Pasta Bake Florentine

This recipe is right up there with lasagne in my book - delicious! This is from a new cookbook I got from my sister for Christmas (thanks, Chris!). My other sister, Lori, made this same recipe with chicken and said it was equally delicious. Change it how you want, and make it your own! Here's how I made it...

Pasta Bake Florentine

1 lb. ground beef

1/2 onion, minced

1 red pepper, chopped

1/2 pkg. mushrooms, chopped

salt & pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 jar pasta sauce

1 c. marinated artichokes, drained & chopped

10-oz. pkg. frozen spinach, thawed & drained (or fresh baby spinach)

8oz. pasta, cooked (penne, cavatappi, rotini, whatever...)

8oz. mozzarella, shredded

Brown ground beef and drain (if needed). Add onions, pepper, mushrooms, garlic, and salt & pepper. Saute a few minutes until veggies start to soften. Stir in artichokes, spinach, and pasta sauce. Stir in cooked pasta. Transfer to a lightly greased casserole; sprinkle with cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 15-20 min. until heated through and cheese is melted.

*If you want to stretch this recipe out - add another 8oz. pasta and another jar of pasta sauce. This is REALLY good reheated with a little more pasta sauce!

Chicken Divan

One of the most easy, simple casseroles to throw together...what's not to love?! This makes a 8x8" pan, so if you have more than 3-4 to feed - double it to make a 9x13. Leftovers are equally delicious for lunch the next day.

Chicken Divan

2 large chicken breasts, cooked and cut in bite-sized pieces

2 bunches broccoli, steamed or cooked

1 can cream of celery, broccoli, or chicken soup

1/3 c. sour cream

1/2 t. garlic powder

1 T. onion, finely chopped or grated

1/4 t. season salt

1/2 c. shredded cheddar

1 T. butter, melted

2 T. bread crumbs (or stale white bread ground up)

Steam or boil your broccoli, drain and set aside. Cook chicken, cut in bite-sized pieces and set aside (or use leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken).

In large bowl, combine soup, sour cream, garlic powder, onion, season salt and chicken. Gently fold in the cooked broccoli. Spread into a greased 8x8" pan; sprinkle with cheese. Combine bread crumbs and melted butter and sprinkle over the top. Bake, uncovered at 400 for 15-20 minutes until bubbly and golden. Serve with a salad and some fresh bread and call it a day!

Chicken Soup

This recipe is a "cure-all". Whenever I have a cold or feeling run-down during the long winter...I make this and it always seems to help. This makes a large pot so you can freeze what's left, have it for lunch the rest of the week, or give some away. I hope you love this soup as much as we do!

Chicken Soup

1 T. extra-virgin olive oil

1 T. butter

1 small onion, minced

2-3 carrots, peeled and chopped

2-3 stalks celery, chopped

Fresh thyme

2 bay leaves

salt & pepper

2 quarts chicken stock (I use reduced sodium)

1 chicken boullion cube (or, I use a spoonful of "better than stock" in a jar by the broths/stocks/boullion cubes...you can get organic too)

3 c. water

1 rotisserie chicken, pick all the chicken off into bite-sized pieces

1 c. extra wide egg noodles

Drizzle olive oil in large soup pot and add butter over medium high heat. Add onions, carrots, and celery. Sprinkle with salt & pepper and stir until veggies start to soften. Add a few sprigs of fresh thyme (the whole thing) and bay leaves and saute a few more minutes. Add chicken stock, water, and boullion. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 30 minutes. Add chicken and egg noodles and simmer until noodles and veggies are all tender. Fish out the thyme sprigs and bay leaves and taste - add more salt & pepper if needed. Serve with a warm loaf of crusty bread.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

Is there anything better or more comforting after a long day on a cold night?! You could probably throw everything in a crock pot on low all day, too.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

32 oz. chicken broth

2 T. olive oil

2 T. butter

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 bag frozen broccoli

2-3 carrots, chopped

1 onion, minced

2 potatoes, peeled and chopped

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of celery soup

1 lb. Velveeta, cubed

Add olive oil and butter to a large soup pot. Add celery, carrots, and onion and saute until the veggies start to soften. Add potatoes and broccoli and saute a couple more minutes. Pour in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer for about 1 hour until all the veggies are very tender and soft. Add the cream of chicken and celery soup and velveeta cheese and simmer until everything is melted together. Use a hand held immersion blender, or in small batches in your blender until as smooth or chunky as you want it. Season with salt & pepper, if needed.

