Sausage, Potato and Spinach Soup

The one thing that doesn’t bum me out about the weather turning colder is that it’s officially soup season.  I can live off of chicken soup, but I have been trying recipes for other kinds to shake things up.  For the past couple days, I have had a craving for some kind of soup with little bits of crumbled sausage.  I don’t know where I had it, but I just kept thinking about it; went on Pinterest and found this recipe.  While I waited for Jim to get home, I took a little sample without the spinach and cream, and it’s REALLY good even without it.  Definitely a fabulous soup to warm your belly and your soul as the nights get colder!

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 lb. Italian sausage, casing removed
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, diced
• ½ tsp. dried oregano
• ½ tsp. dried basil
• ½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes, optional
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• (3) 14.5 oz. cans chicken broth
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 lb. red potatoes, diced
• ½ package of frozen cut spinach, defrosted
• ¼ cup heavy cream

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat.
2. Add Italian sausage and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the sausage as it cooks; drain excess fat, if any.
3. Stir in garlic, onion, oregano, basil and red pepper flakes.
4. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions have become translucent, about 2-3 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
5. Stir in chicken broth and bay leaf, and bring to a boil.
6. Add potatoes and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.
7. Stir in spinach, about 1-2 minutes.
8. Stir in heavy cream until heated through, about 1 minute
9. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
10. Serve immediately.

Modifications

• Original recipe called for spicy sausage – me and spicy is a hot night… my husband and spicy, not so much.  I went with regular Italian sausage (I won’t admit to the fact that the grocery store didn’t have it in stock anyway… really, I did it for my husband… I swear… oh, I did include the crushed red pepper.  I needed a LITTLE summin, and I actually thought it had a nice heat just as it was).
• The original recipe also called for 5 cups of chicken broth.  I had 14.5 oz cans of chicken broth and just used three, since I didn’t want to deal with measuring and saving anything over.  It doesn’t hurt anything.
• I also used regular potatoes and left the skins on… can’t tell the difference.
• I didn’t have fresh baby spinach, so I just used ½ a package of defrosted cut spinach.
• As I mentioned above, I took a small bowl tasting while I waited for my husband to come home.  I was waiting to add the spinach and cream since it says to serve immediately, and it tasted great without it, if you didn’t want to add the calories from the cream (according to the blog that I found this recipe, it’s only 330 calories per serving anyway).
• Personally, I didn’t think it needed any salt and pepper.

Adapted from the Damn Delicious blog

Skillet Egg, Potato, and Sausage

Happy Sunday!
When one wakes up closer to noon than not, what does one make – Brunch!

Today, it was just me and the hubby.  I had saved this recipe off Pinterest a few weeks back and I have been craving it since.  As we sat down to eat, the first tiny snow flurries of the season began to fall.  Someone tried to tell me it was just pine needles falling from the trees, however, when I know pine needles are not tiny, white and snowflake-like, he wasn’t fooling me!  At least I had a delicious comfort food to drown my sorrows.

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 package (12-16 oz) sausage links, cut into small bite sized chunks
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 potatoes, diced small
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 8 eggs, lightly beaten
• ½ cup milk
• ½ tsp. garlic powder
• Salt and ground pepper to taste
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Heat olive oil in a large cast-iron skillet over high heat on the stove.
3. Add the diced sausage, cooking for 4-5 minutes or until it is no longer pink.
4. Drain, leaving sausage in the skillet and add the potatoes, onions and red pepper.
5. In a medium bowl, mix together eggs, milk, garlic powder, and salt and pepper.
6. Pour egg mixture over potato mixture in the skillet.
7. Cover skillet with a lid, lower heat to medium-low and let cook for 10 minutes (don't stir it during this time).
8. Remove lid and continue to cook in the oven, for 10-15 minutes, or until egg mixture is set.
9. Remove skillet from the oven and sprinkle with cheese.
10. Let stand for a couple of minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Adapted from Six Sisters’ Stuff Blog

Grilled Chicken Caprese

We had Deb and Al over for dinner on Saturday night.  I didn’t know what to make, but as it got closer, inspiration just took off (well, thanks, of course, to Pinterest).  First, I started by searching for a recipe that was healthy, with fresh ingredients.  With our recent trip to Europe, and especially to Italy, and it being summer, this seemed the right way to go.  Immediately, recipes popped up saying caprese and I was salivating.  With our renewed love of tomatoes, basil, garlic and mozzarella, I came across this and new it was the perfect recipe!  It looks so “gourmet”, yet it is soooooooo simple!  I made a homemade pesto, used fresh mozzarella, the rain clouds cleared so I could grill out, and we had a perfect meal.  Catherine helped me with the meal prep, and we served with corn on the cob, rice pilaf, tomato garlic crustinis and sangria.  This is definitely a summer meal I want to make over and over! 

• 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 ½ cups zesty Italian salad dressing
• ¼  cup balsamic vinegar + a few tablespoons to drizzle later
• 6 Tbsp. pesto
• 2-3 ripe tomatoes, sliced
• 12 slices fresh mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Put chicken breasts into a large ziploc bag, pour in the Italian dressing and balsamic vinegar, and seal the bag, give everything a squish together and marinate in the fridge for a few hours.
2. Heat up grill to medium-high; grill the marinated chicken for about 6 minutes on each side (depending on the thickness of your chicken).
3. When the chicken is cooked almost all the way through, add a tablespoon of pesto onto each breast, followed by 1-2 slices of tomatoes, and 2 slices of mozzarella.
4. Reduce heat on the grill to low, close the lid and let them cook for another 4-5 minutes or until the cheese has melted a bit.
5. Drizzle the top of cheesy chicken with balsamic and remove from the grill.

The chicken, hot off the grill, before adding the drizzle of balsamic

Adapted from First Home Love Life Blog

Pesto

Pesto is just about the easiest thing to make if you have a food processor – dump all of the ingredients in the bowl, hit pulse for a couple minutes and VIOLA!   Done!  Yet… for some reason, I don’t make it more often.  I think it’s because, until recently, basil in bulk was pricey and hard to find.  Pesto was something my mom used to make – I don’t remember having it, but I know she loved it (I don’t think I was a fan when I was younger… but those taste buds of mine have matured a bit).  Now I love it too!  Until such time as our new basil plants get a little bigger, Market Basket helps me out by selling a big bag of basil and it’s not that expensive.

• ½ cup pine nuts
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 3 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
• ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan
• ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. In a food processor or blender, blend together basil, nuts, garlic, and cheese.
2. Pour in oil slowly while still mixing, and then add in salt and pepper.
3. Scrape down the sides and pulse once more to make sure it's well-blended.

Adapted from Gimme Some Oven Blog