Tag Archives: ribbon

Roasted Broccoli Cheddar Soup w/ Ham n’ Cheese Beer Bread Sandwiches 🧀🥦🥣🍺🥓🍞

Posted on by Standard Reply

It’s cheeseception. I wanted to try that cheesy beer bread in some grilled ham & cheese sandwiches… and I needed some soup for the side, right? Why not up the cheese level with my old broccoli cheese soup or my potato soup? I thought the fiber from the broccoli may be beneficial. 😆

I altered the recipe a bit.

Golden roasted broccoli cheddar soup with pops of green and orange (from carrots) in a small white bowl with a spoon sitting beside a panini-grilled ham & cheese sandwich with cross-hatch lines on a white plate. It's all on a wooden counter top, beside a wooden cutting board,
Roasted Broccoli Cheddar Soup and a Cheesy Beer Bread Grilled Ham & Cheese Sandwich

I probably should have stuck with a traditional tomato soup to combat the absolute decadent richness, but this soup was pretty damn good. I want to try to make a roasted butternut squash soup eventually too… but not sure that would pair well with this sandwich?

I did spice-up my original broccoli cheese soup recipe. This could be a full meal, or a side to a nice turkey or roast beef sandwich. Recipe down below. That’s what I did this time. I’ll probably make it slightly different next time. Everyone does that, right?

As far as the sandwich, I just cooked some lunchmeat ham for a few seconds on the panini grill, sliced up the cheesy bear bread, buttered the outsides with softened butter, and stacked it with some individually wrapped cheese slices… cooked on high on the countertop grill to sear & melt it all at once. I should have gotten a side view, but I was hungry.

🥦🧀🥣 Roasted Broccoli Cheddar Soup | The Recipe

This is like my last recipe, but slightly altered.

Ingredients:

  • 2 sticks of butter
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or whatever kind you like)
  • 1 cup of flour
  • ½ cup of shredded carrots
  • ¼ cup of diced celery
  • ½ Spanish onion
  • 1 Tbsp. minced garlic
  • ½ tsp. ground mustard
  • ½ tsp. paprika
  • ½ tsp. onion powder
  • ½ tsp. garlic powder
  • ½ tsp. salt-free table blend seasoning
  • ¼ tsp. white pepper
  • Salt, black pepper, & dried parsley to taste
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 32 oz. box of chicken stock
  • 32 oz. box of vegetable broth
  • 12 oz. bottle or can of beer (I used Yuengling Traditional Lager.)
  • 2 tsp. Ham Broth Base (I used Orrinton Farms)
  • 3 bundles of fresh broccoli (chopped up into spoon-sized pieces)
  • ¼ cup of bacon pieces
  • 10 oz. block of extra sharp cheddar cheese (grated)
  • 10 oz. block of white cheddar cheese (grated)
  • ½ cup of parmesan cheese
  • 16 oz. block of Velveeta (cut onto small chunks)
  • 2 cup bag of shredded “mac & cheese blend” cheese

Method:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 425°, & do all your chopping/shredding/measuring.
  2. Toss about ⅔ of the broccoli, & a bit of carrots & bacon pieces in a bowl with salt, pepper, & oil to coat. Roast on a sheet pan for about 20 minutes.
  3. While that is going, melt butter on medium heat in the bottom of your stock pot, add celery, carrots, onions, garlic, & sauté for a bit.
  4. Mix all the spices with the flour, add to pot to make a roux and let it get a nice color brown.
  5. Add the beer slowly to the roux, then the boxes of stock, then the buttermilk.
  6. Add remaining ⅓ of broccoli & bacon pieces, bring to a boil, simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes.
  7. The roasted broccoli should be done, hold it until you have 5 min. left of simmering.
  8. Turn heat to low, stir in all that cheese. (I mixed it all into a bowl 1st)

Notes:

  • This was a different soup when roasting vs the last time. I could honestly go for either again.
  • I used whatever seasonings at every step as they struck me in addition to the measured amounts.
  • I did pop in a squirt of yellow mustard, too. Mustard is botanically related to broccoli, & acts as an emulsifier.
  • Fresh real bacon would be incredible here, maybe more of it… or even bits of cubed ham.
  • You could skip the beer & do 1½ cups of water with the ham bullion or Better Than Bouillon. I like to use Straub Amber to cook too.
  • I wonder if a red bell pepper would be good in this too?
  • This makes a large pot, so hope you like leftovers.
  • My apologies to vegans, the lactose-intolerant, and the dairy-allergic.

