Roasted Vegetable Soup

This is absolutely perfect for Fall! My girls and I created our own holiday years ago. It's on October 1st and we make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, decorate the house for Halloween with Halloween music, go shopping for Halloween costumes, have soup for dinner and watch a Halloween movie with hot chocolate. Since we're in Idaho we get all 4 seasons and it is GORGEOUS here! We soak it up like you would not believe. The girls get more excited for this holiday than Christmas. It's absolutely hilarious.

Anyways, this soup just might be a strong possibility for soup of choice on our holiday! That's saying something, because they take it seriously and everything has to be perfect.

The original recipe doesn't call for tortellini pasta, but my kids have bottomless stomachs so I threw in a little more substance.

Recipe adapted from: Roasted Vegetable Soup- Pioneer Woman

What you will need:

• 1 large zucchini, sliced in half and then cut in half moons
• 1 yellow squash, sliced in half and then cut in half moons
• 1 yellow onion, sliced
• 1 red and yellow Bell pepper, cut in strips
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 c Olive oil
• 1 T Italian seasoning
• 1/2 T salt
• 1/2 T pepper
• 4 c chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
• 14 oz can stewed tomatoes
• 1 Bay leaf
• 1 c heavy cream

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 475*
• Spray baking sheet with nonstick spray
• Combine all veggies into a large bowl with olive oil and seasonings to toss to chat
• Arrange vegetables on baking sheet in an even layer and roast for 15 minutes
• Add vegetables into crock pot with stewed tomatoes, chicken stock, heavy cream and Bay leaf
• Cook on low for 3 hours
• Remove Bay leaf and blend soup until it's reached desired texture

Turkey Meatballs

We usually make these meatballs to add to minestrone soup, but they are so good you can use them for anything! They're extremely flavorful and the texture is unreal! Very easy to make, too. Just pulse, shape and cook! If you're looking for a gluten-free option, dredging each meatball in flour isn't absolutely necessary (we've done it without and they've turned out just great!).


What you will need:

• 1 lb. ground turkey
• 1 oz. parmesan
• 1/4 C parsley
• 1 yellow onion diced
• 2 cloves garlic, diced
• 1 egg
• 2 T oil
• Flour for dredging

Directions:

• 
  
• Combine parmesan, parsley, diced onion and diced garlic to food processor.
• Add ground turkey, egg and salt & pepper to combine
• Shape into 1" meatballs
• In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat
• Coat each meatball in the flour and add to the oil in the skillet
• Cook for about 10-15 minutes, turning to brown all sides

Sesame Noodles

First let me just apologize for this picture. It was just sitting on the counter waiting to be eaten and I remembered I needed a picture. So I didn't try to make it look fancy. It's just as is. Also, I just had angel hair pasta on hand, so it looks a little "off," but I promise you it's good!

I have no idea where my head was at, but as I was preparing meals for our "health week," I looked at my plans for buffalo chicken lettuce wraps and thought an Asian noodle side dish would pair well. They were both great on their own, but together I have no idea why I put them together! It's not even really like they're super healthy, but hey, I had already drowned chicken in hot sauce so.... we'll just go with it.

These had really good flavor, most likely due to the sesame oil used! My husband loooooves sesame oil so I had zero reservations about the whole thing. They were deeeelicious! Of course. Pioneer Woman, right? Not to mention, this whips up FAST. You're using thin noodles so they don't take long at all and everything is just kind of dump and mix and go. Loved it!

What you will need:

• 12 oz. thin noodles, cooked and drained
• 1/4 C soy sauce
• 2 T sugar
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 T rice vinegar
• 3 T pure sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp. hot chili oil
• 4 T canola oil
• Green onions, thinly sliced (optional)

Directions:

• Mix all ingredients (minus the noodles) together in a bowl
• Toss the cooked and drained noodles with the oil
• Top with green onions (optional)

Garlic Bread (Garlic Butter)

A while back I wanted garlic bread but didn't want to go to the store to get some of that pre-made stuff you stick in the oven to warm up. But rubbing some raw garlic all over a piece of toast didn't sound great either (yeah, that's literally what I heard one time....on the FOOD NETWORK. WHAT?). I told myself to just suck it up and figure something out.

