Sausage Tortellini Soup with Parmesan Crisps

I mentioned in yesterday's post how this time of year makes me nostalgic for family recipes. With the holidays coming up, I start longing for Kathleen and dad's Thanksgiving dressing, my Aunt Gina, Claire and I's apple pie, my mom's creamed corn...I could go on forever. Aside from holiday recipes there are a handful of family recipes I crave. Exhibit A, this Sausage Tortellini Soup. 

I remember growing up and this soup always showing up on that first really cold day. With the couple chilly days we've had, my taste buds immediately wanted this soup. Although, I actually made this soup on Monday when it was a near 90 degrees. Not quite soup weather... maybe my cooking will help Oklahoma get its fall weather act together!

Growing up we always had sausage tortellini soup with a big wedge of skillet cornbread. Not that I don't loooooooove my fam's cornbread, but I wanted to try something new. Raise your hand if you've had those parmesan crisps they sell at Whole Foods (hand raised high). Last week I was there and they had them out as a sample. I embarrassingly went by three times for another bite. They are just baked cheese but kind of get away as being a cracker. 

I did my best to recreate those coveted parmesan crisps so I didn't have to hand over nine bucks for a box of something I could make at home. I bought a cheap wedge of Parmigiano-Reggiano at Trader Joe's then grated it on a box grater. I love the way they turned out and they pair perfect with this soup!

Sausage Tortellini Soup with Parmesan Crisps
yields 10 cups

Ingredients:
1 lb. Italian sausauge
1 large onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, pressed
3 (14½ oz) cans beef broth
2 (14½ oz) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 cup dry red wine
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsps. dried Italian seasoning
2 small zucchini, sliced
1 (9 oz) pkg. refrigerated cheese-filled tortellini
*Parmesan Crisps

Directions:
Discard sausage casings. Cook sausage, onion and garlic in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring until sausage crumbles and is no longer pink; drain and return to pan.

Sir in broth and next 6 ingredients, bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer 30 minutes. Skim off fat. Stir in zucchini and tortellini, simmer 10 minutes. Serve each bowl with a parmesan crisp!

*Parmesan Crisps:
Freshly grated parmesan cheese
Black pepper

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper.

Using a box grated, great your parmesan cheese. I used a combination of two sizes of grates. Drop heaping tablespoons of parmesan onto the lined baking sheet. Pat out into 2 1/2 inch circles. Sprinkle with black pepper. Bake for 10 minutes, but keep an eye on them, they may need less time. Let them sit on the baking sheet for a few minutes. Gently lift off, be careful they are delicate. 

Family recipes really are the best. I've been on a kick of remaking some of my favorites from growing up. What are some of your favorite family recipes?

Annie

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin bread, there's nothing better. Pumpkin bread is the quintessential pumpkin food. It's been around waaaaay longer than PSLs, pumpkin spice puppy chow, pumpkin protein bars, pumpkin spice cookie butter and all the other commercialized pumpkin foods. 

This time of year makes me nostalgic for old family recipes. With the holidays coming up, I've been digging through my mom's recipe binder to resurface some of my favorites like her ginger cookies, sausage tortellini soup (more on that later this week) and this pumpkin bread. It's the best darn pumpkin bread around and deserves to be shared. 

I baked up eight, count 'em, eight loaves this weekend. Six of them were sent off to be used as gifts, but two are taking home in my freezer to be pulled out when the pumpkin bread hunger strikes! It took a few loads into my KitchenAid to complete all the bowls of batter, but well worth it, that is my kind of therapy. Follow below to snatch this family tested, Annie trusted and fall approved recipe!

Pumpkin Bread
yields 2, 9 inch loaves or 3, 8 inch loves

Ingredients:
2/3 cup shortening
2 2/3 cups sugar
4 eggs
1, 15oz can pumpkin puree
2/3 cup water
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsps. baking soda
1 1/2 tsps. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
2/3 cup pecans, chopped

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350ºF. Generously grease and flour 2, 9 inch or 3, 8 inch loaf pans and set aside.

Cream shortening, gradually add sugar beating well. Add eggs, mix well. Stir in pumpkin and water.

Combine flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves; add to creamed mixture, mixing well. Fold in nuts, reserving a few. Spoon into loaf pans. Top with extra pecans. If using 8 inch pans bake for 55 minutes, 9 inch pans will bake 1 hour and 10 minutes or until the toothpick trick comes out clean.

What's your favorite pumpkin recipe? Mine 100% is this bread!

Annie

My Go To Work Week Lunch

Work week lunches are hard. It's the point in the day when you are starving and have to have something that will satisfy you all the way through dinner. It needs to give you energy to power the rest of the day without making you want to take a nap afterward. Lunch is asking for a lot and usually falls short. 

I used to be a basic salad girl. If I loaded it up with enough goods it would usually fit the bill. It's a good filler meal for when I need to clean out the fridge, but nothing excites me for lunch when I know I just have a salad packed. 

When I was doing Whole30 back in August, lunch was hard. A salad would definitely not cut it. I came up with this easy work week lunch that has stuck with me for the months to follow. It's easy to prep the night before and so filling/satisfying. I eat it about 3 times a week and with a few ingredient tweaks here and there I'm not getting sick of it. 

It's a healthy take on a charcuterie/crudite/cheese board. My "lunch board" as I like to call it! 

Basic components include:

2 hard boiled eggs
1/2 granny smith apple
3-4 pieces of charcuterie (prosciutto, salami, chorizo, pepperoni etc)

Items that change depending on taste and what is in season:

4 figs
stem of grapes
handful of snap peas, tomatoes carrots or bell peppers
crackers if you need the carbs
veggie dip or almond butter if you need the extra protein
 

Pictured above is how I take it to work. Hardboiled eggs unpeeled (I make a bunch at the beginning of the week), 1/2 apple uncut to avoid overly browning, meat, veggies and a side of veggie dip. I pack a little baggie of salt and pepper for the eggs and a small knife to cut the apple and eggs when I put it together at lunch. 

