The World in a Bowl Night 3: Italian Wedding Soup & GF Herb Bread

Tonight's stop was in lovely Italy through a bowl of Italian Wedding soup!  After reading up on this soup, I found that it was not served at weddings, but rather that is the english translation of  si maritano bene which means the ingredients are well married together!  I would whole heartily agree that the ingredients do marry very well together!  It is very flavorful without one part being overwhelming.  In little over an hour, I was able to have the soup complete and simmering.  The prep time included making 4 dozen meatballs!  As with any good italian meal, we needed a nice bread to sop the bowl.  I bought Pamela's gluten free bread mix and instead of making a regular loaf, I added italian herbs and baked it in a 10 inch round cake pan.

I made a large batch (12 servings) so that I could freeze a portion for another meal.  If you only want to get one meal out of the pot then just cute the ingredients in half.  

Si può godere questo meraviglioso pasto nella vostra propria cucina!

Italian Wedding Soup:

Ingredients:

2 lg containers chicken broth

6 cups water

4 doz meatballs (recipe below)

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 medium carrots, diced

1 heart celery, diced

1 medium onion, diced

2 cups Acini de Pepe pasta

1 cup Parmesan

3 tbsp fresh parsley, minced

Meatballs:

1 lb italian sausage

1 1/2 lb 80% lean ground beef

1/2 cup Romano cheese, shredded

3 eggs

1 cup bread crumbs

2 tbsp fresh parsley

Directions:

Place water and chicken broth in a large stock pot over med-high heat.  Mix all the meatball ingredients together and then form into 1 inch balls.

Place the meatballs in the broth mixture and bring to a boil for 30 minutes.  Remove the meatballs and replace them in the pot with the chicken breasts and diced up vegetables.  

Cook for 15 minutes and then remove the chicken to a cutting board and cut into small pieces.  Add the meatballs, Parmesan cheese and pasta to the broth and cook for 10-12 minutes.  Add the chicken back to the pot and let simmer over low heat until ready to serve.  Add more water if needed when soup is mad more than 1 hour ahead.

The World in a Bowl Night 2: Crockpot Senate Bean Soup

Tonight was American night and what's more American than the US Senate?  Most people just call this ham and bean soup, but is sounds so much more prestigious when it is called Senate Bean Soup.  The story goes that it has been served daily in the Senate dining room since the 1840's. You can eat in the dining room and try it for yourself, you just have to make reservations in advance.  The original recipe called for it to be served over mashed potatoes, but I made skillet cornbread using a recipe from the Pioneer Woman.  I cooked my soup in the crockpot  as we had a soccer game tonight and I don't feel comfortable leaving a pot on the stove with an open flame!  This is a super easy dinner that takes less than 10 minutes to prepare and is uber low on the messy scale! Tomorrow night we have soccer practice and then I have a teleconference with my Japanese colleagues who are 13 hours ahead of us so dinner will be pizza delivery, but Thursday will be Italian Wedding soup so stay tuned!!

Senate Bean Soup:

(Serves 6-8)

Ingredients:

1 lb dried navy beans

6 cups water

2 stalks celery, minced

2 carrots, minced

1 med onion minced

2 bay leaves

1/2 tbsp kosher salt 

1/2 tbsp pepper

1 lb ham, diced

  

Directions:

Place all the ingredients in the slow cooker.  Cook on low for 8-10 hours.  One (1) hour prior to serving,    gently mash the beans and remove the bay leaves.  Enjoy!  

The World in a Bowl Night 1: Mulligatawny and Naan

As I said yesterday, Fall is here bringing cooler weather which had me thinking of warm bowls of soup. My cousin, Harry suggested Italian Wedding soup and Chicken Tortilla soup so I thought my theme for the week would be soups from around the world.  The boys and I made a trip to our local mega-mart which has a great international section.  I found everything, but two ingredients for the week's menu, so don't think you have to run to a bunch of specialty stores on the hunt for rare ingredients!  

Our first stop on our tour was in India.  I made Mulligatawny and naan.  Mulligatawny is a spicy version of split pea soup.  It was very filling and delicious.  Naan is a bread that can be made in less than 90 minutes.  The entire meal took about 90 minutes of constant supervision so it is definitely a weekend meal for me!  I found both recipes on Pinterest!  

 

Ingredients:

Sauce preparation

Soup start!

