Minestrone

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp dried basil
1 tsp parsley flakes
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp black pepper
2 cups fresh spinach, chopped
10 cups broth
15 oz can crushed tomatoes
15 oz can petite cut tomatoes
15 oz can garbanzo or kidney beans, drained
1/4 cup barley
1/4 cup split or frozen peas
2 medium carrots, chpped
1/2 cup small pasta shells

1. Saute onion and garlic in olive oil for 7 minutes, add spices and saute 3 more minutes. Add spinach and sauteé a minute or so.

2. Pour in broth, tomatoes, beans, barley, and peas. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes or until barley (and split peas) are tender.

3. Add carrots and pasta, bring back to a simmer for 10 minutes or until pasta is al dente.

You can also add a diced sweet potato or winter squash at the beginning with the onion.

Bagels

This recipe is adapted from the King Arthur recipe. Making bagels is more involved than making a loaf of bread but pretty fun if you have the time and the bagels are awesome.

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon instant yeast
1 tablespoon brown sugar + more for the water bath
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups bread flour


1. Combine the ingredients and knead vigorously, by hand for 10 to 15 minutes, or by serious electric mixer on medium-low speed for about 10 minutes. High-protein bread flour takes a bit more effort and time to develop the gluten. The dough will be quite stiff; if you're using an electric mixer it will thwap the sides of the bowl, and hold its shape (without spreading at all) when you stop the mixer. Cover bowl with a towel and let dough rise till noticeably puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

2. Transfer the dough to a work surface and divide it into ~10 pieces. Working with one piece at a time, shape it into a smooth, round ball. Use your thumb and index finger to poke a hole through the center of each ball, then slowly stretch the hole, rotating the bagel while stretching, until it's a good 2 inches in diameter.  Place each bagel on a parchment-lined baking sheet (cornmeal works too but is more of a mess), and repeat with the remaining pieces of dough. Cover the bagels with plastic wrap, and let them rise for 30 minutes or more until they puff to the size of a nice bagel.

3. While the dough is resting, prepare the water bath by heating 2 - 3 quarts of water, and 3 Tbps brown sugar to a very gentle boil in a large, wide-diameter pan. Preheat oven to 425°F.

4. Transfer the bagels, four at a time if possible, to the simmering water. Increase the heat under the pan to bring the water back up to a gently simmering boil, if necessary. Cook the bagels for 1 minute, flip them over, and cook 1 minute more. Using a skimmer or slotted spoon, remove the bagels from the water and place them back on the baking sheet. If you'd like to dip the bagels in sesame seeds, etc. do that here. Repeat with the remaining bagels.

5. Bake the bagels for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they're as deep brown as you like. Remove the bagels from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Makes ~10 bagels.

Oatmeal Muffins

These 12 muffins will be gone in a flash!

1 1/4 cups oats
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil (or 1/4 c oil and 1/4 c apple sauce)
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 cup wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup frozen berries

1. Mix oats and milk and allow to sit for 10 minutes.
2. Mix egg, oil, sugar.
3. Mix flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Combine oat mixture with oil mixture.  Add chocolate chips.
4. Combine wet with dry ingredients.
5. Fold in berries.
6. Bake at 450 for 20 minutes in a greased (or lined with paper) muffin pan.  Check with a toothpick and add 5 minutes if not done.

Yogurt Pancakes

Delicious and filled with protein.  Nice!  Makes 28 soda-lid-sized pancakes.

2 cups plain Greek yogurt
2 eggs
2 Tb brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup wheat flour
1/3 cup white flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup water

1. Mix together yogurt, eggs, sugar, and vanilla. 
2. Combine flours, baking powder and soda.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet slowly.  Stir in water to get the desired consistency*.

*This is a thick dough, so depending on your preferences, you may be adding more or less water.

Chicken Soup

4 carrots, sliced
1 small onion, diced
2 stalks celery, sliced (you can use the leaves if desired)
2 Tb butter
1 chicken breast, baked in oven
6 cups vegetable or chicken broth
4 oz  (about 1/2 cup) noodles (or barley)

1. Melt butter in large sauce pan, add carrots, onion, and celery.  Allow to soften for 5-7 minutes.
2. Add broth and bring to a boil.  Add noodles (or barley) and cook for amount of time on package.
3. Add any seasoning you desire: bit o' sage, pepper, rosemary, thyme, even oregano!
4. Slice or shred baked chicken* and add to soup. Heat for another minute and enjoy!

