Beef, Tomato and Acini di Pepe Soup

A few years ago, my oldest sister, Caterina, sent me a recipe for Beef, Tomato and Acini di Pepe Soup. She told me it was one of her family's favorites. I never got around to making it until yesterday, and realized I have really been missing out! Most of the soup recipes I make use either chicken or sausage. This is the first one I've made with ground beef. My sister makes it in a slow cooker, but I made it on the stove. I am only including the stove top directions below, but the link above also has slow cooker and instant pot directions. I used petite diced tomatoes and added a teaspoon of coarse black pepper to the soup, but otherwise I followed the directions. This soup was very easy to make, and tasted delicious! Just remember to plan ahead a little bit since it needs to simmer for 1 to 1.5 hours before adding the pasta.

I was able to fit one recipe in a 4-quart pot. If you have a larger family, you will probably need more than one recipe. My husband and I were the only ones that ate it, and I had two bowls leftover. I will definitely be making this recipe again soon!

Beef, Tomato and Acini di Pepe Soup

Recipe Courtesy Skinnytaste.com

1 pound 90% lean ground beef

1½ teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon coarse black pepper

½ cup diced onion

½ cup diced celery

½ cup diced carrot

28-ounce can petite diced tomatoes

32 ounces beef stock

2 bay leaves

4 ounces (2/3 cup) small pasta, such as Acini di Pepe

Grated parmesan cheese, optional

In a large pot or Dutch oven, sauté the beef, salt, and pepper on high heat until browned, breaking the meat up into small bits. Add the onion, celery and carrots and sauté 3 to 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes, stock and bay leaves; cover and cook on low until the beef and the vegetables are tender, about 1 to 1½ hours (you may need to add more broth or water if it evaporates too much). Add the pasta, stir and cook according to package directions.

Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut Squash Soup is one of my favorite soups for this time of year. I have never actually made it, but my mom and sisters make this recipe of Giada's and it's delicious, so I wanted to share it.

A lot of my family members cannot have dairy (which is one reason they make this recipe over others - it does not have any heavy cream in it!), so instead of using butter they only use olive oil. They do not put sage in their soup, so I put that as optional. They also do not make the crostini that is included in Giada's recipe so I left that out. My mom added a few more carrots the last time she made this and I think it tasted the best out of all the batches of hers that I've had!

This soup is delicious by itself, but I also love to dip grilled cheese in it if I'm having it for lunch. Yum!

Butternut Squash Soup

Recipe Courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

2 Tablespoons butter, at room temperature

2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped into ½-inch pieces

3 cloves garlic, minced

3½ pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into ¾-inch pieces (about 7 to 8 cups)

6 cups low-sodium chicken stock

¼ cup chopped fresh sage leaves (optional)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

In an 8-quart stockpot, add the butter and oil and melt together over medium-high heat. Add the onion and carrot and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Add the squash and the chicken stock. Bring the mixture to a boil and add the sage. Continue to boil until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Turn off the heat. Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture until smooth and thick. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Keep the soup warm over low heat. To serve, ladle the soup into bowls.

Note: The cooked vegetable mixture can also be pureed (after cooling for about 5 minutes) by ladling, in batches, into a food processor or blender and blended until smooth.

Kid Friendly Italian Chicken Fingers

I love any dinner that I can prepare ahead of time, especially one that I can just stick in the oven close to dinnertime. Today I prepped Giada's Kid Friendly Italian Chicken Fingers while my boys were napping. This recipe is very similar to Ree Drummond's Chicken Nuggets recipe which I often make (I always make them as chicken tenders though), except for a few things - Giada's recipe has parmesan mixed in with the breadcrumbs and her recipe is baked whereas Ree's is fried. In both recipes, you cover the chicken in a flour mixture first (I find it easiest to do this in a ziploc bag), then dip it in egg, then in a breadcrumb mixture. My husband loves Ree's recipe when I make it so I was curious to see how he liked this one. I thought it was delicious. He thought it was a bit dry (I baked them for 15 minutes so next time I will try a little less time) and liked Ree's recipe better. I will still try this one again and see if I can win him over on it, but you really can't go wrong with either recipe!

