Hi everyone:

It is snowing yet again in New England and I made the perfect dinner to go with the snow: Crock Pot Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Bisque. I found this recipe online a couple of months ago and had been really excited to try it for weeks – but things have been so busy, that today was the first time I actually got to try out the new recipe.

Let me tell you – I love this recipe. After shoveling, reading back issues of Bon Appetit, and going to the gym, I finally got to the grocery store. I picked up the ingredients for salads, the bisque and a lasagna that I will be making for the work week.

I got home and prepped all of the ingredients that were going into the crockpot since things had to be in there for at least three hours.

I must say that I love the crock pot because I can put things in and then get a lot of other things done. After the three hours, I added the last three ingredients, cooked everything for a few more minutes and then put everything into the Vitamix. The final result was so, so good. I chopped up a scallion and added some grated cheddar cheese.

Here is the recipe from my Paprika App.

Ingredients:

1 lb frozen cauliflower

1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed

14 ounces vegetable broth

1 onion diced

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1/2 t dried thyme

pinch of red pepper flakes

1 C low fat evaporated milk

1 T butter

2 oz cream cheese

salt and pepper to taste

green onions and cheddar cheese for garnish

Instructions:

Combine the cauliflower, sweet potato, broth, onion, garlic, thyme and red pepper in the crock pot and set to high for 3 – 4 hours.

Add the milk, butter, cream cheese and salt / pepper. Use an immersion blender (or transfer to food processor or Vitamix) and blend until desired texture (or smooth).

Garnish with cheddar cheese, green onions and more freshly ground pepper.

Earlier in the week I took a recipe from one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen, a recipe for salted caramel brownies. Oh my goodness – this recipe was amazing!! I have never made my own caramel before – but I did on Wednesday night. It was amazingly simple, actually…

I followed all of the instructions. I used a double boiler and melted the unsweetened chocolate and butter together:

I mixed everything together and then started putting together the brownies:

The brownies looked good before I put them into the oven:

After the brownies came out of the oven I let them cool – because of the caramel it was really important that they had enough time to set. After about an hour, I cut the brownies into little hearts. It was Valentine’s day, after all:

The brownies were a huge hit with my family and my work friends. I can’t say enough about Smitten Kitchen’s recipe – this has already been requested again by many people. I am going to have another heart tonight, that is for sure.