Hallelujah!

It's no secret that I love to bake. You may not know, however, that I'm not a big fan of searching for obscure tools or ingredients needed to bake certain desserts.

Enter: the "Deep Dish 9-Inch Pie Plate."

It has been my foe for many years now, that Deep Dish 9-Inch Pie Plate. I can never find one and it hinders my ability to make many beautiful, delicious, magnificent pies. I'm making a Praline Pumpkin pie for tomorrow night's dessert with friends...and guess what kind of pie plate it requires? That's right...

So...I made a trip to Wal-Mart this evening to buy a few ingredients AND a Deep Dish 9-Inch Pie Plate. Would it surprise you to hear that Wal-Mart doesn't sell Deep Dish 9-Inch Pie Plates?

After walking around the baking section of Wal-Mart for 20 minutes hoping that I had just overlooked the section of glass bake ware containing the Deep Dish 9-Inch Pie Plate, I surrendered and started thinking about what else I could use instead. A cake pan? A spring form pan? Two regular-sized 9-inch pies instead of one deep-dish? Oh, the frustration...

I mosied on over to the freezer section to pick up some pre-made pie crust. And then I saw it:

Mrs. Smith's 9-Inch DEEP DISH Pie Crusts already in an oven-safe (and reusable) pan!

No sooner than I read "Deep Dish" and dove for the freezer door, I heard it. The "Hallelujah Chorus" over the intercom.

Seriously. I'm creative, but not that creative. I could never make this stuff up, people.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! As the "Hallelujahs" kept coming, I held the Deep Dish 9-Inch Pie Crusts in my hands and laughed to myself. The weirdest things happen to me...

I'm going to bake my first Deep Dish 9-Inch Praline Pumpkin pie now.

HALLELUJAH!

When I'm All Grown-Up...

If I had a dime for every time Sam has said something funny in my car on the way to school, I'd be rich. The "oh, man...that's going on the blog" moments are very frequent around here.

This morning's on-the-way-to-school conversation:

Sam: You know, Mrs. Allison...you're beautiful today.
Toby: Bu-ful day, Sin! Bu-ful day!!!
Me: Ahh...thank you boys! You never miss a day of telling me I'm beautiful.
Sam: Yeah. You know, Mrs. Allison...when I'm all grown up and I don't need you anymore, I'll have kids of my own. And maybe you could come babysit them for me while I go to work.
Me: Oh, I would LOVE that!
Sam: I'm glad...because you're a lot of fun. I want my kids to have a lot of fun with you like me and Toby do. And...Mrs. Allison?
Me: Yes?
Sam: Make sure you remember to give me your phone number when I'm a grown-up so I can call you, OK?
Me: Sure thing.

If that doesn't make your heart smile, I don't know what will :)

Broccoli and Cheese Soup

With Fall settling in and Winter on its way, I thought I'd share one of my absolute favorite soup recipes with you. Believe me - this stuff is yummy and so easy to make.


Broccoli and Cheese Soup

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup yellow onions
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Pinch nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups chicken stock or canned, low-sodium chicken broth
1 (16-ounce) package frozen broccoli, thawed
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cups shredded medium Cheddar cheese

In a medium pot, melt the 3 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Add the onions, salt, pepper, and nutmeg and cook, stirring, until soft, 3 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme cook, stirring, until fragrant, for 20 seconds. Add the flour and cook, stirring until the mixture is well blended and smells fragrant, 2 minutes. Slowly add the chicken stock, whisking constantly, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes. Add the broccoli and cook, stirring, until tender, for 10 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat and puree with a hand-held immersion blender. (Alternatively, in batches, puree in a blender or food processor and return to the pot.)

Add the cream and bring to bare simmer to heat through. Add the cheese and cook over low heat, stirring, until melted. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons cold butter, stirring to blend.

Remove from the heat and ladle the soup into bowls.

Here are a few tricks I learned along the way while making this soup:

• Instead of buying 87 cans of chicken broth to fuel my soup-making for the Fall and Winter months, I buy a few jars of chicken and beef bouillon granules (found in any grocery store next to the canned or boxed broths). Add one teaspoon of bouillon granules to one cup of water and - VIOLA! - you have instant broth without spending a ton of money or taking up half of the space in your pantry.
• If you're trying to cut fat, only add half of the cream (or omit it altogether). The cream does add a lot of richness to the soup, but it still tastes good without those extra calories.
• The easiest way I've found to puree the soup is to put it into a blender and hit the "puree" button. So easy. I've also been known to eat this soup without pureeing it. It's chunky, but still very yummy.

Give this recipe a try and let me know what you think!

Bryn and Tiffany

My awesome brother and his sweet girlfriend:

Aren't they precious? Aaron and I love you two!

Crazy

Life has been so crazy lately (hence very few blogs in the past couple of weeks).

Not much time for anything but the boys, Aaron, photography, family, friends, and baking.

If those people and activities are what continue to fill my time through the holidays, I can definitely deal with "crazy" :)

I'll try to fit blogging in somewhere...

Family Photos

This past weekend, Aaron and I went to Charleston to celebrate my parents' birthdays. While we were there, I took some photos of my cousin Hayes, Aunt Krystle, and her fiance Brian.

Here are a few of my favorites:






You can view the rest of the photos from this past weekend at my new SmugMug website.

GO VOTE!

I just voted!

I waited in line at our local fire station for 3 hours in the cold wind and drizzle.
I now have a fever, the sniffles, and am chilled to the bone...

But it was worth it.

GO VOTE!