I took a pretty simple approach to the whole thing but really wanted the flavors to stand out. What I came up with is extremely fool proof and I have been using it on EVERYTHING. Including the Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks. I used it for my Baked Salmon and added in some other seasonings with some lemon juice. It's just so nice to have this recipe on hand!

What you will need:

• 1/2 tsp. butter
• 4 cloves garlic, grated
• 1/2 stick butter, softened
• Any seasonings you'd like. A safe bet would be some thyme or rosemary

Directions:

• Grate the garlic into the 1/2 tsp of butter while it's warming up in a pan
• When the butter is melted and the garlic has swam around for a tiny minute, pour (and scrape every last bit of the butter/garlic along with it) into a small bowl with the softened 1/2 stick of butter
• Mix in any seasonings you like
• Spread over bread slices
• Bake at 375 for about 10-15 minutes

Sausage and Tortellini Tomato Soup

I'm not exactly sure how to word the name of this soup. Tortellini and sausage? Basil Tortellini.....Sausage, basil and Tortellini soup..I don't know. Also I didn't really know what I was doing when I made this. I had about 3 different recipes swirling around in my head so I combined them all and winged the whole thing.

My whole family scarfed the whole thing up. My daughter who haaaates tomatoes had SECONDS. It has so much flavor! It doesn't just take like a can of tomatoes. Not even close. I was shocked. I served it with some Crack Bread in case you need an idea.

I was extremely surprised at how fast this came together, especially since I started it without really knowing what direction I was going with it!

What you will need:

• 1 lb. ground Italian sausage
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, minced
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 cans petite diced tomatoes
• 1 32 oz. box chicken (or vegetable) broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 c basil, chopped
• 1 pkg. frozen tortellini
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• Crushed red pepper
• 1/2 C heavy cream
• 1/2 C grated Parmesan

Directions:

• Brown the Italian sausage
• While that's browning, mince up your onions and peel your garlic
•  Heat up the olive oil in a large pot 
• Add the onions and saute' for a few minutes
• Add in the garlic and saute' for another minute or so
• While the onions and garlic are being sauted, dump the two cans of tomatoes into a blender
• Add in the onions and garlic to the blender and blend well
• Pour the puree back into the pot and add the box of chicken broth
• Stir to combine and drop the two bay leaves in
• Chop up your basil and add into the soup
• Add in your seasonings
• Add in the heavy cream, stir in
• Add in the sausage, stir in
• Add in the tortellini, stir in
• Add in the parmesan, stir in
• Let simmer for about 10 minutes (this is where I prepped my crack bread and got it into the oven and set the table)

Spaghetti Sauce

So this sauce was looking a little elaborate for my taste, but only because Pioneer Woman's recipe makes a TON so you can freeze some! Her post about it was so funny to read because she adds a jar of store bought marinara sauce and she was totally mortified by the whole thing but swears by it! I tried it all out and good heavens...can this lady do anything wrong?!

This served my family plenty of sauce for spaghetti (I served it with Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks), plus 2 large ziploc bags full of leftovers to freeze. She recommends lasagna and sloppy joes! At first I thought the sloppy joes idea was kind of weird until I could smell and taste the sauce and it totally fits. This recipe can be halved for a regular amount of sauce (it will still leave you leftovers but you'll want them anyway!)

What you will need:

• 5 lbs. ground beef
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, minced
• 1 green pepper, minced
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 C white wine (or low sodium beef broth....or neither...since I spaced this step. Heehee)
• 1 14 oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 2 28 oz. cans crushed tomatoes
• 1 can tomato paste (or none since I didn't have any. Whoops)
• 1 jar marinara sauce (I ended up just using prego traditional pasta sauce)
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 2 T sugar
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
• 1/4 C minced parsley
• 1/2 C grated parmesan
• Rind from Parmesan wedge (optional)

Directions:

• Brown the beef in a large pot
• Remove beef from pot, and drain the grease
• In the same large pot, add olive oil and let it heat up a bit
• Add minced onions and green peppers to the oil
• Saute' for a couple of minutes
• Add the minced garlic
• Pour the white win over the vegetables and let it cook for a minute
• Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste and marinara sauce
• Add the seasonings 
• Let it simmer for about an hour
• Add in the parsley
• Add in the parmesan and wedge if you so desire
• Let is simmer for another 30 minutes
• Serve with fresh parsley and parmesan

Chicken Florentine Pasta

Surprise, surprise. Another Pioneer Woman recipe. Believe me! She's the best!

