Stephanie's Slice Of Life

Tag: stephanie's slice of life

• 

  Buffalo Chicken Soup

  Posted at 10:09 am by StephMo

  Oct 24th

  My family loves pretty much buffalo chicken everything. While my husband’s motto is the spicier the better, I personally am not a fan of spicy food except for buffalo sauce. But with the buffalo sauce there needs to be blue cheese, of course. This soup is basically a bowl of yummy cheese and chicken with a nice little buffalo sauce kick. It is absolutely delicious and such a great comfort food.

  If you follow my blogs and Facebook page you know we always have Buffalo Chicken dip when the Patriots are playing, and that every time I make homemade pizza I make Buffalo Chicken pizza. You probably also know that my son doesn’t like onions, which will be touched upon later in this recipe.

  Ingredients:

  3 cups of cooked chicken breast, shredded

  2 tbsp. butter

  1/2 cup celery, chopped

  1/2 cup onion, chopped

  28 oz. chicken broth

  1 1/2 cups milk

  2 tsp. buffalo sauce

  1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

  1 cup crumbled blue cheese

  1/2 cup shredded or grated parmesan cheese

  1/3 cup flour

  Shred the chicken and chop up the onions and celery, and set aside. As you can see there are no onions in my picture (son doesn’t like onions).

  

  Combine the blue cheese, mozzarella, and parmesan in a small bowl. Mix in the flour and also set aside.

  

  Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the celery and onions and cook until they just start to soften. Try to imagine the onions are actually in the pan.

  

  Sorry to digress, but I always think of this when I have to leave out the onions in a recipe. It’s so true!

  

  Ok, back to the recipe.

  Add the chicken broth, buffalo sauce, and milk. Bring to a boil stirring frequently.

  

  Whisk in the cheese until it has melted. It tends to be chunky so you really need to give it quite a whisking.

  Stir in the chicken and simmer for about 5 minutes until it starts to thicken.

  

  That’s it! Serve with additional buffalo sauce on the side for those that like it a little spicier.

  And if you are looking for a French Bread recipe to make for dipping, here is the bread that I made https://stephaniessliceoflife.com/2020/10/23/french-bread/.

  Enjoy!

  Posted in Recipes, Soup | Tagged buffalo chicken recipe, buffalo chicken soup, buffalo chicken soup recipe, Comfort Food, comfort food recipe, food blog, food blogger, homemade soup, soup recipe, stephanie's slice of life
• 

  Spinach Artichoke Calzone

  Posted at 10:51 am by StephMo

  Oct 17th

  This calzone is one of those foods where you find yourself saying “Wow this is good” while you are eating it. I have been making this recipe for years and it never disappoints. It tastes like spinach artichoke dip in a calzone, it is just delicious. It is also a healthier and lower fat version of calzone if you can believe that.

  Calzone is something people often only think about serving for a party or gathering, but calzone can be a wonderful dinner if you serve it with a side salad. If you can make homemade pizza, you can make homemade calzone.

  If you would like to make your own pizza dough you can find my recipe here https://stephaniessliceoflife.com/?s=pizza+dough, or you can use store bought dough if you prefer.

  Ingredients:

  Pizza Dough

  1 cup feta cheese

  3 oz. 1/3 fat cream cheese, softened

  1/2 tsp. oregano

  1/4 tsp. salt

  1/8 tsp. pepper

  1 (14 oz) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

  10 oz. fresh spinach

  1 tsp. minced garlic

  1 egg white

  1/4 cup parmesan cheese

  1 tbsp. olive oil

  1 egg and sesame seeds (optional)

  Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over low/medium heat. Cook the spinach until it wilts while stirring frequently.

  Once the spinach is cool enough to touch, squeeze out all of the liquid and set aside.

  Combine the cream cheese, feta, oregano, salt, pepper, garlic, parmesan cheese, and egg white in a large mixing bowl.

  

  Add the artichoke hearts and cooked spinach, and mix well.

  

  

  Doesn’t that look like spinach artichoke dip? The smell is amazing!

  Roll out the dough into a rectangle and spread the filling over most of the dough while leaving room at the edges.

  

  Gently fold the long sides of the dough inward, then fold the edges in. Press the seams to ensure the dough is sealed. Putting a little water on your fingers will help with sealing the seams.

  Flip the calzone over onto a greased cookie sheet. If you like you can brush with an egg wash, which is a slightly beaten egg combined with an equal amount of water. I also like some sesame seeds sprinkled on top.

  

  Bake at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the calzone is brown and hard when tapped. I personally prefer a softer calzone so I don’t cook mine as long as you may want to.

  Makes a perfect dinner with a side salad. Enjoy!

