{Slow Cooker} Sausage and Bean Soup with Pasta & Kale

Once again, I've come to the time of year where I can't decide if it's still soup weather or not.

Some days lately it's been up in or near the 70's with sunshine streaming in the windows, inviting me to unpack my summer box of clothes. But other days, like today, the gray returns and the chill creeps back in like an unwanted guest who has overstayed their welcome.The warm sunny days make me eager to dust off the grill and make big crisp salads, but when the rain and fog roll back in I still cling to my warm, comforting, hearty soups.

This soup is so delicious that even if it's warm where you are, you might not want to wait for fall!

It is full of hearty things like sausage, beans, pasta, and of course, veggies! The sausage adds a bit of zip and the kale gives it a vibrant freshness.

Enjoy!

Sausage and Bean Soup with Pasta & Kale

(printable version)

adapted from The Italian Dish

serves about 6

1 cup dried cannellini beans, soaked (or 1 15 oz. can, drained)

1 lb. ground sausage (turkey or pork)

1/2 med. onion, diced

1 med. carrot, diced

1 TB olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes

6-8 cups chicken broth

1 tsp dried thyme

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper

1 cup ditalini pasta (or any small pasta)

a few handfuls of chopped kale

grated Parmesan cheese (for topping)

In a large skillet, brown the sausage; remove from pan and drain off the fat. Do not wipe clean. Add onion, carrot and olive oil and saute 2-3 min. or until softened. Add garlic and saute about a minute more.

Combine sausage, sauteed vegetables, tomatoes, chicken broth, thyme, bay leaf and salt and pepper in crock pot. Cook 6-8 hrs. on low setting.

15-20 min. before serving, add pasta; stir. Cook on high until pasta is almost tender, about 10 min. Add kale and stir, cooking for several minutes or until wilted.

Serve topped with grated Parmesan.

Pork n' Penne Skillet

I have been enjoying a recent library rental cookbook called the Taste of Home Busy Family Favorites. It has many tested, quick, easy and delicious meals for days when you're on the go or simply don't have time to be in the kitchen for an hour or more. All the recipes take about 30 minutes to make, and this one has the added bonus of being a "one-pan" skillet supper! Sometimes it's nice not to have a stack of dishes to wash when you're done cooking (I'm sure my husband thinks so- he's usually the dish washer)!

That being said, this yummy dish is not only quick, but it's delicious! Tender strips of pork, penne, mushrooms (yes, I said mushrooms...we'll get to that in a moment), peppers and onions, all simmering in a creamy tomato sauce...this is some serious comfort food.

So, about the mushrooms.

If you know me very well, you know that mushrooms are a food I ignore.

I'm not on an active campaign to destroy them, I just avoid them.

And, if they happen to be included in something I want to order, the menu and I exchange awkward glances and I order something else.

Or sometimes I boldly order previously mushrooms laden entrees sans mushrooms.

That's all.

But...this year on Mother's Day we had steak at my in-law's house and Mom sautéed these gorgeous mushrooms in butter and served them with the steak. WOW. I was intrigued.

It was enough to convince me to give mushrooms a chance. I had never cooked with fresh mushrooms before, so maybe it wasn't fair, this avoidance of mine.

So...I bought some.

And put them in this skillet.

Then I ordered a meal at Applebee's that featured mushrooms with chicken. I ate them.

Then I put them on pizza.

All instances were very tasty! Needless to say, I think my frigid relationship with mushrooms is over. While we still aren't BFF's, I am definitely letting them into my life.

No more awkward glances.

Pork n' Penne Skillet

(printable version)

from Taste of Home Busy Family Favorites

serves 8 (I halved it for us)

2 TB flour

1 tsp chili powder

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp pepper

1 lb. boneless pork loin chops, trimmed and cut into strips

2 cups fresh sliced mushrooms

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped red sweet pepper

1 tsp oregano

1 TB oil

1 TB butter

1 tsp minced garlic

3 cups milk

1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce

2 cups uncooked penne

In a large resealable plastic bag, combine flour, chili powder, salt and pepper. Add pork, a few pieces at a time, and shake to coat.

