Chickpea - Tomato Soup

Nostalgia. It can simply be a certain smell coming from the kitchen, looking through an old family cookbook at the handwritten recipes that have been passed down, having a conversation with a friend about a particular food memory, tasting a familiar recipe or even the mere mention of words like tomato soup and grilled cheese. I love that about food - it can immediately take you somewhere. We all have that comforting dish that we turn to when we are sick, felling a little under the weather or just need to be reminded of home.

When feeling blue, I know a lot of you turn to the traditional soup and grilled cheese meal. And of course it is by no means homemade soup - it comes from the small Campbell's can - a soup that you reconstitute in water. How we find that comforting I have no idea - but it must do the trick. For me, it was always Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup and grilled cheese. I have never actually tasted Campbell's tomato soup, but I am certain that my chicken noodle choice was always much better. It's funny because most people usually have a strong preference towards one comfort soup or the other - never both. These days, if I ever have a cold or am not feeling well I usually turn to Starbucks Espresso Frappuccinos or McDonald's french fries.

I was feeling fine this weekend and not under the weather at all, but I suddenly got a craving for tomato soup. I've never made tomato soup before. have never ordered it in a restaurant before, nor have I eaten it out of a can. I woke up too early last Saturday morning and had a few hours before it was time to go to spin class, so I laid in bed and looked up soup recipes on my phone.

I came across the Chickpea - Tomato Soup from Molly who writes one of my favorite blogs called Orangette. The soup caught my eye because it was not only easy to make but it also had chickpeas, which provided protein to the dish. I don't mind eating soup for a meal at night, but it usually needs to have some substance to it - plain tomato broth probably wouldn't cut it for me. The recipe also doesn't call for any cream, which makes it a very healthy option. There are very few ingredients in the soup: garlic, rosemary, tomatoes, chickpeas and broth. You probably have these ingredients in your pantry already. The recipe has you puree the chickpeas which gives the soup a wonderful thickness. With such few ingredients, this soup really shines. I made Heidi Swanson's Yeast Raised Cornbread Rolls to go along side my soup. The perfect updated soup and grilled cheese meal.

*Note: I love making Heidi's cornbread rolls and putting them into a freezer bag for the winter. Whenever I have soup for dinner, I can just pull out a roll and heat it up in the oven. This cornbread recipe is unlike any roll I've had before. Having something to dunk into the soup is always key for me.

Chickpea - Tomato Soup

adapted from Orangette

3 14 oz cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 garlic cloves, peeled and passed through garlic press

4 sprigs fresh rosemary, needles removed and finely chopped

2 28 oz cans fire roasted diced tomatoes

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

Pinch of sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

5 cups vegetable stock

Drain the canned chickpeas in a colander and rinse them well. Warm the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-low heat and add the garlic and rosemary. Cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, sugar, salt, red pepper flakes, pepper, 2/3 of the chickpeas and the stock. Bring to a boil over high heat; then reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered for 30 minutes.

Remove the soup from the heat to puree. You can use an immersion blender and puree the soup directly in the pot. Otherwise, wait a few minutes, until the soup cools. Puree it in batches in a blender or food processor and return it to the pot. Add the remaining chickpeas and warm the soup over medium heat. Serve warm, topped with a needle of rosemary and a sprinkle of Parmesan.

Mexican Chocolate Streusel Cake

Over the past couple of months, I have been seriously contemplating an attempt to start my yet to be named 'Emily & Rick Project'. I keep writing that every recipe I make from One Plate at a Time or Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless is the best I've ever had. I want to keep cooking those amazing dishes that he writes about, as I make my way through both cookbooks. Now I know what you are thinking - well geez Emily you must want to be just like Julie & Julia and copy that same process. It's not so much that I was overly inspired by Julie & Julia to immerse myself in a style cooking and replicate that same feat and notoriety, but what I did love about that concept was that Julie really got a sense of what French cuisine and Julia Child were all about. Rick Bayless has so many amazing recipes and I can only imagine how much I could learn attempting each technique and dish that he has perfected. I haven't finalized the details or schedule of the project yet, but it is in the works - stay tuned.

