Broccoli Cheese Soup

Happy 1st day of October!  Autumn is officially here, and I welcome it with open arms!  Time to bust out the afghans, cozy sweatshirts and sweaters, and snuggle with those you love.  And it is also the time to warm your insides with a nice warm bowl of soup.  This broccoli Cheese soup will do just that.  The Tobasco Sauce in the soup is just used for flavor, not for heat.  If you want it spicy, I like serving the bottle on the side so others can add as they like.  This soup screams for crusty bread so don't forget it!

Broccoli Cheese Soup
1/2 stick of butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup carrots, cut into matchsticks
1/4 cup flour
2 cups broccoli, chopped
1 cup half and half or whole milk
1 cup chicken stock
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Tobasco Sauce, a few dashes to taste (I used about 12)

Melt the butter in a large stock pot over medium-high heat add the onion and carrots and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the flour and allow to cook until absorbed, about 2 minutes more.

Slowly stir the half-and-half and chicken stock into the mixture, about 1/4 cup at a time allowing the mixture to thicken before adding more. Once all the liquid is added,
stir in the broccoli and cheddar cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

Reduce heat to medium-low. Stirring occasionally, allow the soup to simmer until the the cheese has melted completely, about 10 minutes. Add up to an additional 1 cup of water or chicken stock to reach your desired soup thickness.

If you like a thicker soup, remove 1/2 from pot, and puree with an immersion blender.  Once smooth return to pot and stir to combine.

Ladle into soup bowls and garnish with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese for a garnish. Serve with nice crusty bread to sop up every last bit of the soup!

Chicken and Summer Vegetable Stir-Fry

This recipe comes together so super fast, it makes it the perfect weeknight meal.  But the incredible flavors, easily knock it up to "Better Then Take-Out" quality.  When you are craving food from your favorite Chinese restaurant, make this instead.  It is very inexpensive, using up ingredients that you will already have in your fridge.  I called this a Summer Vegetable stir-fry, but honestly you can use whatever veggies you have on hand.  This is the perfect meal when you really need to clear out the crisper drawer!  A little of this, a handful of that- Be Creative!  

I borrowed the marinade from Aarti Seqeira.  She uses it for her Banh-mi Wraps, but I thought it would work out nice here, and goodness gracious I was right!  Yum!  If you aren't familiar with Chinese Five Spice or Garam Masala, don't be nervous.  You can find them both in either the spice aisle or International Food aisle of your local grocery store.  These are very traditional spices used in Chinese and Indian cuisine, that include cinnamon, fennel, ginger, cloves, star anise, pepper, cumin, coriander and cardamom.  I love how she blends of the two of them together- wow is this a flavorful stir-fry.  But not at all overpowering, I promise.  The sauce thickens up, thanks to the cornstarch, and adds a nice silkiness to the dish making it wonderful over a bed of rice.  

Both of my boys LOVED this and one is 4 years old and the other is 9 months!  Owen, my 9 month old, has been really into table food.  One of his favorites is brown rice.  Since we were having it with our meal, I gave him a little with some of the sauce to see if he would like it.  He not only liked it, he loved it, opening his mouth like a little birdie asking for more.  So more I gave him, but with some of the vegetables this time and he liked that even better then the first spoonful!  He just couldn't stop gobbling it up!  It just goes to show that you really need to not be afraid of giving kids different flavors then they are used to.  More times then not they will really love it.  You can always stir a little bit of apricot preserves to the children's serving if they like things with a little sweetness to them.  It blends nicely.

Chicken and Summer Vegetable Stir-Fry
1 pound chicken, cut into bite-size chunks
1/2 cup broccoli floretts
1 yellow summer squash, cut into 4ths or 6ths depending on size of squash
1 medium sized sweet onion, cut in half and then into wedges
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 bell pepper, cut into bite sized chunks
4 scallions cut into 1" pieces
1/2 cup peas (frozen work quite nicely)
*feel free to substitute any of the vegetables with whatever you have on hand. You honestly can't go wrong with a stir-fry!

For the Chicken Marinade: 
1/4 cup soy sauce 
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons sugar (splenda works great here)
1 teaspoon five-spice powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small shallot, minced (about 3 tablespoons)

For the Sauce: 
1 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Place the cut up chicken into a gallon-sized resealable bag. Add all of the marinade ingredints and seal bag tightly. Throughly massage bag to evenly distribute the marinade all over the chicken. Set aside on the counter top while you are chopping your veggies and making your sauce.

Once veggies are all chopped, using tongs, transfer your chicken to a wok or large skillet. Sautee over medium-high heat for about 4-5 minutes until lightly browned. Add the veggies, except for the peas and scallions, and continue to sautee until they begin to soften, about 4-5 more minutes.

In a small bowl, combine broth, soy sauce and cornstarch. Add to chicken and vegetable mixture and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium/medium-low, add in the peas and scallions and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes, or until sauce thickens.  Serve over rice or hot rice noodles and enjoy!

Sesame Chicken with Broccoli and Rice

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Sesame Chicken with Broccoli and Rice
adapted from Miss in the Kitchen

2 cups rice
12 oz. broccoli florets, steamed

for chicken:
3 chicken breasts, cut into 1 to 1/2 chunks
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
Canola or Peanut Oil for frying

for sauce:
1/2 cup water
1 cup chicken broth
1/8 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

for chicken:
Whisk milk and egg in a shallow bowl.  Throughly combine flour, cornstarch and salt in a shallow dish.  Miss in the Kitchen recommends using a pie plate.  I never thought of that, but goodness it is perfect!  Now you are going to dredge the chicken in flour, then dip in the egg/milk dish and then back in flour. This will give you a perfect coating to make these guys nice and crispy.  Heat about 2 inches of oil in a wok, deep skillet or Dutch oven to about 350 degrees. Fry chicken in batches until browned and chicken is cooked through. Remove to paper towel lined plate to drain.

for sauce:
In a medium sauce pan, add water, chicken broth, and vinegar. In a small bowl combine sugar and cornstarch together, stir into liquid. Add soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until it comes to a boil. Lower heat and cook just until thickened. She recommends either pouring the sauce over the chicken (which we like to do, that way nothing gets too soggy) or dip each piece of chicken in the sauce.  Serve it over the broccoli and rice and garnish with toasted sesame seeds.

We love, love, loved this dish!!!  If you are a regular reader here you know how much we like our Chinese take out.  With trying to watch our budget and making things a (bit) healthier I have been looking for take out alternatives.  This recipe has easily become a new favorite in this house.  It is sweet, crunchy, and although the chicken is fried, it tastes so fresh and bright.  You could definitely cut back on the fat by using grilled or sautéed chicken.  But please try it the original way first.  The crunch of the chicken is awesome and holds up to the sticky sauce really nicely.  Scott's most beloved dish from a Chinese take-out restaurant is easily Sweet and Sour Chicken.  He orders it without fail just about every single time.  Tonight he told me that he wouldn't ever have to get Chinese from a restaurant again.  This says a lot!  Thank you Miss in the Kitchen!