Hey there, Chicago! I hope you’re staying as warm as you can. Today is one of those days where I feel extremely fortunate that I work from home. The “feel like” temperature this morning was -51 degrees and letting the pups out I felt like I had turned into a human icicle. This is dangerous cold so I genuinely hope you all are staying warm and avoiding the cold as much as possible if you’re experiencing this polar vortex. On the bright side, this is perfect soup weather! Nothing warms you up more than a screaming hot bowl of soup, something I’m going to miss in the gorgeous 60 and 70 degree Texas weather in a few days. Fingers crossed my flight gets out tomorrow night!
Read MoreDid you know that January is National Soup Month? It’s my favorite thing about this first month of the year. That and it’s usually the first of our two wintriest months. I’m a sucker for the season of hibernation. Between the chunky, cozy sweaters and overdose on comfort food, it’s the best time of the year (other than the holidays, of course). Soup month being in January is also pretty convenience because it’s easy to make soup recipes that are comforting but still good for you. It helps keep you on track with all those new year resolutions. To give you a little soup-spiration, the new recipes coming on Tuesdays this month will all be for soup! I focused on a specific adjective for each recipe: classic, creamy, meaty, and vegetarian. Today’s kicks the month off with a classic but hearty spin…
Read MoreHappy Monday! I hope your week is getting off to a productive start. It’s been awfully cold around these parts lately. Dinners have been all about soup in my house. Not only is soup easy to make and a one-pot-dish, it’s comforting and warming which is all you need on a cold night. The sun starts setting around 3:30 and is down completely by 5 which is crazy but I love it. I’m still adjusting to the early nights and trying not to go to bed by 8PM but I’m all for the arrival of winter. It’s the season of bundling up, fires in the fireplace, hot cocoa, Christmas music, and comfort food. You can add this recipe for Sweet Potato Soup to your collection of cozy cold weather soups too! It’s a good for you but still stick-to-your-ribs kind of soup…
Read MoreIt’s a brisk morning as I write this post and the final sips of my morning coffee have gone cold. I’m fighting to keep my eyes open, my sleeves are pulled as far over my hands as possible without impeding my ability to type and all I can think is that I could really use a nap. It’s not even 9AM but the call of a warm blanket is strong. Do you ever have one of those days where it’s the perfect weather outside and energy in the air to chill on the couch and watch Halloween Baking Championship reruns on the Food Network? I’ve taken one too many days off this month though and really need to put my head down and be productive. I guarantee it will include another cup of coffee...this time, one that I’ll hopefully finish before it gets cold…
Read MoreThere are certain foods that are quintessentially comforting. Soup, ice cream, cereal...sandwiches. They tend to multiply as we get older and our palates crave more flavors and textures but the foods we grow up with as kids tend to stick with us forever. Sandwiches came in many different forms while I was growing up. Peanut butter and jelly for snack time...cut in triangles, of course. Grilled cheese with tomato soup on brisk afternoons. Egg sandwiches for a great breakfast during high school and later college. Turkey sandwiches for school lunches with Hellman’s Mayo...not Miracle Whip. I could go on for days…
Read MoreGood morning from Syracuse, New York! Things have been a tad quiet lately while I’ve been getting ready to embark on my two-week long trip to the northeast. It’s been exhausting so far, I won’t lie but still so much fun. I’ve already eaten myself into a coma and hunted down several coffee shops to visit. A long walk on an unexpectedly hilly campus stretched out my legs after twelve hours in a car. Yes, twelve long hours where a few naps took the place of good night’s rest. Needless to say, as I write this my reward for productivity is sleep. I could have napped as soon as we arrived at the hotel on Friday afternoon but I’m the kind of person who prefers to push through the rest of the day and get back to a regular schedule as quick as possible…
Read MoreHappy Monday! If you came around these parts over the weekend, you would have seen the first part of this recipe in the Farmers Market Series, Roasted Beet & Fried Goat Cheese Salad. Knowing that the salad needed an entree to go alongside it, I wrote a recipe for Maple Roasted Pork Tenderloin. Instead of merging the two recipes for one post, it seemed like a great idea to turn it into a two-parter…
Read MoreHappy 1st day of fall!! The non-official first day is always September 1st in my book but it’s nice to finally be on the same page with mother nature, sort of. We have had a wicked hot week but the weather cooled beautifully last night and today is simply gorgeous. The breeze and the air is nice and cool but the sun is still warm in a non-suffocating way. As I write this, I’m sitting outside on my back patio with my feet up and my computer on my lap soaking up these last rays for what will hopefully become a late season tan. My main focus the last two weeks has been planning my fall trip next month to the northeast and writing has taken a backseat unfortunately. However, I’m very excited to get back to it starting with a two-part recipe! I’ve never done one of these before but it happened naturally as I was writing recipes for the next few weeks. The Roasted Beet & Fried Goat Cheese Salad featured today using farmers market ingredients needed a main entree to go alongside it and nothing sounded more delightful than a Maple Roasted Pork Tenderloin. Instead of bundling these two recipes together, especially because the salad has a few steps to it, I decided to split them and use the pork in Monday’s Sunday Supper Series to close it out.
Read MoreAnother week, another Monday. Tell me if I’m wrong but I feel like Mondays are not the worst day of the week, Tuesdays are. Mondays you can expect to dread. It’s the first day back at work after the weekend but at the same time, you’re coming off a super relaxing Sunday (hopefully). The real worst day of the week is Tuesday. Yesterday was probably an exhausting, soul sucking Monday with little to no recovery time and you still have four full days (three if it’s later in the day) till the weekend. Monday mornings I feel refreshed and motivated to get a jumpstart on the week. Tuesdays I want to dig a hole and not come out until 3PM on Friday. What do you think? Are you a Monday hater or a Tuesday hater?
Read More