Cheese Straws

I ripped this recipe for cheese straws out of a Southern Living magazine way back in 1994!

No, I am not going on a KonMari kick and throwing away recipes! (at least not this one) The reason I saved this recipe to begin with was it brought me joy!! I was probably initially attracted to the vintage aluminum cups!

Cheese straws are a classic Southern snack. They can be fancy and served with wine or casual and served with football! You can buy them at the store, but they are so easy to make! I made cheese straws to give away as gifts this past Christmas.

I was in a hurry and didn’t even fancy up the cellophane baggies! How sad! At least they were cute baggies.

The cheese straws were very fragile. I had to be careful putting them in the bags. They made a great non-sweet snack to give as a gift! Everyone loved them!

Parmesan Cheese Straws

2/3 cup refrigerated pre-shredded Parmesan cheese or use fresh cheese plus 1/4 cup of flour

1/2 butter, softened

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

1/4 cup milk

*Put the cheese and butter in a food processor fitted with the knife blade. Whir it around until blended.

*Add the flour, salt and red pepper. Process about 30 seconds or until the mixture forms a ball. Scrape down the sides from time to time.

*Divide the dough in half. Roll each portion into a 1/8 inch thick rectangle. Cut the dough into 2″ x 1/2″ strips. (You can also shape the dough into 3/4 inch balls; flatten to about 1/8 inch; brush with milk and top with a pecan half.) Place on a baking sheet; (I used parchment for easy cleanup!) brush with milk.

*Bake at 350˚ for 7 minutes for strips (10 minutes for rounds) or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

**Makes about 5 dozen cheese straws! I put about 25-30 in each baggie.

**When cutting out the straws, you can use a regular knife, pizza wheel, pastry cutter…whatever you want to make it fancy! You can also use a cookie press if you have one.

So, we had a few cheese straws leftover. After Christmas we were all tired of eating Christmas food! I decided experiment with (and disguise) the leftover straws. I crushed up the cheese straws (This was very easy since they were fragile to begin with!) and made Chicken Parmesan!

I dipped the chicken in a little melted butter, then the crushed up cheese straws, then into the oven. (again, parchment paper makes clean up a breeze!) Sorry, I don’t remember how long I baked it. I’m thinking 425˚ for about 15-20 minutes depending on the thickness of your chicken. Once baked, add a little marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese! Back in the oven for another 5 minutes-until the cheese melts. YUM! The red pepper that is in the cheese straws was really yummy in the Chicken Parm! It was yummy in the cheese straws, too!

 

Thanksgiving 101: The Feast

Well, I did it! I made Thanksgiving dinner!

I know it was a big sacrifice for Mom and Dad to give up their personal Thanksgiving traditions of doing all the cooking to come be teachers for the next generation.

I am so thankful they agreed to this little project. I am very glad to know how to do things “Mom and Dad’s way”.

Our table wasn’t too fancy. I had planned to get out the good china and change the tablecloth. The table looked plenty festive and our everyday dishes were dishwasher safe!

We did use fancy little butter dishes.

Please notice the tiny Thanksgiving table next to the glass of water.

I found this idea on Pinterest more than a year ago. I let the girls make them. They didn’t mind the sprinkle sorting as much this time. The little tables turned out really cute, I think!

The cheese ring appetizer is one of Chip’s favorite parts of Thanksgiving! When I told him that Mom was going to make the Cheese Ring he panicked! He was afraid it wouldn’t be the right cheese ring. I assured him it would be okay since I had gotten the recipe from her.

He was the first one to test it out. Two thumbs up from the Critic.

Well, here is the feast…

You might have noticed a couple of items on our buffet that were not mentioned in a specific blog post.

Green Bean casserole, Mashed Potatoes and Green Fluff.

I felt obligated to have a green vegetable on our buffet. The green bean casserole recipe can be found here or on the back of the French’s Fried Onion canister.

As far as the mashed potatoes go, I’m pretty plain. Boil some Yukon Gold potatoes. Mash them up. Add butter, milk, salt and pepper to taste. Some folks get all fancy with cream cheese or sour cream or garlic or cheese. Plain is the preferred method at our house.