Anne & Ben recently hosted an engagement party at Anne's parents' house just outside of the city. They boldly announced that they would be making their 'world famous tacos' to go along side beans, rice and margaritas. World famous - hmmmm - I'm definitely in. When did Ben become old enough to be engaged? I guess this really means we are growing up. It just feels different when your brother is the one getting married; it's so exciting to hear all the details that are starting to get finalized and the anticipation for the wedding is already building.

I contributed one dish to the Mexican fiesta and I chose to make Rick Bayless' Mexican Chocolate Streusel Cake. I did have one hiccup in the process in that I couldn't find Mexican chocolate. I probably should have started looking earlier than 1 day before the party, but it sometimes takes me a long time to pick a recipe and I just didn't have my ingredient list put together any earlier. I tried 3 different stores: Treasure Island, Whole Foods and Dominick's - no luck. So in the spirit of keeping with international chocolate I went with a variety: Belgium chocolate chips, a German chocolate bar and bittersweet chocolate chunks. Next time I will definitely try to get the real thing for authenticity purposes.

The cake is pretty easy to put together - getting out the food processor might be the most difficult part. This is a cake that travels quite well. I took it whole, in the pan and then cut into pieces once I got there. I was really tempted to add cinnamon to the batter, but did my best to stick to the original recipe. This tastes like a chocolate coffeecake - great with coffee and moist enough to eat on its own. If I had been at home, I probably would have topped it with a scoop of Edy's Coffee Ice Cream. Thank you Rick Bayless - once again.

Mexican Chocolate Streusel Cake

adapted from Rick Bayless - One Plate at a Time

1 18 oz package Mexican chocolate, roughly chopped (I used a combo of German dark, bitttersweet and Belgium chocolate instead)

Streusel Topping:

1 large egg yolk

Salt

7 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

1 cup all purpose flour

Cake:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 8oz package cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

4 large eggs

For the streusel topping:

In a food processor, pulse half of the chocolate until it is the consistency of coarse crumbs. Remove and set aside for the batter. Add the remaining chocolate to the processor and pulse to form coarse crumbs. Mix the egg yolk and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a small bowl, stirring to dissolve the salt. Add to the processor along with the butter and the flour. Pulse until everything is combined - it should look crumbly. Set aside.

For the cake:

Heat oven to 350. Butter and flour a 13x9 baking dish. Sift together the flour and baking powder. In your mixer, combine the cream cheese, butter and sugar until light and fluffy - about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each one is thoroughly incorporated before adding the next. Add the flour mixture, scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for 1 minutes, just until the flour is incorporated. Use a large spoon to stir the reserved chopped chocolate into the batter.

Scrape the batter into the baking pan and smooth the top. Crumble the streusel topping evenly over the batter, making sure there are no large lumps. Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack, then cut into squares.

Pine Nut Biscotti

I took a road trip to Michigan last weekend and got a recommendation from Jenn to stop at Fruit Acres in Coloma, MI - a little fruit stand located right off the highway. I wasn't going to push the idea of pulling off at Exit 39 just to stop at this fruit market, since I wasn't the one making the driving decisions and my big ask was going to be for a stop at Starbucks. Caffeine before fresh fruit - always. But, when we happened to pull off for gas in Coloma, it was like a sign from above that I was meant to stop here to take a look around. I sampled some cider, taste tested a plum and purchased a few peaches for the road.

I know what you're thinking - pine nuts don't belong in biscotti. Trust me, before trying this recipe I said the same exact thing. The only use I've ever had for pine nuts in the past has been for making pesto; it is usually the nut that I pass up at the grocery store and it tends to be the lone bag left in my cupboard when all the other packages of almonds and walnuts are gone.

