Split Pea & Sausage Soup

Split pea soup used to be one of my favorites growing up.  Maybe it's because I got older or a certain soup company changed their recipe but I haven't really had it in a long, long time.  Despite their being sausage in this soup instead of ham, this brought back memories of growing up and the delicious soup that I made often.  I was also happy that I had just made the 6 quarts of chicken stock two weekends ago so I was able to thaw and use some of that for this soup.

Split Pea & Sausage Soup

2 1/4 cups green split peas, soaked overnight in water and drained
6 cups unsalted or low salt chicken stock
1# carrots, peeled and thin sliced
1 cup celery, thin sliced
2 bay leaves
2 cloves garlic, grated
1/2 pound smoked sausage, sliced with casing removed
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Place the chicken stock in a large soup kettle.  Add in drained split peas, carrots celery, bay leaves and grated garlic.  Cook over medium heat until the peas are tender. Remove the bay leaves.  Mash the peas in to soup or use an immersion blender.  Add in sausage slices.  Taste and then season accordingly.  

Blueberry Banana Bread

It was a great week for free items from the grocery store.  One of the items I received was 3 bananas.  That automatically means it's time to make my family recipe of banana bread.  I wanted to tweak the recipe just a bit to add in some blueberries that I had in the freezer.  It's nice to have a burst of blueberry in every bite.

Blueberry Banana Bread

1/3 cup butter, softened
2/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 3/4 cups flour
3 ripe bananas, mashed


1 cup frozen blueberries
1 tsp flour

Cream butter and sugar.  Add in eggs and mashed bananas.  Gradually add in dry ingredients.  Mix in the tsp of flour in the blueberries and stir until they are evenly coated so they don't sink to the bottom of your bread.  Gently fold the blueberries into the batter.  Bake for 75 minutes at 325° or until a toothpick comes out clean when stuck into the middle of the bread.

Italian Bread Crumbs

Bread crumbs are super easy to make and you can adapt them to have whatever herbs and seasonings that you like….plus there’s no preservatives.  I had a problem using full containers of them before I thought they were too old and just taking up valuable shelf space so I ended up tossing them.  I made these with Italian seasonings and am using them for pork and chicken.  Shown below is sirloin pork chops.

 

 

 

Italian Bread Crumbs

4 slices of bread – white or wheat

½ tsp parsley

¼ tsp freshly ground pepper

½ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp onion powder

¼ tsp oregano

¼ tsp thyme

1 ½ tsp salt

 

Place the bread on a baking sheet and place in over for  10 minutes at 325°.  Allow to cool.  Tear up the bread into smaller pieces and pulse until they are the size you want to use.  Add in the spices and herbs and pulse until blended.  Store extras in an airtight container.  

Orange Bread

Last week I started thinking about making an orange bread.  I have in the past but with cranberries in it.  I'm thankful I did buy oranges and orange juice since I ended up with a sinus cold and having the additional vitamin C hopefully is helping it to depart quickly.  In the recipe, you'll see plain yogurt.  You can also use a 5.3 oz container of Greek yogurt.  It's the perfect size and then you don't have to come up with ideas to use the rest of the container on (although it's great for chicken).

Orange Bread

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 large egg

1/3 cup plain yogurt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup orange juice

1 tsp orange zest

2 cups flour

Cream together butter and sugars.  Add in egg and yogurt.  Fold in the baking soda, salt and orange zest.  Gradually alternate stirring in the orange juice and flour.  Place mixture in a greased loaf pan.  Bake for 70 minutes at 350°.  Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan and placing on a cooling rack.  Allow to cool completely before icing.

Orange Icing

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tbsp orange juice

1/4 tsp orange zest

1 tsp milk

Stir together until all the powdered sugar is mixed in.  Drizzle over the bread and allow to harden for about 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

Chicken Broth & Homemade Noodles

It was insanely cold last weekend - 20's.  I had an organic chicken and vegetables to create my own broth.  I have containers frozen that will last me quite awhile (6 quarts worth) and I feel better about having my own verses a store bought one (even organic) since I can control the amount of salt per recipe that is added.  Plus it's so easy to make and I grew up on homemade broth.  I add in a little bit of salt and a few dashes of hot sauce for a perfect meal on a cold winters day.

