Minestrone Soup

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Minestrone Soup

 

A few days rain and I’m craving soup, a nice hearty vegetable beef soup. And I love this! It’s hard to go wrong with Minestrone Soup. I’ve made the vegetarian, well vegan to be exact but I crave it with a little beef this time. It’s to rain twice more this coming week and I know this is just what the family’s going to want on those rainy days.

This is a no hurry recipe but can be made quickly by eliminating the beef short ribs and using the beef broth alone. Can be whipped up in 30 minutes. Or use your slow cooker by layering all the ingredients. Versatile.

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Pasta Fagioli

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Pasta e Fagioli (Pasta Fazool)

Pasta And Beans

Pasta Fagioli

Dean Martin certainly created a curiosity about pasta fazool with his song “That’s Amore.” But it wasn’t until I heard a friend’s remark, he was driving around in his corvette when the rest of us were eating pasta fazool, that my curiosity was pushed enough … I needed to know. (Thanks Paulie) Simply put, this is a traditional Italian dish made with, you guessed it, pasta and beans … Originally a peasant soup usually made without meat.

Since those days I’ve tasted many versions of this soup and pretty much love them all. I’ve heard the chain, Olive Garden, has their version as well. So, I jumped on the bandwagon and created my own Pasta Fagioli.

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Chicken Cacciatore

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Chicken Cacciatore

But Is This Chicken?

Chicken Cacciatore

Actually, it isn’t!

But this recipe is going to include chicken breasts. And, what I’ve done here. This is a 30 minute version of this hunter stew with little fuss.

Curious yet, about what I’ve used? Turkey! But not just turkey, lean ground Italian spiced turkey. I love turkey and sometimes find myself substituting it for chicken if I can. For me this works here but if you’re looking for something close to the actual dish … Not to worry.

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One Recipe Two Savory Pumpkin Dishes

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One Recipe For Two Savory Pumpkin Dishes

Pumpkin Parmesan Cream Soup

Pumpkin Parmesan Cream Pasta Sauce

One Recipe Two Savory Pumpkin Dishes

William Sonoma Gift Certificate … loved my birthday gift. Wandering around in the WS Store I came across all sorts of sauces, starters, mixes not to mention the beautiful holiday ware. I became intrigued with the holiday sauces. I tried to read the ingredient labels but my contact wasn’t cooperating. (I do the one eyed thing.) I could only see that the ingredient lists were lengthy. And while I do feel WS has amazing prepared or nearly prepared foods the lists seemed too long. (I’m very pleased with my all clad waffle iron. Thank you Will.)

So, here I am making my own. And I love the two for one idea. It actually works!

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No Bake Pumpkin Pie and Italian Meringue

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No Bake Pumpkin Pie

Cinnamon Graham Cracker Crust

Italian Meringue Or Simple Roasted Marshmallow Topping

No Bake Pumpkin Pie and Italian Meringue

Every holiday it’s quite a challenge to bake three pies, a turkey and roast vegetables all in the same oven … And well, time it to optimum freshness. It has taken me many years to get this down … And yes, some holidays I just miss disastrous results.

These no bake pies are a great idea anytime. For the holidays they are a nice surprise for the one or two guests who would prefer something other than the traditional pie. Or if you are trying to lighten up the baking serve this as the main dessert. It’s amazing!

You’ll be able to put this pie together a week or weeks before, with the exception of the topping, and hold it in the freezer until ready to serve.

For the more traditional try these:  

Pumpkin Pie  

Pie Crust 

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For Fun

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All about the extras

For Fun
Love everything here!

Trying out these baking cups. What a great idea! No mess and a nice presentation in no time. Baked my favorite Italian Cream Cake … Then simply dipped each top into melted white chocolate, added a few nuts and coconut … And here it is. Make no mistake there is a definite difference between white melting chips and white chocolate. The word, hydrogenized, we’ve come to recognize, is a big time ingredient in those chips.

Linguica Prosciutto Pizza

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Portuguese Pizza Or Folár De Carne

Portuguese Meat Bread Meets Italian Pizza = Amazing!

Linguica Prosciutto Pizza

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All about the crust and olive oil!

Add meats and it’s closest to meat bread. But this is one of those recipes that easily becomes vegetarian even vegan. Make this extra special by using Portuguese olive oil. There’s a definite taste difference even a non-discriminating palate can detect. That’s me! Haven’t met a quality olive oil I didn’t like. Olive oil replaces the typical pizza sauce.

This bread dough recipe is great for pizza crust. Make your crust thick, 12-13 inch pizza, or thin and crispy, 14-15 inch pizza. Perfect either way.

Enjoy!

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Stromboli

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Stromboli the Easy Way

Stromboli

Stromboli is a rolled up pizza! With a bread crust, a little sauce and veggies or meats or both. Prep time is about 20-30 minutes then into the oven for about the same. Nope! No jar sauce, nor pizza dough from the refrigerated section. I’m sure there’s some good sauces out there these days but for me as close to scratch as possible ensures a better taste and ingredients I recognize. Yep! I’ve taken some short cuts but I think you’ll approve.

Vegetarians can easily make this their own. Any pizza topping can go into this … So, the choices are in your hands. I’ve included a simple red sauce but give it a cream sauce or just olive oil. This is amazing.

In the next weeks I’ll be posting Portuguese Pizza. That’s right! And I’ll be making the pizza dough from scratch. If you’re into a scratch pizza dough and can’t wait for mine Mario Batali’s is super amazing … one variation even cooked on a griddle.

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Chicken Tetrazzini

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Easy Chicken Tetrazzini

Chicken TetrazziniThe only thing we know for sure is this dish, further, any Tetrazzini dish, is named after Luisa Tetrazzini, an Italian opera star popular in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. What seems to be in question is what hotel chef put this together for her and gave it her name. This is my own version of the dish. And it’s simmering.

Baking this a few minutes after the initial cooking gives a truly different twist to this pasta dish.

 

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Linguini Carbonara and Fried Rice Recipe

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The Same Recipe for Both! Really?

Linguini (linguine) Carbonara and Fried Rice

Linguini Carbonara

Fried Rice

Maybe a tiny bit misleading. But with the exception of rice and pasta and one other ingredient these two recipes are the same. Once cooked and soy sauce added to one and Parmesan to the other the tastes are distinctively different.

Linguini Carbonara has always been on the brunch menu, more like eggs and bacon, but is quite versatile and easily makes a great family dinner. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how easy these two recipes are with minimal ingredients. Great for the inexperienced cook.

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