before hitting the three day marker in my house!

Growing up I absolutely HATED BBQ Sauce. I always thought it was way too sweet, and most of it was loaded with high fructose corn syrup, causing me to eat a meal that I didn’t like, and feel super sick afterwards. However, after I married Cole, I needed to find some ways to adapt. He loves BBQ sauce, so I knew I couldn’t avoid the issue forever. Luckily, by that time, ketchup companies had started to come around to the idea of fructose-free formulas. This allowed me to use ketchup as a base without creating something that was going to make me feel awful.

My biggest issue with BBQ sauce has always been the sweetness to the dish though. For some reason, I really dislike when main courses taste sweet, but with some tinkering I was able to adapt my mom’s BBQ sauce recipe to create a BBQ sauce that is sweet, but has an underlying spiciness to meet my taste palate. Check out this recipe if you like your BBQ with a hint of spice!

1 tbsp Butter

1 tsp Dried Onion Flakes

2 tsp Minced Garlic

1 cup Ketchup (Fructose Free)

¼ cup Vinegar

¼ cup Water

2 tbsp Brown Sugar 

1 tbsp Chili Powder

1 tbsp Ground Mustard

½ tsp Salt

1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

1. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and sauté the minced garlic and onion flakes for 2-3 minutes. 

2. Pour the ketchup, vinegar, and water into the saucepan and turn it down to medium low. Stir until all the ingredients come together and the sauce is lightly bubbling. 

3. In a small bowl whisk together the brown sugar, chili powder, ground mustard, and salt to get rid of any large clumps within the spices; then add the spices into the saucepan. Stir to combine.

4. Add the Worcestershire sauce into the mix. Stir, and turn down to low. Put a cover over the pan to avoid spatters, then let it simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

This recipe is so easy, and makes a delicious sauce for any meat of your choice. I never buy BBQ sauce now, and can put my mind at ease knowing that I’m making a sauce that is not loaded with high fructose corn syrup.

My mom raised me to cook and enjoy many different cooking cuisines, but overall, I grew up with typical Polish meals, meaning meat and potatoes. However, one of the specialties that my Great Grandma Susie always made was homemade noodles and dumplings. Personally, I am a bigger fan of noodles over dumplings, and my great grandma’s recipe is the same for both, just a difference between the size, shape, and cooking time between the two. 

Although I have always been told that this noodle recipe is my Grandma Susie’s formula, the only instructions ever passed down were how to make the noodles, not a full Chicken Noodle Soup. I think it’s important to make the most of family recipes and keep them going, so I took it upon myself to expand the recipe out for making a slow cooker chicken noodle soup of my own.

I always make this recipe at least once per year, and that is typically the day after Thanksgiving. The reason for this timing is that it is a great way to use up leftover turkey! With a simple substitution of turkey instead of chicken, this can quickly transform into a delicious turkey noodle soup.

Regardless of which poultry you choose to throw in, this is an amazing soup that can be prepped in the morning, stew in the slow cooker all day, and be fully steeped in flavors by supper time! Add in some homemade French Bread, and this is a perfect dinner for a chilly fall day or snowy winter evening.

2 cups Flour

3 Egg Yolks

1 Egg

2 tsp Salt

½ cup Water for Mixing

12 cups Water for Boiling

10 oz Chicken Breast

1 tbsp Olive Oil

6 tsp Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base

2 Stalks Celery – Diced

½ Small Yellow Onion – Diced

2 Carrots – Diced

1 tsp Rotisserie Chicken Seasoning (some extra for sprinkling on chicken)

½ tbsp Dried Parsley

½ tsp Garlic Powder (start with ¼ and add more if necessary)

½ tsp Salt (start with ¼ and add more if necessary)

¾ tsp Black Pepper (start with ½ and add more if necessary)

⅛ tsp Cayenne Pepper

1. Rub the chicken breasts with olive oil and sprinkle them with a light coating of Rotisserie Chicken Seasoning. Bake in a covered dish for 35 minutes at 375 degrees. After cooling, shred into tiny pieces.

2. Pour the flour into a medium sized bowl. Create a well in the middle of it and pour both the egg and the separated egg yolks into it. Add the salt into the well too. 

3. Combine the eggs, salt, and flour together with a fork until the mixture is in pea-sized clumps. 

4. Slowly add in the water ⅛ cup at a time, and continue to form the dough until the water is gone. 

5. After the water is added in, flour your hands to avoid stickiness and then shape the dough into a ball. If it is still struggling to form a ball add in a little more water, but not enough to make it excessively sticky. (I usually add in about 1 extra ounce at his point.) 

