Pasta de fagioli

Don't let the fancy name scare you. It really is a simple soup. It's a copy cat recipe from Olive Garden. The soup my husband calls "chili" when he orders it at Olive Garden. 

I decided to bring Olive Garden home tonight. Not that I watched an Olive Garden commercial and was craving their food or anything. Commercials didn't get me til' now. Oh, boy.

The classic question you are asked once your food is set in front of you.

"Would you like fresh grated Parmesan on that?"

"Okay, tell me when."

You never know if you are to say "stop" or "when".

The pile starts to mound... "when!", you exclaim.

Then you guiltlessly eat a mountain of melted cheese.

Recipe link here.

I used sausage instead of ground beef and added more tomato

juice and less pasta. Go easy on the salt since sausage is seasoned.

Revised recipe below. 

Pasta de fagioli

1 pound sausage
1 small onion, diced (1 cup)
1 large carrot, julienned (1 cup)
3 stalks celery, chopped (1 cup)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes
1 15-ounce can red kidney beans (with liquid)
1 15-ounce can great northern beans (with liquid)
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
1 Qt. tomato juice
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/3 pound (1/3 pkg.) ditali pasta

Brown the sausage in a large saucepan or pot over medium heat.
Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic and saute for 10 minutes.
Add remaining ingredients, except pasta, and simmer for 1 hour.
About 50 minutes into the simmering, in another pan cook the pasta for 10 minutes or just until pasta is al dente, or slightly tough. Drain.  

Add the pasta to the large pot of soup. 

Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes more and serve.

Recipe by Todd Wilbur

Enjoy,

Hope 

News!

We are overjoyed to say the least.

Yes, there was a recipe drought for this reason.

I am just now enjoying cooking again!

Praising Our Great Creator,

Hope and Josh

Barn Sale Sneak Peek

Today was a delightful way to start fall- with a community event such as the barn sale. There were a lot of vendors this year so it would be hard to post a photo of everyone- so I thought I would share a few photos of our booth.

Happy fall!

Hope

Barn Sale 2013

I am excited to be a vendor this year 

at the Perennial Favorites Barn Sale!

I will be sharing a booth with my fellow friend, Amy.

We will be offering...

Caramel apples.

Hand crafted cutting boards. Made by us.
I still have all my fingers! My husband is a patient teacher.

Along with homemade cookies and other fall treats!

I hope to see you there!

Hope

A Chicken & Bacon Sandwich

I was at work trying to decide what to make for supper. Alice Springs Chicken from Outback Steakhouse came to mind. Josh had a softball game at 7:00- so I decided to create a sandwich out of my idea.

The cast of characters.

 The characters stacked together to create bountiful flavors.

Chicken & Bacon Sandwich

Chicken Breast

Bacon

Cheese

a nice bread of your choice, toasted  

Tomatoes, lettuce and onion

Honey mustard sauce

Honey Mustard Sauce

3 Tbsp. mayo

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 tsp. regular mustard

2 Tbsp. honey

1 shake of red pepper

a pinch of salt

Drizzle your chicken breast with lemon juice and sprinkle with seasoned

salt and pepper. Heat up a skillet with a couple tablespoons of butter.

Place chicken in skillet and keep a low/medium heat so it can cook through

without drying out. Don't flip until the meat is 2/3 done. You can see it turn from pink to white as it gets done. I have learned how to pan fry 

chicken breast without them being bone dry. 

If you do it right it can be quite juicy!

When your chicken is done top with a slice of cheese so it can melt.

Cook your bacon as you wish, I usually broil mine in the oven. Less mess!

Mix together honey mustard sauce and set aside.

When things are getting close to done- butter your bread and lightly toast it.

Mine wasn't so lightly toasted.

Assemble your cast of characters and secure with a toothpick.

I used the honey mustard as mayo.

Enjoy!

Hope

 

Labor Day

After a busy weekend- today was a wonderful day to be Labor Day. I helped host a Kinfolk Workshop on Saturday, for a documentation go here.

This afternoon I headed to mom's to hang out with my sister and her two boys. We made apple turnovers, cucumber boats and created picture collages out of magazine photos. To top all of that- we headed to cook out for the evening. Did somebody say work tomorrow?

Boys can bake too.

This boy melts my heart.

Many hands make light work, you know. Not to mention the mess.

Cucumber boat launch.

The second meal this weekend cooked by the campfire cooking master, Chris.

What he does is an art. Art comes in all kinds of ways.

How was your Labor Day?

Hope

Chicken Pot Pie

I discovered while indexing my recipes that this recipe somehow was not viewable on my blog. It was posted long ago- but disappeared through thin air. Thankfully, I had it saved, so here it is again. It's a favorite of mine and is great for fall when the cooler weather comes.

I consider chicken pot pie a comfort food. Something about flaky crust filled with warm, savory filling is comforting.

So if you want to be comforted here is the solution.

Cook veggies in a pot with the chicken until soft.

Then set aside while you make the sauce.

Once sauce is thickened return veggie mixture to pan and stir.

 While the filling is cooking make your pie dough and

have the pie crust ready to fill.

Roll out the rest of the pie dough and cover your pie.

Make several small slits in the top for the steam to escape.

I had little dough and filling left over so I made these little guys.

 Just thought you would like to see the mess behind a recipe I post.

Ready to enjoy.

Comfort food for you.

Chicken Pot Pie

Crust

  2 cups of flour

2/3 cup Crisco plus 2 Tbsp

1 tsp. salt, rounded

5-6 Tbsp. cold water

Filling

8 chicken thighs- cubed

1 cup diced carrots

1 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup diced celery

3 Tbsp. butter

Sprinkle with seasoned salt and pepper.

4 Tbsp. butter

1 medium onion, sliced thin

1/3 cup flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 3/4 cup chicken broth

2/3 cup cream

Mix together flour and salt. Cut in Crisco and mix with hands

until crumbly. Add water and knead until dough sticks together.

Roll out half for the pie bottom and use the

remaining dough for the top. Use a 10 inch pie pan.

In a saucepan combine butter, chicken, carrots and celery. Sprinkle 
with seasoned salt and pepper. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until carrots 
are soft and chicken is done. Add peas and cook for a 5 minutes- 
don't overcook or peas will get mushy and loose their color. 
Set mixture aside.

Melt butter and add onion, cook until onion is soft. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Slowly stir in chicken broth and cream. Simmer until thick.

Add vegetable mixture and stir until combined.

Fill pie crust with filling, you may have a little left over

to eat plain or fill 2 mini pies. Cover the top with your other

rolled out crust and seal the edges. Cut away excess dough.

Make several small slits in the top so steam can escape.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Cool 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy,

Hope

p.s. Just curious if anyone uses this recipe? 
I wonder how many of my recipes have disappeared.