That IS crazy!
I always have good intentions, but usually have some kind of craziness going on in my life, which I started this blog to talk about, and then it is exactly what keeps me from posting.
We have been trying not to eat out as much as we have been for the last few years. There are just two of us at home and we are busy, therefore, between 3 and 5 times a week, we bring something home at night or go out. At the beginning of this year, I saw a meme that said, "I will not eat my money." And that really struck a chord with me! We are eating a lot of money!
I do not like having the same thing over and over again, though. It is fun for me to look for new recipes online and then try them out on Hunter Man. He is usually a good sport about it. Just don't ask him how he liked the beef enchiladas that I made last week. Oh my! I started eating mine and thought, "Maybe if I top them with some sour cream, they won't seem as hot." Nope!
Hunter Man said, "They taste good--but they are so hot that I just can't eat them." They really did have some intense heat going on! My advice--don't add all of the liquid from a can of chipotle peppers to your enchilada sauce! Luckily, I had also made some queso to go along with the enchiladas. Our dinner that night consisted of chips and queso. He followed his up with a big bowl of cereal. I told him that I felt like we went out to eat and then only had the appetizer.
Tonight, I tried a bean soup recipe, but by the time I finished tweaking it and adding ingredients that weren't called for, it became my own recipe.
Hunter Man LIKED it a lot!
(Just remember: I don't like using real onions and garlic, so I used prepared spices ALL the time in my recipes and they always turn out good--in my opinion!)
TUSCAN SOUP
Ingredients
1 medium sized, white sweet potato, diced
8 petite carrots, diced
1 lb turkey sausage
1 c chopped spinach leaves
1/2 package sliced, fresh mushrooms
2 T butter
2 T flour
1 can evaporated milk
2 t minced garlic from a jar
2 t onion powder
1 can low sodium chicken broth
2 cans Cannelini beans
1 t paprika
1 t garlic powder
1/2 t oregano
1/2 t basil
pinch or two of red pepper flakes
Salt and Pepper to taste
Shredded Jarlsberg Cheese
Directions
Boil the diced sweet potato and diced carrots until tender in a medium saucepan. Use the water as the beginning base for the soup.
Brown the turkey sausage in a large frying pan. When it is about half done, add the chopped spinach leaves and mushrooms. Continue to cook. When the sausage is browned, drain the sausage/spinach/mushroom mixture on a plate covered with paper towels.
In the same pan that the sausage was browned in, make the milk roux. Over medium heat, melt the 2 T butter. Add the 2 T flour and whisk until smooth for about 1 minute or so. Pour in the evaporated milk and continue whisking until it thickens. Add the garlic and onion powder.
In the saucepan with the sweet potato, carrots, and water: add the chicken broth and beans. Dump in the drained sausage mixture, followed by the milk roux. Stir to combine well. Add the paprika, garlic powder, oregano, basil, and red pepper flakes. Sprinkle in some salt and pepper (not too much salt) and adjust spices to taste.
Continue to simmer the soup over low heat for at least 20 minutes. If I were going to have a busy day, I would probably put everything in the crock pot on low and just let it cook all day.
Serve with a good sized sprinkle of shredded Jarlsberg Cheese on top of each bowl of soup.
Hunter Man requested that I make this soup again sometime--with garlic breadsticks as a side.
That means I will have to go spend some money on Crazy Bread!
