Italian Sausage-Vegetable Soup

SLOW COOKER! That's right. Another slow cooker recipe.

The Recipe:
1/2 lb. bulk Italian pork sausage
1 cup sliced carrots
1 large baking potato, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cans ready-to-serve beef broth (141/2 oz. each)
1 can garbanzo beans or chick peas, drained (15 oz.)
1 can chunky tomatoes, undrained (141/2 oz.)
11/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1 bay leaf
1 cup julienne-cut zucchini
grated Parmesan cheese

1. In large skillet, brown sausage; drain. In 31/2 to 4-quart Crockery Pot, combine cooked sausage and all remaining ingredients except zucchini and cheese; stir gently to mix.

2. Cover; cook on low setting for 7 to 9 hours.

3. Remove bay leaf.

4. Gently stir in zucchini. Cover and cook an additional 30 minutes or until zucchini is tender.

5. To serve, ladle soup into bowls and sprinkle with cheese

My Experience:
Easy. Yummy. Need I say more?

I would actually put more carrots next time since I love carrots.

Careful when serving, the chick peas sink to the bottom. Make sure to scoop them out.

Makes 7-8 servings

The Ratings:
Joelle's rating: 6/10
My rating: 7/10

Snack-ies

Now none of this is actually cooked by me. But it's just some suggestions for pre-meal time snacks that I know my family enjoys.



So in this picture we have:

1. Pumpernickel bread to go with some spinach dip (one of these days I'll try homemade spinach dip).

2. Bagel Chips and roasted garlic hummus (I also heard hummus is easy to make and cheap too! That will be coming soon).

3. Veggie platter with Heluva Good Dip (love this brand of dip! good with ripple chips or tostitos)

4. Tostitos and salsa! (once again, could make own salsa but I'm not a huge salsa person personally... others can enjoy!)

6. Deviled eggs (my FAVORITE!!!!)


So yea, some of this you could make homemade, which I plan on doing for some in the near future! So keep your eyes peeled for some new blogs.

Roasted Garlic and Feta Dip

Yummy. I saw the recipe on the side of my cracker box and realized I had all the ingredients in the fridge so I made some :)

The Recipe:
1 cup sour cream
1 cup feta cheese
2 tbsp roasted garlic
2 tbsp black olives, chopped
2 tbsp roasted red pepper, diced
1 tbsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste

1. To roast garlic, drizzle 1 tsp of olive oil over head of garlic and wrap in foil. Bake at 400F for approximately 1 hour or until soft

2. In a food processor, blend sour cream, crumbled feta and roasted garlic until smooth

3. Stir in black olives, red pepper and oregano

4. Season with salt and pepper to taste

5. Serve with Rosemary & Olive Oil Crispy Baguettes Omega-3 (yea yea... promoting)

My Experience:
Well it's a simple dip to make. Makes a little more dishes since there is a food processor involved but oh well. And I LOVE garlic so I added more than the recommended amounts (and I was lazy and used minced garlic... next time I will actually roast it. Don't judge me, I was hungry). But yea, good if you like feta and garlic which I do.

The Ratings:
My rating: 8/10

Springtime Tortilla Roll-Ups

So it's not Spring but I saw this sandwich type thing and thought it looked really yummy...


The Recipe:
For the herb spread
1 package whipped cream cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons minced fresh dill
2 green onions, chopped
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

For the tortilla roll-ups
8 flour tortillas
8 romaine leaves
1 small zucchini, julienned
1 red pepper, halved, seeded and julienned
1 yellow pepper, halved, seeded and julienned
2 small carrots, peeled and julienned

1. In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, parsley, dill, green onions, salt and pepper. Lightly spread some cream cheese mixture over the tortillas.

2. Layer romaine leaves, zucchini, some pepper strips and carrots on top.

3. Roll the filled tortillas up tightly.

4. Wrap the roll-up tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.

5. Slice the tortillas, on an angle, into 1-inch strips.

My Experience:
These are a nice little snack. If you don't like the peppers or any other kind of the vegetables, I also had these sandwiches with just julienned cucumber.