It's another one of those recipe's that she explains better than I could, so click right here to get step by step pics and great instructions!

But just fyi, after dinner was over and we scooped up the leftovers into some tupperware, my 4 year old and I decided we wanted more and sat at the table with forks eating it right out of the container!

Fresh Basil and Pepperoni Tortellini Pasta Salad

I'm BACK! And boy do I have a fabulous recipe to share with y'all. I've been on vacation and stuffed myself silly full of amazing food (tried focaccia bread for the first time. Hello! Where have you been all my life? My sister in law is an amazing cook. I am forever in her debt for that one haha).

I made this before our vacation and really loved it, so I made it again for my parents when I was there. Totally spaced the cherry tomatoes, so just imagine that they're in there. This is so easy and so yummy. It has a very fresh yet filling taste to it that you'll just die for!

What you will need:

• 1 pkg. Buitoni cheese tortellini
• 1 C chopped pepperoni
• 1/3 C chopped fresh basil
• 1/2 C cubed mozzerella
• 1 C Ceasar dressing (I've only used Cardini's Caesar Dressing and it tastes fabulous)
• 1 C cherry tomatoes, halved

Directions:

• Cook pasta and set aside
• Add in all other ingredients and toss well
• Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving

This pasta will soak up the dressing once it's been in the fridge. So don't be worried if it looks like it's drowning in the dressing before you refrigerate it (like in my picture). 

Lemon Garlic Pasta with Salmon

I kept seeing this picture of pasta on Pinterest that said to toss pasta with lemon juice, olive oil and bread crumbs. I thought that was a wonderful idea! So I expanded on that idea and came up with this-

My favorite thing about this recipe (aside from the taste), is that I don't have to be very particular about my salmon. I'm usually very precise and critical when making salmon, but with this I can just chop the sucker up halfway through and forget about it. You could easily make the salmon the star though and turn it into a salmon dish on a bed of lemon garlic pasta and that would be great, too!

ps- I paired this meal with Crack Bread and a fresh green salad. It worked really well together!

What you will need:

• Spaghetti Pasta
• 6 cloves garlic
• Onion powder
• 1/4 C butter
• 2 lemons
• 1 6 oz. salmon fillet
• 1/4 C Bread crumbs
• 2 T olive oil

Directions:

• Before you add your pasta to boiling water, grate 3 cloves of garlic into the water and add some onion powder
• Add pasta to the water 
• Add 1 T of olive oil to a cast iron skillet and bring to medium heat
• Lay your salmon fillet on the pan and let each side cook for about 2 minutes before roughly cutting it up (I just used my spatula) and allowing the rest to cook to desired doneness
• While the salmon is cooking, add the butter to a small sauce pan and grate the remaining 3 cloves of garlic into the butter.
• Add the juice of 1 lemon to the garlic butter and let simmer until the pasta is done
• Once the pasta is done, drain the water and toss the pasta in 1 T olive oil, a little lemon juice, bread crumbs and salmon
• Drizzle the lemon garlic butter over the top for an added oomph of flavor, or opt out if you'd rather try and be more healthy

Guy Fieri's Cajun Chicken Alfredo

Guy Fieri claims that one of the best things he's ever made...

is this Cajun Chicken Alredo.

And how nice of him to let us in on the fun.

On the Food Network website, they only recommend a certain type of blackening spice, but on the show, it was made with multiple spices. I have no idea of the recommended blackening spice is good, but making it from scratch was BOMB so I'll include the spices used for that.

Get ready, because this is so good it should be illegal.

