Hearty Italian Sausage Soup

A few weeks ago my sister Maria made a Hearty Italian Sausage Soup that was really good. She got the recipe from the back of the Saltine's box. I've been sick the past few days and wanted to make soup tonight, so I made this recipe. It's very easy and doesn't take much time to put together. I didn't have rotini pasta, so I used orecchiette instead. I made a double recipe and put a pound of pasta in which was a little too much (it would have been fine if I added a little more chicken broth). This is a great recipe to make when you don't have much time to put dinner together and want something warm and filling!

Hearty Italian Sausage Soup

Recipe Courtesy Kraft Foods

1 pound ground Italian Sausage

1 onion chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon Olive Oil

2 cans (14-ounces each) 25% Less Sodium Chicken Broth

1 soup can water

1 can (15-ounce) cannellini beans, rinsed

1 can (14.5-ounce) stewed tomatoes, undrained

1 cup rotini pasta, uncooked

1½ cups baby spinach

½ cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

PREMIUM Saltine crackers

Cook sausage, onions and garlic in oil in large saucepan for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the next 4 ingredients. Bring to a boil. Stir in pasta; cook 8 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat.

Stir in spinach; cover. Let stand 5 minutes. Top with cheese.

Serve with Saltine crackers.

Makes 10 servings.

Photos by JoJo

Pumpkin Roll

Last year we had a new dessert at our Thanksgiving feast - a Pumpkin Roll that my mom made. This year I tried it out. I made two pumpkin rolls, and there was only half of one leftover (thankfully, so we could enjoy it a day or two longer!). This was easier to make than I thought it would be. My mom helped me out a little with getting the wax paper off the cakes and rolled them up. The only thing I will do different next time is chop the walnuts finer, as they were a little big. Other than that, this is a great dessert that is sure to be a crowd pleaser!

I don't have photos from when I made the cake, but this blog has some great step-by-step directions.

Libby’s® Pumpkin Roll 

                                                                   

CAKE

¼ cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel)

¾ cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup LIBBY’S® 100% Pure Pumpkin

1 cup walnuts, finely chopped (optional)

FILLING

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

6 Tablespoons butter or margarine, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Powdered sugar (optional for decoration)

FOR CAKE:
Preheat oven to 375° F. Grease 15” x 10” jelly-roll pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour wax paper. Sprinkle a thin, cotton kitchen towel with powdered sugar. Be sure to put enough powdered sugar on the towel so the cake will not stick when rolling it up.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts.

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. (If using a dark-colored pan, begin checking for doneness at 11 minutes). Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.

FOR FILLING:
Beat cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.

Unroll cake after it has cooled

Prepare cream cheese filling

Spread filling over cake

Re-roll cake

Sprinkle powdered sugar on top

Photos by JoJo

Mulled Cranberry Apple Cider

A few weeks ago I was taking a walk with my sister and we started talking about hot apple cider. She said she had a recipe from my cousin Andrew that she liked. I usually don't like hot drinks, but for some reason I really wanted some. We made the apple cider this past weekend, and her four boys loved it. I'm making it again for Thanksgiving since it will go well with the menu. It's very simple to make and leaves the house smelling so good!

Mulled Cranberry Apple Cider

2 quarts apple cider

1½ quarts cranberry or cranberry-apple juice

½ cup light brown sugar, packed

8-10 cinnamon sticks, 3 inch, broken into pieces

10-15 whole allspice

20-25 whole cloves

Bring everything to a boil in a 6-quart pot. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Strain and discard spices.

Yield: 12 cups

Photo by JoJo

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

It's still a few days away from Thanksgiving, but I don't think it's too early to start making Christmas cookies. One of my good friends is in Afghanistan, and I want to send cookies to her that get there before Christmas, so today I made my first batch. My sister Diana has made Peanut Butter Cup Cookies the past few years that were good, so I decided to try them out. I bought a bag of Reese's mini peanut butter cups and a bag of dark chocolate ones for the dark chocolate lovers such as myself, and my friend. The dark chocolate peanut butter cups are only slightly darker than the others, so I bought green and red mini muffin baking cups to line my mini muffin baking pans. I used green for the dark chocolate and red for the milk chocolate. Now I will easily know which ones to send her!

This recipe is very easy. I didn't roll the dough into balls, which made it less time consuming. However, my cookies don't look as perfect as others I've seen online, so next time I'll roll the dough and see if that makes a difference. Instead, I used a small cookie scoop to scoop the dough into the mini muffin pans. I made a double recipe and ended up with 72 cookies

A few tips - freeze the peanut butter cups so they are easier to push into the cookies. If you are rolling the dough, you may want to refrigerate it first for 30 minutes to an hour so it is easier to handle. Also, freeze the cookies right after you push the peanut butter cups in. This will prevent the chocolate from running and also speed up the cooling process. I freeze these cookies anyway since they are for Christmas. It makes packaging them up easier if they are already frozen since the chocolate will be set.

