Zuppa... Zuppa Tuscano...

Spicy Italian sausage... potatoes... bacon... Come on... What is not to love! I first fell in love with this soup at Olive Garden... I am not a fan of their salads so the waitress talked me into trying a soup... this is the one I chose...After the first bite my fate was sealed... I was in love with a soup... I had already started envisioning our future life together... laughing at family reunions... sitting around the dinner table with the family... special occasions (baby blessings & graduations)... it was like my life was finally complete...

After that first meal together it took a long time before we saw each other again... I thought for sure after spending so much time apart things would be different the next time... but no... we just picked up where we left off... it was as if no time had passed between our last rendezvous... When I left that night my mind was made... I would not rest until I found a way for us to be together...

I had tried many of times but everything kept falling through... Until one day... Christmas to be exact... I received a gift that made it possible to be together... a recipe book with the exact recipe I was looking for... Since that day we have enjoyed all the things I envisioned... I was not let down...

So here it is for all of you to try as well... Hopefully you too fall in love... But be warned it is addicting... and it gets better over time...

Zuppa Tuscano

1 lb spicy Italian sausage

1/2 lb smoked bacon, cooked and chopped

1 quart water

29 oz (2 14.5 oz cans) chicken broth

3 large potatoes, cleaned and chopped

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped (I am not an onion fan so I just put a teaspoon of onion powder)

2 cups kale, rinsed and chopped

1 cup heavy whipping cream

salt and pepper to taste

In a skillet brown the sausage, breaking it up as you cook it. Once meat is cooked all the way through drain it and rinse it well (if you do not rinse well the soup will turn red instead if the creamy white color). Cook the bacon in a skillet until fully cooked. drain the bacon and then chop it into small bite size pieces. Place water, broth, potatoes garlic and onion in soup pot and simmer until potatoes are tender. Add the sausage and bacon then simmer for 10 more minutes. Add the heavy cream, kale and salt and pepper. Heat through and then it is ready...

***FYI this soup tastes even better if it has had a while to sit... I usually will make it the night before whenever possible***

Dare I say it.... Shredded Beef!

I have always tried finding a decent shredded beef recipe so I could make shredded beef sandwiches... but they have always been too dry... or bland... or just plain Toss-it-in-the-trash-and-burn-the-recipe bad... So when I found this recipe I must say I was a little... ok a lot... skeptical. There were just so many things that made me nervous... first it uses no liquid of any type... second you don't have it sit in some marinade overnight... and third it cooks for 6-8 hours... so I was thinking... dry, bland and overcooked... but I read reviews and they all said the same... it was an amazing recipe one to keep in the family recipe book... blah blah blah... come on if so many people (3 lol) were giving it 5 star reviews it has to be good.... right?!

Well..... I tried it.... and.... yeah it was great... I dunno about 5 stars... but well up there... like 4.5 or something... if it was 5 stars I would have expected some fireworks or something to go off when I bit into the sandwich... **Note to self... Make for 4th of July**

Now I did not change anything in the recipe... so I am just going to put a link.... here ... for it. I would strongly suggest making it... BTW I just ate two sandwiches while typing this up... I told you I do not stick to the breakfast lunch and dinner guidelines. ;)

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Soup....

Yes Soup....

It has already started to snow so it is now officially soup weather in my book....

Though truth be told I could eat soup anytime of the year... I could eat most any food any time of the year... I do not like to box my food up in any way (well unless it is Chinese take-out) ... Hamburgers for breakfast... breakfast burrito for dinner... lunch works for anything really... I mean... is there really a strictly lunch category for others... I do not know....

But back to the soup... I fell in love with Chicken pot pie soup when I lived in Minnesota... This grocery store carried it and I used to get it quite often (multiple times a week to be honest)... I have never been able to find anything that tastes just like it... but this recipe comes very close to it so I have decided to post it for you all...

