Lentil Soup with Smoked Sausage

It's so easy to forget about the foods that don't look like much, even though they can taste really, really good. Like hit-the-spot kind of good. The kind of good that has you going back for seconds even though you're already comfortably full. It'd have to say that lentils are one of those foods. Particularly, this bowl of Lentil Soup with Smoked Sausage.

The soup is rich with flavor despite it's simple ingredients. I love a good meal that can be made without a big trip to the store. Carrots, celery, onion, I always keep those on hand. When smoked sausage goes on sale, I usually grab a few for the freezer because I know it's fast and good for busy days. This recipe for Lentil Soup with Smoked Sausage doesn't have a fancy thing about it - in looks or ingredients. But it did have me going back for seconds.

Lentil Soup with Smoked Sausage
a goodLife {eats} creation

• 1 3/4 c dried lentils
• 16 oz. smoked sausage, sliced and quartered
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 ribs celery, diced
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 dashes cayenne pepper
• 1 dash cumin
• 1 dash garlic powder
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 Tbs fresh parsley, finely chopped

In a medium sized stock pot, sautee the sausage until it is browned and fragrant. Remove sausage and set aside, leaving the drippings in the pot. Saute the onion in the same pot used for the sausage for 3-5 minutes, until tender. Add the garlic and saute an additional minute.

Add the water to deglaze the pot, making sure to scrape up any browned bits that remain. Add the broth, lentils, and seasonings. Bring pot to a boil. Add the sausage, carrot and celery, place a lid on the pot, and simmer for 35-45 minutes, or until lentils and vegetables are tender. Serve.

Quiche Lorraine Scones

Today was the MOMS Club Third Annual Bake-Off. Any regular in our chapter will tell you that if there's an activity with food, we are there. We are a food loving group of mamas. The previous two years I was unable to enter in the bake-off, though I did attend and sample all the goodies. Things like being 1 month postpartum with Madeline or having company in town had kept me from the baking frenzy.

Not this year! With no pressing plans or brand new babies, I decided I simple had to make something. My Lemon Ricotta Bundt Cake (I needed to use up some ricotta) and something new. Most of my friends in the chapter read my blog, so I wanted to try something new on them since they regularly get first dibs on new creations. There are also tons and tons of sweets, so I thought I'd try baking something savory. Kind of a palate cleanser in between samplings, and also something that would be different enough to hopefully stand out in a good way.

Thus, these Quiche Lorraine Scones were born. And boy were they loved! I took home first place in the breads category. And there wasn't a single one left. They were literally tossed into the car moments after coming out of the oven. I wanted them to still be warm when I arrived. You know, to give me an edge on the voting and all.

There are many gifted bakers in our chapter, and I can't wait to get my hands on all the recipes from the Bake-Off. It's really a super fun event. In fact, one of the winners from last year is now a family favorite in our home: That's How I Rolls (Buttery Dinner Rolls).

These are only half of the entries from this year!

I'm so stuffed from all the goodies that I think I'll try to sneak in a quick nap before Madeline wakes up and Logan gets home from school. All those sugar treats are giving me that post-Thanksgiving drowsy spell.

Quiche Lorraine Scones
adapted from Jalapeño-Cheddar Scones

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbs. baking powder
• pinch cayenne pepper
• dash nutmeg
• 1 tsp. salt
• 8 tbs. cold butter, diced
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 lb. swiss or gruyere cheese, diced
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced
• 7 strips center cut bacon, cooked and crumbled
• egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tsp. water)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Prepare the bacon, onion, and cheese. Set aside till bacon has cooled. After cooling, these ingredients together with 1 tsp flour in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cayenne, nutmeg, and salt. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or two knives until the butter is pea-size. Lightly whip eggs and cream and add to the flour-and-butter mixture. Add the bacon, onion, and cheese mixture. Using a wooden spoon, fold mixture until it begins to come together.

