Italian minestrone soup {packed with vegetables}

 

  On these long cold winter days I cant help but crave a big pot of hot soup and fresh loaf of bread from the oven. After surviving the last few months of morning sickness and refusing all food but cereal, I am now (at 19 weeks) just coming back around to the idea of cooking meals for myself and family. I was really craving a bowl of minestrone soup from Olive Garden, but since it's a bit of a drive I decided to stay cozy at home and make my own. This soup is really easy to make, it can be done quickly in a pot on the stovetop or over several hours slowly in the crockpot. I really enjoyed making it because it took very little effort to toss everything into the pot and go. That gave me an extra minute to make delicious batch of my favorite french bread in a flash.  

 

 

 Italian Minestrone Soup  

Recipe source: Emmy in her Element    

Inspired by food network

 

Ingredients:

4 cups beef stock

2 cups water

2 teaspoons dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon ground thyme

2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed

2 cans 14.5 oz petite diced tomatoes

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

2 cups spinach torn

1 cup zucchini in bite sized pieces

1 cup chopped carrots

1 cup diced celery

1 cup diced sweet onion

1 1/3 cups mini shell pasta

Salt and pepper to taste

Shredded parmesan or Romano cheese to garnish.

 

For crockpot:

Add beef stock, water, tomatoes, herbs, sugar, garlic, carrots, onion and celery to a crockpot on high heat for about 3 hours or low heat for 5-6 hours. Add beans, spinach, pasta shells and zucchini in last 30-40 minutes to soften. Remove bay leaves before serving. Serve warm and garnish with cheese.

 

For Stovetop:

Sauté carrots, onion and celery in butter or olive oil until onion is tender. Add stock, water, tomatoes, herbs, sugar, garlic and salt and pepper. About 20 minutes before serving, add beans, spinach, pasta shells and zucchini on medium heat just until zucchini is cooked through and spinach is wilted. Then let set on low heat until served. Remove bay leaves before serving. Garnish with cheese.

 

 Variations:

 

Add meat:  I think this soup would be amazing with Italian sausage. Just pan cook sausage until cooked through and add to pot of soup.

 

Vegetarian: If you would like this soup to be completely vegetarian, exchange vegetable stock straight across for the beef stock.

 

Gluten Free: Simply exchange pasta shells for gluten free pasta.

 

  

Creamy broccoli medley

 

 

Recipe: Creamy Broccoli cheese medley

Recipe source: Emmy in her Element

 

Grandma's Best Chili

 

Fact of life: Any recipe starting with the word "Grandma's" is always sure to be tasty. Grandmas are like little treasures that hold the secrets to a happy tummy. They just have a magic hand for making comfort food that is classic and always tastes delicious!

Here is my little spin on my Grandma's Best Chili. I hope you like it, especially for a crisp cold fall evening. You can simmer it in a crockpot for hours, so it makes for a perfect no-fuss party food!  

Olive Garden Copycat: Breadsticks and Alfredo dipping sauce

At my bridal shower many years ago, someone gave me a recipe book called "Top Secret Restaurant Recipes". I was so excited to find several of my favorite meals in the book, but one in particular stood out to me... Olive Garden Alfredo sauce. Is it indulgent? Oh yes. Its full of heavy cream and butter with a little garlic.... translation? HEAVEN.   I also have a fun and simple breadstick recipe that tastes very similar to the olive garden breadsticks, especially with sprinkled with garlic salt and dipped in delicious Alfredo sauce. It takes a little bit of time, so its a great one to make ahead and freeze, or save for a rainy afternoon at home. Today I had both time and the right ingredients to try them together. I was so excited about the result, I had to share.  

 

Recipe:

{Alfredo dipping/pasta sauce}

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

2 cups of heavy cream

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

 

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the heavy cream, garlic powder, and pepper and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until thick.

When alfredo sauce has reached your desired thickness, add the parmesan cheese and stir in(sometimes I like to add a little corn starch to really thicken it up). Keep heated on low until ready to serve.

 

Pretty easy eh?? The best part is, it makes a whole pan full and you don't have to pay a spendy amount for a tiny bit in the restaurant~! You can relax on your own couch and enjoy!!