Kitchen Tip 1: If you wear rings, take them off before working with the flour. This will make a mess of your hands and cleaning your ring will be a challenge if you don’t take it off.

6. Spread a substantial amount of flour out onto the counter. Set the ball of dough in the middle and roll it out until it is only about ⅛ inch thick. 

Kitchen Tip 2: It is better to have too much flour on the counter than too little. Since this dough is stickier than bread dough if you put too little flour down, then you will not be able to peel the noodles off the counter after they have been cut into shape. If the noodles are sticking to the counter after you cut them and refuse to peel up, it means you did not put enough flour down and will need to reroll out the dough and start cutting again.

7. Use a pizza cutter and cut the dough into strips that are 2 inches long and ½ inch wide. 

8. Boil 12 cups of water and add in the noodles in small handfuls once it comes to a roiling boil. Let them simmer for 20 minutes. Stir them occasionally throughout this time, making sure that the noodles aren’t sticking to the bottom or to each other.

9. While the noodles are boiling, dice up the onion, carrots, and celery.

Kitchen Tip 3: My family has never been a fan of large vegetable chunks, so I dice up my vegetables quite small. This is a personal choice, but the smaller the veggies are the better they will cook.

10. Dump both the noodles and pasta water into a slow cooker. Add in all the other ingredients and stir.

Kitchen Tip 4: Every company of rotisserie chicken seasoning tastes a little differently. To avoid excessive salt, garlic, or pepper you may want to start with ¼ tsp salt, ¼ tsp garlic powder and ½ tsp pepper. You can always add in more at the cooking halfway point if you feel like something is missing. That should always be a rule when cooking. Start low because you can always add more, but it’s virtually impossible to take seasoning out once you put it in.

11. Turn the slow cooker on low and cook for 6 hours. 

Kitchen Tip 5: Some of the broth will soak into the noodles as this soup cooks. Open the cover and stir both halfway through the cook time and one hour before it is finished. At either of these points, if you feel like it should be soupier, add in 1/2 cup to 1 cup of water. We prefer it to be closer to a stew than a soup though, so I never add in more. Once again, this is a personal choice though.

If you ever have extra chicken or turkey laying around, this soup is an excellent way to use up the leftovers! Chicken Noodle Soup always tastes like home, and amping it up with homemade noodles takes this soup one step further. Impress all of your friends and family with a delicious dinner of soup and bread! Enjoy! 

Since I am off work in the summer, one of my favorite indulgences during those three months is sleeping in until 9:30 every day and making myself brunch instead of lunch. Even though there are so many delicious brunch foods, I try to keep it on the healthier side. More specifically, I try to incorporateContinue reading “Open-Faced Avocado Breakfast Sandwich”

This week’s featured recipe was created completely by accident. My husband was having a guy’s night, and as part of the usual routine I was going to make snacks. My goal that evening was to make a homemade nacho cheese dip. Unfortunately as I went about creating my dip, I quickly realized the consistency was too thin for dipping chips, and no matter how hard I tried, I could not get it to thicken up. While this was a complete failure of an attempt to make nacho cheese dip, the sauce tasted delicious. I wrote down my method, knowing I had made a cheese sauce that would taste incredible over potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, and other foods of choice. 

This cheese sauce has now become my go-to on loaded baked potato night, a dish that we have at least once per month. The cumin and cayenne in the sauce bring a slight zing that balances perfectly with potatoes, broccoli, and chicken. It has reached the point where baked potato night doesn’t seem the same without the addition of my spiced cheddar cheese sauce. If you are a cheese lover, and can’t resist a loaded potato, I highly recommend adding this sauce to your list of necessary toppings. 

2 oz Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese (Shredded from a block)

2 oz Shredded Cheddar Cheese (Shredded from a block)

¾ cups Whole Milk

½ tbsp Butter

½ tbsp Flour

⅛ tsp Cayenne Pepper

⅛ tsp Cumin

⅛ tsp Salt

Kitchen Tip 1: Before beginning the sauce the cheeses need to be shredded. It is essential to grate the cheese from block form when making this recipe. Pre-shredded cheeses come with preservatives in the bag that can cause clumps and change the melting points. Using pre-shredded cheese can ruin this sauce before it has even been started, so do yourself a favor and shred your own cheese from blocks instead. 