  

  Posted in Breads, Dinners, Recipes | Tagged calzone, calzone recipe, food blog, food blogger, homemade calzone, pizza dough, spinach artichoke calzone, spinach calzone, stephanie's slice of life
• 

  Pumpkin Pie Martini

  Posted at 6:06 pm by StephMo

  Oct 16th

  I love everything pumpkin but have never had a pumpkin cocktail. There are a number of Pumpkin Martini recipes on the internet but they all seem to be extra creamy and fattening. Not that this martini is non-fat, but I was looking for a yummy pumpkin taste without added cream so I created my own. I also love the flavor of vanilla so I decided to combine that into the drink as well.

  What else goes well with pumpkin? Graham crackers and cinnamon of course!

  Ingredients:

  1 1/2 oz. Pumpkin Pie Liqueur

  2 oz. Vanilla Vodka

  1 graham cracker

  1/8 tsp. cinnamon

  

  Crush a graham cracker until it becomes fine crumbs.

  Combine the graham cracker crumbs with the cinnamon and put on a plate.

  Wet the rim of a martini glass and dip into the graham cracker cinnamon crumbs.

  In a cocktail shaker add ice, vodka, and the pumpkin liqueur and shake well.

  Pour into the rimmed martini glass. Enjoy!

  Posted in Cocktails | Tagged food blog, food blogger, pumpkin martini, pumpkin martini recipe, pumpkin pie martini, pumpkin pie martini recipe, stephanie's slice of life, vanilla vodka martinis
• 

  Apple Bread

  Posted at 4:14 pm by StephMo

  Oct 15th

  The thing I love the most about this apple bread is the wonderful crust it forms. I have already made my apple crisps for the season and today it was on to the bread. When I pulled out my recipes I realized I had two for apple bread and wasn’t sure which one I typically make. I decided to go with the one with the most stains on the paper and sure enough, it was the right one!

  Ingredients:

  2 apples, peeled and diced

  2 eggs

  2 cups sugar

  1/2 cup vegetable oil

  2 tsp. vanilla

  2 cups flour

  1 1/2 tsp. salt

  1 tsp. baking powder

  1/2 tsp. cinnamon

  Grease a loaf pan with shortening.

  Combine eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.

  

  

  Add the diced apples to the bowl and mix well.

  

  Combine flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon. Add to the apple mixture and mix well.

  

  Pour into the greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes uncovered. Cover with aluminum foil and bake an additional 10-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

  

  Cool in the pan for at least 10-15 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

  Look at the crust! It looks so good!

  

  Absolutely delicious apple bread! Yummy!

  Posted in Breads, Recipes | Tagged apple bread, apple bread recipe, apple loaf, fall recipes, food blog, food blogger, loaf recipes, stephanie's slice of life
• 

  Lemon Blueberry Martini

  Posted at 3:33 pm by StephMo

  Oct 14th

  Lemon and blueberry are two flavors that go together so well, and also two of my favorite flavors. I actually just had a lemon blueberry scone the other day, so yummy. When it comes to cocktail hour try mixing up these flavors for a delicious martini!

  Ingredients:

  1.5 oz. Blueberry Vodka

  1.5 oz. Vanilla Vodka

  1.5 oz. Limoncello

  Fresh blueberries and lemon for garnish

  

  Shake vodkas and limoncello in a cocktail shaker with ice. Pour into a glass and garnish with the blueberries and lemon. Enjoy!

  Posted in Cocktails | Tagged blueberry lemon martini, blueberry lemon martini recipe, blueberry martini, cocktail recipes, food blog, food blogger, lemon martini, limoncello, limoncello cocktail recipe, limoncello martini, martini recipes, stephanie's slice of life, vanilla vodka recipes
• 

  French Toast

  Posted at 3:04 pm by StephMo

  Oct 13th

  French toast is such a delicious breakfast treat that is quite easy to make. It can be made with just about any type of bread, but a thicker slice of bread is preferable. I like to use a thick Texas Toast or my favorite is Challah bread.

  This is one of those recipes that I have been doing for years and don’t measure the ingredients. While making it this morning I tried to pay attention as best I could to the amounts I was using but nothing was measured.

  Ingredients:

  Bread, thick sliced

  Eggs

  Milk

  Salt

  Sugar

  Vanilla

  Slice some nice bread into thick slices. The bread I used today was a Brioche I believe. My favorite bread for French Toast is Challah, but this was the closest I could find.

  For two slices of french toast you can use 1 egg, for four slices just double the recipe, etc. Today I was only making two slices so I used 1 egg.

  Lightly beat an egg in a shallow bowl. Add an equal amount of milk, which means you have to eyeball it and it won’t be exact.

