Jessica Merchant's Blog, page 42

Cheddar Sourdough Slab Biscuits.

We love these sourdough slab biscuits! Fluffy, tender and tangy made with sourdough discard and sharp cheddar cheese. These are great for a holiday meal or even for a weeknight dinner. Delish!

I’ve got your bread for Thanksgiving!! 

These sourdough slab biscuits just might be my new favorite thing. They are tender and fluffy and have a perfect crumb, all with that tangy, classic sourdough flavor!

I mean, just look at these little biscuit clouds.

I use sourdough discard for this recipe, so it does require that you have an active sourdough starter on hand.  

I’ve had my sourdough starter going for over a year now and I can’t believe it. I mostly have to thank this sourhouse home that I purchased last year because it has made a huge difference. I’m a freak who likes to keep our house COLD and it was never warm enough to maintain a good starter. This has removed that problem and it’s totally worth it. 

Not to mention, it’s a cute little sourdough house. I love it! 

By no means am I even close to a sourdough expert. I don’t feel comfortable creating my own recipes for bread or anything yet, but I do make a ton of recipes with sourdough discard! In fact, I maintain a slightly larger starter just so we can have discard every week because I use it so often. Pancakes, waffles, pizza dough, even cookies – I love using it! 

I started my starter (ha!) with ½ cup flour and ½ cup water. I only use KAF organic bread flour. For about 2 weeks, every 24 hours I would discard half of the starter and add ½ cup flour and ½ cup water, then cover and repeat a day later. 

These days, I feed my starter morning and night (it is so active and bubbly!) – using 90 grams water, 30 grams starter and 90 grams flour. A kitchen scale is an absolute MUST for a good starter. I starter measuring in grams two weeks after I began, when my starter was beginning to bubble. 

P.S. you can also buy a good sourdough starter!!! I know a ton of people who have done this. But I still suggest getting a sourdough home and a kitchen scale to maintain it. (more…)

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Tuesday Things.

1. I’m in full blown christmas movie mode. And music mode! Pentatonix on repeat.

2. Theme every work day for productivity. I’ve worked on a block schedule for over a decade and it works great.

3. It’s also N*SYNC christmas season and I just have to say that a few weeks ago Max asked me if I knew who they were. HA!

4. Knowing when enough is enough.

5. TV things! Yellowstone premier… ugh! I knew it wouldn’t be great but still.

6. Also, the Target christmas commercial titled “happier holidays” – it’s magical.

7. 9 things we learned from the Martha documentary!

8. Thanksgiving table question: do one giant table to seat 20+? Or do two to three round tables? I love round table conversation, but not table decor.

9. I just about lost it when I saw that lenox re-released the spice village! Ahhhhh. Cutest ever.

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Spicy Honeynut Squash Soup with Buttered Popcorn.

My honeynut squash soup is sweet and spicy, starting off with chipotle caramelized bacon and ending with buttered popcorn! It’s savory, rich, and satisfying all with a crunchy topping. Super fun to serve as shooters too!

Honeynut is here!

This honeynut squash soup is creamy and silky, starting with chipotle candied bacon and ending with buttered popcorn. It’s super smooth and satisfying and all the crunchy toppings just make it fabulous. 

I adore all squash but honeynut is definitely up at the top of the list. It’s like a mini butternut squash, but it’s sweeter. It’s almost savorier too, if that can even be a word. It’s like all the flavor of a butternut squash but compacted into a smaller package. Condensed and even richer, if that’s even possible.

We usually roast honeynut squash just like we do butternut to enjoy it. I figured why not turn it into a silky, dreamy soup too?

If you’ve been following me for a million years, you might remember that in my very FIRST book – Seriously Delish – I have a squash soup recipe with buttered popcorn. It makes me embarrassingly happy because it’s super flavorful with a crunchy topping. And that is just what I love!

This also has one of my classic, signature spicy flavor bombs: crispy chipotle candied bacon. 

!!!!!

I love it so much and it adds a ridiculously rich, spicy and decadent flavor to whatever recipe it visits. 

The soup starts with diced bacon that is cooked until crispy. Next, I stir in some honey to help candy it along with chipotle chili powder for some heat. And it’s DELISH. Smells like heaven!

I remove the bacon and throw it on a dish, then use the same pot to cook up the onions, garlic and squash. My goal is to get some color on the onions and squash too. I want them a little caramelly. I also want them to have a slightly spicy flavor. This is the place where you can add more chipotle chili powder if you want it spicier. 

