Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Bisque

It finally felt like fall yesterday!  Yes, I'm one of the weirdos that actually prefers sweater weather over the 80 degree days.  In honor of the first chilly (and rainy) day of September, Howie and I both thought it was appropriate to make a classic cold weather dish: grilled cheese sandwiches and a hearty soup.  We spent a little too long debating what kind of soup to make, but decided that the prerequisites were that it had to be a) thick b) filling c) ideally include some veggies (since soup is the only way Howie can eat them) and d) taste good with grilled cheese.  We ended up choosing one of my favorite homemade soups, a roasted red pepper tomato bisque that my mom started making a few years ago.  The creamy, herb-filled soup paired with the crunchy grilled cheese paninis that Howie made was a truly unbeatable combo!

Summer Tomato Favorites

In addition to leaving Buffalo with some great memories from the weekend, Howie's mom sent me home with almost 5 lb.s of beautiful tomatoes fresh-off-the-vine from her garden.  I gladly accepted her offer, but quickly realized that this pile of tomatoes was more than I could ever need for sandwiches or salads in the week or so that they would stay fresh.  What did I do to solve the problem?  It was a no brainer!  I made a huge batch of homemade tomato sauce with fresh basil, garlic, onions, herbs - all of the Italian classics.  I even reserved some and used it for homemade bruschetta!  You gotta try my recipes while they're still in season...the end of summer couldn't taste better!

If you made the homemade tomato sauce...skip the whole first half of the bruschetta recipe before the French bread is involved.  The sauce does double duty!

Wedding Shower Munchies

I don't know about you, but my Labor Day weekend was a blast!  I was lucky enough to spend a few days in Buffalo for  Howie's sister Brenna's wedding shower and bachelorette party.  We had the best time catching up with friends and family over great food and games during the day, and partying with the girls til the wee hours of the night.  Since I couldn't bring much besides my dancing shoes to the bachelorette party, I volunteered to bring a few items to the shower earlier in the day, and they were a total hit!  Well, my broccoli slaw salad and cookies are always a hit...but the 5 types of cookies totally sent it over the top! Unfortunately, I didn't take step-by-step photos like I usually do - just a beautiful chocolate walnut coconut cookie fresh out of the oven (now how bad is that??)- but everyone was asking for the recipes, so here they are!

Western Breakfast Strata

I graduated with my Master of Architecture this past Saturday!  I was so excited for the day to finally arrive, and wanted to make a special breakfast to celebrate the big day!  I didn't want to make just any ordinary breakfast, I wanted to try something completely new...so I decided to turn my favorite breakfast - western omelette with toast and a side of home fries - into a single breakfast strata that is out of this world delicious!

Peach Mango Sangria

There's nothing I love more than a tasty cocktail at the end of a hot summer day.  One that uses the fresh peaches that are in season right now?  Even better.  I promise this summery peach mango sangria will not disappoint!

Slow Cooker Stuffed Pepper Soup with Homemade Croutons

I know it's the middle of August, but for some reason, I had the biggest craving for stuffed peppers this week!  I'm not sure if it's because the summer green bell peppers are PERFECT right now, or if packing up my sweaters and coats for my move in 2 short weeks is secretly making me excited for those cool fall days.  What I didn't have time for this week was spending a couple hours at dinner time preparing the peppers, baking them and making a tomato sauce to serve on the side.  So I decided to get creative and turn the dish I've been craving into a crock pot stuffed pepper soup.  All you need is 20 minutes of prep time, 8 hours of daytime activities (like that's hard to find!), and an extra twenty minutes to finish off the dish with homemade croutons and a little salad.  I don't care if it's 80 degrees out, this is just plain old delicious!

Peanut Butter Chip Banana Bars

I'm on a serious mission to find creative ways to use my entire banana graveyard by the time I move out in 3 short weeks. For those of you that don't know what a banana graveyard is, it's the lonely top shelf of my freezer home to half a dozen ripe bananas that are begging to be incorporated into baked goods.  They actually look dead because of the dark brown color they turn when they freeze.  No matter how hard I try to bake banana things, the collection seems to keep growing.  Though I pride myself on my banana bread recipe, I'm bored of baking the same loaf and having it go stale after one day in the summer (thank you Lake Erie humidity!).  I did, however, come up with a new recipe that I'm really excited about: peanut butter chip banana bars.  It's pretty great that I came up with a new way to use my banana graveyard, even more great that they taste delicious, but fantastic that they rely on peanut butter and banana, my favorite flavor combination on earth!!