Lasagna Soup

Tonight I wanted to fight this winter weather with a warm bowl of soup.  Lasagna soup is cheesy, simple, and delicious.  There are lots of good recipes out there, but I adapted mine from Paula Deen's "Tastes Like Lasagna" soup recipe.  Many subtractions and cheesy additions later, and you have my version.  Delicious with garlic cheese bread on the side.  Thanks, Paula!

Serves 8 to 10

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef
2 teaspoon oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon firmly packed brown sugar
32 oz. chicken stock
2 (14 oz) cans petite diced tomatoes
15 oz. can tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 oz. box of pasta (I used vegetable farfalle, but use whatever pasta you'd like)
1/2 cup grated parmigiano reggiano
8 oz. ricotta cheese
2 cups mozzarella, shredded

Directions
In a soup pot, brown your ground beef.  Drain well, and return to pan.  Stir in oregano, garlic, brown sugar, broth, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and salt.  My family doesn't enjoy chunks of tomatoes, so I blended my diced tomatoes in some of the chicken broth separately and added it in.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.  Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes to incorporate all of the flavors.  Add noodles, and return soup to boiling until noodles are tender.  (I actually boiled my pasta in some chicken broth and added it to the soup to save time, but most recipes just say to cook the noodles in the soup.  Do what works for you.)  Return soup to simmering once the noodles are tender and heat while you prepare your garlic bread and cheese topping.

While the soup is simmering, mix up your three cheeses in a bowl and stir together.  Put a generous spoonful in the bottom of each bowl, then ladle the hot soup on top.  Sprinkle soup with shredded mozzarella and serve with piping hot garlic bread.

This turned out great!  Enjoy a new twist on an old classic and warm your winter bones from the inside out.

Mushroom Risotto

Risotto is one of my favorite side dishes.  Its ooey, gooey, cheesy goodness is the ultimate in comfort food.  Fortunately, it's fairly easy to make, with patience and lots of stirring.  Tonight I decided to add mushrooms, and it was delicious with our chicken cooked on the grill.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

32 oz. chicken stock

2 tablespoons butter

8 ounces mushrooms, sliced thin (I used button and cremini)

2 cloves garlic (minced)

1 cup arborio rice

1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano (grated)

salt to taste

Directions

Bring chicken stock to a boil in a sauce pan, then simmer on low.

Melt the butter in a separate pan over medium heat.

Add fresh mushrooms and saute until they turn tender, about 10 minutes.

Add the minced garlic and saute about one minutes, stirring throughout.

Add the arborio rice and toast about 2 minutes, stirring constantly until it begins to become translucent.

Start adding stock to the rice mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until it is has been absorbed.  As it begins to look dry, stir in another 1/2 cup of stock.  This is where the patience comes into play. Find yourself a good book, or fire up your iPod, because you are going to need to be by the pan stirring in the liquid.

As the risotto absorbs the liquid, it get tender and sticky.  After the chicken stock is fully added, you should have a pan full of soft rice that is ready for the cheese.

Add the grated parmesan and stir until it has melted throughout.  

Season with salt to taste.

Grate more parmesan over the bowls when serving if you want an extra kick of cheese.

This was so good, and it was delicious with the grilled chicken.  A couple of tweaks for next time: chop the mushrooms smaller and thinner.  The whole family gave it rave reviews and it was simple enough to do anytime.

What additions do you love in your risotto?  Post in the comments so I can steal some good ideas.

Braided Spaghetti Bread

I kept seeing a recipe for braided spaghetti bread on Pinterest, courtesy of Rhodesbread.com, and it looked delicious.  I'm not a huge fan of spaghetti but the rest of the family likes it so I thought it would be good to give it a try.  This is one the whole family can enjoy, even the non-spaghetti lovers like me.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 loaf Rhodes bread dough, thawed

6 ounces spaghetti, cooked

1 cup thick spaghetti sauce (my husband makes ours)

1 lb lean ground beef, browned and added to sauce

8 ounces mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 egg white, beaten

Parmesan cheese

Garlic powder

Instructions

1.  Let loaf thaw to room temperature 1-2 hours, lightly covered.  

2.  Spray counter lightly with non-stick cooking spray, or use parchment paper.  Roll loaf into a 12x16 inch rectangle.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rest 10-15 minutes.  

3.  Brown ground beef and drain,  setting aside.  

4.  Cook spaghetti according to package instructions.  Drain and return to pan, letting cool slightly.  

5.  Heat sauce in saucepan over medium heat and add ground beef.  When bubbly, pour sauce over spaghetti and stir until incorporated.  

6.  Place spaghetti mixture in a 4 inch strip down the center of dough.  

7.  Top with cheese cubes.  

8.  Make cuts 1 1/2 inches apart on the long sides of the dough to within 1/2 inch of the filling.  

9.  Begin braid by folding top and bottom strips towards filling.  Braid strips left over right, then right over left, until you reach the end.  Finish by pulling the last strip over and tucking under the braid.  

10.  Slide dough carefully on the parchment paper onto a cookie sheet, or lift braid carefully with both hands to transfer to the sprayed cookie sheet if you did not use the parchment paper.  The paper made it much easier.  

11.  Brush with egg white and grate parmesan cheese on the top.  Sprinkle with garlic powder.

12.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool slightly and slice to serve.

Apple Pie Enchiladas

These delicious, easy apple pie enchiladas will be a hit with your family.  Bake them while you enjoy the chicken enchiladas with green chile sour cream sauce.   Best served warm.  There are hundreds of versions of this recipe floating around the internet, but I adapted this one from allrecipes.com.