In a large skillet, cook the pork, mushrooms, onion, pepper and oregano in oil and butter over medium heat for 4 to 6 or until pork is browned. Add garlic, cook 1 min. longer.

Add milk, tomato sauce, and pasta. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 15-20 min. or until meat is tender and pasta is done.

Spiced-Rubbed Pork Chops

The past week or so, our weather here has been absolutely fantastic. I mean, between 70 and 80 degrees almost every day! That is not super common for this part of the country in May! So we have been enjoying it! Hubby's been out working in his garden (we have a couple of raised beds), I went all crazy and planted some clematis to climb up the beams on our front porch (a dream of mine for awhile now), and we've been grilling. I am so excited about the advent of the grilling season! It is such a nice "shake up" to my usual recipe routine- it opens wide doors of new possibilities! I am amazed that we lived our first 2 married summers without a grill (well, we sort of had one the first summer, but it doesn't really count because it wasn't really ours and the side of it was broken off, plus we only lived there for two months- and we didn't grill much...did you really need that explanation? Oh, wellll...). I am also reminded how delicious food tastes fresh off the grill. Any food. Fruit, bread, meat (of course), pizza (so I've heard), vegetables, you name it.

See? Massive chops.

So for a fun change, I took this simple and scrumptious pork recipe that is intended for the frying pan (and is fantastic that way as well) and grilled it instead! It worked great. The pork chops I bought were huge, so they took a bit of extra time (almost 20 min. on the grill), but they were delicious. Juicy, with a yummy coating of spices and sweetness.
You'll be wanting that recipe now?

We served our pork with grilled garlic bread and artichokes. Yum!

Spice-Rubbed Pork Chops

(printable version)

adapted from MyRecipes.com

serves 2

2 boneless pork loin chops

1/4 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp brown sugar

2 tsp olive oil (if pan frying)

Conventional Method: Combine all rub ingredients. Heat skillet over med-high heat. Sprinkle 1 side of each pork chop with spices, using half the mixture. Allow to sit a few minutes; turn and sprinkle other sides with the other half of spice mixture. Add oil to pan, swirl to coat. Add pork to pan and cook 2 min. or until browned (longer if your chops are thicker than 3/4 in.). Turn over and cook another 4 min. or until done.

Grilling Method: Spray grill rack with non-stick grill spray. Heat grill to medium heat. Follow preparation method as above. Grill pork 15-18 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches at least 160 degrees, turning halfway through.

Lime-Cilantro Pork Tacos {or Fajitas?}

I am in a debate with myself today. Maybe you can help me. This delicious recipe calls itself a taco. But is it a taco? It seems more like a fajita to me. Maybe it's all the onions...when we ate them last night, Hubby and I decided they were most definitely fajitas. But after reading several online articles this morning debating the differences between tacos, fajitas and burritos, I fear my meal is having an identity crisis!

Anyhow, I am dying to try this fantastically flavored dish on our grill this summer. Ah, summer...it seems so far away as I look out my window to a snow-covered yard. But alas! Even without the grill, this taste-of-summer fare was superb. Juicy thin slices of pork, seared sweet onions and jalapeno simmered with tomatoes in a lime-cilantro sauce...have I mentioned my obsession with cilantro?

Oh. Well, it's high time! The addition of fresh cilantro to a dish simply brings a bright, clean flavor and a spark that cannot be imitated. I tried dried cilantro...once. Ick. There is no comparison. I was so excited to learn that you can freeze fresh chopped cilantro! YAY! This is good news to a cilantro-loving girl who lives in a rural community and shops once a month. Fresh cilantro only keeps about a week in the fridge, so being able to freeze it for future use is a huge discovery for me. Coupled with lime, it infuses such a bold flavor into these juicy tacos...er, fajitas? Anyhow. They're bold. Who cares what you call 'em?

Lime-Cilantro Pork Tacos

(printable version)

adapted from My Recipes

serves 4 (2 tacos per serving)

1 lb. pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into thin strips

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 tsp olive oil

1 med. onion, thinly sliced

1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 med. tomato, chopped

3 TB chopped fresh cilantro

2 1/2 TB lime juice

8 (6 in.) flour tortillas

Sour cream, if desired

Heat a large skillet over med-high heat. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Add oil to pan. Add pork and saute about 4 min. or until browned. Remove pork from pan and set aside.

