Zuppa Toscana Soup by Olive Garden

I love soup and now that it's getting cooler outside it's even better.  I haven't been to Olive Garden in a long time, but I found this recipe while looking for recipes with chicken sausage.  It was so yummy.  Christine (13 yrs old) loved it, but it's hard for Andrew (4 yrs old) to like many soups.  If you make the recipe as directed, it can be a bit spicy.  The second time I made it I reduced the red pepper flakes in half.


Ingredients:

1 lb ground Italian sausage (I used ground chicken sausage)
1½ tsp crushed red peppers (reduce to 3/4 tsp if you don't want as spicy)
1 large diced white onion
4 tbsp bacon pieces
2 tsp garlic puree
10 cups water
5 cubes of chicken bouillon
1 cup heavy cream
1 lb sliced russet potatoes, or about 3 large potatoes (I used about 5 potatoes the second time as I thought it needed more - I diced them into bite size chunks.
¼ of a bunch of kale

Directions:

Sauté Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in pot (I suggest using the same pot you are going to make the soup in, it's less dishes and it will flavor the soup even more). Drain excess fat, refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients.  In the same pan, sauté bacon, onions and garlic for approximately 15 minutes or until the onions are soft. Mix together the chicken bouillon and water, then add it to the onions, bacon and garlic. Cook until boiling. Add potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour. Add heavy cream and cook until thoroughly heated. Stir in the sausage. Add kale just before serving. Delicious!

Pumpkin Chocolate Brownies

This is a fun fall treat.  My youngest child, Andrew, has to bring brownies for a Halloween Party on Friday.  They were very easy to make, but I do think that you can make some adjustments though.  I doubled the batter recipe so that I could make a bigger batch of brownies.  There were really chocolatey though; I would maybe reduce the chocolate chips a little bit.  I am still working on it though.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (Fresh homemade pumpkin puree recipe)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I omitted since we can't have nuts at school)
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8x8 inch baking pan (if you are doubling the batter recipe, I suggest using a 9x13 pan). Stir the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.
2. In another bowl, stir together the melted butter, sugar, and vanilla extract; beat in the eggs one at a time with a spoon. Gradually add the flour mixture, and stir the batter until it's evenly moistened. Divide the batter in half in two separate bowls.
3. Into one bowl of batter, blend the cocoa powder and chocolate chips. In the second bowl of batter, stir in the pumpkin puree, walnuts, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.
4. Spread 1/2 of the chocolate batter into the bottom of the prepared baking pan, and follow with 1/2 of the pumpkin batter. Repeat the layers, ending with a pumpkin layer, and drag a kitchen knife or small spatula gently through the layers in a swirling motion, to create a marbled appearance.
5. Bake in the preheated oven until the brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in the pan, cut into squares, and serve.

Batter prepared

 Going into the oven

 Final Brownies, I will post a picture of the swirl/layer effect in the middle.

Adapted from http://www.allrecipes.com/

Homemade Pancakes

I got this recipe from a friend on a mom's site. It was very easy and the kids loved it. It took about 30 minutes or less from the time I started making the batter until the pancakes were served.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup milk
4 tablespoons white vinegar
2 cup all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons sugar (I used Splenda instead of sugar - same measurement)
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
4 tablespoons butter, melted
cooking spray

Directions:

Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to "sour".
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk egg, vanilla and butter into "soured" milk. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.

BTW, the recipe above was doubled from the original recipe that I received in order to feed a family of 4. (If you want extras, I would suggest making more batter - yields about 20 1/4 cup pancakes - there were no left overs in my house)

I am going to try and make these ahead of time and freeze them for a quick meal.

Penne with a Sausage Cream Sauce

When I was looking for recipes with chicken sausage, I found this one. The recipe calls for Italian sausage, but chicken sausage still tasted wonderful.  This was a hit with my family.  It took about 30 minutes to prepare this meal and serve. 