Chicken Broth

1-3# chicken

6 quarts water

1 onion, cut in half

3 bay leaves

1# carrots, peeled

3 cloves garlic, smashed

3 stalks celery

1 tsp black peppercorns

Place all of the ingredients in a large kettle.  Bring to a simmer and keep at heat for 8 hours.  Remove the chicken and strain the rest of the liquid.  Cool down and place in the refrigerator.  After it has completely cooled (overnight), remove the excess fat.  Place the remainder into freezer sized containers.  If you keep some out, it will be good for 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

Homemade Noodles

Sift together -

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

Mix together in a small bowl -

1 large egg, beaten

3 tbsp milk

Pour egg mixture into the flour.  Mix together completely and place on a lightly floured surface.  Roll out the dough and let it stand for a half hour before cutting.  Cut into noodles to the size you want to use.  Spread out to dry on a lightly floured surface and let dry for at least an hour.  Drop into the broth and let cook for 10 minutes.

Sweet Roasted Carrots

Carrots are always a great vegetable. I saw my local grocery store was advertising organic rainbow carrots...actually it was full size carrots.  The reality was they were baby carrots and I'm not fond of the way they make them but there were some in the bag that I figured were really baby carrots so I went with them.  I've made honey roasted before and decided to add a hint of real maple syrup to these.

Sweet Roasted Carrots

1# carrots, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces

1 tbsp pure maple syrup

2 tbsp honey

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp salt

Mix maple syrup, honey and olive oil together.  Spread out the carrots on a non-stick foil lined baking pan.  Pour the syrup mixture over and move the carrots around the pan so all sides are coated.  Sprinkle salt on top.  Bake for 30 minutes at 350°, stirring at 15 minutes.

If you are wondering about how baby carrots are made...google it and how they are preserved.  It seems to wipe out any "organic" benefits.  

Caramel Apple Pizza

A delicious pizza that will make your home smell like cinnamon and apples.  I was up early baking so it was breakfast too....when it's -18 outside, it is acceptable to have dessert for breakfast.  Plus, I had the extra thin crust pizza dough leftover from the pizza last night to use and apples in the refrigerator.

Caramel Apple Pizza

3 apples, peeled and sliced
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp brown sugar, I used dark
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Cook in a large saucepan until the apple slices are tender

Topping 

1/2 cup brown sugar, I used dark
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, softened

Stir all the dry ingredients together.  Blend in the butter with a fork.

Pizza crust (makes 2) 

2 cups flour
1 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup canola oil

Place the warm water, honey and yeast in a large measuring cup and let sit for 10 minutes Put the flour and salt in a food processor with the chopping blade.  Pulse until mixed.  Add in the yeast mixture and pulse again until it's all incorporated into the flour.  Switch to run and pour in canola oil and let the dough knead in the machine.  Remove dough and place on a lightly floured surface.  Knead for a couple minutes.  Cut in half (one half can be frozen for later use within a month).  Let dough sit for about 30 minutes.  This will give you time to get the rest of your ingredients ready.  

Roll out the dough and place on your pizza stone or pan.  I used my cast iron pan.  Spoon out the apples evenly on top of the dough, leave the excess juices behind so your crust isn't soggy.   Sprinkle the topping evenly over the apples  Bake for 15 minutes at 400°.  Allow to cool slightly and drizzle caramel ice cream topping on top of the topping.

Buttermilk Chicken & Bacon Pizza

The temperature never got above 0 and there was a championship football game playing...odds of getting a pizza delivered in a reasonable amount of time wasn't looking good.  Luckily the refrigerator and pantry had all the ingredients for this delicious thin crust pizza.  The crust recipe is enough for 2 pizzas....you'll see what I created with the other crust tomorrow.  

