Ham and Bean Soup

It has snowed so much in the past week that I'm beginning to think I live at the North Pole!!

Today's weather forecast was for more snow and cold, so it seemed like a good day to make some soup!  I didn't want to have to run to the grocery store, so I used ingredients I already had in my fridge, freezer and pantry. To make it a little more interesting, I challenged myself to see if I could be like Rachel Ray and make it in 30 minutes (or less)! We still had quite a bit of leftover ham from Christmas dinner, so it seemed like the perfect meat to use. I also had bags of both onion and corn in my freezer.  I like keeping bags of different veggies in my freezer, so I can use as little or as much as I need at a time for a meal. Taking a quick peek into my pantry, I found some fire roasted tomatoes (my new favorite kind of tomatoes) and some cannellini kidney beans. Tip: you don't need to buy the fancy frozen veggies or gourmet brand of tomatoes or beans.  From my experience, I have found that the "house" or "generic" versions from the grocery store will usually taste the same (and be cheaper).  I'm happy to report that I met my challenge :) This soup was ready in 30 minutes and I had it for lunch today.  As an added bonus, it was super tasty!!
 

 Ingredients:

2 cups cooked ham, chopped
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup corn
14.5 ounce can fire roasted tomatoes, undrained
15.5 ounce can cannellini kidney beans, drained
8 cups water

In large stockpot, put all ingredients in the order given.  Stir with large spoon to mix thoroughly.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  That's it - enjoy!

Hot Chocolate Biscotti

Chocolate biscotti has become one of my favorite cookies to make around the holidays.  I didn't even know what biscotti was until about five or so years ago :)  This year I decided to try something different when I made the biscotti. I used hot cocoa mix instead of unsweetened cocoa.  The result was delicious!

I used three envelopes of the Swiss Miss brand of hot cocoa mix (each envelope was .73 ounces).  If you have a canister or jar of hot cocoa mix, measure out 1/2 cup.  I also added some chocolate chips to make it even more decadent. This morning when these biscotti were baking, it smelled really yummy. The hubby "sampled" one of these biscotti with his coffee and declared them to be "very good." This afternoon, when I came back home after a couple hours of Christmas shopping, there was still a hint of chocolate in the air.  It smelled just like a biscotti bakery when I walked back into our house :) 

Ingredients:

3 cups white flour
1/2 cup hot cocoa mix
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup white sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
4 large eggs (slightly beaten)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and slightly grease two cookie sheets with non-stick cooking spray.  In a small bowl, combine flour, hot cocoa mix, baking powder and baking soda.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, combine sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla extract and milk.  Beat by hand or with mixer until creamy.  Gradually add the flour mixture and mix until well combined with a large spoon.  Add semi-sweet chocolate chips if desired. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill dough in fridge at least one hour.  Divide dough in half.  Shape each half into a 12-inch long log.  Flatten slightly (about 2-3 inches across).  Place each log onto the slightly greased cookie sheets.  Bake for 25 minutes.  Pull the cookie sheets out and let cool for 5 minutes.  Cut each log into 12 equal sized slices and place cut sides down.  Return back to oven for another 20-30 minutes or until the biscotti get brown and crispy.  Remove from oven and cool on cookie sheets about 5 minutes. Place biscotti on wire rack to finish cooling.  Makes two dozen cookies.

Easy Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Earlier this week, while looking at a popular "gourmet" cookie website, I was curious how much a large decorated cookie cake cost. They started at $37.99 and went up from there!  I decided to see if I could make something comparable (and cheaper). I had a coupon for $1.00 off a tube of Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip refrigerated cookie dough that I had clipped several weeks ago out of the paper.  The dough came to a grand total of $1.69.  I had two free coupons from Betty Crocker, so I got a tube each of both red and green decorating icing.  Even if you had to pay full price for the cookie dough and decorating icing, it still would be a lot less than $37.99!  The next time there is a birthday, anniversary or other special occasion/holiday, try making this.  Your guests will be asking you where you "bought" the special one-of-a-kind cookie cake!!

