* Yummy Fall Soup *

By the way, I baked one of those frozen apple pies. It came out quite well! The only thing I would do is add not just 1 extra tbsp of flour to the filling, but I'd add two extra tbsp. Also, I tried that crust recipe, and it made an outstanding pie crust.

Anyway, on to soup! Jess, you should be able to enjoy this dish even on your restrictions. Don't get too scared off by the title because it does have the dreaded KALE in it! I do not like kale at all, BUT I did enjoy it in this soup. I think anyone will be pleasantly surprised when they eat kale in this soup. The last time I made kale, I threw out the dish--awful!!! It's taken me about 3 years to get up enough gumption to try it again. But I searched out some internet recipes and I tried it again. I am happy to say that you can actually make a dish with kale in it that tastes good! Now, I also used a red kale (kind of purpley and green), so I'm also wondering if perhaps this type of kale is milder than the traditional green.

Below is the soup recipe, but first my notes:
-Add twice the amount of beans.
-Use only 1 onion.
-Chop the kale up very thin and fine.
-Take 1/3 of the potatoes and beans and puree them to thicken the soup.
-I didn't cook the sausage like she says--I just used pre-cooked chicken sausage and sliced it. I used a spicy one, and the spice complemented the soup nicely.

Sweet Potato, Sausage, and Kale Soup

This version of a traditional Portuguese soup uses sweet potatoes in place of white potatoes. For a thicker consistency, coarsely mash some of the beans before adding them to the soup.

Ingredients

object2=">2 tablespoons olive oil
object2=">4 cups chopped onion (about 2 large)
object2=">1 teaspoon salt, divided
object2=">1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
object2=">6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
object2=">1 pound sweet turkey Italian sausage
object2=">8 cups coarsely chopped peeled sweet potato (about 2 1/4 pounds)
object2=">5 cups water
object2=">4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
object2=">1 (16-ounce) package prewashed torn kale
object2=">1 (16-ounce) can cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained

Preparation

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 5 minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper, and garlic; sauté 1 minute. Remove casings from sausage; add sausage to pan. Cook 5 minutes or until sausage is lightly browned, stirring to crumble. Add potato, 5 cups water, and broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 8 minutes. Gradually add kale; cook 10 minutes or until tender. Stir in remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and beans; cook 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Yield

10 servings (serving size: about 1 3/4 cups)

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 254(29% from fat); FAT 8.2g (sat 2.1g,mono 3.4g,poly 1.4g); PROTEIN 14.2g; CHOLESTEROL 27mg; CALCIUM 132mg; SODIUM 797mg; FIBER 6.9g; IRON 2.9mg; CARBOHYDRATE 34.8g

Maureen Callahan , Cooking Light, MARCH 2007

watermelon and apple pie

No, not together! Just a good tip about each.

Watermelon:
We had leftover watermelon (a lot of it!) that was going to go bad any day, and it was a little bland as well. I wanted to do something with it, so it wouldn't be wasted, but what do you do with watermelon? I searched around the internet briefly and found Watermelon Lemonade.

Basically, throw all the watermelon into a blender. (Mine was seeded, so I just put the chunks in a colander w/ a bowl underneath to catch juice, and used my fingers to push out the seeds. Sounds tedious, but it actually went really fast. I threw the seedless chunks and juice in the blender.) Blend until it's juice (10-20 sec). Now stir in lemon juice and sugar to taste. I skimped on the lemonade part. I only squeezed in 1 1/2 lemons and added a little sugar, but it was enough to bring some lemon flavor to the drink. The lemons really complemented the watermelon nicely, and combined it had a surprisingly good flavor. The juice was bright bright pink, which Maddie has really liked! I also saw a variation that was something like 2 parts watermelon juice, 1 part lemonade and 1 part iced tea. That might be interesting to try sometime.

Apple Pie:
I am making a frozen meal for some friends who are in need of some prepared dinners ready as needed. As I was looking for some recipes online for meals that freeze well, I found a recipe for frozen apple pie.

