Easy White Bean Mulligatawny Soup

My husband loves Mulligatawny but it was at my 7 year olds request I make it today. Since I hadn't made it in a long time I decided to create my own recipe!






1 qt veggie or chicken broth
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes(or about 1.5 cups fresh diced)
1 large apple, cored and chopped(peels or not is up to you)
3 large carrots, peeled and chopped
2 stalks celery(preferably with some leaves) chopped
1/2 cup loosely packed raisins
1/2 med onion, chopped
1/3 cup brown rice
1 TB dried parsley
2 tsp curry powder( mild or hot is up to you, I use mild)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 TB lemon juice

1.5 cups cooked white beans (approx 1 can) drained and rinsed

Combine everything but the beans in a large pot. Cover, Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer 30 minutes and add beans. Simmer for 15 minutes more , stirring occasionally until the rice is tender.

Excellent with shredded chicken or turkey in place of the white beans! Freezes well too! I cool it and pour it into single servings in ziplock bags, that way Troy can pull one out for work. Defrosts overnight in the fridge. Microwave at work!

Jalapeño Popper Pizza with Raspberry Chipotle Sauce

In the mood to create today!!! I love Jalapeño Poppers with a Raspberry Dipping sauce so lets mush it all together and put it on a pizza! Sounds like a good deal to me.








1 prepared pizza crust(pre-baked is best for this recipe)

Sliced Jalapenos

Mozzarella

Cheddar

Bacon Bits(optional)

Sauce:
4 oz cream cheese
1 TB mayo
1 sm jalapeño, (seeded and minced, you can add seeds  if you like the heat)
2 TB grated Parmesan
3 TB raspberry preserves
1/2 tsp chipotle powder(more or less for heat preference) or a small amount of minced chipotles if you cant find powder
(white sugar to taste, if you like it sweeter)

Combine sauce ingredients












Beat well.












Spread over pizza crust.












Top Pizza with more jalapeños

 and your desired amount of cheese....(I like about a 3:1 ratio of mozzarella to cheddar) and sprinkle with bacon bits.










Bake for 15 minutes until cheese is fully melted.

"Reese's" Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream Cake

My oldest son requested "an ice cream cake like a peanut butter cup" for his birthday so this is what I came up with!!



1 batch CopyCat Ben and Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

2- 9 inch Devils Food cake rounds(my fave for ice cream cakes is HERE), completely cooled

1 cup whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sugar
6-8 (mini) Reese's peanut butter cups

Reese's Peanut Butter cups or bars, chopped


Add a layer of wax paper to the bottom of greased 9 inch cake pans(deep ones)Return cooled cake rounds to pan. Soften the ice cream, split between the 2 cakes spreading evenly.


Cover lightly with plastic wrap and return to the freezer at least 6 hours.





Remove from freezer and pop the layers out of the pans . Stack cake side down. Placing a layer of chopped Peanut Butter Cups (or bars) between the 2 layers.
Spread the ice cream to seal the cracks.

Whip cream with sugar until soft peaks form.

Melt Reese's cups in microwave on high heat for one minute. Stir and heat until melted. Allow to stand 3 minutes.
Stir 3 TB whipping cream into melted chocolate
Fold  chocolate cream and vanilla into the rest of the cream
Frost with the whipped cream mixture working quickly to avoid melting.



Top with more chopped cups or bars and return to the freezer for at least 1 hour.

Remove from freezer 10-15 mins prior to slicing.

Copycat Ben and Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

Delicious replica I used in making my Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream Cake....I only went to soft serve since I was using it for a cake but it freezes to hard beautifully







2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup milk(2% or higher)
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup peanut butter(natural is the best)
10 chopped Reese's peanut butter cups(or about 1 cup chopped from THIS recipe)

Beat Eggs and sugar until frothy.












Add in milk and combine.

Pour contents into a sauce pan and heat over medium heat stirring often until it registers 165.
Remove from heat allow to cool slightly










In the original bowl beat heavy cream and peanut butter.












Add in egg mixture and stir until combined.
Cool in the fridge for several hours or overnight.










Proceed with your Ice Cream maker instructions, adding in chopped Reese's close to the end of the cycle.

Veggie Meatballs

I wanted to make a copy of Don Lee Farms Veggie Meatballs, when I went back to Costco to write down the ingredients they were out so I made the Veggie "Patties" ingredients into meatball shapes LOL....I think they worked out great! I emailed the company for a list of the meatball ingredients.
I will add them in if I dont think it would be to hard to adapt.










1 TB olive oil
3 large carrots, shredded
1 small onion, chopped fine
2 stalks celery, chopped fine
1 small green bell pepper, chopped fine
(I put all of these through my shredding blade in my food processor)
3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs(approx)
3/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste


Preheat oven to 350

Heat olive oil in pan over medium heat, add veggies and saute to very soft, drain.



Place cooked veggies into food processor, pulse process adding in bread crumbs until it holds together well, you may need more or less depending on the actual size of your veggies and how much you drained ETC, add in seasonings and pulse once more.(missed this pic sorry)








Remove to a bowl and add in sunflower seeds, stir well.