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly spray a 12-inch x 1-inch circle pan with non-stick spray.  Press a 16 1/2 ounce tube of refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough into pan with your fingertips to within one inch of the sides. Feel free to use whatever brand of cookie dough you want, as long as it is a 16 1/2 ounce tube.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.  Pull pan out of the oven and put on wire rack about 20 minutes.  Since you put a little non-stick spray in the pan before baking, the cookie should come out easily.  Place on plate and decorate if desired. 

Chicken Cordon Bleu

If you make this one night for your family for dinner, they will think they are dining in a five-star restaurant!! Chicken Cordon Bleu is just a fancy name for a boneless, skinless chicken breast wrapped up in ham and cheese :)  I  make my own version (minus the pounding of the chicken breast). This is a "menu" favorite of Lauren's. The chicken stays moist and the cheese melts, so it is really yummy!

Ingredients:

2 - 2 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
6 slices deli ham
6 slices swiss cheese
1 cup plain bread crumbs
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
6 toothpicks

In small bowl, cover toothpicks with water and set aside. You have to presoak the toothpicks or they might burn in the oven.  Slice chicken breasts into six even pieces lengthwise and set aside.  In one bowl, put the egg and milk, and mix with fork.  In another bowl, put the bread crumbs.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees and cover an 8 x 8 inch pan with foil - set aside.  Take one of the chicken breasts and dip in the egg/milk mixture first and then dip in the bread crumbs.  Place one slice of ham, folded and then the slice of swiss cheese on top of the chicken breast.  Fold in half and secure with toothpick. Place in pan.  Repeat for the other five pieces.  Bake for approximately 40-50 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink in the middle.  The cooking time will depend on how thick the chicken breasts are - I bought thick ones, so it took close to 50 minutes to bake.  Remove toothpicks before eating :) Serves six.

Saltine Cracker Toffee

If you can believe it, this toffee is made with saltine crackers!! I usually associate saltine crackers with cheese and crackers or when you're eating a bowl of soup. This past Saturday, Cathy's Kitchen was very busy. I was in a baking mood and made four different things - sour cream kuchen, peanut butter bars, this toffee and homemade mac and cheese.  To make this toffee, you start out with a "sleeve" of  saltine crackers.
  

Ever wonder why it's called a "sleeve?" I guess maybe because it looks like a sleeve on a shirt, perhaps????  Anyways, these were easy to make, and I found the hardest part was waiting for the chocolate to firm up.  I was pretty impatient and kept touching it about every 20 minutes to see if it was hard yet - it took about three hours before it was ready for "sampling."  This toffee is super rich, but it so good (and addictive).  If you are looking for gifts to give your kid's teachers, bus drivers and other special people in their lives, you could toss some of these into a plastic decorative gift bag or a metal tin. I love giving homemade baked gifts because you can make it exactly the way you want!

Ingredients:

1 "sleeve" saltine crackers (about 38-40) 
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
2 cups (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate morsels
Sprinkles or nuts (if desired)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cover a jelly roll pan (11 inches x  17 inches) with aluminum foil.  You have to use a pan with a little bit of edge or "lip" or else when you put the pan in the oven, the mixture will spill all over the place :(  Once you cover the pan with the foil, spray a light layer of non-stick cooking spray on it.   Line up the crackers like this:

 

 
Set the pan aside.  In medium saucepan, put the two sticks of butter and the brown sugar.   Bring to a boil slowly. Once it gets to a full boil, keep stirring occasionally for three minutes.  Remove from heat and pour the butter and brown sugar mixture all over the crackers, coating entirely.  Put in oven for five minutes.  Remove from oven and sprinkle the two cups of semi-sweet morsels all over.  Let it sit about two minutes and then using a spatula or knife spread the chocolate all over until it coats the entire pan. The chocolate morsels melt pretty quickly, making it easy to spread.  I put holiday sprinkles on half and left the other half plain.

 

You could certainly leave it all plain, make it all sprinkles, or add thinly sliced almonds or finely crushed peanuts.  Let this cool completely (at least three hours) and then break off pieces with your hands. Store up to one week in a covered container at room temperature.  You could get the kids to help line up the crackers or do the sprinkles.  Dominic woke up this morning saying he wanted this for breakfast.  He got the kuchen instead :)