Give this lunch a try. It's well balanced and hits on all the taste buds. Tart apple, salty meat, sweet fruit, bright veggie, and filling eggs! It's just the thing to get me through the day and I get weirdly excited for lunch when I know I have this packed.

Get creative and make your own version of my lunch board! Share your lunch board pics with me via snapchat or tagging me on insta and using the #takeabite hashtag!

Annie

Oatmeal Pecan Chocolate Chip and Coconut Cookies (Best Cookies Ever)

I've firmly decided cookies are my favorite thing to bake and eat, when it comes to dessert. Cookies are fun to make, the dough is always great, they are equally great straight out of the oven and even a few days later. They are the best for sharing with friends and family and easy to stash in the freezer to pull out when you need a last minute dessert. 

I think I really got on the cookie train after my quest to fine the perfect CCC! Found here:) I made recipe after recipe and never got tired of baking cookies. My sweet roommate Lindz had her two childhood besties come stay with us way back in April. One of her friends had been following my chocolate chip cookie quest and said I had to try this recipe. The recipe is titled "Best Cookie Ever Recipe." With a name like that, how do you pass it up?

The recipe has been sitting on my phone, hiding, until I recently resurfaced it. No questions asked, I needed to make the "best cookies ever" stat! They are chock full of goodies (my favorite kind of cookies). Oatmeal, chocolate chips, pecans and the best-coconut. They'd even be great with some espresso powder, pretzels, potato chips, butterscotch chips etc. added in. Really whatever your heart desires. 

They are just one of those All-American cookies everyone will love! I baked off a ton last week and took them to our kickball league. I got thumbs up all around as we washed them down with Coors Light. It was a winning combo in our bellies and on the field. 

Best Cookies Ever
yields about 50 cookies

Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter (softened)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1 Tbsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3 cups quick cook oatmeal
12 oz. bag of chocolate chips (2 cups)
2 cups coconut
2 cups chopped pecans

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugars on high for two minutes. Scrape down sides. Add vanilla extract and eggs. In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter and sugar mixture. Mix until combined. Then add in all the goodies - oats, chocolate chips, coconut and pecans. 

Using a cookie scoop, place golf ball size balls of dough on your cookie sheets. Bake for 9-11 minutes, don't over bake! 

This recipe makes a ton! Perfect for sharing and storing leftover balls of dough in the freezer. I have about a dozen and half waiting for me to pull out tonight to bake off then take as house guest treats while I crash at the "Marge Motel" for OU/Texas this weekend!

Enjoy the best cookies ever!

Annie

Fall Panzanella Salad with Pumpkin Cornbread Croutons

"That screams fall," said my roommate after taking one bite. It sure does and now I pretty much want to eat it every day in the coming season. 

If you aren't familiar, a panzanella salad is local to Italy, made of bread and tomatoes, sometimes onions and basil, and dressed with olive oil and vinegar. Panzanella now comes in many shapes and forms. For instance, this recipe uses cornbread as the bread component. I have a soft spot for cornbread. My family makes a basic cornbread that we put with just about every soup, stew, and chili we make. But pumpkin cornbread, I can't. I'm SOLD!

I love the layers of flavors and textures and temperatures in this salad. Warm roasted fall veggies, cold crisp apple and toasty pumpkin cornbread all with a maple vinaigrette. It's dense enough to have for dinner, but excellent for lunch too. 

A cornbread mix will totally suffice in this recipe since you are making them into croutons. If you can find a pumpkin cornbread mix-buy it, if you can't-make one, or just use regular cornbread. It will still be delish!

Fall Panzanella Salad with Pumpkin Cornbread Croutons adapted from Purely Elizabeth
serves 4 as a main dish, 6-8 as a side dish*

Ingredients:
2 cups butternut squash, diced into 1/2 in. size pieces
2 cups brussels sprouts, quartered
1 medium red onion, chopped into small wedges
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt and pepper
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 honey crisp apple
2 cups pumpkin cornbread, diced into 1/2 in. size pieces **see note
10 oz bag tuscan kale

Dressing:
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
salt to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Chop butternut squash, brussels sprouts, and onion. Place veggies in columns on a foil lined roasting sheet. Drizzle olive oil over veggies. Season everything with salt and pepper. Sprinkle cinnamon over only the butternut squash. Roast for 20-25 minutes until tender, stirring halfway though.

In the meantime, cut your cornbread into 1/2 pieces and place on a foil lined baking sheet. Toss with a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper. Once the veggies are done, reduce the heat to 400 degrees and toast the cornbread for 10-15 minutes until the edges are crispy.

In a small mason jar or bowl combine dressing ingredients. Chop the honey crisp apple into a medium dice. 

To assemble; put kale in a large salad bowl. Top with roasted veggies, apple, croutons and drizzle with dressing. Toss and serve. 

*Single girl serving: Have all the components ready to go, but only toss one serving with the dressing. Keep everything else in the fridge to pull out each night for dinner. Store the veggies in the fridge and reheat, only cut part of the apple you are going to use and store the croutons wrapped in foil sitting out on the counter.

**Note: I used this pumpkin cornbread mix which is sadly now discontinued, but this recipe minus the pecans or this recipe are great. Regular cornbread would work too. Save the time and use a mix. You shush 'em up when you toast them anyway!

I kid you not when I say I have genuinely gotten so excited for dinner knowing I have this waiting for me. It's got it all going on. 

Annie