Baby Its COLD Outside!

Wow it is really cold and windy here and expecting showers tomorrow. This cold weather makes me in the mood for warm yummy foods to keep us cozy in our house. 3 things I'm making to warm our bodies inside and out hot cocoa, bread pudding, and Creamy veggie soup, all my recipes and they are so yummy.

Hot Cocoa (so easy, but so satisfying)

6 cups of milk
3 tablespoons of cocoa
1/2 cup sugar

Add all ingredients in large pot and heat up slowly and gently, stirring often with a whisk. Do not allow milk to come to full boil. After heated through serve in mugs topped with whipped cream or marsh mellows.

Over the months I like to save the heels of our loaves of bread. I just stick them in the freezer and when I need bread for bread pudding, stuffing, or breading all I have to do is pull the bread out that I need and let it defrost for about half an hour. I consider it a free ingredient.

Bread Pudding

5 cups of bread torn into small bite size pieces
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups of milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 8X8 pan and add bread crumbs to it. In a mixing bowl add the eggs and sugar, whisk together until well incorporated. Add spices and vanilla, mix well.
Well whisking egg and sugar mixture slowly add in the milk. Pour over top of bread being sure to wet all the bread with the custard mixture. Use the back of a spoon or your hands to press the bread down into the pan to make sure the bread has contact with the custard mixture. Place in preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes. Let cool, but serve warm if desired, which is my family's favorite. We also serve it with a mixture of milk, nutmeg, and sugar poured over the top.

Creamy Veggie Soup

1/2 half cups cauliflower florets
2 medium potatoes
1/2 cup of leeks (cleaned)
3 large carrots or 4-5 small
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
6 cups of chicken broth
1/2 cup of milk
1-1 1/2 cups of cooked chicken in chunks
salt and pepper to taste


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut cauliflower, potatoes, leeks, and carrots into pieces of the same sizes. Place on sheet pan. Toss veggies with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in oven for 30 minutes, mixing the veggies at least once during roasting time.
In large pot bring to simmer chicken broth/stock. Add veggies to the broth once roasting is complete. In either blender or food processor begin to add veggies and broth with ladle. Only fill the container 1/4 of the way so there are no spills or explosions due to heat expansion. Process until smooth or almost smooth depending on how chunky you like it. Ladle into a separate pot. Continue until all broth and veggies have been blended. Turn low heat under blended soup. Add milk, stir till blended, then add chicken chunks, heat through, salt and pepper to taste.