Hearty Chicken Quinoa Soup

Let me start out by saying that I am not the World’s Biggest Quinoa Fan by a long shot. I know it has some wonderful health benefits, but it just doesn’t do it for me. To be honest, the only time I’ll ever order quinoa off a menu is when it’s stuffed inside a veggie burger. And who am I kidding? Steak beats a veggie burger any day of the week, so you should take away from this that I rarely consider quinoa a viable meal choice. That being said, I recently had lunch at Le Pain Quotidien in the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago, and it opened my eyes to a pretty wonderful use for this protein-packed grain.  Continue reading →

Onion Soup

Onion soup is a beautiful thing when executed well. There is so much flavor that develops from cooking the onions down, and it simply cannot be replicated with a broth or over-compensated for with a mountain cheese. This is why I’m finding it increasingly difficult to order onion soup in restaurants anymore… I am almost always disappointed with what is served to me. So my solution is to make it at home instead!

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Potato and Leek Soup

Bacon makes everything better! …okay, maybe not your hairstyle or car engine, but practically every recipe could benefit from some crispy, pork goodness.

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Italian Wedding Soup

One of my dearest friends celebrated her wedding recently, and I was honored to be one of her bridesmaids. In preparation for the “Wedding of the Century,” I decided to embrace this celebration of love and commitment in my kitchen. I’ve always been a huge fan of Italian Wedding Soup, and the word “wedding” is right in the name of it– how much more wedding-themed can you get?!

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Cowboy Stew

This morning was a little different for me. It started out with the same routine: coffee, check emails, hop on the bus, check more emails, check Facebook… And then I saw something that made me pause. A friend of mine had posted that she and her boyfriend were planning to visit Yellowstone this summer and they were looking for tips on where to go and what to see. As you may remember from a previous post, my family and I used to take driving trips “Out West” in the summers of my childhood.  I was immediately pulled out of my morning commuter’s rut and all too excited to share my passion and knowledge on the subject.

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