Gabby makes President Obama's Favorite Chili

An unusual but tasty spin on chili!

Our final entry in our Black History Month series comes from the personal archive of the Obamas! To share it with you, I brought out Gabriela McBride, AG's first Black Girl of the Year character. Gabby runs for student body president in her third book, so besides being a modern girl who would have grown up during the Obama administration and probably been incredibly excited to see girls like her living in the White House, she felt like a good fit to share this unique but tasty recipe for one of my personal favorite foods. Read on to see what's for dinner with Barack and Michelle!

Blaire's Hug in a Bowl

Or broccoli cheddar soup!

Blaire's time as Girl of the Year is coming to an end, and before she rides off, I wanted to try my hand at at least one more of the recipes American Girl released to celebrate her time in the sun. She might make the occasional appearance around these parts the same way Grace does, but the odds of American Girl producing any other Blaire content moving forward is pretty slim, and I have to admit, this recipe caught the interest of this cheese loving blogger from the moment I read her books. Read on to learn how to make Blaire's famous Hug in a Bowl yourself!

Nellie's Dublin Coddle

A hearty meal that is definitely not Weight Watcher friendly...

With temperatures finally dropping into a reasonable fall range, Jess and I have been breaking out some soup and stew recipes. They're a great solution to the age old question of "what am I bringing to work for lunch?" but they're kind of frustrating to make when your building shuts off the air conditioner when it's still in the upper 80's and super humid until the sun goes down. 

This simple but extremely hardy soup probably isn't going to make it into our regular rotation because it's just not healthy at all unless you're working a very physically demanding schedule, but it is very on brand for Nellie and her family before and after immigrating to the United States. Read on to find out more about this traditional Irish favorite.

Angela's Pasta Fagoli

A family favorite, perfect for feeding a crowd!

This recipe comes straight from the family archives. I've said before about how my great-grandmother (the same lady behind our delicious family meatball recipe) was hands down the best cook in the family. She'd make pasta and tomato sauce from scratch, and my dad didn't even know he liked Italian food before he tried her cooking. Like many talented cooks, Nana didn't write down any of her recipes because she worked from taste and touch rather than specific measurements, so if you wanted to learn how to make something, she had to walk you through it herself. 

Unfortunately, this means quite a lot of her specialties have been lost to history, but my mom learned how to make this tasty, hearty soup that's served as the main course at countless family gatherings, and she very kindly took the time to show me how to make it myself. If you're looking for a really east, very tasty dish, definitely consider giving this one a try!

Rebecca's Matzo Balls

A hearty meal, perfect for Passover or a rainy spring day!

Springtime for Rebecca and her family meant they would soon be celebrating Passover, the holiday commemorating the liberation of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. This year, it begins on April 19 and ends on April 29, which means we're getting a bit of a head start on the holiday with this post. 

Although Passover involves a lot of food history, arguably the most famous food associated with it is matzo, or matzah or matza depending on the spelling, a large, cracker like baked good that symbolizes the unleavened bread the Jews ate when they fled from Egypt. 

During Passover, chametz or leavened foods are forbidden, so matzo is eaten in its stead. Growing up, many of my Jewish friends would complain about being forced to eat matzo over and over again during Passover because it was boring, while others thought it was cool that they were eating a food that had such a long history. Others looked forward to the season because it meant their parents or grandparents would be breaking out recipes like matzo ball soup, a comforting, hearty dish that turns the bread crumbs into thick dumplings. Read on to see how you can make your own tasty matzo balls.

Lily's Chicken Ramen Bowl

A cross cultural favorite with some interesting connections to World War II!

I love ramen. For a carb lover like me, it’s hard not to be excited about a massive bowl of hot noodles swimming in salty or spicy broth. The meat and veggies are good too of course, but for me, it’s definitely all about the carbs. 

As it turns out, those carbs – and more specifically, what kind of carbs – are responsible for why ramen enjoys such international fame. Although this dish originated in Korea, it became intensely popular in post war Japan because the noodles were made of wheat flour, not rice. Read on to find out why that was so crucial, and how to make a yummy bowl of ramen in your own home.

Emily's Lentil and Parsley Soup

An authentic WWII recipe that could have done with some workshopping...

One of my favorite things to pick up on my various adventures are historical cookbooks. I've acquired quite a number of them since I started this blog, to the point of where my cookbook shelf is overflowing and I can't bring myself to Konmari any of them because they're all such nice publications! 

This year, I'm doing my best to try and dust off a few of them, including the one I got today's recipe from: Victory in the Kitchen: Wartime Recipes. It was published by the Imperial War Museum, one of my very favorite museums. Visiting their impressive exhibits in the early 2000's helped get me really excited about World War II history, so I was eager to try something out. 

The results... weren't exactly what I was hoping for, but hopefully it'll be interesting for everyone to get a look at what kind of stuff you might run into when trying out another historic recipe.

Melody Makes JFK's Fish Chowder

A favorite of a fan favorite president!

Although warmer weather has been periodically making a comeback in my neck of the woods all month, it's still been chilly enough to want a nice warm bowl of soup after work. Being from New England, the idea of a rich, creamy chowder is definitely a comforting thought on chilly days, and I've always been interested in trying to make one from scratch. 

