Tuscan Soup

If you love Olive Garden's Zuppa Tuscana soup you will love this soup, so incredibly easy to prepare and full of flavor.

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook time: 20 min

Ingredients

1 pound Spicy Breakfast Sausage

6-8 whole Medium Potatoes

Water to cover the potatoes

6-8 cubes Chicken Bouillon I prefer the Wylers Chicken flavor with herbs and spices

¼ bunches Kale, Roughly Chopped (optional)

1 1/2 cups Heavy Cream

Salt And Pepper, to taste

Preparation

Crumble sausage into a large pot and heat over medium-high heat until cooked through.

Reduce heat to medium.

Slice potatoes into 1/4″ slices. Add warm water, bouillon cubes and potatoes to the pot and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until potatoes are almost done.

Add Kale and Heavy Cream as well as the sausage and simmer for 5 more minutes.

If you prefer a slow cook method add all the ingredients except the kale to your slow cooker set on high for 4-6 hours. Add kale if desired about 5 minutes before serving. 

Enjoy!

Natural dyed eggs for Easter

This year we decided to try doing natural dyed eggs using food products to make colors for Easter eggs. This was quite an adventure, not all the things we tried worked as expected. Some of our tests were complete failures, others made amazing colors. Overall it was quite the learning process, and something would definitely do again.

Our sample dyes

Blueberry blue (this takes a lot of time to get this blue)

Earthy green/brown using red onion skins and white vinegar. (Again time was the key) 

Some of the best results (curry/turmeric, blueberries, and turmeric/blueberry mix)

We ran so many tests that we ran out of eggs. So time to test the oven method for making "hard boiled" eggs. (325-350 degrees for 30 minutes) 

Not sure what the sweating of the oven eggs is, or why it's happening. 

From TL to BR
Beets w/ baking soda, Red Cabbage w/ baking soda, orange puree, curry, raspberry, red onion, beets, beets w/ vinegar, beet greens, spinach w/ baking soda, spinach w/ vinegar, spinach, red cabbage w/ vinegar, red cabbage, red cabbage w/ tsp baking soda, red cabbage w/ tb baking soda, blackberries, ground red pepper (cayenne pepper), grape juice, yellow onion, turmeric, curry, blueberry, blueberry, mix of turmeric and blueberry 

Pumpkin pie

Apple pie

Sweet Italian Chicken

Prep Time: 5 min
Cook time: 1 hour plus 10 min rest time
Oven Temp: 350 Degrees or you can do this in a slow cooker on high  for 3-4 hours.


4 frozen chicken breast (if you are using thawed reduce the cook time by half)
1 cup Italian Dressing
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
4 oz pineapple
1 can cream of chicken soup


Place chicken breasts in cooking dish and cover with Italian dressing, brown sugar and pineapple


Bake for one hour let sit for about 10 min for the chicken to absorb the flavors


Remove chicken from pot and add cream of chicken soup to the broth to make a cream sauce.


you can serve over rice or with noodles.

Broccoli and Cheese slow cook Chicken

Prep Time: 5 min
Cook time: 4-8 hours
Serves: 4-6

4-5 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts frozen
2 cans Broccoli Cheese Condensed Soup (you can also use Cream of Chicken or Cream of Mushroom)
1 pkg dry Italian Dresing mix
1 Cup Sour Cream
Noodles or Cooked Rice

Place in the Slow Cooker the Chicken and Soup cook on high for a half day or on low for all day Do not add additional liquid.

When Chicken is cooked through take out and break into bite sized pieces and placed back in the Slow Cooker.

Add Sour cream and Italian Seasoning stir all together and cook for 15-20 more min to incorporate all the flavors.

Serve on noodles or rice.

Roasted Salmon with Lime and Cilantro

Ingredients

4 (6 ounce) fillets salmon, skin on

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro leaves 

Cooking Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Arrange salmon in a shallow baking pan. Season with salt and pepper. Roast until no longer pink in the middle and flaky, 10 to 13 minutes. Using a flat spatula, remove fillets, leaving skin on the baking sheet.

In a small bowl, whisk together lime juice, soy sauce, and sugar; fold in cilantro. Spoon sauce over fish, and serve.

Yield: 4 servings

Baby Back Ribs with Jammy Glaze

Prep Time: 20 min.

Cook Time: 1 hr. 20 min.

Ingredients

4 racks baby back pork ribs

3 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon coarse salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 (10 ounce) jar seedless blackberry jam

1/4 cup ketchup

1 tablespoon steak sauce

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons hot sauce, or more to taste

Cooking Directions

Arrange the oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with foil and arrange the rib racks, meaty side up.

Stir together the chili powder, salt and pepper and rub the mixture all over the ribs. Cover the ribs snugly with foil and bake on the upper shelf of the oven for 30 minutes, then move the ribs to the lower shelf and bake for 30 minutes more. Remove the foil and bake the ribs until fork-tender, 15 to 20 minutes more.

In a small saucepan, combine the jam, ketchup, steak sauce and vinegar. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the glaze comes to a boil, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the hot sauce.

Preheat the broiler. Pour off any melted fat from the baking sheets to prevent flare-ups. Brush the glaze on the ribs and broil 6 to 8 inches from the heat source until crisp, about 2 minutes. Slice the racks into individual ribs.

Yield: 4 servings

Quick Fettuccine Cacciatore

Prep Time: 5 min.

Cook Time: -

Serves: 4 

Ingredients

8 ounces fettuccine, uncooked

2 teaspoons oil

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

1 cup green pepper strips

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained

1/4 cup KRAFT Zesty Italian Dressing

1/2 cup KRAFT Shredded Italian Mozzarella/Parmesan Cheese Blend

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

  

Cooking Directions:

Cook pasta as directed on package.

Meanwhile, heat oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook and stir until no longer pink. Add peppers and mushrooms; cook 3 min., stirring occasionally. Stir in tomatoes with their liquid and the dressing. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 5 min. or until chicken is cooked through.

Drain pasta. Toss pasta with the chicken mixture; sprinkle with cheese and basil.

Yield: 4 servings

Still Hungry?

This tomato-based pasta is made hearty with chicken and topped with a delicious blend of Italian cheeses. It's a guaranteed family pleaser.

Notes:

Flavor Boost

Add 1 cup drained pitted ripe olives along with the tomatoes.

Substitute: You can use 4 cups of any of your favorite pasta shapes in this recipe.

Spinach Noodles with Potatoes, Green Beans and Pesto

From Miavita

Relax with a quick-to-fix pasta dish typical of the Italian Riviera. Serve with grilled shrimp or fish; fresh figs.

Ingredients

3 or 4 small new potatoes, scrubbed and diced

6oz. green beans, trimmed and cut into short lengths

12oz. spinach fettuccine

1/4 cup prepared basil pesto

1 medium vine-ripened tomato, seeded and diced

Preparation Cook: under 30 minutes

1. Cook potatoes for 2 minutes in a large pot of boiling salted water.

2. Add green beans and fettuccine to the pot. Cook until fettuccine is al dente. Drain and toss with pesto.

3. Serve in shallow bowls with diced tomatoes on top.

Nutritional Analysis

Number of Servings: 4