What you will need:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 C. blackening spice (Recommended: Paul Prudhomme's chicken)*
• 2 T extra virgin olive oil
• 3 T minced garlic
• 1 C roughly chopped marinated sun-dried tomatoes
• 1/4 C white wine
• 3 C heavy cream
• 3/4 C grated Parmesan
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 lb. cooked fettuccine
• 1/2 C sliced green onions

Directions:

• Have the Fettuccine ready to start cooking whenever you feel is best to get it started so it doesn't end up sitting around waiting for everything else to be done.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Heat a cast iron skillet over very high heat (if you see smoke coming off the pan, you might think that's hot enough. Wait until you see actual white spots forming on your pan; "white hot.")
• While the pan is getting hot, make sure the raw chicken is dry, coat the chicken breasts with the blackening spice and place on the hot skillet pan**
• Blacken both sides of the chicken (When you place the chicken on the pan, remember that it's really really hot, so don't be alarmed when it starts smoking. That's the blackening happening!)
• Keeping the chicken in the cast iron pan, place the pan into the oven and cook chicken for about 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked all the way through.
• Slice chicken in strips and set aside (Personal preference is letting it rest until you're ready to use it to slice it up, but that's up to you!)
• In a saute' pan over medium heat, lightly caramelize the garlic in the olive oil
• Deglaze the pan with the white wine
• Add in the heavy cream
• Let the cream simmer and wait for the sauce amount to reduce by about half
• Add in the sun-dried tomatoes (Guy points out not to add in the tomatoes too early so they don't "bleed out," yet in the recipe online it says to put them in before the heavy cream so...up to you!)
• Stir in Parmesan, salt and pepper
• When fettuccine is cooked, place that in the sauce with the chicken slices
• Garnish with green onions and more Parmesan

 *Blackening spice from scratch

• 1 tsp Paprika
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 T garlic powder
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 T salt
• 1 T black pepper
• Cayenne pepper to taste

**If you made your own blackening spice, sprinkle the amount of you want to use for the chicken onto a different dish instead of using the bowl with all of the spice in it so you aren't contaminating all of your spice. Also, don't lean over the pan when you place the chicken on there or you will inhale a nice amount of cayenne pepper. 

Roasted Red Pepper and Basil Sauce

This pasta sauce is suuuuper good. If you like roasted red peppers and you like basil, boom. Here you go. The sauce itself is gluten-free, but you'd need to find a replacement for the pasta.

What you will need:

• 1 lb. penne pasta
• 1 C roasted red peppers (jarred or fresh)
• 1/3 C pine nuts
• 1/3 C freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 C fresh basil
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1/3 C Olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 C heavy cream (optional)

Directions:

• Saute' the garlic in the olive oil for about 2 minutes
• Blend oil and garlic together in a blender or food processor with the pine nuts
• Add in the roasted red peppers
• Add in the Parmesan cheese
• Add in the basil
• Add in olive oil and salt and pepper
• Heat sauce on medium and add in the heavy cream until well combined and hot
• Pour sauce over preferred pasta
• Add in chicken, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, pine nuts...etc. etc..whatever your little heart desires!

Pasta Rosa

My sweet friend Christine made me this once and I have never forgotten it. It's basically a twist on the typical pasta and spaghetti sauce meal. And a really really good one. Oh..it's good. Christine, I can't thank you enough.

From Christine Marie's Recipe's, I give you Pasta Rosa.

What you will need:

• 2 chicken breasts, cut into bite size chunks
• 1 box bow-tie pasta
• 1 jar Prego Roasted Garlic&Herb pasta sauce
• 1 C heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 1 crown broccoli
• 1 T olive oil
• 1/2 bag frozen peas
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. dried oregano

Directions:

• Cook pasta
• While pasta is cooking, season chicken with basil, oregano, salt and pepper and saute' chicken
• When pasta is done cooking, drain pasta and set aside
• In large pan, combine pasta sauce, heavy cream and 1/2 tsp. salt and heat it up
• While that's heating up, chop up your broccoli and saute' it with olive oil until it starts to brown
• Add in about 1 C of water to broccoli, basil, oregano and salt and pepper
• Cover and let simmer on reduced heat for 5 minutes stirring occasonally
• Add peas in with the broccoli and let simmer for another 5 minutes
• Combine chicken, sauce and broccli/peas in with the pasta and mix together