Cheese & Pumpkins?

Fall is finally hear and I could not be more excited about it. Our summer seemed to go on forever and was way to hot for my liking. So to say the least I was jumping for joy this week when the skys were gray and I could wear my sweaters and scarves. I know I will regret this part of my blog by January but for now I am loving this weather. Fall is here in full force and so is my urge to cook all day every day. I don't know if its all falls fault that I want to cook all day or the fact that is it midterm time and when ever I get stressed I like to cook instead of study...OPPPS!

So for this cozy football filled Sunday... I made quick and easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bites & Potato, Broccoli, and Cheese Soup. Yesterday I bought a new cook book called 50 Simple Soups for the Slow Cooker.... Because all recipes in the book call for a crockpot I treated myself to a new Fancy Crockpot.The crockpot I have been using for the last couple years is the one I am sure my parent got as a wedding gift in the 80's. So it was time for an upgrade.

Potato, Broccoli, and Cheese Soup

Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 medium onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 large potato, quartered
- 6 cups water
- 1 medium head broccoli, quartered
- 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
- salt to taste
- Sour Cream

Step 1- In a large pan, melt butter over medium heat and saute the onion until lightly brown,
Step 2- Transfer the onion to crockpot and add the potato and water. Cover and cook on LOW for about 6 hours, or until the potato is quite tender. Add the broccoli during the last 30 minutes of cooking.
Step 3 - Using a handheld immersion blender, puree the ingredients to the desired texture. String in the cheese and add the salt to taste.
Step 4 - Ladle the soup into the bowls and garnish each with cream.

With just what the recipe calls for it wasn't as flavorful as i would have hoped for so I added more cheese and some garlic salt and it helped it out. As for next time I would probably add less water to begin with to make it thicker!



-Things got a little messy when I was trying to mix it all up and smash the potato's down-

I served the soup with some garlic bread. This is the perfect meal for cuddleing up on the couch and watching football or whatever your favorite sunday show may be!!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bites

Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 eggs
- 1 egg white
- 1 cup canned pure pumpkin
- 1 tsp vanilla

Preheat over to 350 degrees

Step 1- In a medium bowl, using a whisk, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, caiiamon and all spice
Step 2- In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, egg and egg white, pumpkin and vanilla.
Step 3- Slowly fold in dry ingredients
Step 4- Add 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Step 5- Drop spoonfuls of dough on parchment paper lined cookie sheet. (I used an Ice-Cream Scoop instead of a spoon)



Step 6- Bake for 12-14 minutes

These bites are AMAZING. I love Pumpkin flavored things so I was pretty sure I was going to like them..but I LOVE them. They are so fluffy. They may be my new favrotie thing I have ever baked. My Merlot cupcakes have been in the lead until today. You can't go wrong with pumpkin and chocolate.





As for the random name of my blog today you can thank my roommate Madi Lewis....I was lacking a little creativity and this is what she said randomly and we both started laughing and so I decided to just go with it!