I'm back and I brought porkchops

I stopped the blog about a year ago because the girls were starting to get bored with helping me cook. I didn't stop cooking but I stopped taking pictures and blogging because it wasn't the same without the girls cooking with me. Lately they've been getting back into the idea and picking out recipes so I decided to give the blog another shot. Our special Guest for this one (and many future blogs to come) is my girlfriend Hannah.

My two oldest both chose recipes that looked so amazing that I couldn't choose just one. The recipes are :

Butternut squash & Rosemary soup

and

I know it might be hard to read so here is a link to a website with the recipe (its alittle different but overall the same). Mine was from the pioneer woman cookbook . Pork Chop wine wine and roasted garlic

So that was the recipes...

Here is our adventure:

Lets start with the soup.My oldest trying her best to cut up the squash

almost there

I cut up the onions\

covered the squash in oil and added rosemary. Thrown in the oven for 45 mins. Meanwhile....

My oldest adding the red lentils to the pan followed by water and bringing to a boil. Let boil for 10 mins.

onions and broth in the pot waiting for the lentils

After straining the lentils we pour them into a pot along with onions and broth

Didn't get pic while it was on the stove but we let it sit on the stove in low heat while Hannah and my youngest make the pork chops

Now the pork chops:

Hannah prepped the pork chops and chives

(not pictured) we used minced garlic and roasted it for a few minutes.

after cooking the pork chops for a couple minutes in the skillet then pull them out. Add oil, butter, and then the roasted garlic

add the red wine (we used a concord we really like)

then add bay leaves

after the mixture reduces half way my oldest added the broth

My two youngest then placed the porkchops into the wine mixture

cook them up until done

afterwards we added balsamic vinegar to the left over in the skillet to top the pork chop and spinkled on the chives (garlic breaded was store bought and added as a side)

Whole meal together

That was our adventure. I know it was a long journey but I hope you all enjoyed it.

Rating time!!

My rating: The Pork Chop was sweet and juicy. The added sauce made with the balsamic vinegar was fantastic. The soup tasted just like potato soup with alot of flavor. Great all around meal

Girls Rating: 3/3 loved it. My youngest and oldest ate the pork chop so fast I was surprised (yes my meat hating kids gobbled it up). My middle child took awhile to eat the pork chop but she finished it. All of them put their soup in a cup and drank it up.

I hope you all enjoyed my comeback blog. I'm planning on going back to doing it once a week again and maybe more as life goes on.

Let me know what you all think in the comments.

There's a Leek in my bowl!!

This weeks recipes were chosen by my two oldest children. My middle child wanted to make buttermilk biscuits and my oldest chose Leek and potato soup

Both recipes are very easy and straight forward. One thing I changed about the soup recipe is I didn't know exactly what Creme Fraiche is but I googled it and it said it was like a sour cream... so I used sour cream instead

Here is our Adventure!!:

We started with the Biscuits first but if you are crunched for time then I'd say you can easily do the biscuits while the soup is cooking

Adding the flour first

Baking powder 

She let her youngest sister added the baking powder

Then she let her other sister do the sugar

Then mix together after I added the shortening

I had her flour the table to prep it for the fun part

Not sure what happened here but.... sure go ahead and play in the flour

I kneed the dough but I didn't get a picture of that since my hands were full. Here my middle child rolling out the dough

Shes just rollin rollin rollin

We used a cup to cut out perfect circles for each biscuit

Lined them up on the pan and popped them into the preheated oven

Then we started the soup while we waited. My oldest cut the leeks

And I cut up the potatoes... they aren't pretty but I'm ok with that

After I let the leeks saute in the pot we added in the stock

and potatoes... I added the sprigs of rosemary too

We let it cook until the veggies were tender. Then I removed the rosemary and I poured the soup into the food processor to chop up the veggies

Finally I poured it all back in and added the sour cream and parsley then mixed it up.

The biscuits were done before the soup but in no time at all I had this masterpiece

They both were very fun and very yummy recipes. The biscuits were done in a flash and the soup took awhile but didn't really seem like it.

Rating time!!!

Girls: 3/3 loved both. my oldest had two bowl and my other two polished off every drop of their soup

Mine: Extremely delicious. I had 3 bowls of soup and 4 biscuits haha. The two paired very well together. But don't just take my word for it. Try the recipes yourself. They are very simple and taste amazing

Let me know what you think about my recipes!!!