FFwD: Cheese Topped Onion Soup

Oh, yum! I love cheese topped onion soup and was super excited to make my own! Everything started good, I used my handheld mandolin to make short work of the onions and everything went into my dutch oven and sweated away....and away.....and away. After a hour and half, the beautiful onions were still white, so even though Dorie said not to, I upped the heat (had to have dinner sometime!). About 45 minutes later, the onions were done and everything else went into the pot. The soup turned out amazing! I used some left over White Loaf bread (from TwD:BwJ) that I had in the freezer and topped it with Gruyere. We don't have any oven proof single serving bowls, so the soup went into a larger bowl. Both my husband and I loved the soup, it was hot and kinda sweet and the bread and cheese just made it! Definitely a do over, but next time I will start the onions a little earlier!



All ready to be chopped!



Wow, that is a lot of onions!



Bowl full of goodness



Ready to eat!

 Alright, now onto trying to frost a birthday cake!

TwD: BwJ: Chocolate Truffle Tart

I learned a couple of things from this delicious recipe! First, it is not one to do when you are short on time, I ended up using my 10 inch tart pan instead of the small ones, the microwave for melting the chocolate and recruited my husband to beat the egg yolks! Second, I had the worst time with the tart dough, after chilling it, I ended up just putting chunks into the tart  pan and shaping it with my fingers. Third, oh my gosh is it rich! I substituted crushed walnuts and chopped dried cherries for the biscotti and omitted the white chocolate because I didn't have any. I thought it was excellent, my hubby thought it was good, but he is not as big a fan of dark, bitter chocolate that I am!



My temperamental dough!



My tart before cooking!



Perfect with some whipped cream!

 Thanks to our awesome hosts this week, Steph, Spike, Jaime, and Jessica!

FFwD: Mussels and Chorizo

I was so looking forward to this dish, I mean mussels, chorizo, garlic, wine, tomatoes...what is there not to like!?! I spent half an hour debearding and scrubbing the mussels, had the sauce bubbling nicely away and the bread freshly out of the oven. Put the mussels in the sauce, covered and waited.



Sauce bubbling nicely!



After being covered for about 10 minutes

 After about 5 minutes, I checked, the mussels didn't really look open, so back on the cover for about 5 more minutes. At this point, it is past dinner time (running a bit late today!), so off came the cover and into bowls everything goes. If you notice, the mussels still aren't really open. Started to pry into them and realized about 75% of the mussels are still half-raw. My husband, the consummate supporter, thought long and hard about diving in anyway, but since neither of us knew if raw mussels or half cooked mussels were OK to eat, everything got scrapped. I realized I had put the wine in too early, so there was not enough steam to cook them, if I had left them in for a bit longer, probably would have been fine. Oh, well, lesson learned.

Ended up eating the bread with some pepperoni, cheese, wine, and a nice salad. It was funny, but having that simple dinner ended up being very French like for us since reminded me of the time my husband and I were on the French side of St. Maarten on our honeymoon and the last time I was in Paris. It turned out to be a really nice dinner anyway!

FFwD: Nutella Tartine

I love Nutella, I grew up eating it and have passed that love unto my son! I was a little hesitant about mixing orange marmalade with Nutella, but thought what the heck, trying new things is the whole point of this group! I had a couple leftover slices of my white loaf from Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia, so I thought perfect! I could not find bitter orange marmalade, but found a combination orange one. And I was lazy and used the toaster instead of the broiler!



Cast of characters (walnuts instead of hazelnuts)



About 3 minutes later, I had a great afternoon snack!



Lovely with some strawberries!

 I thought is was pretty good, but do not think I will be eating the combination of the orange marmalade and Nutella to often. I saw some cherry preserves, and I think that would be really amazing!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia: White Loaves

Awesome week! I am so excited, this is the first recipe from the Baking with Julia group! I was really nervous about making my own bread, I had never done it before. It turned out to be easier than I thought! The first time, my little hand mixer tried to eat the dough, so kneading by hand it was! This time, I only used the mixer for a few minutes and then turned it out by hand for the rest of the time. Wow, what an arm workout! I was running low on yeast, so I only made one loaf. It turned out nicely and I plan on making grilled cheese for dinner!



Ready for the first rise



Fresh out of the oven!

 I am very excited and a bit nervous (haven't been much of a baker beyond cookies in the past) about this group! To read the recipe, head over to slush and Jules. Thanks you two for hosting!!

FFwD: Apple and Gorgonzola Quiche

This recipe had a lot of firsts for me. First tart dough (a lot easier than I thought!), first time using a tart pan, and first time making quiche. I added red peppers and thyme to the Gorgonzola. onion, and apple. It turned out sooooo good! I love how the Gorgonzola just melted into the eggs/cream mixture. I really enjoyed this recipe and already have picked up the makings for the Quiche Lorraine variety! That one will be for my hubby, he was at work for the other one (which I enjoyed greatly with a spinach and arugula salad and some wine!).



My first ever tart dough!



Ready for partial baking



Fresh out of oven!



Dinner! Yummy!



FFwD: Broth-Braised Potatoes

Have you ever had one of those weeks that was just blah? Well, that is my week, so I was really happy that today's recipe was simple, easy, and I already had all the ingredients. Especially since I did not even realize it was Friday until lunchtime. So, I made these potatoes to go with my leftover steak for lunch. I used Thyme and some Yukons that I already had. The broth gave the potatoes a good flavor and I like the idea of braising them, I foresee some experiments with spices coming!




In the pot, done, and ready to eat!



Lunch!



 Really looking forward to next weeks recipe!!