Pasta Fagioli Soup

by penji1

A Cooking Light recipe, so good!  I should have doubled it so there would be more leftovers!

12 oz Sante Fe chicken sausage, halved lengthwise and sliced (such as Amy’s) (I used 14 oz of turkey sausage)

3 cups fat free, less sodium chicken broth (I used two 14 oz cans of chicken broth)

1/2 cup uncooked small seashell pasta (I used elbow macaroni)

2 cups coarsely chopped zucchini (about 2 small zucchini)

1 (14.5 oz) can stewed tomatoes, undrained

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 (15 oz) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1/3 cup (about 1 1/2 oz) shredded Asiago cheese (forgot all about the cheese!)

Heat a large saucepan over high heat.  Add sausage; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add broth and pasta; bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer 4 minutes.  Add zucchini and tomatoes; bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes.  Stir in basil, oregano and beans; cover and simmer 3 minutes or until pasta and zucchini are tender.  Sprinkle with cheese.

Yield 5 servings, 1 serving = 1 1/3 cups and about 319 calories

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Italian Vegetable Soup

by penji1

This is a really easy Taste of Home recipe.  I doubled it so that there would be plenty for lunches during the week.

2 (14 1/2 oz each) cans reduced sodium chicken or vegetable broth

1 medium potato, peeled and cubed

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium carrot, chopped

1 celery rib, chopped

1/2 cup frozen peas

1 bay leaf (didn’t have any so left it out)

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup small shell pasta, cooked and drained (unless putting in crock pot then leave uncooked) (I used elbow macaroni)

1 (14 1/2 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained

1  In a large saucepan, combine broth, vegetables, bay leaf, Italian seasoning and pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15 – 20 minutes or until vegetables are crisp tender.

2  Add pasta and tomatoes and heat through.  Discard bay leaf.

(Or you can put all ingredients into a crock pot except the uncooked pasta and cook on high for 3 – 4 hours or on low for 6 – 8 hours.  Add uncooked pasta last 30 minutes of cooking time.)

Yield 6 servings, 1 serving = 1 cup and about 108 calories

Dinner at Pizzeria 712

by penji1

Bob and I had dinner tonight at Pizzeria 712 and I have one word to say – YUM!  My dad sent me an email asking if we had ever eaten there because USA Today named it one of the best pizza places in the country!  WOW!  So we wanted to try it out.   It is located at 320 South State Street, Suite 147.  Cute place, nice atmosphere.  The hostess and wait staff were awesome, friendly and totally willing to make recommendations or explain anything on the menu, so if you are a little intimidated by the menu, just ask!  Our waiter told us that the menu changes frequently because they like to use fresh, local ingredients.  Who doesn’t want to support that?  We got there right at 5:00 when they opened and when we left around 6:30, the place was packed with more people waiting outside.  Here’s what we ate:

We started with a meatball appetizer which was to die for!  I can honestly say that I think it was the best meatball I’ve ever eaten in my whole life!  My only complaint is that there were 5 meatballs and 2 of us.  We compromised and cut the 5th one in half but we both wanted to eat the whole thing!

Next they brought us hummus and pitas.  I’ll be honest, I skipped the hummus and used the pitas to mop up the sauce left over in the meatball dish but Bob said the hummus was good.

And now the pizza!  We ordered the homemade sausage, fennel, roasted pepper, tomato sauce and mozzarella pizza; it was so good!  The tomato sauce has a bit of a kick or bite to it and the flavor combo was awesome.  Can’t wait to go back and try another one.

And of course dessert!  We had apple and pecan crisp with vanilla ice cream made with local apples from Allred Orchards.  Now for those of you who know me well, you know that I prefer chocolate to all other desserts and most of the time will refuse dessert if it isn’t chocolate but this was so yummy!  They did have a German Chocolate Cake which we’ll try another time.

So check out Pizzeria 712 for a night of great food!  They have a website (www.pizzeria712.com) and a blog (www.pizzeria712.blogspot.com) if you’d like to take a look at those before you try it out but Penny and Bob give it 2 thumb’s up!  🙂

Meatball Soup

by penji1

This recipe comes from Charlotte who submitted it as an entry into my last giveaway for the Pampered Chef Fall Colors Prize Pack so thanks Charlotte!  Made it today, for lunch tomorrow.

Bring to a boil:

16 frozen meatballs

4 cups beef broth (I also added 1 cup of water along with the broth)

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 can petite diced tomatoes (I didn’t have any petite diced tomatoes so used the regular sized diced tomatoes)

1 medium carrot, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/4 cup uncooked tiny shell pasta (I added 1/2 cup elbow macaroni)

Simmer until meatballs are tender and pasta is soft.

OR you can do what I did which is to put all the ingredients except the pasta into my crock pot and cook on high for about 5 hours, adding the pasta the last 20 – 30 minutes of cooking time.

Grilled Chicken, Artichoke and Feta Pizza

by penji1

This is another Cooking Light recipe; it has a great combination of flavors!  This is a great example of using a recipe as a starting point because I changed this one a lot from the original recipe so I’ll give you the recipe as printed in the cookbook and then tell you the changes that I made to it.

1 (13.8 oz) can refrigerated pizza crust dough (I used whole wheat pitas for Bob and me and English Muffins for Zach  – about 4 pitas would be enough to use all the toppings)

olive oil flavored cooking spray (don’t need this if going the pita route)

1/2 cup prepared pizza sauce (such as Boboli) (I used a can of spaghetti sauce)

1 (14 oz) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast (I used  a can of Costco chicken)

1 cup (4 oz) crumbled Feta cheese

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1  Prepare grill.

2  Unroll dough; place on an 18 x 12″ sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil coated with cooking spray.  Starting at center, press out dough to form a 13 x 9″ rectangle; coat dough with cooking spray.

