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Sweet treats

Vanilla marshmallows

It is finally beginning to look like winter around here in Connecticut, and we are loving it.  White powdery snow is covering our trees, fresh garland is hung over our porch, and boots and gloves are covering our entry way floor.  Old man winter has arrived!

As much as I am not a huge fan of these darker, colder days, there is something undeniably magical about the first few snowfalls of winter.  There is nothing better than curling up inside, with our house all aglow, watching the snow fall.  It is probably one of my favorite things about this season.  Second of course though….to hot chocolate topped with homemade vanilla marshmallows.

We go through a lot of hot chocolate in our house, which means we also go through a lot of marshmallows.  I’m pretty sure marshmallows are actually the only reason my kids ask for hot chocolate (and I don’t really blame them).

We have been using the store bought packaged marshmallows for years and never really thought much about it, until recently.  I was playing around with a recipe this spring, trying to make Peeps for my kids and discovered just how easy making homemade vanilla marshmallows really is.

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Soup & Salad

Pomegranate and goat cheese salad

JonPaul jokes with me that I could never actually open a restaurant because the only thing I really like to cook are soups and salads (I personally think that sounds like an awesome little spot).  But the truth is, he’s kind of right.  I do make A LOT of soups and salads…..maybe too many.

There’s something so magical about compiling a bunch of your favorite ingredients in a huge bowl or stock pot and seeing what you end up with.  It’s just fun to play around.

When I’m composing a salad (or really any dish) I look for ways to vary textures, flavors, and colors. Everything in the dish has to have a purpose, and help create balance.  I also look for ways to highlight whatever is in season.

This winter I’m loving pomegranates.  The little jewel like arils (the red pod containing the seed) are like candy for me.  Not only are they juicy and sweet, but these tiny little guys provide a host of health benefits.  This superfood provides some of the highest levels of antioxidants you can find, as well as vitamin C and magnesium (and did I mention they are delicious).  So of course I’m adding them to almost everything this winter.

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Drinks

Holiday cocktail

I don’t like to discriminate when it comes to holiday beverages.  Wine, beer, vodka.  I’m not gonna lie, I kind of love them all.  You see, I’m sort of a “the more the merrier” kind of girl.  So I like to keep them all in a healthy rotation and not play favorites.  But if I had to pick, I’d say the one that’s really pulling at my heartstrings this holiday season is the Moscow Mule.  The copper mug, the ginger beer, the crisp lime….need I say more?

But with the holidays quickly approaching, I wanted to play around with something a little more festive than the traditional mule.

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Soup & Salad

Ribollita

These colder and darker days are hitting me hard.  I don’t know about you, but I feel like I am in full hibernation mode waiting for this winter to hit.  The moment I walk in the door I slide back into my slippers, and find myself counting down the minutes until I can get cozy under a blanket on our couch.  I am normally one who loves to be on the go, but not these days.  All I want to do is hibernate, binge watch some horrible Bravo show and eat nothing but warm comfort food.

This week my go-to comfort food has been soup.  I can’t stop making them.  My poor dutch oven has had more work this week then she’s seen in months.  This week alone I’ve made a butternut squash bisque, a parmesan chicken noodle for the kids, roasted cauliflower, and now my new favorite ribollita (bread and soup jackpot).  If you’ve never had ribollita – it’s the food equivalent of your favorite chunky sweater and oversized sweatpants.

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Soup & Salad

Homemade chicken stock

Making quick, healthy and delicious meals is not as much about cooking ability as it is about being prepared. In the culinary world you are taught that your mise en place is gold.  Being prepared with quality ingredients is the first part about creating delicious meals.

As a busy mom of four that means having my freezer and panty stocked with things that I use the most.  One of the things that I reach for most is chicken stock.  Whether it’s for a soup, sauce, or just cooking rice, I rely heavily on this golden liquid.  So having it on hand in my freezer is so important for me.

If you’ve never made your own stock, first let me say that it isn’t hard.  However, it does take time.  Luckily for you, it’s only your stove that is put to work.  You fill the up a large pot in the morning, let it simmer all day, and then strain it at night.  It’s not complicated.  But the results are dramatically different than boxed chicken stock and absolutely worth the extra effort.

Not only is homemade chicken stock incredibly nutrient dense (it works wonders for colds/flus), but the flavor and mouthfeel is very different.  Homemade chicken stock is typically very gelatinous.  My stock usually has the texture of jello.   I know that may sound a little strange, but the gelatin that’s released from the bones creates beautifully silky velvety soups and sauces.    

