Olive Garden's Italian Sausage Soup

          This soup was great. It was really fast and really easy to make. It's a pretty simple recipe as there aren't that many ingredients, but it all adds up to a very hearty and delicious soup. And, it's pretty healthy as well. I used Jenny-O Italian Turkey sausage to cut the fat some. I don't make many soups with a beef broth base, so I wasn't sure how I'd like this one, but it was really tasty! I'm definitely going to be making this soup again!

1 lb sweet Italain sausage, ground (I used the Jenny-O Italian sausage links, and took them out of their casings)

1 C white rice

1 Cup chopped tomatoes in puree (10 3/4 oz can)

10 oz box chopped frozen spinach, thawed and drained

6 C beef broth

1/4 tsp black pepper

Pecorino Ramano cheese, for garnish

Brown the sausage in a soup pot and. Add the rice, broth, tomatoes, and pepper and bring to a simmer. 

Simmer for 12- 15 minutes or until rice is tender. Stir in chopped spinach and let simmer a few more minutes.

Serve the soup with a healthy amount freshly grated cheese on top.

That's it! Couldn't be easier or tastier! 

Recipe Courtesy of: Olive Garden

Sausage, Butternut Squash, and Rice Soup

     It's that time of year again... soup weather! I love soup weather. And we had a bit of a rain storm a few weeks back that made me immediately begin searching for a delicious looking soup recipe. And I found one.
This soup takes a bit of time, but it was quite worth it. Especially if you like sausage (Yes!), Butternut Squash (Yes!), Rice (Yes!), and Corn (Yes!)!!!

Ingredients:
A 3-4 lb Butternut Squash
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
12 C chicken stock
2 1/2 C chopped onions
1 C wild rice (I didn't have wild rice, so I just used regular white rice, it was really good, but I'm interested in trying it with the wild rice next time).
3/4 lb smoked sausage, such as kielbasa, cut in half, then in half again
2 C fresh corn kernels (I cut my kernels right off the cob and tossed them in with the soup)
1 1/2 C half and half
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Peel, seed and slice your squash into 1 inch chunks. Be careful because this squash is difficult to peel. As you can tell, I bent my peeler. I had to buy a new one... YAH! I mean, darn!

Place the chunks onto a baking sheet lined with foil and toss with 1 tbsp of oil and salt and pepper (Make sure you don't slather it with the oil, just 1 tbsp, you'd be surprised at how far that tbsp will go. I've made the mistake of putting too much oil before, it doesn't roast right). 

Roast for 45 minutes to an hour, until tender. Remove from the oven. Using a spatula, gently move the pieces around so that they don't get stuck to the foil while cooling. Be careful so that the foil does not tear and then you'll be picking little tiny foil pieces out of your squash. 

Once the squash is cool, place in a blender or a food processor (I used a blendor, I think next time I'll use a processor, this was too much squash for a blender. I found it to be very tedious trying to shove the squash on top down to the bottom of the blender to be pureed. It was frustrating... learn from me. Unless, of course, all you have is a blender, then my suggestion is to work in batches), with 2 C of chicken stop and puree until smooth. 

In a saucepan over medium heat, add 4 C of stock and 1/2 C onions and bring to a simmer. Add the rice and cook until done, about an hour (Unless you use an instant type rice that doesn't take that long... my vote!). Remove and let cool.

In a large pot over medium, add a tbsp of oil. Add the sausage and brown for a few minutes. Add the rest of the onions and the corn and season with salt and pepper. Saute for a few minutes more. Add the last 6 C of stock and squash puree. Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer for 20 minutes.

Sorry about the weird glare thing going on here

Stir in the rice and continue cooking for 10 more minutes. (There was no reason to continue cooking for another 10 minutes with the plain white rice, mental note for next time!)

Remove from the heat and stir in the half and half and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with parsley and dig into this delish soup!

Recipe Courtesy of: Emeril Lagasse (Maker of the best soups ever!)

