Veggie Soup For Your Soul

It's that time of year in South Texas.  Mountain cedar hit us full force last week, and that means every member of my little family has been suffering.  Just when it seems like everyone is getting better, I've woken up the past two mornings with absolutely no voice.  None.  *Sigh*

When I'm feeling a bit under the weather, the only thing to soothe my spirits is soup.  Alright, alright, soup and chocolate.  But for today we'll just focus on soup.  I absolutely adore homemade chicken noodle soup.  But with all of us feeling not so hot and no chicken or egg noodles in the house, my favorite chicken soup recipe became veggie soup with rice.



Ingredients:

• 1 yellow onion, diced


• 1 large parsnip, diced


• 3-4 medium carrots, diced


• 2 cloves garlic, minced


• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil + extra for vinaigrette


• kosher salt


• fresh ground pepper


• 1 quart vegetable stock


• 1 cup of rice (I used basmati) + 2 cups water


• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (or vinegar whatever you like)


• 1 heaping tablespoon dijon mustard

I start just about every soup I make by sauteing veggies.  In this case I used what I had on hand...onion, carrots, parsnips, celery, and garlic.  Dice all your veggies roughly the same size and cook over medium-high heat in about 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.  Season with a generous pinch of kosher salt.

For whatever reason, I cannot under any circumstance cook rice on the stove.  This frustrates me to no end...so I cheat.  I use a rice cooker.  To each his own.  While the veggies are sauteing away, start your rice in another pot.  Or, you know, in a rice cooker.

When you're veggies are lightly browned and nice and soft add 1 quart of vegetable stock and cover your pot with the lid.

When your rice is done add it to the stock pot.  Recover with lid and bring to a boil.  Once you've reached a boil, reduce heat to simmer.  Check seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.

Now we get a little fancy.  There's nothing like feeling under the weather to kill your appetite.  Food just doesn't taste as good...flavors aren't as strong.  To remedy this, I followed Shauna Niequist's example from her latest book Break and Wine (LOVE!) and made a quick Dijon and Balsamic Vinaigrette to drizzle on top of our bowls of soup.



Oh. My. Word. Y'all.  It didn't disappoint.

I eyeballed 1 part vinegar to 2 parts oil (about 1/4 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup oil I'd say), added a generous spoonful of dijon mustard, and a pinch of salt and pepper to an old jelly jar and shook until it was well blended.



Here is the soup all steamy and hot with a drizzle of vinaigrette on top.  The soup is fabulous on its own and is what I fed our sweet baby girl for dinner.  Everyone else got the gussied up vinaigrette version.  It's a great meal on its own, but it's especially fabulous served with this bread.  Enjoy!

Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Icing {Cookie Exchange!}

This is one of my most cherished recipes.

Growing up, my mom was always volunteering for everything imaginable.  Need someone to sew costumes?  She'd sew.  Need someone to teach Sunday School or VBS?  She'd step in.  Need someone to be room mom?  There she was!

I always knew that my mom worked extremely hard to make things special for my brother and I.  Now that I'm juggling my own little family, I have even more respect for all the amazing things she did for us.  One of the things she was known for in her room mom days was her amazingly wonderful sugar cookies with buttercream icing.  These were made faithfully for just about every class party you could imagine.  I was always so proud to say "my mom made these" when all the kids lined up trying to grab an extra cookie.

So without further ado, here is her fabulous sugar cookie recipe.  I've made just a couple changes, switching out shortening and margarine to unsalted sweet cream butter.  Because butter only makes things better.  ;)

Mom's Sugar Cookies

3/4 cup of unsalted sweet cream butter, room temperature
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Add the butter, sugar, and eggs to a stand mixer (or a large bowl with hand beater) and beat until smooth.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt.

With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixer until everything is well blended and the dough starts to pull away from the bowl.

Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface, and roll out to 1/4" thick.  Cut out cookies using cookie cutters of your choice, and lay cookies on an un-greased cookie sheet, about 1-2" apart.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until edges are just slightly turning golden.  Allow cookies to rest on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling racks to cool completely.  Ice cookies once they are completely cooled.

Buttercream Icing

2/3 cup unsalted sweet cream butter, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon milk
food coloring (optional)

Place butter in a stand mixer (or large bowl with hand beaters) and beat until smooth.  With the mixer on low, slowly add the sifted confectioner's sugar until it is all incorporated well.  Add the milk and vanilla while beating on medium-low.  Once the icing is a smooth consistency, you may add food coloring if you like.  If the icing becomes too watery due to too much food coloring, add a little more sifted confectioner's sugar until the consistency becomes a little more stiff.

You can use the icing to "butter" your cookies and then add sprinkles on top, toss it in a Ziploc bag with a corner cut to pipe easy designs onto the cookies, or use decorating bags and tips to make more intricate designs.  Keep it as simple as or make it as fancy as you like.

Enjoy!