Overall I'd say this recipe is pretty simple. And the cookie I tasted was very good! These are an excellent addition to a cookie platter during the holidays, and also great to give as a gift!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

1¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup butter, softened
½ cup white sugar
½ cup peanut butter
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons milk
40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Unwrap peanut butter cups and freeze them until they are ready to be used. This will make them easier to press into the warm cookies.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.

Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture; mix well.

Refrigerate the dough for about an hour to make it easier to work with. Shape dough into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan or mini muffin pan lined with paper baking cups. Alternately, do not refrigerate dough, and use a small cookie scoop to scoop the cookie dough directly into the muffin pans or paper baking cups.

Bake at 375°F for about 8 minutes. Do not overbake, cookies should be soft. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each cookie. Once finished, refrigerate or freeze cookies while still in the pan to prevent chocolate from running. After the chocolate is hardened, carefully remove cookies from pan.

Makes about 40 cookies.

Mix peanut butter, sugars, and butter

Beat in egg, vanilla, and milk

Add flour mixture

Refrigerate dough if rolling into balls, or use the way it is if using a cookie scoop

Use a small cookie scoop to scoop dough into mini muffin pans

Ready for the oven

I chose to use a bag of Reese's and a bag of Dark Chocolate Reese's!

Milk Chocolate Reese's

Dark Chocolate Reese's

Cookies right out of the oven

Immediately press a peanut butter cup into each cookie after they come out of the oven

Enjoy!

Photos by JoJo

Mississippi Mud Bars

A few years ago my mom gave me a baking cookbook with a recipe for Mississippi Mud Bars that I've wanted to make ever since I saw the picture of them. I bought some of the ingredients for it a while ago and just remembered this weekend that I still hadn't made it. I decided to try it tonight. It was very easy to make. Note that you do need to refrigerate it for at least 3 hours (something I overlooked, but luckily I started it early enough to still taste it tonight). I made this in an 11"x7" pan as the recipe said to do. It is an unusual size that many people may not have, so just use something close to it, but I wouldn't use anything smaller, as once everything was assembled, the pan was filled to the top. My bars took about 10 minutes longer to bake than the recipe said (I baked them at 325 degrees on convection). Watch them and take them out once they are firm and set. The 7-ounce jar of marshmallow creme was just enough to spread evenly over the cake. The icing was very easy to make and to spread. The hardest thing about this recipe for me was all the waiting!

Once it was finally ready to eat...wow - rich desserts don't usually effect me but this is one rich dessert! It is a little messy but tastes delicious. Just be sure the cut the pieces small! I used a brownie spatula to get the pieces out and it worked very well.

Mississippi Mud Bars

Recipe courtesy “A Passion for Baking” Cookbook

These confections are best described as bars in the best old-fashioned sense of the word – when bars, piled on a plate, dominated the bake sale or commanded the attention of anyone coming into a diner looking for dessert. Tons of recipes with this name exist, but this is a definitive, perfect version.

These dark, delicious bars are topped with a sandbar of marshmallow topping and a nice paving of the best, shiniest chocolate icing you ever had.

Bars
2 cups sugar
¾ cup butter, cut into chunks
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder, measured and then sifted
¾ teaspoon baking powder
Pinch baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt

½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans, optional
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips

1½ cups shredded coconut, optional
1 (7-ounce) jar marshmallow creme

Mississippi Mud Icing
3 cups powdered sugar
½ cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ cup cocoa powder, measured and then sifted
½ cup evaporated milk

Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously spray an 11” x 7” pan with non-stick cooking spray and place it on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

In a food processor, blend sugar and butter until pasty. Add eggs and vanilla; blend well. Fold in flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and blend well. Fold in nuts, chocolate chips, and coconut and blend briefly. Spoon into prepared pan.

Bake until set and firm to the touch, about 25-30 minutes. Spread the marshmallow creme on hot cake and refrigerate, uncovered, for 3 or more hours.

For the Mississippi Mud Icing, blend all ingredients in a food processor until stiff and glossy. Using a metal spatula, dipped as required into hot water, spread icing on chilled uncut bars. Chill briefly to set icing. Cut into bars.

These are messy. It is a good idea to serve them in splayed-out paper liners to hold all of the gooey stuff and to keep chocolate from getting all over yours hands.

Makes 16-20 large or 32 small bars.

Cut up butter and mix with sugar

Add eggs and vanilla

Fold in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt

Fold in nuts & chocolate chips (I didn't add coconut)

Spread batter in greased 11" x 7" pan

Bake until set

Spread marshmallow creme over hot cake and refrigerate for 3 hours

Mix the icing

Spread icing on cold cake and then refrigerate again until the icing is set

Cut into bars (small bars!)

Enjoy (you will need a glass of milk!)

Photos by JoJo