Rigatoni with Asparagus and Bacon

     Who doesn't love bacon? Right?! Everyone!

     I came across this recipe a few days ago and knew I had to try it! The husband doesn't care for asparagus much, but, with a little bacon mixed in, and cheese... I thought he'd forgive me.... and I think he did! He said he enjoyed this dish. We had the leftovers for lunch today, and we were not disappointed! This dish could not be easier and tastier! You won't be upset you tried it! Of course... I'd add more bacon... cause, more bacon never hurt anyone!

Ingredients:
1 box Rigatoni
1 lb asparagus, cut into roughly the same size as the rigatoni
8 Bacon strips... next time, I'll probably use the whole pkg. (I used thick cut bacon... so good!)
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2/3 C half and half
1/2 C shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 C freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 C fresh parsley

Directions:
Bring water to a boil and add the pasta. Cook to al dente, 12 minutes; drain.

Meanwhile, in a skillet, begin to cook the bacon (remember, low and slow!);
Remove and drain on paper towel.

Bring water to a boil in the same pot and add the chopped asparagus and boil for 3 minutes.
Drain and add to ice cold water.

In a large skillet, add the garlic, butter and oil (mmmmm, such a great combination!).
Add the half and half and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for another few minutes.

While the sauce is thickening, chop your bacon into pieces.

Here comes the good part: Stir the shredded mozzarella cheese into the sauce and stir until melted.
The sauce will become this at this point.

Add the rigatoni, salt, asparagus and bacon. Stir to combine all those yummy ingredients!

Grate the Parmesan cheese right onto each dish, and sprinkle with fresh parsley.
Enjoy this delicious concoction that I will be adding to my list of recipes now!
Tasty!

     And because I can't leave well enough alone, I added some sausage... also because I'm sure that no matter how tasty my husband thought this dish was, he would have been wondering where the meat was.

Recipe Courtesy of: The Daily Dish

Fresh Garden Pasta with Chicken Sausage

     I love sausage! I could eat it all the time! So, when there is a sausage sale at the store, I stock up!

 

     At my last grocery store visit, I came across Johnsonville's new line of chicken sausages (on sale), so I decided to give 'em a whirl! I tried the Italian style sausage with Mozzarella and Romano cheese, Red pepper, onion and garlic. I was trying to figure out how to prepare these sausages, but I just couldn't decide. I usually make sausages with bell peppers, onions and some kind of sauce, like Marinara. It's really good, but I wanted to change things up a bit. I noticed that the back of the label had a recipe for the sausages on it, score! The only problem, it said to mix the dish with Italian dressing, and that just didn't sit well with me, as much as I like Italian dressing. So this recipe is adapted from the recipe on the back of the Johnsonville label.

     This recipe was really good! I was quite surprised because we usually like really sauce-y things. And I kept this recipe really light, hence the Fresh Garden part of the recipe title. I wanted the ingredients to really stand out and speak for themselves without being muddled by a heavy sauce. I had some fresh basil, but it was bad, so I didn't use it, but if it was still good, I woulda put that all over this dish. Instead, I settled for some dry herbs, which were just as great. Since there aren't very many items in this dish, it's important to use fresh ingredients so that it will taste really good.

Ingredients

3/4 lb Rigatoni 

1 pkg Johnsonville Italian Style Chicken Sausages, sliced

1 head of broccoli, trimmed down to small 1 inch trees (nice description right?!)

1 red bell pepper, cut into strips

1 yellow bell pepper, cut into strips

1/2 pkg grape tomatoes, sliced in half

1 tsp crushed garlic, or 1 clove garlic

1 tsp crushed Red Pepper flakes

1 tsp McCormick Italian Herb Seasoning Grinder (seriously, this stuff is worth the purchase!)

dash of salt

Olive oil

Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

Directions

Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Once boiling add your pasta.

The Rigatoni is al dente at 12 minutes, so at about 10 minutes add your Broccoli to the pasta.

Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over med-high heat add a tbsp of olive oil. 

Add the sausage and bell peppers, stir together.

Add the garlic, red pepper flakes and Italian seasonings, stir together. 

When you add the broccoli to the pasta, add the sliced grape tomatoes to the sausage mixture, along with 2 big swirls of olive oil. Stir together.

Drain the pasta and broccoli and add to the sausage mixture and stir to combine. Add more italian seasonings to taste, as well as salt. 

Dish it up and grate a healthy amount of Parmesan cheese over each dish. 

Super fresh, super simp, super delish!

Huevos Rancheros

     Sorry for the super huge long absence! Having a baby sorta makes it hard to find the time to post new recipes, as if I was so great at it before anyways! But here's to a new resolution of trying to get more recipes on here, if not frequently, at least not once every 5 months!

     I was watching the Food Network one day last week (my computer was acting up) and caught an episode of Paula Dean cooking with her son. It seems like she can never cook alone anymore, every show as someone else on it, usually one of her sons, but whatever. I'm not the biggest fan of Paula like everyone else is, but I think she has some good recipes. I've just made a few that weren't all that great before. But this one is pretty great! Although, it's not really hers, it is her son's, so yah for Paula's son! I did change up the recipe just a bit based on what I had at home, and the fact that my weird husband doesn't like chorizo, sad day for me! Anywho, a link to the original recipe is below.

     I'm salivating right now just looking at the picture wishing I had some to eat right now!

Huevos Rancheros

Ingredients
1 15oz can whole peeled tomatoes, undrained
1/4 C diced yellow onion
1/4 C cilantro leaves
1 large clove garlic (I just used crushed garlic I have in a bottle, works perfectly for everything!)
1 jalapeno pepper (seeded if desired; I just took out the membranes, but left all the seeds)
1/2 tsp salt
5 oz or 1/2 pkg of Jimmy Deans Sausage Crumbles . They're really good! I use them for all kinds of things!
Vegetable oil
4 6-in corn tortillas
1 16oz can refried beans (I used half the can for 2 servings)
4 eggs
shredded pepper jack or your favorite cheese for topping

*This made 4 servings. We each had 2 tortillas and 2 eggs, and there was just enough of the sauce and beans  for 2 more servings the next morning!


Directions
In a food processor (or blender, if you're me and too lazy to get the processor out and then clean it afterwords), combine the tomatoes (with juices), onion, cilantro, garlic, jalapeno, and salt and puree until smooth. Transfer to a medium skillet and simmer over medium heat until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Cover and keep warm over low heat.

After you let it warm up a bit, add the already cooked sausage crumbles to the sauce while it was thickening to allow them to heat up.

Place a tortilla in the skillet and cook until warm and pliable, about 30 seconds. Flip and cook for another 30 seconds. Transfer to an individual plate (2 tortillas to a plate), and cook remaining tortillas.

Heat the beans up in the microwave while the sauce is cooking and spread about 1/3 - 1/2 C onto tortillas

Add another tbsp of oil to the skillet. Crack one egg into the pan (I use a small skillet) and cook until the bottoms are set and the edges golden about 1-2 minutes. Turn the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook until set, about 1 minute more. Place one egg on each tortilla (so, 2 to a plate), and spoon the sauce over the eggs. Then you can add any toppings you want, I sprinkled some shredded pepper jack cheese and chopped up cilantro over it, as well as a little dusting of salt to bring out the yummy flavors.

Recipe courtesy of: Paula Dean Click here for original recipe

Dad's Potato Cheese Soup

Ingredients
1 stick butter
2 medium onions, chopped (I used one MASSIVE sweet onion)
4 cloves garlic, chopped (I used crushed garlic from a jar)
1 tbsp fresh Rosemary, chopped (this made the house smell SO good when sauteed in with the butter)
1 lb favorite link sausage, thinly sliced (I used Farmer John smoked sausage)
4 lb peeled and diced russet potatoes (I used about 5 lbs, and chopped them really small so they would cook fast)
24 oz. Deluxe American Cheese (I used the whole block of 32 oz Velveeta Cheese since I used more potatoes)
16-32 oz Milk (This is such a huge gap! I used 16 oz)
Salt and Pepper to taste

*The recipe calls for water, but I used a box of Chicken Broth instead.