Naan:

 Ingredients:

4 cups flour ( I used bread flour)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder 

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

1/4 cup plain yogurt

~3 cups milk

1 tbsp oil 

Directions:

Mix together the first six ingredients.  Gradually add the milk and knead the dough into a soft ball, but not overly wet.  You might not use all the milk.  Dust a surface with additional flour, turn the dough out on the surface and knead for 5 minutes.  Rub the inside of a clean bowl with the oil and place the dough inside. Cover with a clean towel, set in a warm place and let rest for an hour.

 

After the hour has passed, place a griddle over medium heat.  Pull the dough apart and from into 2 inch balls.  Roll each ball out to a 4-5 inch circle.  Brush the circle with oil and fold into a semicircle.  Brush with oil again and fold once more.  Brush the top with water and place on the hot griddle.  Let bread cook and puff up about 5 minutes and then flip to cook another 1-2 minutes. 

Life on Fast Forward

It has been several weeks since my last post.  Life has just been going at a crazy pace!  Between two active school aged boys and work, I feel like my forties are on fast forward!  I've been cooking and taking pictures, but then running to some activity or another so posting doesn't get done :(.  The temperatures are dipping and the leaves are turning so I thought it would be a great time to slow down and take a breath!  Tomorrow I'm planning a soup making day to fill the freezer with warm, cozy goodness!  It will be a day of slow cooking that will fill the house with heavenly smells!  I'll post lots of pics and recipes!  Then I'll do a little catch up and post these other recent recipes:

GF Eggplant Parmesan

GF Rolls and Roasted Acorn Squash

GF Macaroni and Cheese

Happy Fall everyone, I hope you get a chance to slow down and enjoy!

  

Potato Skins

Tonight, I did grilled chicken, green beans and potatoes.  I decided to make potato skins instead of plain baked potatoes.  My reasons were two fold.  First, my youngest loves potato skins and second, I am making a twice baked potato casserole tomorrow and wanted the extra potato for that recipe.  When I serve these for dinner, I don't dress them up too much, but they can be when served as appetizer.  They are great when you are watching a game!    

Potato Skins:

Ingredients:

6 small/med russet potatoes

Vegetable oil

Sea salt

Pepper

1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

1/4 cup melted butter

3 slices of crisp bacon

Parsley flakes for garnish

Sour cream, optional garnish

Directions:

Preheat oven o 425* F.  Scrub 

Crockpot Tortellini

Today we had our first scout meeting of the year so I knew we would be rushed.  I chose to make a super simple crockpot recipe.  This is a modified recipe based on one that I got 4-5 years ago when I subscribed to eMeals which is a great online weekly menu planner that includes the shopping list that you need to complete the menus.  This is not GF, but I think there are pre-made GF pastas available. 

Crockpot Tortellini:

Ingredients:

2 lg cans diced tomatoes

1 lg can crushed tomatoes

1 lg can tomato sauce

1 lg can tomato paste

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp italian seasoning

1 pkg tortellini, family size

1 cup shredded mozzarella 

Directions:

Mix all ingredients except the tortellini and mozzarella in the crockpot.  Cook on low for 8-10 hours.  Thirty minutes before serving, gently stir in the tortellini and cover all with cheese.  Replace lid and let cook for the last 30 minutes.

Sunday Night Shrimp Boil!

Last night I did an easy peasy dinner.  It took about 45 minutes from start to finish and was a small clean up job :). Everyone in the family loves all the ingredients in a shrimp boil. I modified the Old Bay recipe.  

What did I do?  I didn't put in the sausage as I want to have 2-3 meals without beef, chicken or pork.  I also cut down on the recipe because there are only 4 of us and I didn't want to waste any food.  I also made cole slaw because it just seemed like the right thing to do :)

Sunday Shrimp Boil:

4 quarts of water

1 bottle of beer

1/4 cup Old Bay

1 tbsp salt

2 lg onions quartered

1 small bag of red potatoes, quartered

4 ears of corn cut into thirds

2 lb raw shrimp

Directions:

In an 8-quart stock pot, bring Old Bay, salt, water and beer to a boil.  Add potatoes and onions; cook over high heat for 13 minutes. Add corn to pot; continue to boil for 7 minutes.  Slowly stir shrimp into the pot and let boil for 4 minutes.  Remove from heat and drain liquid.  Pour the contents of the pot into a large bowl an serve hot!