And they're off! Derby party snacks.

I recently attended my first Kentucky Derby party, and it was a great experience.  Every detail had been thought of to make this party great: TVs to watch the races, race sheets to read up on the horses, Derby hat contests, race tickets, door prizes, Derby decorations and lots of food and drink!  Everyone also was asked to bring an appetizer or dessert to share and we were asked to bring an appetizer.  It took me awhile to decide on something, but I finally settled on these Tomato Bacon Cups.

Here's the recipe:

8 slices bacon

1 tomato, diced

1 sm. bunch scallions, finely chopped

3 oz. shredded Swiss cheese

1/2 C mayo

1 tsp. dried basil

1 (16 oz.) can refrigerated buttermilk biscuit dough

1) Preheat oven to 375.  Lightly grease a mini muffin pan (two if you have them, it'll go faster).  I hit each cup with a very quick shot of cooking spray.

2) Cook bacon until crispy over medium heat in a skillet; you'll need to crumble it, and it will be easier than if it's chewy.  Add the bacon to a bowl; mix in the tomato, onion, cheese, mayo and basil.

3) Separate each biscuit into it's natural halves; cut each half into quarters.  Roll each quarter into a ball and then use a rolling pin to flatten into a little disc.  Place the disc into one of the muffin tin cups; press into the bottom and up the sides of the cups, making a little mold.  Fill each of the biscuit cups with some of the mixture (for me, it was a couple of teaspoons each).  You could conceivably roll out all the discs, then go back and fill at the end; when I tried that, though, I found the biscuit was loosing it's shape and I had to re-form/re-roll again, anyway.  So I found it easiest to go one by one.  Whatever works for you!

4) Bake for 10-12 minutes in the preheated oven, until cups are golden brown.

The first few I made, I feel like I used too much biscuit dough (you can sort of tell in the picture above).  Originally I had been cutting each biscuit half into thirds; that's when I switched to quarters, and it worked much better.  Unfortunately, I guess my battery was low, because the pictures of those batches didn't end up on my camera.

These went over really well; so well, there weren't any left over to bring home from the party!  But I did snag one to test before taking (what if they were horrible?!) and I thought they were really good.  Just for something different, I might try cheddar cheese in a future attempt, or even some of those flavored mayos to give it a little something different.  Either way, I'd definitely take them to another get together, for sure.

Let me know if you try this, and how it turns out for you!

(If you need a mini muffin tin, check this one out - the one I used for this was a Wilton one)

It's been awhile...

Okay, so it's been awhile forever since I last posted, and I'm sorry!  It's been a little busy around here, and I haven't had as much time for blogging as I would have liked.  But I'm recommitting myself to finding the time to do so.  I've been very busy in the kitchen and I want to share some of the really great things I've found and tried recently.  I'm going to back up a little bit so that I can share a few things with you that I've cooked over the past couple of weeks, and then we'll be current going forward.

Thanks for those who are still hanging in there with me and checking in now and again!

Who doesn't like cookies?

Tomorrow will be a new soup (likely something hearty and warming since half the country is buried under a blanket of snow), but today I wanted to share a recipe for chocolate chip cookies that I tried recently.  It's a modified recipe of what's probably considered "standard", but the modifications make such a big difference!  Soft and chewy in the middle with a slightly crisper edge, and the top crackles open just like cookies you get in a bakery.

1 C butter, softened
1 C sugar
1 C light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. hot water
1/2 tsp. salt
2 C semi-sweet chocolate bits
1 C semi-sweet chunks

Preheat oven to 325 F.
Cream together sugar, brown sugar and softened butter until smooth.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Stir in the vanilla.  In a separate small bowl or dish, dissolve the baking soda in the water.  Add to the batter, then add the salt.  Stir in the flour and chocolate bits and chunks (actually stir - don't use a mixer).  Use a spoon or melon baller to scoop uniform balls of dough; roll briefly between your palms to form balls.  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 11 minutes.  They may not look completely cooked, but as long as the edges have a light brown tinge, they're done.  Let them cool on the cookie sheets for about 5 or 6 minutes before removing to racks or other container.

Week One - First Take

Yesterday I posted our first weekly soup recipe. We made it for dinner last night and the vote was - YUM! We did deviate from the posted recipe slightly as we went through the cooking process. First, we cooked 6 slices of bacon in the bottom of the soup pot until it was crispy and then removed to drain on a paper-towel covered plate. Then we sauteed the onion and celery in that instead of butter or oil. The only other change we made was to add an additional can of creamed corn; it looked like it could be just a tiny bit more thick. We then crumbled up the bacon and sprinkled on top with the shredded Colby cheese, some fresh ground black pepper and a couple of "Texas Toast" croutons. Served with some sourdough bread on the side, it was a very filling, very tasty dinner!

We had it again for lunch today, and it was still just as good!

Week One - Corn Chowder

The first soup we're going to try is a corn chowder recipe.

Ingredients:
1 C chopped celery
1 C chopped onion
1 (32 oz) carton reduced-sodium chicken broth
3 C potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can creamed corn
1 (2.5 oz) pkg country-style gravy mix
2 C milk
8 0z Velveeta, cubed
2 T butter
salt & pepper to taste
shredded Colby cheese, green onions, croutons, etc for garnish

Directions:
In a large soup pot, heat butter over medium-high heat. Add celery and onion; cook until soft and tender, about 5 minutes.
Add chicken broth; bring to a boil. Add potatoes; cook over low heat for 20-25 minutes, or until potatoes are soft, stirring occasionally.
Stir in both cans of corn; return to boiling. In a small bowl, dissolve gravy mix in the milk; stir into the boiling soup mixture. Add Velveeta and cook over low, stirring until cheese is melted. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with shredded Colby cheese, green onions, croutons, or whatever you might like.

Welcome to Soup's On!

I love to cook and bake, and am always looking for new recipes and things to try. For 2010, we've decided to try one new soup each week. So each week, I will post the new recipe here. After we try it, I will post the results on how it turned out for us and share our reviews - what was good and not so good, tips on prep, possible modifications for the future. I'm hoping that some of you will choose to try it, as well, and let us know how your families liked them. And if you made any changes that you thought were great, please share those, too!

In addition to the weekly soup, I will sometimes share some additional recipes that are new to us that we try. Again, I'd love any comments on how they worked for you, or what changes you might have made.

The recipes will be ones shared from friends and family, our own creations, and maybe even a cookbook or two. If you have any great soup recipes that you would like for us to try and then post (with proper credit, of course!), we'd be happy to! Just send me a message with the recipe, and we will add it to the list.

I hope you enjoy the soups and making them as much as we are!