Kid Friendly Italian Chicken Fingers

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentis

1½ pounds chicken tenders

1 Tablespoon salt, divided

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¾ cup of all-purpose flour

3 large eggs

¾ cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs

½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Olive oil, to drizzle

¾ cup of store-bought or prepared marinara, to serve

Put an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 450°.

Season the chicken tenders evenly with a teaspoon of salt.

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour with the remaining 2 teaspoons salt. In a second medium bowl, whisk together the eggs. In a third medium bowl, mix together the breadcrumbs and Parmesan. Dredge the chicken in the flour and then into the egg mixture. Allow any excess egg mixture to drip off and coat the chicken in the breadcrumb mixture. Arrange the breaded chicken in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Bake until golden and cooked through, about 13 to 15 minutes.

Warm a bowl of marinara in the microwave or on the stovetop.

Arrange the chicken on a platter and serve warm marinara on the side.

Yield: 4-6 servings.

Roasted Butternut Squash

Since fall is here, it's a good time to start making dishes with butternut squash, or you can roast it and serve it alongside a main dish. Here is a simple recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash that tastes delicious. You can roast the squash alone or with potatoes, carrots, or any other vegetables you desire! I made this tonight and my husband loved it - he said it was the highlight of the meal. I already had squash diced into smaller chunks before I decided I was making this, but I still roasted them for 30 minutes and they were perfect.

If you have never cut a butternut squash before, you can google how to peel and slice it or just check out this link. I used my biggest and sharpest knife and cut the top and bottom off of mine, used a vegetable peeler to peel the skin off, sliced it in half longways, scooped the seeds out with a spoon, and then diced it in small pieces. I did this two nights ago and used half of it for another recipe. It's easy to do this prep work ahead of time and keep the diced squash in a container in the refrigerator until you need it!

Roasted Butternut Squash

Recipe courtesy Ina Garten

                       

1 large butternut squash (about 3 pounds), peeled and seeded and cut in 1-inch chunks

3 Tablespoons good olive oil

2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or coarse black pepper

Preheat oven to 400°.

Place the squash on a sheet pan and drizzle with the olive oil, salt, and pepper and toss well. Arrange the squash in one layer and roast for 25 to 30 minutes, until the squash is tender, turning once with a metal spatula.

Yield: 4-5 servings.

Ready for the oven

Roasted

Baked Tender Chicken Thighs

My sister Maria sent me this Baked Tender Chicken Thighs recipe a while ago and I was recently going through recipes in my email and found it. This is a great recipe that you can prepare ahead of time (for me, that means when my kids are napping!) and then just stick in the oven later. Add a veggie and a starch and you're all set! This was easy to make and delicious - I'll definitely be making it again soon!

Baked Tender Chicken Thighs

Recipe courtesy valentinascorner.com

                       

3 pounds chicken thighs, skinless and boneless

3 Tablespoons olive oil (or Canola oil)

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons table salt

¼ teaspoon ground pepper

1½ teaspoons Italian seasoning

¾ teaspoon ground paprika

In a bowl, combine olive oil and minced garlic. Layout chicken thighs and coat with oil mixture (on both sides).

Prepare the seasoning: In a bowl, combine the salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and paprika.

Season both sides of chicken with the seasoning. Transfer chicken thighs to a baking dish. Cover with foil. Set aside to marinate at least 2 hours (*or see note).

Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes. Remove foil and broil for 8-10 minutes (at same temp), until tops of thighs are crispy.

Yield: 6 servings.

Note: Marinating at least 2 hours will give best results. If you don't have two hours, still bake the chicken; it will still be great.

Chicken thighs ready to marinate for 2 hours before baking