I really need to post this before I forget the recipe myself.  I'm a big fan of getting an idea for something and running with it, as well as making a soup out of whatever is in the fridge and pantry. In light of that, I give you this incredibly easy and inexpensive weeknight soup that tastes slow-cooked, but isn't. Sorry, guys - I'll take a photo next time!

Smoked Sausage Tortellini Soup

2-3 cloves minced garlic
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 link turkey smoked sausage (fully cooked), cut in rounds, then in half again
1 32 oz carton chicken broth
1 can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 can great northern beans (or cannellini beans, if you prefer)
1 cup fresh spinach, roughly chopped
1 pkg cheese-filled tortellini*

* I used the fresher, refrigerated variety-  like Buitoni. If you don't care for this, can't find it or already have the dried stuff, just par-boil if beforehand. 

Heat a little olive oil in a stock pot and start sauteing your onions, carrots and garlic, then toss in your chopped sausage to brown up a bit, then your tomatoes and beans and cook for another 5 minutes.  Add all of the chicken broth and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 20 minutes. Add your chopped spinach and let it wilt for about 2-3 minutes, then add your tortellini and let it cook for about 5-10 more - but make sure the pasta doesn't cook so long that it explodes or gets mushy.  Slow and low!  Toss a little shredded Parmesan on the finished product, and serve with some crusty bread and a salad.  You're welcome.

I don't have very much time to create OR post my own recipes lately, but for the love of all that delicious, make this soup.  Why don't more recipes contain a component called "cheesy yum?"
 I used cavatappi pasta and cooked it separately because I hate mushy pasta and wanted the opportunity to freeze leftovers (which there are never any of).  Although it gives me radiating heartburn, it's worth it.  I actually daydream about this soup, and crave it at least once every week or so. Honest to goodness, one of the best things I've ever eaten.

I love inviting folks over for dinner, even though we have nowhere but the floor to sit and eat.  Mr. FvF threw me a curveball a few weeks ago by inviting a vegetarian over for dinner.  I love a challenge, and as long as it's not vegan cooking - I'll rise to the occasion.  After giving it some thought, I realized I really love a good roasted veggie lasagna with bechamel, but have never attempted one on my own. Time to Frankenstein some recipes from the webbernet!  This is the part where I'll try desperately to remember how I did everything, since this all happened over two weeks ago.  Here's what you'll need:

1 box lasagna noodles*
1-2 jars alfredo sauce**
squash & zuchinni, 2 of each, sliced thin
1-2 large carrots, sliced thin
1-2 C fresh spinach
1/2 yellow onion, diced
4 cloves fresh garlic, minced or finely chopped
1 container ricotta cheese
1/2 C shredded parmesan (or any hard Italian cheese)
1C shredded mozzarella (the part skim stuff is fine here)
1 ball/container of fresh mozzarella, sliced
White wine
olive oil

*I prefer whole wheat, and I do NOT recommend the no-boil noodles for this.  This isn't a high water content dish, so they may not cook thoroughly. 
**Sure, about 2 cups of homemade bechamel would be great, but I don't have a sous chef or an extra hour in my day.  I used roasted red pepper for some extra flavor.  


First thing's first - get your noodles boiling in a big stock pot, so you'll have time to cool them before working with them.  Heat your oven to about 300 (350 tops) and start chopping your squash and carrots.  This was my first opportunity to really use my mandolin. Almost every other recipe I read said to "cube the veggies uniformly before roasting." In my opinion, paper-thin veggies make a much better looking presentation.  But, do whatever floats your boat.  If you're using a mandolin for the first time, for the love of God - be very careful. Fingertips in, knuckles out.  Even the cheap ones are seriously sharp and one fast move will leave you looking like your junior high shop class teacher.  Especially if you already have a mustache and a drinking problem.

Get all of your long veggies chopped to your liking, then toss them all in a roasting pan with a few hearty pinches of salt and drizzle with olive oil.  Toss around to make sure they're all covered, then roast them for about 15 minutes, watching closely that they don't get crispy around the edges.

While those are roasting, keep an eye on your pasta (never overcook your pasta, nerds) and start sauteing your diced onions and garlic over low heat in some olive oil and salt.  Remove from heat & set aside to cool off once onions are soft.

Your pasta and veggies should be done soon, so it's time to start your assembly line.  You'll be using nearly every inch of your counter space, but have everything you need out & ready with its own utensil.   You'll thank me later.  At this point, I like to take my roasted veggies, onions, garlic and spinach and toss them all on a bowl so I don't have to add them individually.  I do the same with the shredded parm and mozzarella (save the whole mozz for last, though!)