The green fluff is a MUST HAVE at all our holiday gatherings. It’s just the old Watergate Salad recipe.

Ooo, I can’t forget the bread–giant Sister Shubert rolls! They are the best for leftover turkey sandwiches.

How do you like my buttering method-rub a stick of cold butter on top of the rolls right after the come out of the oven.

Katie was trying to take pictures for me. For some reason she was not able to see anything on the camera. Mashed potatoes will do that to ya.

Guess who LOVES rolls?!

What a feast!

Don’t forget dessert. I had to try half a piece of each pie.

Some folks chose to have their sparkling grape juice with dinner, others with dessert.

We gobbled ’til we wobbled!

Thanksgiving naps are the best!

In case you missed the Thanksgiving 101 series, here are all the posts. You can also find them by clicking on the This and That tab at the top of the page.

• Thanksgiving 101: The Pies
• Thanksgiving 101: The Bird
• Thanksgiving 101: The Cranberries
• Thanksgiving 101: The Dressing
• Thanksgiving 101: The Cushaw

 

Thanksgiving 101: The Dressing

As a kid, Thanksgiving dressing was never my favorite. Mom always made two batches–one with oysters and one without.

I’m not sure how the oyster tradition came to our family. I always took my obligatory dressing from the without pan.

Now I voluntarily put dressing on my plate. : )

Mom didn’t really have a “recipe” to give me. She just told me how to make it.

First-make a batch of cornbread. Rather vague instructions.

I use the recipe from the back of the Aunt Jemima Corn Meal package for my cornbread. I’m not sure if Mom uses the same one or not.

I always make my cornbread in a cast iron skillet. I suppose it’s just is the Southern way!

Sorry, no picture of its golden deliciousness.

After the cornbread has cooled, crumble it.

I took the easy way out and gave it to the girls to crumble. They were so excited to have a break from school that they needed to do something!

Chop up a medium onion and 2-3 ribs of celery. I chopped my veggies early. I was so glad to get them out of the refrigerator. I could open the FREEZER door and smell onions!

Soak a couple of pieces of plain white bread in milk–

about “that much” milk.

I started smashing the bread with the back of a spoon. Apparently, that was wrong. Mom came behind me and squished it with her fingers. I think she just wanted to have the Thanksgiving experience too.

Mix the cornbread, veggies and soaked bread together.

Add two eggs and seasoning. We added about 1 tsp of Poultry Seasoning, 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. It could have used a bit more of the poultry seasoning.

Next, start ladling in the turkey broth. You can use chicken broth if you like.

I put in 8-12 ladles of broth. My ladle was pretty small though.

You want your dressing to be kind of wet looking.

Spread it in a pan and bake for 20-30 minutes at 350˚.

This picture is before it went in the oven. I failed to get an “after” picture. Well, there is a picture of the whole Thanksgiving spread. It will come later.

The top of the dressing gets nice and brown.

It turned out pretty good. Chip said it had too much onion in it. Next time I will add more poultry seasoning though.

If it ends up a little dry, that’s okay. You can always smother it in GRAVY!

 

Thanksgiving 101: The Bird

For years my Dad has been the bird-master. He smokes the turkey overnight in a small smoker he has had for probably 40 years, and it is always delicious!

Several years ago, Mom and Dad got us a smoker of our very own for our anniversary.

It has been used exactly once.

The summer after receiving the smoker, we decided to try smoking a turkey–you know, in case we ever had Thanksgiving at our house. Well, it didn’t go all that well. The turkey was WAY under-cooked on the inside and WAY over-cooked on the outside. That was the last time we tried using the smoker. You know it can be expensive to ruin meat!

With Thanksgiving finally at our house, we got our official lesson on how to cook the Thanksgiving turkey!

First things first–Buy a turkey.

Martha Stewart says allow for 1 1/2 pounds per person.

