Bread Bowls

Here is the secret recipe:

I use a bread recipe and make it into round balls. Cook them and scoop out the insides. I am sure you all have a better homemade bread recipe than I have so don't be too concerned about the specifics of that. "If you want really crusty bread, great for dipping in olive oil or marinara sauce, (or making bread bowls) place a pan of water in the bottom of the oven. The steam will keep a skin from forming too fast, giving the bread more time to rise. It will also make the crust crisper." So says Cook Like Your Grandmother website.

Enjoy!

Another Random Halloween Moment

The school day closest to a given holiday gets a special lunch visit. I brought the beloved soup in her carefully kept bowl. But the best part was the caramel apple. Besides the huge apple that made it seem even more amazing, there was caramel with white chocolate and cinnamon and sugar. It got a lot of comments as you could imagine. I mean anything homemade next to junkie school lunch is going to look rockin'.

Carving Pumpkins!

Although San Antonio's weather makes one feel more like putting on a swimsuit than wearing a cardigan on a fall afternoon in October, I still had a huge desire to make soup. Trying to be creative and festive, I made pumpkin shaped bread bowls (if you use your imagination it could totally look like pumpkins) and potato soup (recipe below)

It's always nice to hear and see approval for the food I prepare, but the kids were so funny about their adoration of this soup. Tiago wanted to eat it so badly, that his mouth kept getting burned.



Mia kept talking about the soup bowl phenomenon and ate so carefully so as to preserve her pumpkin for more soup to come.



Talia, on the other hand, thought that spoons just got in the way of goodness and attacked dinner as follows:


Running the risk of moldy pumpkins on Halloween, we waited until Thursday night to carve our pumpkins. Mia had written a book all about how to carve a cute pumpkin. She also was in the know about the innards of the pumpkin and warned her siblings appropriately.




It has been nice approaching Halloween in a more favorable light.

Potato Corn Chowder

1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1-2 carrots peeled and chopped
1-2 celery sticks chopped
1 cup water
1 medium potato, peeled and cut in 1/2 inch cubes
1 pkg McCormick Original Country Gravy Mix
2 cups milk
1 cup whole kernel corn

In a large saucepan, melt the butter with onion, carrots, and celery and cook 2 minutes. Add water and potato cubes; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 5 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Mix gravy and milk. Add gravy mixture with the remaining ingredients to the saucepan. Bring to a boil on medium heat. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Sometimes, I have added dill to add an extra flavor to the mix.