Zuppa Toscana and Pumpkin Cake with Carmel Sauce | Tasty Tuesday

Nov 17th, 2009No Comments

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In case you haven’t figured it out by this week, we love having soup through the colder months. They are easy, filling and warm you up on a chilly day. The soup recipe this week is a copy of Olive Gardens recipe. It is a little on the spicy side, so its not kid friendly unfortunately so on the nights we have this for dinner I make the kids something for themselves. I usually serve this soup with warm garlic bread sticks.

Recipe: Zuppa Toscana

Ingredients

1 lb. ground Italian sausage 1/2 tsp. crushed red peppers (optional) 1 large diced white onion 2 tsp. garlic puree 10 c. water 5 cubes of chicken bouillon 1 c. heavy cream 1 lb. (3 large) sliced Russet potatoes 1/4 of a bunch of kale

Instructions

Saute Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in a large pot. Drain excess fat, refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients.
In the same pot, saute onions and garlic for approximately 15 minutes or until the onions are soft.
Mix together the chicken bouillon and water, then add it to the onions and garlic. Cook until boiling.
Add potatoes and cook until soft, about a half an hour.
Add heavy cream, sausage and kale and cook until thoroughly heated.

Quick Notes

This is pretty spicy, so if you don’t care for a lot of spice, I would forgo the crushed red peppers.

I thought with Thanksgiving coming up, the pumpkin cake would be a wonderful recipe to share in case any of you are looking for something new to try this year. I don’t care for pumpkin pie myself, but love the flavor of pumpkin. This is a super easy recipe and you may have most of the ingredients in your cupboard with the exception of packed pumpkin. I got this recipe out of the Taste of Home baking book that my mom got me a few years ago for Christmas. If you love to bake, this is a great book filled with lots of yummy recipes! They also have a cookbook and I recently received the 2009 Christmas Cookbook from my grandma. So be looking for some of those recipes to come!

Recipe: Pumpkin Cake with Caramel Sauce

Ingredients

2 c. all-purpose flour 2 c. sugar 2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. ground nutmeg 1/2 tsp. salt 4 eggs 1 can (15 oz) solid-pack pumpkin 1 c. vegetable oil Caramel Sauce 1 1/2 c. packed brown sugar 3 T. all-purpose flour Dash of salt 1 1/4 c. water 2 T. butter 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and salt. In another bowl, beat the eggs, pumpkin and oil until smooth; add to the dry ingredients. Mix until well blended, about 1 minute.
Pour into a greased 9×13 baking pan. Bate at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
For sauce, combine the brown sugar, flour and salt in a saucepan. Stir in water and butter. Bring to a boil over medium heat; boil and stir for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla. Cut cake into squares and serve with warm sauce.