Creamy Sausage, Kale & Pasta Soup

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white bowl full of soup with noodles, grated cheese and kale.


I love these kinds of recipes that use pantry staples to make something new and delicious. I picked up Sweet Italian sausage and kale from the Mexican Grocery store, (love that store!) and had everything else already. It came together really rather quickly, and it was quite tasty.

It does make a large batch, so you may want to halve it.

INGREDIENTS

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 pound sweet Italian sausage or sausage links, casings removed
1 medium onion, finely diced
6 garlic cloves, minced or 1 ½ Tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp fennel seeds
1½ tsp kosher salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
pinch of red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes (or two 14 oz. cans diced tomatoes, buzzed with an immersion blender)
4 cups water or chicken stock
8 oz. Cellantini, or any hearty pasta (you can also use Tortellini)
1/4 cup half and half
1 bunch kale, leaves stripped and chopped
½ cup roughly chopped fresh basil or 2 Tbsp dry basil
½ lemon, juiced
Grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan, for serving

PREPARATION

Heat oil in a large pot and add sausage. Cook for 10 minutes over medium heat until browned, stirring to break into smaller pieces.

Add onion, garlic, paprika, fennel, salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes, and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook another 2 to 3 minutes. Adjust heat to high, stir in crushed tomatoes and stock, and bring to a gentle boil.

Add pasta, reduce heat and cook as directed on package.

Add the half ‘n half, kale and basil, and cook for a couple more minutes, stirring until warmed through and the kale and basil are just wilted. Remove from heat and add lemon juice. Check seasonings.

Serve topped with grated pecorino romano or parmesan cheese.

Ina’s Blueberry Ricotta Breakfast Cake

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A one layer cake, with powdered sugar dusted on top, sitting on a white plat, with a pink flowered napkin beside it on a wood counter.


This is another great Ina Garten recipe – sent out just before Mother’s Day.

It is so good, I have made it twice in the last week with some tiny tweaks. (I had to find a way to use up that extra cup of Ricotta, so honestly this is just me being thrifty. Not greedy, just thrifty, right?) Yes it’s chock-full of butter, cream and cheese – but in a good way. Although it says Breakfast cake, it is really good anytime – and especially good with tea.

Anyway, it is delish and comes together very easily. My rhubarb is coming in fast and I may try making it with rhubarb instead of blueberry next time.

INGREDIENTS

10 Tbsp (1¼ sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup whole-milk ricotta
2 Tbsp sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
2 cups fresh blueberries (12 ounces), divided
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Ina greases and flours a 9-inch round springform pan, but there’s a lot of butter in there, so I just skipped it. You do you.

Beat butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the ricotta, sour cream, vanilla and lemon zest. Ina mentions the better will look curdled and it does. No worries – everything is fine.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and 1 teaspoon salt. Add to the butter mixture and beat very gently until the flour mixture is incorporated. Fold 2/3 of the blueberries into the batter with a rubber spatula. Pour into springform pan and drop the remaining blueberries on, pressing them in lightly.

Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool and remove pan sides. Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm or at room temp. So good!

Taverna Salad

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I can’t remember where I saw this recipe by Lidey Heuck (probably the New York Times) but I’ve been wanting to make it for days. It’s basically a Greek-style salad. Lidey uses Halloumi cheese, but I had Feta so that’s what I used. It’s great because it is a hardy, filling salad that comes together in minutes, once you assemble your ingredients. I used the home-cooked garbanzos I made yesterday and I think that added, too.

⅓ cup plus 2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
1 tsp minced garlic (1 small clove)
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp salt and a few grinds of black pepper (add more if needed to taste)

1 cup halved cherry tomatoes.
2 cups home-cooked garbanzo beans or 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced into ½-inch pieces
1 large English cucumber, halved, seeded and diced into ½-inch pieces
½ cup pitted Castelvetrano or Kalamata olives (Lidey called for Kalamata, but I was out.)
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley (or 1 Tbsp dried parsley)
¼ cup minced red onion or shallot
2 Tbsp (drained) capers
1 large plain Naan or Pita
½ cup crumbled feta cheese (See Lidey’s halloumi cheese note below.)

Preparation
Step 1
In a small bowl, combine ⅓ cup olive oil with the vinegar, garlic and oregano. Whisk vigorously to combine then season to taste with salt and pepper.

Step 2
In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, chickpeas, bell pepper, cucumber, olives, parsley, red onion, and capers. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well.

Step 3
Chop the Naan or Pita into 1-inch pieces and add to a warm skillet with 1 Tbsp olive oil, and a sprinkle of salt. Toss around to coat. Let pieces cook for about 5 minutes, tossing occasionally.

Serve with naan or pita toss on top of the salad. So good!

Lidey’s original version: Lidey uses an 8oz block of halloumi cheese, patted dry and cut into ¾-inch-thick slices. She puts the halloumi slices on a small plate and drizzles with 1 Tbsp olive oil and cooks them in the skillet over medium high heat until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side. She transfers to a cutting board and cuts the slices into bite-size cubes, that you toss onto the salad with the naan/pita.

