Lentil Soup, Greek Comfort Food

With both of my parents having been raised in Greece, my version of "comfort food" varies slightly from the traditional mac and cheese or chicken noodle soup that most people think of. My mother has been making this lentil soup for me since I was old enough to eat solid foods. It's filling, it's healthy and a nice bonus is that it's super inexpensive to make.

Here's a list of our ingredients:



First, put your lentils in a colander and rinse.



Once rinsed, put the lentils in your pot and add water until they are covered.



Set the temperature to high and bring them to a boil. While the lentils are coming up to a boil, go ahead an chop your onion.



Once it comes up to a boil...



put the lentils back in the colander and rinse them again. In case you're wondering what all of the rinsing and boiling is about, it allows us to skip the "soak beans overnight" step that most bean recipes require.



Put the lentils back in the pot and add 7 cups of water.



While we're waiting for the beans to come up to a boil, I put all of the other ingredients in a bowl so that I can just dump them in together. So, into the bowl go 1 tablespoon tomato paste, 1 minced clove of garlic, your chopped onion, 1/2 cup of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of oregano.



Mix your soup and bring it up to a boil.



Now add in your bowl of ingredients as well as your three bay leaves.



Turn the heat down to a simmer and cook for 40-45 minutes. Before you serve the soup, add in a couple teaspoons of salt and mix it well. Then, it's ready to eat!



I like to serve this with a big chunk of crusty bread.

White Chocolate Cherry Macadamia Nut Cookies...Lord Help Me.

First, let me say that I'm so sorry to do this to you. I personally wish that I had never laid eyes (or lips) on these cookies. I feel the same way about hour-long facials and Smokey Bones donuts. These cookies are so unbelievably good that once you've been corrupted, you'll never be the same. With that said, let me tempt you.

Here's what you need. Butter, brown sugar, white sugar, 2 eggs, vanilla, flour, baking soda, salt, milk, macadamia nuts, maraschino cherries (cut into quarters), white chocolate chips.



Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Begin by adding 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 cup of regular sugar and 1 stick of softened butter into your mixer. Seriously, how can these be bad?



Cream together the sugar and butter until combined and fluffy.



Add in 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 tablespoons milk and stir until combined.



In a separate bowl, mix together 3 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add this dry mixture into the mixer.



Mix until incorporated. The batter should be stiff and should look like this.



Now, we're going to take this from good to amazing. Add into your batter, 1 cup chopped macadamia nuts, 1.5 cups white chocolate chips and 1/2 cup maraschino cherries.



Mix until combined and put onto your greased cookie sheet in heaping tablespoons. I got so excited about eating these that I forgot to snap a picture before I put them in the over.



Bake for 11-13 minutes and let cool for about 10 minutes before you dig in.



Here they are in all of their cherry, chocolate and nutty glory. As with everything I bake, I promptly eat 4 and then send the rest with the Irishman to give to his friends. I wish I could argue that it's due to my generous and maternal nature, but it's primarily because I would eat all of them in two sittings. If you have a party coming up, put these on the table and then stand back while they're gone in 30 seconds. Seriously, they're that good. Now go forth and corrupt your friends and coworkers. I don't want to be in this addiction alone.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

So, I know that you're probably afraid of the word "vegan" in the title of the recipe, but I want you to trust me here. I would never lead you astray and share something that I didn't think was completely scrumptous. While it's true that I'm a vegetarian, I would never compromise taste for my morals. Translation: try these cupcakes. They're seriously delicious and it's only a side bonus that no animals were injured in the creation of this chocolate deliciousness. My husband eats these by the handful and he's completely clueless that they're vegan.

I'm first going to walk you through the cupcakes themselves and then take you through the frosting, ok? Here are the ingredients for the cupcakes: 1.5 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 1 cup water, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tsp white vinegar.



Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Go ahead and measure out your ingredients, it makes the process go much smoother.



Add your dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, salt) into your mixer. Technically, you're supposed to sift them together, but I never have and they always come out moist and fluffy, so I hereby give you permission to not sift. I'm sure you're relieved. (I got a little excited and took the picture prior to the cocoa, but it should be in there at this point.)



Since I omit the sifting, I just give it a small turn in the blender before adding the wet ingredients.



Now, go ahead and add in the oil, water, vinegar and vanilla and keep mixing.



When the ingredients are combined, the batter is going to look a little bit runny. That's ok.



You want to get your muffin pan and grease it so that the muffins don't stick. I prefer to make mini cupcakes because they (1) bake faster, and (2) I can eat more without feeling guilty because they're just so little. To grease the pan, I use this.



It, well, it brings me joy. Who knew? Baker's Joy is a combination of flour and Pam so it doesn't leave the cupcakes greasy because no one likes a greasy cupcake.

So here's our greased muffin pan.



Now we're going to spoon the batter into the pan. You only want to fill them about 3/4 of the way up since they do expand. (I got excited and over-filled the first batch a little bit.)



For mini cupcakes, you're going to bake them for 10 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out dry) for full cupcakes, they'll bake for 15-20 minutes.

Here they are in all of their glory.



