Kel’s Rich and Creamy Braised Beef Stroganoff

Posted on December 24, 2016 by kelleychisholm

lets-eat-kels-braised-beef-stroganoff

As I child, I always loved having dinner at my grandparents’ home, especially when they made beef stroganoff. The creamy sauce and tender beef that topped the egg noodles was so yummy and I especially loved the hint of sherry — it made me feel I was eating grown-up food. I wish I had their recipe for this, but since I don’t,  I’ve been forging ahead with ideas from my cookbooks and the Internet.

While I had early success with the delicious sauce, it took a few tries to replicate melt-in-your-mouth beef. When Brad suggested to braise the meat, I decided to give it a try, and he was right — perfectly tender beef that made this dish completely delicious. While the braising process takes longer to complete, it is so simple to do and definitely worth the time spent!

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Kel’s Café Citrusy Champagne Mojitos

Posted on December 17, 2016 by kelleychisholm

 

toasting-the-holidays-with-kels-champagne-mojitos

It’s a mimosa. No, wait – it’s a mojito. Actually, it’s the best of both worlds! Champagne is my favorite alcoholic beverage and mojitos are one of my favorite cocktails, so when I saw this recipe for Champagne Mojitos on my online Food and Wine feed — Boom! I knew I had to make these. I tweaked the recipe a bit and added some fresh clementines, just to bring in the mimosa aspect. Plus, I just happen to have a lot of clementines on hand.

kels-champagne-mojito

These cocktails are perfect for your holiday breakfast or brunch. Double the recipe to keep your guests happy! And if you’re interested in some of my other recipes for mojitos, check out the end of this post for links to some of my favs.

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Kel’s Split Pea and Ham Soup, Slow Cooker Style

Posted on December 12, 2016 by kelleychisholm

kels-split-pea-soup

Here’s a hearty, delicious and good-for-your-soul split pea soup that is so easy to make because your slow cooker does most of the work for you! Just combine all of the ingredients in a 4 to 5 quart slow cooker (I love my Ninja for this) and cook on low for about 4 hours. The peas will magically turn into a nice and thick soup — just stir and you’re good to go. Perfect on a cold winter’s day!

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Kel’s Best Baked Spaghetti Casserole, Ever

Posted on December 7, 2016 by kelleychisholm

yum-kels-baked-spaghetti

This. Stuff. Rocks. Seriously, it is so good, you may want to keep it all to yourself. But don’t do that, share the love with your family and friends and just make extra! They will thank you, and you will thank yourself. This baked spaghetti casserole is absolutely comfort food at its finest, and the best thing is that it’s even better the next day.

The key to this recipe is starting with a great homemade sauce — meaty Bolognese for a hearty version or meatless Marinara for a lighter casserole (click on the sauce of your choice for previously posted recipes.) Trust me, you cannot go wrong either way. Make the sauce in advance and freeze it until ready to use, which is a great time saver, especially around the holidays if you’re cooking for a large crowd. Just thaw the sauce a day in advance and bring it to room temperature, add cooked spaghetti, cheddar and cream cheese, and bake. How easy is that?

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Kel’s Timeless Turkey Noodle Soup

Posted on November 26, 2016 by kelleychisholm

 

kels-easy-turkey-noodle-soup

Stop! Don’t throw away that Thanksgiving turkey carcass just yet, not until you’ve made some homemade broth to use in my timeless turkey noodle soup recipe, comfort food at its finest. OK, if you don’t want to make your own broth, substitute store bought chicken stock instead. But it’s much better to your own, just saying.

Homemade broth is so, so, so easy to make – just throw those bones in a big pot, cover with cold water and add a quartered onion, a celery stalk cut in half, a garlic clove and some salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for an hour or so. Pour the liquid through a strainer and voila!, great tasting homemade stock. Easy, easy, easy!

This soup is great the next day and it will thicken as the noodles absorb some of the liquid. It’s almost like you’re getting two soups for the price and labor of one. Yaaaay! It also freezes well. Since Brad isn’t a soup person (I know, what’s up with that?), I freeze this in individual portions to have on hand whenever I need a homemade soup fix. Thaw in the fridge, zap in the microwave, and a perfect lunch is ready.

freeze-kels-timeless-turkey-noodle-soup

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It’s the Final Final Four: Get Your Tickets Now!

