Zuppa Toscana

If you love the Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana soup, you'll LOVE this recipe.  It's just like it and so delicious.  Disclaimer here - this is definitely NOT one of the healthy dishes I usually make... it is a splurge and I'm fully aware of that.  But its worth it!!  Sooo good.

Sorry it's orange - I now realize I should have warmed up the soup before I photographed it.  (But to my defense, there were people waiting for me and I had a baby sleeping on me in a front pack while I took the picture.)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. Italian sausage (or half regular, half turkey sausage)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ cup apple juice to deglaze the pan
• ½ tsp. red pepper flakes
• 2 russett potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch chunks
• 2 cups fresh kale, chopped
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 2.5 cups water
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Place a large stockpot or Dutch oven on the stove over medium heat.  Crumble the sausage into the pan and cook until well browned.  Remove the cooked sausage from the pot with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl; set aside.  
2. Add the chopped onion to the pan and sauté until tender, about 5-7 minutes.  Add the garlic and red pepper flakes to the pan and cook for a minute more, just until fragrant.  
3. Add the juice to the pot and stir, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen any browned bits.  Add the potatoes, kale, chicken broth and water to the pot.   Return the sausage to the pot.  
4. Increase the heat to medium-high, bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer on medium-low.  
5. Cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork-tender and cooked through.  
6. Stir in the heavy cream and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve immediately.

I'm telling you - totally delicious.  Happy Eating!

Green Chilies Casserole

This is one of our Grover (Mom's side) family favorites, given to us by my Aunt Jen.  Its super easy (as I like it), meatless (which I like doing every once in awhile) and of course, delicious!  This one's a keeper.

I made it last year for St. Patrick's Day, along with GREEN beans, a GREEN salad and GREEN jello, which is what the picture is from.

Green Chili's Casserole
Jen Grover

Ingredients

• 12 Corn Tortillas
• 1 can cream soup (cream of anything)
• 1 small can green chilies
• 1 soup can of milk
• 1 pound grated cheese
• Sometimes I DO want to beef it up a little so I'll add shredded chicken and corn.  If I do that, I'll add an extra can of green chilies to beef the flavor up with the extra stuff added.  You may need to play with the milk amount to reach your desired consistency if you do this.

Process

1. Grease either a casserole dish, or a 9x11 pan.  
2. Mix soup, chilies and milk.  
3. Soften tortillas in hot water.  
4. Put a little soup mix in the bottom of the pan to keep the food from sticking.  
5. Layer tortillas, cheese, [chicken and corn] and soup mix until dish is full.  
6. Bake at 375 degrees for one hour. 

Serves approx. 6 adults.

Another nice thing about this recipe is that the ingredients are things you usually have in your kitchen anyway.  Great perk!

Happy Eating!

Mom's Easy Lasagna

So this recipe should have been up first on this blog... its the favorite of just about everybody in our family.  But I hadn't made it until the other day, so here it is now.  Seriously... the best lasagna you'll ever have.  And easy too.  (Always a plus.)  Only 5 ingredients!  But yeah, amazingly good.  Its my mom's recipe and people can't get enough of it when she makes it.  Its a treat in my house.  Oh, and did I mention its delicious??  :)

Mom's Easy Lasagna

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of ground hamburger 
• 1 pkg. noodles - Lasagna (I only use about half of the package.  That's all that will fit in the layering.)
• 1 lg. pkg. Mozzarella Cheese 
• 1 lg. tub of cottage Cheese 
• 2 bottles of Prego Marinera sauce (Hum... I've only been using one bottle... I didn't realize I should be using two!)

Process:

1. Cook the noodles.
2. Cook hamburger and season with seasoning salt to taste.  (My mom says: I like lots of pepper and parsley.)
3. Layer a thin coating of sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 12 pan. 
4. Mix remaining hamburger with sauce.
5. Layer in a 9x13 casserole:
1. Noodles
2. Hamburger sauce
3. Cottage cheese
4. Mozzarella 
6. Make about three layers, ending with noodles and sauce and Mozzarella.
7. Bake for 30 minutes in 400 degrees.
8. Serve with sweet white corn, french bread and a salad. 

Prepare for your taste buds to dance.  Mmm...

Happy Eating!