**You could also use this as a sauce to eat over linguini pasta with mini shrimp or chicken.**

   

   

Recipe:

{Olive Garden garlic breadsticks}

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons dry active yeast (I use SAF)

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon warm water

3 cups bread flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter

 

Topping:

2 tablespoons butter melted

1/2-1 teaspoon garlic salt

 

Dissolve the sugar, yeast and water in a small bowl and let it become frothy. Now with mixer on low, add salt melted butter. Now add 2 cups of flour. Mix until combined and swap your mixer out for your dough hook. Add remaining cup of flour and let the dough hook pull the dough for about 8-10 minutes.

If you don't have a stand mixer THAT'S OK! Knead dough on countertop by hand for 10 minutes. You should have a very smooth elastic dough.

Place dough in a covered container for about an hour, or until the dough has puffed up almost double in size. Once risen, dump dough onto countertop and with a sharp knife cut dough into equal pieces (as many or few as you want). I made 16. They were perfect size for my kiddos to grab. Roll out pieces into a breadstick shape  and place on a greased sheet pan. Let rise another 45-60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Bake the breadsticks for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

When you pull the breadsticks out of the oven, immediately spread with melted butter and sprinkle with garlic salt. Serve warm with Alfredo dipping sauce.

 

 

Healthy and delicious Chicken Lime soup

 

 

 I am excited to have a member of my family guest posting on my blog today. Her name is also Emily. She is an amazing mother, and she loves to cook for her family. Like all of us, she is busy searching for healthy recipes that still have flavor. She was kind enough to share this recipe with me, and now we want to share it with you. Happy cooking!

 



 

Hi, I'm Emily,  I'm so excited to share this recipe with you!
 I'm always looking for great healthy recipes I can whip together for my family and I'll be honest, sometimes it's just altering another recipe to be what I want :) With three kids, that all seem to be busy and growing, and a husband who is gone long hours working all day on his feet it's important that we can reconnect and relax at the dinner table. I generally opt for easy and fast dinners during the week, but I never sacrifice flavor! Like most moms I have limited time (and energy) by the end of the day so having my list of go-to dinner ideas is so handy! This one is on it ;) In our house you eat everything given to you before you can have seconds of anything and my kids know (the older ones) that I am not a cook to order chef ;) that being said, it's important to me that when my kids sit down to dinner or any other meal that they like what they see, smell and taste! I make an effort to make things fun at the table even if that means just getting to pick their own toppings; It makes them feel like they are choosing what's for dinner. A great little trick I'll keep up my sleeve as long as I can! I want to tell you why I love this recipe. It's fast, it's easy, it's inexpensive and most importantly it feeds a whole heap of people :) and with only 5 main ingredients how could you go wrong? One of my concerns when it comes to feeding my family is the quality of what I am giving them. That's why I love cooking! I know exactly what I'm putting into all of my dishes... Including the TLC! I hope this recipe makes it to your dinning table and that you have as much fun making and eating it as my family does! Many blessings from our kitchen to yours!

 

 

Recipe:{Main Ingredients}
10 C. Water 
12 tsp. Chicken bullion granules 
4 C. Shredded chicken
2 C. Salsa verde
1 1/2 cups Wild or brown rice
2 1/2 tsp. Ground cumin seed

{Optional Toppings}
Avocado
Cilantro
Lime 
Tortilla chips
Cheese
Tomato slices
Directions:

Place water and bullion granules in a 6qt soup pot and warm on low-med.
Heat some oil on med in a large skillet. Place three or four breasts in the oil making sure to flip over to cook fully. When chicken is done place one breast at a time on a cutting board and shred with two forks. Add chicken, salsa, rice and cumin to the broth and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover and reduce heat to low-med for 45 minutes. Garnish each bowl with toppings, cilantro and lime juice to taste (about 1/4 lime per bowl).

 

I was thankful Emily shared this recipe with me, my family loved it and I was actually able to freeze the left overs because it makes a large batch. I will save it for another night when I'm short on time. This soup is a fun change up to traditional soups we usually have. It is so tasty with all of the different toppings you can use, not to mention its ingredients are healthy!

Grandma's Chicken soup- A can't-beat classic

 

A few weeks after I brought home my first baby in November of 2009, I started to find myself sinking into the winter/postpartum blues a little. It was very gray outside, it was my first experience staying home full time so I was a little lonely, and to top it off my baby had a bad bout of colic. The days were fun with my new little one, but I would dread the nights as I knew they would bring lots of screaming from baby, and little to no rest for me.  It was pretty hard on my spirit and over time I found myself tired and unenthusiastic about things.

