Brocolli Cheddar Soup (Panera Copycat Recipe)

Whenever I eat at Panera, I always order the same thing - a "you pick two" with half of a frontega chicken panini and brocolli cheddar soup.  I really never get anything different because whenever I do, I'm always mad at myself afterwards for not getting my "usual." 

So needless to say, I love Panera's brocolli cheddar soup.  I actually worked at Panera for a summer when I was in high school and I could get all the brocolli cheddar soup I wanted for free!  When I saw a copycat recipe in the Food Network Magazine, I decided I would try to recreate one of my favorite soups at home.

This recipe was pretty easy to make with not too many ingredients, and it was really good.  It didn't quite have the same taste as Panera's brocolli cheddar soup, but it was similiar and very tasty.  This is definitely one that I will be making again.  It doesn't make a huge amount so if you want a big pot of soup you should double the recipe.

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups half-and-half
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
4 7-inch sourdough bread boules (round loaves) - I just served these in a normal bowl w/ bread on the side
4 cups broccoli florets (about 1 head)
1 large carrot, diced
2 1/2 cups (about 8 ounces) grated sharp white and yellow cheddar cheese, plus more for garnish

Directions:

Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven or pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the flour and cook until golden, 3 to 4 minutes, then gradually whisk in the half-and-half until smooth. Add the chicken broth, bay leaves and nutmeg, then season with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, uncovered, until thickened, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the bread bowls: Using a sharp knife, cut a circle into the top of each loaf, leaving a 1-inch border all around. Remove the bread top, then hollow out the middle with a fork or your fingers, leaving a thick bread shell.

Add the broccoli and carrot to the broth mixture and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Discard the bay leaves. Puree the soup in batches in a blender until smooth; you'll still have flecks of carrot and broccoli. Return to the pot. (I pureed the soup in the pot with an immersion blender - be careful not to overdo it if you want any brocolli chunks)

Add the cheese to the soup and whisk over medium heat until melted. Add up to 3/4 cup water if the soup is too thick. Ladle into the bread bowls and garnish with cheese.

Pigs in a Blanket

I have always loved pigs in a blanket.  They're perfect bite-sized snacks, and they're super simple to make.  I made this for lunch on a Saturday, and they really hit the spot.  This isn't really a recipe, but here's how I make them:

Ingredients:

16 little smokies (I always buy the small package)

1 tube of pillsbury refrigerated crescents

2-3 slices of cheddar cheese (or any cheese works good)

ketchup, for dipping

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cut each crescent triangle in half (you can also cut into thirds if you want less bread around each mini hot dog).  Place a small piece of cheese and a sausage on each crescent half and roll up.

Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Homemade Salsa

I'm always looking for good homemade salsa recipes because homemade is soooooo much better than jarred salsa.  I decided to try out this recipe, from Annie's Eats (which by the way has so many great recipes and pictures!).  This salsa tasted really fresh and had quite a kick to it.  It made a ton so next time I'll probably half the recipe. 

Ingredients:

2 fresh jalapeno peppers, seeded and very coarsely chopped

4 teaspoons minced garlic
2 large vine-ripened tomatoes
1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes (I drained the liquid first)
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tbsp. cumin
1/2 sweet yellow onion, coarsely chopped
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cayenne pepper (this will be spicy so if you're not into spicy I would cut this down to 1/4 tsp.)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
juice of one lime
 
Directions:
 
In the bowl of a food processor, combine the jalapenos and garlic. Process until finely chopped. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add all other ingredients to the food processor.
 
Pulse in very brief pulses until the vegetables have reached the size you desire (it only took me a few pulses to get everything combined). Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving to allow the flavors to blend.

Lobster Dinner

Back around Christmas, our grocery store had a great sale on some 5 oz. lobster tails so I decided to pick up a few and stick them in the freezer for another time.  A couple weeks ago, we decided it was time for a "fancy" dinner so I pulled out these lobster tails. 

I think this is the first time I've ever made lobster tails at home, and they turned out pretty good, but I have to say that they weren't quite as good as I had hoped.  They were a little tougher than the lobster I've had at restaurants, but I think that had to do with the quality of the lobster tails.  I liked the way I seasoned and cooked the lobster tail, but I think I'll stick to lobster in restaurants unless I'm going to spend more money and buy some really high quality lobster tails.  These were pretty small lobster tails so I served them with a side of pasta, salad, and breadsticks.

