saturday night yum.

I am stuffed. I'd take a picture of my belly, but i think that'd be unappetizing. The pictures that I do have tonight are super delicious looking. We had a full menu and some fun extras.

I went to the green market at Union Square this morning and picked up some treats: brussel sprouts! I bought a whole stem. When I got home I read the Joy of Cooking entry about sprouts and learned some interesting facts:
1. smaller stems are better (whoops!)

2. cut the sprouts in half or score them with an X on the bottom to help them cook evenly (how could i not know?!?)

3. brussel sprouts are really good with browned butter and lemon juice.


For our main course I made broccoli cheese soup, perfect for the fall and super savory. very umami-y. umami-yoe. (just wanted to use all the vowels!)
I was a big fan of B-C Soup when I was younger because a woman from our church made some very tasty soup, so I never saw the hard work that went into it. Kidding, it's easy! I did however, sadly figure out that she made it with chicken broth all those long, delicious years. oops. Anyway, here's my recipe;

Broccoli Cheese Soup Uncensored.
2 cups veggie broth
2 stems broccoli or 1 frozen package
1/2 an onion
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
12 oz cheese, all mixed up!
1 cup milk (or something like it)
Side Note: it's arrived! my 8" Wusthof Black Classic Chef's Knife.

a. boil the broth and add the broccoli, cook until soft (about 10 minutes)
b. chop the onions and heat them with the butter in another sauce pan
c.use your immersion blender (see bean and cheese soup post) to mix up the broccoli a bit (leave some chunks for yum factor)
d. add the flour to the onions and butter and let it brown

e. add the milk slowly. and then the cheese in parts until it's all incorperated and thick and creamy. btw, my very favorite combination is cheddar, a bit of gouda, and some swiss. I discovered this after realizing the deli sold containers of the three in chunks (probably the end of the block) for way cheap!

f. mix the broccoli into the cheesey soup.
g. "c-love says" let the soup sit for about half an hour, then dig in.

We also toasted some of the left over blue corn bread.

For dessert I made some muffins I've been fiending for... Pumpkin Chocolate Chip. In Greensboro (nc) they make these soo good at Spring Garden Bakery and serve them at Tate Street Coffee. One summer these were part of my go-to-breakfast (along with an iced coffee). I used this recipe as a guide
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Chocolate-Chip-Muffins/Detail.aspx
and made some notable changes.. i used the equivalent amount of brown sugar and agave syrup instead of the white sugar, used half whole wheat flour, and used some pumpkin that I'd frozen. I also doubled the spices and added some ginger and allspice. After I added the pumpkin, I realized I had pre-mixed to be ready to pour into a pie crust. whoops.
They turned out amazing anyway.