Turn out the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead gently for less than one minute. Roll dough 3/4 to 1-inch thick and cut out using biscuit cutters or into triangles. I used these adorable flower shaped cutters. Brush with egg wash and place on parchment lined sheet.

Bake for 20-25 (depending on the size of your scone) minutes or until golden brown.

(The scones didn't really hold the flower shape, so next time I'll just do them round. But the flower shaped cutters are fun.)

Thanksgiving How-To Articles

Can you tell I've been busy? I'm sure I'm not the only one who's noticed the less frequent posts the past week or two. I hope to get back on schedule so I can share all my delicious kitchen finds. It sort of threw me for a loop when I had to cook a Thanksgiving feast last week! You're probably wondering why I'd do that. We just had Halloween!

Over at Craftzine I'm doing a 4 week series to help you get ready for the holiday. This week's feature is a How-To article on brining and roasting your turkey, plus the recipes you'll need for the brine and a garlic herb butter to slather all over the turkey. The leftover turkey carcass from this recipe makes the best homemade turkey broth, but you'll have to stay tuned throughout the month for that recipe, along with ideas for your side dishes and our family's favorite pumpkin pie recipe. For now, you can check out this week's recipe over at Craftzine.

Cherry and Tangerine Oatmeal

It's funny how I'd consider this recipe for Cherry and Tangerine Oatmeal to be one of my favorite breakfast recipes, but the recipe hasn't yet made it onto my blog after a year of blogging. And I think I've only had it once the past year. I guess that happens sometimes when you love trying and creating new recipes, but it's fun to remember old favorites and get them back into the rotation.

This recipe was my first introduction to steel cut oats. They're much more textured than regular oatmeal and have a bit of a crunch. I always love breakfast recipes that almost taste too good to be breakfast, but are really good for you, and these oats are another one of those kind of recipes. My only problem is remembering to mix it up the night before. Last night, that's all I could remember. I went downstairs to grab a prescription I had just picked up, but while down there I saw this recipe sitting out on the counter. I decided I'd throw it together really quick while I had a minute. After cleaning up, I went back upstairs wondering why I had originally gone downstairs in the first place. This morning I was so glad I had gotten sidetracked from my original task just long enough to do the prep work for this delicious Cherry and Tangerine Oatmeal. I can't promise that it's this recipe, but I've been feeling energetic and full of positivity all day. I'm convinced that starting the morning with a fabulous breakfast is a contributing factor.

Cherry and Tangerine Oatmeal
adapted from Better Homes & Gardens

• 1 cup steel cut oats
• 1 cup dried tart cherries
• 2 tsp finely shredded tangerine peel or orange peel
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp salt
• Dash ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups milk
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• Milk (optional)
• 4 tsp raw sugar (turbinado) or granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup almonds, toasted and chopped

In a nonmetal bowl combine oats, cherries, tangerine peel, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and vanilla. Stir in milk; cover and chill for 8 to 24 hours.

To serve, transfer oatmeal mixture to a medium saucepan. Heat just to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until oatmeal is done, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in butter until melted. If desired, add additional milk to make desired consistency. Spoon into 4 bowls; sprinkle with sugar and nuts. Serve with additional milk, if desired. Makes 4 servings.

Baking with Whole Grains {Nutrimill Review}

I've been wanting to start incorporating more whole grains into my baking. Especially since Logan is such a picky eater, but he will eat lots of baked goodies, I thought that would be a great way to get some extra nutrition in him. Enter the Nutrimill Grain Mill.

I had heard about this mill from my Aunt who's been using it for the same reason. I thought, wow, this sounds perfect! I should really look into getting one of these. Think of how much more nutritious my Zucchini Apple Spice muffins would be for Logan if I could use whole grain flour! And cookies and brownies! All things he loves that range in how good (or not good) they are for you. So I shamelessly wrote Kitchen Resource to ask if they'd be interested in a product review. They weren't able to participate at this time, but were nice enough to point me in the direction of an online retailer - Pleasant Hill Grain - who might be interested. And guess what? They were interested! Within a week I recieved my very own refurbished Nutrimill Grain Mill along with several 1 lb. samples of the different grains they sell.