1. When all the ingredients for the sauce have been prepped, start by making a roux. This is done by melting down the butter and adding in the flour. Stir this combination consistently for thirty seconds to a minute. It is possible that the mixture will turn a slightly brown hue during this process. That is completely normal. 

2. After the roux has been created, add in the milk. Lightly stir until the milk comes to a low boil. 

Kitchen Tip 2: It is very important at this point in the recipe to use a rubber spatula and scrape the bottom and sides of the pan often to make sure the roux is not sticking to the bottom of the pot. If you notice that the roux seems to be sticking together in clumps instead of combining with the milk, feel free to whisk it for a little bit. Be careful if you have a metal whisk though, as whisking vigorously with a metal tool can ruin the bottoms of your pots. 

3. When the milk is simmering, add in the cheeses, but DO NOT add them in all at once. Sprinkle in about a third of the cheese; then stir until they are combined. Continue to do this until the cheese is completely gone. 

Kitchen Tip 3: Cheddar cheese occasionally struggles to melt, especially when it is added in too quickly. By combining it with the Monterey jack ahead of time, and then dumping it into the pot in three separate increments this helps the sauce to retain a smooth texture. If you notice a grainy texture to the sauce it means you combined the ingredients too quickly or that your milk wasn’t quite hot enough to begin with. The sauce will still taste good if this happens, but the texture will remain slightly off. 

4. Once the cheese has been melted into the milk, add in the spices. Cumin occasionally clumps up during this process, so a whisk might be needed instead of a spatula to ensure that everything is properly combined together.

5. Continue to stir the sauce for 5 more minutes to allow the flavors to combine and the sauce to thicken; then serve warm over a dish of your choice. 

Kitchen Tip 4: If you are not serving this sauce immediately make sure to keep it warm until you are ready to eat. This sauce does not reheat well, so it would be best to serve it immediately after it is finished. 

If you are as addicted to cheese as I am, I am positive that you will love this sauce! It makes any vegetable tastier to eat. Enjoy!

As summer approaches, I’ve been trying to eat a little healthier and lighter. While I find this very easy to do with breakfasts and dinners, making lunches is always more of a challenge for me. Most of the time I just take some roasted sweet potatoes in a dish and call it good enough, but after a couple weeks of that, I’m craving something new and ready to switch it up. As I was meal prepping for my week ahead, I decided to make a spin off of my regular Tater Tot Egg Bake, to turn it into something a little more filling with some healthy add-ins instead of bacon. 

I was thrilled with the way these turned out, and I can’t wait to take them in my lunch this week. Coming in at only 140 calories per serving, these will be a great way to cut back a little bit while still having a tasty meal. These are served best with a spoonful of hot sour cream sauce drizzled on top of them, but they are also delicious plain!

8 Eggs

½ tsp Salt

1 tsp Dried Onion Flakes

½ tsp Black Pepper

48 Tater Tots

¼ cup Spinach

¼ cup Chopped Mushrooms

¾ cup Shredded Pepper Jack Cheese

½ cup Sour Cream

2 tsp Crystal’s Hot Sauce

1. Crack all eight eggs into a medium mixing bowl, sprinkle in the seasonings, and whisk until the eggs are blended. 

2. Rip up spinach leaves until they measure out to ¼ cup, and chop the mushrooms into small pieces. 

4. Shred ¾ cup of pepper jack cheese. 

5. Mix the spinach, mushrooms, and cheese into the eggs. 

6. Grease a muffin tin with cooking spray, and place 4 tater tots into each cup. 

7. Divide the egg mixture evenly over the top of the muffin cups. Each cup will likely be about ¾ of the way full after it is poured in. 

8. Bake at 350 degrees for 22-23 minutes. 

9. While the egg bake is cooking, stir the sour cream and hot sauce together to make the sauce. Refrigerate until ready to serve. 

10. Once the egg bake comes out of the oven, let it set for about 5 minutes before serving. This will allow the edges of the egg to come away from the tin and make them a little easier to scoop out. 

I firmly believe that almost all foods taste just a little bit better when served in muffin format, and egg bake follows this rule to a tee. By cooking this recipe in muffin tins, it makes them so easy to portion out. The spinach and mushrooms provide an excellent way to make this into a healthy dish, while the tater tots give a little bit of indulgence. Whether eating this for breakfast, lunch, or even a midday snack, this is a great little guilt free treat! 

If you prefer bacon over veggies, make your way over to my original Tater Tot Egg Bake recipe!