Scoop and shape into balls of your size preference, place on a greased cookie sheet.











Bake for 20 minutes.

Pork Roast stuffed with Sun Dried Tomatoes, Apples and Cranberries

Pork Roast Experiment Day!! Turned out DELICIOUS!








2-3 lb pork sirloin tip roast, filleted open for rolling
1 small granny smith apple, chopped
1/4 cup fresh cranberries
2 TB sun dried tomatoes with a bit of the oil
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp celery seed
salt and fresh pepper to taste

Take your filleted pork roast and spread with apples, cranberries, tomatoes , sprinkle with seasonings.

Roll up carefully pressing filling into the meat firmly. Secure with meat twine or toothpicks. Sprinkle with more basil and celery seed.




Place in Slow cooker







Sauce:
3/4 cup cran apple juice(100% juice)
2 TB balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup fresh cranberries

Boil all over medium heat until the berries pop.

Pour sauce over roast in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours until the internal temp reaches 165.

Pasta Primavera Casserole

Very tasty veggie casserole!







8 oz dried pasta(whole wheat preferably)

2 TB butter
1/4 cup flour
2tsp garlic powder(more or less to taste)
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese(not the kind from the can!)

1 small zucchini, shredded
2 medium carrots, shredded
1 small green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1  large handful baby spinach, wilted
1 cup frozen peas
1 small head of broccoli, chopped into bite sized pieces

8 ritz crackers
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

boil pasta per packages instructions, drain(you can put your spinach in the colander and pour the boiling water and pasta over it to wilt it)

In a medium pot over medium heat melt butter and whisk in flour and garlic powder until crumbly
Add in the milk slowly and whisk until it thickens. Remove from heat and stir in Parmesan cheese. Stir until melted.

In a casserole dish combine  pasta, vegetables and sauce. Stir gently to coat everything.(Make to this point and refrigerate for a make ahead dinner , pull it out 30 minutes before you want to bake it and continue with instructions, baking time might be slightly longer)

Top with crushed ritz crackers and Parmesan cheese

Cover with foil and bake @ 350 for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 minutes more.

Chipotle Chicken Taquitos

I made these for our little Wrestlemania party ! Very tasty!





32 thin corn tortillas(homemade is best!)
3 smallish chicken breasts
2 cubes chipotle bullion
2 TB butter
1/4 cup flour
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup milk
oregano, parsley, onion powder, garlic powder ,seasoning salt, pepper
(to taste)

Boil your chicken breasts with water and the 2 bullion cubes.
Drain and cool and shred and place in a bowl.

In a sauce pan melt butter over medium heat, add in flour stirring until crumbly.
Add in chicken broth and milk and seasoning, heat and stir until thickened.
Remove from heat and cool slightly

Add to the bowl of chicken and mix thoroughly....adding  1-2 tsp of chipotle powder to your taste preference.











Take one tortilla (if they are cooled, or store bought warm 10 at a time in the microwave and keep them under a towel as your work) and add 1 TB filling , spread it out lengthwise and roll tightly squeezing slightly to make the filling even.

Place seam side down in a dish.












Repeat with all the filling and tortillas.








Heat 1/2 inch oil in a pan to 360.

Add taquitos in batches depending on your pan size and fry for approx 90 seconds per side, until desired brownness, remembering that they will brown slightly more as the cool.....










Drain on paper towels and continue with the rest.












Serve with salsa, sour cream, guacamole or what ever you like!

These can be premade and re heated in a 425 degree oven for 7-8 minutes. Or they can be frozen and reheated @ 425 for 15-20

Greek Stuffed Burgers on Garlic Flatbread

A different twist on your basic hamburger. Super Yummy!! Also great with ground turkey or ground chicken breast! You could even slice and stuff a full chicken breast with this filling....Oh the possibilities!

Bifteki Yemista    μπιφτέκια γεμιστά

10 slices Flatbread or homemade Garlic Flatbread HERE

Burgers:

1.5 lbs lean ground beef
1/2 small onion, grated or chopped very fine
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp dried oregano(or 2 TB fresh)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 egg
1/4 cup bread crumbs

Stuffing:
1/2 cup feta cheese
1 TB fresh  parsley, minced
2 stalks green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, drained and chopped(reserve a little of the oil)
1/2 cup baby spinach, chopped

Mix burger ingredients in a bowl until well combined.
Divide into 10 sections and form thin patties.











In another bowl combine stuffing ingredients, adding in a bit of oil until it is just moist enough to stick together.







Divide the stuffing between 5 patties,












place the remaining 5 patties on top and pinch the edges to seal.

Broil or grill the burgers 5-6 minutes on each side to desired doneness.












Greek Yogurt Sauce:
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
1 TB fresh parsley, minced
Mix well and refrigerate for 30 minutes










Assembly:
Take 1 piece of flat bread and top it with a generous dab of Yogurt Sauce. Place burger on top and top as you please, I suggest, spinach, tomato and red onion. Finish  with another flat bread, slice and enjoy!