I usually make stock in large batches.  I try and make it every other Sunday (I go through a lot of stock) and freeze it.  My go-to sizes are a quart and pint.  I find that most recipes I make call for either a cup or two (for rice or a sauce), or a quart (if I’m making soup).  So having the stock frozen in those individual sizes is really convenient.  Plus I just like how the quart sizes fit so nicely in my freezer door.

The next time you’re home for an afterno

Recipe:

Homemade Chicken Stock

Serves: 6 qrts
Prep Time :10 minutes
Cook Time :8 hours
Total Time :8 hours 10 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 6 lbs. of chicken bones combination of backs, feet, necks
  • 2-3 large white onions quartered
  • 6 stalks of celery chopped into large peices
  • 6 large carrots chopped into large pieces
  • 1 bulb of garlic - cut in half no need to peel
  • 1 handful of black peppercorns
  • 1 handful of parsley can be just stems if that's all you have
  • Cheese cloth
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Instructions:

  • Rinse chicken bones and place at the bottom of a very large pot (I use a 12 qrt. stock pot)
  • Add enough cold water to the pot to generously cover the bones.
  • Turn heat up to a simmer (do not boil), and let the bones simmer for an hour. The pot will need to be skimmed within the first hour. Using a large spoon, gently "scrape" the foam off of the top of the water.
  • Once the bones have simmered for an hour, and the water has been skimmed, carefully add the other ingredients.
  • Return the pot to a gentle simmer and allow to cook for 6-8 hours.
  • Strain and divide stock into individual container for freezing

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Recipe notes

  • The bones will produce a type of “foam” that needs to be skimmed.  Skimming the stock before adding your vegetables makes this much easier, which is why I like to do it after the first hour of the bones simmering.  However you will need to continue to check your pot and make sure it doesn’t need to be skimmed.  I keep a little bowl and spoon right next to the pot that I can use throughout the cooking process
  • To strain the stock I like to first remove any larger pieces of bone/vegetables with a hand held strainer.  This helps to minimize spills as I’m pouring the hot liquid through a chinois.
  • Then I strain the entire pot (all the stock and remaining vegetables) through a chinois (which is just a type of large strainer) that’s lined with cheese cloth and inside a large food storage container (I use a large 8 qrt container – which as a side note is great for SO many things).  From this larger container, I then divide the stock into smaller individual size portions to be frozen.
  • You can also let your stock chill in the larger container.
  • A layer of fat will from on top of your stock (regardless of what container it’s in).  This is normal and will for sure happen.  Once the stock is chilled, it’s very easy to scrape the layer of fat off.  It usually comes off in a few pieces.
  • It is NOT necessary, but there are times I like to do a second strain on my stock (If I’m trying to make a soup that I want to be really clear).  To do this, just reheat your stock.  Use a second piece of cheese cloth and strain again through a chinois.  A second straining produces a really clear beautiful broth.  Great for a consomme or matzo ball soup.

Breakfast, Snack

Pumpkin Granola

The mornings are a zoo at or house.  A complete mess.  I swear I run (and I mean I literally run) up and down our stairs more times than I can count, collecting lost homework, socks, and tiny dinosaur collections for show-and-tell all before 7am (I still don’t understand why no one can seem to remember socks!).  Getting four kids out the door for school every morning is a challenge to say the least.

So breakfast has to make my life simpler, not more complicated.  It needs to be fast and easy.  But I’ll be honest, I don’t really love the idea of my kids starting their days with processed cereals.  Finding options that are both easy and healthy is really important.

Luckily my crew loves granola.  Let me rephrase that, my crew loves yogurt, which I force them to eat with granola and fruit.  So by default, they now love granola (this recipe is awesome with diced apples ;).

We’ve made a lot of different granola recipes over the years, but I think this is my favorite.  I am crazy about all things pumpkin, and this certainly does not disappoint.  The combination of cinnamon, pumpkin and pecan toasted pieces make it feel like a holiday treat.

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Main Dish, Vegetarian

Cacio e peppe

JonPaul and I went to Italy in September to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary.  10 years.  I know, right?  Kind of crazy.  I have no idea how in the world we have four kids and have been married for 10 years, but yet here we are.  I feel like most days we have no idea what we’re doing, so the fact that we’re happily (for the most part 😉 married after 10 years is cause to celebrate.  And what better place than Italy.