Serves 8

Ingredients
1 can (21 ounces) apple pie filling
8 flour tortillas
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2/3 cup butter
2/3 cup white sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup water

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease an 8x8 baking dish.
2.  Spoon about one heaping quarter cup of pie filling evenly down the center of each tortilla.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.  Roll up, tucking in edges, and place in prepared dish, seam side down.
3.  In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and water.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes.  Pour sauce over enchiladas and let stand 15 minutes.
4.  Bake in preheated oven 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Serve warm.  Very delicious when served ala mode with vanilla ice cream.

Chicken Enchiladas with Green Chile Sour Cream Sauce

Tonight we are trying a new recipe I found on FoodGawker courtesy of letsdishrecipes.com for chicken enchiladas with green chile sour cream sauce, with my picky modifications, as usual.

It was very easy and the whole family enjoyed it.

Serves 4

Ingredients

8 soft flour tortillas, taco size

2 cups shredded colby jack cheese

2 cups shredded chicken (we used rotisserie chicken to save time)

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup sour cream

4 oz mild green chiles, drained

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grease a 9x13 pan.

3.  Mix shredded chicken and 1 cup cheese.  Roll up in tortillas and place in pan seam side down.

4.  In a sauce pan, melt butter.  Stir in flour and cook 1 minute.  Add broth and whisk until smooth.  Heat over medium heat until thick and bubbly.

5.  Stir in sour cream and chilies.  DO NOT BOIL!  Very important so you don't curdle the sour cream.    Be patient.

6.  Pour over enchiladas and top with remaining cheese.

7.  Bake 20 minutes, then under high broil for 3 minutes to brown the cheese.

This was a hit.  So creamy and cheesy.  It would definitely be a good dish to bring to potlucks.  Serve it with apple pie enchiladas for a sweet ending to your meal.

Try it with your additions and post your ideas in the comments.

Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup with Bacon

Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup with Bacon

Ah, soup!  As I have shared before on this blog, I love soup.  I love soup any day of the year.  I also love bacon, rice, and chicken.  Tonight's delicious offering came from PinchofYum.com with my picky modifications and omissions, and I offer my sincere thanks for the perfect storm of flavors.

Prep time: 30 minutes        Cook time: 1 hour (give or take)

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 3 (10¾ oz) cans condensed chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup uncooked wild rice, rinsed
• ½ cup butter
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 2 cups half and half (but I used whole milk)
• 1½ cup cubed or shredded cooked chicken (we used a rotisserie chicken to save time)
• 8 slices bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled (I baked mine in the oven)

Instructions

In a large saucepan, combine chicken broth and water. Add wild rice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 30-45 minutes (or until rice is tender). Once the rice is cooked, there will be some additional broth – do not drain.

Wild rice mix simmering in the chicken broth

In a medium saucepan, melt butter and stir in flour, salt, and seasoning. I mixed my flour, salt and seasoning together first and then slowly added it to my melted butter.  Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly, until smooth and bubbly.  Mine was very thick.

Gradually stir in half and half with the butter/flour mixture and cook until slightly thickened, stirring constantly.  Keep the heat medium and keep stirring.  Mine got a little lumpy.

Add this creamy mixture back into the saucepan with the rice/broth. Add the chicken and bacon. Heat on low, stirring every once in a while, for at least a half an hour. Do not boil. The mixture may look thin, but the longer you heat the soup, the more the flavors blend and the more it will thicken. 

Serve with warm rolls for delicious meal.  

New Year's Day Ham and Beans with Cornbread

Time for another delicious soup!  This was my first attempt at ham and beans and I'm surprised to say it came out excellent. My husband usually cooks all of the delicious things we eat, including this, but he went golfing for the day.  He put the beans to soak for me before he left so I tried to do it on my own.  It was even better the next day!

This is just a traditional ham and bean soup recipe that you can find anywhere.  Feel free to modify it to your tastes.  I saw many recipes that included vegetables, but that wasn't happening in my soup.  No how, no way.

Serves 10

Ingredients

1 pound of navy beans (or great northern beans) 

8 cups of chicken stock 

1 ham bone or ham hock

2 cups diced ham

Instructions
Make any cornbread mix to serve with the soup.  There are many out there, but my family prefers a sweeter honey cornbread mix.  

Eating ham and beans soup is a New Year's Day tradition.  It is supposed to bring you luck all year long if you eat ham and beans on New Year's Day.  I love it with cornbread crumbled up in it, but you can serve it without, or on the side if you prefer.

To prepare the beans, spread them out on a cookie sheet and check for small stones. Remove any small stones and broken or discolored beans.  Rinse the beans under cool running water to wash.  Soak the beans for at least 6 hours or overnight by placing the beans in a bowl and covering with cool water. 


**If you don't have that much time, you can try the quick soak method. Place the beans in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Then cover tightly and remove from the heat. Let rest for one hour. Or use canned beans, but I prefer the long soak method. 
Discard the water regardless of which method you choose.

Once the beans are prepared, they are ready for your soup.
1. Prepare the beans by your preferred method listed above.
2. In a stockpot, add the chicken stock and the ham bone or ham hock and the diced ham. 
3. Add the beans to the soup. 
4. Simmer for 60 minutes.  Beans are ready when they are soft to the tooth.
5. Remove the ham bone.  If you are using a ham hock, remove it from the soup and remove the meat from the bone. Add the meat from the bone to the soup. 
7. Season to your own taste with salt and/or pepper.  Definitely taste it first, because it was nearly perfect on its own.


Enjoy your good luck for the remainder of the year.  Happy 2013!