No Fear Beer Cheese Soup

Lee's a Ram's fan, and I'm a Packers fan.  So obviously, we're cheering for the commercials during this year's Super Bowl.  Still, this time of year, I think it's ok to pull out our favorite football soup of all time, especially when we're going to stay below freezing the entire week!  Beer Cheese Soup, or what I like to call, Wisconsin in a Bowl is just the ticket.  Our original one is delicious, and you can find the recipe here.  

But as our regular readers know, we're trying to clean up Lee's cooking and Margy's eating.  That brought us to our next step in slimming up our Super Bowl!  

Lee whipped up No Fear Beer Cheese Soup. Now, I'm a sucker for a good beer cheese soup and this one was no joke! It's a little thinner than your traditional beer cheese soup, and I thought that was actually a good thing.  In the original soup, the carrots got lost, you kind of wondered if they were there or if Lee used them just to make the ingredient picture look better.  In this soup, they're front and center, giving a delightful burst of flavor.

If you're ready to make it, here's what you need:

3 Carrots (peeled and diced)

1 White Onion (diced)

3 Cloves of Garlic (minced)

1 Shallot (diced)

2 Jalapenos (deseeded, diced)

2 bunches of Green Onions (sliced)

1 Stick of Butter

1 can of Beer (we live in St. Louis, so a Bud product was a must... sorry Milwaukee!) 

1 Tablespoon Dry Mustard

2 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

4 Cups Low Sodium Chicken Stock (We made our own and used no salt)

4 Cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese (shredded)

2 Cups Gruyere Cheese (shredded)

3 Cups Half and Half 

2 Cups Flour

Resolution Jalapeno Poppers

So Jalapeno Poppers have become Lee's signature party take along.  Our favorite recipe is probably not the healthiest thing around with all the cheesy bacony goodness.  If you're throwing caution to the wind this year, you can check out the original recipe here.

We've been doing pretty good the last few weeks, moderating our calories and logging on My Fitness Pal (feel free to friend us over there!)  However, something was hovering in the distance that was sure to derail our resolve if we didn't plan ahead.  We knew we had to do something to slim up the Super Bowl!

Lee took a stab at the jalapeno poppers.  This might bring a tear to your eye... no bacon.  But they're still really delicious!!

He beefed up the filling with mushrooms and onions and covered them in panko bread crumbs to bring in just a little crunch.  If you're looking for something to slim up your Super Bowl, these are it!!

First, you'll need:

1 Package Mushrooms (Chopped)

1 Bunch Green Onions (Chopped)

1 Package Light Cream Cheese (Softened)

½ Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

½ Cup Shredded Italian Cheese

6 Large Jalapenos (Cored, Deseeded and Cut in Half)

2 Cups Panko Bread Crumbs

1 Tablespoon Chili Powder

Seasoning Salt to taste (I used a Salt Free Variety)

1 egg white/water mixture

The Garden- Part 1

We've got a pretty decent size yard for living in the city, so this year, we've decided to plant a garden.  We've had them in previous years, but in the past few years, we've just grown a few herbs and tomatoes in planters because we are lazy to avoid digging up the yard.

Just some of the tasty goodness we'll be growing this year!

So we sat down and decided what we wanted in the garden back in January and started pricing out seeds online and at different stores around town and started researching what we have to do to go from seeds to actual plants with edible produce. Lee laid everything out in Auto CAD. That, my friends, is one of the many reasons I love this guy, I would have just tossed some seeds in the ground and prayed.  He reads the directions and lays things out so all the plants have enough room to grow and look pretty.

Three weeks after planting the seeds.

At the end of February, we started our peppers, some of the herbs and the brussel sprouts.  We had some shelving in the basement and poached a florescent light fixture from another basement room and bought a grow light to fit.  Then we got the seed starters from Home Depot.  Easy as pie!

The brussel sprouts got confused, thought it was the middle of summer, and took off in a week, so we had to pull those back to give everything else a chance!

This summer, we'll be growing lots of vegetables (hopefully) including the habaneros for the Flaming Fido Hot Sauce.  I'm itching to get out there and get started!

Jalapeno Poppers

I took these tasty appetizers to a party this weekend. It was the second time I'd brought them to share with my kickball team, the Recess Renegades... this time by special request.  More than one of my teammates weren't able to get these off their minds since our last get together!

As far as party food goes, these are pretty cheap and easy to put together.  Plus, they make you look really tough when you bite into a great big jalapeno pepper.  On the spicy level, you can make them as hot, or not hot as you want, it just all depends on how much of the spicy seeds and membranes you leave in the pepper.  I like mine not so hot, so Lee dug it all out.  Truth be told, this batch could have even been a little spicier and still have been delicious!

Overall, the taste is more sweet than spicy, which is surprising when you're looking at this giant pepper.

WARNING! When you're cutting and handling your peppers, don't be a hero, wear gloves.  We get the nitrile gloves that you can find at the pharmacy.  They will save you a lot of pain later.

Jalapeno Steak and Cheesy Polenta

We were supposed to have house guests from Texas on Sunday night, so Lee was excited to have someone around who appreciated his spicy cooking.  Although they weren't able to make it in the long run, we had a great recipe on tap we just had to try. 
I found this recipe a few weeks ago and thought it looked tasty: The Foodie Couple: Jalapeno Beef with Cheese Polenta and Chile Sauce.  It's another food couple out of Washington after our my heart, they drink wine with their meals. I should do that.  But dinner is the only time I get my milk everyday and frankly, this Wisconsin raised girl needs her milk, but I digress.