Next, I add stock and simmer until the squash is tender. Then I blend it up!

Finally, I pour it back into the pot. Add a touch of cream for richness. Taste and season more as needed. Heat through and serve. 

The toppings are the BEST. A big bowl topped with the crunchy chipotle bacon, buttered popcorn and green onions… oh my word. So, so, so good. 

I originally served this recipe as little soup shooters years ago. That’s fun and cute! But a big bowl of it is usually how we do things now. Hello 2024.  (more…)

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A Week In The Life, Vol 46.

We had another full week!

How the heck is time flying by so fast?!

Fall and winter skies are the best.

Monday kicked off with this girl’s actual birthday! Sweetest soul alive!

School drop off. Look at those cheeks!

Waited in line for an hour.

My lemon butter chicken.

Did a giant batch of chocolate chip cookies for Max’s hockey tournament.

Haircut cutie.

Thursday and Friday were mine and my dad’s birthdays but I have no photo evidence! Except Emilia’s lipgloss.

Her makeup in her mini caboodle is tooooo cute.

Super quickly threw together this one pot chicken and orzo.

The kids were off school Friday… one of her gifts was going to the climbing gym!

She loves it.

I can’t handle her cuteness.

Epic trader joe’s run with this one.

Where he promptly stuck the stickers all over him.

Max had a hockey tournament in Buffalo!

Love this shot.

Cutie.

We had a little cousin day out.

Snowman cake pops for the win.

Visited the toy store too.

Emilia got so much hair chalk for her birthday – we tried to do a unicorn braid!

Bowling & arcade fun for Cooper & Sebastian’s birthdays!!

They love it.

Meanwhile Max & Eddie took a little detour to Niagara Falls.

Obsessed with him.

The best birthday cake.

As you can tell, this week is loaded with birthdays in our family!

Blueberry pancakes are the fave around here.

Perfection.

Meanwhile, the boys finished up today and got home tonight!

And I did lots of meal prep and made sourdough. Ready for the week!

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What To Eat This Week: 11/10/24.

Lots of cozy favorites are on the menu!

What’s on your menu this week?!

What To Eat This Week

Chickpea cauliflower curry

BBQ chicken over citrus slaw

Smoked sausage potato soup

Grilled garlic bread with italian chopped salad

Blackened fish sandwiches

Roasted red pepper soup with fontina grilled cheese

Greek orzo salad

Apple oatmeal breakfast cookies

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Currently Crushing On.

Hiiiiii.

This week on the blog we kicked off Thanksgiving with a chicken and stuffing bake! I also shared all my Thanksgiving kitchen essentials, brown butter mashed sweet potatoes, roasted brussels with hot bacon dressing and scalloped corn.

You can find all of my sephora sale favorites here.

Gift guides on the blog are live! So far, we have:

Hostess Gift Guide

Kitchen Gift Guide

Under $25 Gift Guide

Beauty Gift Guide

You can find all my favorites in my amazon store front and LTK shop! I have gift guides here and some more here too!

There’s a new menu for the week and a new peek inside our everyday life.

You can join The Everyday Dinners cookbook club right here! If you have a copy of the book, request to join the group. If not, get one here!  Ready to start on fall! It is such a wonderful community and an amazing place for recipe ideas.

xoxoxox

WHAT I’M LOVING THIS WEEK

Honeynut squash hummus. This sounds incredible.

Love a goat cheese cheesecake.

Chipotle citrus turkey looks wonderful.

The best everyday apple cake.

Sweet potato bread. Wow!

Craving cheddar chive biscuits.

Pumpkin whiskey sour is gorgeous.

Yes please! Pretzel toffee bark.

Pumpkin scones forever.

Whoa. Salted snickers cookies. I need.

Brisket mac and cheese. Omg.

Making this apple fritter focaccia!

Sweet potato layer cake is stunning.

This 3 bean soup is weekend ready.

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Scalloped Corn with Ritz Cracker Crunchies.

This scalloped corn is the perfect holiday side dish! Creamy, creamy and crunchy, it’s baked until warm and bubbly and cheesy, then topped with buttery ritz crackers. Tons of flavor and so easy to make!

This might be my new favorite side dish.

Scalloped corn is absolutely decadent and divine, made with lots of white cheddar and topped with buttery ritz cracker crunchies. It’s baked until bubbly and cheesy and warm. It complements any comfort food dish, any protein entree and is especially great for Thanksgiving!

I’m not quite sure if there are words to describe this dish. 

It is AMAZING. 

