Chicken and wild rice soup.

I was too exhausted after work last night to do a full write up of this recipe, but it's so good that it simply must be shared. I've made this three times now and I have to say, it's pretty idiot-proof. I've forgotten to add the rice in until the last minute, only had half of the flour the recipe calls for and didn't realize it, and once my mother added about three cups of water to a big batch coming right out of the fridge before it had reheated thoroughly on the stove because it was "too thick", not realizing that the fat would thin out as it warmed. The finished product is always yummy regardless.

Few changes:

- I always saute onion, celery, carrots and mushrooms separately and add them with the chicken.

- I also add about 1/2 cup of instant white rice to help thicken it up.

- I use half and half instead of heavy cream, and 6 full cups of chicken broth because why on earth would anyone add water to soup? The only time water should be added at any point of the soup-making process is during broth/stock preparation.

Best winter soup ever. Thick, hearty and filling and goes great with a crusty hunk of bread.

Asparagus soup.

When we first began dating, my husband hated any and all vegetables save for iceberg lettuce. Slowly but surely we began to add new and exotic veggies to his palate; things like romaine lettuce, green beans and asparagus. He now loves asparagus.

So last night we were out to dinner with his mother and I mentioned that I would be making cream of asparagus soup the next day, one of his favorite dishes, and his mother says, "Asparagus?! You hate asparagus!" And I admit, I experienced that tiny thrill that goes along with knowing the man your significant other has become better than his own mother, who thinks that his tastes haven't evolved much beyond chicken nuggets and mac n' cheese. Then she went and fucked it all up by getting him to try a piece of tuna sashimi, something I've been begging him to do for years now. Bitch.

Anyway, the soup. This is a favorite of both of ours. It's warm, thick, creamy and peppery, and the flavor of the asparagus really shines through. My husband would drink this by the gallon if I let him.

The Turduckening

I'd like to pretend that I'm such an awesome cook that this meal was simple as making toast. But in reality, this meal was as simple as making toast because this particular bird is literally idiot-proof. If you can make nasty frozen pizza, you can make this turducken.

Homemade chicken and noodles.

My mom was never a big cook. She knew how, but she didn't enjoy it. Probably because she would get home from working a 7am-5pm shift in the emergency room being vomited on, bled on and having crackheads swear at her and throw their soiled bedpans at her, only to have to cook dinner for two self-absorbed kids who were completely oblivious about what her day had been like. But one of the things that I remember her seeming to take an inkling of pleasure in preparing was her chicken and noodles. This was something that she'd spend a little more time and care on, and it showed in her demeanor when she'd make it. It's a dish that is forever associated for me with calm, relaxed evenings at home watching TGIF, and going out for ice cream later.

Butternut squash soup.

It's autumn and that always puts me in the mood for soup! Warm, aromatic, heavy-cream-laden calorie bombs.

This recipe popped up on allrecipes.com as the recipe of the day about a week ago, and I decided to give it a shot. Roasting vegetables deepens and preserves their flavor a lot better than boiling them, so I did things a little differently than what the recipe calls for. I halved my squash and roasted it along with half of an onion and two cloves of garlic at 350 for about an hour.