Chicken Gnocchi Soup

Chicken Gnocchi Soup

Chicken Gnocchi Soup

2 chicken breasts, diced
200g box of mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried minced onion
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk
3 oz cream cheese
3 cubes frozen spinach
fresh basil, thinly sliced
grated Parmesan cheese

Saute mushrooms in 1 tablespoon coconut oil.
Remove to a bowl.
In same pan, saute chicken in 1 tablespoon coconut oil.
Add garlic and onion and saute one minute.
Add mushrooms back to pot.
Pour in broth and milk and bring to a boil.
Add Gnocci.
Simmer for 10 minutes.
Stir in basil.
Add cream cheese and stir until melted.
Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

Chicken Gnocchi Soup

Chicken Gnocchi Soup

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts, diced

200g box of mushrooms, sliced

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon dried minced onion

3 cups chicken broth

1 cup milk

3 oz cream cheese

3 cubes spinach

fresh basil

grated parmesan

Instructions

Saute mushrooms in 1 tablespoon coconut oil.

Remove to a bowl.

In same pan, saute chicken in 1 tablespoon coconut oil.

Add garlic and onion and saute one minute.

Add mushrooms back to pot.

Pour in broth and milk and bring to a boil.

Add Gnocchi.

Simmer for 10 minutes.

Stir in basil.

Add cream cheese and stir until melted.

Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

http://cookingwith.sharonspringfield.com/blog/chicken-gnocchi-soup/

Spinach Artichoke Dip – Olive Garden Recipe

Olive Garden’s Spinach & Artichoke Dip Recipe

1 14-oz can artichoke hearts, drained and sliced
1 lb cream cheese, room temperature
8 oz mascarpone cheese, room temperature
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour, sifted
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 Tbsp fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
5 green onions, chopped
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
1 6-oz pack fresh spinach, chopped
8 slices crusty Italian bread
Extra virgin olive oil (to drizzle)

Preheat oven to 325ºF

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, except bread and extra virgin olive oil.  Coat a large non-stick baking pan with pan spray; fill pan with mixture.

Bake at 325ºF for about 25 minutes or until bubbling and center is hot.

Drizzle both sides of bread with extra virgin olive oil.  Grill bread on both sides. Sprinkle top of heated dip with Parmesan cheese.  Serve hot with grilled bread.

Olive Garden's Spinach Artichoke Dip

Spinach Artichoke Dip – Olive Garden Recipe

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Yield: 4 servings

Spinach Artichoke Dip – Olive Garden Recipe

Ingredients

1 14-oz can artichoke hearts, drained and sliced

1 lb cream cheese, room temperature

8 oz mascarpone cheese, room temperature

2 Tbsp all-purpose flour, sifted

1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1/4 tsp fresh thyme leaves

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1 Tbsp fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

5 green onions, chopped

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

1 6-oz pack fresh spinach, chopped

8 slices crusty Italian bread

Extra virgin olive oil (to drizzle)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325ºF

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, except bread and extra virgin olive oil.

Coat a large non-stick baking pan with pan spray; fill pan with mixture.

Bake at 325ºF for about 25 minutes or until bubbling and center is hot.

Drizzle both sides of bread with extra virgin olive oil.

Grill bread on both sides.

Sprinkle top of heated dip with parmesan cheese.

Serve hot with grilled bread.

http://cookingwith.sharonspringfield.com/blog/spinach-artichoke-dip-olive-garden-recipe/

Banana Bread

Banana Bread is a family favorite and always reminds me of my childhood.  My daddy grew bananas in our back yard, so we often had a huge surplus of bananas to use up.  My mom would wait until the bananas were nice and spotty then whip up a few loaves of Banana Bread.

This Banana Bread Recipe makes 2 loaves.  Banana Bread freezes well, so you can eat one of these loaves now, then freeze the other one for later.  Just put the banana bread in a ziplock bag, squeeze out the air, and stick it in the freezer.  When you are ready, just take out the frozen banana bread and leave it sitting out on your counter for an hour or so, in the bag.

You’ll notice that in this recipe, I use Coconut Oil.  If you don’t have it on hand, you can substitute whatever cooking oil you have on hand. (Canola, sunflower, corn, vegetable)  But I would encourage you to give coconut oil a try, because it really gives the banana bread a great tropical flavor that you will love!  Plus, it’s better for you.  I got organic, cold pressed, extra virgin coconut oil from Costco.  When it’s cool, it will be solidified, so I had to microwave it to make it a liquid in order to pour and measure it properly.