I didn't use fresh parsley and dill, I cheated and used the bottled stuff. Still works :)

You can also add or vary the fillings with: alfalfa sprouts, strips of roasted pepper, very thin slices of ham, turkey or roast beef, strips of green onions, thin strips of cheese, sprigs of parsley.

The spread on it's own with crackers like melba toast or something is pretty good too if you have left overs.

The Ratings:
My rating: 9/10

Lemon Meringue Pie

MY FAVORITE! I love me some lemon pie :) There was no way I was not making a lemon meringue pie for Thanksgiving!!!

The Recipe:
1 box of Shirriff Lemon Pie Filling
2 eggs
1/3 cup cold water
2 cups boiling water
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup sugar

Filling

1. In a saucepan mix 2 slightly beaten egg yolks and 1/3 cup cold water with contents of one pouch.

2. Add 2 cups boiling water.

3. Cook over medium heat (not higher); stirring constantly.

4. When bubbles first break the surface, continue to boil and stir for 30 seconds.

5. Remove from heat and stir in 1 tbsp butter.



6. Cool 5 minutes, stirring twice. Pour into BAKED, cooled 9" pie shell (baking instructions are on pie shell package...)



Meringue

1. Beat 2 egg whites until soft peaks form.

2. Gradually beat in 1/4 cup sugar until stiff peaks form.

3. Top pie with meringue and bake at 350F until golden, about 12 minutes.

4. Cool before serving.



My Experience:
So tip: make sure you keep the egg white and yolk separate. If there is any yellow in the whites for the meringue... IT WONT WORK!! Make sure you use an egg separator or be really careful.

Any left over lemon filling is also good just on its own as a pudding type snack.

The Ratings:
Papa's rating: 10/10
Nannie's rating: 9/10
Dad's rating: 10/10 (also Dad's favorite)
Kathie's rating: 8/10
Bill's rating: 9/10
My rating: 10/10

Pumpkin Pie

Well I think it's about to time I start to post my thanksgiving recipes. I wanted to start with the most important thanksgiving dish in my family... the pumpkin pie. And no, it's not homemade. I basically followed the recipe on the side of the pumpkin can.

The Recipe:
2 eggs
1/2 can (28 oz/796 mL) E.D.SMITH® PURE PUMPKIN
1 cup (250 mL) packed brown sugar
1 tsp (5 mL) ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp (2 mL) ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp (1 mL) ground ginger
1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt
3/4 cup (175 mL) evaporated milk
1 (9-inch/23 cm) unbaked home-made or frozen deep dish pie shell

1. Beat eggs lightly in medium bowl.

2. Add E.D.SMITH® PURE PUMPKIN, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt - stir until well combined. Blend in milk.



3. Pour filling in pie shell.





4. Bake at 425ºF (220ºC) 15 minutes.

5. Reduce oven temperature to 350ºF (180ºC) and continue baking 30-35 minutes longer or until knife inserted in centre comes out clean.

6. Cool.



My Experience:
Yummy pie. Of course we (and by we I mean my Aunt Kathie) also made homemade whipped cream by using whipping cream and sugar. Tip: put the mixing beaters and bowl in the freezer. Supposedly it whips better? Ps: check out this site for a similar recipe http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/cooking/ht/whippedcream.htm

I actually made a larger sized pie so I multiplied the recipe by 1/2 and grandma is just going to use the left over pumpkin to make muffins or something.

I just used a pre-made pie shell. Didn't have time for that much effort. Maybe I'll try another time.

And unfortunately I kind of burnt the edges of the crust :( Mom said it didn't matter because she doesn't eat the crust anyways. This happened probably because I had to cook longer than expected since the pie was larger and the filling hadn't finished cooking. So I would suggest sticking to the original recipe. Maybe that will work better...

The Ratings:
Mom's rating: 9/10
Kathie's rating: 9/10
My rating: 9/10

(the whipped cream got a unanimous 10/10!)

