Creamy Italian Sausage Soup

This came from the land of Facebook and was soooo good. Notes from it when I made it: I tripled it so that we would have extra for us and extra to share. It did fine. I only did a rough chop on the spinach. I like bigger pieces of spinach, and I thought it did well. That mirepoix (carrots, onions and celery) needs a lot more than five minutes. Just cook until your onions start to get translucent. I put the Ditalini in like the recipe says though I saw that some people kept it separate and stirred it in as they served it so it wouldn't suck up all the juice in the fridge. Which it totally did but was still amazing. I don't want it not to take on any of the yummy broth flavor. So, not a big deal to me. 

Ingredients:

1 lb Italian sausage (turkey or chicken sausage as a pork alternative)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 medium carrots, sliced

2 celery stalks, chopped

4 cups chicken broth

1 cup Ditalini pasta

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 cups fresh spinach, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh parsley for garnish (optional)

Instructions:

Cook the Sausage:

In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the Italian sausage, breaking it into small crumbles, and cook until browned. Remove the sausage from the pot and set aside.

Sauté the Vegetables:

In the same pot, add diced onion, minced garlic, sliced carrots, and chopped celery. Sauté until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes.

Add Broth and Herbs:

Pour in the chicken broth, then stir in the oregano and basil. Bring the mixture to a boil.

Cook the Pasta:

Add the Ditalini pasta to the boiling broth. Cook for about 8 minutes, or until the pasta is tender but still firm.

Make it Creamy:

Lower the heat to medium. Stir in the cooked sausage, heavy cream, and grated Parmesan cheese. Simmer for 5 minutes, allowing the soup to thicken slightly.

Add Spinach:

Stir in the fresh spinach until it wilts into the soup. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve and Garnish with parsley if desired and parmesan.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction. Very simple and very creamy vanilla buttercream recipe. 

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 4 – 5 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• salt, to taste

1. With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add 4 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar, the heavy cream, and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to medium-high speed and beat for 2 full minutes. Taste. Add a pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet. I always add 1/8 teaspoon.
2. Adjust if needed: You can control the consistency at this point—add up to 1/2 cup more confectioners’ sugar if frosting is too thin or more heavy cream if frosting is too thick (add only 1 Tablespoon at a time, beat together, then taste and add more if desired).
3. Use immediately or cover tightly and store for up to 1 week in the refrigerator or up to 3 months in the freezer. After freezing, thaw in the refrigerator then beat the frosting on medium speed for a few seconds so it’s creamy again. After thawing or refrigerating, beating in a splash of heavy cream or milk will help thin the frosting out again, if needed.

Carrot Cake

I am not generally a fan of carrot cake because of the cream cheese frosting. These cakes were delicious, especially with all the mix-ins and the walnuts. This was a request for Abby's 17th birthday and was found on All-recipes with the most positive reviews. Frosting was one brick of cream cheese softened with one stick of softened butter, a teaspoon or two of vanilla and then enough powdered sugar, added in slowly, until I like the consistency. 

Ingredients

• 6 cups grated carrots

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 1 cup raisins

• 4 eggs

• 1 ½ cups white sugar

• 1 cup vegetable oil

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 cup crushed pineapple, drained

• 3 cups all-purpose flour

• 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Combine grated carrots and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Let sit for 1 hour, then stir in raisins.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 10-inch round cake pans.

3. Beat eggs in a large bowl until light. Gradually beat in white sugar, oil, and vanilla. Stir in pineapple. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl, then stir into egg mixture until absorbed. Stir in carrot mixture and walnuts. Pour evenly into the prepared pans.

4. Bake in the preheated oven until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before removing cake layers from the pans; let cool completely.

Peach Bundt Cake

 Trying to use up some peaches from our Peach Truck order and made this delightful cake from Spicy Perspective. This we will definitely make again. 

1 cup unsalted butter softened

2 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour divided

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 pound diced peaches fresh or frozen, with or without skins

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons heavy cream

1 tablespoon orange juice or pineapple juice

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan (10- to 15-cup pan.)

In a medium bowl, sift together 2 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the sour cream and vanilla. Mix until smooth.

Scrape the bowl, then slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture. Scrape the bowl again.

