Pumpkin Bisque and The monster SPIDER....

The pumpkin bisque was a super quick recipe, that was incredibly easy. The only cooking required was to saute the onions. I was done with the bisque, put it in the fridge and Martin was still working on the spider. When he had the spider in the oven, he asked: "do you still have to make the pumpkin soup?" I can say that this soup had a great pumpkin flavor. Unfortunately, I didn't like it because 1/2 cup of brown sugar made it way too sweet for my liking. It would have been great, had we reduced the sugar content to 1/4 cup. However, Martin liked it and ate all of it throughout the week. I really want to try this recipe again at a later date with less sugar.



SPIDER MONSTER BREAD is all I have to say. Martin made this incredible bread arachnoid. He did a wonderful job putting it all together. He even made a spider web on tin foil with honey and powdered sugar for the spider to relax on. Oh and he made it into a black widow by putting cayenne pepper in a diamond shape on the spider's back. You may ask why we call this the monster spider... It quite a funny story. We couldn't find wheat bread at the store, so we bought white bread dough. I wish I had had time to make our own bread dough. Maybe next time. Anyway, we used the allotted 4 loaves that it told us to use in the recipe. It didnt really register with us that it would actually really be 4 loaves of bread molded into a spider. Next time we make this, we are going to use probably 2 or less loaves. Anyway, Martin started molding the bread onto a cookie sheet. We should have realized then that this thing was going to be a monster, when half-way through the process of putting it together, it no longer fit on the cookies sheet. We ended up having to make tin foil extensions to the pizza stone, just so the legs would have somewhere to rest. It took 4 hands to get it into the oven. We think it probably doubled in size while it was baking. As you can see by the picture, it pretty much took up the entire oven rack. Then there were the eggs. Even more bread! We ate the eggs for dinner and had a huge spider on its spider web. It sure looked awesome though. And tasted great. Martin ate the cayenne pepper part. YUMMY MONSTER SPIDER BREAD!!!

Zucchini Soup and Zucchini Chocolate Cake!

This soup turned out great. We had a great time making it. We were kind of worried about what the flavor would be like, since zucchini really doesn't have much of a flavor. We ended up adding a little bit of roasted red pepper flakes to give it a little bit of a kick. It was ever so slight, but really tasty. It was nice to have somewhat of a lighter dinner (even though it had the half and half). We liked it with the bacon, and cheese. Needless to say, we didn't have much leftover.



I LOVE CHOCOLATE! This was definitely a delectable cake for our tastes. It was so great that we were actually getting some veggies in our cake too. I didn't want to make it in a sheet cake, so we made it into a bunt cake. I just dribbled the frosting down the sides. It didnt' turn out very pretty. It was very moist. Unfortunately, it is just the 2 of us, so we ate the whole thing in about a weeks time. I had a friend make this a couple of weeks ago for a potluck. She made it with 1/2 the sugar, whole wheat flour, applesauce instead of butter, etc. Maybe we should have made it that way for a few less calories. Oh well, it turned out to be pretty tasty. We liked it!

Zucchini, zucchini, and more Zucchini

When Jared discovered the menu for this week, he was less than pleased. He hovered in the kitchen throwing skeptical glances my way. I was tempted to boot him out, but he was using unloading and loading the dishes as his cover for spying on me, so I let him play his little game. He could throw all the comments and glances he wanted, as long as the dishes continued to get done. Besides, I have four kids and am becoming a master at tuning my family out.

I started by baking the cake before church. The girls were helping me since they are really into cooking and baking. When it was time to add the zucchini, I slyly sent them up to get dressed. I had added the zucchini to the batter when I had to stop to take care of something else. They foiled my plan when they got dressed quicker than normal and came down before I had poured the batter into the pans. "Ew, gross, mom put worms in the cake!" (Points goes to whoever correctly guesses who that came from) The cakes baked, and were cooling when we left for church, forgetting all about the "worms" in the cake.

When we got back, I set to work on the zucchini soup. Jared's skeptism did not damper my mood. I was thrilled. I love zucchini and was excited for a healthy soup. Jared was still hovering nearby when I pulled the blender out. At this point, his face turned to pure panic. [One time Jared's mom tried a cold broccoli recipe in the blender. As Jared tells the story, his Dad sat down, took one look at the food in the blender, refused to taste even a bite, stood back up and asked "who's coming to get hamburgers with me?". Jared is now very wary of anything green in a blender. ] Since it was Sunday, I was relieved to know that he couldn't go get fast food.


Guess the girls weren't the only ones forgetting things though, I had forgotten that this soup called for half and half, cheese, and sourcream. So much for healthy soup, hello heart attack in a bowl. The addition of these ingredients greatly calmed Jared's anxiety. He let out a breathe of relief. "Now, that looks more like something I could eat" he announced.

The soup was good, but nothing spectacular. In fact, the girls thought it was the broccoli soup we had the week before. Although, its nice to have a recipe to use up the zucchini from the garden. Not that we had any this year though. Most of my plants died over my 2 1/2 week vacation.

I frosted the cake with the frosting recipe recommended in the book. It turned out more like a glaze though. That would have been fine if I had listened and made a 9x13 inch cake. But, I had made two 8 inch cakes instead and it was a challenge to frost the cake with that frosting. I'm not really a fan of the taste of most frostings either. It wasn't bad, I just wasn't real fond of it. I really liked the cake itself though. It was very moist and I loved knowing I was sneaking more veggies in our food. Jared told Xandy there was zucchini in cake just like there had been in her soup. She was convinced he was lying and said that would be disgusting and this cake wasn't disgusting. Katy replied "haven't you ever heard of zucchini bread before? Thats good, and it has zucchini in it."