*Season your chicken with salt and pepper and bake at about 375 for 20 minutes. This is easily done in your toaster oven.

Sweet Potato Fennel Soup

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 large fennel, sliced (stalks included!)
1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt, to taste
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup white whine (or substitute)
2 sweet potatoes, cubed
4 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)
2 cups water

1. Place oil in large cooking pan, turn heat on medium high, once the oil is heated up add carrots, celery and fennel. Cook until soft, 6 - 8 minutes, adding the salt and pepper while cooking.
2. Add white wine. Allow to alcohol to cook off, about 2 minutes.
3. Add broth, water, and sweet potatoes. Once the soup reaches a boil, switch heat to allow soup to simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Blend half of the soup in a blender (or food processor) then mix it back into the other half.
5. Enjoy! Serves 4.

Toasted Pumpkin/Squash Seeds

'Tis the season! This works for any kind of squash seeds so keep and toast them whenever you use squash.This is Janice's recipe used at the Annual Johnson Pumpkin Carving Contest. You will only wish you had more seeds.

2 cups pumpkin or squash seeds, leaving some stringy pumpkin guts (don’t wash or rinse)
1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil OR melted butter
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp chili powder (optional)

Mix everything in a bowl, spread on a cookie sheet and bake at 325 for 1+ hour, scraping up and shifting seeds around every 15 minutes until toasty.

Pear Butter with Star Anise, Ginger, and Cardamom

A variation on traditional pear butter, this recipe emphasizes and compliments the more fragrant, flowery flavor of pears. Delicious!

8 - 10 lbs ripe pears, cored and chopped (remove any bruised parts, do not peel)
2+ cups sugar
1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 star anise*
1 tsp cardamom
1 tsp nutmeg

1. Process pear chunks in a blender or food processor in small batches to get a smooth pureé. Pour pear pureé into a large, heavy bottom stock pot. Stir in sugar (1/4 cup for every cup of pureé), orange juice concentrate, ginger, star anise, cardamom, and nutmeg. Taste and adjust flavors if necessary.

2. Cook over medium to medium-low heat, stirring often to prevent burning. Reduce heat if mixture spatters a lot. Allow mixture to gently bubble as it thickens. Simmer for 45 minutes - 2 hours. (Pear butter is ready when a small dab on a chilled plate is not runny.) Remove star anise.

3. Ladle pear butter into hot, sterilized jars (a wide-mouthed canning funnel is oh, so helpful) and seal, allowing for 1/4-inch head space between the pear butter and the rims of the jars. Use proper canning procedures if you would like to store jars outside of the fridge. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes (half-pints) or 15 minutes (pints).

* I double the star anise because I love the flavor.

The above recipe is a tweaked, simpler version of this recipe.

Traditional Pear Butter

This it a superb way to make use of an abundance of ripe pears. With these spices it tastes very much like traditional apple butter.

8 - 10 lbs ripe pears
2+ cups sugar
1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp nutmeg

1. Process pear chunks in a blender or food processor in small batches to get a smooth pureé. Pour pear pureé into a large, heavy bottom stock pot. Stir in sugar (1/4 cup for every cup of pureé), orange juice concentrate, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Taste and adjust flavors if necessary.

2. Cook over medium to medium-low heat, stirring often to prevent burning. Reduce heat if mixture spatters a lot. Allow mixture to gently bubble as it thickens. Simmer for 45 minutes - 2 hours. (Pear butter is ready when a small dab on a chilled plate is not runny.)

3. Ladle pear butter into hot, sterilized jars (a wide-mouthed canning funnel is oh, so helpful) and seal, allowing for 1/4-inch head space between the pear butter and the rims of the jars. Use proper canning procedures if you would like to store jars outside of the fridge. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes (half-pints) or 15 minutes (pints).

The above recipe is a tweaked, simpler version of this recipe.

Crock-Pot Lasagna

Take your favorite lasagna recipe and cook in a crock-pot!! Or, you can use this one...

