Tortellini and Sausage Soup

It has been cold here lately. Like, really cold. Single digit cold. Add to that Doug and I fighting off the cold/sinus thing that has been going around and I decided that we were in major need of a warm, hearty soup.

This soup fits the bill. I saved this a few weeks ago and hadn’t gotten around to making it. I’m so glad I finally did. This soup is easy to throw together, tastes fantastic and is very filling. This will definitely be made again and I highly recommend it to you.Try it, you won’t be sorry.

I did make a few changes because of a few things I couldn’t find in the grocery stores here, so check out the original recipe too.

 

Tortellini and Sausage Soup

From : Your Homebased Mom

Ingredients

1 Pound Sweet Italian Sausage

1 1/2 Cups Carrots, thinly sliced

1 Small Onion, chopped

2 Cups Tomatoes, chopped

2 Cloves Garlic, chopped

1/2 Cup Water

5 Cups Chicken Broth

1 (8) Ounce Can Tomato Sauce

8 Ounce Meat or Cheese Tortellini, fresh or frozen

Very thinly slice Mozzarella, as much as you’d like

Directions

Brown sausage, drain.

In the pan you will make the soup in sauté the onions and garlic in a small amount of olive oil.

Add carrots, tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, and broth.

Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes..

Skim off any fat if needed and add tortellini. Simmer 20 to 30 minutes (30 if using frozen pasta).

Spoon into bowls and top with thin slices of mozzarella.

Vegetable Soup

Growing up I never really liked vegetable soup, mainly because I didn't really like vegetables. But now that I'm older, and had really good vegetable soup a few times, I actually have started to like it. And even more surprisingly, I've even started to crave it. So when Doug mentioned that it sounded good to him too I decided that it was time I try my hand at this classic dish.

I found a recipe that sounded really good on Sweet Savory Southern and decided to run with it. The only changes I made to this recipe was to double it and add a half cup of water to get the consistency that I wanted. This was because I wanted a slightly thinner consistency, but you can add as much or as little as you want to hit your perfect consistency. Doubling this gave us the perfect amount for dinner and a few days of leftovers.

This soup is perfect for a nice cold day like the ones we've been having recently, so give it a try!

Vegetable Soup

Source: Sweet Savory Southern

1/2 large white onion, finely chopped

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

8 oz beef broth

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp sugar

1/2 cup water

2 1/2-3 cups mixed vegetables I used 2 small bags of frozen peas, carrots, corn, and green beans

Heat olive oil in a large pot. Add chopped onion and cook for about 5 min. Add beef broth and canned tomatoes. Next add the mixed vegetables. Add seasonings and stir to combine. Add water to achieve desired consistency. Cover and simmer on low for about 35-45 min, stirring occasionally.

These are the directions for a single batch (except for the note about the vegetables). I doubled this.

Gifts in a jar

So for Christmas this year we decided to give out gifts in a jar to some of our friends and family. The one before was for one of our close friends, and now we are making some for family that will be here for Christmas and our wedding. We ended up doing chicken soup and big fat chewy chocolate chip cookies in a jar. They were a little tedious to make, but I think everyone will like them. The jars are some that I found at Wal-Mart and the recipe cards are ones I found in the dollar bin at Michael's. I wrote what was in the jar on the back of the card, so that people can make them again. I always hate when you get one of these and love them and then do not know what was in the jar.

These baskets are also going to have a jar of spiced nuts in them.

The cookies are the ones in the post below, just the dry ingredients and the chips, with a cute recipe card attached saying what else needs to go in. I figure everyone loves these cookies, so I thought I would share the recipe.

The soup recipe came out of a Gifts in a Jar cookbook. I love chicken soup and was trying to think of nice, comforting recipes to put in the baskets, so I thought these were perfect.

Here is the recipe for the soup

Chicken Noodle Soup Mix

From Gifts In A Jar

4 cups wide egg noodles

2 tbsp dried minced onion

2 tbsp chicken bouillon granules

2 tsp celery flakes1 tsp pepper
Layer ingredients in the order given into a wide mouth

1 quart canning jar

Pack each layer in place before adding the next.
Attach gift tag with cooking directions.

Cooking Directions:

1 jar Chicken Noodle Soup Mix

2 (5 oz) cans chicken

Bring 10 cups of water to a boil in a large soup pot. Add the Chicken Noodle Soup Mix. Add chicken, breaking it up well with a fork. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer uncovered for 12-15 minutes or until noodles are tender.

Bacon, Cheese, & Potato Chowder

So I can't believe that my first blog post of actual food is going to be one with no pictures (we ate it too fast and it wasn't very pretty) and a recipe that uses Cream of soup. However, we tried this the other day and it was incredibly good. I will admit that I did not have high expectations going in: the recipe seemed almost too simple and my one and only other attempt at soup did not go well. But this far exceeded my expectations and even D liked it: and he is not a soup guy. The original recipe is from the kraft website but I think I first saw it on the WC board. This is a really good, quick meal that is perfect for the cold, rainy weather we've been having. Enjoy, and I promise to take pictures of stuff from now on.

Bacon, Cheese & Potato Chowder
from Kraft


Prep Time: 20 min
Total Time: 30 min
Makes: 6 servings, 1 cup each

3 cups fat-free milk
1 can (10-3/4 oz.) condensed cream of potato soup
2 cups frozen Southern-style hash browns
1 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Reduced Fat Sharp Cheddar Cheese
2 slices OSCAR MAYER Bacon, crisply cooked, drained and crumbled (I used pre-cooked bacon to make it faster)
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions (I didn't have any on hand so I omitted them)

Mix milk and soup in large saucepan. Stir in hash browns. Bring to boil on high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 10 min., stirring frequently.

Ladle into six soup bowls.
Top evenly with the cheese, bacon and onions.