A last minute tidbit for you... It was not as thick (creamy) as I would have liked so keep in mind you might want to add more flour or some corn starch if you want it creamier...

*

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Adapted from recipe by Aaron McCargo Jr.

• 4 medium russet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 quarts water
• 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, split
• 1 tablespoon bouillon flavoring
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 small white onion, diced **I used dehydrated chopped onion**
• 2 stalks celery, diced **I omitted this from mine but used celery seeds for flavor**
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds frozen mixed vegetables
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Pinch sea salt (or Kosher)

Bring water to boil in large pot and add chicken bullion and let simmer until reduced by half.

Pan fry the chicken, onion and celery in butter and Italian seasoning until cooked all the way through.

Remove chicken and add flour mixing to make a roux. Pour the roux into the pot of chicken broth.

Also add the mixed veggies, chicken, heavy cream, potato pieces, salt and pepper. Simmer until potatoes are done, about 30 minutes.

I like to serve mine with buttery crackers or even biscuits... This helps to give it more of the pot pie flavor.

I will give it another go....

So many have asked why I have quit blogging in general... not just on my cooking one but on my personal blog... well let me shed some light on my cooking blog... I am really bad at taking pictures... What I mean is that as soon as I bake/cook my little yummy treats I always forget to take pictures before we eat them... Now I do not know if you all are like me but I need the picture to go along with the recipe... No one really wants to make/eat something that resembles a pile of poo... no matter how good it tastes... so here is my new resolution...

I WILL TAKE PICTURES OF MY TREATS/FOOD.....

I WILL POST ABOUT IT IF IT TASTES GOOD.....

I WILL DO ONE POST A WEEK.....

I WILL GIVE THIS ANOTHER GO!!!!!

**Please note this resolution does not apply to my personal blog... There I make no promises

Little Bits of Amazing!!!

What is it about Christmas music that makes cooking that much more enjoyable? I absolutely love to listen to music whenever I am cooking... but somehow when baking my thoughts seem to drift to Christmas music... Tis the season I guess!!!

Have you ever had a recipe that calls for you to melt a stick or more of butter... Well I was always the type who would just throw the whole stick in and swirl it around... all the while wondering why it is taking forever... Well my friends I have changed my ways... I now cut my butter in slices... like 4-6 slices per stick... now I do not have to wait for what seems like forever for my butter to melt... now I know this is something I should have known to do... but it never once occurred to me... I was to busy being impatient to rethink my process until ... well... now.

So I have been craving peanut butter cups lately... and I was searching and searching for just the right recipe... but was not finding one that called to me... so I put it on the back burner so to say. Well today I decided to resume my search and I found something that looked promising... but of course being me I had to do some tweaking... and I must say... I am not sure what the originals were supposed to taste like... but the ones I made are pretty freaking scrumptious!

So without further delay.....

Peanut Butter Cups

Ingredients:

1 cup creamy peanut butter

3/4 stick of butter

1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

1 1/4 cups crushed gingersnap cookies (fine crumb)

1 tsp vanilla
36 oz chocolate (milk chocolate or semi-sweet)

Approx 75 mini cupcake liners

Directions:

Melt butter and peanut butter in a saucepan. In a large bowl combine gingersnap crumbs and powdered sugar. Mix well. Add peanut butter mixture and vanilla to the crumb mixture. Mix well. **Just a note... this mixture might seem a bit crumbly... but it should cohere if you squeeze it in your hand!** Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. If no double boiler is available, use two saucepans, one on top of the other. Boil about 2” of water in the bottom pan. Put the chocolate in the top pan to melt. While chocolate is melting take your mini cupcake liners and place them on a large baking sheet. Once chocolate is melted use a spoon and place a little in each cup making sure to cover the whole bottom. Once all the liners have chocolate in them take the melted chocolate off the burner so you don't burn it. Then take about a teaspoon size scoop of the peanut butter mixture and using your palms roll it into a ball. Then take the ball and pat it into a small patty **it should be no bigger then the size of the cupcake liner** and place on top of the chocolate in the cupcake liner. While you are making the last few patties start to rewarm your chocolate. Once all cupcake liners have a peanut butter patty in them you can use your spoon to put chocolate over the top of the patties. Make sure to cover the patty all the way. Once you have covered them all slide your baking sheet with your liners into the fridge and cool for at least 30 minutes.

