Recipe + Vintage Apron: Tortellini Soup

It has been quite a cool, cloudy, dreary day, so I decided some red wine, a colorful vintage apron, and some warm soup would brighten my spirits. I love this tortellini soup recipe, it tastes rich, but has so many vegetables in it, that it is actually quite light. It also makes enough for a weekend of leftovers.

Ingredients:
1/2 pound sweet or spicy crumbled Italian turkey sausage (about three links with casings removed)
3 cloves minced garlic
1 cup shredded carrots
4 tomatoes, seeded, and chopped
2 zucchini, 1 yellow, 1 green
2 cups finely chopped spinach
1 10 oz can tomato sauce
1/2 cup red wine
6 cups beef broth
Handful fresh basil, chopped
Dried oregano to taste
Frozen cheese tortellini
Parmesan cheese for garnish

Crumble sausage into pot, cooking until it is no longer pink. Add garlic, stirring for about a minute. Stir in vegetables, cooking until crisp-tender. Add spinach and cook until wilted, then add wine, tomato sauce, beef broth, oregano, and basil, and bring pot to a boil. Turn the heat down and let simmer for about 30 minutes. Add desired amount of tortellini to each bowl, then pour hot soup over them, letting sit for about 3-5 minutes, or until tortellini is al dente. Garnish with more basil and parmesan cheese. It's great with a glass of the red wine you used in the soup!

-Heather

Recipe + Vintage Doily: Chicken Pesto Quesadillas

Quesadillas are an easy meal to make anytime of the week. This recipe is a simple variation of an old standby, but I absolutely love it. I was able to find some local handmade tomato basil flatbread tortillas at Kowalski's (in the deli section) that really brought the flavor over the top.

Ingredients:
Four tortillas
Jar of pesto or homemade
Freshly shredded cheese (I used a mix of monterey jack and provolone)
Four roma tomatoes, sliced
1/2 pound boneless chicken breasts, diced
Two cloves garlic, minced
Olive oil
Splash of white wine
A few big handfuls of baby spinach or chopped spinach

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat olive oil in a pan, add chicken and cook until almost white, then add
minced garlic, splash of wine, and baby spinach, stirring until spinach is bright green, reduced in size, and chicken is cooked through.

Lay out the tortillas on cookie sheets or a pizza pan, spread a layer of pesto, sliced tomatoes, chicken/spinach mixture, and cheese on half of the tortilla, fold other half over and brush with olive oil. Bake in oven until crispy on edges and cheese is melted, about ten minutes.

-Twill

Recipe + Vintage Apron: Chili

This is my favorite chili, my mom makes it the best, and this is the first time I have tried making it myself. It makes a ton, meaning an almost overflowing crockpot, but I imagine it would freeze well or you can make it for a get-together and then eat it all week long like we did. Delicious with toppings like freshly grated cheddar, sour cream, and tortilla chips, and/or cornbread muffins.

Ingredients:

2T oil
2 shallots, chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 lb beef sirloin, cubed
2 cans diced fire roasted tomatoes
1 can dark beer
1 cup strong coffee
12 oz tomato paste
2 cups beef broth
1 T chipotle chili powder
1 T chili powder
1 T cumin
1 T cocoa powder
1 t coriander
1 t salt
2 cans chili beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 poblano chilies, soaked in water overnight

Directions:

1. Heat oil in pan, add garlic, shallots, meat, and spices, and cook until meat is browned.
2. Seed and chop chilies, reserving soaking water.
3. Add all ingredients to slow cooker along with one cup soaking water and stir to combine.
4. Cook on high for 1 hour, then turn down to low and cook for about 6 hours. Delicious!

 

-Twill

Recipe + Vintage Apron: Red Kale Tortilla Soup

This recipe was passed down from my father, an amazing cook who hails from Mexico. Even though I have been vegetarian for ten years, he still insists that it needs to be made with chicken and chicken stock. So for your meat eaters out there, feel free to follow his advice. I make this soup a lot in the winter, it is my family's version of chicken noodle soup. To me this is comfort food to the max, I had it when I had my wisdom teeth taken out, when I would get a cold as a kid, or just to warm up from the below freezing weather.

My take on my dad's tortilla soup! Enjoy.

