Italian Sausage and Bean Soup

With the cooler weather finally upon us, I'm cracking out the soup recipes. I found this one in Taste of Home magazine and it's one of our standards now.

1 lb Hot Italian Sausage (you could use mild or even hamburger if you wish)
2 cans Great Northern Beans (rinsed and drained)
1 16 oz package coleslaw mix
1 24 oz jar of spaghetti sauce

Brown the italian sausage and drain excess fat. Stir in the beans, coleslaw mix, and spaghetti sauce with 3 cups of water. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes until flavors are blended. Makes 6 servings.

Instead of simmering on stove top, we put in crock pot for one to two hours. This soup also tastes just as good, if not better the next day.

Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion,  chopped
1 medium green pepper, seeded and chopped
1 can of mushrooms
1/4 cup steak sauce
1 cup beef broth
Salt and Pepper to taste
4 hamburger buns
Provolone cheese slices

I brown the ground beef, onion, green pepper, and mushrooms together in the olive oil until the meat is cooked through. Drain the fat. Add the beef broth and steak sauce to the meat mixture, heat to boil then ready to serve.

I scoop the mixture onto the hamburger buns and then put one slice of provolone cheese on each sandwich.

Variations:

You can toast the hamburger buns if you wish.

The original recipe uses a provolone sauce rather than just the slices.

The sauce is not thick like traditional sloppy joes. I want to try adding 1 tablespoon of flour or corn starch and seeing if the cause with thicken after bringing to a boil. What do you think?

Here's my pin to the original recipe:

http://pinterest.com/pin/260153315946540184/

Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Bell Peppers

I found this recipe on Pinterest and we love it!  It's not only good in the cool weather, but also light for the warmer weather.

Ingredients

8 oz thinly sliced roast beef
8 slices provolone cheese
2 large green bell peppers
Chopped onion
1 6.5 oz can mushrooms and stems (or chopped fresh mushrooms)
2 tbs butter
2 tbs olive oil
1-3 cloves minced garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Slice peppers in half lengthwise, remove ribs and seeds.
2. Saute onions and mushrooms over medium heat with butter, olive oil, garlic, and salt and pepper.  Saute until caramelized, 25 - 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 400*
4. Slice roast beef into thin strips and add to the onion mushroom mixture.  Allow to cook 5-10 minutes.
5. Load the inside of each pepper with a slice of cheese.
6. Fill each pepper with 1/4 of the meat mixture.
7. Top each pepper with another slice of cheese.
8. Bake 15-20 minutes until the cheese on top is golden brown.
9. Serve hot.

Barefoot Carrot Salad

Barefoot Carrot Salad

1/3 cup golden raisins
1 pound carrots
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup diced pineapple

Place the raisins in a small bowl and cover with boiling water.  Allow to sit for five minutes and then drain.  Fit a food processor with the grating blade.  Cut the carrots in half and place in the feed tube so they are lying on their sides.  Process in batches.  Place the grated carrots in a medium bowl and add the lemon juice and toss.

For the dressing, whisk together the sour cream cream, mayonnaise, sugar, and salt.  Pour the dressing over the carrots and add the pineapple and raisins.  Toss together and serve.

Chilli

I found this chilli recipe in the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook twenty years ago and I still use it.  I've made some adjustments but it's still been a staple of mine for a long time.  I like this recipe for two reasons - it is fast and easy and you can come from work at 6 PM and still get this on the table for dinner in 30 minutes.  I also like that this recipe only makes four servings, so you're not dealing with leftovers forever.

Ingredients

1 lb ground meat (hamburger, pork, turkey) I used ground pork
Chopped green pepper (I only measure things that are easily measured.  For chopped veggies, I just put in what I think looks or sounds good.)
1-2 cloves garlic (again, for your taste)
1 can chilli ready tomatoes (if by chance I can't get chilli ready tomatoes, I just increase the chilli powder to 3 tablespoons)
1 can dark red kidney beans, drained
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
2 tablespoons of chilli powder (Yes, I used tablespoons.  The original recipe says teaspoons, but somewhere along the way, I have translated that to tablespoons that that is what I used today.  Again, this can be adjusted for your spice preference.)

Prepare

Brown the meat with garlic and green pepper.  When the meat is no longer pink, add the rest of the ingredients in the appropriate pot for cooking.

Cook

Stove Top

On the stove top, heat to boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Microwave

Heat on high 5-6 minutes in a microwave safe dish.

Crockpot

 Heat on low for 1-2 hours or high for 1 hour or until heated through.

Toppings

We can't eat chilli without plenty of toppings.  Here are our favorites and staples:

• Cheese
• Oyster crackers
• Croutons
• Chopped onion (because we top the chilli with onion, I don't cook any with the meat)
• Jalepenos
• Sour cream

What are your favorite toppings for your chilli?

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Easy French Dip Sandwiches

As the weather starts getting warmer, I thought I'd share one of our favorite easy to make sandwiches.  In the warmer weather, a sandwich and salad makes a perfect meal for us. Even in the cold weather, a sandwich with a bowl of soup makes a full meal for us.


1 Can (10.5 oz) French Onion Soup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3/4 lb thinly sliced deli roast beef
Bread of your choice - to make 4 sandwiches
4 slices provolone cheese
Jalapenos or Banana Pepper

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees
2. Heat soup and Worcestershire in 2 qt saucepan over medium heat to a boil.  Add beef and heat through, stirring occasionally
3. Divide beef among the rolls.  Top beef mixture with cheese slices and place sandwiches onto baking sheet.
4. Bake three minutes or until the sandwiches are toasted and cheese is melted.
5. Use remaining soup mixture for dipping and add jalapenos or banana peppers as desired.

Many times, I get too impatient and just served the sandwiches without toasting them.

I like to pick the sandwiches up and eat them with my hands, so I prefer to dip them in the au jous.  Thomas doesn't mind eating the sandwich with a fork, so sometimes he pours the au jous over the sandwich.

How do you eat sandwiches, with your hand or with a fork?