My Grandma and I have always been close, and she could sense something had changed about me. One evening she stopped by to visit, and I couldn't even answer the door because I didn't want to talk to anyone and I felt I wasn't keeping up with my home and looking the way I should. This was the day I realized I had to snap out of it. I couldn't even answer the door to my sweet Grandma? Isn't it silly how we feel like we have to be so perfect at all times....

Grandma called the next day, and offered to bring dinner. I was excited to have the evening off, and knew my husband would be gone to night class so I looked forward to having her and my Grandpa over to visit.

When Grandma walked in, She was holding her famous Peach Pie, and her delicious Chicken soup. Its different than any other chicken soup I have ever had, and I have to say it is one of the best old fashioned simple but so full of flavor dishes to exist.

Grandma always made this meal for me as a child. Mostly on a special date or when I got invited for a sleepover. As I enjoyed the delicious meal, I was instantly filled with comfort because I felt her love for me through the food she had made. She wasn't there to see if I had showered and done my hair, or cleaned my dishes or had all of the laundry folded. She was there to show me she cared about me. I believe sharing homemade food with others is a wonderful way to express love and bring people together.
-------------------------------

Now, one of my favorite things about Grandma is, she is NOT afraid of heavy cream, butter, whole milk or using fat in her cooking. It's what makes her dishes taste so amazing, and turns them into instant comfort food. I feel as long as we eat heavier meals in limitation, there is nothing wrong with a little extra butter. Good for the spirit right? Glad we agree on that.

 

Here is one of my favorite old school recipes, perfect for a rainy day or to share with someone not feeling quite their self. Hope you love and enjoy it the way I have. Happy cooking!

 

 

Recipe:
1 tablespoon of butter

2 chicken breasts, skin on and bone in (this is a MUST to get the best flavor)

5 cups of water

2 heaping teaspoons of "better than bouillon chicken base" or 3 Chicken bouillon crystals if that's what you have.

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 teaspoon ground thyme

3/4 cup chopped carrots

3/4 cup chopped celery

1 batch of Homemade egg noodles or 1 1/2 cups of your favorite egg noodles.

(Homemade egg noodles are so yummy, they cook up thick and chewy almost like having a little dumpling in your soup... so tasty!)

In a large pot on medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of butter. When butter is melted and pan is hot, add two chicken breasts and brown on both sides. Sprinkle with garlic powder, and onion powder.

Once chicken is browned, add 5 cups of water and chicken base or crystals. Add thyme and salt.

Stir and cover. Let simmer for just over an hour until chicken is tender and easy to shred.

Remove chicken from broth and let cool on cutting board. Strain broth into a bowl to remove any loose fat from chicken. Return broth to pan. You will notice that a lot of your water has evaporated through boiling the chicken. I usually add 3-4 cups of water back into my chicken broth to ensure that I have plenty of broth once soup is filled with chicken, veggies, and noodles.
You will need to add salt back into the broth as well. Try 1/2 teaspoon at a time until you get the flavor you want.

While chicken is cooling, make a quick batch of homemade noodles. (They are fast and easy!)

Bring broth up to a boil, and add noodles. Let boil for 15 minutes.

Add chicken back to pot, along with carrots and celery. Reduce heat and let simmer for another 15-20 minutes or until carrots test tender. Because the egg noodles are floured, they thicken the soup a bit. If you would like it even thicker, add a little cornstarch to boiling broth.

 

Serve with delicious homemade French Bread and you will think you have died and gone to comfort food heaven :)

 

Note: For GLUTEN FREE version, omit homemade egg noodles and add your own gluten free noodles. Chicken base is gluten free. Soup with cornstarch if desired.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go here to make French bread in a flash

 

 

xoxo

Homemade egg noodles... they're easier than you think!

 

 Today I woke up feeling a bit low on energy and like I might be catching the inevitable winter cold that we all take our turn enduring this time of year. After taking care of all of my Motherly responsibilities and getting my house in order, I decided I was going to make myself a nice warm pot of chicken soup and take some time to be lazy this evening. Homemade soup is easy, and Ill promise you one thing... it tastes 100,000,000 times better than canned or fast food soup.

