As the weather cools down, hot soup is a very easy and filling meal. This recipe has been adapted from a recipe that Mom M. gave to Angie who passed it on to me.
The turmeric is very subtle and more could be added easily without overpowering the other flavors. If you like ginger and garlic, go sparingly at first. They are not super strong, but will quickly overpower the chicken.
Serve as is with some fresh bread.
There are so many uses for hummus! This is just a starting point recipe for reference. Adjust the seasonings, garlic and tahini to your personal taste.
This is an easy nut spread to make if you are just learning. It is not at thick as store bought Nutella, but it tastes very similar. It is probably a very good thing that hazelnuts are not super cheap, otherwise, we would make this a lot more often than we do.
Once upon a time, before internet and being able to find restaurants easily on a phone, a small family was traveling late at night through a strange city. A pregnant wife told her husband that she REALLY wanted wonton soup.
Sweet husband found hungry wife a Chinese restaurant and came back with a huge container of soup. Wife happily ate most of the soup, remembering to share a little.
Wonton soup has always been a favorite comfort food. I suspect it probably was because my dad would often take us for Chinese food for super special occasions.
Many years ago, Andrea discovered “creamy puffs”. After her first taste she insisted that she wanted to learn how to make them. So, at the age of 9, Andrea learned how to make “French Profiteroles“.
Years later, Andrea still loves cream puffs and insisted that we make them to celebrate National Cream Puff Day (2 Jan).
Fill the puffs with vanilla ice cream for french profiteroles. Filling with whipped cream makes them cream puffs. Either way is wonderful!
If you want to make these gluten free, substitute the flour with your favorite gluten free flour*. They do not puff up as nicely, and they did not brown the same, but they taste great!
Kahlua is a coffee flavored liqueur that is used in tiramisu. I am sure that it is used in many other recipes, but tiramisu is our favorite way to use it.
Before getting married, I worked as a third grade paraprofessional. My first year was wonderful. The teachers used me as an under teacher, working with different students and using my strengths to help the classes. Since I am right handed, I learned to write on a chalk board and I taught cursive that year.
Since I interacted with the students so much, they spoiled me often. At Christmas, Brianna brought me a batch of this candy. I liked it so much, I requested a recipe. I have made this recipe almost every year since. Now Andrea makes this recipe also.
Home made noodles are much better than store bought. They take a little extra time but are easy and very good. We always use a noodle maker since we have one, but rolling the dough by hand does not take a lot of time.
While the recipe says to let the noodles dry, you can cook them right away if you want. They are excellent with butter and garlic, with your favorite sauce or in chicken broth.
For colorful variety, add some pumpkin puree or spinach to the dough. You will need to add extra flour, but the different colors and taste is fun.
Pasties are popular in Calument where Daddy spent a lot of time growing up. He said that Petila’s taxi in Calumet would often take his family to McLain park and then come back at a prearranged time to take them home. His grandmother made them also. There are many recipes for pasties, but all are similar.
Feel free to experiment with the basic recipe. We often make the pasties with cubed meat instead of ground. Be careful not to over stuff the crust, it is much better to have leftover filling! If you can find it, replace part–or all– of the carrots with rutabaga for a more traditional taste.
When serving, I like them best with a little extra butter. Some people serve them with gravy. My mom eats them with ketchup.
I never had ginger beer until we lived in Swaziland. It was a great drink for hot days, but we did not make it often. The recipe our friend gave us was very good but required the mix to ferment a few days before drinking. We rarely planned far enough ahead, or we let it sit too long, so enjoying ginger beer was rare.
Then we discovered this recipe. We often make extra base to freeze. It defrosts quickly and is a nice beverage to enjoy on lazy summer days.
We prefer this with sugar, but it also tastes good with raw honey.
Another version that we enjoy is replace the water with very strong peppermint tea that has been cooled and strained.