I didn’t really listen to her. I bought an almost 22 pound bird. Mom had told me about a 15 pound turkey would be fine for the 6 of us. I had kinda forgotten that little tidbit when I was at the store.  Better to have too much than not enough, right?!

I bought my turkey the week before Thanksgiving. Be sure you clean out your refrigerator before going to the store, so there is plenty of room to defrost your turkey. I knew my turkey would take a while to thaw. Allow a day for every 4 pounds.

Mom and Dad arrived at our house a little after 7:00 and brought spend-the-night necessities.

We got straight to work.

While the guys got the smoker ready, Mom showed me how to prep the bird.

Remove all the packaging and give the bird a rinse with cold water. Be sure to remove all the yucky stuff from inside the cavity of the bird. Save it though. You will use it later. (A light meal would be my recommendation for Wednesday night, YUCK!)

My turkey had this brace inside. It was a little tricky to remove. Apparently, preparing a 22 pound turkey burns some calories! Bonus!

Next, pat the turkey dry and rub all over with butter. I felt like a turkey-masseuse. My bird was happy–first the jacuzzi then the massage table.

You’ll want to truss the turkey legs. I didn’t have any kitchen twine, so I used dental floss, of all things. Hey, it worked great! Just wrap the string around the ends of the leg. Go back and forth and all around. Tuck the wings back behind where the neck used to be. Sorry, I didn’t get a picture of that. (Looking at the pictures, I think I actually did the trussing before the buttering.)

Then Dad came and took the turkey to the smoker.

Smoker instructions…

Soak 2 “good” handfuls of hickory chips in water for 30 minutes.

Fill the bottom of the smoker as full as you possibly can with charcoal.

Light the charcoal and let it burn down.

When the charcoal is ready spread the soaked wood chips on them.

Fill the smoker’s water pan with water — this will steam the bird as it smokes.

Put the water pan in place.

Put the metal grill right above the water pan.

Place the bird on the grill and close the smoker.

It should slowly burn all night.

Now go to bed and get a good night’s sleep!

BUZZZZZZZ!

That was a short night!

In the morning the bird looked great!

Ahhhh! So nice and golden! I’m so thankful Chip’s co-worker, Jen, gave me this hand-me-down pan (along with many others, too!). It was the perfect container to transport my giant turkey. Thanks, Jen!

Based on past experience, Dad suggested we go ahead and take a little peek to make sure the turkey was cooked all the way.

Sure enough, it was a little too pink on the inside. We stuck it in the oven at 350˚ for about 30-45 minutes. It’s a good thing that we used that pan instead of the cutting board. No transfer necessary.

When it came time to carve the turkey, Chip followed the instructions on this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAe7-GpV98E

It was a great method!

Be sure your knife is good and sharp. Knife sharpening is not my favorite thing to do. It’s like fingernails on a chalkboard.

I do like my little sharpener/honer. I have never used a honing steel. I have watched Mom use one for years and it terrifies me!

Remove the leg.

Remove the breast.

Repeat on the other side.

Slice the breasts.

Since the turkey finished cooking in the oven, plenty of drippings were available for gravy making! In the smoker, the fat just drips down into the pan.

Sprinkle flour all over the fat in the pan.

This is my flour of choice.

Wondra is nice and fine. Which means less of a chance for lumps.

Let the flour and fat bubble up a little, just enough to cook out some of the flour flavor.

Add your turkey broth. Oh, wait, I forgot to tell you about that.

Remember all that nasty stuff you pulled out of the turkey? Put it all in a pot with enough water to cover it. Add a little salt and pepper and, if you like, a little poultry seasoning. Then boil it.

Ta Da! Turkey broth!

Keep stirring the gravy on the stove until it all looks like gravy is supposed to look. Turkey gravy is not nearly as pretty as roast beef gravy.

I really hate to end this post with an ugly picture of turkey gravy. Here, look at the turkey again.

Turkey smoking=success!

 

 

Bananas Foster

Mention the city of New Orleans and you will conjure up a plethora of images in folks’ minds.