It’s easy to throw together. And it feeds a crowd.

It has that classic comforting, nostalgic feel (and taste!) to a casserole that we all love around the holiday season. 

A dish that reminds you of home – that’s what it is! 

Corn is notoriously hard to photograph, especially when it’s a corn casserole type… thing. It’s just so… yellow. It doesn’t look like much – it’s difficult to make it look incredibly appetizing. 

But the sweet, cheesy, crunchy crispness of this dish is beyond good. 

It has texture, so much buttery flavor and is so easy to make. 

Almost embarrassingly easy! 

This dish starts with frozen corn, which is already super simple and accessible. 

The corn is combined with milk, eggs, tons of cheddar and buttery crackers. 

Next, it’s poured into a dish and baked! Groundbreaking.  (more…)

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Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Hot Bacon Vinaigrette.

A favorite side dish, brussels sprouts with hot bacon dressing, is incredibly flavorful and simple to make. Roasted brussels with a delicious warm bacon vinaigrette is a dream. Top with roasted pepitas for even more crunch!

Bacon and brussels are just meant to be.

This brussels sprouts dish is cozy and crunchy and an ideal dinner complement.

Brussels sprouts are roasted until caramely and crunchy, then drizzled with a warm bacon vinaigrette and topped with crunchy roasted pepitas. It’s a perfect side dish to serve on Thanksgiving but also an incredible one that you can make for dinner tonight.

The best kind!

This hot bacon dressing is one of the first recipes I ever shared here on the blog. It’s a dressing that my grandma LOVED and that my mom still loves. It’s wonderful for very specific salads (spinach! caprese!) and it tastes fabulous. A little dijon, lots of spices, rich bacon… oh it is a dream! 

So when you drizzle it over something like brussels sprouts, there are fireworks. Flavor fireworks! 

This is how easy it comes together: 

I roast brussels with big chunks of red onion until both are toasty and golden.

While those roast, I whisk together the bacon vinaigrette. It’s simple! Cook some diced bacon, reserve the fat and make a vinaigrette right there in the warm pan. YUM. 

When the brussels are finished, drizzle the vinaigrette over the top. The dressing AND the bacon in the dressing.

Sprinkle on some roasted, salted pepitas and you’re good to go!

OH MY YUM.

This is so super crunchy. If you’re a texture person like me and you crave crunch, this will be right up your alley. 

It’s also incredibly savory and mouth-watering good.  (more…)

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Brown Butter Herb Mashed Sweet Potatoes.

These brown butter mashed sweet potatoes are super creamy and silky! Brown butter is swirling into the potatoes along with lots of fresh herbs. They are the perfect complement to your Thanksgiving table!

Side dish season!! 

There is nothing better than a delicious side on Thanksgiving… especially when it’s filled with brown butter! These silky mashed sweet potatoes are filled with caramely golden butter and fresh herbs like thyme, rosemary and sage.

This dish will complement just about anything you make in these chillier months. 

It’s basic but it’s perfect. The sweet potatoes don’t need much else aside from salt, brown butter and herbs anyway. You can also always add a touch of garlic if you wish!

Mashed potatoes are definitely one of my love languages. And Eddie adores mashed sweet potatoes! Occasionally I make them during the year and they feel like such a treat. 

Since I have a ton of incredible mashed potato recipes, like my house mashed potatoes and this mashed potato bake, I figured it was time to bring out the sweet potatoes this year! 

Simple. Easy. Classic. Neutral!

All the things required to make an appearance on the best Thanksgiving plate. 

These potatoes are super creamy and silky and the secret is using a ricer! This is my favorite one. It works especially well on sweet potatoes because they can be more stringy than white or yellow or red potatoes.

So, the ricer is perfect because it makes very very creamy and smooth potatoes!

Look at that whip! (more…)

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Tuesday Things.

1. Hello, it is eggnog latte season!

2. This vertical pumpkin roll cake is incredible.

3. Anyone else ridiculously excited to take a cart and walk through target this week to look at the christmas things?!

4. I am living for all of the Wicked collabs that are coming out. There are so many! We can’t even wait to see the movie.

5. What’s something popular that you just don’t get?! The comment section is GOLD.

6. Along with the book tree I shared last week… I also want to try and cover my book shelves in christmas lights. I am an elf this year.

7. My 2024 gift guides are live with more coming this week! I love writing about what I love.

8. TV things!! The Martha doc. OMG. Everything I want and more.

9. Food and cooking superstitions. How fun.

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