P.S. For todiefor Gingersnap cookies, these are an oldie but a goodie. :)

P.P.S I'm linking up today with Edie at Life In Grace!  Head over to her beautiful blog to see more wonderful cookie recipes. :)

The Best Greens Evah {A Tale of Two Recipes}

My Mema can cook.  If I were in 3rd grade I'd say "my Mema can cook better than your Mema", but I'm not so I'll refrain.  ;)

There are some people who stick meticulously to their recipe cards and cook wonderful meals.  Then there are those people who have those recipe cards tucked away somewhere, but have committed them to memory and improved on them over the years.  When you watch them cook it's like watching someone create art on a plate.  A pinch of this, a heaping spoon of that, stir 'til it looks right, give it a taste test, and voila....a masterpiece.

Time is taking its toll, but in her hey-day that was my Mema.  Sunday dinner was magic.  If you are lucky enough to have one of her recipes, you do not deviate.  She doesn't just give you the list of ingredients, she gives you her tips on how to make it turn out right every. single. time.

But occasionally I come across someone else who shares that "art" of cooking and their recipe is a just a tad different from Mema's.  What's a girl to do???

The answer, my dears, is to take the best from both and create your own masterpiece.  :)

Greens were one of my Mema's specialties....but they are also a specialty of a former co-worker of mine!  They are a Fall staple in my house...even our little Poppy girl loves them {pureed and sans bacon fat}.  Using fresh greens yields the best result, hands down.  But frozen greens are what I reach for more often than not, simply because they are more convenient.  After a couple of years of tweaking, I've come up with the perfect combination of the recipes of the two ladies who taught me to cook fabulous, savory greens.  I think it honors the spirit of both their recipes.  Enjoy!

The Best Greens Evah

Ingredients:

2 - 16 oz packages frozen greens of your choice (I use mustard and collard) OR 8 cups loosely packed fresh greens, stems removed (you can buy fresh greens bagged, de-stemmed, and pre-rinsed...use two bags if you go this route)
1 ham hock
2 large cloves garlic (or 4 small), crushed
1 yellow onion, finely sliced
white vinegar
bacon fat (yes, bacon fat!)
salt
pepper

Directions:

Remove all stems (if using fresh greens) and put greens in large pot.  Add water just to cover and bring to a boil for 10-15 minutes.

Strain and rinse greens in hot tap water.  Return to pot and again, just cover with water.

Add ham hock and bring to boil.

Add garlic, onion, 2 Tbsp of bacon fat, and 2 capfuls of white vinegar (about 1-1 1/2 Tbsp).

Reduce heat to a simmer and let cook 30 minutes to a couple of hours.  The longer they cook the more intense the flavor will be.

Add salt and pepper to taste, and serve.  Enjoy!

31 Days to a Heart of Hospitality eBook {a giveaway!!}

I am thrilled to announce today the very first giveaway at Tids & Bits!

image via lifeingrace

Have you met Edie?  If you haven't you should.

There are people we come across in our lives that leave us changed.

People who inspire, people who teach, people who whisper quiet truths.

Sometimes they speak to us in lyrics and in ancient hymns.  Sometimes their voice comes through books we read, published long ago but still relevant today.

image via lifeingrace

And often times today, they speak to us from blogs, Twitter feeds, and Facebook accounts.  Maybe that is our modern form of the "great conversation".

Edie's blog Life in Grace is the very first blog I ever read "cover-to-cover".  She is one gifted lady, who shares generously and transparently the good days, the bad days, and the unspeakably bad days.  And through that sharing she has inspired many...least of all, me.

Needless to say I was extremely excited to learn that Edie wrote her very own ebook!  31 Days to a Heart of Hospitality is an expansion of the 31 day series she wrote in October 2012.  I couldn't wait to buy my copy and devoured it little by little last week.  It does not disappoint!

In Edie's own words...

Hospitality isn’t about inviting people into our perfect homes, it’s about inviting them into our imperfect hearts.

"It’s about learning to live from that vulnerable place where we open ourselves to love... This is hospitality, on purpose."

I could not agree more.

And now to the GIVEAWAY!  Edie is generously giving two of my readers their very own copy of her ebook.  The giveaway will be open starting today and will end Friday, February 11th at midnight.  I will use random.org to pick the winners.  To enter please leave a comment below telling me what the word "hospitality" means to you.  One comment = one entry, one entry per individual, please.  Annnnd, if you are impatient like me, you can purchase your own copy here and start reading now.

Happy Sunday, friends.  :)

Fast Fried Chicken {For Your Sunday Dinner}

Happy Sunday!

I hope you all are having a wonderful day and are getting some much needed rest and relaxation.

As requested by my sweet friend Janna, here is the recipe for the fried chicken I made for dinner last Sunday.

Y'all should know I never do this the same way twice, and it's super quick because I slice my chicken into tender sized pieces.  Smaller pieces = faster cooking time.  Fried chicken is super easy, as long as you don't set the kitchen on fire (again, I am so, so sorry mom!).  Just keep your fire extinguisher close and remember...don't use water to put out a grease fire! ;)

My Fast Fried Chicken Recipe

Ingredients:

1-2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced 1" thick
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt (I use Kosher)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk (or faux buttermilk - 1Tbsp lemon juice+1 cup milk...or just use regular milk)
1 Tbsp chili poweder
1 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
olive oil or canola oil for frying (make sure it's an oil that can withstand high heat...no EVOO here!)