Word to the wise... these are amazing and addictive. I made and gave some out today and so far the feedback is that they were 9 out of 10 when using the semi sweet and 10 out of 10 when using the milk chocolate. As you can see this recipe makes quite a large batch, so they can be shared. Well hope you all have fun making these little bits of amazing... I know I did!

Have you ever had a pie that you really really loved... I L-O-V-E pumpkin pie... I have for a long time... years upon years... Sure there was a time I did not care for it... but I was a kid then... so I blame it on undeveloped taste buds. I mean... come on at that age I used to think it was perfectly fine to microwave a grilled cheese sandwich... not much grilling going on there!

Anyway... so I have a love for pumpkin pie. One day a few years back I discovered something else that was a nice addition to my pumpkin pie and it was gingersnap crust... yes it was a very welcome addition. I thought to myself... This is it... pumpkin pie can not get any better then with a gingersnap crust...

I was wrong... I was so so SO wrong! This past Thanksgiving I came across a recipe that sounded as if it could have a chance at being good. It was for Apple Butter Pumpkin pie... I thought... Why not... I will give it a whirl. Then it hit me...

Have you ever watched the cartoon bit where the person is walking and they step on a rake and it comes up and smacks them in the face... Whenever I say an idea hit me... That is what I think of... but that is neither here nor there... so back to the point...

It hit me... Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie with a Gingersnap crust! It sounded brilliant... So I took my two recipes... did a little tweaking of them to mesh them together and made the pie... We had it on Thanksgiving... I was a little worried about it... Would it be good... What if it was a disaster and no one would ever trust my cooking/baking again... Well I dished it out and.... oh yeah... you guessed it... It was a hit! So I figured... hey what a great recipe to open my new blog with... so here it is!

Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie W/ Gingersnap Crust

Ingredients for crust:

1 3/4 cups gingersnap cookie crumbs
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons white sugar

Ingredients for pie filling:
1 cup apple butter
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup evaporated milk

Directions for crust:

Preheat oven to 325F. Combine cookie crumbs, granulated sugar, and melted butter in a 9 inch pie pan. Press into sides. Bake for 8 minutes. Cool completely.

Directions for Pie:

Preheat oven to 425F. In a large bowl, combine the apple butter, pumpkin, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add eggs. Gradually beat in milk until smooth. Pour into prepared crust.
Bake at 425F for 35-40 minutes or until set. Cool on a wire rack.

**I have never found any store that sells gingersnap crumbs... so you will have to make your own... Now I have tried many different ways of crushing the cookies to make the crumbs myself... and I will tell you the EASY way... I know you will be tempted to use a blender... or some other mechanical doo-dad you have in your kitchen... but don't... All you need are two things... First a Ziplock Freezer bag (you want the gallon size freezer bag because it is big and thick... so the cookies don't rip the plastic) and second you will need a rolling pin. Now here is what you do... Put about 8-10 little cookies in the bag... take most of the air out... zip it shuts... give each cookies a good whack with the rolling pin to break it into smaller chunks... then take the rolling pin and roll the cookie bits out... it turns into a nice crumb... no big pieces at all... Once you have them all crumbled... put them in your measuring cup and grab a few more and do it again until you get the right amount for the recipe. :)

Well I hope you all enjoy this little recipe... I know I sure did! Also... Here are two pictures of the pie for your viewing pleasure... One with whipped cream for those who like it... and one with no whipped cream because sometimes there are a few freaks out there... like my brother... who don't like the stuff! ;)