Life of the Party’s Fresh Family Recipes

For our annual food, holiday, and celebrations issue, we have three recipes that will surely become part of your holiday cooking repertoire.

From a delicious (and healthy!) roasted carrot soup to a decadent tres leches crème brûlée to the perfect muffins for a hectic holiday morning, these recipes will become family favorites!

Roasted Carrot Soup

This recipe from Chef Jessica Casteñeda (see pages 10 and 11) is rich and velvety while being healthy and easy to make. It can be made vegan or not, depending on your family’s tastes.

Ingredients

1 pound carrots

1 yellow or white onion

5 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons olive or avocado oil

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

½ teaspoon freshly cracked pepper

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

½ teaspoon ground cumin

¼ teaspoon celery seed

Sea salt to taste

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 quart warm vegetable or chicken broth [Chef Jessica says hot water works in a pinch!]

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425°. [Editor’s note: This is the perfect temperature for roasting most vegetables.]

Wash, peel, and roughly chop the carrots. Peel and roughly chop or quarter the onions. Place the carrots and onions on a baking tray and drizzle with the olive or avocado oil. Roast until the carrots are tender; add the peeled garlic cloves to the pan, and continue to roast until the vegetables have some nice color. It should take approximately 20 to 30 minutes, depending on your oven.

Remove the vegetables from the oven and scrape them into the bowl of a blender. Add in all the spices and the broth of your choice. Chef Jessica says it’s quite tasty with chicken or vegetable broth, but it’s still good with water. Carefully blend until smooth. {Take care when blending hot ingredients. It’s best to vent the top of your blender and cover with a kitchen towel to avoid a volcano of hot soup ingredients splattering everywhere.)

If you prefer a thick soup, use less liquid. Add more broth or water while blending if you are on Team Thin Soup. Season to taste with more salt and pepper and maybe a bit more lemon to brighten the soup.

Now, Chef Jessica says, comes the fun part! The soup is delicious as is, but you can easily upgrade with toppings you have on hand. She suggests a sprinkle of feta cheese, some toasted sunflower seeds, a drizzle of yogurt, or a few crunchy sourdough croutons. No one likes a boring, one-note soup. The options are endless: chili crisp, crunchy onions, toasted nuts, or a sprinkle of herbs are all delicious choices to take this soup to the next level. [Editor’s note: I made this and garnished it with toasted pumpkin seeds, some Mexican crema mixed with chipotle powder, and some crushed pita chips. Next time, I’m going to try za’atar and yogurt.]

This recipe can be doubled and frozen in individual servings for a quick lunch or delicious dinner. You can also replace the carrots with the vegetable of your choice. Roasted tomatoes, butternut squash, or mushrooms make delicious soups. You can also get creative and add any extra vegetables you have lying around: a few stalks of celery, fresh herbs, a forgotten bell pepper, or a leftover sweet potato.

Tres Leches Crème Brûlée

Tres leches is one of my absolute favorite desserts, but I think Chef Jon Bonnell has found a way to top it with this tres leches crème brûlée. Chef Bonnell said, “I order crème brulee almost anywhere I go. It’s my favorite way to finish a meal. This particular recipe is the richest version I’ve ever tasted.”

Ingredients

10 ounces heavy cream

3 ounces sweetened condensed milk

3 ounces evaporated milk

½ vanilla bean, scraped

4 egg yolks

4 ounces brown sugar

1 pinch salt

Directions

In a medium saucepot, heat cream, sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, half of the sugar, and the seeds from the vanilla bean half. Bring to a boil, then turn off the heat.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the other half of the sugar, salt, and eggs until smooth. While whisking vigorously, pour the hot cream mixture into the bowl with eggs and sugar very gradually. Begin with just a few drops, then slowly increase the flow of hot cream until it’s all incorporated. It’s essential to start slowly to keep the eggs from cooking at this point. Be sure to keep whisking while pouring the hot cream mixture into the egg mixture.

Strain the mixture to ensure no lumps have formed. Pour into 8-ounce ramekins. Place the ramekins in a baking dish, then fill the dish with water just halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover loosely with foil and bake at 325 degrees in a still oven (not convection) for 45 minutes to one hour just until they have set. To see if they are set, lightly jiggle one to see if the middle has set. Once set, refrigerate until cool. Just prior to serving, sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar over the top of each one and spread out evenly.

Burn the sugar with a blowtorch just until the sugar has melted and turned light brown. Top with a few fresh berries for garnish and serve.

Magical Morning Muffins

These are the perfect muffins for a busy holiday morning when you’re trying to cook, clean, keep the kids from killing each other, and get ready before the family arrives. (They’re pretty good every other morning, too.)

Ingredients

1 stick butter, softened

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups apple butter or applesauce (be sure to use a low- or no-sugar variety)

2 eggs

4 cups flour (I used a 1:1 ratio of all-purpose flour and white whole wheat)

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

1 ½ cups dried fruit (cranberries, cherries, raisins, currants, chopped apricots, dates… whatever you like)

2 tablespoons crystalized ginger (optional)

1 tablespoon dried orange peel (optional)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°.

In a large bowl, combine the flour(s), salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Set aside.

In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the sugar into the softened butter. Once the butter and sugar have been incorporated, add the vanilla and the apple butter or applesauce. One at a time, beat the eggs into the butter mixture.

Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Don’t overmix! Fold the dried fruit, crystallized ginger, and dried orange peel (if using) into the batter.

Spray a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray or use cupcake papers. Fill the cups about 2/3 full and bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, turning the tins once during baking. The recipes are between 18 and 24 muffins, but I promise they will disappear quickly!