From the Kitchen

Have you ever had the Chicken Florentine Artichoke soup at La Madeleine? They rarely had it, but when they did I made sure to order it because it was the best soup I've ever had. Possibly one of the best things I've ever eaten. Word on the street is that they stopped making it and they won't release the recipe. Every year when soup weather is upon us I think of that soup. I long for it.

So I came across this Chicken Florentine soup recipe at the blog A Thousand Soups. It is the perfect base for experimentation (and I'm quite sure it would be delicious without the artichokes I added). I was hoping to find frozen artichokes so I could season as I wanted but Whole Foods only had canned ones and those have such a strong flavor not to mention lots of salt. That might have been a run-on. Anyway I added the artichokes at the end when I added the chicken and the spinach. By the way, I used fresh spinach. It could use a little pepper too. It was heavenly and I will most definitely be making it again. Oh! also I plan to cut up the artichokes next time.

Also, check out our fancy rim soup bowls! Thanks, Santa!

Next is this Herbed Risotto with Chicken and Carmelized Onions from Annie's Eats. She is cooking up some serious goodness in her kitchen. This risotto is spectacular. I should have been more careful to really slice the onions thin so that they would carmelize evenly because I don't think I got them as dark as they need to be. You can leave the onions out if they aren't your thing but I liked them in it. This was our first risotto and it won't be our last!

Chicken Tortilla Soup from the Pioneer Woman who hasn't steered us wrong yet. It took a long time to cook, but it was delicious. I like the way the corn tortilla strips are added. They kind of act like noodles.

Pappardelle with Beef and Mushroom Ragu from Real Simple's January issue. This was also time consuming but I didn't go to Zumba on Wednesday because I was still hobbling around from Monday night's class so I had time to cook. The fresh rosemary is key. I'm sure you could leave it out but it really makes the dish. We picked up the beef from the Organic Butcher and it was so tender and delicious. I've been wanting to try chili with beef pieces instead of ground beef and I think this dish helped me figure out how to do it. Anyway I thought this dish was well worth the time. It's more of a Sunday meal.

Spinach, Grape, and Coconut Smoothie from Real Simple's February issue. There are several other smoothies that I will be trying. This one was strange but very satisfying and tasty. A great way to use the leftover spinach from Chicken Florentine soup. And a great afternoon snack.

Roasted Pork Chops and Butternut Squash with Kale This was our second time using butternut squash and our first with kale. The flavors in this meal were fantastic. The squash is roasted with sage and the kale is sauteed with garlic. The kale didn't come out tender enough but I think we will definitely be eating this again.

One last thing. Can I offer you some freshly cracked black pepper?