Spicy Sweet Potato Bisque with Smoky Bacon

It's been a while since I shared a recipe on this blog so I thought I would share this tasty soup I made last night. I based it on a soup special Michael and I had last weekend at Annabelle Lee's after Crafty Bastards. It was the perfect thing to eat after a long day of hard work. It's smoky, sweet, a little bit spicy and perfectly comforting on a crisp fall evening.

Spicy Sweet Potato Bisque with Smoky Bacon
makes 4 servings

8-12 oz. thick sliced apple wood smoked bacon, roughly chopped(I used a whole 12 oz. package of Trader Joe's brand but you could use less if you don't want that much bacon)
1 yellow onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Tbs. dried sage
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/4-1/2 tsp. red Cayenne pepper (adjust depending on how spicy you like your food)
2 lbs. sweet potatoes peeled and roughly chopped
3 cups low sodium chicken stock plus 1 cup of water
1 Bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the bacon in the bottom of a large, heavy bottomed stock pot. When the bacon has rendered some of it's fat, add the onion and continue to cook until the bacon is lightly browned and the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant. Add the dried spices and stir to combine. Add the sweet potatoes, stock and water and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium and simmer until the potatoes are soft when pierced with a fork. Remove from heat and use an immersion blender* to puree the soup, leaving some of it chunky for a rustic feel. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
*If you don't own an immersion blender you can also puree in batches using a regular blender but be very careful of splattering....the soup is HOT!

This soup is really filling and delicious paired with a rustic rye bread for an easy supper. It's also pretty healthy aside from all the bacon:)

Photo love

Ok, ok, ok! I didn't forget about you promise....it's just that things have been kinda busy around here and the blog had fallen off of my "to do" list. I'm putting it back on though....I swear! I've been playing around with a little more white clay, porcelain this time. It's not quite there yet but it behaved way better than the little loafers. I was getting some major weird cracking and it didn't like the pressure of me printing on it AT ALL. The porcelain is better at that but I still haven't gotten the glazing down yet. It takes such a thin coating for the prints to not run but then it can get too thin and the surface doesn't feel comfortable for use....if you know what I mean. I'll be taking some pics of the latest pieces soon but for now I'll just share this photo I took today for my Lillyella post that goes up tomorrow.
You can check it out...here (scroll down to Slow Food in a Modern Kitchen for previous posts) but you have to wait until tomorrow for my popcorn post! Really I'm just liking this picture right now and am feeling pretty proud of myself for taking a nice shot (among many many more that were not nice at all) that's kinda food photographer-ish. Maybe all those hours pouring over food blogs and home magazines "in the name of research" has finally paid off!

Cardamom Marshmallows part 2

This morning I un-molded my marshmallows and cut them into squares perfect for floating on top of yummy hot beverages. They are so delicious! The perfect amount of flavor and a beautiful texture, they truly melt in your mouth.
A quick toss in powdered sugar to prevent sticking and they are ready to float on my morning coffee.
I gave a few away to my friend Ali from Pistol Stitched. She was working down the street and when I delivered them she promptly popped one in her mouth, so irresistible. M and I ate a few through out the day but the rest are for our dinner with friends on Wednesday. I'm sure they will enjoy this yummy treat in an evening cup of coffee.
I would highly recommend giving this tasty treat a try in your own kitchen, I think a box of these would make a super gift for your valentine! Imagine the flavor possibilities....

Cardamom Marshmallows part 1

This summer I had the pleasure of attending a show in Brooklyn where Whimsy and Spice was vending a few spots down from us and I made sure to bring home a package of their Cardamom Marshmallows which we enjoyed floating in hot cups of coffee for the next week. I have had the flavor in my memory ever since and so tonight decided to try my hand at making my own cardamom marshmallows to take to a dinner with friends on Wednesday night. I don't know if they will be quite the same but I'm excited to try them! I have done a bit of research on making marshmallows (yes, I am that girl) and most recipes seem to be pretty similar but the one I used tonight (no, it's not my first time....don't judge!) can be found here.You will need a candy thermometer to make these but other than that these are a pretty simple treat to make. The first time I made marshmallows it was a super sticky mess but this time went pretty smoothly. I'm not sure if it was due to the change of recipe or just that I knew what to expect and practice makes perfect! I added 1 tsp. of cardamom powder to the gelatin mixture at the beginning of the recipe.

Make sure to prepare your baking pan with parchment and lots of pam so the marshmallow mixture doesn't stick. You will have to leave it out overnight to dry, mine is on the counter as we speak so tomorrow I will let you know how the final product comes out.
I'm such a big fan of marshmallows, I could eat them straight from the bag and have been known to make hot chocolate purely for eating the warm gooey marshmallow topping, and then putting more on only to eat it right off again!
Tomorrow I will unmold them and toss in powdered sugar. Look forward to some better photos as well, my night photography isn't very good!

