Broccoli Cheese Soup

In these recent cooler months, I have enjoyed preparing soup for our meals. Some of my favorites have been Tortilla Soup, Spicy Potato Soup and White Chicken Chili. Recently, while perusing Pinterest, I found a recipe for Broccoli Cheddar Soup. Thanks to The Little Girl's Guide to Sugar and Spice for a new favorite soup!

The first time I made this, I discovered that it did not make enough for our family. So, I made a few adjustments to make it stretch. I think it tastes just as good and feeds us each at least two full bowls of soup.

2T butter
1 small onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2c. broccoli (about 4 small heads) cut into very small pieces (you want them to fit on a spoon)
4c. chicken stock
3c. milk
1c. flour
1 1/2c. grated cheddar cheese
Salt 
White pepper


Melt butter in a pot over medium heat. Add onions plus a pinch of salt/pepper. Cook until soft. Add garlic, cook for another minute. Add broccoli, cook for a minute, then add the chicken stock and cover. Allow the broth to come to a boil, and cook until the broccoli is soft.


Whisk together flour and milk until combined. Add this mixture to the pot, stirring gently. The soup will thicken and once it's thick and creamy looking, add the grated cheddar. Salt and pepper to taste.

Thanks, again to The Little Girl's Guide to Sugar and Spice for this recipe.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

3/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

3/4 cup canned pumpkin

1/4 cup water

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners.

Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt.. Add wet mixture and stir in chocolate chips.

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

(Thanks to my friend, Gina, for this tasty recipe perfect for fall!)

Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins

These yummy muffins are a wonderful breakfast food. They also make the perfect snack for a crisp fall afternoon.

1 c. canned or cooked pumpkin

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. milk

2 eggs

1/4 c. butter melted

2 c. all purpose flour

2 t. baking powder

1 t. ground cinnamon

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. ground nutmeg

1/2 t. ground ginger

1 c. chopped walnuts

1 c. fresh or frozen cranberries

Beat pumpkin, sugar, milk, eggs and butter.

Combine dry ingredients; stir into pumpkin mixture.

Fold in walnuts and cranberries.

Pour into greased muffin tins.

Cook at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until done.

Allow to cool. (makes 24 muffins)

Sensational Double Layer Pumpkin Pie

4 oz. cream cheese
1 c. plus 1 T. milk
1 T. sugar
1 1/2 c. cool whip
1 lg. pkg. vanilla instant pudding mix
1 (16 oz) pumpkin pie filling
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ginger
1/4 t. cloves
1 graham cracker pie crust

Mix cream cheese, 1 T. milk and sugar until smooth. Stir in cool whip by hand. Spread on bottom of crust.

Pour 1 c. milk into mixing bowl. Add pudding mix. Beat until well blended. Add pumpkin and spices. Mix well. Spread over cream cheese layer.

Add a little cool whip on top and refrigerate.

serves 8

Moose Munch!

During a recent visit to Harry and David while on vacation, my children were introduced to "Moose Munch." This is Harry and David's name for a yummy concoction of popcorn, nuts, chocolate and more. Rather than buy them a bag of "Moose Munch", I decided to try to copy it. The results of my endeavor are recorded here.

I started by making caramel popcorn. You can use plain microwave popcorn for your recipe, but I had fun making it the way I remember my Mother doing it: on the stove!


You need 1 to 2 gallons of prepared popcorn. Put the popcorn in a large bowl and set aside.

In a sauce pan combine 2 c. brown sugar, 1 c. butter and 1/2 c. corn or maple syrup.

Bring to a boil and allow to slow boil for 5 minutes without stirring.


After 5 minutes, remove from heat and add 1/2 t. baking soda, 1/2 t. salt, and 1 t. vanilla.

Pour this ooey-gooey brew over the popcorn and toss. Then, lay the coated popcorn on a greased cookie sheet (or the cooking world's greatest invention: The DeMarle Silpat).


Doesn't that ooey-gooey golden glow just make you salivate? Go start popping your popcorn now and you can have some of your own in about an hour!

Place in a 250 degree oven and bake for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes.



Set aside your caramel popcorn for now and compile the rest of your Moose Munch ingredients. You can really add in whatever you want here. I chose mini marshmallows, peanuts, and chocolate chips. I imagine that you can also use pieces of graham crackers, almonds, pecans, butterscotch chips, m&ms, and pretzels.

Spread half of the caramel popcorn in a single layer on waxed paper (or the cooking world's greatest invention: The DeMarle Silpat). Add the nuts, pretzels, and whatever else you prefer to the popcorn.

Melt chocolate coating (or almond bark or chocolate chips or any other thing your creative self wants to melt) and pour over the popcorn. My kiddos and I grouped the popcorn, nuts, etc. into clumps which I then coated with chocolate.





However, I think next time (and there WILL be a next time), I will just pour the chocolate over the entire layer.

After the chocolate coating hardens, break it apart in to bite size pieces. Combine it with the other half of the caramel popcorn and store in large storage bags.



This very yummy and addictive snack is a big hit with the kiddos and would be great for class parties, fall festivals and more!

One other note: I think I've decided to leave out the mini marshmallows next time. After a couple of days of storage, they seem to make the other ingredients soft and stale. I like snacks like this on the crunchy side!

Pumpkin Dip!

It's that time of year: the time when all the great holiday recipes are brought out of storage. In honor of the fall season, I am posting one of my all-time favorite harvest recipes.

This recipe was given to me by my friend, Sherry, a co-worker of mine when I lived in North Carolina. This dip was a favorite of the teacher workroom, and everyone always got excited when Sherry brought this!

2 c. powdered sugar
8 oz. cream cheese
15 oz. pumpkin pie mix
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. ginger

Mix sugar and cream cheese. Add pumpkin mix, cinnamon and ginger.

Serve with ginger snaps, and TRY to refrain from eating the whole batch yourself!

If taking to a function (or teacher workroom), you may need to double this recipe.