Tortellini Soup - A Secret Weapon Recipe!

It's been soooo cold and miserable here in Louisville already. We've even had bits of snow??? OMG. This is supposed to be such a long and harsh winter and it's got us already craving some fab comfort foods. 

This recipe for Tortellini Soup is one of my family's favorites! It's nourishing and delicious and a super easy and inexpensive way to feed a crowd!! It's also sneakily high vegetable and low fat. 

Ingredients:

* 3 cans of chicken broth
* 2 cans of diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano
* 1 can Rotel
* 1 small pack Buitoni refrigerated tortellini
* 1 small can white chicken, drained (optional)

Cans, cans, cans.
Lots of soup labels for the collection box at school! 

Easy cooking:

Put chicken broth, diced tomatoes and Rotel in soup pot. Bring to a boil. Add tortellini and cook according to package directions, until tender. If adding chicken, put the drained chicken in and let it heat for a few minutes. Serve and enjoy!! 

The tortellini will float on top. I kind of scoop up tomatoes to dump on top to keep the pasta submerged a bit while it's cooking.

We always serve it with warm crusty garlic bread!

Modifications:

* The recipe can be multiplied, based on how much you want to make and how big your soup pot is! ;) I usually double it so that we have leftovers to reheat for a few days. A double batch works well with one large (20 oz) package of Buitoni. 

* I usually keep an extra can of chicken broth to add to the leftovers if it's not liquid/soupy enough.

* We like our food kicked up a notch - or twenty! - so I usually use the "hot" Rotel instead of the original.

And that's it! 

Hope you enjoy!! :D

Yes, you CAN Make Quiche!! Recipe time! :D

Don't forget to enter my Social Monograms giveaway to win a personalized leather clutch while you're here!! 

Looks like someone was nibbling while this one was cooling... sorry!! ;)

Once upon a time, long long ago, I thought quiche was something no mortal (read: pretty basic) cook could make. At some point I stumbled upon a recipe that was doable and, with some tweaks over the years, it has turned out pretty great! This is something that always impresses people - you made QUICHE?!?! - and is something that even the kiddos will eat (sort of! haha). 

I have several variations of this recipe that we've used at different times. This is the basic one the even the veggie fans will love! 

Ingredients:

Two 9" deep dish frozen pie shells (thawed)
5 eggs*
1 1/2 cups heaving whipping cream or half and half**
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 cup herb seasoned stuffing mix, crushed up
1 cup grated Swiss cheese 
1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 tsp onion powder***
1/2 tsp salt***
1/4 tsp pepper***

Prep Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine the eggs and cream in a bowl. Whisk/beat with electric mixer until uniform in color. Pour into pitcher if your mixing bowl is difficult to neatly pour from.

Spread the red and green peppers in the bottoms of the pie shells. 

Sprinkle the stuffing mix over the peppers.

Spread the cheeses over the stuffing mix.

Sprinkle the onion powder, salt and pepper over the cheese. 

Place the quiches on a drip pan to catch any messes. Give the egg/cream mixture a good whip and pour until shells are about halfway full. Open oven, pull out rack, set on rack and finish filling pie pans, stopping about 1/4" short of the rim.

Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes, until the top is nicely browned and a knife comes out clean in center. Let cool 15-30 minutes before slicing (I never can wait that long! LOL!).

nom nom nom!!! 

I am always happy that we have two full quiches since I think this just gets better reheated as leftovers! Let me know if you try it and how it goes! 

Bonus tip: kids will eat just about anything if you promise them S'mores afterwards!! LOL! 

*, **  through experimenting, I have found a lower fat way of making this that I use now. Instead of 5 eggs and 1 1/2 cups whipping cream or half and half, I use: 6 eggs, 1 egg white, 2 cups of fat free half and half. I think it tastes just as good and takes a TON of the extra fat out. This is how I always make it for us! :)

*** I personally like things kicked up a notch (or five) with the spices and I usually double all three of the spices if it's for the adults. The kiddos prefer the original version.

Date night! Bruno Mars Concert!

Woot Woot! One of the best parts about living in a bigger city with A+ facilities? Every awesome concert comes through town! Last weekend we had tickets to the Bruno Mars show and got together with some friends to make a night of it!! 

First of all, always, what to wear?? Here's what I went with!

* V neck t-shirt from Victoria's Secret Pink. My favorite! These are perfect!!

* Current Elliott tie dye crop jeans

* Bauble Bar rose gold pimp necklace

* Old Navy sequin crossbody

* Christian Louboutin 140mm Bianca in Hot Pink

And then, next question, what to drink?? Hubs created a signature drink for the pre-party, a Mars martini! 

The extensive ingredients! 

One of the test runs!

I'm not sure what the mixture, etc., involved, but the thing tasted like dessert, kind of like a (cold) hot chocolate/white russian mix? He even froze the candy bars to try to use chunks of them as "ice cubes"! Creative! :)


I made the Bourbon Baked Brie that is one of our favorite, favorite apps (recipe here)! OMG... that thing is delicious. I was so excited to eat it, I totally forgot to take a picture of how pretty it looks right out of the oven. Here's a delicious plate that I reheated the next day! 

nom nom nom nom 

We headed downtown to the YUM Center and I tried to get all the University of Kentucky fans in our group to take a pic with our beloved Louisville Cardinal bird (and throw up the "L" that's our team sign)... kind of a fail. For those who don't know, this rivalry is serious business! LOL!

We ran into a friend who had basically an empty suite to himself so we gathered up our friends and moved to primo seats! Lots of room for dancing, dancing, dancing!! 

View from the suite! Nice!

The crew!

So many selfie FAILS, this one was at least not totally ridiculous! LOL!

Yep... DANCIN'... 

And a few pics of Mr. Mars! Most of my pics were super blurry from dancing! LOL!

Such a FUN night out!! Love this city and LOVE the chance to cut loose!! 

Baked Brie - one of the best recipes EVER!!

Be sure to enter the Blush Beauty June box Giveaway worth $100 while you're here! 

Our recent dinner at Varanese included a Baked Brie appetizer. The thing was delicious, but it left me wanting the best Baked Brie ever - a recipe from our awesome neighbor and friend Cindy! Seriously, this is one of the most delicious things you will ever eat! Perfect to bring to a party or holiday, or to just inhale at home as a family! LOL! 


Bourbon Baked Brie

1 puff pastry thawed
1 lg round Brie cheese
1/2 cup pecan pieces toasted
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp bourbon

Place puff pastry on floured wax paper. Place Brie in middle of pastry. Mix pecans, brown sugar and bourbon. I really have not measure my ingredients kind of guessing but I don't think you can mess this up. Put pecan mixture on top of brie and fold pastry over the top. Beat an egg and add one tsp of water and brush the top of pastry. Oven on 350 on cookie sheet for about 20 to 30 minutes. Just until brown. Let sit for about 15 min before serving. Serve with variety of multi-grain crackers, etc.! ENJOY!! 

Let me know it you make it! Or let me know BEFORE you make it so that I can come by and sneak a few bites! LOL!!