Ingredients:

2 (5 oz.) lobster tails

1 stick of butter

1 tablespoon minced garlic

salt, pepper, and old bay seasoning, to taste

Directions:

Place lobster tails on a baking sheet.  Using scissors, but the top side of the lobster shells lengthwise.  Carefully pull  the shells apart lightly to expose the meat.

Melt the butter and garlic together in the microwave.  Season the uncooked lobster meat with salt, pepper, and old bay seasoning.  Pour half of the butter over the seasoned lobster tails.

Broil the lobster tails in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes, or until lobster meat is opaque.  Serve with the remaining melted garlic butter.

Beer Bread

Let me just start by saying, this beer bread is REALLY good!  I don't think I've actually ever made beer bread before, but we had some good beer in the house and this recipe looked so easy and quick so I decided to make it on a whim.  This is a quick bread so it uses baking powder instead of yeast, which was great because I checked my yeast in the fridge and of course it was expired.

I will say that I had my doubts when I first put it into the oven because it looked too buttery (you pour butter on top before you bake) and I wasn't sure if it would really rise up and be big and fluffy, but sure enough when the timer went off, I opened the oven and it looked perfect :)  It tasted perfect too - the flavor of the beer was subtle, and it was so moist.  You should serve it hot out of the oven because that's when it will taste the best.  I did have a little leftover the next day and it was okay, but not even close to how it tasted the night before.  I found this recipe on another fabulous blog called Erza Pound Cake.  Try this - you won't be dissapointed!

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 bottle (12 ounces) beer (I used a bottle of Goose Island Honkers Ale - use the good stuff, I don't think miller or bud would cut it in this recipe)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup of sharp cheddar cheese, grated (I added this to the original recipe to make it a little cheesy)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients except for the beer and the butter.

Using a wooden spoon, stir the beer into the bowl with the dry ingredients until just mixed.

Pour half of the melted butter into a loaf pan, then spoon the batter into the pan, then pour the other half of the butter on top of the batter.  Slide a baking sheet onto a lower rack to catch any butter that might overflow (I thought about skipping this because I didn't think I would need it, but a little butter did overflow so definitely put the pan underneath).

Bake for 50-60 minutes until golden brown, and serve immediately.

Pork & Shrimp Egg Rolls

To go along with the orange chicken that I made for dinner, I decided to make some homemade egg rolls.  I've been wanting to make homemade egg rolls for awhile because the frozen kind just doesn't cut it for me.  Kevin loves egg rolls so I decided to go ahead and give it a try.

These turned out great!  I will say that it did take me quite a bit of time to make these since you have to roll up each invidual egg roll, (we ended up not eating dinner that night until 9ish instead of 8 like I had planned) but if you have the time it's worth it.  I think my first time making egg rolls was a success.  My only advice is to buy extra egg roll wrappers if you have never made egg rolls before because I tore quite a few of them in the beginning.  It took me awhile to get the rolling down (and you have to be very gentle otherwise the wrappers will tear open), but eventually I got the hang of it. 

I got this recipe from allrecipes.com, and it ended up making about 30ish big egg rolls so I fried up 8 and froze the rest for later (which I would suggest doing - this recipe is definitely a process so you want to make a bunch while you're doing the work so that you can eat these over several meals).

Ingredients:

1 (16 ounce) package wonton wrappers (I bought 2 packages of big eggroll wrappers.....each had 21 wrappers so I definitely needed 2 or else I would have had extra filling)

1 pound lean ground beef (I used ground pork instead)
1 pound shrimp - peeled, deveined and coarsely chopped
5 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 pound bean sprouts
2 green onions
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 medium head cabbage, finely shredded (I just bought a bag of coleslaw mix to make it easier)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon MSG (I omitted, but I seasoned the filling with salt & pepper)
1 cup vegetable oil
Sweet and Sour Sauce, for serving

Directions:

1.  Place cabbage, bean sprouts, celery, and green onions in a large wok and stir fry over a high heat until vegetables cook down. Mix in shrimp, stir fry until cooked (I actually cooked the shrimp seperately to make sure I didn't overcook them.  Then I added into the mixture at the same time as the ground pork).