• Iron-work balconies with ferns
• Mardi Gras
• Saints Football
• Po Boy Sandwiches
• Jackson Square
• The French Quarter
• Bourbon Street
• Crawfish
• Jazz Music
• Gumbo
• Hurricane Katrina
• Beigniets at Café du Monde
• maybe even Arlo Guthrie’s “City of New Orleans”

There is yet another dish that is identified with The Big Easy–Bananas Foster.

Here is a little history I found on a New Orleans visitor’s guide.

In the early 1950s New Orleans was the major port of entry for bananas shipped from Central and South America. Owen Brennan, owner of Brennan’s Restaurant, challenged his chef, Paul Blange, to include bananas in a new dessert. It was Owen’s way of promoting the imported fruit. At the same time, Holiday Magazine asked Owen to provide a new and different recipe to include in an article on the restaurant.

And so was born Bananas Foster, a decadent dessert named for Owen’s friend, Richard Foster, a local civic and business leader. Today, Bananas Foster is served at Brennan’s and other fine New Orleans restaurants. Each year, Brennan’s flames 35,000 pounds of bananas for the famous dessert.

I recently had a wonderful dinner with my quartet and our spouses. (You can check out our Hyper Octave Facebook page here.)

Donna and Jim really put on a spread for us–complete with fresh flowers and candlelight.

Jim made Gumbo with delicious andouille sausage and shrimp. Our salad was mixed greens with avocado and orange slices. That’s Jim’s homemade Orange Vinaigrette you see on the table.

We all enjoyed the dinner and felt like we needed a crane to move from the table. Then, Donna announced dessert!

Could I stuff in any more food?!

Bananas Foster?

Why,YES! Some room suddenly became available!

We all moved to the kitchen for the dessert “show”. I couldn’t pass on the opportunity to feature another guest chef!

Jim started by melting a stick of butter with 1/2 cup banana liqueur.

While Jim took care of the pan, Donna feverishly peeled and quartered 8 bananas.

Into the pan with the bananas!

Add a dash of cinnamon and the brown sugar–TWO cups!

Oops! Wait! The brown sugar was supposed to go in BEFORE the bananas! Donna moved fast to remove the bananas. The brown sugar needed to caramelize a little before adding the bananas.

Let that cook up in order to thicken a little.

Add about 1/4 cup of rum…

and light on fire!

Jim did move his pan out from under the cabinets–just in case.

Unfortunately, none of us thought to turn off the lights until the flames had disappeared. You can kind of see some blue flames in the picture above.

As if all the sugar and butter were not enough, a scoop of vanilla ice cream finished off the dish!

Oh! It was so good! I wanted to lick the plate!

I enjoyed every bite–all 490 calories, not including the ice cream!

Yeah–I went walking the next day!

Thanks so much, Donna and Jim. You treated us like royalty!

serves 8

• 1 stick of butter (could probably get by with 1/2 )
• 1/2 cup banana liqueur
• 2 cups brown sugar
• dash of cinnamon
• 8 bananas, sliced into 4 quarters
• 1/4 cup rum
• Vanilla ice cream

Melt butter in pan with banana liqueur.

Add brown sugar and cinnamon. Allow to caramelize a bit.

Stir in bananas until warmed. (Not too long, you don’t want mushy bananas.)

Warm the rum for a few seconds in the microwave.

This is the time to turn off the lights for added drama!

Add rum to the bananas–immediately light on fire.

After alcohol burns off, serve with vanilla ice cream. Drizzle some of the sauce on top.

 

Corn Chowder

It was a dark and stormy night…

Hmmm, I guess that intro has been done.

We did have some storms last weekend.

Nothing says homecoming half-time show like soaked band members. There had been a sprinkle here and there. But half way through “Crazy Train” the sky just opened up! To their credit, none of the band quit marching until the drum major, my daughter, gave them the signal! Thanks to my friend, Sheri, for sharing this video. (There must have been another band parent sitting behind her while she was filming. Either that, or he was really excited to be in the rain.)

The next day was cool and gray–perfect for Corn Chowder.

