Three Little Pigs Soup

As the name suggests, this soup has three types of pork in it. Of course, you can eliminate one or two of them but I think you'd loose some of the depth this soup has. Its everything a soup should be: hearty, earthy, thick, and bursting with layers of flavor.

I had my sister and her main squeeze over for dinner and they agreed by helping themselves to seconds. This was a great way to use up the leftover christmas ham (check the blog because that recipe was FANTASTIC and blows the national ham chain out of the water) and get in some fiber and warm up on a cold Ohio December day.

I served this with a very delicious homemade cornbread (recipe on the blog also). This particular cornbread is a bit sweet (but not overly sweet) to balance the smokiness of the soup.

You're welcome in advance!

Three Little Piggies Soup

6 slices of bacon, coursely chopped

3 links of mild italian sausage, cut into bite size pieces (casing removed)

Ham, chopped into small pieces (I used leftover, equivalent of about 4-6 spiral slices)

1 small white onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

1 28oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes

2 cans chicken broth (the normal size cans) I always use low sodium/low fat

1 chipotle pepper (with adobe sauce), chopped small

2 teaspoons cumin

3/4 teaspoons dried oregano

few dashes of smoked paprika

dash of dried minced onion

salt and pepper to taste

1) In a frying pan, cook the chopped bacon until it is crispy. Remove from the pan and put on a paper towel lined plate to remove excess grease. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the grease, discard the rest. 

2) In the reserved grease, add onion, garlic and italian sausage and cook until the sausage is done and the onions are not burnt.

3) Combine all the other ingredients into a stock pot and bring to a boil. Add in sausage/onion mixture and bacon.

4) Allow to boil for a short period of time, then reduce heat to medium low and allow soup to cook for 3-4 hours. Stir occasionally and adjust flavors as you see fit. I liked the smokiness that the adobe paste brought to the soup so I added a bit more while it was cooking. If you like less heat, remove the seeds from the pepper before adding it to the pot.

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Drunken Italian Confetti Noodles

Wow...I feel like I haven't posted anything for quite some time. I almost feel like I have abandoned the blog. It's been a pretty busy past couple of weeks, so I do apologize for the silence.

Two weeks ago, my local grocery store had their super meat sale that they do twice a year. Our tax return came in and we decided to buy a chest freezer and load up on meat products we eat on a regular basis to take advantage of the deep discounts. We stocked our new freezer with chicken, beef, sausage, frozen vegetables and much more!!! So excited!! (Does that age me? lol)

I stumbled across some inspiration on Pinterest for this recipe. I tweaked it to make it my own but didn't drift too far away from the original. I can't tell you how many times I've attempted to jazz up some noodles by adding vegetables or something else that sounded good and it just fell flat of the promise I thought the dish had. I was a little nervous that this recipe would do that too but there's not a recipe on my epic fail list that included wine. So I thought it was worth a shot. And I am so glad that I tried it because this dish was nothing short of delicious!! It was pretty easy to make, all the ingredients are something you should have on hand, and it didn't take all that long to come together! I encourage you to give it a whirl. On the site that I pulled the original recipe off of, the blogger said "Out with the “eh”, the “OK” and the “so-so”, and in with the “WOW!” and the vibrancy that is all around." This recipe embodies this quote!!

Drunken Italian Confetti Noodles

4 spicy italian sausage links, casings removed

1/2 medium sized white onion, sliced thinly

1 small red bell pepper, sliced thinly

1 small yellow bell pepper, sliced thinly

1 small orange bell pepper, sliced thinly

5 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup white wine (chardonnay)

1-28 oz can chopped tomatoes with juice (diced is fine too)

3-4 T flat leaf parsley, chopped

1/4 C fresh basil, confetti

8 oz Pappardelle noodles (or any other thick ribbon style noodle)

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

1 tsp. onion powder

3 tsp. dried oregano

1) Heat skillet on medium-high heat. Add sausage to pan and brown it. I like to leave mine in small to medium sized chunks, but this is a preference thing. Remove from the pan and let rest in a covered bowel.In the meantime, cook noodles according to package to al dente.

2) Reserve some drippings and return to heat. Add onion and cook for about 5-7 minutes. You want them to sautee and really start to become transparent.

3) Add salt, pepper and oregano to the onions. Add in the peppers and continue to cook for an additional 3-4 minutes.

4) Add in garlic and sautee for 3-4 minutes. Once it becomes aromatic, add in white wine to the pan. Allow to burn off, then add tomatoes to the pan. Add parsley and half the basil to the sauce.
5) Add sausage back to the pan to finish the cooking process. Cook for 4-6 minutes to blend all the flavors. Add a nice drizzle of olive oil to finish it off.