The machine itself has some great features that just make for a really smart design. Like how the spot where you insert the bowl that catches all the ground grain has a little "yes" and "no" double check so you know if the bowl is inserted properly. Hint: if it lines up with the "no," you're going to have flour spraying all over the place when you turn the machine on.

Another convenient feature I love is the way the cord stores inside the machine itself. There's nothing I like less than I mess of appliance cords all tangled up in my kitchen cabinets.

Besides the design being so smart, the machine is super easy to use! Easy to understand instructions for operating make it a breeze to learn how to use the Nutrimill. Are you curious about what grains you can and cannot grind in the machine? There's a great list in the book, so no guess work on your part. What about how many cups of flour are produced for each cup of grain? It tells you that too! The actual process of grinding the grain is really straight forward.

Assemble the machine, place grain in the hopper, put the lid on, turn the machine on and select how coarse you want the grain ground. And then you get beautiful, freshly ground flour! Doesn't that sound easy?

My only complaint is that it does make a little bit of the mess on the counters. Luckily I had set up right next to the kitchen sink - and I think I'll keep doing that in the future - so I just swept the excess into the sink when I was done.

If you don't have storage space, that might be an issue if you're considering the Nutrimill (or probably any grain mill too). It takes up about as much space as a Kitchen Aid stand mixer would. I have a shelving unit in my garage right by the door, so that's where I plan to store the Nutrimill.

And how do baked goods taste with freshly ground flour? Wonderful! The zucchini apple muffins are still a hit and you can't even tell a difference. My favorite Rustic Bread tastes a bit earthier, but so delicious and really hit the spot for grilled cheese with homemade bread and a bowl of roasted tomato soup after last night's cold weather.

This morning for breakfast I had a simple toast using bread made with the hard white wheat flour. It was hearty without being heavy and a great, fast breakfast (when the bread is already made) for a busy Saturday morning.

Thanks, Pleasant Hill Grain, for the opportunity to try out the Nutrimill. I love it!

Rustic Whole Wheat Bread
adapted from Rustic White Bread

• 2 cups warm tap water, about 110 degrees
• 1/4 c olive oil
• 2 1/2 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast
• 5 1/4 to 5 1/2 cups hard white wheat flour
• 4 teaspoons salt
• 2 Tbs flour for dusting
• Cornmeal for the pans
• 1 cookie sheets or a large (at least 11×17-inch) jelly roll pan
• pizza stone, optional

To make the dough, in a 3-quart mixing bowl place water and sprinkle yeast on surface, allowing it to stand for five minutes before whisking. After five minutes, whisk in the oil. To mix dough in a heavy-duty mixer, place smaller amount of flour and salt in bowl of mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add water and yeast and mix on low speed to form a smooth, elastic and slightly sticky dough, about 5 minutes. Incorporate the remaining flour a tablespoon at time if the dough is too soft.

Place dough in an oiled bowl and turn dough over so top is oiled. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow dough to rise at room temperature until doubled.

To shape loaves, scrape risen dough onto a lightly floured surface and press it to deflate it. Press dough into a square, then roll it up tightly. Rotate cylinder of dough 90 degrees and roll up again from short end. Arrange dough seam side down, cover with plastic or a towel and let it rest of 5 minutes.

Dust pan with cornmeal. Roll dough under palms of your hands to elongate it. Work from middle of loaf outward, pointing the ends slightly. Loaf should be a wide oval shape. Place loaf seam side down on cookie sheet and dust each loaf heavily with flour, using about 2 Tbs in all. Cover with plastic or a towel and allow to rise until doubled.