Posted on November 17, 2016 by kelleychisholm

dining-competition-finals

No, I’m not talking about hoops, but instead the just as exciting last two nights of The Got to Be NC Competition Series. Competing in tomorrow night’s battle are the Sedgefield Culinary Crushers, winner of the Greensboro teams, and Team Vidalia Boom, champion of the Winston Salem regional battle. The winner will go on to face Raleigh’s Team Mirepoix in the grand finale this Sunday, November 20, 2016.

team-mirepoix

The good news is there are still tickets left for this fun event, where attendees get to rock the vote on who the final champion is. The bad news is that this will mark the official end of the culinary tournament, so get your tickets now while you can (more about that at the end of this post.) According to the folks at Competition Dining, “The 2016 Battle of Champions dinner events will mark the official end of the Got to Be NC Competition Dining Series. After five years of successfully celebrating North Carolina’s agriculture and culinary talent through more than 300 interactive dinner events, 1,830 locally sourced dishes and 30,000-plus fed people across the state, the founder and event host Jimmy Crippen is retiring the competition in order to pursue other ventures.” Trust me, you won’t want to miss this ultimate final showdown.

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Kel’s Savory Sausage, Apple and Sage Stuffing

Posted on November 15, 2016 by kelleychisholm

kels-awesome-stuffed-cornish-hen

Here’s a great stuffing recipe, just in time for the holidays. I love the how the hot sausage and crisp, tart apples complement each other. The fresh sage adds a savory, slightly peppery flavor to the stuffing. If you can’t find fresh, substitute with 2 teaspoons of ground sage, or to taste.

I like to use cornbread stuffing mix for this recipe, but the herbed-seasoned mix works well, too.

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Sloppy Joes, Slop, Sloppy Joes*

Posted on November 3, 2016 by kelleychisholm

kels-cafe-sloppy-joe 

Have you ever had a Sloppy Joe at Sloppy Joe’s in Key West? I did many moons ago on one of our (several) visits to this Duvall Street institution and remember that it was quite good, although I can’t recall any of the particular details of one of my all-time favorite sandwiches. In my defense, we are talking about Duvall Street in Key West and what that entails. But I ramble (that’s what Duvall Street can make you do.)

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To this day, I’ve been a big fan of Sloppy Joes since Hunt’s® introduced its Manwich sauce in 1969. As a kid, I was always thrilled when my Mom or grandparents made Sloppy Joes for dinner. I preferred to eat them open-faced even back then because I knew I would get more of the filling that way, rather than having it served sandwich style.

After finally making myself look at Manwich’s ingredients, I decided it was time to make my own sauce to eliminate the high fructose corn syrup, cut back on some of the sugar, and add fresh onions, peppers, garlic and celery to the mix. What resulted was a sauce just as good, if not better, than what comes out of a can. And even though it takes a tad bit longer to prepare, it’s completely worth the effort.

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Love Pumpkin? Then These Waffles Are For You!

Posted on October 27, 2016 by kelleychisholm

 pumpkin-waffle-with-homemade-whipped-cream

I recently purchased a small Belgian waffle maker, even though Brad and I don’t eat a lot of waffles. But I did have a coupon, and yes, it was on sale. I figure I’ll get good use out of it when the kids come and visit next summer. In the meantime, I’ve been experimenting with different recipes, and since the pumpkin craze is so popular this time of year, I thought I’d make some pumpkin-spiced waffles. I decided to top these tasty treats with homemade whipped cream, since I had just received my new Pampered Chef Whipped Cream Maker (more about this awesome product later.)

pampered-chef-whipped-cream-maker

What I like about these Belgian waffles is that the pumpkin flavor is not overwhelming and the spices are just right. This recipe is courtesy of Mindi with SweetandSimpleLiving.com and is easy to make. She suggests that you top them with pecans, which I didn’t have, and maple syrup, which I did and it went great with the homemade whipped cream. Continue reading →

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Delish’s Caramel Apple Gelatin Shots

Posted on October 19, 2016 by kelleychisholm

caramel-apple-gelatin-shots

My niece, Angela, recently sent me this recipe from delish.com for caramel apple gelatin shots and I’m so glad she did. And so were the guests at the gathering where I served them! These tasty treats are like caramel apples with an added punch and I love how wonderful they look — they just scream autumn to me (of course you can enjoy them year round.)

These shots are really not hard to make — what took me the most time was unwrapping all of the caramels.  I couldn’t find Salted Caramel vodka at the liquor store so I used Kissed Caramel vodka instead. I also switched out the plain caramels for sea salt caramels — I’m pretty sure these changes didn’t make a big difference.

To melt the caramels, I coated a microwave safe bowl with cooking spray, added the caramels and cooked them on high for a minute. I stirred them and cooked them for an additional minute, until they were completely melted.

melted-caramels

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