Cauliflower Cheddar Soup

I have been sick all week and this soup has proved itself as a perfect comfort food. It has a deep savory flavor and will warm up your whole body. Making it did feel a bit time consuming, but I threw it in my slow cooker so I didn't have to actively watch it. I do wish the photos would have turned out a bit better, but let's blame it on my being sick at the time! This recipe makes about three cups and is based off of this Closet Cooking recipe.

Homemade Hamantaschen

Happy Purim, everyone! I am technically not Jewish, but I absolutely love celebrating Jewish food holidays because, honestly, no other culture parties & eats even half as good! I luckily have a good friend, Rebecca, who teaches me a lot about the Jewish culture. Rebecca held a Hamantaschen Baking Party this weekend and it was just so much fun and so delicious. Below is the recipe that we used (modeled closely to this recipe she found online) and some photos of our adventure. One batch made about 20-30 cookies (this will vary slightly depending on the sizes in which you choose to cut them out). Oh, and if you're interested in learning the story behind Purim and the origin of Hamantaschen, click here!

Portobello Sliders

Inspired by a recipe on The Curvy Carrot's website (what an awesome blog name, by the way), I made these delicious and filling portobello sliders for dinner. My recipe is slightly different from hers, since I had different ingredients on hand. My recipe makes four sliders (and feeds about two people). Enjoy!

Guest Post: Veggie Cheddar Soup

Welcome the wonderful Candace as my newest guest blogger! Check out her delicious and cozy veggie cheddar soup recipe, below.
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The huge amount of dairy in this soup makes it deliciously good, if not exactly good for you. The recipe has been developed off of the inspiration of a pureed soup recipe card that my partner and I picked up at our local grocery store. What I like best about it is how customizable it is. For instance, we usually make it with chopped celery but since we went shopping on Super Bowl Sunday, there was nary a stick of celery to be found, so I just added extra potatoes and carrots to this batch. This recipe makes 8-10 servings.

Lover's Pizza

This pizza recipe is perfect for Valentines Day. I first heard of it from my partner when we met. He says that it is ironically called Lover's Pizza because all of the toppings are foods that you certainly wouldn't want to eat before kissing someone. I think it's called Lover's Pizza because it is so delicious that I want to marry it. Either way, I hope that you enjoy!

Irish Cream Chocolate Fondue

My office hosted a Chocolate Potluck for Valentine's Day (how fun is that?!). I decided to bring chocolate fondue (mixed with Bailey's Irish Cream!) and get use out of one of the two fondue pots that I own. Making chocolate fondue isn't too difficult, and it allows for people to dip pretty much anything they want in it. You can tweak the recipe a ton of different ways (swirled with peanut butter, a white chocolate fondue, spicy chocolate, salted caramel, etc.) and you don't really have to have a fondue pot (although I highly recommend it!). This recipe makes one full pot of fondue.

Portobello & Veggie Fajitas

Veggie fajitas are awesome because they're really filling and fairly low-calorie. Not to mention that they're super-easy to cook, as long as you have a skillet of some sort on hand. This is a highly customizable meal, so throw in any types of veggies, top with any type of sauce, and season as mild or spicy as you'd like. This recipe makes two generous servings.

Guest Post: Anthony's Perfect Black Bean Burger, served California-style

Please welcome my partner and best friend, Anthony, for the next guest post! The best part about this recipe is that I got to taste the result and it was incredible. Enjoy!
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This is my favorite recipe for preparing black bean burgers. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I've tasted few recipes that even come close to this one. It's flavor- and texture-rich, and even better, it's easy to prepare. It is the perfect dish to serve with a beer for a late-spring supper on the porch or rooftop, but it is hearty enough to fill you up during these colder months too. This recipe is adapted from "Spiced Black Bean Burgers" at epicurious and makes four burgers.

Mock-Tuna Chickpea Salad

I have heard this concoction called a variety of things (my favorite is coined by The Kitchn as "Chickpea of the Sea"), but whatever you call it, it is a delicious protein-packed meat alternative. This recipe is a modification of a few different recipes including one by The Apron Archives and The V Word. My recipe will make three to four servings.

Guest Post: Corn & Potato Chowder

MV Banks made us an amazing Kale, Mushroom & Sage Risotto a couple months ago and now she's back with delicious Corn & Potato Chowder!
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The Ravens won, and life is grand.  However, I'm not sure I could eat one more bite of anything spiced with Old Bay, one more seven-layer-dip, or guacamole.  I love avocados more than life itself, but after a prolonged football season, I need a break.  With the cold weather that's swung back in town, what you need is a good, hearty soup that'll stick to your ribs and take extra miles on the treadmill to burn off.  Enjoy the warmth of standing over a toasty stove while there's more snow forecast for the week.

Sometimes my recipe inspiration comes from Tastespotting, a dangerous but wonderful food porn site.  Other days, I turn to Google and just type in what's going bad soon in my kitchen, allowing the handy "recipe" search to find my dinner for me.  Today, it brought me here, and I edited it ever-so-slightly.  I love soup, because it really can so easily become a haven for all things looking questionable.

 

Crescent-Wrapped Camembert

I went to a Super Bowl party  last night and was searching for something delicious to bring. I stumbled upon this recipe and decided that baked brie would be a good choice, but even better to wrap it in crescent dough. I came back from the grocery store with camembert instead of brie (whoops), but it turned out very well. Camembert is actually almost exactly the same, except that it has a little stronger flavor and, in this case, that was a good thing! I decided to drizzle the pastry with honey when it came out of the oven, but you can put various jams or fruits on the inside of the dough before you cook it as well. This recipe makes about ten servings or so (depending on how many hungry folks you're feeding).