As I've posted about before, my go to book for this type of treat is called Biscotti by Lou Seibert Pappas. I've made just about every biscotti recipe in the book and I have yet to be disappointed with a single one. Over the years, when deciding what biscotti to make, I've purposely passed up this pine nut biscotti recipe. Praline Biscotti, Espresso Biscotti, Almond Crunch Biscotti, Caramel Walnut Biscotti, Swedish Cinnamon Slice Biscotti - they all sound more tempting than Pine Nut Biscotti.

I was going through my cupboard last weekend, cleaning some things out and I came across that lone bag of pine nuts hiding in the back. Knowing that pine nuts aren't cheap, I knew I should probably use them up on something. I opened the biscotti book and decided to give the Pine Nut Biscotti recipe a try - I took it to work as my Made for Monday treat. You will honestly be surprised at how the flavor of the pine nuts pairs so well with the tartness of the lemon juice. I love having biscotti in the freezer and pulling out just one each night is just what I am looking for sometimes. So, it definitely wasn't the recipe that caught my eye, but it is one I will continue to make for years to come.

And just for statistics purposes - I used the word biscotti 17 times in this blog post.

I had one small hiccup during the cooking process as I threw a batch of toasted pine nuts onto the floor - not on purpose of course. Luckily, I had enough pine nuts to toast up another batch. I ended up bringing out the vacuum twice during the pine nut biscotti making process.

Pine Nut (Pignoli) Biscotti

adapted from Biscotti by Lou Seibert Pappas

1/2 cup pine nuts

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons lemon zest

2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350. Toast pine nuts in the oven for 8 minutes, until fragrant and slightly brown. Let cool.

In a mixing bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, lemon juice and zest. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry mix to the creamed mixture, mixing until blended. Fold in the nuts. Divide the dough in half.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pat out the dough into two logs about 1/2 inch high and 1 1/2 inches wide. Bake in the oven at 325 for 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer from the baking sheet to a rack. Let cool for 5 minutes. Place on a cutting board. With a serrated knife slice diagonally into slices about 1/2 inch thick. Put the slices back on a baking sheet. Reduce heat to 250 and let bake for another 2-3 hours.

White Chicken Chili

No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to replicate our family recipe for chili. There is in fact a recipe, but when I add the exact ingredients that are called for to the pot, the chili never tastes as good as when somebody else in the family makes it. I'll admit I've tried putting my own spin on the original: using ground turkey instead of beef, adding more hot chili powder to the mix, throwing in an extra can of beans and even using an extra can of tomato paste to the pot, which does in fact turn the chili into cement. I probably try to be more creative than the recipe asks for, but even staying the course, I still come up short.

Chili immediately makes me think of a fall/winter Sunday afternoon at home. Growing up, there always seemed to be a pot of chili on the stove on a Sunday afternoon as we prepared to sit in the family room and watch the Bears play football. Isn't that why we love fall Sundays? When the weather turns slightly cooler, I immediately think of bringing out the soup pot. The Chicago weather is playing tricks on us lately and has gone from the cool, crisp fall day to the steamy 80 degree hot and humid September afternoon. Either way, I'm giving in and am turning the page to dive into some fall recipes.

I was hungry for chili last weekend but in an attempt not to fail at the family recipe again, I decided to search for a chicken chili recipe. Cooks Illustrated had a great recipe and it caught my eye because the chili calls for 9 different types of hot peppers; for a heat recipe seeker like myself, I couldn't pass it up; I used Anaheims, jalapenos and serranos. I love when you can make chili with turkey or chicken instead of red meat and I think it adds a different spin on the chili recipe you might be used to. This is a very healthy recipe and comes together quite easily. The creaminess of the beans, the spice of the peppers and the flavor of cilantro in the background just really makes this chili top notch. You can always trust Cooks Illustrated for go-to recipes and this one doesn't disappoint.

I ate on the chili for 3 days and then put the rest into individual sized freezer bags to have on hand as the fall season approaches.