🥦🧀🥣

OK, so how would you make your broccoli cheddar soup? Can I call this broccoli cheddar when it also includes other kinds of cheese? What are your thoughts on the roasting? Would you try this? Do you have a broccoli cheese soup go-to recipe? How about any tips & tricks?

Beer Cheese Bread & Beer Cheese Dip! 🍻🧀🍞

Posted on by Standard 4

Apparently beer & cheese have been on my mind lately. I saw a post by @swampmuse on threads of some cheesy beer bread and it looked awesome. She was cool enough to share her recipe. That got me thinking about beer cheese dip because of the shared ingredients. I was in a cooking mood last night. I’ll definitely be making the bread again, and the cheese dip would be great for pretzels… so maybe new years or a cold October night?

They were good together. I wonder if beer cheese bread in beer cheese dip is meta, or merely going hard?

Cheesy Beer Bread & Beer Cheese Dip on a white plate.

I hardly drink any more, and the big bird was out of Yuengling bottle six packs & only had Straub Amber can 15 packs… so, I ended up with 2 big-ass 24 oz. cans of Yuengling Traditional Lager.

Cheesy Beer Bread (recipe by @swampmuse) 🧀🍺🍞

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups of flour
  • 1 cup of shredded cheese
  • 2 Tablespoons of sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon of baking powder
  • Pinch of salt
  • Parsley to desired taste
  • 1 can of beer (12 oz. or 1½ cups)
  • 3 tablespoons of melted butter
  • 3 tablespoons of melted butter for the top later.

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Mix all ingredients gently.
  3. Bake for 45-50 minutes.
  4. Brush additional melted butter on top @ 35 minutes.

Notes: I’m a dumbass, I left all the butter for the end when I should have mixed it in. Next time! I may have went heavy on my pinch of salt, too. I did brush all the butter on at 35 minutes, & it went for another 15 minutes, & was perfect. I think I will also sprinkle some additional shredded cheese on the top at the 35 min. mark… because, I mean… why not?

This would be great with a hearty soup. Broccoli Cheese Soup, Potato Soup, Chili, or Nine Can Vegetable Soup perhaps? Or a nice meatloaf. (Or a crazy meatloaf.)

My 10 year old said he “thought it was going to be gross because it looked all bumpy” but was an immediate fan upon tasting.

Cheesy Bear Bread - in a glass loaf pan on a stove top that needs cleaned.
Cheesy Bear Bread - a slice on a plate

Thank you so much to @swampmuse for the original post, the inspiration, and the recipe!

Beer Cheese Dip 🍺🧀

I had this on my mind, looked at a bunch or recipes online, and just winged it.

Ingredients:

  • 1 16 oz. block of Velveeta
  • 1 8 oz. block of cream cheese
  • 1 cup beer
  • 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
  • 1 cup shredded Gouda
  • ground mustard to taste
  • white pepper to taste
  • yellow mustard to taste

Instructions:

  1. Cube up the Velveeta & cream cheese, put it in a crock pot on high.
  2. Toss on the mustard powder & white pepper to taste, add a dollop of yellow mustard.
  3. Stir it every 10 min. or so until it’s melty.
  4. Add in the beer, stir.
  5. Add in the shredded cheese, stir.
  6. Stir.
  7. Be incredibly patient.
  8. Stir.

Notes: It takes longer than you think & looks weird until it hits that “just right” point. This is probably a different time estimate for every appliance. You could obviously do this in a sauce pan or double boiler if that’s what you’ve got. The mustard is an emulsifier and helps with smoothness. I picked white pepper over garlic or hot sauce as other recipes noted. I also skipped Worcestershire sauce as some recommended as it can contain anchovies, and weirdly anchovies can trigger shellfish allergies. Dropping some jalapeño or poblano from the garden into this also would have been pretty killer.

If I ever make pretzel bites again, this is a must.

Beer Cheese Dip - gooey melty goodness too close for comfort.
BEER & the Star Wars Mini Crock Pot

Overall, these recipes are just a guide, and you can go all anarchy on them. What kind of beer do you like to cook with? What kind of cheese or spices would you add or swap out for? And, what would you dip in it? Would you did the cheesy beer bread in the beer cheese dip? Got any recommendations on either recipe?