How to Cook Dry Garbanzo Beans

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Photos shows a bowl of dried garbanzo beans in a dark ceramic bowl, with a few spilled out on the side.
Lovely photo from Karyna Panchenko on Unsplash.

I love garbanzo beans, but never realized how easy they are to cook. Adam Gallagher from Inspired Taste has a great recipe and makes them with aromatics that make them even better. I may never buy canned again.

1 cup dry garbanzo beans (makes about three cooked cups)
water
1 bay leaf
1 clove garlic
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp baking soda

Check the dry garbanzo beans for anything non-garbanzo. Rinse them well, and put in a medium saucepan. Fill the saucepan 3/4 full of water, cover and let soak overnight. Next day, dump the excess water and add the bay leaf, garlic clove and kosher salt. Add fresh water a couple of inches over the beans.

Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, and cook 1½ – 2 hours. Remove from cooking liquid and test for softness. Adam says for firmer beans, leave the lid off. For softer beans, leave the lid on, but slightly ajar.

Delicious warm, tucked into a little naan, or cool in a salad.

Easy Applesauce & Walnut Cake

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Wanting to do something with the applesauce I made a few days ago, I hunted up an old applesauce cake recipe that’s very simple, comes together quickly and is delicious without being too sweet. Next time, I may try adding a chopped apple. But Kumy loved it – especially with a nice cup of tea.

A round, flat cake dusted with powdered sugar on a white plate, with a wooden container of apples nearby.


INGREDIENTS

1 cup sugar
½ cup butter (1 stick), softened
1 cup applesauce
2 cups flour
1 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
pinch of kosher salt
½ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
Powdered sugar for dusting on afterwards.

Mix sugar and butter until quite smooth and light. Add applesauce and mix well.

In a small bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Add into the sugar mix, and stir gently, just until blended.

Scoop into an 8 or 9″ baking pan or springform pan, roughly smoothing the top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, or until the top looks dry and springs back if you push on it.

Let cool, and dust with powdered sugar. Keeps well for a few days.

Cinnamon Apple Sauce

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I love apple sauce for a quick treat, but I am not crazy about commercial apple sauce. Somehow I picked up way too many apples and decided to just go ahead and make applesauce.

Cinnamon applesauce in a clear glass storage container with 2 apples


Used Sarah’s recipe from Allrecipes.com, with a few tweaks like using less water and less sugar since Galas are pretty sweet. I’d wait and add a little more sugar at the end if you use really tart apples.

The original recipe called for peeling all the apples, but if you’re going to buzz them once they’re cooked, I don’t think you need to. The peels are where most of the nutrients are and are fine to eat as long as you buy organic, or at least wash the apples really thoroughly.

Saucepan with sliced, unpeeled apples, cinnamon sugar and water


INGREDIENTS

8 medium apples, cored and thickly sliced, any apple
1/4 cup sugar (brown sugar is fine, too)
1 tsp Cinnamon
pinch of pumpkin pie spice mix (recipe here)
3/4 cup water or apple cider

Add all ingredients into a saucepan and stir. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to very low and simmer covered for a couple of hours. Check for water – if it’s looking too dry you can add a couple of tablespoons.

Once the apples are getting mushy, remove from heat and buzz with an immersion blender just until all the peels are blended.

Taste for sweetness and cinnamon flavor. I added a tablespoon more sugar, another pinch of pumpkin pie spice, and another small shake of cinnamon and stirred it well.

Let cool and refrigerate. Makes about 4-5 cups.

White Sheet Cake with Berries & Cream

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photo of a white cake with a cream layer and a berry topping, served on a blue plate with a pink napkin and a fork


MelsKitchenCafe.com has such amazing recipes and this is Mel’s Grandma’s Famous Sheet Cake. Mel makes it with a home made cake mix, but I had a million other things to do, so I just used a white cake mix.

It makes a wonderfully light, creamy and delicious cake – with the tartness of the berries and lemons creating a nice balance to the sweetness of the cream and cake. Even Kumy loved this cake – and he is not a cake guy at all. It makes a nice large batch perfect for a gathering, and I know I’ll make this again and again.

INGREDIENTS

Fruit Topping:
2 ½ cups (365 g, more or less) frozen blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, huckleberries, triple berry blend, etc
¾ cup cold water
⅓ cup sugar
2 ½ Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Cake:
1 white cake mix
1 tsp almond extract

Cream Layer:
6 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
½ cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 cups chilled heavy whipping cream

Instructions

Fruit topping: combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Stir gently until cornstarch is dissolved. Cook over medium heat until mixture simmers, and large bubbles pop at the surface. Remove from heat and let cool. Mixture will thicken as it cools. You can store this in the fridge until needed.

For the cake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a half sheet pan (about 17X12-inches). Mix cake mix as directed on the box, adding the almond extract.

Pour into baking sheet and bake for 20 to 22 minutes until the center of the cake springs back lightly. Remove from oven and let cool completely in the pan.

With a mixer, mix the cream cheese and powdered sugar together until smooth and creamy.

