Forget Panera! Soup and Salad made by Yours Truly.

Lunch could possibly be one of the best things. Its a lighter fair but you can do so much with it. Both of these are made from scratch, don't be deterred its wicked simple. This is a traditional french onion soup, accompanied by a chicken caesar salad. 

What you will need for the Chicken Caesar Salad(4 servings)-

Two Chicken Breasts
Romaine Lettuce
Caesar Dressing
Parmesan Cheese
Croutons

What you will need for the French Onion Soup(4 servings)-

Beef Stock
1 Large Sweet Onion
Salt and Pepper
Brown Sugar
Worcestershire Sauce
Minced Garlic
Flour
French Bread
Swiss Cheese

The Chicken Caesar Salad is super simple. Take the chicken and start by rinsing it. Then cut it up into a little larger than bite size pieces, when it cooks it will shrink. Then put some oil in a frying pan and add the chicken. Put some salt, pepper, a little minced garlic, and any other seasonings you fancy. Cook these by moving them around until they are browned. Then take your romaine lettuce and cut it up into salad size pieces. Toss with 2ozs of Caesar dressing. Place the chicken on top, and garnish with croutons and Parmesan cheese.

For the French onion soup this will take you 20 minutes in prep time and about an 1 hour and a half to cook(don't fret there is an ample amount of simmering time). First cut the onion up into 1inch slices, they will shrink as they caramelize. Once you have cut all of the onion, place it into a pan, add 1 table spoon of brown sugar, 1 table spoon of flour, and 1 table spoon of oil. Mix and continually stir this at a medium temperature. Once the onions become soft and a light brown color they are done, this process should take around 30 to 40 minutes. After this is complete you want to add your beef stock, 1 teaspoon of minced garlic, salt and pepper, a dash of Worcestershire sauce. Bring this to a boil, then reduce heat and cover for 45 minutes. At this point I let it cool to room temperature, then refregerate to allow the flavors to blend together. If you are ready to eat it the final step is to put a generous ladle of soup into a oven safe dish. Top the soup with 2, 1/4 inch slices of french bread and place a slice of swiss cheese on top of the bread. Place this in the oven, and set to broil. When the cheese is bubbly and browning its done.

Sit back and enjoy lunch!

Homemade Pizzas!

Ahh, ninja pizza!

A couple of weeks ago the Coe House Closed for the season. My boyfriend had been working there at the time so they gave away any remaining food they had to their employees. He came home with two industrial sized bags of mozzarella cheese. Its beyond me how anyone would be able to use these before they reach expiration. This is when I decided I need to make LOTS of pizza. What better night to fill up all my friends bellies for a good night of drinking than Thursday. I ended up making three pizzas, and had one left over for a late night snack. I must say this was much better than grabbing a slice at PHOP at the end of the night.

What you will need-
Mozzarella Cheese
Pizza Sauce
Prepared Pizza Crust(much easier than making your own!)
Oil
Toppings of your choice- I used shredded ham from the deli, Pineapple, Onion, Peppers, and Olives

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees

Take the crusts out of the package. Use one table spoon of oil and spread it all over the crust(this helps to brown it, but not burn it). Then apply the sauce as liberally as you personally like. I usually use a spoon to spread the sauce, moving it in a circular motion to spread it more evenly. Next you will add the cheese on top, again however much you like. For your toppings you can choose whatever you like. I love, love, love, Hawaiian pizza. All you need to do is spread your toppings evenly.

Then just place the pizza to cook directly on the rack for 22 minutes. Let it cool, cut it, then ENJOY!