Snowballs

So I've actually done quite a bit of baking this year, mostly due to craft related responsibilities (like baking 100 chocolate chip cookies for the vendor lunches at Pile of Craft). I also did a bit of pie baking for Thanksgiving. Yesterday I had to make something to bring for a holiday potluck with the Charm City Craft Mafia so I decided on "Snowballs", which were (and still maybe are) my favorite holiday cookie. I had all the ingredients on hand so they were a snap to make up. My only rule for baking is that I a only allowed to do it when the baked goods will be leaving my house within 24 hours! Bring on the butter!!

Snowballs (or Russian Teacakes or Mexican Wedding Cookies)
1 cup of butter, room temp.
1/2 cup sifted confectioners sugar (plus more for rolling)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup finely chopped nuts (I put mine through a mini food processor)

Mix butter, sugar and vanilla until creamy. Mix the flour and salt, add to the butter mixture. Mix in nuts. Chill the dough for 1/2-1 hour. Preheat the oven to 400. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place about an inch apart on a baking sheet. Cookies don't spread. Bake for 10-12 minutes. While the cookies are still warm, roll in powdered sugar. Let the cookies cool and roll them in the sugar once more. Store in an airtight container.
Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Pea Soup with Shredded Pork

This weekend left me stuck in the house with a head cold. Whenever I have a cold all I want to eat is soup, bread with butter and ginger ale. I happened to be left with half a large pork roast from a dinner I made earlier in the week so on Saturday morning I made a big pot of pea soup. I'll tell you about the sandwich later this week....

Split Pea Soup with Shredded Pork

2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
3 carrots, chopped
3 ribs of celery, chopped
1 lb of dried split peas, rinsed and soaked
6 cups of water
2-3 Lb. pork roast, trimmed of fat
2 Tbs. fresh thyme, chopped
1 bay leaf
2 cups of Chicken or Vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste

In a large stock pot heat the olive oil. Add the onion and saute until translucent, add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds more. Add the rest of the ingredients through the broth. Cook, covered until the veggies are soft and pork is cooked through. Remove the roast and shred the meat using two forks. Take the soup off of the heat, remove the bay leaf and puree using an immersion blender or regular blender (if using a regular blender, let the soup cool a bit and leave room for steam. Cover the hole with a towel to avoid a mess). Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve the soup ladled in a shallow bowl with a mound of pork in the center.

A quick trip to Booklyn

This weekend was so incredibly crazy busy, we went from Crafty Bastards in DC (which was an amazing show, thank you to everyone who came out!) back home to Baltimore to restock Mikey and then hit the road to Brooklyn NY where we crashed on a friends floor to wake up early and show at Atlantic Antic street fair. Then we drove back home that night. I was so excited to see Brooklyn for the first time and was super excited to see that Whimsey and Spice was located just a few vendors down from us! Needless to say we had Pumpkin and Ginger cookies for breakfast, Earl Grey cookies for dessert and Mikey and I are now enjoying one of their Cardamom Marshmallows in our morning coffee. I just love their treats! The photography on their site is just lovely and the treats are just the right amount of sweet. Yum all around. Now that I am back we have 2 weeks until our next show and I have lots of work to do until then. I'll keep you posted on my etsy updates and a new design I've been cooking up in the studio.....stay tuned!

A moment to relax.

Something I enjoy about working from home now is the freedom to cook at any point in the day. I'm not too tired and since I am only working down stairs from the kitchen I am able to bake or simmer while I work. My kitchen has been quite full the last few weeks. Today I needed to use up a banana that was about to turn so I whipped up a loaf of cranberry walnut banana bread while I was working on some computer stuff. It made the house smell so home-y and now we will have a healthy snack for our trip to Chicago this weekend. This is just a little slice I had to have....you know to make sure it was good:) Just one of my new found perks of working from home.

Low Fat Banana Bread (a Weight Watches recipe that I put my own spin to)
1 3/4 cups of four
3 Tbs packed light brown sugar
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup of dried cranberries ( you can sub any fruit or nuts here. The original recipe called for 8 chopped dried dates and 6 chopped dried apricot halves. This is just what I had on hand.)
1/4 cup of chopped walnuts
1 egg
1 very ripe banana
1/3 cup fat free milk

Preheat oven to 350, spray a 8x4 (I used 9x5 because that's what I had) loaf pan with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon; stir in the fruit and nuts. In a small bowl, beat the egg; add the banana and milk. Pour over the flour mixture, stir until combined. You may have to get in there with your hands as this makes more of a dough than a batter. It will seem dry at first but mix with your hands and it should come together, if not add a little more milk. Transfer to the loaf pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about an hour ( check on it after 30 minutes because mine was done in about 40.) Cool completely on a rack. Makes 12 (small) servings at 111 calories, 1 g. of fat and 3 g. of fiber. Not bad for a breakfast on the go!
(Nutritional info is based on the original recipe, I can't imagine my version is very far off though.)