Better Late than Never

So last week's meal was great. The broccoli soup was really tasty. That is the same recipe that I learned from my mom. I pureed the broccoli and chicken broth before adding it to the white sauce. I'd be interested in the other recipes that y'all have that are better. I love broccoli soup, so I am open for new ways to make it! I think Martin even liked the soup, when covered with tons of cheese and eaten in a yummy soup bowl.

Martin made the dip. I have had it before. It is pretty sweet. We had some fresh apples from the Buchkovich's backyard that were delicious. Overall, a very yummy Sunday meal!

My pictures I took of the finished products were worthless, so no pictures! I finally got around to making the green beans and pepper. Like you Terra, I had about 5 different things going on last night and didn't allow the green beans to cook long enough so they were not as tender as they need to be so it was hard to enjoy. But I would like to try this recipe again and make sure it get cooked long enough.
I have had the apples and dip many times before. Easy as can be, and VERY sugary, but a fun fall treat!
The broccoli chowder soup turned out great. Very easy! I have a broccoli soup recipe very similar to this one and Nick and I both agree that we like it better then the one from this book. And it's even easier!

week 2

Apples and Dip

Our church gets out a 2:30 so its usually 3pm until we get home. The kids don't give me very long to produce some form of food before an uprising breaks out. Anticipating that they wouldn't be able to hold out for the soup, I prepared this first for a snack. Its quick, simple, and very kid friendly. The apples were completely gone in just a few seconds. The dip is loaded with sugar and added to the sugar in apples it can be a sugar overload. We did NOT have dessert later on. I figured the dip was enough for one night. That was met with a few complaints, but they are looking forward to finishing off the dip tonight with the apples we picked this morning.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

I have the recipe for Panera's Broccoli Cheddar Soup, and while it is very delicious it is pretty involved. This recipe was surprisingly good for how simple it is. Although, I must confess I had a little mishap. I stopped stirring the milk mixture while waiting for it to boil and sat down at the computer for just a little second. The little second turned into lots of little seconds and little minutes. When I finally remembered what I was supposed to be doing, it was pretty stinky. I dumped it down the drain and started over. This time I had to glue my feet in front of the stove. I kept finding myself walking away to do something else and had to keep reminding myself to stay put. Darn multi-tasking habits!! The second batch was perfect!! I served it with warm croissant rolls and enjoyed the leftovers for lunch today. I doubled the recipe and froze half of it for a quick dinner another night.

Green Beans and Peppers

SO GOOD! Terra, we did end up using the butter. The debate in our house was whether or not to use the olive oil. Martin wanted to do the recipe just as it was written, so we used butter. But next time we will use the olive oil. We used extra onions, but the flavor was amazing just with the salt and pepper. We were expecting to need to put in some garlic or something extra for flavor, but the peppers and onion really made them so good. I like to steam the beans enough to still be crunchy. They were so delicious, and again so easy! Hopefully we can get to the farmer's market to buy some more green beans this fall and make them again.

Pumpkin Roll

This was so much fun! I will agree with y'all in saying that making a pumpkin roll was intimidating. It turned out great though, and really was easier than I thought. We actually doubled the recipe because we were having more people for dinner than we expected. We made a small one and a larger one. Half of the small one was gone the day that we made it. We decided not to add the nuts to the recipe because we don't like them as much. We also used parchment paper instead of wax paper because that is what we had. We had absolutely no problems with the cake sticking to it. (Maybe a suggestion for the future) We would like to try it again, but maybe with a little less cream cheese filling. This is a yummy pumpkin dessert that tastes like fall!!! A definate new favorite in our house.

Pumpkin rolls and greenbeans

Since we were home all day today, I decided to be a little daring with the main dish also. I made a roasted chicken with apple sausage stuffing. I had it all ready to go before the first session of conference started and was going to cook it during the second session. I forgot to put it in the oven though so we didn't get to eat until late. We actually ate the dessert first and I forgot to take a picture. There was only one piece left when I went back. I'll have to do better with the camera next week. Here's my review of the recipes.....

Pumpkin roll:
I too was intimidated by the infamous cake roll. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. I didn't even start mine until 10pm Saturday night but was still in bed at a decent time. I did have a little trouble getting the wax paper off at first. In my rush to get to bed, I didn't let it cool completely before frosting so it didn't roll as perfectly as it could've. It was a big hit with everyone. I want to try some other jelly rolls now. I used to be so impressed when people brought a pumpkin roll to an event. Now that I know how simple it is, I'll have to make them when I need to take a dessert. Elegant look without much work! The only remaining piece. Left-over desserts are rare in this house of vultures!




Greanbeans and Peppers:
I was amazed at how many greenbeans it takes to get 2 lbs! But overall it was good. Nothing super special, but a nice variation from my typical greenbeans and almond slivers. I'm a HUGE fan of fresh greenbeans so I love any excuse to buy and make them and the kids love red peppers. I used olive oil instead of butter to saute the green onions, and I didn't add any butter at the end like suggested. I did sprinkle with fresh ground pepper and sea salt. Did anyone add butter? I wondered if it really makes a big difference. I usually try to make the healthiest alternative but wonder if I'm missing out on taste in the process. This recipe used kid friendly vegetables so thats always a plus. We had already eaten when I took this picture. The recipe made more than enough for my family of 6.

This one's a keeper!

I have always been intimidated by cake rolls, so I was surprised at how easy this was. And it was delicious!! I just knew I was going to mess it up some how. I got a little worried when it came time to remove the cooked cake from the wax paper and it didn't come off very smooth. But with a little time it came right off without too much damage. We all gave it a thumbs up! Now we just need to go run a few miles!!


I have to apologise for not doing the green bean side dish. My store didn't have green beans so I ran to my produce market and it was closed(that is what I get for being a procrastinator! So I will be sure to do it this next weekend!