Easy Minestrone Soup

Turns out the Williams-Sonoma Kids' Cookbook has some of the easiest, most delicious recipes around. Like this one.

1 large carrot, peeled and diced
1 medium onion, diced
2 celery stalks, sliced
1/2 lb. sausage (I use Jimmy Dean Reduced Fat pork sausage in the soft tube)
1 T. butter
1 medium zucchini, diced with skin on
4 c. chicken broth
1/3 c. dry spaghetti, broken into short pieces
1/2 t. dried oregano
1 can (24 oz.) crushed tomatoes
Salt and pepper
Shredded Parmesan cheese

Melt butter in large pot. Add carrot, onion, celery, and sausage and saute over medium heat until sausage is cooked through (no pink left). Add chicken broth, tomatoes, zucchini, spaghetti, oregano, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a LOW BOIL and cook until spaghetti and vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes. Ladle into soup bowls and top with Parmesan cheese.

Plum Apple Crisp

One time my mom made apple crisp for some sort of Young Women activity at the church. I was about 12 or 13. This was my all-time favorite dessert, so when it came time to serve it up, I took about a third of the pan. Hey, there were other desserts too! My Beehive advisor told me (I remember it being more of a snapping) to put back about half of what I had taken. "Leave some for everyone else!" she exclaimed, astonished that I would have the audacity to take such a greedy amount.

Hmph. What can I say? Fruit crisp is my absolute fave. I found this new rendition tonight and after tweaking it a little, here it is! I liked the idea of tossing the fruit with some of the cinnamony mixture first. Enjoy it my friends, and may you always unabashedly take large helpings.

2 medium Granny Smith apples, cored and thinly sliced
2 medium plums, pitted and thinly sliced
1/2 C butter, melted, divided
1/2 C firmly packed brown sugar, divided
1 T lemon juice
1 T + 1/3 C flour, divided
3/4 t ground cinnamon, divided
1 C rolled oats
1/4 C chopped walnuts or pecans
1/4 t ground ginger

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine 1/4 cup melted butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar, lemon juice, flour and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Add apples and plums; toss to coat well. Place in an 9 x 12 inch baking dish.

In a medium bowl combine oats, remaining 1/4 cup butter, remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup flour, nuts, remaining 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and ginger until well blended. Crumble over fruit. Bake 30 minutes or until fruit is tender and topping is lightly browned.

Serve warm with softened ice cream, if desired.

Makes 6 servings (or about 3 big-bowl servings).

You can also use 2 sliced peaches or nectarines in place of the plums.

Baked Potato Soup

Just made this last night and was reminded how much we love it! Tastes like a baked potato "with everything" on it ... serve with a green salad and crusty French bread.

4 large potatoes, scrubbed and baked (best if baked in the oven v. the microwave: 400 degrees for one hour)
4 T. butter
3 T. flour
6 c. milk
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 1/2 c. sour cream
1 1/2 c. cheddar cheese, grated
8 slices crisp bacon
4 green onions, sliced

In large pot, melt butter. Add flour to make a roux, and cook while bubbling for one minute. Add milk and stir. Halve baked potatoes and scoop out centers into a small bowl. Partially mash. Cut up HALF of potato skins into bite-sized pieces and add, with mashed potato, to warm milk mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Stir over medium heat until soup starts to thicken, a couple of minutes. Add sour cream, cheese, bacon, and green onions. Heat through. Serve with a sprinkle of green onion on top, for color of course!

Easy Pumpkin Crumble

I just found this delite the other day, but haven't had the chance to try it. It looks quite delicious though, especially since I love anything pumpkin in the fall :) The recipe is by Our Best Bites found here!



1 boxed yellow or white cake mix
1-2 sticks butter (see notes in instructions)
1 16 oz can pumpkin*
2 eggs
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t pumpkin pie spice
1/4 t ginger
1/8 t cloves
1/8 t nutmeg
1/2 t salt
1/3 C chopped pecans
1/2 t additional cinnamon for topping

*This makes a dessert about an inch thick or less. That's because I like a high topping-to-pumpkin ratio. If you'd like it thicker, use a large can of pumpkin and double the rest of the filling ingredients (Eggs, sweetened condensed milk, and spices). Leave the rest of the recipe the same.

Preheat oven to 350. Place 2 C of the cake mix in a bowl. Cut in 3 T chilled butter. Just use your fingers to crumble the butter until it's in small crumbly pieces. Place mixture in a 9x13 baking dish and press flat with your fingers. Mix pumpkin, eggs, sweetened condensed milk, and spices until smooth. Pour on top of the cake mixture in the pan.

Now take the rest of the dry cake mix and mix in 1/2 t cinnamon. Sprinkle it all over the top of the pumpkin mixture. Use a measuring cup so you have a rough measurement of how much you're putting on. Here's why:

Here's a little something I learned after making the dump cake a gazillion times. Cake mixes all have different amounts in them! Different brands, different flavors, etc. Each one is slightly different in volume. I found one mix to have almost double the normal amount. Measuring the amount of cake mix you're sprinkling on top will help you get the perfect topping ratio in the last step.

Next sprinkle on the chopped pecans. You'll have 3 distinct layers now. Here's the trick: For every 1 C of cake mix you sprinkled on top, you'll need 3 T of melted butter. Drizzle it right on top. That butter is going to combine with the cake mix and make magic in the oven. Pop it in your 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes or so. A knife should come out without globs of pumpkin on it and the topping should be nice and golden.

Apple Spice Cake

Fall is not complete without making this baby at least a couple of times. Bring home a few red-variety apples from the farmers' market, and chances are you have the rest of the ingredients on hand.

2 lg. eggs
3/4 c. canola oil
2 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla
2 c. flour
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
4 c. thinly-sliced red-variety apples (3 large)
1 c. nuts (optional - I leave these out)

In large mixing bowl, beat eggs. Add oil, sugar, vanilla and mix. Add balance of dry ingredients and combine. Dump in sliced apples, wash your hands, take off your rings and get them (your hands) in the bowl to mix this thick batter. Press gently into greased 9X13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Cool and frost with CREAM CHEESE FROSTING (recipe follows). Refrigerate until cold and cut into small squares.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz. cream cheese (one package, soft)
3 T. butter
1 t. vanilla
2 c. powdered sugar

Combine cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add vanilla. Stir in powdered sugar.