Yellow Yaks: Oat-Fudge Bars

"how do i know a woman wants me to talk to her in the grocery store" are you an elderly woman with valuable information about cooking, cleaning, or saving money? if you answered no, then women do not want to talk to you in the grocery store.

Potato Leek Soup (w/ Smoked Turkey)

Served year round, this dense and nutritious vegetable blend is perfect for warming the limbs and souls of dwarves subjugated to the unrelenting cold of damp subterranean life. - Heroes’ Feast, p.97

There’s something very comforting about a rich, creamy soup on an overcast day. Whether rain or snow, its warmth gives you a sense of homely comfort and raises your spirits.

I’d never tried potato and leek soup before attempting this recipe and was skeptical at first; how good could some leeks and potatoes be? However, I was blown away by taste! Delicious and filling, this Potato Leek Soup is sure to satisfy your hunger while giving you those reading-a-good-book-on-a-rainy-day vibes. Make sure to dip a thick slice of sourdough bread from your nearest bakery in it for an even more knock-your-socks-off taste!

As an added bonus, this soup is easily made vegetarian! See the results sections to find out how.

See below for my notes on the results and for some helpful tips and tricks when making this yourself! Get Heroes’ Feast here: https://dnd.wizards.com/heroes-feast

Prep Time: ~30 mins            Cook Time: ~1h 30 mins            Overall: ~2 hrs

For the ingredients:

2 slices thick-cut bacon*

3 leeks, white and green parts, thinly sliced

3 celery stalks, chopped

2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves

2 lb. russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 cup heavy cream**

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

* I substituted the bacon for smoked turkey.

** I substituted the 35% heavy cream for 18% table cream.

I use the following conversions in my cooking:

1 lb. russet potatoes = 500 g

4 cups chicken broth = 900 ml chicken broth + 50 ml water

1 cup heavy cream = 240 ml

NOTE: Be careful if using dried thyme instead of fresh thyme since dried spices have a much more concentrated flavour. Use one-third of the amount of fresh thyme called for in the recipe if substituting for dried.

TIP: 4 cups of chicken broth is ~950 ml (~33 fl oz.) and a carton of chicken broth contains ~900 ml (~30 fl oz.). Don’t bother buying another carton of chicken broth for the extra 50 ml (~2 fl oz.)! Use up one carton and make up the difference with water.

I didn’t use bacon for this recipe, but still wanted to infuse the broth with the flavour. Luckily, smoked turkey has an extremely similar taste and texture to ham! Just be sure to use extra smoked turkey because it doesn’t release as much fat - which is needed for the flavour.

Above is what the smoked turkey looked like after cooking for 15 minutes (flipping halfway through). It won’t get as crispy as the bacon, but it will still have all of those awesome flavours.

NOTE: Like turkey bacon, smoked turkey doesn’t have enough fat to fry itself. Make sure to add a little bit of neutral-tasting oil to the saucepan, like vegetable, canola, safflower or grapeseed oil, to fry it.

The fried smoked turkey will not crumble like the bacon would. To sprinkle it onto the soup, I diced it into small cubes.

Above is what the vegetables looked like before and after they softened. This will take ~5 mins and they will take up around half of their original volume in the saucepan.

Above is what the soup looked like after cooking. Letting the potatoes simmer on low heat to soften will take forever. Instead, bring the soup to a boil on high heat then turn it back down to medium to simmer. 

It will take about 10 minutes to bring the soup to a boil and it will need to cook on medium for 30 minutes in order for the potatoes to soften enough to blend.

Above is what the soup looked like after blending. I used a magic bullet since I don’t have a proper blender. It took 7 batches filled slightly less than halfway to get through all of it.

Be careful when using a magic bullet to blend the soup - it will be extremely hot! Use a kitchen towel to hold the magic bullet when opening it to avoid burning yourself.

Also, you will need to rinse off the blade attachment each time you blend a batch of soup. The extra soup will prevent a proper seal from forming.

