There’s simply nothing better on a cold windy day than a good bowl of piping hot soup. Add a bit of drifting snow to the equation and it’s almost mandatory that a good hearty soup come into play. Thursday was that day. Though the snow never did stick, the temperature shifted from the mid 70’s to a crisp 28 degrees. Add wind-chill and you’ve got 20 degrees and a pot of soup on the stove was the perfect way to take the chill out of the house, and us.

This variation on the classic chicken noodle soup gains a lot of flavor from the addition of chorizo, both to the broth and as an addition to the finished soup. The addition is simple, but the flavors the spicy little sausages adds to the broth is amazingly rich, deep and filling in ways that no “normal” chicken noodle soup could ever be. The broth is also made with a bit of cilantro for a further depth and the addition of a slightly earthy flavor that is just a bit unexpected in a bowl of chicken soup, but is immensely satisfying.

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One year ago today this blog posted its very first recipe. That first dish was truly “by the seat of my pants” cooking, and though not the most glamorous I’ve ever done, it’s still something I’m quite fond of. The photo… Horrible. That first day saw three visitors. My wife, a friend of the family and myself. All of us were amazed that I’d actually started this thing, though I’m not sure any of us thought that what I was doing would last for more than a few weeks.

In the twelve months to follow this blog has come a long way. It has done so because of the support of the food blogging community, its readers and of course, my wife, who has supported this venture unwaveringly throughout the past year. (not necessarily in that order.) Without all of you, I would never have stuck with this, but I am so very glad that I have!

There are many people I should thank for their support, but to be honest, I couldn’t name them all in a post you would be willing to read through. There are those who made a huge impact when I first started, so please let me take a moment to thank; Elise, Jasmine, Lis, Bryllin, Lisa of Homesich Texan Fame, Shawnda – the Foodie Bride and of course, Dr. Biggles. All of you helped me keep movin’ on at the beginning.

As for the rest of my fellow bloggers, though I may not have time to mention you all here, just let me say this:

You freakin’ rawk!

In celebration of CbsoP’s first blogiversary, I decided to revisit that initial recipe. This time around wasn’t so very seat of my pants, but I did change it up significantly. For one thing, I wasn’t in the mood for mozzarella and asiago, I was in the mood for feta.

The introduction of feta cheese brought with it a need to change out some of the other ingredients as well. For one, I don’t think feta goes well with broccoli, so I just increased the amount of spinach. …Feta with reg-lar ol’ breakfast sausage… Not happnin’, we’ll just skip that part altogether. As for the rest. Well… I winged it. but hey, that’s what this blog is all about, isn’t it!

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Coming up with ideas for a simple yet hearty meal during the holidays can be a bit difficult, so why not try this approach?

I’d made some farfalle with broccoli, cauliflower and a sour cream sauce a few nights before, and was looking it over for lunch, but I wasn’t feeling any love for the dish as a leftover. since we’ve been doing holiday meals over the past week or so, I also wasn’t in the mood to find yet another way to recycle more turkey or ham. the simple solution…

Make a frittata!

Any pasta will work for this application, though I personally tend to stick to those with a white sauce. Amounts will vary depending on the amount you’ve got on hand, but this is a good general guideline.

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In case you hadn’t noticed, I make a lot of chicken dishes. This is partly due to the cost. I find it wonderful to think dark meat is so out of vogue that they just dump it off in bags for around $6.00, and most of the flavor of a chicken is in the darker meats, which leaves me happily trying out new combinations.

This particular recipe like many others I’ve posted here, was born from necessity. Mrs. seat of her Pants had picked up some fresh pasta (Linguine) a few days earlier for something that she had been planning to make, and then forgotten about as deadlines loomed. It was up to me to save those lovely, fresh strands of yumminess!

The big question was… What was I going to make it with?

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Perhaps a little on the low brow, college-dorm side of life, but quite tasty nonetheless! This is a take on a dish that I usually make with smoked sausage or polska kielbasa. Not what I’d call light fare in either case, but it does have a good amount of veggies thrown in.

In truly Seat of my Pants fashion, this dish was cobbled together with whatever I could find at the ready when I discovered that I had not only forgotten to pull anything out for dinner, but that it was very late in the evening and I needed something for Mrs. Seat of Her Pants to eat in a hurry. Read more…

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