Snow day brings romantic food thoughts to my brain.  I don’t know why.  I picture my grandmother in her 70′s style kitchen cooking up some vegetable soup for the family on their farm.  I picture hot chocolate and coffee and warm cookies by the fire.  Fuzzy socks and movies.  I get goosebumps just thinking about it.

Snow was not even on my radar screen and I had declared winter over, but God knows how to come through for the romantically inclined types like me.  And He sent snow.

Thankfully, I had gone to the grocery store and picked up a few things, so I was prepared and ready to get my chef game on.  Before Steven left for work that snowy morning I told him, “I am cooking dinner tonight“.  Like it was the newsflash of the year.  And he said the most touching thing and I’ll never forget it. “Ok.”

{Maybe I do take myself too seriously.}

Anyway, I photographed everything because I was in a photographing mood. And snow light in the kitchen is way prettier than regular light, or so I told myself.  And I was inspired by that.

I hope you, in turn, are inspired as well.  Enjoy…

COFFEE & ROASTED ALMOND CHOCOLATE BARK

by: love. food. eat.

//Ingredients

300 grams dark chocolate

1/2 cup roasted almonds, roughly chopped

1/2 teaspoon – 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder

//Process

Line a chopping board with silver foil and set aside.

Finely chop the chocolate and melt in a double boiler.  {I just used a regular pot and kept a close eye on it as it melted, scraping constantly with a rubber spatula, so as not to burn.}  When the chocolate is fully melted, add the instant coffee powder and stir well.  Add about a 1/4 of your nuts and mix it.

Pour the chocolate and nut mixture onto the foil lined board.  Spread it into a layer of about 1/2 centimeter thickness.  I coarsely chopped the rest of my nuts and sprinkled on top.  And I sprinkled some coarse sea salt on top as well.  {A little pizzazz!}

Place in refrigerator and let cool till hardened and set.  Break into small pieces.  ENJOY.

Next up is one of the best, family-friendly soup recipes I’ve found to date.  It is a crowd pleaser with common ingredients that are sure to warm up the coldest of days.  This does have chicken in it, but it could be easily turned vegetarian by omitting the chicken and substituting vegetable broth for chicken broth.

Also, I had never used orzo in a recipe till this one and I am now a convert.  You can find it in the pasta/grains section of your grocery store I believe…

//CHICKEN VEGETABLE SOUP WITH ORZO

by: story of my life
serves 8-10

//Ingredients

1 ready-cooked rotisserie chicken (or 3-4 large, cooked chicken breasts)
1 medium onion, diced
2 minced garlic cloves
8-10 oz of frozen mixed veggies (or feel free to add in a couple cups of the fresh veggies of your choice in place of the frozen!)
1/2 cup of chopped fresh parsley
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
5 cups of lower sodium chicken broth
1 cup of water
1/4 tsp. pepper
salt to taste (check and see if you think it needs it at the end)
1 1/2 cups of cooked orzo (according to package directions). Cook orzo to al dente, not super soft
ripe avocado for serving

//Directions

Heat chicken broth, water, and tomatoes in a large pot while you dice up all the meat (both white and dark) from the rotisserie chicken. Place the chicken in the pot with the broth (heat should be on about medium). Heat oil in a skillet and dice onion. Place onion in skillet and cook until soft but not brown, stirring occasionally. Add in garlic and cook another minute or two, until good and fragrant. Add in 8-10 oz of frozen veggies, and sauté for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then throw it all in the pot with the chopped parsley, pepper, and cooked orzo.

Let it all simmer about 10 minutes, and serve each bowl with sliced avocado on top. Enjoy!

And last, but not least, comes the timeless of all timeless recipes: Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I have been using the Toll House recipe on the back of the chocolate chips package since I was 13, and I’ve found a few tweaks make all the difference in the world for these very American cookies.

// Use chocolate chunks, instead of chocolate chips.

// When measuring your flour, add a few tablespoons extra then the recipe calls for.

// Sprinkle your cookie dough balls with sea salt before placing them in the oven.

// Preheat your oven to 350, instead of 375 like the recipe says.

// Cook for 8 or 9 minutes, then check them.  You want to take them out when they are very slightly browning on the edges, but still looking slightly “undone” in the center.  They will continue cooking when you take them out and cool on the cookie sheet.

// When making your cookie dough balls, roll a scant half-cup of dough into a ball.  Holding the dough ball in both hands, pull apart into two equal halves.  Place the dough balls with the jagged surfaces facing up, leaving ample room between each ball.  As shown here…

This gives them that bumpy bakery style look {Thanks for the tip, Tamara!}

ORIGINAL NESTLE TOLL HOUSE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

//Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) chocolate chunks

//Process

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chunks. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

• 

•