Start with a thin layer of sauce on the bottom, then a layer of noodles.  On top of the noodles, layer about 1/3 C ricotta, then a layer of veggies, then a layer of your shredded cheeses, then another drizzle of the sauce.  Lather, rinse repeat until you run out of fillings, and make sure you are left with a smidge of sauce after layering the last noodles.  Top those final noodles with a drizzle of the cream sauce, then add your sliced fresh mozzarella.  I like to sprinkle on a smidge of extra salt and red pepper flakes at the end, too.

Gaze in awe for a moment, then bake this BAMF at 350 for about 40 minutes covered loosely in foil, then another 15 minutes after removing the foil so that your cheese gets nice and brown & bubbly.

• 1 box whole wheat thin spaghetti
• 1 pound turkey breast, cut into cubes or roughly chopped*
• 1/4 C dry white wine
  
• 8 oz mushrooms, sliced (fresh or canned will work)
  3/4 cup frozen sweet peas, thawed
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2/3 cup reduced fat sour cream
• 1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese (any hard Italian cheese will work)
• 1 can cream of chicken soup (condensed)
• 1/2 C panko bread crumbs, seasoned w/salt & oregano
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted\
• *If you don't have leftovers, here's what to do. Get turkey breast cutlets and season them w/salt, pepper, garlic & onion powder and pan fry them until they hit 165 degrees, then chop'em up.

Last weekend, some friends of ours were nice enough to slide us part of their bounty of Brio coupons so we could both get sitters and go out for a nice, adult dinner.  As most of you know, The Greene is incredibly successful in making my blood pressure go through the roof, so I rarely go there for food or commerce.  When we want to drop a bill on dinner, we usually don't go to a chain, either.  We usually end up at figlio or Barnsider, something on the high end of local eateries.

I did a little research and it was looking like Brio actually makes their own pasta, which actually makes it worth me ordering pasta. If the restaurant is dropping some dehydrated noodles into boiling water, that's not worth me spending the better part of my evening in the john.  Since we were able to stack these $20 coupons, we spared no expense and ordered cocktails, appetizers, dinner and dessert.  The boys had calamari, and ginger and I had the spinach-artichoke dip.  It wasn't earth shattering, but it was tasty.  The parmesan crisps they served alongside for dipping were actually the best part.  My raspberry mojito was pleasantly boozy, speckled with freshly muddled mint and fresh berries.

Mr. FvF ordered the Lasagna Bolognese al Forno, Gin had the artichoke-crusted beef medallions, Matt had the lamb chops, and I chose Fettucine Napoli.  None of the pictures turned out that great except for my dish (natch) and the dessert.  Eating this pasta, regardless of later intestinal distress, was 100% worth it.  Smoked chicken, pancetta, broccoli, sundried tomatoes and chili flake in an oil & white wine reduction.  It was perfect in every way, really.  Not a damn thing I'd have done differently.  I stopped myself just short of exhausting myself with it since I wanted dessert, and took the rest home to Ma FvF to thank for watching the babe.  I snagged a bite of Mr. FvF's lasagna, which was good - but something was amiss for me.  He referred to it as a "windbreaker of cheese and meat," and loved it, but agreed that it wasn't quite what we normally think of as lasagna.  Now, let me clarify that I don't have Stouffer's in mind when I think good lasagna bolognese.  Mine is fairly labor intensive, and is basically this.  But, I except lasagna to have a certain construction.  This came plated in a way that felt too individual.  In other words, I think it was assembled in the dish, then maybe baked for 10 minutes.  I didn't pick up the richness in their bolognese and it sure didn't seem like this "slice" had spent an hour in the oven, letting all of its flavors mingle.

The boys had tiny red velvet cake desserts, and the gals split a molten chocolate cake, which was delightful.  It's a simple dessert, but not all that simple in making, so these little cakes often go underappreciated.

I'll start off by saying that I added and removed the tag "Irish pub" from this post at least six times before just leaving it there. No matter how drunk I was when I got there, this place was no more Irish than my Uncle Mario. The most Irish thing about Michael O'Toole's is the name itself, which is a complete misnomer. I have a feeling that the person who came up with the concept feels that serving pasta and ribs is as authentic to Ireland as clover tattoos on St. Patrick's Day and Celtic tattoos on fat, pasty white folks.  If you're a dirty mick, people just deduce your heritage when you spit on cab drivers or your husband openly mocks your drinking problem.  At least that's what I hear.  At any rate, you don't have to go advertising it, and false advertising is even worse.