Wheat Thin Appetizers

I made these in a snap out of stuff we had already and they were super-simple and pretty and of course, tasty.  I just took some Wheat Thins and melted a little square of cheese (any kind of chesses would work - play around here) on them, then stuck a ham cube (other kinds of meat would work here as well... play) on top when the cheese was still soft, then stuck on a tiny piece of something green, just for the pretty factor.  Anything could work here too... play!  Way simple and there are so many options... just use stuff you already have (that's what I mostly do!)

Happy Eating!

Peanut Butter Banana Ritz

Well, this one's pretty self-explanatory by the title, but I just love the snack idea.  While most of you probably already do this, I just thought of it, so I thought maybe someone else hadn't thought of it yet.  And I'm always looking for healthy snack ideas to keep things interesting (mostly for me... I get bored easily), so I figured I'd share the idea.

I love the combination of peanut butter and banana, and I love the combination of peanut butter and Ritz.  (Even though I don't really buy Ritz anymore and they're more of a treat now...)  So the combination of peanut butter, banana and Ritz is awesome!  Give it a try!

Happy Eating!

Potato and Double Corn Chowder

Sadly, once again, no picture, but this was requested so here it is.  This recipe is soo simple and soo delicious.  Its made in the crock pot and its fabulous for relief society and ward dinners, etc.  Its pretty much a dump-soup and you can't beat that!

Potato and Double Corn Chowder

6 Servings

Ingredients: 

• 1 bag (16 oz) frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed (4 cups)
• 1 can (15 ¼ oz) whole kernel corn, undrained
• 1 can (14 ¾ oz) cream-style corn
• 1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk (I used fat free)
• 1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 C) (quick tip: use frozen chopped onion)
• 8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (quick tip: use a bag of bacon pieces from salad section of store) (I’ve also had great success using cut up ham instead of bacon.  Can also use leftover cut up cooked turkey or chicken)
• ½ t salt
• ½ t Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ t pepper

 Process:

1. Mix all ingredients in 3 ½ to 6 quart slow cooker.
2. Cover and cook on low heat for 6-8 hours; high 3-4 hours to develop flavors.

 Source: From Betty Crocker’s Slow Cooker Cookbook

You won't be disapointed.  Happy Eating!

"Cafe Rio" Pork (Pulled Pork)

I was typing this up for some friends, so I thought I'd post it here instead (since this IS what I created the blog for!)

This recipe is A-MAZING... seriously.  A bit tedious removing the fat, but sooo worth it.  This stuff is delicious, you seriously won't be able to get enough.  My Grandma Marlene's made it for a group I was in and I just couldn't stop eating it!

I know this is pretty popular right now, so sorry for the repeat if you already know about this little gem, but some of my friends hadn't had it, so here it is girls!

(Unfortunately I'm not quite in the habit of always taking pictures of stuff I make yet because I forget about the blog, so I don't have a picture.  But I'll add one next time I make it.

We've done this full Cafe Rio style, as well as my Grandma Marlene's modified style, as well as just with tacos - and even very simple tacos with just corn and black beans on tortillas.  This is so full of flavor that you don't need much else really.

It's amazing with the Lime-Cilantro Rice and Creamy Tomatilla Dressing, which I make links out of later, but I'm just going to put the pork recipe up for now.  This stuff freezes really well too.  It makes a lot, so I've just put it in a few individual baggies and frozen it, and there's several days worth of dinners!

Cafe Rio Pork

Ingredients

• 4 lbs. pork roast (I use a pork shoulder)
• 1 1/2 cups salsa (My grandma told me just to use one tub of that fresh salsa)
• 1 can coke (the recipe says no diet.  I got the caffeine free coke, and it works just great.)
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1 t. salt

Procedure

• Put pork in crock pot and fill half way with water (I only put about a cup and a half in and it was fine.)  Cook roast on high for 5 hours.  (I just cooked it on low for 10 overnight.)  
• Drain off water.  Shred pork.
• Mix together other ingredients and put on top of pork (I just dump them all in and stir it up.)
• Cook an additional 3 hours on high.  Leave on low until ready to serve.

The original way to serve it: tortilla, then beans (black or pinto), rice, pork, chopped lettuce and dressing.  Garnish with shredded cheese, pico de gallo & guacamole.

The way my grandma serves it which is way simple and soo delicious: chips, then chopped lettuce, then pork then sour cream.  LOVE IT!

Source: not sure where I got this recipe... if its from you, please let me know!