Ingredients:
One carton of organic vegetable broth, low sodium
Baby Bella mushrooms about 20 chopped
Half a bunch of red kale
One bunch of celery chopped
Half a bunch of fresh cilantro chopped
3 cans of diced tomatoes (with basil or oregano is great too)
6 limes (fresh is a must, do not use lime juice from a can, yuck!)
Cumin to taste (about 2 tablespoons)
Olive oil
2 Bay Leaves
Garlic (1 or 2 cloves)
A little sea salt to taste

The Fixins'
Corn tortillas
Olive oil
Avocado

Saute the garlic and mushrooms in olive oil for about 8 minutes












then just add the rest of the chopped ingredients and bring to a boil

While the soup is cooking, cut your corn tortillas into strips, brush with olive oil and put on a baking pan. Let bake until crisp for about 12 minutes at 375.

Serve hot with tortilla crisps and avocado chunks.
-Ladybird

Recipe + Vintage Apron: Soft Molasses Men

Right around this time of year before she passed away, my grandma and I had the holiday tradition of making tea rings, sugar, and molasses cookies. This is her gingerbread recipe, it turns out quite cakey and soft and very molassesey. It is perfect with a smudge of vanilla frosting on top. I made them myself this year for the first time and even though they didn't turn out quite as delicious as hers, I was happy to keep the tradition rolling. I am really starting to appreciate old recipes passed along to me, especially when they are written in the loved ones own handwriting. What are your favorite holiday cooking traditions?

-Twill

Soft Molasses Rolled Cookies from the kitchen of Grandma Marlene

Makes 3 dozen cookies

You will need:

1 cup cooking oil
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup molasses
2 tsp vanilla
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 1/2 tsp ginger
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp soda dissolved in 3/4 cup hot water
6 cups flour

Directions:

Beat ingredients through salt in a large bowl until well blended
Stir water and soda  into molasses mixture
Stir 6 cups sifted flour into mixture in 2 cup portions, blending well
Cover dough with wax paper and chill in refrigerator overnight
Flour flat surface and put about a 2 cup portion in the middle--roll out to 1/4 inch thickness
Dip cookie cutters into flour and cut cookies, placing them on a greased cookie sheet with spatula
Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until cookie rises back when touched lightly.
Frost!

Vintage Holiday Apron from Etsy

Recipe + Vintage Apron: Pumpkin Pie French Toast

This recipe was a creation sparked by holiday leftovers and was seriously some of the best french toast I have had in my life. Even better, when a man cooks you breakfast.

 You will need:
1/2 cup uncooked pumpkin pie filling (ours was homemade with fresh roasted pumpkin, but I bet this would still be good with store-bought, you may just have to add more milk)
3 eggs
1 loaf cinnamon challah bread (This bread is SO GOOD and pretty easy to find if you look)
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
Butter for the pan and topping (if desired)
Cinnamon sugar
Maple syrup

1. Place the ingredients through vanilla in a pie tin or shallow dish and whip with a fork until smooth.
2. Slice bread thickly and dredge both sides in pie/egg mixture
3. Heat pan or skillet, melt butter on surface, place bread on pan
4. Flip when golden and toasty, cooking both sides evenly
5. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar while hot and serve with extra butter and maple syrup

-Twill

Aprons from Etsy

Recipe + Vintage Apron: Red Wine Pasta

This recipe is delicious and beautiful-the trick is boiling the pasta in half red wine, half water, so that the noodles soak up the flavor and color of the wine as they cook. You can make a whole package of pasta in the wine/water mixture and freeze the leftovers so you don't waste the wine, and because it is whole wheat pasta, it is a bit heartier, and freezes/thaws well.

Ingredients:
8 oz whole wheat noodles
Half bottle of cheap red wine
Water
Olive oil
2 cloves of minced garlic
2 cups chopped fresh spinach
1 cup fresh mushrooms
A few sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves removed and finely chopped
1/4 cup toasted chopped walnuts
Splash of cream or half and half (optional)
Grated parmesan cheese
Freshly ground pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place walnuts on cookie sheet in a single layer and bake for 8-10 minutes until toasty.

2. In a large pot, bring half bottle of wine and an equal part of water to a boil with a pinch of salt. Add noodles and cook according to package directions. Drain when al dente.
3. Heat olive oil in a pan, add garlic and mushrooms and cook until mushrooms start releasing their liquid.
4. Add spinach, cooking just until bright green and slightly wilted, add rosemary, walnuts, and splash of cream (if using).
5. Toss pasta with sauce until well coated. Top with parmesan and pepper to taste.

I also love that this apron looks like bloomers! How cute. Look for it at the Mighty Swell sale.

-Twill