Trader Joe's Asparagus Risotto with Chicken

One of our family dinner favorites is Trader Joe's Asparagus Risotto with Chicken.  You will find the Asparagus Risotto in the frozen section of the store.

 

Ingredients:

 

Trader Joe's Asparagus Risotto - 1 package

4 Chicken tenders cooked in olive oil and cubed

10 white mushrooms

2 heaping tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese 

 

(I found all the ingredient's at my Trader Joe's in Silverdale WA)

 

 

 

 

Cook the tenders (add a little olive oil in the skillet) and cube.  Slice mushrooms and sauté in the same pan chicken was cooked in. Return the chicken to the pan once the mushrooms are sautéed.  

 

 

Empty the contents of the Trader Joe's Asparagus Risotto in the skillet and add the parmesan cheese, then stir and cook according to the instructions on the package.

 

 

3 servings

 

We serve it with a salad.

Toscana Soup with a few Twists

Mike and I spend a lot of time on the computer together playing games and looking at FB.  Some of the recipes we come across look so yummy we decide to try them... this is one we saw not long ago.  We took the liberty to change it up a bit!!!  Here is our take on Toscana Soup with a few twists.  Most recipes call for heavy cream... I don't keep heavy cream in the house, so we used sour cream instead. We use the combination of sausages half spicy an half sweet Italian sausage. I rarely cook anything without bacon!!!!  In this batch we used spinach.  

Give it a try WE LOVED IT!

Right after adding the milk, flour and spinach

Toscana Soup In the Crock Pot with Mike & Lyneen


1 lb Italian sausage mild (or ½ lb spicy and ½ lb sweet Italian sausages)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 slices of bacon cut into ½ in slices
3 Cloves Garlic minced
6 potatoes cubed
1 large onion diced
32 oz Chicken broth
1 cup Sour Cream
2-tablespoon flour whisked in 
¼ cup of milk 
½ bunch Kale (option half bunch spinach or half bunch chard)

Brown Italian Sausage drain off grease set aside. Cook bacon drain set aside. Sauté onion and garlic in 2 tablespoons of bacon grease. Then put Italian sausage, bacon, onion, garlic and potatoes in the crock-pot and cover with chicken broth, if need add a little water to cover. Cook on low for 5-6 hours or high3-4. Skim excess fat off the top of the soup.

30 minutes before serving whisk flour with milk until lumps are gone, pour into the pot. This will thicken the soup. Add leafy vegetables and cook on high for 30 minutes. Right before serving add the sour cream for a rich creamy soup 

Ready to eat!

My Last Halloween Post!

A treat for my family... last night I was reading the Christmas Family Circle Ideas & Gifts issue. There was a fun food idea. Take flour tortillas fold them in fourths and cut them like you would paper snowflakes. I didn't follow the instructions.

THIS IS WHAT I DID... I laid the tortilla flat on an old cookie sheet, cut out a spooky face, buttered the tortilla, then sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. Baked in the oven for about 5 minutes until golden. Everyone loved them. I don't have many sweets in the house so this was a HIT!

Spooky Boy!

Spooky Cat!

London Times "Worlds Top Food Blog!"

I know this is a bit out of character for my blog.  Most everything I post has to do with crafting in some way.  Food could be considered a craft, it just has perishable components!  

While I was driving to work today listening to the radio and they started talking about a blogger that "The London Times" recently named the world's top food blogger.  There are 50 listed, right here in the Pacific Northwest we have the the WORLD's TOP!!!  Today the "Seattle Times" did a feature story on Molly Wizenberg.  Her blog is ORANGETTE she started blogging in 2004. They tell how she met her husband through her blog.  Molly is also a columnist for Bon Appetit and recently published "A Homemade Life." Hop on over to ORANGETTE I have enjoyed reading the TOP FOOD BLOG IN THE WORLD.  She even has a recipe index HERE!  Molly has some mighty fine looking recipes!