Pasta e Fagioli Soup

I love love this soup from Olive Garden and feel like this is a delicious match.  I found this recipe from Brittney Allenbach pg. 80 from my MBASA favorites cookbook.  Once I saw the name of the recipe and how people rave about her soup and want more and that it resembles Olive Garden's I wanted to try it.  I think it's more soupy than taco soup, better than minestrone (like the meat), and a fun chili variation...a new easy fav.  I also love how you dump the cans in vs. need any draining!
enjoy


Ingredients:
1 lb. Italian Sausage, 1/2 lb. ground beef
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, julienne
3 celery stalks, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cans diced tomatoes (14.5 oz.)
1 can red kidney beans, with liquid (15 oz)
1 can great northern beans, with liquid (15 oz) [Yes there is such a thing ~]
1 can tomato sauce (15 oz)
1 can of V8 juice (12 oz get reduced sodium) [I couldn't find and used regular]
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
2 cups of water or more depending on thickness
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. basil [I used dried but I like how the pic above showed fresh basil the best!]
1/2 tsp. pepper [guessed and used my cracked pepper grinder]
1/2 tsp. thyme [big stand out flavor - make sure yours is fresh mine may have been over 5 years old I'm embarrassed to say - next time using fresh thyme]
couple of dashes of cayenne pepper or Tabasco sauce
1/4 lb. ditalini pasta (they look like 1/4 of a macaroni noodle)

Parmesan cheese to top
bread to go with it :)


Cook and drain off fat from beef and sausage.  Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic.  Saute 10 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients except for pasta and simmer for 1 hour (or crockpot all day).  Cook pasta until almost tender (about 6 min.) add to soup and simmer 10-15 min. more.

enjoy

loved the look of this pot of soup - although I used a stovetop pan perhaps I'll do this on my stovetop next round~

Roasted Asparagus & Mushroom Pasta in Lemon Cream Sauce

Roasted Asparagus and Mushroom Pasta in Lemon-Cream SauceRecipe by Our Best Bites pg. 60 400 calories or less

1 lb. asparagus, tough ends snapped off
3-4 cups whole mushrooms, thickly sliced
5-6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/4 cup strained lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon Creole or coarse-grain mustard
8 ounces uncooked linguine
1 recipe Alfredo Sauce (2 recipes and same method to make below)
Optional: Grilled chicken breast or sauteed shrimp

Alfredo Sauce: (slightly different than the version below - you can choose your fav or try both one I listed is lower cal and from my recipe book vs. online version)

1.5 cups 1% milk

1/4 cup low fat cream cheese

1.5 Tbs. all purpose flour

3/4 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. butter

2-3 Garlic cloves, minced

3/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine trimmed asparagus and sliced mushrooms. Zest the lemons (enough to get 1 tablespoon of zest) and set the zest aside.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and mustard. Drizzle over the veggies and toss to combine. Spread the veggies out onto the prepared baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes or until the asparagus is tender but not mushy. Remove from oven and allow to stand for 5-10 minutes.

While the veggies are roasting, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and, when the water is ready, cook pasta al dente. Prepare the Alfredo sauce. After you’ve added the cheese, add the reserved lemon zest to the sauce. When the asparagus and mushrooms are done roasting, you can either portion out the pasta, veggies, and sauce into individual servings or toss it all together. Serves 6-8.

Matt said "Where has this been all my life" and he isn't even a mushroom guy.  You don't miss the meat if you decide to do this veggy style and I love the roasted taste that it would be fun as a side dish with out the Alfredo Sauce noodles.

Like all pasta dishes serve/eat hot for best quality.  Next round I'd not mix all together in one pot since my kids are picky and some wanted veggies and some did not so it made dishing up harder :)  yum yum so tasty and garlic for days which helps fight sickness!

Another one of those recipes I'd be so sad if my kitchen burnt down and I would be missing this new one packed with flavor if you like lemon, asparagus and mushrooms!

Guiltless Alfredo Sauce

Ingredients:
2 C low-fat milk
1/3 C (3 oz) low fat cream cheese
2-3 T flour
1 t salt
1 T butter
3 garlic cloves
1 C grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

Place milk, cream cheese, flour, and salt in a blender and blend until smooth.  In a non-stick sauce pan, melt butter on med-high heat and add garlic. Let the garlic saute for about 30 seconds, you don’t want to burn it.

 Then add milk mixture to the pan. Stir constantly for about 3 or 4 minutes or until it just comes to a simmer. Keep stirring and let it cook for a few minutes more. It should be much thicker now.

When it’s nice and thickened remove the pan from the heat. Add the cheese, stir it up and then cover immediately. Let stand for at least 10 minutes before using. It will continue to thicken upon standing. Season with additional salt if needed.  Also, if you have leftovers in the fridge, the sauce will thicken almost into a solid. Just re-heat and add a little milk and it will be back to normal again.

Our Best Bites uses this sauce for so many things. Here’s a few ideas from her website:

-Over pasta (obviously)
-As a dip for breadsticks
-As a sauce on pizza (this is the garlic cream sauce I was referring to in this recipe) and a half batch of sauce covers 2 medium pizza’s.
-Mix it with pesto for a creamy pesto sauce (so good)
-Mix it with marinara for a creamy marinara sauce

One time when we had dinner guests over with a bunch of kids, we did a pasta bar. I made a couple different pastas, a couple different meats, and then made this sauce, marinara, and pesto. Everyone had so much fun mixing and matching and combining. The adults could get fancy with alfredo-pesto over bow-ties and the kids could have plain ol’ spaghetti if they wanted to. Toss in some french bread and a salad and you have a really fun, and really easy meal!

http://ourbestbites.com/2008/08/guiltless-alfredo-sauce/

French Toast Sticks

Homemade French Toast Sticks Recipe

(Serves 6)

Ingredients:8 slices white Texas Toast bread
5 eggs
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tablespoons milk
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 Tablespoons butter
Powdered sugar
Maple syrup

Directions:Cut each slice of bread into 4 equal strips.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, whipping cream, milk, vanilla, sugar and cinnamon.  In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter.  After butter is melted, dip each piece of bread in egg mixture, let excess drip off and place in saucepan.  Don’t place too many pieces of bread in the pan so it is overcrowded.  Once one side is golden brown, flip over and cook the other side until golden brown and crispy on the outside.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with maple syrup.

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2014/02/homemade-french-toast-sticks-recipe.html

Six Sisters 12 Days of Christmas book pg. 44

A new family hit and I've also adapted and done with homemade wheat bread and kept in large pieces.  The heavy whipping cream in the batter is amazing :) [did 4 eggs and a bit more cream still amazing!]