Pasta e Fagioli Soup

1 lb ground beef
1 small onion, diced (1 cup)
3 stalks celery, chopped (1 cup)
1 large carrot, julienned (1 cup)
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 14.5 oz. cans petite diced tomatoes
1 15 oz. can pinto beans (Original recipe uses red kidney beans.  I don't like them personally, but you can use them if you like)
1 15 oz. can great northern beans
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
12 oz V8 juice
1 Tablespoon white or red wine vinegar
1 ½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon thyme
½ pound ditali pasta (little round circles)

Brown the beef, drain. Add onion, carrots, celery & garlic. Saute for 10 min. Add remaining ingredients except pasta and let simmer 1 hour. Cook the pasta until al dente (a little firm) and then add to soup 5-10 min. before serving. Can also add pasta to each individual bowl to preserve leftovers (pasta sucks up all the liquid if sits too long).
Serves about 8.

Homemade Salsa

I got this recipe from my friend, Stacy. It is super delicious! I did change a couple things, and that is the nice thing with salsa. Add a little more or less of the things you want to make it to your taste. (hotter, more/different peppers, etc.)

Ingredients:
1 box of tomatoes from the Layton U-Pick (1 box equals about two 5-gallon buckets filled)
6 bell peppers, half green & half red (take out seeds&cores)
5 onions
8 jalapeños, not seeded (unless you like it super mild then take out seeds)
14 anaheim peppers, not seeded
1 1/3 cups vinegar
1/4 cup lime juice
1 1/6 cups sugar
1/2 cup salt
Any additional seasonings you like: garlic, pepper, cumin, paprika, etc are all good

In a large pot, bring water to a boil.  Cut tops off tomatoes and blanch tomatoes in pot until skins start to split. (about 2-4 min. usually)  (Easy: You can also use an Instant Pot, set to pressure cook at 0 minutes.  Once it comes to temp, and beeps, continue with the same instructions.)  Dump into sink full of cold water & ice cubes. Repeat until all tomatoes are done.  Peel skins off of tomatoes and then drain water in sink, leaving just the skinless tomatoes.  You can also put the tomatoes into a large bowl if you'd rather, allowing the water to drain off as it sits. Take your tomatoes and blend them in a food processor or blender.  When you finish all the tomatoes, put them through a very fine strainer if there's a lot of liquid. You will want to strain off a large amount of the liquid so your salsa isn't too runny.  (If using all Roma tomatoes, you'll strain a lot less liquid or even none at all FYI.)  I probably strain off at least 8 to 10 cups of liquid when I use regular garden tomatoes! Pour your tomatoes into a large stock pot. Set on stove top.

In a food processor, chop up all your peppers and onions as finely as you like. Add them to the tomatoes in the large pot. Add the remaining ingredients to the pot, stir well and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Pour salsa into jars, place lids on and put them into a steam bath. Use a steam canner and place water into the bottom, around half full. Once you have about 2" of steam coming out of your steam canner, start the timer for 20 min for quart jars or 15 min for pint jars. Reduce heat if needed, but make sure you allow a steady stream of 2" or more steam. When time is up, remove jars and let cool. (For me, this makes about 20 quart jars) Enjoy your salsa!

Cheesy Pretzel Rolls

These don't taste so much like a pretzel as they do a cheesy, addicting, roll in a pretzel shape. I will just say that the night I made these, we finished them off so quickly it's a little embarrassing.

Recipe from YourHomeBasedMom.com

• 1 C warm water 
• 1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 2 3/4 C flour, plus more for dusting the work surface
• 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling
• 1 1/2 C sharp cheddar cheese, grated
• 
  

1. Place the warm water in a bowl and sprinkle the yeast on top. Set aside to rest until the mixture bubbles, about 5 minutes.
2. Place the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add in the yeast mixture and mix with a dough hook until the dough is elastic and smooth, about 8 minutes (I didn't let mine mix that long, just a few minutes).
3. Cover and let rest in a warm place until the dough doubles in size, about 30 to 35 minutes.
4. Once the dough has risen, mix in cheese. Divide the dough into 16 pieces and form into long ropes. Form into a pretzel shape and tuck ends underneath. Allow to rise for about 30 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 400 and bake for 12 - 14 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm.

Puffed Pancake

Or German Pancake. Or Hootenanny. Whatever you like to call it, here's a good recipe. We love this. I like it with powdered sugar and a squeeze of fresh lemon- so good!

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup flour

dash of salt

dash of cinnamon

1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Whisk together the eggs, milk, flour, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. While the oven is preheating, melt the butter in a pie pan or 9 inch square pan. Pour the batter into the hot melted buttered pan. Do not stir. Bake 10-12 minutes (or until the pancake is firm and has puffed around the edges).

Serve right away with lemon juice, powdered sugar, maple syrup, or fruit.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

These were so light and yummy that I kept going back for more...and more! Recipe found at Lauren's Latest.

½ cup Butter, Softened
1 cup Granulated Sugar
½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 whole Egg
1 teaspoon Lemon Zest
1 Tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice
¼ teaspoons Salt
¼ teaspoons Baking Powder
⅛ teaspoons Baking Soda
1-½ cup All-purpose Flour
½ cups Powdered Sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored baking sheets with non stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

*If using a non stick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

I've made these at least 3 or 4 times and keep forgetting to post the recipe, mainly because we eat them before I can take a picture. My kids LOVE these and beg for them. I found the recipe at My Baking Addiction.

2 cups flour
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners or spray the wells of the pan with non-stick cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, eggs, milk, and vanilla, mixing until well combined.

4. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the liquid ingredients into the well. Stir until ingredients are just combined - do not over mix the batter. Fold in the chocolate chips.

5. Evenly divide the batter into the prepared muffin pan wells. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

6. Remove muffins to a wire rack and cool for at least 5 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

3-Ingredient Banana Bread

I credit Pinterest for this one. It was a huge success!! We loved it, and I don't think I'll make banana bread any other way now.

1 yellow cake mix
2 eggs
3 large ripe bananas
(I added 1 tsp. vanilla, 1 tsp. cinnamon and 1 c. mini chocolate chips)

Pour into two (sprayed) medium pans and bake at 350 for 35-40 min.