Next Round

I can't remember how many rounds we've completed!

Alright, I've updated the calendar for our new round. However, I was wondering if Sunday is still a good day for us to post our recipes because it seemed some of us where late with their recipe post this last round. Let me know.

Looking forward to several more new recipes! Happy Cooking!

Takes 3 tango???? or at least cook

Friday night I had the pleasure of having Nikki and carrie over to cook with me! Our mission was to make the Gingered carrot soup. To accompany the soup we had panini sandwiches and an assortment of fabulous desserts and wine! Admittedly we were all a bit hesitant to make the soup. I for one am not a huge soup fan especially pureed soups so it was a stretch. When the soup was finished we debated on adding the brown sugar or not and after a taste test decided that would be a great addition (good call Serena). We all agreed that the soup was lacking a little kick, and went searching for the "missing" layer of flavor. We didn't want to run the entire pot of soup so we made a few little tester bowls and added different things to each bowl! By the time we finished we had found our "secret ingredient" and all agreed the soup was much better than we gave it credit for. Although i probably won't add this to my regular menus I can see it being a great starter for a morrocan meal. I actually took the leftovers and froze them thinking I want to try making a sorbet out of it to accompany such a meal. It may turn out terrible but I think the cold yet spicy flavor could be a huge hit with the right meal. I will keep you posted!! Thanks Serena for broadening my horizons!!!!

Gingered Carrot Soup Review

Chopping Ginger

Carrot Peeling!

and Slicing!

and Blending!

The Main Course!

Dessert!

So the advantage of three chic chefs living in one place is when we are behind we can help get each other get caught up!!. We got together Friday night to make the Ginger Carrot soup accompanied by a Panini sandwich (turkey, pesto, provolone, spinach, tomato on sourdough YUM!) and Dessert (strawberry cheesecake, lemon tart, chocolate fudge cake YUM Again!) After lots of ginger chopping, carrot chopping and simmering, and much wine flowing......we took Serena's advice and used an immersion blender to blend up the soup. We also added the brown sugar and even added a bit more then recommended. At our initial taste test we all felt it needed a little something so we put a bit in two bowls and did one bowl with nutmeg and one with curry. The ingredient that won was the curry, we all liked the little zip it added to the soup. We all agreed that we enjoyed the soup, that it tasted good but that it was unlikely we would add it to the list of soups we normally make unless we had a craving for carrots! :) It was good and went great with our sandwiches and wine, we would definitely recommend panini's as a good pairing with it. And of course follow it up with a yummy dessert! Look forward to hearing how everyone else chooses to make this!

Chicken Pad Thai

We were two for one tonight and followed the Brown Rice Salad with the Pad Thai which you can tell from the title we did with chicken. Loved how quick this cooked up! We took Staci's advice and precooked our noodles in the microwave. We decided maybe for us 3mins would have been better then 5 because once we added them in with the food and cooked it all up it got a bit mushy by serving time. We also doubled the sauce as we had quite a bit of noodles and chicken. We did a store bought sauce and could only find one with plum and ginger. We actually ended up dumping even more of the sauce in beyond what the recipe called for as it seemed to be lacking the kick we were hoping for.

Chicken Pad Thai is one of my favorite foods and it was fun to try it at home. I thought it was good and will try again this time watching the length of time the noodles cook and maybe trying to find a different sauce....maybe even doing it from scratch.

Brown Rice Salad

So Nikki and I made this tonight and I loved how quick and easy it was. We decided to go vegetarian. We actually did not have mushrooms, they got forgotten off the grocery list as did the avocados. I think I would have loved the flavor of the avocados with this and think I'll do it again just to try it. Nikki is not an avocado fan so she did not miss them. I'm not a mushroom fan so didn't miss those. We both could see where Tishas suggestion of more veggies would be good. I'm wondering if I'll like it even more tomorrow cold instead of with the rice warm. This is something that unfortunately most of the rest of my family and Nikkis would not be to into but we could see making it for lunch over a couple of days for ourselves and maybe getting the kiddos to eat it that way. Good pick Tisha!

How is Everybody?

Hey Chic Chefs! Happy New Year!
So are we up for another round or what!? Talk about a slow start to the year. In actuality, I know it hasn't really been a slow start for some of us - it's been BUSY! We have babies due this year, my husband is residing in Afghanistan for the first HALF of the year, what else? Let's catch up with everyone and converse about this next round. What do you want to do? How (if different) you want to do things? I am looking forward to hearing from everyone! :)

Pot Roast

Ladies I just made a pot roast this past weekend...mmm I think it was the best one i've made yet and what a wonderful winter meal for company or just your family.
Just thought i would share....

pot roast (close to 3lbs)
put in a stainless steel pan (my grandma has found pot roast turns out best in a stainless steel dutch oven pan in the oven) I agree!

2 cans low sodium mushroom soup
2-3 packets herb-ox low sodium beef broth with equal amts of water (2-3 cups)
1 bag baby carrots

1 onion
5 cloves garlic
1 pack of baby portabella mushrooms sliced
(these three items all sauteed in some olive oil and i used a lil porchini olive oil)
salt and pepper to taste

(note: there should be enough liquid in there by the time your done to totally submerse your roast...

cook on 325 for about 4-5 hours or untill it is literally falling apart. mmmm
pull out meat and carrots with a strainer if you have too or a slotted spoon.
and thicken the gravy on the stove top.

It was a big hit and we served roasted potatoes, someone also brought mashed.
Enjoy, if try it

HAPPY NEW YEAR LADIES!!