2.  In a large skillet, brown ground pork. Drain grease and add the meat to the vegetable and shrimp mixture. Continue to fry over a high heat; add oyster sauce, soy sauce, garlic, and salt & pepper. When well blended, remove mixture from heat.

3.  Place a tablespoon of the meat and seafood mixture (or more, depending on how large your egg roll wrappers are) into the center of each egg roll wrapper. Fold the wonton skin over to make a package of the meat mixture inside, and seal the skin closed by dipping your finger in a little water and pressing the ends together (the back of the egg roll wrapper package had instructions for how to roll the egg rolls up).  If you are freezing some of the eggrolls, freeze them on a baking sheet at this time and then move to a ziploc bag once they are frozen.

4.  Fry the wontons in 1/4 inch of vegetable oil until golden brown (if you are frying up the frozen ones, just go ahead and fry them from frozen and just fry a few extra minutes).  Serve with sweet and sour sauce.

Orange Chicken

Lately, I've been having cravings for chinese food.  I used to always order take-out instead of cooking it myself, but ever since I made sweet and sour chicken that turned out really great, I decided to try to make some orange chicken at home.  I found this recipe on a great blog called, What's Cookin, Chicago?  The recipe is originally from the cookbook, Cooking at Home with America's Test Kitchen. 

Overall, I really liked this meal.  I really liked the flavor of using chicken thighs instead of chicken breast in this recipe.....I just think the thigh meat is a little more flavorful and juicy.  The sauce was really good and easy to make.  The only thing that I would do differently next time is to brown the chicken a little longer in the oil to make it crispier and more golden brown.

Ingredients:

Marinade and Sauce-

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skineless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
3/4 cup low sodium chicken broth (I used regular chicken broth)
3/4 cup juice, 1 1/2 teaspoons grated zest and 8 strips orange peel (each about 2" long by 1/2" wide) from 2 oranges (it took me 3 oranges to get enough juice and peel)
6 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup darn brown sugar (I used light brown sugar because that's what I had on hand)
3 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1/4 cayenne
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold water
8 small whole dried red chiles (optional - I omitted)

Coating and Frying oil-
3 large egg whites
1 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
3 cups peanut oil

Directions:

For the Marinade and Sauce-
Place the chicken in a 1-gallon zip-lock bag; set aside. Combine the chicken broth, orange juice, grated zest, vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, and cayenne in a large saucepan (I used a 2 quart saucepan); whisk until the sugar is fully dissolved. Measure out 3/4 cup of the mixture and pour into the bag with the chicken; press out as much air as possible and seal the bag, making sure that all the pieces are coated with the marinade. Refrigerate 30-60 minutes, but no longer.

Bring the remaining mixture in the saucepan to a boil over high heat. In a small bowl, stir together the cornstarch and cold water and whisk the cornstarch mixture into the sauce. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until thick and translucent, about 1 minute. Off the heat, stir in the orange peel and chiles, if using; set the sauce aside.

For the Coating-
Place the egg whites in a pie plate, and using a fork, beat until frothy. In a second pie plate, whisk together the cornstarch, baking soda and cayenne until combined. Drain the chicken in a colander or large mesh stainer; thoroughly pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Place half of the chicken pieces in the egg whites and turn to coat; transfer the pieces to the cornstarch mixture and coat thoroughly. Place the dredged chicken pieces on a wire rack set over a baking sheet; repeat with the remaining chicken.

To Fry the Chicken-
Heat the oil in an 11-to 12-inch dutch oven or staight sided saute pan with at least a 3 quart capacity over high heat until the oil reaches 350 degrees on an instant read or deep fry thermometer. Carefully place half of the chicken in the oil; fry to golden brown, about 5 minutes, turning each piece with tongs halfway through cooking (next time I'll fry a bit longer than 5 minutes to get a good golden brown color). Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Return the oil to 350 degrees and repeat with the remaining chicken.

To Serve-
Reheat the sauce over medium heat until it simmers, about 2 minutes. Add the chicken and gently toss until evenly coated and heated through. Serve immediately.