That said, they had a good looking beer list, and a decent, yet incoherent menu.  We ordered an appetizer sampler, but nothing was really memorable. My entree, the prosciutto and Gorgonzola stuffed chicken was tasty, but small.  When I read "whole airline chicken breast" I was expecting a fair amount of bird, but what arrived on my plate was somewhere under six ounces.  They left the skin on, which I think is great.  There are several different opinions about this, but in fancier-pants cooking, skin-on is the way to go.  It retains all of the moisture and a fair amount more seasoning than boneless-skinless.  The bird was well-seasoned and you could actually tell what it'd been stuffed with, without having read the menu description. 
I didn't get much scoop on the food that the other gents ordered.  You see, as much as I always detested Seinfeld, there was a lot to George Costanza's theory about worlds colliding.  It's a bit of a push for me to report on dining I did on business trips, but I'm certainly not going to ask my co-workers how their dinner hits their palate.  FvF world must stay completely separated from regular work world, as well as in-law world. 

Service was okay - just okay.  Nothing to write home about, and he wasn't very knowledgeable about their wines or top shelf bar items.  The price points, in my opinion, are a little steep, considering portion sizes.  The part of the menu that almost made me stroke out was the side orders.  Mac & cheese, cole slaw, fries, wild rice, any of them - $5 each.  Yeah, American dollars.   Shut the front door!  Do they have a special decoder ring in them?  Are they gemmed with gold bullion?  Will they be spoon-fed to me by an oiled-up immigrant?  Chewed up by my server and spit back into my mouth like I'm a baby bird?   If the answer to any or all of those questions is no, then I can see that we're quite finished here. 

• 
  
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2/3 lb lean ground beef (or lamb)
• 2/3 lb hot Italian sausage
• 2/3 lb sweet Italian sausage
• 1 large onion, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 carrot, peeled, and cut into 1/4-inch dice (about 1 cup)
• 1 rib of celery, finely diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
• large pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed Italian plum tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups dry red wine (I used pinot noir)
• 1 C whole milk 
• 2 C chicken stock
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp minced basil 
• For the ricotta mixture:
• 2 C fresh ricotta*
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp minced basil (fresh)
• 1 tbsp minced oregano (fresh)

The Mister got some kind of Pork Milanese with cheese tortelloni.  I think sometimes Olive Garden doesn't look up the meanings of words before they use them, because tortelloni is supposed to be a giant, beastly version or tortellini.  These suckers were about the size of a silver dollar.  I won't even get started on the ridiculous words they make up for their half-assed, unoriginal recipes.  

Skyline is still awesome.

Last week, the Mister had to go to the Dayton School of Advertising Art and talk to some folks about how he uses Adobe to create some of his fabulous comic art. Naturally, I took the opportunity to make something he'd never dream of eating, then watch some x-rated movies.

This was one of my favorite dishes to make as a single gal, and I realized I hadn't eaten it since he moved in. I should note that I wouldn't know shit about making fancy pasta dishes if it weren't for my friend Billiam. I would have never attempted to make my own sauces before seeing him make it look so effortless.

Here's what you'll need (serves 1-2):

long, thin pasta of your choice, cooked al dente (I used whole wheat linguine)
3 sliced of bacon, chopped and cooked
1 cup fresh spinach, chopped coarsely
1/4 - 1/2 C chopped yellow onion
2 gloves garlic, minced
1 tomato (I used roma), diced
1/2 C white wine (I used pinot grigiot)
1/2 C half & half or heavy cream
parmesan cheese (at least 1/3 C)
olive oil

Start some olive oil in a sautee pan over medium heat.* Once it's fast in the pan, add your onions and garlic, but careful not to scorch the garlic (you will never know a more awful smell or taste). Cook those down until the onions begin to get soft & translucent, then add your tomatoes and a tablespoon or two of the white wine. Reduce the heat and let the tomatoes start to release their juices and cook down, then add the bacon & spinach. Simmer for 2-3 more minutes.

Once everything is looking beautiful and smelling groovy, start to add the rest of the wine and let it warm up with the veggies, then add a bit of grated parm and a few pinches of salt. Once it's all the same temp, start slowly stirring in your cream and bring the heat up to just below medium. Add the cream slowly so that you know when you've got enough. This will always cook a bit differently, so sometimes you don't need the whole 1/2 cup. The sauce should start to thicken, and once it does, adjust the heat back to low. Let is simmer for just a few more minutes, then add some more grated cheese and your cooked pasta, and toss it all together. Also, do yourself a favor and get a nice brick of aged parmesan instead of using that powdered shit that comes in the green canister. The stuff keeps forever!


*If you cooked your bacon in the same pan, it's perfectly okay to leave some of the droppings there. Just makes it taste better!

Remember the super delicious Tuscan wedding soup that I created last month? Well, Mr. FvF liked it so much that I made it again already. We didn't have anyone over to share it with when I made it Monday, so it yielded a good 2-3 bowls of leftovers to be had later in the week.
I decided to pull a Billiam (a friend of mine who is terribly artistic when it comes to recreating leftovers) and turn it into yet another soup. I wish I could take credit for the name, but that one was all Mr. FvF.