  Add a splash of vanilla – maybe a 1/2 tsp, a dash of salt, and a little sugar. Mix well.

  

  Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Dip both sides of the bread into the egg mixture and place in the hot pan.

  

  Cook for approximately 4 minutes per side while checking after about 2 minutes to make sure it isn’t browning too quickly. The bread needs to cook through and if the heat is too high it will brown the outside before the inside egg is cooked. If it is browning too quickly just turn down the heat. You can also flip the bread if this is happening and cook longer on a lower heat.

  Also pat the bread lightly with a spatula occasionaly while cooking.

  

  That’s it! Just add a little butter, syrup, or powdered sugar. I had a very happy son this morning.

  

  Here is some French Toast I made a little while ago on Challah bread, so good!

  

  Posted in brunch, Recipes | Tagged breakfast ideas, breakfast recipes, brunch ideas, challah french toast, challah french toast recipe, easy french toast, easy french toast recipe, food blog, food blogger, french toast, french toast recipe, stephanie's slice of life
• 

  Apple Crisp

  Posted at 11:17 am by StephMo

  Oct 13th

  I honestly don’t think there is a better smell than fresh baked apple crisp or apple pie. What’s even better than the smell is the taste! It is such a delicious Fall treat, and perfect for those of us that don’t particularly care for making pie crust. While my family didn’t pick our own apples this year, we did buy apples from the orchard after we picked our own pumpkins. I like to use Cortland apples for baking, and I still have half of a bag left to bake more Fall goodies.

  This is another recipe that started from my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook, but I have changed it a little bit. I use about twice the amount of apples that it calls for and do things a little differently.

  Ingredients:

  8-9 apples

  2/3 cup brown sugar

  1/2 cup flour

  1/2 cup oats

  1/3 cup butter, softened

  3/4 tsp. nutmeg

  3/4 tsp. cinnamon

  Grease the bottom and sides of a square 8″ glass dish or casserole with shortening.

  I like to mix the dry ingredients before I cut the apples so that it is ready to go before the apples get too brown.

  

  Using an apple peeler or a knife, peel and core the apples.

  

  Sadly my apple peeler broke after I peeled a few apples so I had to resort to using a knife. I actually enjoy trying to peel the entire apple in one long piece, which I did but broke it when I moved it to take a picture.

  

  Slice the apples and stack in the glass dish. Make sure the slices aren’t too thin or the crisp will get too mushy. I sacrificed some of our topping to make an additional little casserole to bring to my daughter at school. I’m good like that 🥰

  Cut the softened butter into the dry mixture using two forks, a fork and a knife, or a pastry cutter. You want to incorporate the butter as best you can so that it is in little chunks and evenly distributed.

  

  Spread the topping evenly over the apples so that they are all covered.

  

  Once they are topped, bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until bubbly.

  

  Serve warm with vanilla ice cream! Yum. yum, yum. 🍎🍎🍎

  Posted in Pies, Recipes | Tagged apple crisp, apple crisp recipe, apple recipe, apple recipes, betty crocker apple crisp, food blog, food blogger, stephanie's slice of life
• 

  Dill Pickles

  Posted at 3:36 pm by StephMo

  Sep 25th

  Canning is new to me as I mentioned in my recent Strawberry Jam blog, but I am honestly loving it and can’t wait to try more recipes. My father jokingly asked if I was going to be giving homemade jars out as Christmas gifts, which I was planning on doing 😬. Oh well, I think homemade goodies are better than store bought gifts. And so far the two things I have made are delicious!

  Ok, so Dill Pickles are my latest creation and they turned out better than I expected. They had a very different taste than any others I have tried, and my husband said they were the best pickles he has ever had. They have a strong vinegar taste at first but then the garlic dill flavor pops and is so good!

  I purchased 8 oz. jars for these but I feel like a larger jar might have been better because there really aren’t that many pickles in each jar. You can decide how you large you want your jars to be.

  To make pickles you need the following ingredients:

  Mason jars

  10-12 small pickling cucumbers

  2 garlic cloves

  2 tsp. mustard seed

  2 tsp. black peppercorn

  Fresh dill

  2 cups water

  2 cups distilled white vinegar

  1/4 cup cane sugar

  2 tbsp. sea salt

  I am not really sure if the cucumbers I purchased are technically pickling cucumbers, but they were the smallest I could find.

  

  Cut the cucumbers into small spears or into slices and fill the jars while leaving a little room for the other ingredients.

  

  Then put a sprig of dill and a 1/4 clove of garlic into each jar, and divide the mustard seeds and peppercorns evenly into the jars.

  

  

  Now you need to make the brine that pickles the cucumbers. This is done by combining the water, vinegar, sugar, and salt in a saucepan and cooking over low/medium heat until the sugar and salt are dissolved.