You know what else is really easy to make? Homemade egg noodles to go with it. I swear there is nothing more delicious than biting into a tender homemade noodle that has soaked up all of the delicious flavor of your chicken broth.

 

I hope you will give it a try, I promise you will never go back to store bought again ;)

Here's to surviving the Christmas season, and ALL that comes with it!

 

Recipe:

2 eggs

2 tablespoons oil (olive or vegetable)

1 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons of water

2 cups all purpose flour

 

Mix together and knead on your countertop until dough is smooth and springy.

Roll out to about 1/8th inch thickness.

Make sure and sprinkle plenty of flour on your countertop. You don't want your noodles sticking!

Take a pizza cutter and cut small noodles (they will puff up in the soup so don't make them too big!)

 

Toss into boiling broth and let them boil for 30-40 minutes or until cooked through.

 

Note: I made 1/2 this dough recipe for my soup today that will serve 4 people and it is plenty! Make the recipe above for larger portions if necessary.



 

 

 

 

Would you like my recipe for the soup to try out your noodles? GO HERE

Broccoli cheese medley in a bread loaf

 

 

I am so excited to share this soup recipe. It is 100% mine and made totally from scratch. I love to cook and try new things. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't and my time and energy ends up in the trash.... but that's just part of the game :)

This time I feel like I have made something good enough worth sharing.

The soup is cheesy, creamy and full of vegetables. I hope you enjoy it!

 

First you will need to know how to make a roux. If you want to see a quick tutorial, look here.

 

 

My mom told me about this amazing little product, and it is so awesome. I like it way better than bouillon crystals and it is also gluten free. The chicken flavor is much stronger making for a more flavorful broth!

 

I filled a measuring bowl with 1 1/2 quarts of water. I added about 2 tablespoons of this chicken stock base. Mix it up and add it to your roux a little bit at a time, so that the broth stays thick. Now  mix in 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder and 1/2 teaspoon onion powder.

Note: if you have bouillon and home or chicken stock you can use that instead, I just love the flavor I get from this base.

Next I cut up some carrots and half of a sweet onion and sprinkled with salt and pepper. I sautéed them until they were tender.

 

 

Now for the broccoli. I used about 5 bunches (2 large and 3 small). You will want to leave them on the stem to make it easier to collect after they are done steaming.



 

Next plop them into a pot of shallow boiling salted water. You don't want to fully submerge them in the water because we want to keep them a little bit firm in the soup.

 

 

Steam them for about 5-7 minutes, or until the water turns a pretty green color and the broccoli is a really bright green. Strain them and set aside in a bowl.

 

After they have cooled enough to cut, set aside one of the large bunches and chop up the remaining broccoli. Add it to the broth along with the carrots and onions.

 

 

 Now, if I was cool and had an immersion blender (dear Santa I want an immersion blender for Christmas) I would use it here. But I don't, so instead I added the soup to a bowl and put it in the fridge until it cooled down a little. This step was necessary so that I can add it to my blender to chop it into finer pieces. CAUTION: if you try to add the soup while it is hot, the steam will pop the top of the blender off and you could get burned... don't try this just be patient and let it cool.

 

 

So after it was cool enough to blend, I added the soup and hit the "chop" button. I didn't want to puree it or blend it too much. I like that you can still see what veggies are in the soup and also keep it so it has some texture.

 

 

 

Now pour it back into your pot and turn on the heat to low. Slowly warm the soup back up and add in 1/2 cup of heavy cream and 3 cups of shredded cheddar cheese. Stir the cheese and it will slowly melt and blend into the broth. These ingredients will add a delectable richness to the soup. You will love it!

Remember that large bunch of broccoli we saved? Chop it into bigger pieces and add it to the soup. This will make for a great texture, creamy and smooth with all sizes of veggies.

 

 

 Now you can enjoy the soup plain or inside a bread loaf like this...

If you would like to follow my tutorial on bread bowls to go with your soup... look here

 

 

 

Hope you like it!

 

NOTE: If you want to make the soup GLUTEN FREE, you will need to void the roux and replace it with corn starch as your thickener. Also, make sure that your onion and garlic powder and cheese come from a gluten free producer.