Beef Minestrone

In your pot, brown together:

1/2 lb ground beef
1/3 lb italian sausage
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 zucchini, finely chopped

Once meat has lightly browned (you may want to drain fat if your beef is high in fat content at this point) and onions and zucchini look transparent add:

dash of salt and black pepper
1 teas garlic powder
1 Tbsp of Basil or Italian seasoning
3 cups of chicken or beef broth (we always use water with bouillon)
1 can of diced tomatoes undrained
1 can of red kidney beans

Once this come to a slow boil, add:

1 cup uncooked macaroni

Once macaroni has cooked, about 10 minutes, it is finished and ready to serve. We love this served with garlic bread or fresh rolls.

tip: I've been adding italian sausage to spaghetti sauce for spaghetti and lasagna and as a topping for pizza lately. I buy 1 pounders then cut into thirds and freeze.

Tortellini Soup

This is one I got from a recipe blog that my ward does. I've been kind of preoccupied with it so I haven't been posting to this one at all lately. But it's time to revive the Family Foods blog!

2 Tbsp butter
6 garlic cloves, chopped
4 cups chicken broth (I usually use 4 cups water with 4 bouillon cubes)
2 1/2 cups frozen or dry cheese tortellini
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes (with juice)
6 oz baby spinach leaves, coarsely chopped (frozen works too)
1/2 tsp. dried basil
optional: Parmesan cheese

Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and saute about 1 1/2 minutes. Add broth and bring to a boil. Add tortellini and cook about 5 min. Add tomatoes and juice. Bring to boil again, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer about 5 min. Stir in spinach and basil and heat until spinach is wilted. Serve sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

Ham and Corn Chowder

We had this soup last night to use up some leftover ham and Claire even liked it, so we are sharing... Great with fresh homemade bread or rolls.

2 ribs of celery, diced
1/4 cup diced onions
2 T butter
2 T flour
3 cups milk
2 cups cooked ham, diced
2 cups potatoes, cooked and diced
1 can corn
1 can cream style corn
1 cup diced carrots
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/8 teaspoon red pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt

Two ways to make this - on the stove top or in the crock pot. In the crockpot the milk will curdle, but it still tastes great. We didn't have creamed corn and it turned out fine too.

1. In a large sauce pan, saute the onion, celery, and butter until softened.
2. Add flour and stir until well blended, then gradually add the milk.
3. bring to a boil while stirring and it should thicken up.

4. This is where you can either transfer the mixture to the crockpot and add the rest of the ingredients and let it go for 4 hours on low. OR You can add the rest of the ingredients (but you would need to cook the carrots and potatoes ahead of time) and bring to a boil. Then you reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 15 - 20 minutes. I prefer crock-pot way...