This dish isn't the New England clam chowder my home region's famous for, but it was a favorite lunch snack of a certain mid century president! I've been wanting to spotlight this recipe for a while, but never could quite work out the best time to give it a shot. This year, I decided I wasn't going to let another winter go by without sharing it with all of you.

Ivy's Egg Drop Soup

A centuries old soup that's perfect for beating that winter chill!

Winter has officially hit the Mid-Atlantic, and last weekend I decided we were in need of some soup. Not just any soup: egg drop soup. 

This light but filling dish has been on my to do list for a super long time, and now I wish I'd tackled it sooner. It's extremely easy to make, with only a few ingredients and is ready to eat in about fifteen minutes max at the absolute most. Read on to find out how you can give this a shot yourself!

Jane's Pease Pottage & The Great Doll Blog Award

Something to eat when you're singing "it's glory, God and gold and the Virginia Company!"

Four hundred and nine years ago, a group of English settlers ended their long, long journey across the Atlantic ocean and founded the first permanent English settlement in the New World: Jamestown, Virginia. I know I talk about my enthusiasm for World War II all the time, but Jamestown is definitely my second favorite topic to study... closely followed by almost everything else. What can I say, I have a very wide range of interests.

Although I'm sure the members of the Virginia Company were excited to get off their ships and start working on digging for nonexistent mineral riches, they didn't have a lot of options when it came to treating themselves food wise when they began constructing their fort. No cakes, no ice cream, no fancy ribbon cutting ceremonies, probably just a hearty serving of this classic English dish enjoyed - or at least consumed... - by people for centuries.

It might not look like much, but it turns out, this actually isn't that bad. Might not be something I'd like to eat every day, but after months of hardtack and gruel (Pocahontas reference #2), I'd probably be very happy to see it.

But before we get to that, Nonna from Mommy's Doll Club nominated me for The Great Doll Blog Award!

Kit's Tomato Soup, Grilled Cheese, and Tomato Soup Cake

Bet you haven't heard of this one!

My godmother is the person responsible for this post. I, like many of you, had never heard of putting tomato soup in a cake before, and when she first mentioned her grandmother used to make a tomato soup cake all the time, I was more than a little skeptical. I mean, that's just weird, right? You wouldn't put ketchup in a cake, and I'd never heard of putting tomatoes in any baked good that wasn't savory, and even then...

But she insisted it was good, and then I started thinking well, we put zucchini in what's essentially a cake, some people use avocado, and obviously there's carrot or fennel. How weird could tomato soup cake be?

Besides, I'd been wanting to do a feature on one of my favorite comfort food meals, and it's not like you guys need me to tell you how to make Campbell's tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich, right?

Kaya's Fort Clatsop Salmon Chowder & Sourdough Biscuits

Recipes inspired by a long winter of sitting around waiting for the snow to melt!

So, does anyone remember how back when I started this blog, I said I was going to work my way through The Food Journal of Lewis and Clark? I really did intend on that being a regular feature, but then life happened and I got a job, and then a better job, and so on and so forth, and the cast and crew of the blog kind of... exploded. Which made doing a monthly or even a bimonthly feature on one character kind of impossible.

But I didn't forget about the cookbook, or my intentions to do more of the recipes in it! Actually, the ones I'm about to share with you today I've been wanting to do for a long, long time. When I first got the cookbook and flipped through it, they stood out to me and I always meant to set some time aside to try them out. And then kept putting it off, and putting it off, and putting it off...

Until now!

Rebecca's Cholent

A clever answer to the question of what to do for dinner on Shabbat.

Beef stew is one of my favorite things to eat on a cold wintry day, but this is unlike any beef stew I've ever had before. Rich, filling, and definitely tasty, I happened to stumble upon a recipe for this dish while discussing what recipes I should feature for Rebecca next with my best pal Ari. Although I'd never heard of it before, despite it having a long, long history, it definitely sounded delicious, and I was excited to try it out for myself.

We wound up needing to improvise the instructions just a tiny bit, which means this wouldn't be exactly how Rebecca's mom would have made it in 1914, but otherwise, I'm telling you now that this was a fun new discovery for me, and will probably be for you as well, if you've never had it before!

Kit's Cincinnati Chili

Is it chili? Is it sauce? Is it both?

Chili? What's this you say, Gwen? I thought we were doing an all chocolate spree for the next few weeks!

Don't worry, we still are! The chocolate's just a lot more subtle in this recipe than most of the other treats we've made on the blog. Cincinnati chili got its start in the 1920's, and it's definitely not the chili con carne you might be used to. I'd never had it before, but I'd heard of it, and it seemed like a really interesting addition to this line up of chocolate I've thrown together.

As an added bonus, the version we're making today isn't a dish that just shares its name with Kit's home town. It comes straight from Kit's Cooking Studio, so you can eat it knowing you're enjoying it the same way our favorite plucky girl reporter might have. If, you know. She wasn't fictional.

Cécile's French Onion Soup

A time consuming treat, but totally worth while in the end!

