Another Version of Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana

Sauté the chopped vegetables together, with the cut up sausage, in a 5 quart soup pot.

Once they start to sizzle, add seasonings, reduce the heat, cover, but continue to stir occasionally, for 10-15 minutes. Add a little water if it starts to stick to the pot.

10oz. apple gouda chicken sausage

1/2 lg. purple onion

1/4 green bell pepper

3 lg. garlic cloves

2 celery stalks

2 carrots

2T butter

1t garlic salt

1t black pepper

Next add the following, then bring to a low boil for another 10 minutes or so. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and continue to cook another 15 minutes.

24oz. chicken bone broth

24oz. fresh cold water

3T+ chicken soup base

4 bay leaves

1 bunch of kale - chopped

3 med. red potatoes - cubed

2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed

Stir in 1 can cream of potato soup ( or cream of mushroom, asparagus or celery). Check the seasonings and tweak it however necessary.

I added 2t smoked paprika, which gave it a nice smokey depth of flavor. . .Lin

Easter Garlic Mashed Potatoes

3# mixed potatoes

5 lg. cloves of garlic

Wash the potatoes. Peel and cube the sweet potatoes and immediately put them in salted water. Before prepping the regular potatoes, put the unpeeled garlic cloves in warm water, for 10 minutes, to make peeling them easier.

Add the cubed potatoes to the pot. Bring to a quick boil then reduce the heat to a low simmer. When the potatoes are just getting tender, add the peeled, crushed, chopped garlic.

Turn off the heat and cover the pot. Let stand 10 minutes. Drain, then add the following:

1T dry parsley

1/2T Lowry's Garlic Salt

3/4t red and black pepper

1 stick of butter

2/3c sour cream

Give everything just a rough mash, just to blend everything, and melt the butter. Stir in the sour cream right at the end. We'll be having this for our Easter dinner this weekend with a vegetable medley, a grape tomato salad, a sauerkraut-pork meat course and a purple cabbage side that's just wonderful! For dessert I'm going to make a slightly different version of my Italian inspired olive oil cake, adding slightly cooked citrus peel this time, and baking the batter as muffins.

I love the idea of the flavors and textures these different potatoes bring to the dish. Not everyone's favorite type of mashed potatoes, but if you're adventurous, you might like these for a change. They provide much more nutritive value than just regular potatoes.

I hope you all had a wonderful Passover-Easter holiday weekend. . .Lin

Shrimp and Sautéed Vegetables

3 baby red potatoes

2T EVOO

a good sprinkle of my rosemary seasoning.

Sauté until the potatoes starting turning translucent.
Add the peas and whole or halved shrimps.

1c frozen peas

1/2 lg. purple shallot

7 big Argentinian red shrimp

Stir and continue to cook; covered,
just a few minutes, over low heat; until the shrimp is done.

I had my family over for lunch after church and thought that might be it for me regarding food for the day. Later I got hungry again and this came together fast.

I had leftover vegetables so this morning that + an egg became a really great breakfast. . .Lin

Poached Cod, Potato, Broccoli

I'm not big on traditional waffles, pancakes, cereal, orange juice type breakfasts. Not that I don't like them, I was raised on that sort of breakfast, but once I start eating like that, it's all I crave, and in no time I'd be gaining horrible amounts of weight!

I need less bad carbs and more protein in my diet. The closest I come to that is when I chop frozen berries and cherries then warm them a little and add plain Greek Yogurt and some really good, grainy-nutty granola. Some mornings I'll have dinner leftovers or scrambled eggs with steamed green beans and crumbled bacon. Today I woke up knowing just what I wanted. . .

• 4oz. frozen cod
• 1 sm.-med. red potato
• 1-2c fresh broccoli florets
• Old Bay Seasoning
• 1T butter

In a medium non-stick pan, steam-poach the cod with peeled potato cubes, in about a half-inch of seasoned water, for 4 minutes. Add the broccoli, turn the fish over, cover, and simmer-poach another 4 minutes. Plate the fish, add butter to the vegetables, stir to coat them with the remaining seasoned water and butter and add them to the plate. This came together in about 15 minutes, and contains 310 calories. It's great for a healthy, quick breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Think outside your parameters!  Make your menus healthier! . .Lin

Mashed Potato - Leek Vegetable Soup

5 sm.-med. red potatoes - small cubes 

1 sm. yellow onion - finely chopped

5" green leek top - sliced-chopped

a little salt, red and black pepper

1T butter

8 cloves of garlic

yellow-green celery tops

5 oz. fresh spinach or a spinach blend

Combine the first group in a large pot, sautés and sizzle until the scents are released, maybe 5 minutes.  Add 3c water, cover and simmer 10 minutes.  Mash, then add the next 3 ingredients, simmer another 5 minute, then set aside.

In another pot, combine the chopped vegetables below, and saute' for 5-15 minutes until slightly translucent and your kitchen smells great.

1T butter

2 carrots

2 stalks celery

⅓ lg. orange pepper

5" white leek bottom

1 med. Anaheim pepper

1-2T Sicilian blend seasoning

1-2T mushroom Better Than Bouillon

Toward the end of the saute' time, begin adding another 3c of water as needed. After another 10 minutes simmering time, taste the soup and add whatever is needed. This is when I stirred in the mushroom soup base. Add the vegetables to the mashed potato and greens and again stir and check the flavors. This is a good and quick soup. Low in fat because the texture comes from the mashed potatoes rather than dairy of any type.

Be Creative! Cooking Is Art - Food Is Your Medium.  Happy Cooking! . .Lin

Boneless Barbecued Pork Ribs and Some Amazing Vegetables

My grocery store has a little area for meat that's approaching it's 'expiration' date.  I know that probably sounds gross to many of you, but I've found such great things in this chilly little bin!!  Lamb chops, frozen chicken livers, some nice meaty pork neck bones, side pork - which looks like bacon. . .

Today I'm cooking up 3# of very well seasoned BBQ Boneless Pork Ribs I bought for just over $7.00.  Ribs are always sort of a mystery to me, as to how to keep them meaty and tender.  

Instead of grilling them, which is no longer an option for me since moving and leaving my grill behind, I just put them in my big, old, dark blue speckled turkey roaster, added a little water and am simmering them for a very long time.  To go with them, I  have tiny red potatoes, 5 garlic cloves, some pea and tiny red bean sprouts and a few spears of asparagus.  A little butter, water, salt and pepper and those will simmer-steam quite nicely.

I love dinners like this!  Totally spontaneous, no real plan and if it works, great, if not, well, I'll just not cook this ever again!  I think this will be a really good dinner though.  😉  (It was fabulous!!!)

Be Bold. . .Be Creative. . .Happy Cooking!!. . .Lin