Craving....

This morning I woke up with a craving for pancakes. Too lazy to go out I thought I would make some but I didn't have any eggs. I bought eggs at the farmer's market the last time I was there and they were so good we ate them all up and I'm holding out for more farm fresh rather than the regular market eggs. I needed a recipe for bread, preferable something I could put the fresh butter and pear,cardamom and sage jam that also came from the farmer's market all over. I wound up finding a recipe for drop biscuits that took about 20 minutes from start to finish including bake time. Sold! Michael and I savored the fresh, warm biscuits slathered with fresh butter and homemade jam. I no longer crave pancakes:)
Click here for the recipe.

Farmer's Market Trip

Onions and Potatoes in a Naomi Cleary Bowl I bought at Art Star.
Fresh Basil that made my car smell delicious on the ride home.
Asparagus and English Peas sitting in the fridge.

This morning I had to drop Michael off at the Hon Fest in Hampden, for those who do not know what a "hon" is just think big beehives, spandex leopard print, cat's eye glasses and John Waters. You'll get the picture. Since I was up and out of the house early I made a stop at the Waverly farmer's market which is on my way home from Hampden. This was my first trip there this season and oh how I missed it! I'm glad they only take cash because it helps me limit my spending, I go crazy for fresh produce:) I have a system for walking the market, I have to do a lap around first so I can see who has the best stuff and the best prices. Then I get the stuff that looks like it's going fast, like strawberries and asparagus. Followed by the heavy stuff like potatoes and squash and finally... anything that needs to stay cold like butter and cheese or delicate like lettuce. The market seemed to grow a little this year and is extending out into the main street a little so I had to walk it about 3 times to get all my goodies. Since this week also brought me a new camera lens (so excited!) I thought I'd take some pictures of my veggies to share here. I'll be cooking like crazy this week to use up all that I bought! Do you have a favorite market near you?

Nutella Ice Cream

This past Sunday we had a little BBQ to celebrate my leaving teaching (no, not yet, June 19th) and because our friend Andrew was in town from La. One of the things I made for dessert was my friend Karen's recipe for Nutella Ice Cream. It was a big hit and there was only a little bit left for an afternoon snack today. The pictures are not great due to a bit of freezer burn on the still delicious ice cream but I wanted to share anyway. You'll have to visit Karen's site and check out all her great recipes:) And I promise to post more than just food soon, but I have been cooking a lot lately and who doesn't love food?

Nutella Ice Cream

1 jar (13 ounces) Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Using a hand or standing mixer, mix the Nutella and sugar until smooth. Add the milk and mix on low speed until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla.

Turn the ice cream machine on; pour the mixture into freezer bowl, and let mix until thickened, about 25 to 35 minutes. The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture. If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer for about 2 hours. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving.

Melt in your mouth cookies

Today I spent some time in the kitchen making a batch of melt-in-your-mouth cookies so I could update my recipe card that I give out to my customers. I am trying to practice my photography skills (for a new top secret project I'm working on) and since I don't have any new work left from last weekend's show I will post my pictures of baking day until the next kiln load. Let me know what you think.
For inquiring minds, these cookies are a vintage recipe that produce a very delicate and buttery cookie. Somewhere between a shortbread and a sugar cookie? They were some of my favorite growing up and I still love them! The only problem is that all I ate today was cookies!!!

Miami Egg Salad

I was browsing IKEA the other day looking for some props to use in my photographs and I stopped in the cafe for a quick bite to keep up my shopping stamina. I have long been a fan of their shrimp and egg on rye toast (that's what I ate while most kids gobbled chicken fingers and fries. Not me.) and I wasn't too hungry so I sat down with my sandwich and a diet coke. As I sat realized that the sandwich was kind of nostalgic for me, it really reminded me of my grandparents home in Miami Florida where I spent many summer holidays. I don't know if it was the cheap shrimp or the rye toast but something took me back. As I nibbled the tiny shrimp I started to think that there was no reason I couldn't make an even better version of this at home, in the form of egg salad! Here is my first attempt at the "Miami Egg Salad Sandwich" although I haven't bought bread since discovering making it myself so this sandwich is served on homemade sourdough instead of the rye that I think would make it complete. Next time.

