Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup

I like tasty recipes that take shortcuts. This soup uses canned tomato soup, but with all the additions, you would never guess...well at least my husband didn't. :) The original recipe used refrigerated tortellini, but frozen is cheaper so I used that instead. I got a "This is quite tasty!", which means I will make it again. This was actually the first time I had ever used sundried tomatoes. I bought a little bag of them that I found near the canned tomatoes, chopped them up, and still have enough left to make this again.

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup
adapted from mrsschwartzkitchen.blogspot.com 
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cans (10-3/4 ounces each) condensed tomato soup
1 1/2 cups milk
2 cups half-and-half
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes or two TBSPs sundried tomato paste
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsps Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1 19oz pkg frozen tortellini
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese 

1. Sauté garlic with the olive oil in a large stock pot until golden brown. Be sure to keep an eye on it so it doesn't get too brown or burnt.
2. Add tomato soup, milk, half and half, chicken broth, sundried tomato and spices. Bring to a simmer. Once simmering, drop noodles into the soup. Cook according to the package directions.
3. After noodles are cooked, ladle into bowls and top with Parmesan cheese.

Meal Idea - BBQ Chicken Flat Bread Pizza

This is more of a meal idea than an actual recipe because I didn't measure ingredients and you can make it so many different ways. I had some leftover BBQ chicken from this recipe here that I needed to use. I bought a package of flat bread pitas to use as my crust. I squirted a little bbq sauce on the pitas and spread it around. Then I sprinkled on my leftover BBQ chicken, some shredded cheddar, and green onion. I baked them on cookie sheets @425 for 10-15 minutes. The pita got nice a crunchy and I loved how easy it was to make!

Fall Brownies - 2 Ways

I took some brownies to a church Halloween party last Saturday. I wanted something that would appeal to kids and adults, so I decided to make 2 different kinds. Both used a boxed brownie mix. I loved the pumpkin cream cheese ones. The others had some fun toppings, and my kids were big fans of those.

Halloween Brownies
adapted from about.com
1 19.5 to 19.8 oz. brownie mix
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup water
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
1/2 cup candy corn
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate or white chips (or both)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease an 9 x 9 baking dish.
2. Combine brownie mix, oil, water, and eggs in large. Stir until combined.
3. Pour brownie batter into prepared pan. Bake 30 minutes
4. Remove brownies from oven. Sprinkle mini marshmallows, candy corn and chocolate chips over brownies.
5. Return to oven, and bake another 5 minutes. Let brownies cool completely before cutting into squares. 

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Brownies
adapted from about.com
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 heaping TBSPs canned pumpkin puree
3 TBSPs sugar
1 19.5 to 19.8 oz. brownie mix
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup water
2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease an 8 x 8 baking dish.
2. With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, pumpkin and sugar until smooth. Set aside.
3. Combine brownie mix, oil, water, and eggs in large. Stir until combined.
4. Pour brownie batter into prepared pan.
5. Drop spoonfuls of pumpkin cream cheese mixture onto brownie batter. With a knife, swirl cream cheese mixture into brownie batter.

6. Bake 40-45 minutes until just set.

I try to use this platter whenever I can in October!

This is the mix I used.

Mini Pumpkin Muffins

So many fall recipes, so little time! I made these mini pumpkin muffins last week. I wanted to make a quick and easy pumpkin treat. My kids like to eat these for snacks.

Mini Pumpkin Muffins

adapted from shugarysweets.com
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

 1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
3 TBSPs unsalted butter, melted

1. In a mixer, blend butter and sugar until creamy. Add in egg and vanilla, beat until combined. Blend in pumpkin puree. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, allspice and cinnamon.
2. Fill cavities of a greased mini muffin pan about half full (about 1 TBSP). Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 10 minutes. Remove and cool on wire rack.
3. Meanwhile, mix cinnamon and sugar and a small bowl. In a separate bowl, melt butter. Dip each muffin top into the melted butter then into the cinnamon sugar mix. Repeat until all muffins are dipped. Store in an airtight container for up to one week. Or freeze for up to one month.
Makes 24

Slow Cooker Chicken and Gravy

I saw this on Pinterest and it the picture caught my eye. I made the recipe and tried to replicate the plating by serving it over Texas Toast with corn on the side. I really liked it. The hubby said it was a bit bland (he needed more pepper), but my kids ate it, so it passed the test.