White Chicken Chili

adapted from Cooks Illustrated

3 pounds bone in chicken breasts, skin on

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

3 jalapenos

3 Anaheim peppers

3 serrano peppers

2 medium onions, cut into large pieces

6 cloves of garlic, minced through the garlic press

2 tablespoons cumin

2 tablespoons ground coriander

2 14.5 oz cans of white beans, rinsed and drained

6 cups chicken broth

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

4 green onions, chopped

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add chicken, skin side down, and cook without moving until skin is golden brown, about 4 minutes. Using tongs, turn chicken and lightly brown on other side, about 2 minutes. Transfer chicken to plate; remove and discard skin.

Remove and discard ribs and seeds from 2 jalapeños; mince flesh. In food processor, process serrano chiles, Anaheim chiles, and onions until consistency of chunky salsa, ten to twelve 1-second pulses, scraping down sides of workbowl halfway through. Transfer mixture to medium bowl.

Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from Dutch oven (adding additional vegetable oil if necessary) and reduce heat to medium. Add minced jalapeños, chile-onion mixture, garlic, cumin, coriander, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables soften, about 10 minutes. Remove pot from heat.

Transfer 1 cup cooked vegetable mixture to now-empty food processor workbowl. Add 1 cup beans and 1 cup broth and process until smooth, about 20 seconds. Add vegetable-bean mixture, remaining 2 cups broth, and chicken breasts to Dutch oven and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Using tongs, transfer chicken to large plate. Stir in remaining beans and continue to simmer, uncovered, until beans are heated through and chili has thickened slightly, about 10 minutes.

Mince remaining jalapeño, reserving and mincing ribs and seeds, and set aside. When cool enough to handle, shred chicken into bite-sized pieces, discarding bones. Stir shredded chicken, lime juice, cilantro, scallions, and remaining minced jalapeño (with seeds if desired) into chili and return to simmer. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper and serve.

Chipotle Chicken Salad Tacos

My favorite homemade margarita of all time would have to be the Pineapple-Chile Margarita recipe that I stumbled upon in a summer issue of Bon Appetit last year. The burn from the heat of the jalapenos and the sweetness of the pineapple is surprisingly addicting and I guarantee that you can't just have one. I do like to save this pineapple-chile margarita recipe for special occasions so that it always tastes as good as the first time I made them.

I wanted to try out another spicy margarita recipe to supplement my craving for heat. This summer I tried Jenn's recipe for Mango-ritas - they were delicious, very low in sugar and the sweetness of the mango just goes so well with the margarita flavor. I won't even get into the mess I had in my kitchen when I attempted to puree chopped limes and mango slices in my mini-prep food processor. The mini-prep is the perfect kitchen appliance for many tasks - pureeing limes and mangoes isn't one of them. I had lime segments, sticky lime juice and chunks of mango everywhere - lesson learned.

I decided to still stick with the mango margarita theme but wanted to spice it up a bit. I pureed lime juice, mangoes and whole jalapenos together and added the puree to the bottom of your basic margarita. It gives you the heat you are looking for, without being labor intensive.

We (and when I say we I mean my Dad) are getting really good at making homemade tortillas. It isn't really a question anymore as to what we will have to eat when I make a trip home on the weekend to have dinner. We have tacos. I was at home recently and brought Dad fresh masa from El Milagro. El Milagro provides fresh tortillas to Whole Foods on a daily basis, so it isn't uncommon to walk into the store and have piping hot corn tortillas to purchase. Diana - who I work with - lives right next to the El Milagro store and was more than happy to pick me up some fresh masa to bring home for dinner one night. This masa has been the best yet.

I went searching my Rick Bayless cookbooks for a taco filling recipe to make and came across Chipotle Chicken Salad tacos in the One Plate at a Time book. I have previously made his recipe for Chipotle Chicken Salad Tacos w/ Red Skinned Potatoes so I knew this one had to be just as good. I keep saying that every Bayless recipe that I make is my favorite - and I really don't mean to exaggerate - but this one was no different. The chicken salad filling is fresh, crunchy from the napa cabbage, creamy from the avocado, salty from the queso fresco and spicy from the addition of the chipotles. Scooping it into a fresh homemade tortilla pushes this meal over the top. The filling makes great leftovers to eat on its own the next day or to scoop up with green bag tortilla chips.