After a good while spent scouring the webbernets, I was disappointed to see that no one had advice on turning a broth-based soup into a cream-based soup. Don't worry your pretty little head, because your good pal Food vs. Face does!

The leftovers will soak up a lot of the chicken broth in the fridge, so you'll need one more can. Dump the soup into a Dutch oven or stock pot, turn the head to about medium-low and start reheating, adding about 3/4 of the can of broth. Add about 1/4 cup heavy cream to the soup as well.

In a sauce pan, boil a couple of coarsely diced red potatoes until fork tender.

In another sauce pan, bring the remaining 1/4 can of broth and about 3/4 cup of heavy cream to a low boil. Sift a couple tablespoons (3-4ish) of A/P flour into the mix and begin whisking. Add about 1/2 cup of shredded cheese (I used a softer parm and mozzarella mix) and keep whisking. Continue cooking until the consistency resembles that of a cream-based soup you'd buy in the store. You can add more cream or flour (and maybe some butter) to thin or thicken the roux. Make sure all of the lumps are out!

Drain the diced potatoes and add to the soup, then add the roux that you've made. Turn the heat to low on the soup and stir until everything is combined well.




This is very, very similar to Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana soup, except it tastes good and isn't served to you by someone working on their GED who pronounces "merlot" phonetically.

I was always pretty spoiled as a kid, having very resourceful parents who could cook up a storm. I never had store-bought soup, beans, or preserves until I moved out after high school. As anyone else who's been this privileged and spoiled will tell you, your first can of of soup or jar of jam is a severely rude awakening. Nobody makes it like mom does. If you're smart, you'll learn to make it like mom does, from scratch. I've pretty much mastered all of those homemade soups that I crave by now - from Pa FvF's chili to Ma FvF's devilishly rich and creamy potato soup. I figured it's time to make my own soup from scratch with no recipe and no help. I wanted something involving cannelini beans, spinach and sweet sausage, and probably some tiny pasta for the Mister. It's a lot like Italian Wedding soup, with the addition of white beans and using straight sausage instead of meatballs. Hence, Tuscan Wedding Soup. Here's what you'll need:

1 lb sweet (or mild or hot, if you prefer) Italian sausage*
2 cups chopped spinach**
1 yellow onion, finely diced
3 cloves minced garlic
1 32 oz carton chicken broth
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1 tbsp salt
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
2 cups small pasta (I used shells), cooked and drained
*I used links and cut them up, but you could just as easily used bulk and crumble it.
** Use fresh, not frozen. You can thank me later.

Cook your sausages however you normally cook them. I added about 1/4 inch of water to a dutch oven and let them brown for about 15 minutes over medium heat, then sliced'em up. Add a little olive oil to a small stock pot over medium heat, then add your onions and garlic. Once they start to soften, add the chopped spinach and beans, then throw the sausage back in the last few minutes to get it a nice, rustic brown. Plus, the fat will help the veggies cook down. Add all of your chicken broth, then seasonings and give it a good stir. Bring it to a near-boil, then back down to simmer and let it simmer for at least one hour. Add your cooked pasta and let it all come to temperature, then you're all set. Like most soups, the longer you can let it simmer, the better the flavor will be.

I don't mind patting myself on the back here, this was fantastic. Even for all the veggies in it, it got a 9 out of 10 from Mr. FvF - an esteemed list which normally only includes steak and stromboli. I topped it with an asiago-romano-parm blend, but it's absolutely fine on it's own. Also, if I had it to do over, I think I might go with a harder, aged parmesan.

In another episode of FLIP MODE, I bring you stuffed shells. What's flip mode about stuffed shells, you might ask? Well, most people mix the meat into the sauce and serve it atop or with the shells. I decided to cut down in the ricotta in the filling and replace it with Italian sausage. Here's what you'll need.

1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella
3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh spinach
1 lb Italian sausage, cooked and crumbled
16-20 jumbo shells (about 1/2 pkg), boiled and drained
2 cups marinara sauce, purchased or homemade

Cook and crumble your sausage while the shells are boiling. Add plenty of olive oil to the water the shells are in, so they don't stick and tear open. Mix the first six ingredients together well, then add your cooked sausage and give it another good mix. Preheat your oven to 350 and line the bottom of a 9x13" pan with a little bit of the marinara so the shells don't stick. Fill each shell with just shy if 1/4 cup of the sausage-cheese mixture and place into the pan. Once they're all filled, cover with the remaining marinara sauce and sprinkle with about another 1/4 cup of mozzarella. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the internal temp reads at least 140ish.