3  Invert dough onto grill rack; peel off foil.  Cover and grill 3 minutes or until bottom of dough is browned.  Turn dough over, cover and grill 2 minutes or until bottom is set.  Carefully remove crust from grill to an aluminum foil lined baking sheet.  Spread sauce over crust; top with artichokes and chicken.  Sprinkle with cheese and pepper.  Remove pizza from foil lined pan and return to grill rack.

4  Cover and grill 5 minutes or until crust is done and cheese is melted.  Cut into 6 squares.

1 serving (1 square) = 304 calories

(Here’s what I did – set the oven to broil on high.  Put pitas and/or English Muffins on baking sheet.  Spread pitas/muffins with sauce then top with chicken, artichokes and Feta, dividing evenly among pitas.  Place under broiler and broil for 5 – 7 minutes or until cheese is melted and tops of pitas are starting to brown.)

Zippy White Chili

by penji1

This is a Taste of Home recipe that I found in my new Taste of Home cookbook, “Guilt Free Cooking 356 home-style recipes for healthier living”.  I doubled the recipe but I could have probably tripled it and had a good amount of leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes (I used 2 cans of Costco chicken)

1 small onion, chopped (I used 1 medium)

1 3/4 cups reduced sodium chicken broth (I used 2 cans)

1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilies (I used 1 can because I was worried that it would be too spicey but I could have used 2 and it would have been just fine)

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (I pressed 2 cloves of garlic in)

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (I used 1 teaspoon)

1/2 teaspoon minced fresh cilantro (left this out, don’t tell Bob!)

1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (left this out too)

1 (15 oz) can white kidney or cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (I used 2 cans)

baked tortilla chips, optional

1  In a saucepan, coated with cooking spray, saute chicken and onion until juices run clear, drain if desired.  Stir in broth, chilies, garlic, oregano, cilantro and cayenne.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

2  Stir in beans and cook for 10 minutes longer.  Serve over tortilla chips if desired.

(Or you can put all ingredients into a crock pot like I did and cook about 5 hours on high.)

1 serving = 1 cup, each cup has 235 calories

Chicken and Black Beans

by penji1

Quick and easy dinner which can be served several different ways depending on your taste or mood, can’t remember where I got this recipe from.

3 – 4 boneless chicken breast halves, cut in strips (I used 5 breasts but they were frozen so I didn’t cut them into strips, I just put them into the crock pot whole and frozen)

1 (12 – 15 oz) can corn, drained

1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed

2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 onion, halved and thinly sliced

1 green bell pepper, cut into strips (didn’t have one so left it out)

1 (14 1/2 oz) can diced tomatoes with liquid

1 (6 oz) can tomato paste

Put chicken in crock pot and top with corn, beans, onion and pepper.  In a separate bowl, combine cumin, chili powder, diced tomatoes and tomato paste then pour over ingredients in crock pot.  Cook on low 5 – 6 hours.

Now you can serve the chicken breasts whole (maybe over rice?) and top with the sauce or you can take the chicken out of the crock pot, shred it with 2 forks then return it to the crock pot and stir it into the sauce then serve it on tortillas or wraps or whatever you like.  This is how we had it today.

Butterfinger Brownies

by penji1

I bought way too much candy for Halloween!  I found this recipe on http://www.recipegoldmine.com which uses Butterfinger bars and there happened to be 3 bags of those sitting on my kitchen counter so Bob’s Sunday School class got these for their treat today.  A few made it home after church and I have to say that they are really good!

2 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup butter (I softened it slightly in the microwave for about 15 seconds)

2 1/4 cups packed brown sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

4 Butterfinger candy bars, crushed and divided (I figured 3 snack size bars were about the same as 1 regular size bar so I used 12 small bars which ended up being about 1 1/2 cups crushed candy)

Heat oven to 350.  Grease a 9 x 13″ pan.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

In a mixer bowl, on medium speed, combine butter and brown sugar until smooth and creamy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla until smooth.  Beat in flour mixture then stir in 1 cup crushed candy.  Spread in prepared baking pan.  (The batter was really thick and sticky so I ended up just spraying my hands with Pam and spreading it in the pan with my hands.)  Sprinkle remaining crushed candy over top of batter.  Bake 30 – 35 minutes or until set.  Cool and then cut into bars.

Marie Calendar Corn Bread

by penji1

AKA The Best Corn Bread You Will Ever Eat!  Seriously!  I got this recipe from my friend Pam and it is like eating corn bread cake with your dinner.  Goes perfect with chili.  Enjoy!

2 cups Bisquick

4 – 6 tablespoons cornmeal

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup melted butter

Mix all ingredients together.  Bake in greased 9 x 9″ pan at 350 for 30 – 40 minutes.

Zesty Minestrone

by penji1

Second soup choice for dinner with the fam, recipe from Kraft.

1/4 cup zesty Italian dressing

1 cup chopped onions (about 1 medium)

1/2 cup chopped celery (about 1 stalk)

1/2 cup chopped carrots (about 1 medium)

1 (14 1/2 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 (19 oz) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 (14 oz) cans vegetable broth (I used chicken broth)

2 cups water

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 1/2 cups small shell macaroni, uncooked (I used elbow)

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Heat dressing in skillet on medium high.  Add onions, celery and carrots; cook 2 minutes or until crisp tender, stirring occasionally.  Pour into crock pot.  (I skip this step of precooking the veggies and just add them to the crock pot with everything else.)  Add tomatoes, beans, broth, water and seasoning and stir.  Cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 3 hours.  Stir in macaroni and cook for 10 – 15 minutes or until macaroni is tender.  Sprinkle with cheese before serving.