Monthly Archives: December 2009

Sopa Caldosa, A Spanish Soup with Chorizo and Cabbage

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 This is the Spanish soup recipe that I alluded to in my Spanish Deviled Egg post on Monday that will launch the alledged “fit”.  Soupa Caldosa, a spanish themed soup with chorizo and cabbage.

The comments I typed into the notes section of my computer recipe program indicate the following about this Cabbage Soup:

  1.  That I’ve had this recipe since 1999
  2. “Outstanding”
  3. This is a  popular soup from the Oaxaca Region of Mexico
  4. It features a coarsely ground sausage called chorizo, (pronounced chor-EE-zoh)

#4 indicates to me that “chor-EE-zoh” must have been brand new on my radar in 1999 and that I didn’t want to pronounce it wrong when I approached the meat counter.   There are no notes indicating the origin of this recipe.

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Merry Christmas, and My First Giveaway

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I can’t believe I’m nearing my 100th post.  To celebrate, I’ll be giving away one of my favorite cookbooks, Colorado Cache.  The Junior League of Denver has been putting out some very popular and highly sought after cookbooks since 1978.  The first being Colorado Cache. Proceeds from the sale of  these cookbooks are all returned to our community for charitable purposes.

Colorado Cache is a collection of over 700 recipes selected from approximately 2,800 submitted.   Each recipe was taste tested and enthusiastically approved by 12 separate tasting committees.

 

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Homemade Limoncello Recipe

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Homemade Limoncello recipe.  So easy, it just takes a little time. Look at these beautiful little frosty bottles of Limoncello. I wrote about making this homemade brew back in September and you can review the project by clicking HERE.  This concoction has been  mysteriously steeping for three months in a dark corner of the basement.   Every so often I’d swirl the gallon cauldron and watch the lemon flavor ooze out of the lemon peels and into the vodka.  I must admit,  the suspense got the best of me and I did sneak a little taste the first week of December.  Delicious.   Finally the day arrived and it was ready for bottling and I simply strained the liquid through some cheesecloth, tossed out all of the lemon peel and then transferred the liqueur to these little bottles.   I’m so tickled with myself that I’ll be starting another batch right after Christmas.  I think I had enough for about 8 small gifts. (plus a mason jar size for us)

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NaNa’s Fudge, Old Fashioned Fudge Recipe

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This recipe has been in our family for as long as I can remember. I think it started out as my mom’s recipe and then perfected by my Aunt Lois. It’s an old fashioned fudge recipe and  I have many fond memories of mom making this fudge and placing it in pretty little Christmas boxes for gifts.

My cousin Brooke even entered this recipe in the Kansas State Fair when she was 11 years old and ended up winning the Junior Division Sweepstakes.

The recipe was published in “A Century of Good Cooking, Kansas State Fair” cookbook, and she won 30 pounds of sugar. :-)

So with all of that said here’s the award-winning recipe.

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NaNa’s Fudge
Author: 
Recipe type: Holiday Candy
 

Ingredients
  • 1 stick butter
  • 4½ cups sugar
  • 1 can evaporated milk
  • 1 12 ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 12 ounce bag milk chocolate chips
  • 14 ounces marshmallow creme
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions
  1. Mix butter, sugar and milk in saucepan. Turn heat on high. Continually stir and bring to rolling boil. Continue stirring for about 5 minutes or until it gets to a “soft ball” stage. Remove from heat; stir in the vanilla, chocolate chips, and marshmallow creme. Mix until well blended then add nuts. Pour into a buttered 9 x 13 inch pan. Cool and cut into squares. I don’t have a candy thermometer, so “soft ball” stage means that when you drop a small amount of the candy liquid into a cold cup of water, it will form into soft ball

 NaNa is Brooke’s name for her grandmother, and my Aunt, Lois.