 

Banana Bread

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour, 5 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Yield: 2 Loaves

Banana Bread

This banana bread recipe is the best I've ever had. The entire house smelled amazing while this banana bread was baking, and for hours afterward. This recipe is a keeper!

Ingredients

3 cups self rising flour

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

3 eggs

3 large bananas, mashed

1 cup coconut oil, melted

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 tablespoons milk

Instructions

Prepare 2 loaf pans - line bottoms with baking paper, cut to size, then brush sides of pans with coconut oil.

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients.

In another bowl, mix the eggs, milk, bananas, coconut oil and vanilla.

Stir wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Evenly divide batter between the two loaf pans.

Spread batter so it's smooth on top.

Bake at 350 degrees F / 175 degrees C for 65 minutes.

Cool in pans for 30 minutes then remove banana bread from the pans.

Cool completely before storing.

http://cookingwith.sharonspringfield.com/blog/banana-bread/

banana_bread

Allow the banana bread to cool before attempting to slice it.  It will be difficult to wait, because this smells so good!

Banana Bread

If you want to try something different, spread Nutella or Peanut Butter on a slice of banana bread.  It’s SOOO GOOD!!!  It’s like dessert heaven!

We usually eat banana bread with breakfast or an afternoon snack.  I hope you enjoy this recipe for Banana Bread!

Homemade Turkey Breakfast Sausages

Homemade Turkey Breakfast Sausages

When we moved from Florida to Australia, I quickly found that there are many grocery items that could not be purchased here.  One of those was breakfast sausages.  What they call sausages here are more like hot dogs.  Not exactly appetizing for breakfast.

That’s why I came up with this recipe.  It took several tries before I got the seasonings right, but this is as close as I could get to the turkey sausages we used to buy in America.

Homemade Turkey Sausage

This recipe makes a lot, and can be cooked and frozen.  When ready to serve, just microwave the number of sausages you want for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

These homemade turkey sausages are healthy and since you make it at home with your fresh ingredients, you can feel good about eating them.  No preservatives or mystery ingredients. 🙂

Minced_Turkey

Minced Turkey

Sausage_Mixture

Sausage Mixture – Minced Turkey and Sausage Spice Blend

Homemade Turkey Breakfast Sausages

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 32 sausages

Homemade Turkey Breakfast Sausages

Homemade Turkey Sausages

Ingredients

4 teaspoons ground sage

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoons black pepper

1 teaspoon white pepper

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon marjoram

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon rosemary

3 dashes ground cloves

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 pounds ground turkey

Instructions

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.

Form into patties, links or place in muffin tins - half full.

Bake 10 minutes at 400 degrees F.

http://cookingwith.sharonspringfield.com/blog/homemade-turkey-breakfast-sausages/

This goes well with my Home Fried Potatoes recipe.

Home Fried Potatoes

Home Fried Potatoes – Breakfast Homefries

Homefries

A big breakfast with these delicious Homefries will start your day off right!

How do you make Homefries?

They are surprisingly easy and quick, if you plan ahead.

Make up some baked potatoes the night before, and cool them overnight in the fridge.  In the morning, slice the potatoes up and brown them up in a frying pan on the stove top.

Use your favorite seasonings to flavor the home fries.  Our family loves Everglades Seasoning.  Just use your favorite seasoned salt spice blend, and you’re sure to love these delicious breakfast home fried potatoes!

Dicing the Potatoes for Homefries

Dicing up the cooled baked potatoes.

homefries-2

Panfrying the home fried potatoes in seasoned oil & butter.

homefries-3

Browning up the home fried potatoes on the stove.  Almost there…

Home Fried Potatoes

 

Home Fried Potatoes

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Serving Size: 1/2 cup

Home Fried Potatoes

Ingredients

4 potatoes

1 tablespoon cooking oil

1 tablespoon butter

seasoned salt

Instructions

Microwave or bake potatoes until cooked throughout. *You can use leftover baked potatoes for this recipe.

Cool potatoes completely.

Quarter the potatoes slice about 1 cm thick.

Heat oil and butter in a large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat.

Once heated, sprinkle a layer of seasoned salt over the melted butter/oil.

Add the diced potatoes in a single layer.

Cook the potatoes until lightly browned on one side.

Turn and cook on other side until lightly browned.

Serve for breakfast, or as a nice side dish with dinner.

http://cookingwith.sharonspringfield.com/blog/home-fried-potatoes/

These homefried potatoes are also great as a side dish for dinner.  (Great Meat & Potatoes guy food.)

Breakfast Homefries - Homefried Potatoes

Try my homemade turkey sausage recipe, to complete your big breakfast menu!  (Pictured above with below the home fried potatoes.)