6) Drain your noodles once they are done cooking and return them to the large pot and reduce heat to medium.

7) When your sauce is done, pour it on top of the noodles in the large pot, gently toss with a pair of tongs.

8) To serve, garnish with a sprinkle of fresh basil.



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Sausage and Tortellini Soup

If I had to pick one soup and designate it as my absolute favorite, I think it would be a tie between this soup and French Onion Soup. But because my boyfriend is not a fan of French Onion Soup, I make this soup a lot. More than any other soup. As I build my blog, you'll notice that my soups are broth based. I believe that you can get a great soup without all the extra fat and calories and I love that wine is so easily used in soups and the flavor it adds is unbeatable. What I love most about this soup, besides its incredible flavor, is how easy it is.

I like a little bite to this soup so I use Italian hot sausage and sweet sausage. Feel free to use whichever fits your taste buds the best though.

Sausage and Tortellini Soup

(photo courtesy of all recipes.com)

1 lb. Italian sausage (sweet, mild or hot), casings removed (or you can use ground)

1 medium Vidalia Onion, roughly chopped

3 cloves Garlic, minced

6 cups beef broth

1 cup dry red wine (I use a dry Cab or shiraz)

4 cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes (I like to get ones seasoned with garlic or basil for more flavor)

(if you want to use fresh tomatoes, you'll need about 4 large tomatoes, seeded peeled and chopped)

1 cup sliced carrots

3-4 large basil leaves

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 - 8 ounce can tomato sauce

2 cups sliced zucchini

8-10 ounces of fresh tortellini (frozen or bagged work also)

1) In a stock pot, brown the sausage until cooked through. Remove sausage and reserve 2 tablespoons of grease from the sausage. Sauté onions and garlic in the drippings from the sausage.

2) Add beef stock, wine, tomatoes, carrots, basil (I make it look like confetti), oregano, tomato sauce and sausage to the onion mixture. Bring to a boil for about 20 minutes, then reduce to a simmer and allow it to simmer for 3-4 hours. (you can do less cooking time, I prefer my soups that get to sit in the pan for a while and get happy)

3) Stir in the zucchini and cook for another 30 minutes. Add tortellini during the last ten minutes. Garnish with freshly grated parmesan cheese

4) ENJOY!

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Lightened Up, Kicked up Baked Pasta

If you're like me, a simple pasta dish is always a great meal to have on deck for those busy week nights. But all too often for me, I have hopes of something being delicious and it falls short of my expectations. I adapted this recipe from one I saw on a recipe site that I frequent...a lot. It's probably considered stalking at this point lol. But it looked delicious and easy and I just needed to give it a try. From start to finish this dish took about 35-45 minutes (and most of that time was in the oven

The verdict: IT WAS AWESOME!!! It simply was awesome. And even better for leftovers the next day. And since its lightened up, you won't find yourself having to run 121 miles to burn it off. I hope you enjoy!!

Lightened Up, Kicked up Baked Pasta

 

1/4 C. Parmesan Cheese

8 oz. Fat Free Ricotta

8 oz Part Skim shredded Mozzarella Cheese

13 oz Hot Italian Sausage, casings removed

Box of high fiber Penne Pasta

Olive Oil

3 Cloves of Garlic, chopped

6-8 Cups fresh Kale, stems removed and roughly chopped

Salt and Pepper

1 1/2 jars of your favorite Marinara Sauce

1) Preheat your oven to 375 Degrees. Using your Misto (or favorite cooking spray), spray a glass casserole dish

2) Cook your noodles according to package directions, but remove 4 minutes before they would be Al Dente

3) In a medium bowl, combine together the Ricotta and half the mozzarella cheese and half of the parmesan cheese.

4) While your noodles are cooking, heat a deep skillet on medium high heat. Add the sausage and break up into rough pieces until it is cooked. Remove from pan and set aside. Using a little bit of the grease from the sausage, sauté the garlic for a minute or two. Add in the kale, season with salt and pepper and cook for another 8 minutes. If you use spinach you will only need to cook it for a minute or two. Add the sausage back into the pan and add the marinara sauce. Cook on low for about 5 minutes to incorporate all of these wonderful flavors.

5) Once the noodles are done, drain them and place half of them in the glass casserole dish. Use a little less than half of your sauce mixture and coat the noodles then top them with the ricotta mixture. Then add in the remainder of the noodles and use the rest of the sauce to coat those. Top with the remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheese that you set aside and cover with aluminum foil.

6) Bake for about 20 minutes, then remove the foil and bake another 8-10 minutes to melt the cheese.

When I serve this, I garnish it with a little bit more parmesan cheese and some red pepper flakes.



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