  Let the brine cool slightly and pour evenly into the jars covering the cucumbers.

  

  Let the jars cool to room temperature and then seal them. Refrigerate for at least 5 days to let the flavor absorb into the cucumbers.

  

  They are so good you will want to eat them all!

  Posted in pickles, Pickles, Recipes | Tagged canning, canning recipes, dill pickle recipe, dill pickles, food blog, food blogger, pickle recipe, pickles, stephanie's slice of life
• 

  Chocolate Waffles

  Posted at 10:55 am by StephMo

  Sep 16th

  What is better than a thick, warm, waffle? How about a thick, warm, chocolate waffle! So delicious and decadent. Chocolate waffles make a perfect dessert treat with some ice cream, but today they were a special breakfast treat for my son. I thought I had some strawberries in the house to top them with to make it seem somewhat healthy, but I’ll just have to get some fruit into him later.

  Waffles might seem like a difficult thing to make, but they are actually quite easy. The only reason I don’t make them more often is because I have to go get the waffle maker from “down cellah” as us Bostonians say.

  So let’s make waffles!

  Ingredients:

  1 1/2 cups flour

  3 tsp. baking powder

  1/2 tsp. salt

  1/2 cup sugar

  3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

  1 cup milk

  2 large eggs

  4 tbsp. butter, melted

  mini chocolate chips, optional

  Sift together the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. As I always say, make sure to sift when using cocoa powder because it really makes a difference.

  

  Whisk in the milk, eggs, and melted butter until smooth.

  

  

  I added a few mini chocolate chips because that’s how I roll. Honestly, when are chocolate chips ever a bad thing? Right?

  Spray your waffle iron with cooking spray and heat per the manufacturer’s instructions.

  Once heated, ladle the batter into the iron and let cook for about 4 minutes. I used a fork to remove them.

  

  

  I spread the batter out a little more for my second batch.

  

  Serve warm with fruit, ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, or whatever you like. Yum, yum, yum!!

  

  Posted in brunch, Recipes | Tagged brunch recipes, chocolate waffle, chocolate waffle recipe, chocolate waffles, dessert waffles, food blog, stephanie's slice of life, waffle recipe, waffles
• 

  Strawberry Jam

  Posted at 3:36 pm by StephMo

  Sep 10th

  I recently made homemade Strawberry Jam and it was much easier than I thought it would be. Now I am excited to try making other flavors of jam as well. I had known that jam recipes usually have Pectin as an ingredient and since I have no idea what is, I decided to find a recipe without Pectin. I truly am a problem solver. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

  I ordered and washed some 8 oz. mason jars. Try not to touch the inside of the jars or the lids once they are clean so that bacteria doesn’t grow in the jars. This recipe made 4 1/2 – 8oz. jars.

  The jars need to be hot when you put the jam into them, and to do this I put them in a 225 degree oven while I was making the jam. I kept checking them to make sure they didn’t get too hot.

  Now let’s make the jam! You will need a heavy saucepan for this.

  Ingredients:

  2 lbs. of fresh strawberries

  4 cups of sugar

  1/4 cup lemon juice

  

  Clean the strawberries, cut off the tops, and slice them in half.

  Mash the strawberries in a mixing bowl in batches. Once a batch was complete I put it in the saucepan.

  

  Once all of the strawberries are mashed and in the saucepan add the sugar and lemon juice and bring to a rolling boil while stirring frequently.

  

  The jam needs to boil to 220 degrees which is above boiling point. You will notice that it plateaus for a little while because of this, but you need to be patient and wait until it hits that temperature.

  

  I was actually getting a little impatient myself, but you will see how the mixture changes once it hits that temperature.

  

  Once the jam reaches 220 degrees remove it from the heat and start ladling it into the hot jars with a funnel leaving about 1/2 inch of space in the jars.

  

  Once they are filled, seal the jars tightly while still trying not to touch the inside of the lids or jars. And that’s it!

  If you are planning on eating the jam soon all you need to do is refrigerate the jam.

  

  If you are planning on saving the jam you need to complete the next step of using a water bath.

  If you have never done this it is easy. Bring a large pot of water to a boil making sure that there is enough water for the jars to be submerged. Make sure the jars are sealed tightly and use tongs to lower the jars into the water.

  Let them sit in the boiling water for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and keep them in the water for another 5 minutes. Remove with tongs and set on a towel and leave undisturbed for 12-24 hours.

  Posted in jam, Recipes | Tagged easy strawberry jam, food blog, food blogger, homemade jam, jam, jam recipe, stephanie's slice of life, strawberry jam, strawberry jam recipe, strawberry jam without pectin

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