Earlier this month, the hubs and I attend the Mitten Mom’s Blogger Conference and Retreat; him as the photographer and me as a round table facilitator and attendee.

As a part of our awesome goodie bags – filled with yummy food, awesome swag and cute little tchotchkes – we each received a jar of great northern white beans from Randall Beans.  Now, I have to say… I am NOT a bean person – at all.  But the hubs is, so he took on the task of finding a recipe to use the beans in.

After a week or so of searching, he finally came up with something he wanted to make – sausage and white bean soup. He found the recipe on allrecipes.com.

Sausage & White Bean Soup (serves 4)

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3/4 pound sweet or hot Italian sausage, in the casing
• 1 ounce thinly sliced prosciutto ham, minced
• 1 medium onion, in medium dice
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and in medium dice
• 1 medium celery stalk, in medium dice
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1-1/2 (15.8 ounce) cans great Northern or other white beans, not drained
• 2 cups chicken broth (carton or can)

Directions

Heat oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. When pan is hot, add sausages; cook, turning once or twice, until well-browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. (Sausage will not be fully cooked at this point.) Remove from pan. When cool enough to handle, cut into slices 1/4-inch thick.

Add prosciutto, onions, carrots, celery and thyme to the empty skillet; cook, stirring often, until well browned, 8 to 10 minutes. In a small bowl, mash one can of beans with a fork into a chunky puree. Add broth, whole and mashed beans, and sausage; cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, partially covered, to blend flavors, 20 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes; serve.

We (really he) made a couple of adjustments for taste. For instance, I hate onions. So, he didn’t put them in. Also, instead of the sausages in casings, I got ground Italian sausage, because I didn’t know which kind the recipe called for. In hindsight, I really wish I would’ve gotten the actual sausages – or maybe even kielbasa. And the prosciutto? Not even sure we needed it.

All-in-all, it wasn’t a bad tasting soup.  And the beans? Not so bad, either.

I made chicken pot pie for dinner last night. It was so good and so easy to make, I thought I’d share the recipe with you guys.

The recipe isn’t mine. I’m not even sure where I got it from. I think I copied it down from one of my mom’s recipe cards.

Ingredients*

1 cup cooked chicken, cut into bite sized pieces

1 2/3 cups frozen vegetables, thawed

1 (10 ¾ oz) can cream of chicken soup

1 cup Bisquick baking mix

½ cup milk

1 egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F.

In a 9 inch pie pan (non-greased) mix vegetables, chicken and cream of chicken soup together .

In a separate bowl, mix remaining ingredients, pour and spread on top of chicken mixture.

Bake for 30 minutes or until top turns golden brown.

 

 

 

 

*(For a healthier version, you can use low fat Bisquick and milk, as well as low sodium cream of chicken soup.)