Chipotle Chicken Salad Tacos

adapted from Rick Bayless - One Plate at a Time

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup olive oil

2 teaspoons ground cumin

3 canned chipotle chiles, finely minced

2 tablespoons chipotle puree

1/2 small head of napa cabbage, sliced thinly

5 small carrots, cut into matchsticks

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

2 cups chopped grilled chicken

1 large ripe avocado, pitted and diced

1/3 cup crumbled queso fresco

12 homemade corn tortillas

In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, olive oil, cumin, chipotles and chipotle puree. Season with salt and pepper. Add the napa cabbage, carrots, red onion, cilantro and chicken. Stir everything together and let sit for about 15 minutes. Season with more salt and pepper if necessary.

Scoop the filling into a large serving bowl. Top with the diced avocado and cheese. Feel free to add more cilantro as well. Fill the tacos and serve.

Maple Pecan Banana Bread

I love what I do for a living. Even when the alarm goes off at 3:30am to get up and go to an event, no matter how tired you might be, there is nothing better than spending a Sunday morning with a group of athletes who are dedicated to making a difference in our organization. Stanley's always donates bananas to our Charity Runner program on race weekend - and they just don't donate a few bunches - they donate an entire case of bananas. No matter how many runners we have or how many spectators we feed bananas to, we always have bunches leftover. The Chicago Triathlon was no different - I came home with 3 bunches of bananas knowing full well that I would only be able to eat one bunch throughout the week but it almost posed as a great challenge as to what I would do with all these leftover bananas.

I was making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches - round 1 for our triathletes. Round 2 - assisting in making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for more than 650 marathon runners next month will surely prove to be more difficult.

I've come to the conclusion that there is only so much you can do with pounds and pounds of ripe bananas. I would like to think there is a recipe for world famous banana soup, banana creme brulee, banana salad, banana quesadilla or banana salsa that I would just have to try - but those recipes don't seem to be all that famous or popular. I typed the phrase "ripe banana recipe" into Google more times than I would like to admit and still only came up with a handful of options to try. No matter how many blogs I read, food sites I looked into, cookbooks I paged through and word of mouth recipes I asked for - I still just came up with great banana bread, banana muffin and banana cake recipes.

I love a good banana bread, so I definitely wasn't disappointed with my options, but one can only keep so many loaves of banana bread in the freezer on a monthly basis. I recently came across a new blog called Whipped - which not only do I enjoy the new recipes here but I also like that the author is from Illinois. Caroline had posted a recipe for a Maple Pecan Banana Bread that was sweetened entirely with maple syrup - no brown or white sugar. I had maple syrup leftover in the cupboard from my Maple Pecan Scones and thought this would be the perfect way to use up my bunches and bunches of ripe bananas.

In the end I wound up unwillingly throwing away ripe bananas because I couldn't fathom having 16 loaves of banana bread in my freezer for the next year nor did I have 16 people within close proximity that could take these loaves of my hands. This banana bread makes for the perfect morning bread to have with coffee and acts as a great dessert at the end of the night topped with a little bit of fig preserves. The maple syrup makes the bread not overly sweet and I think the syrup goes so well with the toasted pecan flavor.

Maple Pecan Banana Bread

Recipe is for single batch - I doubled it

adapted from the blog Whipped

1/2 cup butter, melted

2/3 cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg, slightly beaten

3 ripe bananas, 2 mashed and 1 left in chunks

3 tablespoons milk

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup pecans, toasted and roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8 small loaf pans.

Mix melted butter, maple syrup and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Add the egg. Mix in the bananas and the milk. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, soda and salt - stir to combine. With a large spoon, stir the wet and dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix in the toasted pecans. Fill the loaf pans about 2/3 of the way full - bake in the oven for 45 minutes - the tops will be golden brown and a toothpick will come out clean.