Copy Cat Zuppa Toscana

You may have heard that we live in place that some like to call "Lost in the Woods".  That name usually bothers me because I really love this place, however there are moments when I'm reminded that some of the creature comforts are a bit further away from us than we'd like.  Places like big name restaurants like Olive Garden.  I don't usually miss restaurants since the boys are perfectly content eating whatever Kevin or I come up with but every now and again we miss some of our favorites...like this soup.  Thankfully I found this recipe years ago on the internet and it's been a family favorite on cold days like today.  Like most recipes, we doubled it to feed our growing family of boys.

Zuppa Toscana

1 lb spicy Italian sausage - browned, drained & crumbled (I like to use a mix of hot and mild)
1/2 lb smoked bacon - cooked & chopped (bacon bits work well too!)
1 quart water
(2) 14.5 oz cans chicken broth 

 2 large russet potatoes - scrubbed clean and cut into small cubes with skin still on (I've used red potatoes and they were just fine)

 2 garlic cloves - peeled, crushed
1 med. onion - peeled, chopped
2 cups chopped kale 

1 cup heavy whipping cream
salt and pepper - to taste

•  Place water, broth, potatoes, garlic, and onion in a pot; simmer over medium heat until potatoes are tender.

•  Add sausage and bacon to pot; simmer for 10 minutes.

•  Add kale and cream to pot; season with salt and pepper; heat through.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Delicious dinner tonight...pulled pork sandwiches served on homemade buns with homemade pickles and salad! We figured out this meal cost us less than $1 per person! That's a great deal! Dinner for less than $5 because we had most things in our house or were given the item for free. The pork shoulder/butt I bought for $13 made three meals!  We love good food and great deals!!


I originally made the pulled pork for the baby shower we threw a friend on Saturday.  The pork shoulder/butt was almost 10 lbs so it was going to feed a lot of people.  We had a good turnout but I still came home with plenty to feed my family with.  We still have some leftover that will make a good snack for the boys after school tomorrow.


I used a recipe from Chef Emeril Lagasse.  I mean who doesn't love Emeril?  Well okay, if you are a vegetarian or you have some aversion to pork you might not but I personally love him!  I even have a cook book signed by him that my husband stood in life for hours to get signed for me.  Anyway, I'm sure you are wondering about the recipe, not my infatuation with Emeril...so here it is!  You can also find it on the Food Network website with a recipe for coleslaw and fried pickles.

Don't freak out about all the parts to this recipe, they are all relatively simple to do!  The process is long because of cooking time but I promise it's worth it!  My pork shoulder/butt was double the size of this recipe so I doubled the ingredients and the time cooking.  I did use the mop sauce but since I cooked my roast over night while I was sleeping I only basted it twice and it was still moist and delicious!

Barbecued Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Homemade BBQ Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 boneless pork butt, about 4 pounds
• 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons Essence, recipe follows
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon cayenne
• Wet Mop Basting Sauce, recipe follows
• Barbecue Sauce, recipe follows
• 8 Hamburger buns

Directions

Place the pork in a baking dish. In a bowl, combine the sugar, Essence, salt, cumin, paprika, pepper, and cayenne. Rub the seasoning evenly over the pork to coat. Cover with plastic and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

Preheat an oven or smoker to 225 degrees F.

Bring the pork to room temperature and place in a roasting pan, fat side up. Slow cook in the oven, basting with the wet mop basting sauce every 45 minutes, until tender and the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F. (The cooking should take about 6 to 7 hours.) Remove from the oven and let rest for 20 to 30 minutes.

With a knife and fork or two forks, pull the meat apart into small slices or chunks. Toss with the barbecue sauce, to taste, and divide among the hamburger buns.

Essence (Emeril's Creole Seasoning):

• 2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried leaf oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight jar or container.

Yield: about 2/3 cup

Recipe from "New New Orleans Cooking", by Emeril Lagasse and Jessie Tirsch. Published by William and Morrow, 1993.

Wet Mop Basting Sauce:

• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
• 1 tablespoon salt

The night before you cook the pork, combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and whisk well. Refrigerate and let the flavors blend overnight.

Yield: 2 1/4 cups

Barbecue Sauce:

• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup ketchup
• 3 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients and whisk well to dissolve the sugar. Place in a squeeze bottle and dress the pulled pork sandwiches to taste.

Yield: about 2 cups

Ham & Bean Soup

We're having a snow day here in MO. The snow is falling (about 3 1/2 inches right now) and it's cold! What better than a bowl of hot soup to warm us right up? The hubby looked in the fridge and saw that we still had a baggie of ham from a luau we did last year with his unit (we had an entire pig roasted, it was delicious!) We decided on some ham and bean soup with cornbread.

