Creamy meatball soup

This soup is AWESOME! It's creamy, rich, and packed with veggies (but that doesn't mean it's real healthy...)


Quick and easy recipe:

- Meatballs
- Chopped onion, carrots, celery
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1 can Cream of Celery soup
- 1 cup whole milk or cream - we always have whole milk
- 1/2 cup fontina, parmesan, mozzarella, asiago cheese mixture
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 cup spinach
- Salt
- Pepper
- Basil
- Oregano
- 3 Tbsp. Hot sauce (I used Franks)

1. Start by sauteing your meatballs (not going to lie, I cheated and used frozen No Name wild rice meatballs). Once golden, add your onion, carrots, and celery with some olive oil will onion become translucent and celery/carrots become soft.

2. Add your chick stock, cream of celery soup, and milk. Bring to a boil.

3. Once boiling, melt in your cheese, add seasonings, and hot sauce.

4. Once all the cheese in melted, wilt your spinach. Should only take a few minutes - and you're done!

After eating this for lunch, it would be awesome with wild ride added into the recipe as well! -- Noted for next time :)

Enjoy!

e.l.l.

Lasagna

Wanting to make something that could last a few meals and bring comfort during the cold weather/rain that caused is to stay inside over the weekend, we chose to throw together a lasagna! Quick, easy, and makes at least five meals for the two of us :) 

What you'll need:

Lasagna noodles

Pasta sauce

Mozzarella cheese

Gorgonzola cheese

Cottage cheese

Olive oil

Spices - I used:

Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb & Table blend

Garlic Salt

Basil Leaves

Thyme Leaves

Crushed red pepper flakes

Preheat your oven to 375*

I started with a mix of sauce and olive oil in the bottom of my pan - then began my layers - 

- Start with layering your noodles

- Add sauce to cover your noodles evenly

- Sprinkle with your desired amount of spices- I used my garlic salt in ONE layer only;substituting this for regular salt throughout the lasagna

- Layer on your cottage cheese, Gorgonzola, and mozzarella cheese  

I did four layers of this - ending with noodles and sauce on top

Bake in the over covered with tin foil for 45 minutes, check and uncover to cook 15 more minutes or until golden

Enjoy!

e.l.l.

Butternut squash soup

Allan got me a butternut squash when we were doing our Halloween pumpkins and I left it pretty neglected on our counter... Since we're trying to use up most fresh items in the house now before the holiday's this weekend - it was time for it to be used. I've made an acorn squash soup before and wanted to try and curry/ginger butternut one without a recipe and throwing what I wanted into it.

Not in the picture that was used: Paprika, broth, and the squash :)

I started by roasting the squash - cut it in half, brushed with olive oil, and added salt and pepper. Roasted the squash in a 400* oven for about 40 minutes or until tender.

While the squash is cooling,

cut up your onion, celery, and carrots.

 I have about

 1 1/2 cups of celery and

 carrots and used 1 medium 

onion.

Warm up a large pot with approx 2 Tbls coconut oil, 

adding in your desired amount of

 ground ginger and minced garlic. 

Once warm, saute the vegetables until soft.

I like to add my seasoning when sauteing - 

I added salt, pepper, ginger, curry powder, and paprika.

When the squash is cool to the touch

 you scoop out the center,

 leaving the skins,

 into the pot.

 Let the squash saute

 with the vegetables.

Once mixed well, add 1 cup broth (your flavor of choice - I used beef broth as it's all we had but would've preferred chicken broth) and 2 cups milk. Adding more of either to get your desired amount of thickness.

In the process of blending - doesn't look the MOST appetizing, but I assure you it's good :)

After bringing the pot to a boil, turn down and use an immersion blender till smooth.

It ended up being a fairly "sweet" soup - Next time I would add a little more spice to kick it up a notch, possibly Sirracha or red pepper flakes :)

Enjoy!

e.l.l.

Pasties

This post has taken awhile to get on the blog - life has been busy! This weekend I was able to spend a good chunk of time with my husband so I took advantage of that as much as possible - also some quality friend time leaving little time for the computer screen :)

Every year during the weekend of deer hunting opener (two weeks ago!), I usually spend time with the ladies in my family. While the men are away, the women will relax... drink wine... and make pasties. This year, since my husband chose to stay home to work on homework and be productive, there was no trip up north and no pasties made - with the ladies... Allan was a good sport and spent a Saturday evening making pastie with me!

If you're not from the Iron Range, chances are you have never had a pastie OR you don't eat it the "right" way... I LOVE my pasties with nothing but ketchup while most who try it for the first time or didn't grow up eating it will enjoy it with gravy. Both great - enjoy :)

Pasties:

1 lb ground pork

1 lb ground turkey

1 rutabaga

1 - 1 1/2 cup chopped carrots

2 chopped onions

3 - 4 chopped russet potatoes

pinch of salt

pinch of pepper

Stick of butter

1/4 cup of milk

*** You can either make your own crust of buy pre-made frozen pie crusts to wrap everything in ***

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

1. Chop your carrots, onion, rutabaga, and potatoes into small squares - trying to keep all pieces the same size so they cook evenly

2. Making sure your ground pork and turkey are defrosted, mix in with the carrots, onion, rutabaga, and potatoes - Make sure everything is evenly distributed!

3- Add your salt and pepper; adjust to your liking. I add extra pepper and keep the salt light

4. Using a 1 cup measuring cup, scoop a cup full of your mixture and place it in the center of your pre-made frozen pie crust.

5. Cut a pad of butter from your stick and place it in the center of the pastie 

6. Close your pasties by sealing it on the edges, poke a few holes on top with a fork - brush your pastie with the milk

Bake the pasties in your preheated oven for approx. 1 hour or till golden brown

If wrapped in foil, pasties will keep well in the freezer and just need to popped back into the oven to reheat! :)

Enjoy!

e.l.l.