2-3 c. Sauce

**Use sauce that has more liquid in it. If you're using a thicker sauce, add 1/2 cup water to your sauce before layering.**

2 boxes Lasagna noodles

2 c. Cottage cheese

Parmesan cheese

2-3 Zucchini sliced in 1/4 inch slices

Spinach

-Place some sauce on the bottom, then layer uncooked noodles, then cottage cheese, shredded mozzarella and parmesan. Next another noodle layer, then sliced sautéed zucchini, then spinach, then sauce. Next add another noodle layer, cottage cheese and shredded mozzarella and parmesan. Keep layering until you're about 3/4th to the top and finish with sauce, mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

-Cook on high for at least 1 hour, then on low for 3 hours or longer until you're ready to eat.

Enjoy!

Plum Cobbler

Love apple cobbler, what about peach? Then try this variation today!

3/4 cups sugar
7 plums, sliced (~4 cups)
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
1/4 cup milk

1. Mix first four ingredients together and place in an 8 x 8 square pan.
2. Mix the next four ingredients together in a separate bowl. Cut the butter into the dry mix using your hands or a hand mixer so the mixture is crumbly and the butter is in pea-sized pieces.
3. Add the 1/4 cup milk and mix together with a wooden spoon. Drop the batter on top of the plum mixture in the 8 x 8 square pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes*.

*Since plums are in season during the summer, you can consider using the toaster oven for this recipe. It is much more efficient and it doesn't heat up the house. However, consider adding a few extra minutes to the baking time.

Fennel & Sausage Salad

This hearty, tasty salad serves 2.

1 turkey sausage link, sliced
1/2 fennel bulb*, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
2 tsp olive oil
dash salt
dash pepper
2 Tb bleu cheese dressing
2 Tb balsamic vinegar

1. Place olive oil in a pan and saute fennel, onion, salt, and pepper for 6 or so minutes. Add the sausage and continue to cook for 5 more minutes.
2. While that is cooking, mix the bleu cheese dressing and balsamic vinegar together in a small jar or cup to create a creamy dressing.
3. Place spinach in two serving bowls. Top each with half of the fennel/sausage mixture. Drizzle dressing on top and enjoy

*you can use the fennel stalks instead of the bulb

Artisan Bread

I had wanted to make a crunchy-crust-chewy-crumb artisan bread for so long but it always seemed to be beyond me and my kitchen. Then I heard about the no knead recipe that was getting rave reviews. However, I'll be honest, I can't wait 24 hours for a loaf of bread. So when an alternative recipe that took a fraction of the time came out I gave it a try. Here is is with a few tweaks that make it easier, not to mention even better. The crust may not be as crispity-crunchy as the no knead recipe but I have bread by lunch time the same day.

3 cups warm water (about 100º)
1 Tbsp active dry yeast
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp salt
5 - 5 1/2 cups flour

cornmeal or parchment paper for lining the pan

1. In a large bowl (I use a Bosch mixer but you can also do it by hand), mix water, yeast, honey and salt. Let proof for about 5 minutes. Stir in flour and mix/knead for 10 minutes. Cover with a towel. Let dough rise at a warm room temperature until double in size (1 - 3 hours).
2. Turn the dough - scraping out the bowl - onto a work surface that has been sprinkled with flour. Form two long french loaves or three short loaves by kneading slightly and rolling into a snake (they can be a bit lumpy and asymmetric). Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper OR greased and generously sprinkled with cornmeal. Dust the loaves with flour and (optional) slash the top with serrated or very sharp knife three times. Let the loaves rise 40 - 60 minutes in a warm area. In the meantime, fill an oven-safe pan or dish half way with water. Place on the bottom oven rack. Heat oven to 450º degrees (you want the water to get hot enough to make steam and your hot oven will make a nice warm room for the loaves to rise).
3. Place loaves on the middle rack. Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown. Transfer the bread immediately from the cookie sheet to a wire rack to cool.

Dough can be refrigerated in an airtight container for as long as two weeks.

To heat up a loaf (toasty warm for dinner) later on, place loaf directly on oven rack. Start oven heating to 350º, leaving the loaf in for 10 minutes total, including oven-heating time.

Four Loaf Batch
4 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/2 Tbsp active dry yeast
1 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp salt
7 1/2 - 8cups flour