Optional: if you want a thinner consistancy, add milk at the end.

Happy Halloween!

Oreo Pumpkin Cheesecakes

24 whole Halloween Oreos

16 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 c. sugar

1 t. vanilla

1 c. pumpkin

2 eggs

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. nutmeg

4 T. flour

1 pinch salt

1 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325. Line 24 muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 oreo at the bottom of each muffin liner.

In large bowl, mix cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Add vanilla, pumpkin, and eggs and mix well. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, and salt and mix until smooth. Add a heaping spoonful of cheesecake batter over Oreos. Bake 20-25 minutes. Cool.

Once cheesecakes are cool, remove from muffin tin and remove paper wrapper. Microwave chocolate chips in 30 second increments, stirring until melted. Take a sandwich bag and spoon melted chocolate inside. Cut the very corner of the bag (a very small piece!), and pipe melted chocolate in circles on top of cheesecakes. Drag the end of a toothpick through the chocolate to create a spider's web look, starting at the center and dragging outward. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Apple Dumplings

A great weekend recipe...and well worth the effort!

Apple Dumplings

Sauce:

1 c. sugar

1 T. cornstarch

1 1/2 c. water

1/4 t. cinnamon

1/8 t. nutmeg

1/4 c. butter

Dumplings:

2 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

2/3 c. shortening

1/2 c. milk

6 Macintosh apples, peeled and cored

Additional sugar, cinnamon, and butter

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly butter a 9x13 pan.

Make sauce: Place sugar, cornstarch, water, cinnamon, nutmeg, and butter in a small pan. Bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

For Dumplings: Place flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl. Mix with fork. Cut-in shortening with pastry cutter or fork until well incorportated and crumbly. Add milk to bowl all at once and use fork just to moisten mixture (don't over mix).

Place dough on lightly floured surface and form into a ball. Roll out until large enough to cut 6 six-inch squares (to wrap your apples in). Note: You could probably stretch your dough if you have 7 or 8 apples.

Place one whole apple in the middle of a square, fill the core with a spoonful of sugar, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and a dollop of butter. Fold the corners of the pastry to the top center of each apple, and pinch together seams and cracks so apple is completely covered with crust. Place dumplings in pan and pour the sauce over all the dumplings. Sprinkle the tops with a little sugar and bake for 35-40 minutes. Serve WARM with vanilla ice cream!

French Onion Soup

You can definitely float the bread on top of your soup and cover the whole thing with cheese and place it under your broiler until golden and bubbly (like the restaurants do). This is my version...

French Onion Soup

1 stick butter

3 large onions, sliced thin

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

3 sprigs fresh thyme

1 c. red wine

3 T. flour

2 quarts beef broth

1 baguette, sliced

1/2 lb. Gruyere cheese, grated

salt & pepper

Melt butter in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and a sprinkle of salt & pepper. Cook until onions are very soft and caramelized, about 45 min or more. Add garlic, bay leaf, and thyme during that time and stir occasionally.

Add wine and scrape the bottom of the pan to de-glaze; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until most of the wine has evaporated. Dust onions with flour and stir about 1 minute (it will be very thick and pasty). Add beef broth and turn heat up to bring soup back to a simmer. Heat through and taste - add more salt & pepper if necessary.

Preheat broiler. Arrange baguette slices on baking sheet and brush with butter. Sprinkle cheese on bread and broil until bubbly and golden. Ladle soup into bowls and float the cheesy bread on top.