Nana’s Fudge…It’s What’s For Christmas

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Shrimp and Pasta Recipes, Orange Shrimp with Basil Tangerine Pasta

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I’ve been meaning to post this for days now, but it appears I’ve become slammed!  Not sure how it happened so quickly; slammed with work, slammed with entertaining my mom while she’s here; slammed with preparing for the holidays; throw in a few parties and my poor little blog has been swept into the corner.  :-/  I think there’s a lot of you out there that must be a lot more organized than me.   Everyone is baking truck loads of cookies, gallons of Holiday beverages, already testing recipes for Christmas Day, taking pictures of beautifully decorated homes, leisurely photographing pets…I mean c’mon people!

This is a continuation of a post from last Monday. It seems that everything from my kitchen that day had an orange theme.

If I were to answer my own “Just Grilled” questionnaire I would answer the question “Favorite Local Product” with Pappardelle’s Pasta.  Pappardelle’s is a pasta company started right here in Denver specializing in flavored pastas.  I love, love, love their products and their website full of delicious and unique recipes.  Take a look at www.pappardellespasta.com.    So many interesting ideas for sauces  for each of their pasta creations.

There is a store front location near the Cherry Creek shopping area where you can purchase Pappardelle’s year-round.  But, since I seem to be perfectly happy in my little burbs bubble, (I mean we have a Target, a Whole Foods, a liquor store, a pizza place AND NORDSTROM within just a few miles – what else does one need???)  I don’t drive into the city as much as I should.  Instead, I wait until the very last day of our Highlands Ranch farmers market, and buy a trunk full of their pastas to have over the winter.  It’s  so much fun to pull out a package and go to their website for the recipe.  Always delicious and pretty easy.

My last adventure with Pappardelle’s was Orange Shrimp with Basil Tangerine Pasta.  ohmygosh YUM!  This dish is straight from their website.  I made no changes, I can’t take credit for any tweaking or ruining improving the recipe at all.   With all that said, I don’t want to be in trouble with my favorite Denver food vendor, so will just direct you to the website to take a look at the recipe.  Enjoy and while you’re there take a look around.  http://www.pappardellespasta.com/recipes/recipe_basil_tangerine.php

Shrimp and Pasta Recipes…They’re What’s For Dinner

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Orange Slice Bars Recipe

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There are a couple of directions I could go for a clever opening to this post using references to “orange”.  First of all, it’s 5 degrees and snowing in Denver, so 1) I could reference dreaming of Florida sunshine and Sunkist oranges…

2) Yesterday the Broncos played Kansas City, c’mon orange you glad you cheered for the Orange and Blue since we beat the Chiefs to a pulp!

I just can’t  I think of anything devilishly clever so I’ll just can the idea because I can’t concentrate… ha..ha…Get it??? I know, I know, you’re laughing so hard you pithed your pants.

When’s the last time you had some of those sugary gooey orange slice jelly candies???

My mom has had this recipe for as long as I can remember. These are called Orange Slice Bars and they are goooo-ood.  Always a crowd pleaser.

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Pear, Walnut, Maytag Blue Cheese Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette

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Pear, walnut, Maytag blue cheese salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette.  A perfect salad for the holidays.

A few weeks ago, we were invited to our friends Tom and Kathy’s house for a dinner party. This is the scene of last Summer’s “Burb’s BBQ”, a blog post that you can review by clicking HERE. You really should take a look at that Summer party post because lurking there is Kathy’s famous shrimp appetizer recipe, a MUST try.

And darn it, Dan and Teri couldn’t make it to this gathering because Teri was ill. We thought about calling the whole thing off, but then realized it was our responsibility to drink the wine we had so carefully picked for the evening, so went ahead without them.

Kathy asked me to bring a salad, so I chose this pear salad with cranberry vinaigrette. Very festive for this time of year, and absolutely delicious I must say, and the Maytag Blue Cheese is a killer in this.  I like to buy the red skinned pears, I just think it makes for a prettier presentation. Below you’ll find pictures of the party and the rest of the dinner. We had a fabulous evening.

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