Directions:

{Note: I use pie plates for dredging my chicken slices, but you can use a regular plate or a shallow bowl...whatever you have will work.}

Preheat a skillet over medium-high heat.  In one pie plate mix 1 cup flour and 1/2 tsp salt.  In a second pie plate add egg and next 4 ingredients and mix very well.  When skillet is smoking hot, carefully add 1/4-1/2" oil.  While the oil is heating, dredge one third to one half of your chicken slices in the egg/milk mixture.  Let them soak for about a minute, then dredge them in the flour mixture.

Your oil should be nice and hot now.  Carefully add your chicken to the skillet, making sure you don't crowd the skillet.  After about 4 minutes, flip your chicken slices and cook for another 4 minutes or so.  Your chicken should be a nice golden brown and not be pink at all on the inside.  Remove cooked chicken and place on a paper towel covered plate to drain.  Repeat dredging and frying the remaining chicken slices.

For the dinner rolls I used this One Hour Dinner Rolls recipe I found through The Nester (y'all remind me I need to make those folding chairs one of these days).  They really do only take an hour and are delicious!!

Also on our table were green beans (with a good dab of butter), carrot and potato mash from The Petite Appetite Cookbook, and for dessert we rocked some Strawberry Ice Cream from Blue Bell.  For my friends not living in Texas, I'm so sorry.  But you can always have it shipped to you!

In Praise of Sunday Dinner {5 Lessons I've Learned}

It takes time.  Maybe that's why we overlook it so often.

Sitting down to Sunday dinner is ingrained in me. 

I was fortunate to grow up in the same city as both of my grandmothers.  And sitting down to Sunday dinner was ingrained in them.  They, in turn, ingrained it in their children.  And my parents ingrained it in me.

Even though we honored this tradition in my house growing up, I think I owe most of what I know about hospitality and cooking and serving to my grandmothers.

Lesson #1: You make time for it.

We had Sunday dinner at each of my grandmothers' houses once a month.  The other two or three Sundays we had Sunday dinner at my parents' house.  But it happened.  Every Sunday.

Lesson #2: It doesn't have to be fancy food.  It doesn't have to be pretentious or laborious.  It just has to taste good and make it to the table.

Both of my grandmothers grew up on farms in rural Texas.  Eating out in restaurants daily was not an option the way it has become for our generation.  If you wanted to eat, you cooked.  Food might have been simple on most days, but even simple food can taste fabulous.

Lesson #3: When company calls, you put another bean in the pot.

I have never witnessed either of my grandmothers stressing out about company coming to dinner.  I never saw either of them panicked, worried if there would be enough.  If someone extra showed up to the table, the meal stretched.  It just did.  And with ease.  The iced tea always lasted and there was plenty of dessert to go around.  To this day, I do not have this figured out.  To this day, I cannot for the life of me figure out how these women served their family and friends at their tables on the spur of the moment with such grace.  But I am happy to spend my life trying to achieve their effortless manner.

Lesson #4: There is always dessert.

Again, it doesn't have to be fancy.  It can be a couple of scoops of ice cream (preferably Blue Bell).  But there is always dessert.  Somehow my mom didn't catch on to this one.  ;)

Lesson #5: Sunday dinner is at lunchtime.

I guess it's a Southern thing and something I say without thinking...but when I say Sunday dinner, I mean lunch.  Dinner is the biggest meal of the day.  We eat a big dinner at lunchtime on Sundays, and then have a light, snacky supper in the evening.  Any other day of the week in my house, dinner and supper are synonymous.  But Sundays are a time to slow down and catch up with family and friends.  And, therefore, dinner is a small feast (even if it's a simple feast), so we eat it at lunchtime.

This little man helped himself to 1/3 of that plate of chicken before I even had the rolls on the table.  ;)

It might be different for you and your family.  Preparing and sitting down to eat a big meal for lunch on Sundays might not work with your schedule.  Honestly, it doesn't entirely work with my family's schedule either.  But I'm choosing to continue the tradition.

And I'm encouraging you to try it, too.  If Sundays aren't the best day for a sit down meal, think of what other day might work.  I'm convinced that there is something about the routine and rhythm of getting together once a week to share a meal that cuts through the noise and busyness of our everyday lives, gives our souls a chance to breathe, and gives us pause to enjoy living in the moment we're given.

Need help getting started?  Here are some links to help inspire and motivate you...

All of Edie's 31 Days To a Heart of Hospitality series is good, but her post on Feeding People Well particularly stands out.

Bringing Back Sunday Dinner by Aimee @ Simple Bites

Easy Entertaining by Jan @ Simple Bites

4 Special Entrees @ Southern Living