Directions
In a 6-8 quart pan, melt butter on medium-low heat with onions until translucent.
Add garlic and Rosemary and saute for 2 minutes.
Add sausage and cook another 2-3 minutes.
Add potatoes and cover with chicken broth (The chicken broth covered most of the potatoes, I just needed about 1 cup of water to top it off).
Turn up heat to high and bring to a boil.
After potatoes become very tender, reduce heat to low and add cheese a little at a time until all melted.
Add milk*, salt and pepper, and cover for 15 minutes.

     *This step is tricky... I burnt the soup a little at this point when I added the milk. I'm not positive that it was the milk, but I have a pretty good feeling that it was indeed the milk. I've heated milk up on the stove for hot chocolate before, and had the same filmy, burnt smell come from that as well. And it wasn't until this point that the soup began to smell kinda burnt. I would maybe turn the heat down a little sooner so that it begins to cool off a bit so that when you add the milk it doesn't burn. Course, I also used a crappy pot that pretty much burns all things you put into it, so that didn't help, I'm sure.

     I found this recipe at Food Network, and it looked so good... I love potato cheese soup.... the thought of adding sausage only made me giggle with joy! I LOVE sausage, it's my favorite food group! So this was perfect for me! It was really good! Everyone else that tried it at Game Night at church said it was really good too. I had some from the top so I couldn't taste any of the burnt part. Next time I'll be more careful. It really thickened up by the time we made it to church too, so it was really thick and creamy! I coulda dealt with more cheese too, cause I'm just a crazy cheese lover!

     There isn't a picture for this one... I didn't whip out my camera at Game Night, sorry! I was too interested in eating all the good food I was stuffing my face with. Speaking of, I ate this one concoction that I wasn't sure what it was... there were scalloped potatoes, macaroni, and lasagna in it so it seemed. When I asked the chef, he said that yes, in fact, that's exactly what it was. He had some leftover lasagna, made some scalloped potatoes, and macaroni, and mixed it all together and baked it... It was one of the tastiest things ever! Who knew!

     Anywho, enjoy this sausage-y, cheesy, potato-y soup! It's yummy!

Chili to Calm the Spirit

     Grant asked for some chili this week, so I found a new recipe to try out: Dragon's Breath Chili from the Food Network. I was initially intrigued by the recipe because it calls for three different types of meat.


Dragon's Breath Chili


Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons bacon grease, or canola oil
• 2 red bell peppers, diced (about 2 cups)
• 2 jalapenos, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
• 3 Anaheim chiles, roasted, peeled, chopped
• 3 poblano chiles, roasted, peeled, chopped
• 2 yellow onions, diced (about 2 cups)
• 1 head garlic, minced (about 1/4 cup)
• 1 pound boneless chuck, trimmed and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
• 2 pounds ground beef, coarse grind (I used 1 lb, b/c I didn't have room)
• 1 pound bulk Italian sausage
• 2 teaspoons granulated onion
• 2 teaspoons granulated garlic
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons hot paprika
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups tomato sauce
• 1 cup tomato paste
• 12 ounces lager beer
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 2 (15.5-ounce) cans pinto beans, with juice
• 2 (15.5-ounce) cans kidney beans, with juice
• Saltine crackers, for garnish
• 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar

Directions
     There is probably a better way to do this, but to prepare the peppers, I put them on my small grill pan since I don't have a grill, and I grilled them for approximately 10 minutes (turn them over and allow each side to begin to blister). I didn't have a paper bag to put the peppers into so I just put them into a bowl and covered it to allow them to steam so the skin would separate. After 5 minutes or so, I peeled the skin off and chopped them up. I left the seeds in because we like it hot, and it wasn't really hot at all.