Apple Sauce

I went apple picking on the weekend with some friends and came home with mass amounts of apples and had to do something with them! With some of them, I made apple sauce :) IN THE SLOW COOKER! Man I love the slow cooker.

The Recipe:
4 apples - peeled, cored and chopped
3/4 cup water (or apple juice)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. In a saucepan, combine apples, water, sugar, and cinnamon.
2. Cover, and cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, or until apples are soft.
3. Allow to cool, then mash with a fork or potato masher.

OR

1. Combine apples, water, sugar, and cinnamon in slow cooker.
2. Cook on high for 2-3 hours.

My Experience:
So I went with the slow cooker version (obviously!). But I also doubled the recipe and instead cooked it for about 4 hours. I just checked the apples after 4 hours and they seemed mushy enough to me.

I also used apple juice instead of water. I saw it in a different recipe. I don't know if it was because of the apple juice or not, but it honestly looked too liquidy when I first started mashing. BUT after allowing it to chill in the fridge overnight, it was less liquidy.

For the sugar quantity. I think it totally depends on A) your tastes and B) the kind of apples you use. If you use a sweeter apple, you don't need so much sugar. If you use a sour apple, you might want more. I, personally, like sugar so I stuck to the recipe.

Turned out really good and I would love to try it next with strawberries or something else in with the apples to give it that extra flavour :)

The Ratings:
My rating: 10/10

Homemade Pizza

I made my very first homemade pizza. Dough, sauce and all! Rather exciting stuff... some things I would do differently in the future but I will explain that later.

The Recipe:
The Dough
1 cup of warm water (105F)
3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 teaspoons of honey
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of yeast

1. Put warm water (80 to 110°F) into a bowl. Add salt and honey and mix with a spoon. Add yeast, mix and let it sit for about 10 minutes.

2. Gradually add flour and olive oil and start mixing.

3. When the mixture gets too heavy to mix, start kneading the dough with your hands.

4. Knead the dough until you have a smooth ball. If the dough cracks it is too dry. Add water bit by bit until if forms a nice coherent ball. If your dough feels more like batter, it is too wet and you need to add flour bit by bit. If you need to add water or flour, do it by small amounts.

5. Coat the dough with olive oil, place it in a large bowl and cover it with kitchen wrap or a grocery bag. Let the doug rise for about an hour at room temperature, then push it down again so it deflates. Let it sit for about another hour. If you want to use it the next day, put it in a refrigerator.



6. Put the dough on a lightly floured surface, put a bit of flour on top and make it into the shape of a pie by stretching it out from the center outwards. Use a rolling pin until the dough is about 1/4" thick. Punch some holes in the dough with a fork to let the air escape while the pizza is in the oven.



7. Put on your pizza sauce of choice (my homemade version below).

8. Put on your favorite pizza toppings.



9. Bake the pizza in you oven at 400 - 450° F for about 20 to 25 minutes until the crust is light brown.



The Sauce
1. 28 oz. of can crushed tomatoes
3 oz. of tomato paste
4 tbsps. Pecorino Romano
1 tsp Oregano
2 tbsps. minced fresh garlic
1 tbsp. black pepper
3 tsps. of sugar
2 teaspoons of dried basil

1. Whisk all together.

2. Allow flavors to blend for one hour before using.

My Experience:
First of all, next time I will make 2 small pizzas rather than one HUMONGOUS crust medium pizza. Clearly there was too much dough lol! Don't judge me lol.



I chose to make stuffed crust pizza because clearly that is the only way it should be done. Very simple. Stretch the dough out a little larger than the pan, sprinkle cheese around the edge, fold over.



Pizza toppings are really as you like. We had cheese, pepperoni, onion, green pepper, mushrooms, and bacon.

And just a side note, the pizza sauce makes more than is needed. BUT it is a really good pasta sauce to finish off the leftovers.

The Ratings:
Joelle's rating: 9/10 she said she would have given it a 10 had it not been for the 2 inch crust
My rating: 9/10 (the crust was a little much...)