Buttermilk Chicken & Bacon Pizza

1 chicken breast, sliced thin and marinated for 4 hours in 1/2 cup buttermilk                                 and 1/2 tsp hot sauce
4 slices of bacon, cooked, drained and crumbled
6 sun-dried tomatoes, drained and sliced thin


Pizza Sauce ~ enough for 2 pizzas and freezable

1 - 6 oz tomato paste
6 oz water
3 tbsp Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp Italian Seasonings
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
salt to taste

Mix together tomato paste and water in a medium sized pan.  Add in honey, garlic and spices and let simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.


Pizza crust (makes 2) 

2 cups flour
1 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup canola oil

Place the warm water, honey and yeast in a large measuring cup and let sit for 10 minutes Put the flour and salt in a food processor with the chopping blade.  Pulse until mixed.  Add in the yeast mixture and pulse again until it's all incorporated into the flour.  Switch to run and pour in canola oil and let the dough knead in the machine.  Remove dough and place on a lightly floured surface.  Knead for a couple minutes.  Cut in half (one half can be frozen for later use within a month).  Let dough sit for about 30 minutes.  This will give you time to get the rest of your ingredients ready.  Roll out the dough and place on your pizza stone or pan.

Cook chicken slices just until done...do not overcook since you'll also be baking them.  Top dough with sauce (as much as is your preference).  Evenly place the chicken slices, bacon, tomato on top.  Top with your favorite cheese.  I used a shredded 5 Italian cheese blend.  Bake for 15 minutes at 375°.

Toasted Farro

Occasionally a good salad is just what you need at the end of a long day.  I was going to use the remainder of my farro in another recipe I played with last weekend but it wasn't a good fit since I strayed away from my original plan.  I first thought about making homemade croutons for decided on using the farro for a topping.  If you're not familiar with farro, it's similar to barley and can be used in soups.  I've used it before as a topping to baked squash and mixed in with a corn and sweet potato dish.  

Toasted Farro

1/3 cup farro
1 cup water

Bring the water and farro to a soft boil, cover and allow to cook for 20 minutes.  Drain off any excess water and allow to dry. Add 1 tbsp butter to your pan and season with 1/8 tsp salt, 1/16 tsp freshly ground pepper and 1/16 tsp paprika.  Bring to a medium heat and toast the farro, stirring frequently.

I used as a salad topping also with grilled chicken, parmesan slivers and carrots

Pepper Jack Turkey Soup

The temperatures are about to drop.  Really drop.  Time to start making soups, stews and breads....winter comfort food (besides hotdish).  This recipe is so easy to put together that it makes it the perfect weeknight meal.  The flecks of jalapeno peppers are guaranteed to have you reaching for a tissue after having a bowl of this soup.

Pepper Jack Turkey Soup

2 cups cooked turkey, cut into small, bite-size pieces
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 1/2 cups 2% milk
8 oz Pepper Jack cheese
Salt to taste

Heat the broth and milk in a dutch oven or soup kettle.  Bring heat up to almost a boil and add in the turkey cheese. Stir and serve when cheese has melted  Season as needed.

Chicken & Brie Hotdish

Hotdish is the latest craze this winter on the food scene.  Anyone living in the upper midwest has already known this to be the ultimate winter comfort food.  Since I had lots of leftover brie, it was time to combine some of it with chicken and bacon (yes, I said bacon) into a delicious, creamy pasta creation.  I added a topping for a nice little crunch and to keep the pasta from drying out

Chicken & Brie Hotdish

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts cooked & diced
3 pieces bacon, cooked, drained and crumbled
6 oz brie, rind removed
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
2 cups milk
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 1/2 cups dry pasta of your choice, I used Vesuvio

Topping ~

1 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
1/4 tsp paprika
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Melt butter in a large saucepan.  Stir in flour and cook for a minute.  Gradually and in milk.  Stir in brie and cook until it melts, stirring frequently.  Cook your pasta per the directions on the package.  Drain and stir into the sauce with the chicken, bacon and peas.  Pour into a grease baking dish, sprinkle the topping evenly over the top and bake for 30 minutes at 350°.