 

Slow Cooker Chicken and Gravy

themagicalslowcooker.com
1lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 pkts dry chicken gravy mix (0.87oz ea)
1 can cream of chicken soup (10 3/4oz )
2 cups of water
1/8 tsp black pepper

1. Put the gravy packets, cream of chicken soup, water and pepper in your slow cooker.
2. Whisk until the gravy is as smooth as you can get it.
3. Add the chicken breasts
4. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours
Serve over mashed potatoes or rice.
Makes about 6 servings

Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes

These are the cupcakes I made myself for my birthday. :) I tried a new chocolate cupcake recipe that I really liked. The batter was very thick, but the cupcakes turned out moist. They also had a nice shape after I baked them. It's an interesting recipe because you let the batter sit for at least an hour, so make sure you leave time for that. I refrigerated mine for about 6 hours. I immediately put it into a cupcake tin and baked it. I got the idea for the frosting from a cookbook and just used store bought caramel ice cream topping instead of making my own caramel. I added a tiny sprinkle of coarse sea salt on the top and tada! I loved the end result! My brother and SIL were visiting and the cupcakes got their approval too. :)

Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes
Chocolate Cupcakes
beantownbaker.com
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, cut up
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1. In a heatproof bowl, combine chocolate and cocoa powder.
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, heat the granulated sugar, butter, and water, stirring occasionally, until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Pour the butter mixture over the chocolate and whisk until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth.
3. Whisk the milk, egg, extra yolk, and vanilla into the chocolate mixture until combined.
4. In a bowl, stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until blended. Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture and whisk until smooth.
5. Let the batter sit at room temperature for 1 hour or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
6. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the tops spring back when pressed lightly with a fingertip. Set on a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

Salted Caramel Frosting
adapted from The Cupcake Diaries
1 cup butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp milk
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup caramel ice cream topping plus additional for drizzling (I used Smuckers in the jar)
Coarse sea salt for garnish

1. Add butter, powdered sugar, milk, salt, and 1/2 cup caramel topping to the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on high until light and airy.
2. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes. Drizzle with a little caramel topping. Sprinkle each cupcake with just a dash of coarse sea salt.

Oreo Cupcakes

We are very big Oreo fans, and these cupcakes are pretty amazing. I've made Oreo cupcakes before and had hoped to post them, but they weren't quite what I had wanted. I did a little recipe research and decided to make these yesterday and they are definitely winners. This is a dense cupcake, which I LOVE! I had some double stuf Oreos that I bought accidentally so I ended up using some of those. The original recipe has the crushed Oreos sprinkled on the top, but I mixed mine in the frosting. In the recipe process, it seemed kind of strange to me to cream the butter and add the milk and vanilla instead of the sugar. The butter and milk just don't mix very well together, but you end up beating everything at the end for a few minutes so it doesn't really matter. After they bake, they'll be just below the tops of the papers, but look amazing after you pipe on the frosting,

Oreo Cupcakes

adapted from beantownbaker.com
1 pkg Oreo Cookies (36 cookies)
2 1/4 cups flour, plus 2 TBSP for the Oreo chunks
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 2/3 cup sugar
3 large egg whites, at room temperature

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Insert 24 liners into tins.
2. Twist apart 24 Oreos. Place the wafer with filling on it, filling side up, in the bottom of each paper liner. Cut other wafers in half. Save 24 halves to place in the frosting. Crush the other wafer halves to mix into frosting. Set aside.
3. Cut the remaining 12 Oreo cookies into quarters with a sharp knife. Toss with 2 TBSP flour and set aside.
4. In a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
5. In a large mixing bowl cream the butter until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the milk and vanilla and mix to combine.
6. Add the dry ingredients to butter mixture. Mix until integrated. Stir in sugar. With an electric mixer on low speed, beat for 30 seconds. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg whites. Beat for 2 more minutes. Stir in the quartered cookies.
7. Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full (I use a large scoop that holds 3 TBSPs.) Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes completely in the pan.

Oreo Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 butter at room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
2 tsps vanilla
7 cups powdered sugar
2 TBSPs milk
1/2 cup crushed Oreo wafers

Place the cream cheese in the bowl of your mixer. Beat on medium-high until completely smooth, 3-4 minutes. Add the butter and shortening and continue to cream until fluffy. Add vanilla extract. Add powdered sugar and mix until incorporated, scraping down sides as needed. Beat on medium-high for 2 minutes. Mix in reserved crushed Oreos. Pipe or spread onto cupcakes and top with 1/2 Oreo wafer.

Note to self: After making these for a 2nd time I changed the amount of cookies inside the batter. A 14.3oz. pkg of oreos has 36 cookies. Original recipe called for 45 cookies which I guess is a family size pack? 12 oreos quartered is enough though. *2/6/16 Changed frosting recipe to add shortening. MUCH BETTER.