One last thing before we head into the fun that is December and all the spice and seasoning of the holiday spirit! I've been wanting to try my hand at making French onion soup for a while, and like many of the things I want to make, I just haven't been able to get around to it. Until now! And let me tell you, it was worth every minute spent staring at the stove wondering what's taking these onions so long to cook?

But best of all, I didn't have to go out and buy special bowls to cook this in. The recipe I found suggests an easy way to get all that gruyere flavor without the hassle of finding just the right dish to serve it in. Always a good thing for my wallet and my cabinets!

Kaya's Bison Chili

The perfect cure for an unreasonably snowy spring day!

I love chili. Whenever people ask what I'd choose if I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life, I always think about my mom's baked macaroni, but actually say chili. Chili is an extremely flexible dish. You can put pretty much any ingredients or spices into it and create something really tasty. You can serve it over rice, pasta, or just eat it by itself. I'd never had bison chili until we went out west on vacation back when I was in high school, and I pretty much fell in love. I've made things with bison before for the blog, but I just want to say again how good it actually is. It tastes just like beef, but it's better for you in terms of fat and protein, and apparently it's also hypoallergenic! Which is good, because I'm starting to think I might actually be allergic to beef, which is a huge bummer because I happen to like it quite a lot.

Now, obviously this isn't something Kaya would be eating in 1764, but I've been dying to do something like this with her and finally had the perfect opportunity to do so this weekend. For reasons I still don't understand - what did we do to anger you, Mother Nature? - our weekend was cold and snowy, and thus perfect weather for a nice hot bowl of chili.

Cécile's Yumbo Gumbo

Super tasty, but what was it doing in a kid's cook book??

I've been dying to break this book and recipe out for months at this point, if not years. After last year's Mardi Gras post was kind of a disaster (you may remember the King Cake that never rose and then didn't bake through and just turned into a giant, sticky, inedible mess on my dining room table), I was looking for something that was hopefully simpler and wouldn't turn me off the idea of doing any New Orleans style recipes on this blog ever again. And because Cécile is actually only my second favorite awesome fictional lady from Louisiana, I knew just where to turn to.

Of course, this didn't actually get posted on Mardi Gras - I'll explain why later - and there were still quite a few road bumps a long the way because I'm still not very good at cooking dinner under a time table, but overall? I think I'm going to count this one as a win.

Caroline's Colonial Bean Soup

Just the thing when you're trapped inside by the snow!

I've become a bit of a cookbook hoarder. A lot of my recipes also come from the internet, or are suggested to me by family and friends, but I've got an impressive stack of cookbooks I can say are mine and mine alone, and there's just never enough time in the day to go through all of them and do all the recipes I'd like to do.

That doesn't stop me from buying more, though, especially when they boast having some authentic, historic recipes inside. How could I pass offers like that up?

This particular book was picked up on our trip to Old Sturbridge Village, which I talked a bit about in my post about Joe Frogger cookies. It's one installment in a series that offers a variety of historical and regional dishes, and is definitely something I'm going to be keeping an eye out for when I visit other historical sites. For a little book that didn't cost too much, it's got quite a lot of recipes, and does feature some interesting historical trivia, even if it's not quite as in depth with its historical facts as other books I own are. I can also attest that so far, what I've made from it has been really tasty!

All one thing. But still. That's not a bad sign.

Josefina's Three Bean Tortilla Soup

Whoever invented tortilla soup was a genius.

I think a lot of people are really intimidated by the idea of making their own soup - I know I sure was! Since it's so easy to just open up a can of soup and let the factory and your stove or microwave do the rest of the work for you, I definitely get how people might think making a soup is more complicated than it actually is. While I hope I've showed you guys that making soup is actually pretty easy, it does usually end up taking a long time to taste good.

This has become more of an issue for me than it had been in the past. Now that I have a full time job, and hopefully will continue to for quite some time, I've got much less time to cook than I did when I was unemployed and sadly poking at job websites trying to find someone to hire me. This means while I still like trying out new, exciting, complicated things, an easy recipe that doesn't take too much time to make is a nice thing to be able to throw together on a day where I'm already tired from work, and it's even better when it turns out to be something very tasty, filling and good for you! This hit all those notes, and was tasty enough that I would definitely make it again, and would highly recommend giving a try yourself if you're ever in the mood for something a little different than microwavable soup.

Kirsten's Beer Cheese Soup

Just the thing for a cold wintery day.

I actually made and documented two different recipes yesterday, but decided to split them up because the theme didn't exactly go together. While the apple pudding really hit the spot because it wasn't a typical dessert for a cold wintery day, this recipe definitely is something you want to bring out when you're snowed in and layering up even with the heat on, and considering what we got hit with today, it turned out waiting a day to post this one probably wasn't a bad idea!

I'm also excited to point out that this is the fiftieth recipe I've featured since starting this blog. I have to admit, it's kind of crazy to realize that it's already been fifty recipes and almost six months since I started A Peek Into the Pantry, because it still feels like I just came up with the idea and got everything started just last week. I really appreciate all the feedback and support I've gotten from people in that time, and hope you guys will stick around for another fifty posts over the next several months!