Variation: As in the picture, I've also made grilled cheese with gruyere and mozzarella cheese to dip in the soup!

Streusel-Topped Pumpkin Bread

Makes 2 loaves...very dense moist bread. Absolutely delicious with coffee in the morning, not to mention how wonderful your house will smell!

Streusel-Topped Pumpkin Bread

3/4 c. butter, softened

3/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. dark brown sugar

1 t. vanilla

4 eggs

2 1/2 c. pumpkin puree

3 c. flour

3 t. baking powder

3/4 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

1 1/2 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. ginger

1/4 t. allspice

1/4 t. nutmeg

1/8 t. cardamom

1/2 c. buttermilk

Topping:

1/4 c. butter, softened

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. oatmeal

1/4 c. flour

1 t. cinnamon

3 T. ground flax seed

1/4 c. chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour the bottom of two 8" loaf pans. To make topping, mix together all the topping ingredients with a fork or pastry cutter until combined and crumbly. A note about the flax seed: I realize this isn't a staple in every house and you could probably omit it. But if you buy a bag - I always have it in my refrigerator cause I love to add it to my oatmeal...it's rich in Omega 3s!

In large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugar and brown sugar. Add vanilla and eggs and mix well. Stir in pumpkin puree.

In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, and cardamom with fork. Add half the flour mix to the pumpkin mixture, blending well. Add in the buttermilk. Add remaining flour mix and beat lightly until smooth.

Pour batter evenly in the two loaf pans. Cover each with half of the streusel topping. Bake at 350 for 70-80 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Apple Slices

Depending on how much time you have - you can make your own crust, or use the Pillsbury pie crust that comes in a 2-pack. I was in a hurry and happen to have the Pillbury in my fridge, I just rolled it out a little thinner with a little flour and made it the size of my pan. Even though I prefer homeade crust (click here for a good recipe), it worked great. This is a MUST for Fall apple season!

Apple Slices

2 pack Pillsbury crust, unrolled and rolled out with a little flour

12 (more or less) apples - I mix macintosh and jonathon

1 1/2 c. sugar

1/2 t. salt

2 T. flour

1 t. cinnamon

4 T. butter, soft

1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

Milk or apple juice/cider

Peel, core and slice the apples and mix with 1 cup of sugar and 1/2 t. salt. Stir occasionally and let sit for about 1/2 hour until juicy.

In the meantime, roll out pie crust with a little flour (try not to handle a lot), and place in a rimmed baking sheet.

Sprinkle flour and cinnamon over apples and stir to combine. Pour into pie crust - you want the pan to be FULL. Dot the top with 2 T. butter cut in little pieces. Top apples with other pie crust and seal the edges with a fork. Pierce top of crust with fork a few times. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Cool.

Whisk together 2 T. butter, powdered sugar, and milk or apple juice/cider (a tablespoon at a time) until you have a drizzling consistancy. Drizzle over cooled slices. I like to keep these in the refrigerator.

Pepper Steak

This recipe is super easy comfort food. I've switched it up with chicken and used chicken stock - equally delicious!

Pepper Steak

2 lb. sirloin steak, trimmed of fat and sliced THIN

1 small onion, sliced thin

3 peppers, any color - sliced thin

2 T. soy sauce

1 t. garlic powder

3 c. beef stock/broth (I use low sodium)

3 T. cornstarch

salt & pepper

Drizzle some olive oil in a large skillet and heat over medium high. Add steak, sprinkle with salt & pepper and saute until brown. Remove steak & juices from pan and set aside.

Add a little more olive oil and add onions and peppers. Sprinkle with salt & pepper and saute until tender/crisp. Add beef back in and stir together with 2 cups of the beef stock. In small bowl, stir remaining 1 cup of beef stock with soy sauce, garlic powder, and cornstarch. Add to pan and heat through until thick and bubbly. Serve over rice.