About 30 minutes before you intend to bake the loaves, preheat oven to 500 degrees F and set rack at the lower middle level. (I decided to bake my bread on my pizza stone, so I set that in at this time to preheat - otherwise, you can bake the bread on the cookie sheet that it's rising on)

Holding a razor blade or the point of a very sharp knife at a 30-degree angle to the top of the loaf, make 3 to 4 diagonal slashes across the top. Immediately place loaves in oven and lower temperature 450 degrees F. (I slide the loaf off of the cookie sheet onto the pizza stone)

After baking for 25 minutes, lower temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking about 25 to 35 minutes longer, until bread reaches an internal temperature of about 220 degrees F. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.

Spiced Butternut Squash Apple Soup

It is cooooold today! It rained all night and this morning and there is a dusting of snow on our mountains. The heater even came on this morning. I am not ready for winter yet! I've been enjoying fall so much, can't it stay a little longer? But, I am ready for soup weather...and baking big, crusty loaves of homemade bread to warm the house.

If you need a new soup idea, check out this recipe I shared over at Craftzine: Spiced Butternut Squash Apple Soup. It's warm and filling, a little bit sweet and savory. And it goes great with bread!

Cranberry Crumb Bars

Do you want to know just how good these Cranberry Crumb Bars are? As Mary Poppins would say, they're practically perfect in every way. I have made 3 pans of them just this week. Practically perfect, see? So practically perfect that they're verging on actual perfection minus the part about how they aren't exactly health food. Okay, before you go all oh-my-gosh-are-you-crazy? and that's-so-bad-for-you on me let me justify those three pans first. Okay?

Pan #1: made them for us. We devoured them. I had the last one for breakfast yesterday because it was calling my name in the fridge. I mean, it was the last one in the pan and the pan was just taking up way too much space since it wasn't really serving any purpose by housing only one bar. I took the bar out. I put the pan in the dishwasher. And then I ate the bar. The end. Oh except for the part where Logan tells me that he "only [likes] the chocolate brownies." Oh well. More for me. (Sometimes there are advantages to having a picky child. The picky child just doesn't need to find that out)

Pan #2 and #3: Made both today. Logan and Madeline had a grand time helping me press the crust in and then proceeded to litter the kitchen with flour, sugar, and baking powder. I was also trying to make Beef with Broccoli for dinner at the same time. Am I crazy or what? Please don't answer that.

Pan #2 is for MOMS Club Garage Sale/Bake Sale tomorrow morning. Pan #3 part 1 is for a friend's family. Pan #3 part two is for us. Again. I could hardly wait for them to chill before a.) delivering them and b.) eating them myself. So I ate some unchilled and they were a mess to cut into, but still really good. Though I do like them better chilled. I also think they're the perfect treat for the upcoming holidays, or any time you want your kitchen to smell awesome.

P.S. Cranberries are good for you. Right? Right.
P.P.S. Go check out the new Food Section on the Paula Deen website and all the super cool contributing writers.

Cranberry Crumb Bars
adapted from SGCC and Smitten Kitchen

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup almond meal*
• 1 cup cold butter (2 sticks)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• juice of 1/2 of an orange
• 4 cups fresh cranberries**
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 Tbs cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter a 9×13 inch pan.

In a medium bowl, mix together 1 cup sugar, flour, almond flour, salt and baking powder. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. The dough will be crumbly. Alternatively, you can pulse the dry ingredients in a food processor with the butter until pebbly, and then mix in the egg until it all comes together. Pat half of the dough into the buttered pan.

In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, and orange juice. Mix in the cranberries. Sprinkle the cranberry mixture evenly over the dough in the pan.

Add 1/4 tsp cinnamon to the remaining dough, then crumble dough over the berries. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until top is a light golden brown. Cool completely and chill in the refrigerator before cutting into squares. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

* I used these almonds. Just toss them in a food processor until finely ground to make almond meal.

**stock up while cranberries are abundant in stores. Just toss them in the freezer and use as you need. They'll be good for about a year. If you're using frozen fresh cranberries for this recipe there is no need to thaw them first.

Update 10/26/09: Regarding the possibility of freezing these bars, please see here.