SOCIAL MEDIA

Monday, January 25, 2016

Cold Weekend and a Recipe

Another weekend passed and another day closer to vacation. Oh yes, the countdown is on.

We had a pretty good weekend considering the girls are still getting over RSV. We are down to two neubulizer treatments a day and the girls are sounding so much better. RSV is rough, on both the girls and the parents.

Thursday night I finally made the Sausage and Tortellini soup I posted about here. I had high hopes for this soup. It has two of my favorite things...sausage and pasta.

Here is the recipe and my minor tweaks.

1 1/2 pounds cooked Italian sausage (ground)
3 cups cheese tortellini (I used the "fresh pasta" from the refrigerated section)
4 cups water
1 can evaporated milk
6 chicken boullion cubes
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried parsley
1 tbsp. chives
salt and pepper to taste
parmesan cheese (to top with)

Put all ingredients except tortellini and cheese in medium size sauce pan and bring to a boil. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes. Add tortellini and allow to boil for 8 - 10 minutes (or go by the packaging of your tortellini). Sprinkle with cheese and serve immediately.


I opted to use the ground sausage instead of sausage links and cutting them up. I love the flavor and texture of the ground sausage and Whole Foods makes an amazing mild pork Italian sausage.

Everything smelt heavenly.

I added a bit of pepper towards the end and tasted it to see if it needed any salt. It did not.

The soup looked and smelt delicious. But then we tasted it. It was WAY TO SALTY. But still good. I don't know if it was the 6 chicken bouillon cubes (most likely) or what, but I never added any salt to it. We loved the flavor and I want to try it again with less bouillon cubes (maybe 3 or 4). I ate half a bowl because I really did like the underlying flavor of it, but we just couldn't get pass the saltiness. My husband added water to it for his lunch the next day and he said it was pretty good. Did anyone else make this and experience the same thing as me? Any other ways to fix/tweak this?
 
Friday my mother in law watched the girls, so Rory and I could go to work. After work, I got a much needed pedicure and a little "me" time. The toes are a hot pink sparkle and very Valentines festive. After my toes, I picked up sandwiches for my MIL and I. Then I took over mommy duty and hung out with my girls. Side note: we finally got the girls on two solid naps a day. One one hour nap in the mornings and a two hour nap in the afternoons. So much better!

Sutton was cranky that evening because she is also getting her one year molars on top of being sick. So brutal for my baby girl. So we ordered in pizza and hung out for the evening. Plus it was raining really hard and it was nicer to stay in and cuddle down.

Saturday morning we took the girls to breakfast (first outing in awhile) and they were so happy to get out. Sutton even ate some food that morning. Big win for us.

We ran a few errands after and went to an early Mexican dinner. Rory had a basketball game that evening where Nevada beat UNLV (yes!) and I binged on more Gilmore Girls.

Sunday we had an early breakfast and then Rory flew out to Minneapolis for work. My mom came over and we watched the playoffs, played with the girls, walked Walter and made lasagnas (for dinner that night and for the freezer). It was the best way to end our weekend. Plus Tom Brady and the Patriots lost and that is a huge WIN in my book.
My mini lasagnas (one for dinner and one for lunch)

The girls (or should I say Avery) has been sitting up within seconds of putting her down for bed (not at nap time). It has been rough the last few days. We put her down, give her kisses and within five minutes she is up and playing or crying in bed. We have had to go lay her down and rub her back for 5 - 10 minutes to get her to go to sleep. Does anyone have any other solutions? 

After the girls went to bed, I finished the boring Cardinals/Panthers game and I caught up on some DVR shows. 

I was up bright and early this morning (4:40 am) since it's just me and the girls this week. That means I have to get myself and the the girls ready plus do their neubulizer in the mornings too. Only one more day of morning neubuilizers, then we only have to do it in the evenings til Friday!

Well Miss Avery decided she was ready to get up for the day at 5:00 am, so she had the pleasure of watching mommy get ready and hanging out with me all morning.
I had to give her a bunch of bath toys (behind her) to entertain her while I did my make up and blow dried my hair.

How was your weekend?

14 comments :

  1. I hate when that happens! This looks so so good, maybe it was just the amount of chicken broth??

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    1. That is what I am hoping. I do want to try it again and then give an update. Hopefully it will be with better results.

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  2. It looks so good! I bet you could add some potato to the soup and the salt content would be evened out.

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    1. Oh that is a good thought too. And potato would be an awesome addition to it.

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  3. That's too bad about the soup! I wouldn't done ground sausage over sliced sausage too.

    I love that last picture of Avery just watching you. So cute!

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    1. Thank you. I just wish the soup turned out better. But I do love trying new soup recipes!

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  4. The soup sure looks good, even if it was salty! I might have to try it, I love a hearty soup in the wintertime!

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    1. You should. And if you figure out a way to make it less salty, please pass it on. I want to love this soup!

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  5. So glad to hear your sweet babes are getting better. I'd also imagine a little "me time" is pretty fantastic when you have two little ones at home. Sounds like a winner!

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    1. Me time is something that doesn't happen much, but when it does, it is amazing and I enjoy every last second of it, haha.

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  6. That's the worst when you have such high hopes for a meal, only to be let down. I've had that happen a few times with broccoli cheddar soup. I just can't find a recipe we like.

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    1. I agree. I love broccoli cheddar soup, but the only one I like comes from a restaurant that is local, so no way of getting a recipe from them. Bummer. I do have a cauliflower and cheddar soup that I really love.

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  7. I want to try the recipe the way you made it because we didn't love the tomato based version. It tasted too much like tomato soup...without any real flavor.

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    1. I knew I wouldn't love the tomato version even though I love everything tomato. It just didn't seem like it was enough time to cook out the canned tomato taste. Try this version, but maybe less bullion cube or something to make it less salty. But if you get it right on, let me know because I did like it, but just too salty.

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