cheating on winter pea soup: French Fridays with Dorie

Another wow recipe that came out of nowhere, cause the ingredient list didn't look too inviting to me.  I loved it, older daughter Stacy loved it, Sadie was having an off day.

Hmmm...frozen peas, romaine lettuce soup.  Unconvinced it would have flavor,

 I used 4 cups of chicken broth and 2 cups of my concentrated veggie broth.  

I will probably make it this way in the future.

After using the immersion blender, not very smooth.

Time to get out the big guns....vitamix to the rescue.

Sadie's bowl.  She was not having anything to do with this soup.  Stacy and my bowls disappeared too fast to photograph!!  Yes, we really did like it!

And one of my favorite moments of the Colorado trip.  At the "sleigh ride to a dinner in the tent" event, Sadie just ups and joins the entertainment that evening.  The entertainer went with it!  What fun for Nana!!!  And Sadie didn't even have any of the peppermint schnapps in hot chocolate.....

So this recipe is such a keeper that I now have to have at least one 1 lb. bag of organic frozen peas in the freezer at all times.  To see what others did with this recipe this week, you can visit French Fridays with Dorie.

Boca Negra: Tuesdays with Dorie-Baking with Julia

I am glad for all the great insights on the P&Q post.  I was certainly confused by the white chocolate cream.  Luckily I read the recipe on Monday and it said to make it a day ahead of time (unless you have lots of snow around like Cher!).  So I did that yesterday and really had no faith that it would thicken.  But it did!!!

So then I decided to make the cake in the food processor (thanks for all the hand mixers' comments!) and it was really easy and quick.

I had one package left of "the good stuff" but only 6 ounces...so I decided to cut the recipe in half.

I used a 6 x 3 inch round baking pan and kept baking time the same (in fact I added almost 10 minutes cause I was sure it wasn't done)

On a salad plate!  The small size worked well, especially since it was so rich!

And the big hit of the night?  The white chocolate cream!!!  

Grown up kids liked the cake and cream.  Kiddos liked the cake, although Sadie had some cream and was singing pretty happy!

I am glad I made this recipe.  I am especially glad I made the white chocolate cream (this will show up again in my life!).  To see what other doristas did this week, you can visit Tuesdays with Dorie, Baking with Julia.

coeur a la creme: French Fridays with Dorie

What a great tasting desert....what a nightmare to look at without a pretty mold.....you will see what I mean below.

I cheaped out on this one....and used my yogurt cheese mold, which kind of looks like a 2 hump camel...need I say more.  But with slices and the raspberry coulis I could disguise my faux pax....

I thought I was following the recipe, but I think I may have over whipped the cream...

I used the Donvier yogurt cheese mold, plus a layer of cheese cloth (to pick the final product out of the mold, I thought).  I waited a little more than 12 hours, and maybe had 2 teaspoons of liquid in the bottom of the mold....the first sign that I probably did something wrong on this recipe.

OK, here's what the 2 hump camel looks like out of the mold!  Those with imagination might see the top of the heart?  Oh well, it did slice okay and tasted great.

So last week here's where we were.  Breckenridge, Colorado.  Here is Sean sledding down the hill and he even got air before he got to the bottom!  The things you have to do to bring snow to Texas kiddos!!

Here I am with Sadie.  I had to share my trekking poles with her.  Luckily they were collapsible so they were her size and my size.  I used them to avoid icy falls; Sadie decided they were snow toys to make little holes in the snow wherever she went. We had lots of fun!  It's about time for Nana to go to the beach again....Brrrrr!

Well, I can tell this recipe would be a hit with all...younger daughter Lori was at my house today when I unmolded the coeur a la creme, and we each had a plate with the raspberry coulis.  Lori has now requested this recipe for her May birthday dinner.  That sounds like a resounding YES to the recipe to me.  Next time I will try to whip the cream a little less and see what happens.....

To see what other Doristas did with this recipe this week, you can visit French Fridays with Dorie.