Mom used to make Corn Chowder for us all the time when we were kids. As a new bride, 22 years ago, I knew I had to have the recipe.

Here is the copy she gave me. Photocopied from what looks like a novel. I don’t know if her copy was a photocopy or she actually had it in a book.

You can tell I’ve had it a while by how the paper has aged.

For some reason I keep this recipe tucked in a cookbook. I suppose when I got it, I didn’t really have a stash of recipe cards or cookbooks. Seemed like a good enough place for it. I still know where to find it 22 years later! I probably put my hands on this recipe faster tucked in this cookbook than I could if it were in my recipe box! ugh!

The recipe is written in paragraph form. I’ll gather it all together in one place for you at the end–but first, some photos.

The first thing I did was cook up the 8 slices of bacon.

I fried the bacon first so I didn’t have to dirty up a skillet in addition to my soup pot.

Set your yummy bacon aside while you proceed with the recipe. Do the best you can to keep your family from passing by and nibbling on the bacon. (Good luck!)

Of course you are going to save all that lovely bacon grease for later use–green beans, fried eggs, grits, etc.

The recipe calls for 12 potatoes! TWELVE.

Since potatoes come in all shapes and sizes, I found that measurement to be vague. I used about 6-7 cups. Yes, still a little vague but a bit more manageable.

Next the recipe says to cut up 6 onions–SIX ONIONS! Good grief!

I used two. I actually had to have my husband cut up the second one for me. My eyes were watering so bad after one! I can only imagine my condition if I had to cut SIX!

I topped off my 8 cup measuring bowl with the onions.

Dump your potatoes and onions in the same pot you used to cook the bacon. It is perfectly fine if there is a little bacon grease still in there.

Add water to cover the potatoes and onions. I used about 6-7 cups. Boil until veggies soften.

Add the bacon, 3-3 1/2 pts. of milk, and a “tin of corn”.  A tin? What the heck?!

I’m sure that means a can of corn but what size???

I used 4 cups of frozen Schwan’s frozen corn. Their corn is the yummiest! Four cups is probably more than “a tin”. I figured this was CORN Chowder. I would be okay if there was lots of corn.

By the way, 3 pints equals 6 cups.

Once everything is about to boil again, add 1/4 cup cornstarch that has been dissolved in 1/4 cup cold milk.

Finally, add a lump (approximately 2 tablespoons) of butter to the soup.

Salt and pepper to taste. I like lots of pepper in mine. I also added some leftover chicken I had in the fridge just to make the soup a little more substantial.

Serve it up in fancy orange bowls.

or blue. : )

I love these little crocks!

Aren’t they cute with their little lids on there?

I hope you enjoy this recipe–no soggy band members required!

 

Corn Chowder

6-8 strips bacon cut up and fried (I used thick bacon.)

6-7 cups russet potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 medium onions, diced

6-7 cups water

4 cups frozen corn

6 1/4 cups milk, divided

1/4 cup cornstarch

2 Tablespoons butter

salt and pepper to taste

(Optional-diced chicken can be added along with the corn and bacon.)

•In a large pot, cook bacon until crisp. Save drippings for another use. Drain bacon on a paper towel.

•Add potatoes, onions and water to the pot. Boil until potatoes are tender.

•Add bacon, corn and 6 cups of milk. Heat until almost boiling.

•Dissolve cornstarch in 1/4 cup of cold milk. Add to the soup. Keep stirring to avoid scorching the milk.

•Stir in the lump of butter.

•Salt and pepper to taste.

Goes really nicely with salty crackers!

 

 

Cut and Paste Recipe–Kale and Edamame Rice Bowl with Steak

Sometimes two are better than one!

I saw a Martha Stewart recipe that sounded interesting–Poached Egg with Rice and Edamame. However, I was not real sure how my family would react to green stuff with an egg.

Later, I stumbled upon a recipe for Grilled Balsamic Flank Steak. Having just picked up a flank steak on sale, this was perfect! Plus meat helps make up for the fact that there are vegetables on the plate!

So, I cut out parts of the Edamame recipe and pasted in the Flank Steak!

