Minestrone

Mike loves Minestrone soup.  I don't really understand it, but it the fact that I don't like beans may have something to do with that.  Minestrone is actually pretty easy to make and is a pretty healthy soup, since it's mainly a tomato soup with vegetables in it.

I made this particular broth using the Vitamix, and just added the veggies in at the end, simmering the soup to let it heat up.  The only issue is that I had to buy Garbanzo beans for this soup, and now I have about 3/4 of a can of Garbanzo beans which I'm not sure how I will finish it.

Here is a close up of all the good stuff.  Look at all the vegetables!  The best part about this soup is it is quick to make, healthy and Mike likes to eat it!

Fettuccine with Creamy Tomato Sausage Sauce

I found this recipe for Fettuccine with Creamy Tomato Sausage Sauce while trying to use up more heavy whipping cream.

I had some egg noodles left over from the Beef Stroganoff, so I used that instead of Fettuccine.  I figured it would be OK since both pastas are quite wide.

I only made half the recipe since it sounded like a lot of food.  It still turned out to be quite a lot of food for one person to eat.

I did like dish, but again, it felt a little heavy, and not very healthy (as is expected from a dish with heavy whipping cream...)

Pasta Milano

While continuing my quest to use up the heavy whipping cream, I stumbled on a recipe for Pasta Milano Soup.  It can be made into a sauce by adding more flour to thicken it, and it can then be served over pasta, as I did.

I didn't use sun dried tomatoes since I don't like the taste of them.  Instead I used the same amount of canned tomatoes.  This would obviously change the taste of the dish, but I like how it turned out.  I also used baby Portabella mushrooms instead of button mushrooms.  I just like the taste of Portabella mushrooms better.

I probably would not make this dish again since it is not very healthy, maybe once in a while, as a treat.

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup

I bought heavy whipping cream to make some recipe.  Unfortunately I don't remember which recipe I wanted to make.  I have a quart of quart of heavy whipping cream and I'm trying to find recipes to make with it.  I guess I could make whipped cream, but I've never been much of a baker.

Mike has commented before that he likes tomato soup (I've never been a big fan of it), so I thought I would try this Creamy Tomato Basil Soup, which uses whipping cream and is a tomato soup.  I was pleasantly surprised by how it tasted.

I only made half the recipe since I didn't need know how it would turn out.  This still came out to be a lot of soup.  Additionally, it's a little on the salty side.  This is kind of my fault since I just put some salt in there.  The recipe says "salt and pepper to taste".  I hate how recipes say that.  Obviously I should reduce the amount of salt listed in your recipe if I don't like salty food.  I didn't put any Parmesan cheese in the soup.  Perhaps next time I would leave out the salt and just put the Parmesan cheese in at the end.  I also used a can of diced tomatoes from Costco instead of using crushed tomatoes.

Sausage Spinach Pasta

I wanted to make a pasta dish that included spinach.  I found this Spicy Smoked Sausage Spinach Skillet recipe that was on the same website as a Chicken and Broccoli recipe that I tried.

I used 2 pieces of Aidell sausages from Costco to make this dish.  The cream cheese that was in the refrigerator smelled funny, so I threw it out and did not use any cream cheese in the recipe.  I used a can of regular diced tomatoes instead of one with green chilies, since I don't like chili.  I don't know  how much Cheddar Cheese I used.  I just used the rest of the cheese I had in the bag.

I thought the dish tasted delicious.  I even tasted it before I added cheese to it and it was still good.  I think the pasta tasted even better because it was cooked in the chicken broth and tomatoes.