Ingredients:

1 pound sausage (sweet Italian sausage, casings removed or ground chicken sausage)
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 medium onion (diced)
4 garlic cloves (minced)
2/3 cup of dry white wine
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced peeled tomatoes, undrained
1 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons chopped Italian Parsley
1 teaspoon of salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 pound penne pasta, cooked according to package
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (do not use the canned stuff)

Directions:

Cook sausage in a large skillet of medium-high heat.  Remove sausage and set aside; drain excess grease from skillet. 

Melt butter and oil in the skillet; add the onion and saute until softened and golden in color.  Add garlic, cook and stir 1 minute.  Add wine to skillet and reduce volume by half, about 2 minutes.  Add tomatoes and simmer 3 minutes.

Return cooked sausage to skillet, add cream and simmer until sauce thickens slightly, about 5 minutes.  Stir in parsley, salt and pepper.

Place cooked Penne in a large serving bowl (I just used the pan that I cooked the pasta in); pour sauce over pasta; add Parmesan cheese and toss to combine.

Serve sprinkled with additional Parmesan cheese. 

Serves 6. 

Sauce prepared before pouring over Penne

 Completed Penne with a Sausage Cream Sauce

Adapted from www.cooks.com

Pasta with a Garlic Cream Sauce



Claudia posted a recipe for me to try.  I was amazed how easy and tasty this recipe was, even the kids liked it.  You can add chicken, shrimp or even some veggies to this pasta. 

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Pint of whipping cream
4 oz of grated Parmesan cheese
8 oz of cooked linguini, spaghetti or angel hair pasta
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a heavy bottom pan, melt the butter, add the garlic and let it infuse for a little bit (without browning the garlic).  Add the whipping cream, let it boil and simmer on low heat until the sauce is reduced by 10% (important step).  Add the Parmesan cheese and season to taste.  Add the cooked pasta and toss.

Sauce after simmering

 Finished pasta, serve with chicken or shrimp



Chicken cutlets with an Onion-Mushroom Sauce

I bought some chicken cutlets from my local meat co-op.  I was going to make them into chicken fried chicken, but saw this recipe and thought I'd give it a try.  It tasted way better than it photographed.  I add some rice and green bean casserole (per request).  I used a lot of cream of mushroom soup tonight, but it was really good.

Ingredients:

1 - 2 lb of chicken cutlets, sliced thin
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 pkg dry onion soup mix
2 cups of milk
paprika

Directions:

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Place cutlets in a baking dish.  I used a casserole dish. Whisk together undilted cream of mushroom soup with onion soup mix.  Gradually whisk in the milk.  Spread of the chicken and top with paprika. Place in the preheated oven until the chicken is lightly browned, about 40 minutes. Serve with rice, there is plenty of gravy to use over the rice.

Chicken Cutlets

 Soup mixture

 Prior to baking

 After baking (my chicken was covered by the gravy)

 Chicken cutlets in an Onion-Mushroom Sauce with rice and green bean casserole

Recipe adapted from cooks.com

Low Fat Pumpkin-Banana Bread/Muffins

I still have a lot of pumpkin puree left, so I am trying more pumpkin recipes.  Andrew loves muffins and I like to make him healthy things to eat for breakfast.  The recipe was actually for a bread, but I thought the muffins would be more kid-friendly.

Ingredients:

1 mashed ripe banana

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/4 cup canola oil (I half oil and half natural applesauce)

1 large egg

2 egg whites

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 8 1/2 X 4 1/2-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. Or you can use 18 muffin tins with liners.

Place mashed banana, pumpkin puree, oil, egg and egg whites in a large bowl. Beat with an electronic mixer on low speed. Place flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon in a medium bowl and stir with a whisk. Add flour mixture to banana and pumpkin mixture and beat until just moist. Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 1 hour or until toothpick placed in center comes out clean. If you are making muffins bake for 18-20 minutes (fill them about 3/4 full).

 

Serves 12 as a loaf or Serves 18 as muffins.

Per Serving as a loaf: Calories 196, Calories from Fat 48, Total Fat 5.3g (sat 0.5g), Cholesterol 18mg, Sodium 206mg, Carbohydrate 33.3g, Fiber 1.6g, Protein 3.7g

 Adapted from Low Fat Cooking