I left out the egg. Maybe I’ll try that another time.

I didn’t have red pepper flakes or purple cabbage, so I left them out, too. Everyone seemed okay with that. I think the pinch of red pepper flakes added with the garlic would be good. I did add some ground red pepper. I added what I thought was a little. It might have been just a little too much.

Edamame and Kale

• 1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1  clove garlic, sliced
  
• 2 cups kale, chopped
  
• 1/2 cup frozen edamame beans, thawed
  
• Coarse salt

In a medium skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic–cook until you start to smell it, about 30 seconds. Add kale and cook, stirring until wilted, about 2 minutes. Add edamame and cook until heated all the way. Season with salt.

Balsamic Flank Steak

• ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp dark brown sugar
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 pound flank steak
• salt and pepper

Mix marinade ingredients together and throw it all in a large ziplock bag. Add the steak. Allow the steak to marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature. You might give it a turn half-way through. Grill until it is cooked like you like. (Some folks prefer a little more pink than others.) Let the meat stand, covered loosely with foil, for about 10 minutes. Cut in thin strips against the grain.

I served it all over brown rice. I’m sure you could serve it without if you wanted. We all like brown rice!

The only issue I had with my frankein-recipe was that it was a little tricky to cut the meat on top of all the other stuff in the bowl. I managed okay though!

Critics’ Corner

Chip: The balsamic marinade on the flat-iron steak gets down into everything for a wonderful blend of flavors and textures.

Megan: I think this is my new favorite way to eat kale. It has just the right amount of kick to offset the green taste.

Katie: I must say, it’s not my favorite thing, but it wasn’t bad, either. It was a new and intriguing idea. I will certainly give it that!

 

Rosettes

Well, we got some freezing rain and sleet today. So, being the good Southern town that we are, everything is shut down for the day.

Here is the view out my back window…

I’ve been saving this recipe for Rosettes for a day such as this! They are best when eaten fresh. With the kids home from school, they were able to gobble them up at the opportune time!

I remember my Mom making Rosettes for us when we were kids. It’s not like she made them all the time or anything, probably on snow days. I guess that is what made them so special.

A Rosette is a similar to a funnel cake you get at the fair. While a funnel cake is squirted into hot oil in a random shape, Rosettes are a specific shape.

Making Rosettes does require specific tools, well, mainly one specific tool. A Rosette Iron!

This one belonged to my grandmother. I suppose you can still find them. Long ago, our iron had different shapes you could screw off and on the end of the iron. Today, we just have the one shape. Who knows what happened to the others. (If you don’t have a Rosette Iron, you could squirt the batter in a random shape into the oil.)

The Rosette Batter is simple enough:

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

Beat together eggs, milk, sugar and salt. Add flour; beat until smooth.

Heat 2 1/2 inches of oil to 375˚. Do be careful!

While you are waiting for the oil to heat up, lay several paper towels on a wire cooling rack. This is where the finished rosettes will drain.

Once the oil is hot enough, place the rosette iron in the oil for 30 seconds.

Blot the iron on a paper towel, then dip it in the batter.

You only want to dip the iron about 3/4 of the way up the sides. DO NOT let the batter go over the top.

Immediately place the iron with the batter on it into the hot oil.

This part gets a little tricky. Don’t try to multi-task while making Rosettes! I had to have my daughter take pictures for me.

Okay, so the iron with the batter is in the oil. It will not take long for the sides of the Rosette to loosen.

As soon as you see this happening, use a fork to pry the Rosette off the iron.

TaDa!

Now, quickly grab some tongs, or I guess you could use that same fork, to flip the Rosette in the oil.

It really goes fast, folks!

Snatch the Rosette out of the oil and place it on the paper towel to drain.

Repeat with the rest of the batter.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving.

This was quite the perfect snack for a wintry day out of school.

Do you have a special “snow day” snack you like to prepare?

 

Lemony Meatball Soup

Sometimes I just get tired of “normal” food. This soup recipe is not your regular run-of-the-mill soup. It has meatballs in it! I tend to think of meatballs with spaghetti or as a party food, not in soup!

