I love to cook and on the weekends when we're not in a hurry in the morning, I love to make a big breakfast.

Saturday morning we had waffles, fried eggs (with cheese :)), tater tots and strawberries.

And I enjoyed some hot tea with my breakfast. We aren't coffee-drinkers, but hot tea I love!

I found my waffle recipe on Pinterest and we really enjoy it. I'll have to share that one day.

This was our Sunday breakfast.

For lunch on Saturday we had leftovers which was good to clean out the fridge!

Then for dinner on Saturday I made tilapia, brussel sprouts and steamed potatoes. My handsome model is going to show you my secret of how I get the tilapia so crispy.

I put aluminum foil under to catch the mess and then I put this little rack in the pan so that the fish sits up a bit and can get really crispy underneath. We've done it without the rack, but the bottom gets mushy.

For the brussel sprouts, we cut them in half and roast them in the oven with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and parmesan cheese. They get nice and crispy! Yummy!

Then for dessert we had apple crisp with vanilla bean ice cream. Yum.

On Sunday I made Cheesy Vegetable Chowder for lunch and we ate it with soup crackers.

If you're interested in making the soup, I found the recipe on Pinterest and it's from Cooking Classy. I altered it a bit, so here's what I did:

Ingredients:

5 1/2 Tbsp butter, divided
4 chopped carrots
1 white onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups vegetable broth
4 cups peeled and cubed russet potatoes, cut 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch thick
3 cups chopped broccoli florets (from about 2 heads)
1/4 tsp dried thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 Tbsp all-purpose flour
3 cups milk - I used 2%
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/3 cup finely shredded parmesan cheese

Directions:

In a large pot (I used my dutch oven) over medium heat, melt 1 1/2 Tbsp of the butter. Add carrots and onion and saute 3 - 4 minutes. Add garlic and saute 30 seconds longer. Stir in vegetable broth, potatoes and thyme and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium, cover with lid and cook 15 minutes. Add broccoli and cook 5 more minutes.

Melt remaining 4 Tbsp butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour and cook, whisking constantly 1 minute. While whisking vigorously, slowly pour in milk (whisk well until no lumps remain). Cook stirring constantly until mixture begins to gently boil and thicken, stir in heavy cream. Remove from heat and once all veggies are tender pour into the soup and stir. Remove from heat and stir in cheddar and parmesan cheese until melted.

This makes a lot of soup and since it was just the 2 of us we had lots of leftovers! It has a great flavor and is good for cold weather. :)

Weekend Food