Add onion and jalapeno to pan; saute 5 min. or until tender. Add broth, reduce heat and simmer 1 min. Stir in tomato, simmer 2 min.

Return pork and any juices to pan. Stir in cilantro and lime juice, cook 1 min. or until pork is done.

Warm tortillas and serve with about 1/2 cup pork mixture per tortilla. Top with sour cream if desired.

Source: myrecipes.com

Fall Pork Chop Skillet & Prune-Plum Crisp

So I'm having to ease into fall again...and food always helps. Letting go of summer is so much easier when you spend a rainy afternoon cooking and baking. So that's what I did today! I was feeling a bit on the inventive side and unsatisfied with other recipes, so I decided to go sans recipe! This is getting easier for me to do, the more I experiment with flavors, but I still come to the kitchen with much trepidation, always a little afraid I'll mix the wrong spices or flavors and end up with a horrible tasting dinner! When Travis & I went shopping last night, I did intentionally pick up pork, apples and cabbage, but I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to combine them. They are certainly a common assortment of flavors, but I wasn't really liking any of the recipes I found (or the ingredients weren't on hand), so I took a handful of ideas I had seen and started cooking! Here's how it went down:

I took two thickly cut boneless pork chops (salted & peppered) and seared them in olive oil till just browned on either side. While the pork was searing, I mixed together a few things...brown sugar, white cooking wine, vinegar, thyme, rosemary, lemon juice and apple juice. Unfortunately, I didn't measure anything, so when I post the recipe, everything's approximate! 

Once the pork was evenly browned, I added the liquid mixture, plus some chicken broth and a bay leaf, got it simmering, and put the lid on. While it was simmering, I chopped some Granny Smith apples, cabbage, and sweet yellow onions. 

When the pork had simmered about a half hour, I added the apples, cabbage and onions and covered it again and simmered it for another half hour. After that, I removed the pork and the cabbage, apples & onions with a slotted spoon and turned the stove on high, reducing the liquid for about 7-10 minutes, whisking in 3 TB flour to make a sort of gravy. This was absolutely delicious! We served ours over rice in a shallow bowl. It was a hearty, fallish blend of sweet and sour and bursts of flavor, thanks to the apple. Mmmm!

I recently discovered, to my great delight, two loaded Italian prune-plum trees in the vacant lot behind our house. But it also came with a puzzle. We had one of these trees in our front yard when I was growing up, and the only thing we really ever did with them was to eat them plain as they ripened on the tree. My mom and I made jelly from the red plum trees bordering our property, but we never really knew what to do with the small, deep purple, yellow-fleshed, tart fruit that grew on the little tree in the yard. I am not sure if I want to tackle it yet, but these do seem like they would make delicious and beautiful jam. However, I ripened a bowl of these little beauties on the counter for a few days, and tonight I decided to make them into a crisp. 

Aren't they just beautiful?

I simply quartered the fruit, removed the pit and mixed them with some sugar. This prune-plum is quite tart, especially if they aren't fully ripe, so I made sure to taste them as I sugared them. Then I sprinkled a typical crisp topping of flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter on top and baked it in a 375 oven for about 35 min. Wow. As the plums cooked, the dark purple skin turned the yellow flesh into a gorgeous reddish, jewel-like color, and the fruit turned into this gooey, sticky, jammish yummyness. To me the flavor was almost akin to cherry, with a sweet first flavor and a tangy aftertaste. Love it. It definitely tastes like fall to me.

Couldn't stop eating long enough to get a good picture, haha!

 Mmm...ok, summer, move over. Fall is winning my heart, one meal at a time.