I saw this recipe it the October issue of Southern Living. I didn’t follow the recipe exactly, but I think it turned out delicious!

First, make the meatballs.

Chicken Meatballs

1 pound ground chicken

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. lemon zest

1/2 tsp. rosemary

Combine these ingredients and shape into approximately 30 meatballs. Sauté meatballs in 1 Tbsp. olive oil until browned.  Remove meatballs and set aside. You’ll want to do this in a couple of batches. Just use a Dutch oven so you don’t have to wash a skillet.

Next, make the soup.

Lemony Soup

1 medium sweet onion, chopped

3 carrots, sliced thinly

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 (32 ounce) containers chicken broth

5-6 Tbsp. lemon juice

2 tsp lemon zest

1/2 tsp. rosemary

3/4 cup orzo pasta (I didn’t have any orzo. I substituted broken spaghetti for the orzo, and it was still yummy.)

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves

Sauté onion, carrots, and garlic in 1 Tbsp. olive oil until tender.

Stir in broth, lemon juice, lemon zest and rosemary. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.

Add orzo (or spaghetti). Reduce to a simmer for 7-9 minutes, or until pasta is almost tender.

Stir in the meatballs. Simmer another 5-7 minutes or until meatballs are thoroughly cooked.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Top with cheese and parsley.

This soup was so yummy and fresh tasting! I reminded me of this recipe a little.

Critics’ Corner

Chip: This may be the first time I’ve ever had a lemon-flavored soup, but it was fantastic. All of the ingredients worked together well for a unique flavor that was really good.

Megan: It was too lemony for my taste.

Katie: It was rather yummy, but it just had too much of something.

 

Cookie Exchange

I have never been to a cookie exchange. I have never been invited or had one myself–sad, I know. I have always wanted to have one. Christmas seems to be the optimum time for such an event. Fitting one more thing into our hectic schedule seems a bit insane, however! To tell you the truth, I have not even done much baking this season. The kids have done more baking than I have. They have made  Oreo Balls, Rolo Turtles, and Gingerbread cookies.

I thought I would share some cookies that I have made in the past. You might get to go to one of those fancy cookie parties!

Just click the photo to get to the link.

Chocolate Pistachio Cookies

These Chocolate Pistachio Cookies are so yummy! They would be super fancy to take to a cookie exchange!

Chocolate Mocha Chewies

Not the fanciest but delish!

Pink Lemonade Cookies

Pink Lemonade Cookies would be a hit as a non-chocolate selection.

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Garbanzo Beans

In the category of “different”, cookies with beans would definitely win, hands down!

Cake Mix Cookies

You might not want to use red, white and blue sprinkles if you are going to a cookie exchange at Christmas time. I bet you can come up with some different colors though.

Applesauce Cookies with Caramel Frosting

The frosting on these cookies is AMAZING! Just take the frosting and a spoon!

Coconut Lime Cookies

I love citrus!

Oatmeal Scotchies

Oatmeal Scotchies-a classic!

Swirly Cookies

Red, white and green or aqua would be a nice alternative for Christmas Swirly Cookies.

Big Cookie

Make it easy on yourself. Make one giant cookie! It would make a nice hostess gift.

Stamped Cookies

I’m sure you could find a Christmas stamp out there somewhere.

Chocolate-Dipped Tea Bag Cookies

Tea Bag Cookies-perfect for the tea enthusiast!

Falling Leaves Cookies

These would be cute with the same tree on a blue background. Then use snowflakes rather than leaves! Or use green candy melts to pipe a Christmas tree. Little dot sprinkles would look like lights or ornaments.

Pumpkin Spiced Cookies

Pumpkin Spice-hello? YUM!

Cornflake Christmas Trees

Okay, I don’t know if these Cornflake goodies qualify as a “cookie” or not. I doubt anyone would turn them away at a cookie exchange!

Have you ever been to a Cookie Exchange? Was it fun? Tell me all about it!

What kind of cookies are you making this year?