Kale Soup

We found this recipe last fall and it is one of our favorites now! It's easy, healthy, and really tasty!

1 TSB olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 cups chopped fresh kale
4 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1/8 tsp crushed dried thyme
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp pepper
1 15-oz can white beans (cannellini, white kidney, etc), drained and rinsed
4 1/2-inch think slices french bread
1/2 cup shredded Fontina cheese

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, and mushrooms and cook and stir 2-3 minutes. Add kale; cook 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add broth and bring to a boil. Stir in thyme, pepper, and nutmeg. Stir in beans. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 20-30 minutes or until kale is tender.

Preheat broiler. Place bread slices on baking sheet and top with shredded cheese. Cook under broiler 1-2 minutes until cheese melts. Serve bread slices on top of soup.

Christmas Yams

A yummy Thanksgiving and Christmas favorite from Jordan's mom!

6-7 large yams
1 stick butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg and cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 cup (or more) brown sugar
2 beaten eggs
3/4 cup half and half
Baby marshmallows
1/2 tsp orange peel (optional)

Wash, rinse, and quarter yams. Cook by bringing to a boil, turning the temperature down to low and simmer 15-20 minutes, just until tender but not mushy. Drain. Peel yams and put them in a big casserole dish. Mash the yams while still hot. Add the stick of butter. Mash together, melting the butter. Add salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, and brown sugar. Mix. Add the beaten eggs and half and half and stir. Top with baby marshmallows. Bake at 325 degrees F for 20-25 minutes until marshmallows are a light golden brown.

*When I made these on Jordan's birthday, he suggested adding some crushed, drained pineapple. We added about 1/2-3/4 cups, and it was a great addition!

Meatballs and Orange Gravy

The only meatballs I really like. They are delicious!


Two handfuls of white rice

4 T. flour

1 t. salt

1/2 t. pepper

2 T. minced onion

1 lb. lean ground beef

Two cans tomato soup

Scant two soup cans of water

Mix rice, flour and seasonings together in large bowl. Add ground beef and mix with your hands. Form into balls about the size of walnuts. Try not to overmix or pack the meat together too tightly or else you end up with hard and chewy meatballs.

Put the soup and the water in the pressure cooker over high heat. After soup boils, carefully drop meatballs into pot. Make sure the meatballs are covered with soup and distributed evenly in pot. Immediately cover with the lid and lock into place. When the steam thing pops up, put the rocking thing on the lid. When the rocking becomes consistent, turn heat to medium or medium high and cook for 20 minutes. (You want the rocking to be gentle.) After 20 minutes turn the heat off but don't open the lid. Let the meat rest until the steam indicator drops down. You can speed up the process by putting the pot under running hot water in the sink after the 20 minutes of cooking, and that will make the steam indicator drop faster, but I prefer to let it sit because it makes the meatballs more tender.

Voila! You have meatballs and instant gravy. The gravy is excellent over mashed potatoes.

No Meat Chili

This is my mom's recipe for chili, which is my favorite chili recipe ever. I actually don't like chili with lots of meat, only lots and lots of veggies! So this has a lot of beans for protein instead of meat. This can also be made in a crock-pot. Yummy, healthy, comfort-food.

1 15oz. can red kidney beans

1 15oz. can Great Northern beans

1 14oz. can diced tomatoes

1 8oz. can tomato sauce

3/4 cup green pepper, chopped

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

2 cloves of garlic, minced (or equivalent of garlic powder)

Drain and rinse beans. Do not drain tomatoes. Saute onion and garlic in a bit of butter for five minutes. Put all ingredients into large pot*. Simmer over medium/low heat until green peppers are soft, approximately 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The longer you let this simmer, the tastier it becomes.

*This picture is chili made in a crock-pot instead of over the stove. We just put it on low all day, and it turned out delicious!!

Pumpkin Pie Crunch

This is a recipe from my mom that has become one of Jordan's favorite desserts. It tastes great in the fall, since it's like pumpkin pie. We like to use a spice cake mix instead of the yellow mix, and omit the pumpkin pie spice.

1 can (16 oz.) solid pack pumpkin

1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp. salt

1 pkg. yellow cake mix

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

1 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom only of 9X13 pan. Combine first six ingredients in large bowl. (This will be very soupy.) Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over pumpkin mixture. Top with pecans. Drizzle melted butter over all. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 55 minutes or until golden. Cool completely. Serve with whipped cream. Makes 16-20 servings.

Pasta Della California

This is another recipe from my friend, Christine. It's delicious! I think we made it about the same way she did, but using spinach instead of arugula, because that's what we had on hand.

This is the recipe according to Christine:

"here is the recipe for the pasta with avocado...this is the original recipe (with a few of my modifications) that is supposed to serve 4....i halved it and i think it would be fine for 2 people (i had leftovers). i like this recipe because it uses 3 different vegetables, and is easy. the cookbook authors said they called it "california" because "avocado pasta" would scare people away haha.

1/2 pound linguine (i just used penne because...that's all i ever buy)

3 cups sliced broccoli (tops cut into small florets, stalks sliced thinly)

2 Tb olive oil

6 cloves garlic, minced (original recipe said 8...i thought that would be too much so i reduced)

1/4 tsp grated lime zest (i omitted this)

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 cup veg broth

2 Tb lime juice or juice of one lime (definitely do not omit...i just buy the lime juice in a bottle)

1/2 tsp salt

several pinches of black pepper

4 cups loosely packed arugula leaves*

2 avocados, peeled and sliced into 1-inch chunks

1. Bring water for pasta (and broccoli) to a boil and start prepping other ingredients. Add pasta (you will add the broccoli to the pasta in the last minute of cooking).

2. Add oil to skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, lime zest, and red pepper flakes. Heat for 2 mins, don't burn garlic.

3. Add vegetable broth, lime juice, salt, and pepper to skillet. Bring to a boil.

4. Reduce to simmer and add arugula. By this point pasta should be almost done. Add the broccoli to the pasta and cook 1 minute, then drain all.

5. When arugula is wilted, add broccoli and pasta and mix all together, heating for a few mins. Then add avocado and turn off the heat. Gently toss to incorporate avocado, until it is heated through (if avocado gets too hot/stirred, it will mush...it should remain in chunks).

*i think it would be fine with spinach instead of arugula (or any other leafy green?). I actually had arugula on hand because I used it in another recipe. but i think it is kind of expensive."

Better than Anything Cake

There are a lot of different names for this cake, but it seems like a lot of people have this recipe or something similar. Not for those lacking a major sweet tooth! Jordan has a sweet tooth, and this is too sweet for even him, but I love it!

1 Devil's Food Cake mix
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 8 oz jar caramel ice cream topping (not the kind you have to heat up)
8 oz. cool whip
Heath Bar, crumbled

Cook the cake in a 9X13 inch pan. After it's done and while it's still hot, poke holes into the cake with the handle of a wooden spoon. Poke the holes all the way to the bottom of the cake, about an inch apart. Pour the sweetened condensed milk and caramel over the cake, making sure it gets down the holes. Put the cake in the fridge, uncovered, for about 3 hours. Spread cool wip over the cake and sprinkle with the crumbled Heath Bar.