Dutch Apple Pie
(from: http://www.recipelink.com/msgid/025349 )

Crust: {Makes enuf for 2-10" double crust pies and 1 single 9" pie}
5 cups flour
1 lb. lard
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
water

In measuring cup, mix 1 egg, 1tbsp. vinegar, and fill to 1 cup mark with water. Mix well. Roll out.

Filling:

5-6 cups sliced apples, peeled and cored
1 c. brown sugar
3 tbsp. flour***
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 c. melted margarine
3-4 tbsp. milk or rich cream

Slice apples into a big bowl. Mix all filling ingredients into apple slices. Fill crust. Top with second crust. Make slits in top crust. Bake approx. 1 hour at 350 degrees F. (I use glass pie plates)

***If you plan to freeze your pie, add extra tbsp. flour to filling. Do not make slits in top crust until you are ready to bake it. Freeze uncovered until it's frozen, then cover until you need to bake it. When you need it, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F., make your slits, Bake 20 minutes at that temperature, then turn down your oven to 350 degrees F. for approximately an hour or till the apples test done and the crust has browned nicely.

That's her recipe for apple pie, but I bet if you follow her tip on adding 1 extra tbsp flour to the filling plus her baking tips, it would probably work for any apple pie. I thought this was a handy thing to know. So, my friends are going to have fresh homemade apple pie for dessert! (And I'm making an extra for us too, of course!)

easy kabobs

This summer I found a really easy way to make kabobs. Trader Joes sells a delicious all natural kielbasa. It's already pre-cooked, so I just cut it up, along with some veggies, and slide them on the skewers, and Braden throws them on the grill for 10 minutes or so.

We have found the zucchini and yellow squash to be particularly tasty done this way. I've used cherry tomatoes or red bell peppers along with the zucchini and squash to round out the color. I also shoot for 3 times as many veggies as meat--that way you end up eating healthier! :)

To make 10 kabobs, I used:
1/2 the kielbasa (1/2 lb)
1 yellow squash
1 zucchini
1 red bell pepper

This time I marinated the chopped vegetables for 2 hours prior to putting them on the skewers. For the marinade I used:
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
3 tbsp honey
1 tbsp mustard
sprinkle of salt, pepper, garlic powder

A side-note: If you have never made kabobs before, it's helpful to know that you should soak wooden skewers in water for 20 minutes before you use them. That helps them to not burn up on the grill. I didn't know that the first time I made them a few years ago! :)

rose water

Recently I made an angel food cake. Instead of adding vanilla, I added rose water for the flavoring. I had never done that before, but it gave the cake a light and freshing flavor. Try it some time. I used my sunflower bundt pan, and it came out perfectly (which as we all know, for me, is quite a feat).

fresh pasta

A few weeks ago, Maddie and I set out to make fresh pasta one morning while Caleb was napping. We had so much fun, and it really wasn't that hard at all! We made enough pasta for one meal, plus enough ravioli for 2 meals. And we did it all, start to finish, clean-up included, in just under 2 hours.

We didn't follow a specific recipe, but obeyed the common rule I've read: 1 egg for each cup of flour, plus enough water to make a supple dough. I think we used 4 cups of flour (so that made 3 meals for our family, plus a bit of leftovers). To make it healthier, we used barley flour. I was just reading in an Italian cookbook that traditionally barley flour was also used to make pasta in some regions. It gave the pasta a nutty flavor which we ended up liking. I'd definitely make it again.

Here's Maddie helping to roll out the dough.

Here's our pasta drying--we handcut it.

Here's our ravioli waiting for the top layer of dough. Unfortunately I did not have any ricotta in the fridge. So, for the filling I used cream cheese instead, along with some fresh basil, minced garlic, fresh squeezed lemon juice, and a little salt & pepper. It turned out to be a very yummy filling!

Here's the finished ravioli drying.