Above is what the soup looked like after I added the cream. I found that 5 minutes was plenty of time for it to thicken.

Overall, I would give this recipe a 5/5 - my grandmother even asked me to teach her how to make it! It has easily put itself on the rotation of dinner meals.

Also, don’t get discouraged by the time it takes to make! Most of the cooking time is hands-off and the prep time can easily be halved if you have someone helping you.

VEGETARIAN: Forego the bacon and use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. The taste will be more vegetable-heavy but it doesn’t take away from the tastiness of the soup.

something that i will always remember of technoblade is how he was kind just for the sake of it.

i will remember him claiming the monopoly sound was too loud for him to hear wilbur when he spoke of techno staying up all night to comfort him when he was sick. i will remember him taking the time to add watermarks for his artists when they themselves forgot. i will remember niki and sophie saying how he always somehow made sure they never felt excluded or neglected and how he would hate it, it would embarrass him when they spoke of his kindness publicly. i will remember him personally dming ponk to thank them for sending a 45-minute video of someone feeding hotdogs to raccoons in chat and timestamping his favorite part. i will remember his love for the people who created for him, how he would keep his mentions on for everyone before his fanart tag was formed and would just scroll and scroll to make sure not to miss any art someone made for him. i will remember half his friends and peers having some kind of a story of him reaching out to them during tough days, reassuring them, believing in them, making them feel loved.

i will remember him in every act of kindness i receive and i will remember him during times in my life when i will need to remind myself to be kind despite it all.

if this happened to me I would simply be fine with it

Otik’s Skillet-Fried Spiced Potatoes

[...] the recipe featured below is widely thought to be the closest that one can come to the feeling of sitting atop the famed vallenwood tree tavern with one of his homebrewed dark ales in hand. - Heroes’ Feast, p. 20

Hashbrowns are one of my all-time favourite breakfast side dishes but usually have a large time component or an uninteresting flavour. After trying numerous recipes, I was beginning to wonder if I would ever find one that I would enjoy. Then came Otik's Skillet-Fried Spiced Potatoes! The first time making these for my house, we were all blown away by how great they were! 

Seasoned to perfection with a kick of spice, these skillet fried potatoes have become a staple at our Saturday morning breakfast table. They’re amazing whether eaten the day-of or heated up later. Try the ultimate breakfast trio and eat them with the Yawning Portal Buttermilk Biscuits (p. 31) and the Feywild Eggs (p. 58).

Want to eat them but aren’t a morning person? No problem! These fried potatoes also make an amazing base for a fun lunch or dinner meal. Just add some sausage and chopped green pepper and voilà!

See below for my notes on the results and for some helpful tips and tricks when making this yourself! Get Heroes’ Feast here: https://dnd.wizards.com/heroes-feast

Prep Time: ~15 mins        Cook Time: ~40 mins        Overall: ~55 mins

For the ingredients:

2 tablespoons neutral-tasting oil

1 large yellow onion

1 tsp. kosher salt ( ½ tsp. for onions, ½ for spicing)

1.5 lbs. Yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed or peeled, cut into ¾-inch pieces

1 tbsp. salted butter

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 tsp. sweet paprika

1 tsp. cayenne*

½ tsp. garlic powder

2 tbsp. minced fresh chives

*See ingredients notes

I use the following conversions in my cooking:

1 lb. potatoes = 500 g

½ tsp. garlic powder = 1.5 g

1 tsp. cayenne pepper = 1.8 g

1 tsp. sweet paprika = 2 g

½ tsp. kosher salt = 3 g

Although they may seem inconsequential, I would consider the chives a necessity with this recipe. The fried potatoes are amazing on their own but pairing them with the chives really makes them shine.

I have made these fried potatoes both with and without the onion due to differing tastes in my house. I would suggest using a little more garlic powder than what’s called for if leaving out the onion.

TIP: To save yourself time in the morning, cut up the onion and the potatoes the night before. Keep fresh by submerging the cubed potatoes in cold water and covering the onions in cling wrap and storing them in the fridge.