Ham and Bean Soup

Ingredients:

• 8 cups water
• 1 pound Great Northern beans or navy beans
• 2 cups cubed ham
• 1 ham bone or ham hock, optional
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper or to taste
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 rib celery, chopped or sliced thinly
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce

Preparation:

Bring water and beans to a boil; boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand 1 hour.

Stir in ham, ham bone or hock, pepper, bay leaf, carrot and celery. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover, and simmer until beans are tender (skim foam from top), about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. If soup is too thick, add a little water.

Remove ham bone or ham hock (if used) and trim meat from bone. Return meat to soup with tomato sauce and salt; simmer for about 15 minutes longer. Remove bay leaf.
Ham and bean soup serves 6.

Sausage Biscuits & Gravy

Sometimes I feel lazy and don't want to go all out for dinner. Nothing is more simple and pleasing than breakfast for dinner! Last night we had Biscuits and Gravy and everyone was happy. A friend asked me if I even made the biscuits with "cut butter" and all. The answer is yes...it's not hard to do though it might sound intimidating.

Here is a simple recipe to use as a base for your gravy. You can really use this cream gravy with anything..mashed potatoes, chicken fried steak, biscuits..whatever makes you happy!

I typically brown up some sausage to sprinkle into the gravy and then I also use the drippings from the sausage as the fat in my gravy.

Cream gravy
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons pan drippings, (sausage drippings work best if you are making sausage biscuits and gravy, if you are making gravy for something else...vegetable oil works well)
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups milk (2% or higher works best to make your gravy creamier)
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional, we like the extra kick)

1 lb browned crumbled sausage

Salt to taste

Combine fat with flour in a hot skillet, continuously stirring, cook on medium for a couple of minutes until a dark roux is formed.

Add milk slowly to skillet, and mix with roux using a whisk. Turn heat to low and continue stirring until mixture is thickened, this takes about 2 to 3 minutes, make sure you mix out any lumps. Add sausage and then pepper and salt to taste.

Important note! Do not expect your gravy to be beautiful and white. If it's a bit darker that's okay..it will be just as tasty!

Here are a couple recipes for biscuits to use in this recipe...Buttermilk Biscuits or Easy Drop Biscuits

CrockPot Ribs

Can I just tell you how yummy and simple this is to do! Now I have made CrockPot Ribs a couple different ways. This works for beef or pork ribs, either way they come out deliciously tender!

One is just throwing them in the crockpot, seasoning with salt and pepper and whatever else tickles your fancy (personally I think you can never go wrong with just S&P). Set the crockpot on high for 4 hours or so, adding whatever BBQ sauce you want during the last hour or hour and a half. I said cook on high for 4 hours but I'll be honest here, I like to cook on low for a long time to let it get it nice and tender. There are lots of great BBQ sauces out there (today the hubby and I bought Apple Butter BBQ sauce at a Farmer's Market, can't wait to try it out on something) Oops sorry, got sidetracked (did I mention how yummy that BBQ sauce was!). Anyway, you can use storebought or make your own (I'll post a quick recipe for BBQ sauce at the end).

My friend Aubri told me how she does her ribs and this is pretty much how I did it today. (Hope you don't mind me sharing Aubri!)

"Put them in the oven on a cookie sheet for 25 min. or so, to get them browned. I sprinkled steak seasoning on them first. Then I just put them in the slow cooker for 4 hours on high, and put famous dave's bbq sauce on them 1 hr before they were done. yum-0 A real man pleaser, lol."

I didn't use Famous Dave's BBQ...at this moment I don't even remember what kind I used but it was good. Sometimes I use a sweeter sauce, others a more smokey and occasionally I'll even use something spicy. It's all up to what makes you happy! And as I mentioned before, you can even make your own (my husband LOVES making his own sauce).

Quick and easy BBQ sauce!

• 2 cups ketchup
• 1 cup chili sauce
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons vinegar
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 dash hot sauce
  

In a medium bowl, mix together the ketchup, chili sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, oregano, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and salt and pepper. Place ribs in slow cooker. Pour sauce over ribs, and turn to coat.

Tip: Baking Bacon

You don't have to turn it or deal with spatters.

First, preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet or baking pan with sides with heavy-duty foil. Arrange the bacon on the pan, side-by side, being sure not to overlap the pieces.

Bake the bacon for 10-17 minutes for thin-cut, or until desired doneness (is that a word?). Carefully remove from the oven, drain on paper towels, and use.

*You can also do this on a broiler pan (which is one of the few kitchen items I don't happen to own) and let the pan catch the grease itself.

Others have said using an oven-safe cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet works well too.

**For an added yummiliciousness (yeah I totally made that up) brush some maple syrup on bacon before baking...sooooooooooooo good!