Zuppa Tuscana Soup

I have a confession to make. I have never before in my life eaten Zuppa Tuscana soup before. Apparently Olive Garden makes a pretty mean version of this stuff, but I've never tried it! When I stumbled upon the recipe over at Finding Joy in My Kitchen, I decided that it sounded really good and I'd like to give it a try!I am soooo glad that I did! This soup is phenomenal! I've been looking for a new and different soup recipe, and here it is!

Not only is this soup phenomenal tasting, but it's super easy to make! The flavors of this soup just meld together so well! Hubs told me that he felt it was a little too "leafy" so I think next time I may tone down the spinach a notch, but otherwise this was great!! A+ soup in my book!

Ingredients...

...1/2 lb. Italian sausage

...6 medium potatoes, cubed

...1 medium onion, diced

...4 garlic cloves, minced

...4 c. chicken stock

...2 c. water

...2 c. milk

...1 c. frozen spinach

...6 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

Directions...

In a stockpot, brown sausage with onion until no longer pink. Add in chicken broth, water and potatoes. Let simmer over medium heat until potatoes are tender. Stir in the milk and spinach and continue to let simmer. Mash potatoes slightly. Add in bacon and continue to let simmer until everything is heated through and ready to serve. In total, I let my soup simmer for about an hour from start to finish.

Breakfast Pizza

I love breakfast pizza! It's an illness, really...but I just can't help it...it's love! In college, I worked at a convenience store as an assistant manager, and one of my duties was kitchen duty during the breakfast and lunch times. One of our claims to fame was our pizza...and our breakfast pizza just couldn't be beat! I would sneak a thin slice here and "accidentally" mess up a small section there, just so I could eat some (and if my former boss is reading this right now, there's my confession for ya!).

So I finally decided that it was high time to try and recreate this breakfast pizza on my own. I was very happy with how it turned out, this recipe is a keeper!

Ingredients...

...Pizza Dough to make crust
...scrambled eggs (I used about 4 eggs and some skim milk to whip some up)
...cheese sauce
...ground sausage
...mozzerella cheese
...cheddar cheese

Directions...

Form pizza crust with dough to desired size. Spread cheese sauce over the dough, following with a sprinkling of ground sausage and the scrambled eggs. Top with mozzerella cheese until toppings are covered. Sprinkle a small amount of cheddar cheese on top of the mozzerella cheese. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes.

Note: You can also use crumbled bacon in place of or with the ground sausage.

For more great recipes be sure to check out Mouthwatering Monday, Tempt my Tummy Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday!

Cheesy Sausage Tidbits

Sausage. Cheese. Biscuit. This sounds more like a breakfast food than an appetizer...and I suppose it could go both ways, but a note of warning to those of you planning on turning this appetizer into breakfast...this is in no way healthy! I found this recipe over at Allrecipes and figured that no football loving man would turn away sausage wrapped in biscuit and cheese, so it made the final cut into my Super Bowl spread.

The dough portion of this recipe, as written, is pretty dry. I discovered that there was no way it was going to stick around the sausage being so dry, so I added about a 1/4 cup of water to the dough mixture. I'm letting you know this because the amount of water you want to add is completely up to you. I just added until the dough felt to be a good consistency to form around the sausage. So you'll have to play with it a little bit.

Otherwise, this recipe was great! These little sausage tidbits were quite tasty, and we enjoyed them dipped in some ketchup. I think they'd be mighty divine dipped in some syrup as well! But I'm not so sure how sticky syrup sitting on an appetizer plate in your living room on your couch would go over...

Ingredients...

...1 pkg. sausage links
...1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
...1/2 c. butter
...1 tsp. garlic salt
...1 1/4 c. flour
...water

Directions...

Cook sausages according to package directions. When cool, cut each link into thirds. In a large bowl, combine the cheese, butter, garlic salt and flour until a dough forms. Add water until the dough has reached a consistency appropriate for wrapping around the sausage bits. Roll each sausage piece into a small chunk of dough, forming a ball. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes.

Creamy Sausage Dip

This is a surefire crowd pleaser. Men and women alike will be gobbling up this dip faster than you can blink an eye. I don't know why it tastes so good. One look at the ingredients list, and I thought to myself, "what?!? This can't be good!" But it is. I recently took it to a family function to test out before the big game, and I was thanked...yes thanked...for bringing it. Simply because it was so good. Not because they had ever had it before and it was a favorite. Just because it. is. that. good.

I found this recipe over at A Year of Slowcooking, where Stephanie lovingly refers to this dip as Mommy Crack. I've tried recipes that are loosely similar to this one, but never with these ingredients, so I was eager to give it a go. Plus, the tag of "Mommy Crack" just had me interested...

Ingredients...

(no picture, sorry!)

...1 (8 oz.) block cream cheese

...1 lb. ground sausage, browned and drained

...1 can tomatoes and green chiles, drained

...Tortilla Chips

Directions...

Plop it all into a slow cooker (if you have a mini slow cooker, that is the perfect size!) and cook until melted and heated through. Serve with tortilla chips.

To see more great recipes, check out Crockpot Wednesday over at Dining with Debbie!