When I lived in Portland all by my little old self after college I used to make this very soup in a hand me down pot that I acquired from my mom. Speaking of the old neighborhood, some crazy fool tried to burn it down last week. I’m trying to comfort myself with the fact that my building was at least made out of brick so perhaps he was discouraged in his malicious endeavors by that fact, because as far as I know it’s still standing.

But back to soup. I love this soup! When I first made it I felt like the Queen of the Kitchen. The company I worked for had these Panera Bake sales all of the time so I’d purchase a loaf of slightly stale onion focaccia, heat it up in my rinky dink oven, and happily dip hastily torn pieces into my steaming hot bowl of veggie and cheddar goodness. Then, I’d curl up on my cold cream leather couch (also “borrowed” from my mother) pop in some netflixed Gilmore Girls episodes and suddenly life seemed pretty good for living paycheck to paycheck and charging my blonde highlights, and mental health trips to the mall on my “emergency” Visa.

Vegetable Cheddar Soup (Based on the recipe originally published in Betty Crocker’s Easy Entertaining)

4 tablespoons butter
1 onion chopped
4 carrots sliced
4 celery stalks sliced
3 cups of broccoli florets
1/2 cup flour
10 ounces of sharp white cheddar grated
2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock
1 1/2 cups light cream
Salt & Freshly Ground Pepper to taste
Seeduction Croutons - optional. See below for how I made them.

Heat butter in large dutch oven over medium heat until melted. Cook carrot, onion, celery, and broccoli in butter until softened. Stir flour into the vegetable and butter mixture. Gradually stir in the chicken broth and cream. Continue cooking over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture boils; boil 1 minute. Slowly stir in cheese until melted. Top with homemade “Seeduction” croutons and serve.

Seeduction Croutons

4 small slices of Whole Foods Seeduction bread
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt & Freshly Ground Pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.
Slice the bread into bite sized squares.
Toss with olive olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Bake until toasted and browned.

After spending the morning picking apples at the Nashoba Valley Winery I decided to make my annual attempt at baking a pie. This time I decided to branch out from my horribly lazy habit of using already made pie crust and really went outside my comfort zone with a super special Martha Stewart recipe that included a decadent Cheddar Cheese Crust. It took forever, and I desperately need someone to teach me how to properly crimp those adorable decorative edges, but the crust tasted fabulous and earned high praises from my friend Anna, a self-proclaimed none crust loving individual. The sweet and spicy flavor of the apple filling, combined with the savory pie crust was the epitome of a homemade slam dunk. There’s a reason Martha Stewart is as famous as she is, and I’d love to shake the hand of the intern who wrote this recipe for her (ha ha). So while the pie wasn’t picture perfect, it was certainly tasty and all eight slices were gobbled up in record time.

Grate Cheese & Slice Butter	Combine in Processor & Pulse
Peel Apples	Mix
Roll Out	Top
Decorate	Brush with Egg Wash
Cool & Enjoy The Crispy Cheesy Crust

Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust (Originally Published by Martha Stewart)

For the Cheddar Crust (Makes enough for one 10-inch double crust):

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4 ounces white cheddar cheese, coarsely grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup ice water

Process flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Add butter; pulse until pea-size lumps appear. Pulse in cheese. With processor running, add ice water; process just until dough comes together.

Turn dough out; gather into a block. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until cold, at least 30 minutes or up to 2 days. Dough can be frozen up to 3 weeks.

For the Apple Filling:

1 1/2 pounds (about 3) Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch-thick wedges
2 pounds (about 5) Cortland apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch thick wedges
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Divide dough into two pieces. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out each to a 13-inch circle.

Fit one circle into a 10-inch pie plate; transfer plate to a baking sheet. Put other circle on another baking sheet. Refrigerate dough until cold, at least 30 minutes.

Stir together apples, sugar, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and cloves. Spoon into bottom pie crust. Dot filling with butter. Cover with top crust. Fold edges over; crimp decoratively to seal. Cut a steam vent. Chill in freezer until firm, about 30 minutes.

Brush with egg. Bake pie 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.bake until golden brown, about 45 minutes. Tent with foil; bake until juices are bubbling, about 45 minutes more. Let cool at least 1 1/2 hours before serving.

I realized this week that I’ve been making apple picking trips to the Nashoba Valley Winery for the last 3 years. My first trip took place in late fall of 2005.  On a whim, Chris and I decided that we wanted to pick apples  and simply followed red “apple” signs until we ended up in Bolton. Of course I was over the moon when I realized that the particular orchard we’d happened upon also doubled as a winery. Unfortunately since we’d gone so late in the season we essentially picked whatever leftover apples were still on the trees and not rolling around at our feet, but it was still a great experience in a beautiful setting with gorgeous foliage as far as the eye could see. We used the apples we picked to make a pie. Now neither one of us had ever made a pie before. We had to buy everything to make this happen — even the pie plate. It turned out a gooey mess, but we ate it happily anyway.