     In large stock pot over high heat, add butter and bacon grease (I just used canola oil). Add bell pepper, jalapeno, chiles and onion and cook until caramelized, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute a minute longer. Add chuck and brown. Add ground beef and sausage to brown and stir gently, trying not to break up the ground beef too much. Cook until meat is nicely browned and cooked through, about 7 to10 minutes. Add in granulated onions, granulated garlic, chili powder, paprika, cumin, coriander, cayenne, salt and pepper and cook for 1 minute. Add in tomato sauce and paste and stir for 2 minutes. Stir in beer and chicken stock. Add beans, lower heat and simmer for 2 hours.
     Garnish with green onions and shredded Cheddar. (I also added sour cream!)


     I did things a little different b/c I wasn't sure if I was able to fit everything into my pot. I browned everything up and put it in my crock pot to let it heat through. I accidentally added a little too much of the booze, so I added it back into my pot to cook off some of the boozy flavor.

     I also didn't add 1 can of kidney beans, 1 cup of tomato sauce, and 1/2 cup chicken broth, simply b/c I didn't have the space in my pot.

Verdict: 4/5

     I thought this was super good. I wish I had had a big enough pot to put the rest of the beans, tomato sauce, and broth in. But, even without it, it was still really tasty. Once the boozy flavor cooked off, it was much better. I really liked the 3 different meats in it, it made for a very layered, rich texture and flavor. It wasn't as spicy as I had hoped, even though I added the seeds of both jalapenos. Next time, I might need to add an extra. For intense flavor, I always add more seasoning than it calls for. Again, I'm a big proponent of seasoning the meat and letting it cook for a while before I add the liquids; so instead of just 1 minute, I cook it closer to 5 minutes to really crisp up the ground meat and let the flavors absorb! And then, I added more seasoning once I added the liquids.
The recipe called for serving the chili over french fries, which sounded outstanding, (another idea was macaroni) but I thought that might be a little much taking into account my previous post. My plan was to split a baked potato and serve the chili over that, but I forgot to get one at the store. Instead, we ate the chili alone, but the flavor stood out on it's own and did great.

Weekend Food

Last weekend... we had good food!

We went to Tehachapi Saturday night and spent a night out on the town!
Las Palmas for dinner and District 9 at the Hitching Post Theatre.
Great Night!
Las Palmas has amazing salsa! Really good! We all know that salsa is such an important part of a Mexican restaurant!

The rest of the weekend, Grant and I ate more good food.
Last Thursday I made Kraft Mac n Cheese... nothing beats a properly made bowl of Kraft Mac n Cheese!

     Then Saturday morning before we went to Tehachapi, I made breakfast for Grant and I! We love the Jimmy Dean Skillet Breakfasts! So good! Sausage is the best one! Super easy to make, one skillet meal! I, of course, add extra seasonings, like red pepper. I add a little milk to the eggs to help em' fluff before adding them to the skillet. Then I added some cheese and sour cream to the top. I also made some of Grant's childhood favorites: the cheese dog roll up thingy. You take the Pillsbury crescent rolls, place a hot dog on top, slice the hot dog open and put cheese inside the dog. Then roll the dog up, bake it at 350 for approx. 12 minutes. Super good too!

     While at Tehachapi, Ron and Betty Barker told us that we just had to go to the bakery and get some fresh bread, upon asking the gal what the best was, she said the 6 grain, so we purchased it. I have to admit I was a little skeptical... it looked like some healthy piece of bread... but! It was really really good! I made some Chicken Salad Sandwiches for dinner when we returned home on Sunday night. I grilled the chicken on Saturday before we left, and shredded it up. Then all i had to do on Sunday was add Mayo, chopped celery, cranberries, salt and pepper, and chopped fresh taragon! It was really good. And I served it with some Macaroni Salad!