🍻🧀🍺🍞🍻

While you’re making or eating these, consider rocking out to these playlists…

I was jamming out to this one.

The Stickermobile…

Posted on by Standard 3

I saw this the other day at the Giant Eagle in Bridgeville.  It blew my mind.  All of the stickers/magnets were on the driver’s side of the vehicle… there were none on the back or the other side.  I had to take some photos.

The Stickermobile!

Is this what happened when Pimp My Ride went off of the air?

I tried to get a few angles…

Insanity.  You get all that? Let’s analyze some of these stickers and magnets, ignoring the fact that they’re all on one side of the vehicle.  Here we go…

The Stickermobile roundup...

What exactly is going on here?

I’ll try to tackle these dozen highlights one at a time:

  1. Support BP Music, NC State, and they love their dog.  Call me sexist, but I’m assuming this is a woman’s car.  She loves her dog.  BP is Bethel Park, right?  A lot of colleges are represented on this car.
  2. Here we have some refrigerator magnet letters, a penguins sticker, and something unidentifiable.  We can only guess as to what GH, VA, & UP mean.  Go Home?  Virginia?  UP what?  Why are the letters faded to clear?  Did they start out clear, or did UV rays suck out all the pigment?
  3. Here we have two giant Penguin bottle-cap refrigerator magnets, which can only mean twice the support for your hockey team and twice the alcohol problem.
  4. She really loves her dog.  She doesn’t love her van.  Magnets get tiny rocks stuck behind them, and they scratch the paint on your car.  Paint also discolors behind them.
  5. Here we have the troop support ribbon, a probably non licensed Steelers football, and a pink Baby on Board sign.  I say if you have a troop support ribbon on your car with any other ribbons… it negates the gravity of your sentiment.  There’s another ribbon somewhere among all this chaos.  By buying generic “go black and gold” sticker, you are stealing money from the poor underprivileged team that you support.  If your car looks like with all the stickers, I hope you didn’t tattoo one side of the baby you supposedly have on board.

  6. It wouldn't shock me if this dog was in that van.

    It wouldn’t shock me if this dog was in that van.

    West Virginia and Penn State on the same vehicle?  Pitt is in there too.  You are a rather conflicted individual… assuring you’re going to get keyed no matter what school you visit.  I bet college kids love getting picked up in this van.  Also, you love your Pomeranian a little too much.  You’re not into bestiality, are you?  I sure hope you didn’t dye it purple.  Wait.  Is Baby the dog?

  7. Here’s that devotion to Pitt, a faded Pens sticker, a blue Steelers football, a Penn State paw, and a secret coded message with the ‘fridge magnets.  JFLE S ON.  What is Jfle on?  Crack?
  8. Only the best fans have super faded stickers.  Was this a Steelers one, or one for one of the colleges… or high school?
  9. XK? XK.
  10. A Steelers cap, but there’s only one.  Not as devoted as the Pens?  You only drink half as much during football?  There’s something unidentifiable, an M (I think), and something saying something about how you roll.  I think we know how you roll.
  11. Is this a Nascar sticker, or a Sunoco one?
  12. Protesting construction in Pittsburgh?  That’s actually funny.  Perhaps the construction workers would be amused by it when you pass… if they could pick it out of the madness.  This ribbon apparently supports ninjas.

So, what’s your take?  What is this all about?  Is it a statement?  Is it kitsch?  Is it art?  Is it madness?  Is it super fandom?  Is it hoarding?  Is is someone who is banned from putting magnets on the refrigerator at home or a girl that was ever allowed to hang teen heart-throb photos on the wall while growing up?  Is it covering bird poop?  Is it a message for the aliens when they finally arrive?  Hoarders: Sticker And Magnets Edition?  Where is your OBX-like “PGH”, “N@”, “N’at” or “Yinz” sticker?

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Chili Cook-Off Fliers

Posted on by Standard Reply

If you know me, you know I dig making fliers. I used to make them for my old bands all the time, now I have no band, and no need of fliers… so the annual chili cook-off at my place has become my fun with fliers time. As you can see, I was a little rusty on one… not quite sure where to go. On the other… well, I think it all just fell together nicely.

Should I use both? Get rid of the corny one?

If you’re interested in the chili cook-off itself, stay tuned!