The following Fall we made a point to pick apples before Halloween and honestly I count the brief time that we spent there that morning as one of my top 5 absolute favorite memories. We arrived early and the air was crisp and cold; a perfect New England day. Once in the orchard we proceeded to take a million silly staged photos of trees and apples and one another. I also made a pie from the fruit we picked that day — fake Pillsbury crust and all.

Fast forward to this year when Chris and I were joined on our traditional excursion by our friend Anna. It was a bit of a mob scene with dozens and dozens of families milling about and even a wedding taking place on the grounds, but all in all it was a controlled chaos. We ended up picking a gigantic bag of apples and guess what?! I made another pie. But you’ll have to wait until Monday to hear all about it…

So if you’re in the neighborhood or looking for a chance to get out of Boston for the day, I’d definitely recommend taking the short trip to Bolton and the Nashoba Valley Winery. The gift shop is fully stocked with a huge selection of wines, hand crafted beers, and distilled spirits in addition to a large number of unique gifts and tasting opportunities. It’s a little more difficult now since I live in the city, but in the past I’ve frequently purchased their wines and given them away at various holidays and birthdays. Everyone loves locally made wine! In addition to the great shopping opportunities the winery also offers tours of their wine making facilities and have an onsite restaurant called J’s that I’ve yet to try, but the menu always sounds mouth watering so If you’ve had the pleasure of dining there please let me know how your experience was.

My original intention for the ham steak I purchased on a whim from Trader Joes was to make the Barefoot Contessa’s Parker’s Split Pea Soup, but as it’s bordered on 80 plus degrees in our top floor apartment for the last 10 days (when I didn’t break down and turn on the central air) I made an executive decision to nix the pea soup and return back to it at a later date…like in a the Fall and maybe paired with a homemade apple pie.

In the meantime though I had a ham steak taking up space in the fridge. I consulted my mom and she suggested making a scalloped potato dish and incorporating the ham. Well heat or no heat, any casserole made with potatoes, cheese, and ham is a keeper in my book so I hurried home and started slicing and dicing. The recipe I opted to use involved making a basic white sauce, layering the potatoes, cheese, ham, and onions, and finally baking it in the oven. I would suggest upping the temperature of the oven to 400 degrees as my potatoes weren’t even close to being done after baking for 60 minutes at 350. Of course that may be because I chose to dice them as opposed to slicing. If only I had one of these gadgets I might have enjoyed the ooey, gooey, comforting goodness sooner.

Dice	Grate
Slice	Melt
Whisk	Simmer
Saute	Layer
Bake	Potato-licious

Macaroni and Cheese is my all-time favorite meal. When I was a kid I practically lived on the Blue Box Kraft version — seriously, who didn’t? I was a huge pain in the ass though and I would go through phases where I would only eat certain types, for instance, I vividly remember a 3 year stint where I only liked the spiral shaped version. I also had this annoying habit of carrying around the little pouch of cheese powder while my mother was boiling the macaroni. I think those incidents are great examples we can use to confirm that I was a total control freak from birth.

Obviously, homemade Macaroni and Cheese is about 3000 times better than anything that comes out of a box. The recipe I use is based on one from the Better Homes and Garden’s cookbook. Essentially you sauté a diced onion in butter until softened (not browned). Then melt 3 tablespoons of butter in the same pan, whisk in 3 tablespoons of flour (and salt & pepper to taste). Cook the flour and onion paste for a minute or two and then add 3 cups of skim milk. Bring the milk and flour mixture to a boil (stirring frequently). Next add 3 cups of cheese. I like to use extra sharp cheddar and gruyere. Stir the cheese mixture until everything is melted together and thickened. Meanwhile, cook 3 cups of dry elbow or rotini macaroni (lately I’ve been buying the Healthy Harvest Whole Wheat Rotini). Pour the cooked and drained macaroni into a casserole dish, add the cheese mixture, and top with Italian bread crumbs. Finally, bake in a 375 degree oven for 25 minutes.

Your mom will be so proud of you!

It’s the Cheesiest	Chop for Flavor
Melt	Soften
Add 3 Tablespoons	Whisk in 3 Tablespoons of Flour
Stir in the Milk, Boil	Place Cooked Pasta in Dish
Melt the Cheeses	Heat and Stir Until Thickened
Layer with Sauce & Bread Crumbs	Way Better Than “The Blue Box”