Author Archives for Shannon

White Chocolate Mocha

Did you do a lot of baking around the holiday and still have partial bags of chocolate chips laying around your cabinets? Well I do. What do you do with those leftover chips? Sure, I could combine them all into a fabulous mega-chip cookie but I’m a bit cookied out after the holiday and need a break from that. I’m not inclined to snack on white chocolate the way I might regular chocolate so when I came across this recipe for White Chocolate Mocha, it seemed like the most perfect way for me to a)use up those chips and b) warm up!

White chocolate and milk are melted together with a little coffee, a tiny bit of rum, and a tinier bit of vanilla. The trivial amount of rum isn’t significant enough for me to consider this an alcoholic beverage and while you could leave it out, it adds yet another layer to this mocha that feels so deep and complex. I’m not usually the biggest of white chocolate fans. I mean, I like it but I’ll generally take any brown chocolate over white any day. But this! Oh my goodness! I can’t even begin to tell you how much I loved this. It was so boldly flavorful without being too sweet or too rich. The coffee flavor was just subtle enough to make this a mocha without making it overwhelming. This mocha was like getting a warm, sweet, childlike hug before bed. Please, if you have any white chocolate lingering in your cabinets, make this as soon as you can!

In a large heavy saucepan combine white chocolate and 2/3 cup of the milk. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until chocolate is melted. Add remaining milk.

Cook and stir over medium heat until heated through. Stir in coffee, rum, and vanilla.

Serve in mugs topped with marshmallows.

Additions: None

Omissions: None

Substitutions: None

Overall Rating: Love It

Source: Better Homes & Gardens magazine

Mexican Chicken Lime Soup

Sometimes, I like the cold. Sure, you think I’m crazy and that’s okay but as tired of the cold as I get by the end of winter, there are those moments when I enjoy it. I don’t like bundling up in a thick coat and layer myself up with gloves, a scarf and hat only to drive around town running errands feeling like Randy from A Christmas Story. But I do like the way the cold air makes me feel especially like on a clear and sunny blue sky day. The cold can be invigorating. It can also be brutal, I know. Cold days are the quintessential time to make a warm and spicy soup like Mexican Chicken Lime Soup.

Chicken thighs are cooked with onions and garlic before simmering with broth and chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Cilantro, lime juice, avocado, and crushed tortilla chips add even more flavor to this comforting soup which really warms you up from the inside out. The chipotle peppers in adobo sauce really give this soup a vibrant kick while the avocado provides a creamy coolness. Also, the lime juice adds a welcome hint of citrus. Corn, black beans, or red and green pepper would be welcome additions but are unnecessary. This quick soup is flavorful enough that you’ll enjoy its bold simplicity. Go ahead, bundle up and eat this soup outside in the cold. Just kidding.

In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, lower the heat to medium and cook until the onion begins to brown, about 7 minutes. Increase the heat to high, push the vegetables to the side of the pan, add the chicken and cook, stirring, until golden, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the chipotles and adobo sauce, then stir in the chicken broth.

Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, skimming any foam. Stir in the cilantro and lime juice; season with salt and pepper.

Place 2 avocado slices in each of 6 soup bowls and pour in the soup. Top with the tortilla chips.

Additions: None

Omissions: None

Substitutions: None

Overall Rating: Like It

Source: Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine

Pecan-Pumpkin Drops with Sriracha-Honey Butter

What is it about winter that makes baking so appealing? By the time the holidays roll around, I’m dying to start cookie baking. And even though that is all done with now and our lives are back to normal, baking is still appealing. Is it because of the weather? When it’s warm out, we don’t want to stay in the house, let alone to do something that requires turning on the oven. But in the winter, it just feels so right. Is it nesting? These Pecan-Pumpkin Drops didn’t require me hitting the grocery store for ingredients and neither did the Sriracha-Honey Butter I smeared on them! This combination of recipes was easy and didn’t require me going out in the cold for anything!

Pumpkin and pecans, along with a little nutmeg, make up the primary flavors in these petite little muffins which are a perfect on their own or as an accompaniment to your winter meal. Served warm with a little butter or cream cheese would be oh-so-lovely but the sriracha-honey butter I smeared mine with gave these muffins another jolt. The sweet and spicy butter blended with the mellow pumpkin makes for a flavorful melt-in-your-mouth combo. Eat these muffins, and the butter, however you like. Just make them. Both. And stay warm!

Preheat oven to 425°F. Weigh or lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in a bowl, stirring with a whisk; cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal.