How do you translate a hug into food? That was my challenge of sorts.
For you see one of my favorite food bloggers and all around wonderful person Barb, of Winos and Foodies, thought it would be a good idea to see if there were in advances in chemotherapy. You might know Barb from her efforts for getting the word out about cancer with her LiveStrong with a Taste of Yellow event that she has hosted for the last two years. Unfortunately Barb is back to battling cancer. Some of us fellow food bloggers (headed up by Bron and Ilva) thought it would be a good idea to send Barb a big cyberspace hug. Letting her know we are sending her every good thought that we could possible muster up!
So I thought long and hard about what to make. What would say comfort and love. Hot chocolate. Hot chocolate always makes me feel at peace. And I want Barb to feel at peace.
I am one of those who can not have hot chocolate without marshmallows ( well, I suppose if I was forced I could). Marshmallow panna cotta popped up in my head. Only problem…no one had made that yet…well if they did it’s not in cyberspace. So off to the experimenting I went. It only took two tries and I thought it would take much longer. The second time was a charm so to speak and let us hope that Barb’s second time is a charm as well.
To compliment the panna cotta I made a Peppermint “Hot Chocolate” Soup for it to swim in. If you wandering if it taste like marshmallow. Yes, like a big creamy, smooth one.
All the best Barb, we are thinking of you!
(((((((((HUGS, HUGS, HUGS, HUGS, HUGS, HUGS, HUGS, HUGS, HUGS, HUGS, HUGS, HUGS,HUGS, HUGS, HUGS, HUGS,  HUGS, HUGS, HUGS, HUGS))))))

 Marshmallow Panna Cotta with Peppermint “Hot Chocolate” Soup

Marshmallow Panna Cotta

2 cups heavy cream
½ cup half and half (or you can use more heavy cream)
½  cup marshmallow fluff
1 package (¼  ounce) unflavored gelatin
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place ½ cup of cream in a small bowl and sprinkle gelatin over the cream. Let gelatin bloom for about 5 minutes.
Put remaining cream and half and half into a medium saucepan on medium-low heat. Add marshmallow fluff and whisk into cream mixture. As the mixture heats up the marshmallow will start to melt into it, keep whisking to make sure it full incorporates.
Turn heat to low and add in the bloomed gelatin, whisking again to make sure it fully incorporates.
Add sugar and vanilla extract. Whisk until sugar has dissolved.
Pour mixture into ramekins of your choice. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours but serve that day or the next for best texture and flavor.
Unmold by dipping ramekins into hot water for a few seconds. Flip the panna cotta over into a shallow soup bowl. Pour in chocolate soup. Garnish with candy cane pieces and extra chocolate if you like.

“Hot Chocolate” Soup

1 cup whole milk
1 cup half and half
3 heaping TBSP powdered peppermint hot chocolate
2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
2 ounces milk chocolate, chopped

Place milk in a medium saucepan and whisk in hot chocolate. Add half and half and bring to a boil.
Remove from heat and add chopped chocolate. Let sit for about 3 minutes.
Whisk to incorporate the chocolate until totally smooth. Let cool slightly as to not melt the panna cotta when served with it.

Oh the pressure, oh the pressure, oh the pressure.
You see the Super Soup Challenge is under way again(this is year two) over at the newly remodeled(looks fantastic) Running with Tweezers.
Why the pressure? Well, you see, my roasted onion and Gorgonzola soup won last year. I was “souper” surprised when I won and even better was the prize( a lovely soup cookbook). So now, I had to figure out what to make for this year. I decided that just like last year, I would stick with simple flavors, I find that best with soup. I wanted something comforting(as this contest is a tribute to Tami’s mother), yet this time I wanted to use some ingredients that were in season.
Corn. Corn is one of the few Summer ingredients I am not allergic to and more importantly I love! But what to do to make it special? I have sauted, roasted, boiled and baked corn but I had never smoked corn. I had tasted smoked corn before so I knew it was tasty, so I decided to give it a shot. Other than my neighbors hating me for making the whole apartment complex smell like smoked corn and setting off the smoke alarm once, my experiment turned out beautifully.
Pureeing half of the soup gives it a velvety touch but still holds some heartiness. You could puree all of the soup or none of the soup and still have a delicious end result. I chose some maple smoked bacon to compliment the smokiness of the corn, they go very well together.
And there you have it, my entry for this years soup challenge. Hopefully I have lived up to the pressure. I’m not sure if it is a winner, but it is definitely a keeper!

Smoked Corn Soup

sprig of rosemary
sprig of sage
4 ears corn on the cob
3 TBSP unsalted butter
¼ cup sweet onion, small dice
¼ cup celery, small dice
32 ounces of chicken stock(or veggie stock is you are a vegetarian)
salt and pepper to taste
1 TBSP Dijon mustard
1 cup heavy cream
bacon(for garnish) again, if you are vegetarian, leave that out

Take sprigs and place them in cheesecloth, making a bouquet garni.
Shuck the husks and smoke corn over hickory chips(I used a blend that someone gave me that has hickory and maple) in a stove top smoker for 8-10 minutes. Set aside.
Melt butter in a large pot. Add onions and celery, cook(over medium heat) until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.
After corn has been smoked, cut kernels from the cob and throw into pan. Saute for 1 minute.
Add the stock and bouquet garni. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 minutes. When 30 minutes are up, taste soup. Add salt and pepper to taste. I like to do this after the soup has cooked awhile, in case the chicken stock became salty while it reduced. Remove bouquet garni and discard.
Take half of the batch of soup and place into a blender. Blend on puree. Puree until it is smooth with very little kernels left showing.
Add pureed portion of soup back into the pot. Add mustard and heavy cream and bring heat up to medium for 3 minutes.
Serve in bowls and add as much bacon to the top if you would like. If you are doing the vegetarian version of this you might want to add some fresh chopped chives.

Make about 4-6 servings depending on how big of a bowl of soup you like.

Summer is here. The lines for the cardio machines at the gym are so long, you would think they were waiting to get on the Matterhorn or Space Mountain rather than the stair-climber. Bikini weather is soon upon us and so many people are frantically exercising and eating salads squirted with lemon instead of dressing for their every meal. If however, you feel your pants are too loose, than I have just the thing(actually probably everything on my blog could do the trick).
Fresh corn is every where right now and so to mix it up from my usual way of making it(just sauted in butter with salt and a pinch of cream) I decided that corn chowder sounded good. I have made this several times. It is best with lobster of course, but I was cheap this time around and used shrimp. I use lobster stock, which if you don’t have or your store does not carry it, use fish stock or even vegetable stock in it’s place. The more people you have this to share with the better. I on the other hand had no one(since my husband doesn’t like soups of any kind) and so I was forced to eat half of the pot in one day. I wont have to worry about my pants being loose anytime soon.

Oh, and I have never made this low fat so I have no idea how that would turn out. I wouldn’t suggest it, but then again I rarely suggest anyting be fat free.

Grilled Corn and Shrimp Chowder

¼ cup diced celery
¼ cup diced onion
¼ cup diced carrot
1 garlic clove, chopped
¼ cup of butter plus one TBSP
2 cups russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
½ tsp coriander
a dash of white pepper
sea salt to taste
4 cups of lobster stock(or fish stock if you don’t have lobster stock)
1 TBSP chicken flavor base
2 ½ cups heavy cream
¾ pound of shrimp, raw, peeled and deveined 
1 ¾ cup grilled fresh corn, cut off of the cob after grilling

1.In a large stock pot, cook celery, carrot, onion and garlic in 1 TBSP of butter. Saute for about 5 minutes, until tender.
2.Add potatoes, coriander, white pepper and lobster stock. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for about 30 minutes, while the stock reduces.
3.Add chicken base, cream and ¼ cup butter(bad I know but really good). Simmer another 20 minutes.
4.Check soup to see if it needs salt, it might not.
5.Stir in the shrimp and the corn. Wait for shrimp to turn pink and curl up, about 2 minutes.
6.Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with parsley or maybe crumbled bacon(mmm) if desired.

If you read my blog on a semi-regular basis you know that it is mostly baking with a sprinkle of soup and few things here and there. So when Tami over at Running with Tweezers decided to have a soup challenge I was super excited and I knew exactly what soup to make. It is my favorite of favorites. One I created for my friend L who loves all things blue cheese. This soup is thick and velvety with a nice touch of blue cheese and a hint of garlic….and even better it is topped with bacon. It’s best not to figure out how many calories is in this baby…I’m not sure there are enough hours in the day to work it off.

This is my go to soup for just about every occasion. If you have eaten dinner at my house, chances are you have had this soup at least once. I say at least because pretty much anyone who has had it, asks for me to make it again. The soup itself is wonderful but the garnish is what puts it over the top. The sauted pears play nicely with the blue cheese and the bacon, well…is bacon.

 Roasted Onion and Goronzola Soup

3 TBSP butter
2 large onions, large diced
2 small baking potatoes, peeled and diced
1 tsp garlic, minced
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
4 1/2 oz Gorgonozla, crumbled
salt and pepper to taste
1 TBSP butter
1 TBSP sugar
2 medium pears, peeled, sliced into 1/2 inch wedges
4 oz bacon, fried and crumbled

Melt 3 TBSP of butter over medium heat.
Add onions and garlic, cook until onions are slightly wilted.
Add potatoes, stir to coat with butter. Cook 5 minutes.
Add stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are soft(about 30 minutes). Allow to cool slightly.
Puree soup in food processor.
Add cream and gently reheat soup.
Stir in cheese and adjust seasoning. If too thick, thin with stock.
Heat 1 TBSP butter over medium high heat.
Add pears and sprinkle with sugar. Saute until slightly caramelized.
Garnish soup with pears and bacon.