Buttered Pea Soup

You'll be seeing green with this delicious buttery pea soup. A perfect soup so easy and so rewarding to make, this is sure to be a staple in anyone's kitchen. 

Ingredients:

Makes 4 servings

2 1/2 cups frozen peas

2 1/2 cup iceberg lettuce

1 clove garlic, chopped

Parsley for garnish

3 cups chicken broth

1 tbsp butter

Salt (if desired)

Sour cream (optional

In a large pan on a medium heat, add the butter and garlic and sautee for about two minutes. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add the peas (frozen still) and lettuce, simmer on low heat for 10 minutes. Add the mixture to a blender (if you can't fit the entire batch into the blender, cut it in half and set aside to blend.) Blend until smooth and serve as is or with a dollop of sour cream. See you soon!

Reuben-Styled Crostini

Sure to delight any corned beef fan, these little savory nuggets are great for football games or for any occasion! As you might have seen previously on my blog, the directions are the same for the Salmon-Tomato and Cranberry Peanut baguettes, however, for these I used about 1/3 of a baguette so I could use the rest of it for the other toppings. Follow me and let's head over to the ingredient list! 

Ingredients:

1-2 oz of cooked corned beef, thinly sliced

1 drop of Dijon Mustard

1/2 tsp Sauerkraut

Add the dijon mustard to the sliced baguettes and add one layer of the corned beef. Garnish with sauerkraut and serve with caution, these little sandwiches will go fast!

Cranberry-Fig Jam

This is a great holiday jam, but it's really more of a mix than a jam as I left most of the figs and cranberries in solid form. Perfect for a spread on top a baguette or can be used in place of jelly with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Yum!

4-5 oz packaged figs
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 orange
1 tbsp honey

In a medium pan on medium heat, squeeze the orange juice and add the figs, cranberries, and honey. Simmer for 10-12 minutes, stirring frequently. After the mixture has cooled, put it in a jar and store it in the fridge for easy use. Enjoy!

Party starters: Cranberry Peanut and Salmon-Tomato Crostini's

These are delicious little bites of heaven, Cranberry Peanut and Salmon-Tomato crostinis. I will warn you though, the pictures show the bread cut a little too thick. I advise cutting the slices into 1/2 inch or even 1/4 inch pieces to make them easier to go down and increasing the amount the recipe yields. You can use the one baguette for both the Salmon and the Cranberry mixture or, if you're serving more than 4 people, double the recipe. 

Ingredients:

1 french baguette, sliced into 1/2-inch slices

Butter for spreading

2 oz cream cheese

4 oz cooked salmon, sliced thinly (or canned-salmon)

1/2 thinly sliced tomato

Dill

Salt and Pepper

Parsley

Cranberry-Peanut Crostini:

1/4-1/2 cup Fig and Cranberry jam (recipe on blog)

2 oz cream cheese

Crushed peanuts for the topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil, lather the baguette slices with butter on both sides. Cook for 7 to 10 minutes until golden brown. Divide the baguettes evenly and spread with cream cheese. For the Salmon-Tomato, add thin slices of tomato to the cream cheese and layer with a little bit of salmon to cover the top. Sprinkle with dill, salt, and pepper and garnish with a parsley leaf.

For the Cranberry: Spread the cream cheese on top and add the fig-cranberry jam. Sprinkle with the crushed peanuts and serve.

Enjoy!

Crab Cilantro Hummus Wraps

I call this my tortilla sushi because, depending on how many people you're serving, it can be cut into smaller "sushi" sized segments or you can simply roll it up and serve it like a wrap. Great for one or ten people, just adjust the recipe accordingly!

Serves 2

1-8 oz package artificial crabmeat or  regular crab meat

Half an avocado

1 tsp pesto

1 tsp lemon garlic hummus (recipe follows)

1 tbsp mayonnaise

Cilantro

1 thinly sliced tomato

Small tortillas

In a medium bowl, combine the crab, avocado, pesto, hummus, mayonnaise and cilantro. Mix thoroughly till you have a chunky consistency. Add half the mixture to a small tortilla, line up the thinly sliced tomatoes next to the mixture and roll the tortilla tightly. Cut into 1 to one and a half inch segments and serve.

Lemon Garlic Hummus

A lot of hummus recipes call for tahini, well, I am a poor college student and can't afford a nine dollar jar so I created this recipe which tastes just as great as tahini-infused hummus but better because you'll sleep better knowing you spent under $10 for this recipe!

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas, partially drained

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2-1/2 tbsp lemon juice (about half a lemon)

4 oz cream cheese

2 tbsp chickpea juice (from the can)

1 tsp paprika

¼ tsp salt

A sprinkle of chile powder

Minimal Instructions: 

In a blender or food processor, combine all the ingredients and blend till smooth!

Fried Chicken a la Saltine Crackers

Hello again! Here we have an American classic: Fried chicken with mashed potatoes and a hearty side of green beans. I'm just going to focus on the chicken since mashed potatoes and green beans are a kitchen staple I'm sure you've all mastered ;-) I used Saltine Crackers for this recipe since I didn't have bread crumbs but it turned out tastefully surprising with a nice added crunch. 

Ingredients:

4 boneless chicken breasts, thawed

1 cup ground Saltine Crackers or any regular white table crackers

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup milk

1 egg

1 cup vegetable oil

1 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp garlic salt

1 tsp black pepper

Salt

Preparation:

Add the crackers, flour, paprika, garlic salt, black pepper, and salt to a shallow dish. In another bowl, whisk the milk and egg. Heat a medium to large pan with the vegetable oil on medium heat. 

You can pound the chicken to make it thinner, but I find this step unnecessary but unless you like your chicken this way, skip it. Bathe the chicken in the milk and egg mixture then transfer it to the cracker and flour mixture. Cover it thoroughly, you can pile it on to make your chicken extra crispy. Place the chicken in the hot oil for 5 minutes on each side and serve!