NOTE:  I would 100% recommend using a non-stick skillet for this recipe if you have access to one. I tried making these in a stainless steel pan with the recommended amount of oil: the skins stuck to the bottom instantly and the pan was a nightmare to clean.

NOTE: I would caution the amount of cayenne pepper called for in this recipe. Even for the spice junkies in my house, 1 tsp. was A LOT of cayenne pepper. I would recommend starting with a little bit less than ¼ tsp. (~0.4 g) and increase it from there each time you make them.

Above is what my onions looked like after I fried them up. I did my best to achieve the “browning with brown edges”. 

Don’t skip the salt on this step, it helps the onions brown!

NOTE: With a properly heated pan, I’ve found that 4 minutes on medium-high and 4 minutes on medium were too generous for time. Once you’ve gotten the oil shimmering, they’ll need only 3 minutes on each.

Above are the potatoes after they were softened in the microwave. 

Heroes’ Feast mentions this, but do make sure to drain any water the potatoes have released. Skipping this will mess with the development of the skins and cooking time.

TIP: To save time, put the potatoes in the microwave when you start cooking the onion.

Above is the progression of what the potatoes looked like as they were cooking. 

Pic 1: Potatoes when just put into the pan

Pic 2: First flip after 6 minutes

Pic 3: Second flip after 6 minutes

Pic 4: Third flip after 4 minutes

Not shown: I flipped them once more after 4 minutes right before stirring in the spices and onion

Altogether, the potatoes were fried for 20 minutes.

TIP: If you don’t only have unsalted butter to combine with the oil, add a small pinch of kosher salt to the pan.

NOTE: Remember to never overcrowd the pan when cooking! However, if you find that you have, it’s fixable. Simply make sure that you’re always moving the potatoes on the outside edges in when you flip them and cook the potatoes for as long as it takes for the biggest pieces to have softened.

Above is what the potatoes looked like after stirring in the spices and the onion.

TIP: To keep the onions from cooking more when you return them to the pan, mix in the spices first then take the pan off the heat for ~30-45 seconds before adding them in. They’ll still cook a little, but there’s less risk of them burning.

Overall, I would give this recipe a 5/5. Like the Yawning Portal Buttermilk Biscuits, they’ve quickly become a weekend brunch staple in our house!

Additionally, these go great with a homemade (or store-bought!) hollandaise sauce or when eaten as a side for the Feywild Eggs. The richness and flavours combine to create an amazing taste that’s sure to liven up your morning!

For best freshness results, store in a sealed container in the fridge. Keeps for up to 4 days.

NOTE: Consensus in our house: Those who enjoy onion give them a 5/5 with onion and a 4/5 without. For those who don’t, they’re a 5/5 without onion. So, overall, you really can’t lose! Just remember to adjust the spices (especially the cayenne pepper!!) if you’re making a smaller side batch for someone who doesn’t like onions. Learned that the hard way...

@.critical_role: We are pleased to announce EXQUISITE EXANDRIA: THE OFFICIAL COOKBOOK OF CRITICAL ROLE!

Coming in August 2023 from @.penguinrandom, this incredible cookbook collects 60 delicious recipes from across Exandria in one legendary culinary tome available for preorder now at criticalrolebooks.com! 🥣🍖🧄🍇

BONUS: In the spirit of this special season and his generosity, a first taste of what's to come is yours with the official recipe for Lord Ariks Eshteross' Maple Ginger Cookies with Turmeric! 🍪

Try it at criticalrolebooks.com/cookies and share your creations with the tag #ExquisiteExandria!

u ever in such a bad mood u feel urself turning evil?

I’m sorry. We tried to make your boyfriend in a poll, and he’s 84% vanilla extract now. Yeah. I’m sorry. He’ll smell really good if you bake him, though!

ALT

Ohoho, I am a Big Fan of this!

Source: x

That wonderful home cooking! #vintage #cottagecore #supertaster #aesthetic #momcore