Miami Egg Salad
1 cup cold cooked shrimp, tails and veins removed
6 hard boiled eggs*
2Tbs freshly chopped dill
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/4 (or less) cup of mayo
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

*To cook a hard boiled egg first place the eggs in a saucepan and cover with water by about an inch. Bring to a boil and turn off the heat. Cover the pan and let everything sit for about 10 minutes. Transfer the eggs to an ice bath to cool and peel!

Chop the shrimp and eggs into smaller pieces and place in a medium bowl. Chop the dill and add it to the eggs and shrimp. Add the lemon juice and mayo, mixing until combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with rye bread and spring mix.

2 days in the kitchen

I've been avoiding my studio for the last 2 days. I'm not really sure why, I guess I just need a break. Instead I've been spending my evenings in the kitchen. It's a place where I am just happy. Some people hate cooking, for me there is nothing more relaxing. As soon as I start chopping or mixing my mood lifts and I start to hum and dance a little in front of the stove. My neighbors must think I'm nuts, if not from witnessing that then for other reasons I'm sure. Tonight I made a loaf of bread from my new book Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day and it was so delicious. The whole premise of the book is to make a wet dough that you can keep in the fridge for 2 weeks and just pull some off and bake it as you need it. I mixed the dough last night and made a loaf while I cooked dinner tonight. It was such a treat to have home baked bread with our meal, I think it was the prettiest bread I have ever made and as you can see there is not much left. I didn't think to take the pictures until after we ate. I also baked a vegan Mexican chocolate cake but it's still cooling so I'll let you know how that turns out tomorrow:)

New York.New York.

This weekend Michael and I took a trip up to New York to visit some friends who live in the city. We are so lucky to live in an area that is so close to everything! It was a perfect weekend for being in the city, the weather was beautiful and everyone was bearing their white legs for the first time of the season, including me! We stayed with our good friends Laruen and Josh, you can see Michael looking out their window at the beautiful view of the city while sipping coffee on Saturday morning. During the weekend of sightseeing, eating and drinking I made a discovery that I had to recreate the minute we got home. Have you had Pinkberry? I knew the name of the company from the credit card commercials that were out a while ago but didn't realize that they were an actual company. They make this frozen yogurt that is just delicious (although our friends say that it can't compare to the yogurt stand at Bloomingdale's....did you know Bloomingdale's made frozen yogurt? cause it was news to me...) I found a recipe on 101 cookbooks (a fantastic food blog by the way) and gave it a shot in my ice cream maker (which had pretty much been collecting dust until another friend of our introduced me to Nutella ice cream). It turned out fantastic and it's pretty healthy since it's just greek yogurt, sugar (or splenda I guess) and frosty goodness. I also made a Raspberry sauce to go over it...yum. If you have an ice cream maker you should head on over to 101 cookbooks and check out her recipe, and also check out the Melon Sherbet, I plan to make that tonight!

Goat Cheese

One of my favorite things! It's a little tangy, a little creamy and can do so many things! Tonight I mixed up a goat cheese dressing by mixing it with some milk, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Sometimes I use a similar mixture over pasta as a cream sauce. It also yummy just crumbled over salad greens with cranberries and walnuts. I have made stuffed pork with goat cheese and figs...it's one of my staple grocery store buys because I know I can make something elegant and easy with it. Anyone have a favorite dish that includes goat cheese?

(not so) Secret Recipe, shhhhh...

I just whipped up a batch of my wildly popular chocolate bark candy for work tomorrow! This recipe is one I keep in my "secret weapon" recipe box. It's really good but terrible for you so I only make it when it is going somewhere that is not my fridge! Tonight I made it for a work potluck we are having tomorrow afternoon. It's my go-to for any kind of event because it's super fast, super cheap, super easy and super tasty! So....want the recipe??? Ok, but don't say I didn't warn you.
1 cup of stick butter
1 cup of sugar
2 packages of saltine crackers (they come 4 packs to a box so save the rest for the next time you need to pull out this secret weapon!)
1 package chocolate chips of your choice, I used milk chocolate this time.
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.In a small saucepan melt the butter and sugar, the sugar will not dissolve but you want it mixed in with the butter. While that melts, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and break the crackers over it so they are in a single layer covering the cookie sheet. Ladle the butter mixture over the crackers and bake for 10 minutes or until the butter is bubbly and the crackers are starting to brown. Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the cracker mixture and place back in the oven for a minute or two, just until the chips are shiny and easy to spread. Take the tray out of the oven and using a butter knife or spatula, spread the chocolate over the crackers, like icing. Let the whole tray cool in the fridge until the chocolate is set then break into small pieces. Make sure to bring the recipe wherever you bring this because I guarantee someone will ask you!