Curried Cream of Cauliflower and Apple Soup

It's national soup month! It's really cold outside! I have half a cauliflower in my crisper calling out for attention! The perfect storm.

I wasn't sure I was going to like Curried Cream of Cauliflower and Apple Soup, since it involves curry. Curry is hit or miss for me; more frequently a miss. I think what swayed me to try this recipe was the inclusion of apple and the fact that the soup was the consistency of a thin cream rather than a thick porridge. I don't mind a thick soup but was in the mood for something lighter.

Thin Bread and Wheat Thins

Every January I tell myself I'm going to dial back on the carbohydrates. After a December filled with cookies and toffee and caramel corn one doesn't need potatoes and bread and crackers. And then the cold weather comes and my body cries out for carbs. Demands, them really. Macaroni and cheese, scalloped potatoes...bread. And crackers. What's a girl to do? This girl gives in and heads to the kitchen.

Christmas Eats

Just when it seems like your husband is impossible to buy for at Christmas, you come up with the perfect gift. The gift of beef. A couple of weeks ago I decided to order a beef tenderloin for our family of four Christmas dinner (the Sunday before December 25th). Saucy came through with a lovely cut from Metzger's. I dialled up a recipe on Epicurious: Herb and Spice-Roasted Beef Tenderloin with with Red-Wine Shallot Sauce. The verdict? See above. Next year, all my husband wants for Christmas is beef tenderloin.

Smitten

I was pleased to be gifted the Smitten Kitchen cookbook for my birthday this year. I've already dived in and cooked up three recipes from this cookbook since receiving it in early December. And every time I flip through I find myself mentally filing away the next recipe I want to try. Since we were all caked out by the time David's birthday rolled around, I tried out the Brownie Roll Out Cookies as a substitute. They were definitely worthy. Then came Christmas Eve day; a great day (and eve) at our house. Everyone on holiday, no where to go, nothing in particular that needed to be done. I was skimming through Smitten Kitchen and decided that it wasn't enough that we have gingerbread, sugar cookies, two kinds of snack mix, caramel corn and fudge in the house. We needed toffee! And happily I had all of the ingredients needed to make Coffee Toffee.

Spaghetti Tacos

I can't quite remember when it happened, but sometime this year my kids discovered iCarly. First on Netflix, then on YTV. It's a pretty goofy show, and while I don't always love some of the messaging it isn't the worst show they've watched. Fairly early on in the series I remember hearing about spaghetti tacos. This is a meal served to the iCarly gang every once in a while....a dinner option that, much like the show, seems a bit goofy. Then last week both of my boys asked if we could have spaghetti tacos for dinner. And since I like to encourage them to try new foods I said "sure" and set out to find a suitable recipe.

Pumpkin Gingersnaps

Wow. These cookies are such a good idea. I love traditional gingersnaps. I have a go-to recipe for gingersnaps that has never failed me. But today I also had a couple of cups of pumpkin left over from making pumpkin muffins and I wasn't in the mood for pumpkin bread or pumpkin scones or pumpkin soup. These are not things I can sell around my house. But cookies....cookies always sell. So. Pumpkin Gingersnap cookies. So simple yet so effective!

Black Label Chicken Parmesan

This past Saturday I was gifted with a big bag of PC Black Label food products. Which came in very handy Sunday night when I was faced with deciding on dinner. I had my eye on the big box of Fiorelli pasta that was in my bag but wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, since I wasn't on grocery duty this weekend and wasn't sure what I had to work with. Then I spied a jar of Black Label Marinara sauce in the pantry that David happened to pick up, having been inspired by our gift bag bounty. Rustling through the fridge I found some chicken breasts while the freezer yielded up some grated mozzarella cheese. A quick Google search later and I decided on Baked Chicken Parmesan, using my bottled marinara and Fiorelli pasta.