Our trip was incredible.  Magical even.  The best way to describe it would be that I felt like I was living in a movie.  You know that romantic comedy where the couple is laughing, strolling along the perfectly lit street and they just happen to stumble across a romantic cafe, who happens to have the best corner table available, all while the sun is setting.  That was us (even the laughing part).  And that is never our life – so let me just say that the magic of the trip was not lost on me.  I soaked it up.  Every. last. drop.

One of the best parts of the trip was by far the food.  Honestly Italians just do everything better.  So of course it was no surprise that everything we ate was spectacular.  But the one that caught me off gaurd, was a simple rustic dish I had our first night in Rome, cacio e peppe (even the name is good, am I right?!)

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Appetizer and Snacks

Easy as pie applesauce

We took the kids apple-picking the other weekend for the very first time and they loved it.  It was the perfect fall day.  I never knew a single tree could produce so many apples, or that the rows of trees would go on for days.  Apples were everywhere.  We couldn’t grab them fast enough.  The little kids ran through the rows of trees grabbing the perfectly ripened fruit, clenching their bags like gold with their little tiny fingers.  They were in heaven (and JP and I had a pretty great time too….a win win for all, which doesn’t happen often).

However, since that beautiful fall day my kitchen has been a whole other story.  We have been swimming (more like drowning) in apples. Now don’t get me wrong, I love a good crisp apple.  But there are only so many apples a girl can take, in an already cluttered kitchen, before she loses her mind.  I am not one for “clutter”, so the fact that we had apples covering almost every square inch of our kitchen was driving me mad.

I had to make a serious dent in my apple stash, and I had to do it fast.  So I went with what seemed like my easiest option – applesauce.

When the kids were younger I used to make homemade applesauce for them a lot.  I would meticulously peel all of the apples, and cook them over low heat on my stove top for hours.  But on this particular morning I had no interest in peeling anything, or standing over any type of stove.  Instead, I opted for my crockpot and threw the apples right in with their skins still on (because let’s be honest, when you have four little kids you’re not standing around peeling anything).

I had never made applesauce in a crockpot before, so I really had no plan.   But it was at least worth a shot.

I quartered about a dozen apples (with the skin still on) and added them to the crockpot with cinnamon, water, and lemon juice.  I turned the crockpot on to low heat, and then walked away to let it work it’s magic for next five hours.  When the apples were done cooking they were tender enough to mash with a wooden spoon.  However I knew my kids would complain if they saw anything “chunky”, so I opted to give it a quick blend in the Vitamix (but that’s totally optional).  It could not have been easier.  And honestly so incredibly delicious.  But the best part, my house smelled like heaven all day and it required no standing over a stove.

Of course my next problem then became…what to do with all of that applesauce!  Which luckily for you, I’ll share in the next few days (with some seriously delicious muffins….).

Recipe:

Crockpot Applesauce

Serves: 6 -8 cups
Prep Time :10 minutes
Cook Time :5 hours
Total Time :5 hours 10 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 10-12 apples of your choice quartered
  • 1 tbsp of cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • 1 lemon juiced
  • 2-3 tbsp of brown sugar optional depending on how "sweet" you like your applesauce
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Instructions:

  • In a crockpot, combine 10-12 apples that have been cored and cut into quarters
  • Add cinnamon, lemon juice, and water (and optional brown sugar).
  • Toss gently and make sure apples are coated evenly
  • Turn crockpot to low and allow apples to cook for 4-5 hours
  • Once apples can be easily "mashed", use a wooden spoon to "mash" for chunkier applesauce. Or add to a blender for a smoother consistency (just don't over blend or you'll end up with apple soup 😉
  • Store in glass containers

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?

Tag us on Instagram @katyrexing
Use the hashtag #KRRecipe

Sweet treats

Watermelon Granita

My little lady, Lillian, is a fruitarian.  She lives on fruit (and pretty much anything else sweet or sugary…maybe that’s why she’s so sweet ;).  Fruit is her drug of choice.   A pint of blueberries will be devoured in one sitting and an entire bowl of tangerines will vanish in a day if I don’t keep a watchful eye.  But probably her favorite of all, the thing she will literally steal right off your plate (even as you’re watching her) is watermelon.  She honestly just can’t help herself.

So needless to say, watermelon seemed to be a staple in our house this summer.   We had watermelon fruit kabobs, watermelon cocktails for the adults, and probably our family favorite watermelon granita.