Hello lovely little cupcakes. I generally eat them as is, but let me show you the super simple fosting that makes them downright sinful. The ingredients are: 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 cup vegan margarine, 1 Tbs vanilla extract, 1/3 cup cocoa powder, pinch of salt and 2 Tbs soy milk (I used Almond milk and it came out great). Of course, you can absolutely use real butter and milk here, but the vegan version definitely saves you calories and tastes amazing.



Put the powdered sugar and vegan margarine into the mixer.



And make sure that you start off with your mixer on the lowest setting otherwise the powdered sugar will end up everywhere. You can increase the speed as it starts to incorporate.



Once the sugar and margarine are creamed together, add in the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth.



When it's ready it should look like this.



Now, gently spread the frosting over the cupcakes.



Now this final step is very important. Take a bite.



These cupcakes are so moist and chocolate, that you won't believe that they aren't artery clogging. The best part, your friends won't even know that they're vegan. It'll be our little secret.

Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup - My Favorite!

I need to post a disclaimer. I'm not a huge fan of mushrooms. I won't pick them out of my food if they're already there, but I generally don't go out of my way to add them to something that I'm making at home. With that said, I know that mushrooms, particularly shitaki mushrooms, are really good for you. So, I decided to search for some recipes that incorporated them that I wouldn't find repulsive.

When I first decided to make this soup, I was a little apprehensive. I can honestly say that I've never had canned cream of mushroom soup, so I didn't have any preconceived notions of what it should taste like. I am, however, game to try anything once so I gave it a whirl...and I was floored. This was just about the yummiest, creamiest soup I'd ever had. Add in the "easy to make" factor and this definitely became an instant favorite.

Ok, here we go. You'll need 3 cups chopped fresh mushrooms (I used a combo of fresh Chantrelle and Shitaki), 1 chopped onion, 3 cups vegetable or chicken broth, 3 tablespoons melter butter, 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1.5 cups milk and 1/2 cup half and half.



Put in a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of oilve oil into your pan.



Add the chopped onion into your pan, saute for a minute or two and then add in your chopped mushrooms and saute for a couple of minutes.



Next, add in your vegetable or chicken broth.



Bring your soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes covered. While your soup is simmering, you're going to make your rue. Combine the melted butter and flour in a bowl.



Stir it until it makes a paste.



Stir the paste into the pan with the vegetables.



Now, you're going to increase the heat to medium and gradually stir in the milk. Continue stirring constantly.



When the mixture thickens and begins to boil, stir in the cream. Cook over low heat without boiling for about 10 minutes, or until the mushrooms are tender. Season with salt and pepper.

You can leave the soup as is, but I love to give it a creamy consistency by blending it. I use this very handy immersion blender, but you could just as easily pour it into a blender or food processor and get the same results.



Here is the final products in all of it's creamy glory.



Mmmmmmm. I seriously consume this entire pot in about 48 hours by myself. It makes me happy...and full.

Chicken Piccata, AKA The Irishman's Favorite Meal

The Irishman is fairly easy to please in the food department. If the meal starts with a salad and goes on to contain both a meat and a starch, he's pretty happy. With that said, his hands down favorite meal is Chicken Piccata. We've been to so many restaurants around town looking for the perfect version. Apparently, there was a dive in South Florida who had perfected the dish and everything he's tried since then has fallen short.

So one year (fairly early in our relationship), I decided to figure out the Piccata mystery. After a host of different attempts, he named this version the official Piccata champion. Naturally, I wanted to share it with all of you.

Ok, here are our ingredients: juice of one lemon, 2 Tbs. butter, 1/2 cup white wine, 1 cup chicken broth, olive oil, capers, 2 shallots (sweet onions) chopped, 1/2 cup flat leaf parsley chopped, 4 cloves of garlic and 2 Tbs. flour.

**This recipe comes together really quickly, so it's quite helpful to have all of the ingredients measured out in advance. Usually, I'll do the measuring and chopping before I get Parker from school and then throw it together in about 15 minutes.



Oh and the chicken of course. Here, you'll see that I sliced two chicken breasts in half (so I have 4 pieces) and I've put them between two sheets of plastic wrap so that I can make them thinner. I do this by pounding the crap out of them with the bottom of a heavy pan. It's loads of fun.



If you're going to serve this with spaghetti (all the cool kids are doing it), you'll want to go ahead and get that started first.

Alright, first, put about a tablespoon of olive oil in the pan and add your chicken breasts. Since they're thinner cuts, you'll only need a couple of minutes on each side.



When they're done, go ahead and move them to another plate and put your pan back on the burner. Next, we're going to add another tablespoon of olive oil, one tablespoon of butter and the garlic and shallots.



Saute the garlic and shallots for a couple of minutes. Now, add your 2 Tbs. of flour and stir the slurry constantly.



After another minute or two, add in the wine.



After about a minute, it will start to thicken and look like this.



Next, throw in the lemon juice and broth and stir for yet another minute or two. Wait until it starts to bubble (shown here)...



And add in the parsley, capers and the second tablespoon of butter.



Now, we're going to put the chicken breasts back into the sauce to warm them back up.



And after a minute or two, it is ready to serve.



Put a nice pile of spaghetti on your plate, add a couple pieces of chicken and top it with a nice helping of the sauce. It's lemony, it's capery, it's simply delicious. So go on and give it a try!