Toss the peaches with the remaining 1/4 cup of flour. Scoop a third of the batter into the Bundt pan, then sprinkle a third of the peaches on top. Repeat two more times with the remaining batter and peaches.

Place in the oven and reduce the temperature to 325 degrees F. Bake for 60-80 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool at least 20 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Once cooled whisk together the powdered sugar, heavy cream, and orange juice. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake.

Grandma Jackson's Pot Roast

 This is my Grandma Jackson's pot roast recipe. Absolutely the best pot roast I've ever had. Made only more special because it was hers. 

Chuck Roast

Potatoes

Carrots

Onions

Better than Bouillon or your favorite beef broth soup base

First, you will coat both side of your chuck with vegetable oil and a liberal amount of salt and pepper. Then, on medium heat, you are going to sear both sides of your chuck roast. Add your seared roast to your baking dish. Then add your beef broth or water/bouillon mix. For the water/bouillon mix, you add three spoonfuls for every four cups of water and mix well. Then pour this over your chuck. 

Cover with foil and cook for one hour at 375. 

Turn down to 275 and cook that puppy all day. You definitely need to have it in by noon if you're serving at dinner time. 

Add your vegetables to the baking dish. Cut your potatoes in quarters, long ways. I don't know why, but it makes a difference. Salt and pepper the veggies, leaving covered. Bake at 350 for an hour and then uncover for the last 15 minutes or so. 

It is important that you don't let the juice run dry. If you need to make up more of the broth mix, do it. 

Note on the Better than Bouillon. That is what my store had that was like what I was told to use. The original recipe called for a beef soup base from an Amish supply store, and I didn't have it on hand. But I've eaten it both ways and I think the taste is very similar, if not identical. 

Belgian Lemon Tea Cake

 I made this recipe for my last tea party and it was so good! So much lemon flavor in the curd filling with the cake on the bottom. Really good. This was a gluten free recipe or you can use regular flour. Recipe originally from itsnotcomplicatedrecipes.com

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 cup (150 g) self-raising flour I used Orgran Gluten Free SR Flour
• 1/2 cup (115 g) caster sugar super fine
• 1/4 cup (60 g) butter
• 1 large egg lightly beaten
• icing sugar/confectioners' sugar optional, for dusting

Filling

• 1/2 cup (120 ml) lemon juice strained
• 1/2 cup (115 g) caster sugar super fine
• 1 large egg lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup (60 g) butter chopped

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 180 Degrees C (350 F)

  Grease and line the base and sides of a 17cm/6.5” spring-form tin* with non-stick baking paper.
• Add flour, sugar, butter and lightly beaten egg to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade.

  Pulse until the mixture just starts to come together.

  Don’t process until the mixture forms a ball of dough, you want it to still be a little crumbly.

  Tip the mixture onto some cling wrap.
• Divide the mixture and gently press 2/3 into the base of the prepared tin, reserving the remaining 1/3.
• Make the lemon curd as per the instructions below. Pour the hot lemon curd onto the cake base.

  As evenly as possible, crumble the remaining mixture over the top of the curd.
• Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes.

  Remove from the oven and cool completely in the pan.
• Gently remove the side of the spring-form tin.

  Remove the baking paper, place the cake on a serving platter and dust the tea cake with icing/confectioners’ sugar.

  Lovely served on its own, or with a dollop of cream.

Lemon Curd Filling

• Place all filling ingredients in a saucepan.*
• Over a low heat, stir until the butter has melted and the curd thickens, just below boiling point.

  Don’t be tempted to use high heat to make the process quicker; you will end up with scrambled egg.

Broccoli Salad

 I have made some version of this salad for every holiday since I was a teenager. This is how it's ended. 

6 cups of broccoli, chopped small

1lb of bacon cooked crisp

1 red onion

1 box of raisins, golden or purple

3 ounces of sunflower seeds, roasted, hulled and salted

2 cups of mayo

1 cup of granulated sugar

4 tablespoons of white vinegar

Cut your broccoli, onion and bacon and put in bowl. Add the raisins and sunflower seeds. In a small bowl, mix the mayo, sugar and vinegar until the sugar has dissolved. Add to your broccoli bowl and mix until well coated. Chill. This is best made the day before, but keeps getting better.