Add the vanilla and lemon juice and mix until combined. Add 1 cup heavy cream and mix until somewhat creamy. Add remaining heavy cream and keep mixing until the mixture has thickened to soft peaks. Don’t overbeat!

To assemble, spread the cream topping evenly over the cooled cake. Refrigerate the cake for about an hour for the cream layer to firm up a bit. (I stopped at this point, and covered the pan with another sheet pan upside down over it, so I could store it in the fridge until the next day.)

Just before serving, drop spoonfuls of fruit topping across the top. Gently spread so each piece has a fruity layer.

Keep cake cool until just before ready to serve. Delish!

First Watch Roasted Potatoes

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First Watch is a restaurant near us with the most heavenly breakfast potatoes. For that matter, their avocado toast is a thing of beauty – so when I saw they have a cookbook, I had to get it.

Anyway, I made their roasted potatoes for Easter over the weekend and it was really good. I had to scale up to make enough to feed 16 people (as a side dish) but you could easily cut it down for fewer people. I also made it slightly differently, because I wanted to make it partly the day before and do the final roasting on Easter morning.

INGREDIENTS

5 lbs. gold potatoes, scrubbed, but not peeled, diced into ½” pieces
2 ½ cups onions, slivered (more is fine, too)
10 Tbsp olive oil (½ cup and 2 Tbsp)
5 Tbsp First Watch Seasoning Mix (See recipe below)

DIRECTIONS

If cooking right away, prepare potatoes. If not, skip to the onions, oil and seasoning part.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add potatoes, and cook for roughly 10 minutes until just al dente. (Not fully cooked, but not hard, either.)

Pour out into a colander and immediately put in ice water to stop the cooking. (I just dumped it out and filled the pot with a pitcher of water and ice cubes. Then dumped the potatoes into the ice water.)

Once completely cooled, put the potatoes back in the colander and let them drain a bit until no more water runs out.

If you’re cooking ahead of time: In a large skillet on medium heat, heat oil and add onions. Saute for a several minutes, stirring regularly. Once onions are softened and translucent, add the seasoning mix and stir well. Remove from heat. Cool and refrigerate until needed.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

When ready to cook, toss the potatoes with the onions and seasoning until nicely coated. Dump into a large sheet pan, smooth out and roast in oven for 30 minutes. Check after 25 minutes, and if needed, toss them a bit. The burned bits are where the flavor is, so keep all those burned bits!

Serve hot and enjoy!


First Watch Seasoning Mix

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup kosher salt
2 Tbsp freshly ground black peppers
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1/2 Tbsp onion salt
1 1/2 Tbsp paprika.

Mix well and store in a mason jar.

Fresh Whipped Cream

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Fresh, home-made whipped cream is just delicious and super easy. You can make it ahead of time and just keep it covered in the fridge. I normally just wing it, but it’s nice to have a reference when I do make it. It really makes a trifle sing!

Ingredients

1 cup heavy whipping cream
2-3 Tbsp powdered sugar, depending on how sweet you like it
1 tsp Vanilla extract (or could use Rum)

In a large bowl, whip the heavy cream until it’s getting slightly thickened, then add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat until soft peaks form when you lift the whisk or mixer attachment out of the bowl.

You can cover and refrigerate it for several hours without it breaking down. Don’t know if it would keep longer! Our never keeps – someone keeps eating it all.

Tex Mex Black Bean and Tortilla Salad

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This was a “wonder what’s in the fridge?” kind of supper. I had some lovely avocados and fresh corn tortillas and romaine lettuce and I thought – oh, salad!

It was good. Really good. I would happily make this again, and I’ll have to since we ate every bite before I could take a photo. Oh well, next time… (Made this again this weekend and it was just as delicious! I used corn tortilla chips, broken and warmed with the same spices. Good again, and I remembered to take a photo.)

1 head of romaine lettuce, quartered and cut into 1″ sections
½ cup baby tomatoes (mine were yellow – last from the garden)
2 small avocados, cut into roughly ½” chunks
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
½ cup sharp grated cheddar cheese
6 corn tortillas, chopped into 1″ sections, tossed with
– ½ tsp ground cumin
– ½ tsp salt
– 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
– 1/4 tsp garlic powder
– 1/4 tsp Tajin seasoning (Can substitute with chili powder and a little lime zest)
– 3 Tbsp olive oil

Mix dressing in a small bowl:
2 Tbsp plain full-fat yoghurt
4 Tbsp Salsa Verde
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 tsp Tajin Seasoning
1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
Good pinch of ground Cumin

Cut up tortillas on a cutting board and top with the spices listed right below. Hand toss to coat. Heat 3 Tbsp olive oil in a frying pan and add tortillas and any spices left on the board. Sauté on medium heat, stirring frequently for about 10 minutes. Can reduce heat if they are starting to burn a little. Once they’re starting to get a little crispy, turn the heat off and let them cool for a minute or so.

Add lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, black beans and grated cheese into a large mixing bowl and add the warm, spicy corn tortillas. Pour dressing over and toss gently to combine. Serve immediately.

Delish!!