If you’re not familiar with granita, I like to think of it as the cross between shaved ice and a snow cone.  You can make a granita with all sort of flavors, but this one is particularly delicious.  I paired the sweet fruity watermelon flavors with the crisp tang of lime and added julienned mint.  It’s not overly sweet, is incredibly refreshing and will have you licking the spoon to get every last drop.

If you have little ones, this is a great recipe to let them help out with.  I like to cut a whole watermelon in half and then give the kids melon ballers to scoop out the inside with.  I can’t say it’s the most efficient way to cut a watermelon – but it’s at least a good five minutes of pure entertainment for my little ones.  (you just may want to take it outside 😉

This recipe only requires a few ingredients and honestly just a few minutes.  I found that we had the best results when we blended up the watermelon in our Vitamix (or any other high speed blender/food processor will work).  But make sure you get it blended really well.  I also like to strain the juice.  I know it’s an extra step, but it really helps to create a more vibrant and clear color.  I just poured the watermelon juice through a strainer directly into the dish I used to freeze the granita.

This recipe also calls for some simple syrup.  If you ever make iced coffees at home, having simple syrup in your fridge is such a nice treat.  It’s just equal parts sugar and water, heated over the stove until the sugar dissolves. Then store in a glass container in your fridge for up to a month.

Making the granita is as simple as pureeing the watermelon, straining the juice, adding some simple syrup and lime, and freezing.  Once you notice the granita starts to freeze and a crust forms on top (about an hour), use a fork to “scrape” the ice making sure to get all the corners and edges.  Then return it to the freezer for another hour before scraping the ice again.  Once you’re ready to serve, let the granita warm up just a little bit (it actually tastes better when it’s “melting” a little versus frozen rock solid….so give it a few minutes to thaw just a tad).

To serve, place a few spoonfuls of granita in a serving dish, garnish with an extra squeeze of lime, some julienned mint and enjoy!

xoxo

Recipe:

Watermelon Granita

Serves: 10 -12
Prep Time :10 minutes
Cook Time :2 hours
Total Time :2 hours 10 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 6 cups of cubed watermelon
  • 1/4 cup of sugar
  • 1/4 cup of water
  • 3 limes
  • 3-4 sprigs of mint
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Instructions:

  • In a high speed food processor, add cubed watermelon and carefully blend. Work in batches if you need to.
  • Once the watermelon is pureed, strain through a sieve and into a shallow baking dish (both a 9x13 or 8x12 will work).
  • To make the simple syrup, add sugar and water in a small pan and slowly begin to cook over low heat. Stir occasionally to make sure the sugar isn't sticking to the bottom. Once the sugar is completely dissolved, set aside to cool.
  • Add the zest and juice of three limes to the watermelon juice as well as the cooled simple syrup. Stir gently to combine (trying to not create any air bubbles).
  • Carefully place the baking dish on a level surface in the freezer. Wait at least one hour before removing the baking dish and "scraping" the ice. Return to the freezer for an additional hour and scrape again.
  • When ready to serve, all the granita to thaw for 5 minutes before scooping into serving dishes. Garnish with a squeeze of lime and julienned mint.
  • Enjoy!

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?

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Sweet treats, Vegan

Dark chocolate avocado mouse

There are a lot of things I think I do really well.  I can organize the heck out of a closet, make insanely good popcorn, and I can make a bed as if was my calling in life (let’s just say I really appreciate crisp sheets and a perfectly fluffed pillow).  But then there are some things that are just not in my wheelhouse – like making desserts.  Sweet treats are not my forte.

So when it comes to impressive desserts I turn to one of two places – our local french bakery, or some really outstanding experts, like Jeanine Donofrio, author of The Love and Lemons Cookbook.

If you haven’t crossed paths with Love and Lemons yet, you can thank me later.  Jeanine creates beautiful seasonal recipes that I just can’t get enough of.  Her cookbook is not only gorgeous to look through for ideas and inspiration, but also organized in a way that is accessible and easy to use (a great gift idea for any foodie in your life).

I love so many of the recipes in The Love and Lemons Cookbook, but one of my new favorites is this dark chocolate avocado mouse.  I’ve always been a huge fans of avocados, but this is the first time I’ve used the creamy ingredient in a dessert.   It took me a minute to wrap my head around the idea of an “avocado mouse”, but it did not disappoint.

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