Pork Chop Skillet
(printable version)

 a KitchenJoy original recipe

with more pork, this could feed at least 3, maybe 4 

2 boneless, thick cut pork chops

2 TB brown sugar

1/4 cup white cooking wine

2-3 TB vinegar

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp rosemary

2-3 tsp lemon juice

1 cup apple juice

1/4 cup chicken broth

1 bay leaf

1/4-1/3 of a large head of cabbage (shredded)

1 Granny Smith apple, sliced

1 small yellow onion, quartered

3 TB flour

Sear pork chops in olive oil in large skillet. Combine next 7 ingredients, pour over pork chops, add broth and bay leaf. Simmer 30 minutes. Add cabbage, apples and onion slices. Simmer another 30 minutes. Remove pork, cabbage, apples and onion, whisk in the flour and turn up the heat, reducing the liquid for 7-10 min. Serve over rice, pouring "gravy" over pork chop.

Cabbage Capers (Hearty Beef and Cabbage Soup)

No, I have not cooked with capers. I still don't even know what capers are, actually. This post is not about capers! It's about adventures- with cabbage!
Until about a week ago, my only experience with cabbage was to slice it up VERY small for my mom's world-famous oriental chicken salad. The salad is to die for and my brother has confessed that he thinks he could eat it every day for the rest of his life.
But, as I said, until recently, this wonderful salad was my only foray into the world of cabbage. I am not a saurkraut fan, and I always had this picture in my mind of cooked cabbage being kind of like spinach. Wilted. Green. Mushy. Not very appetizing. But, my husband seemed to think it was good. So, I thought, why not? I am really into trying things I've never tried lately, so why not add cooked cabbage to the list? Good heavens, I just tried sushi the other night with some friends- cooked cabbage can't be scarier than that!
So, my first recipe was one for the crock-pot. A safe-looking "Pork & Cabbage Dinner" from the Fix It and Forget It cookbook. I must say, I was nervous when I put in the pot in the morning, though it was very simple. I was heartily convinced that a tablespoon of parsley was far too much, but in it went.
Hours later, we came home from being out all afternoon and boy, did the house smell good! (That is one of those things I absolutely LOVE about the crock-pot...you can leave the house all day and come home and it smells like you've been slaving away all afternoon!!) That seemed to be a positive sign. I wasn't sure what goes with cabbage, so I played it safe and whipped up some instant mashed potatoes. When we finally sat down and tried it, it was delicious! The pork chops were tender and full of flavor (guess that over-abundance of parsley had it's place!)- fairly falling apart, and the cabbage and mashed potatoes complemented each other perfectly. But, despite the wonderful flavors, I was right. It was ugly. You know, I absolutely love good food. But I also love pretty food. It bothers me when food is ugly. And this was ugly. The cabbage, just as I suspected, was green. And mushy. Very unappealing. But, I suppose you could consider this test a success, for it was tasty! But the unattractiveness of it still gnaws at my artistic sensibilities.
My second cabbage caper was met with better success. It was a hamburger and cabbage soup (from the same cookbook) and it was yummy. It was also a crock-pot supper, which I paired with Sweet Cornbread (divine, thanks to the added moistness of sour cream!) from The Taste of Home Cookbook. It reminded me a lot of chili (probably because of the whole tablespoon of chili powder and the can of kidney beans...)- but with cabbage! We dressed it up with a dollop of sour cream, and judging from the contented noises that came from my husband's corner of the table, I think it's safe to call it a "hit"! :) The pork may or may not be on the repeat list (due to it's unattractive qualities) but the soup is definitely a keeper. But you know what all this talk of cabbage has me itching for? Mom's Oriental Chicken Salad! There's a lot to be said for standbys, you know...


"Hearty Beef and Cabbage Soup"
submitted to "Fix It and Forget It" by Carolyn Mathias

1 lb ground beef
1 med onion, chopped
40 oz can of tomatoes (I used about 28 oz because I only had 2 cans!)
2 c. water
15 oz can of kidney beans
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/2 c. chopped celery
2 c. thinly sliced cabbage

1) Saute beef in skillet; drain.
2) Combine all ingredients except cabbage in slow cooker.
3) Cover. Cook on low 3 hours (or 4, or 5...I think I did mine a bit longer). Stir in cabbage. Cook on High 30-60 min. longer. (I forgot to turn it up, but it turned out just fine!)