A Wintry Mix of Soup

The weathermen in DC couldn't seem to agree on how much snow we'd get yesterday. Last I heard Friday night, we weren't supposed to get more than an inch or so. We were pleasantly surprised to see giant flakes quickly accumulating upon waking up Saturday morning. It was the perfect day to sit back with a hot beverage and watch the beautiful scene outside. The birds were going crazy on our feeder and the boys (Jack and Milo, our cats) couldn't get enough; they were whining at the back door most of the afternoon.

Gorgeous cardinal in our backyard

Mr. Cardinal is nice enough to share the feeder with the masses

Jack and Milo, tuckered out from all that bird-watching

When I see snow falling, the first thing I usually want is a big hearty bowl of soup. What better day to use my homemade chicken stock?? This wasn't so much a recipe as it was a clean-out-the-fridge venture, but I'll try to recreate it best I can below. You can really use whatever veggies you have in the fridge and add as little or as much of each based on your preference.

Read more »

Orange You Glad...

Last Sunday, we were feeling pretty rough from the night before (what else is new), so rather than go out to watch football at a bar we decided to stay in our pajamas all day and watch TV at home. This gave us the chance to finally use the roasting pan we got for our wedding in August and an excuse to infuse the home with the delicious smell of roasting chicken. Double bonus, I made a great chicken stock from the carcass!

I found this recipe last year when researching fancy Valentine's Day meals. We went with surf n turf instead, but I've been drooling over the recipe ever since. I thought it would be the perfect way to celebrate a Jets win (ah, crap). It was very tasty though and provided us with a good amount of leftovers.

Read more »

Heavenly Cheese of Goats

I love all things goat cheese, so when I saw a recipe that combined gnocchi (awesome) and goat cheese (awesomer), I had to have it. The original recipe calls to serve the goat cheese gnocchi in a browned butter sauce, but considering the fact that the main element of the dish is cheese I wasn't too keen on making it even fattier with butter. Instead, I tossed it with sun-dried tomatoes and a little olive oil. It came out amazing! Don was admittedly anxious about the gnocchi, but ended up loving it. We housed the entire thing in one sitting. For the recipe (adapted from The Kitchn), see below.

Read more »

Welcome to Crash!

I've been wanting to create a blog for a while, so I made it my new years resolution in order to really motivate myself. Less than one month later, success! This is only the 2nd resolution I've ever kept, the first one being to take the stairs at work everyday - okay, most days (2 years and counting!).

On Crash, I plan to post awesome recipes (IMHO), as well as restaurant reviews and other fun stuff about the Wheaton, MD area.

Hope you enjoy!