The Wonton Soup to satisfy your cravings

I’ve had a hard time finding good takeout wonton soup near me, so, since it’s one of my favorite comfort foods, I’ve perfected the art of making it for myself.

If you think wonton soup is a combination of mushy wontons and flavorless broth, this soup will change your mind.

This post will walk you through how to make the shrimp filling and a super flavorful broth. It will also show you, step-by-step, how easy folding soup wontons actually is.

In no time, you’ll have a wonton assembly line happening in your kitchen, and a fresh and wholesome soup to eat!

“So yummy! Love the broth. I used whole shrimp and wouldn’t change a thing! Definitely a keeper. Thank you!”

—Jennifer

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Get festive with these New Year’s Eve Food ideas

Recently, I was talking with a neighbor about a dilemma she was having for New Year’s Eve: her and her friends need some sort of dinner, but nobody wants to cook and their group is too big for a restaurant reservation.

I’m guessing this could be quite a common issue, so I figured I would put together a board of New Year’s Eve appetizers that eats more like a light dinner, with cheese AND charcuterie AND seafood AND sweet treats AND even a simple homemade appetizer, if you want. 

While this board of New Year’s Eve finger food looks pretty epic, it actually consists of one item I made, a few things I heated up in the oven, and 98% stuff I bought at the store.

This post will give you a ton of ideas to put together the New Year’s appetizers spread of your dreams. The board pictured here is for a big crowd, but if your gathering is a little smaller, just cut it down to a few of your favorite things.

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My family is still doing mostly carryout for restaurant meals these days. We eat on outdoor restaurant patios when the weather is warmer, but since we live in the Midwest, it’s takeout throughout the winter.

And I can’t say that I’m not sick of it. I am!

While some food is fine for carryout, like maybe lasagna cottage cheese or beef stroganoff from our favorite local hole in the wall, other food just does NOT carry out well. Particularly anything where the crispiness is really at it’s peak straight out of the fryer, like fried chicken.

And don’t even get me started on carryout brunch of any kind. I’ll stay home and make my own vegetable quiche, bacon in the oven and bloody mary with an epic garnish for a bloody mary, thanks.

But probably my least favorite dish to attempt to do carryout for is nachos. Nobody wants soggy chips, and they certainly don’t survive the trip home.

So, I’ve been making nachos of all kinds at home, where we can enjoy them fresh out of the oven, immediately.

We’ll do the classic ground beef/cheese/lettuce/tomato/tortilla chips variety quite often, or sometimes make them topped with my fajita vegetables recipe, but once in awhile we change it up and get creative.

These Wonton Nachos are inspired by the flavors of a pork banh mi sandwich, but turned into a crispy, crunchy plate of finger food.

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The Sunday brunch game is strong in my hometown of Ferndale, Michigan. Every restaurant in town serves brunch until at least 2pm, so if you’re out looking for *lunch*, well, sorry. You’re getting brunch.

Bottomless mimosas and make-your-own bloody mary bars take over the city. Heck, there’s even brunch beer menus.

There’s brioche french toast at every corner. And every establishment is looking to outdo the others with their brunch menu creativity.

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A big part of my job seems to involve memorizing the product offerings, prices and stock delivery schedule of every grocery store within a 15-mile radius of my house.

If you ask me where to get the freshest shrimp for shrimp ceviche, I can tell you where, what it will cost, and on what day of the week you should buy it. Plump blackberries for tequila mojitos? I can give you directions to the best farmer’s market.

Crab for salmon stuffed with crab or seafood pasta salad? I know where it’s best.  Mangos? I know just where to send you for the prettiest, ripest ones.

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It’s time to come clean about something. I don’t actually make new recipes with the leftovers from my real Thanksgiving dinner. I mean, *maybe* a simple turkey sandwich with leftover Cajun turkey a few days later.

But most of the time, I just pile all the leftovers (albeit smaller portions) onto a plate, microwave until hot, then eat Thanksgiving Dinners, Part 2 and 3, on Friday and Saturday.

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You know how sometimes baby carrots will have a little crack on their underside? I assume this is due to the process of turning carrots into . . . baby carrots. No big deal, right? Well, a few weeks ago at a party, I saw a guy pick up a baby carrot, notice the crack, and then put it back on the veggie tray. Dude, no. Once you’ve touched the carrot, you’ve committed to that carrot. There’s no put-backsies.

This little incident got me thinking of ways to turn the communal veggie tray into a more personal-sized serving. I’ve done veggies and dip in little plastic cups before, which works well, but it’s kind of a pain to rinse out all the cups in order to recycle them (we’re big recyclers around here). I’m a big fan of wonton cups, because they’re edible, and take just 8 minutes to bake to a crisp golden brown.

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You know those HUGE restaurant taco salads served in those gigantic fried tortilla bowls? I’m pretty sure that was my favorite food as a child, and I would order it at any restaurant that served it. Looking back on it now, it’s actually a little frightening, because those things probably contained enough calories to fuel my little body for days.

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I’m generally pretty easygoing at restaurants. People naturally assume that I’m sort of a food snob, but the truth is, I’ll eat just about anything, and do so with minimal complaint.

If I order something that I don’t end up liking, I usually just blame myself for ordering the wrong thing and leave it at that.

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Welcome to Foxes Love Lemons Sangria Party Week 2014! I had such a great time throwing a backyard sangria party last year that I decided to do it again! Stay tuned all week for details about party planning, sangria recipes, appetizers, dinner and desserts!

After everybody arrives and gets an ice cold glass of sangria in their hands, I want their attention to turn to all of the appetizers and snacks I have waiting for them. I kept it pretty simple this year with four appetizers that could be mostly prepared in advance, plus a big bowl of popcorn.

This seemed to give everybody enough energy to play a few rounds of badminton before I put out dinner later in the evening. Here’s what I served this year:

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