Lasagna Soup

In the pot this soup looks like a normal vegetable and broth soup. Once you dish it up on top of the cheeses it turns slightly creamy and absolutely beautiful. There are wonderful layers of flavor in this surprisingly hearty lasgana soup.
The work time for this recipe, like many soups, is not too long but the simmering time means you don't have to prepare it immediately before dinner. The slightly longer list of ingredients might be intimidating but since many of the ingredients are spices they don't create a lot of work.

Lasagna Soup
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Yields: 6 servings

Ingredients:
1 lb Italian sausage
1 tsp olive oil
1 large onion, diced (not pictured)
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
2 T tomato sauce
2 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
2 bay leaves
1 cup uncooked pasta
1 cup spinach, roughly chopped
1/2 tsp basil
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded cheese

Directions:
   1.  In a skillet, cook Italian sausage until no longer pink. Drain fat.
   2.  In a large stock pot, saute onions in olive oil until translucent. Add garlic powder, oregano, Italian seasoning, red peppers flakes and tomato sauce. Cook 2 minutes.
   3.  Add cooked Italian sausage, tomatoes with juice, chicken broth, water and bay leaves. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.
   4.  Add pasta; bring back to a boil on medium heat until pasta is tender, about 7-8 minutes. After five minutes add spinach and basil. Remove bay leaves.
   5.  To serve put 1/4 cup cottage cheese, 1 T Parmesan cheese and 2 T shredded cheese in each bowl. Ladle soup on top. [When we had this as leftovers it worked well to warm up the soup then put the cheeses on top and stir them in.]

Adapted from: Our Simple Life

Cheesy Broccoli Pockets

When my husband heard what we were having for dinner and that there was no meat in it, he was a little skeptical. Thankfully he came around since our daughter and I really enjoyed this. She kept asking for more, which I was happy to comply with since she usually doesn't care for broccoli. That was definitely an unexpected benefit from this recipe-getting her to eat broccoli!
I used homemade pizza dough but using the tube stuff would be fine as well. Even with making the dough this recipe came together really easily. I can definitely see using this recipe for company because it looks more impressive than the work you need to put into it. :) Also, now that I'm thinking about it, maybe making small ones, more of a couple of bites size, would be a fun idea also. Hmmm...

Cheesy Broccoli Pockets
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Yields: 4 pockets

Ingredients:
1/2 cup chopped broccoli and cauliflower (from a bag of frozen CA blend vegetables)
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
3/4 cottage cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded cheese
salt
pepper
pizza dough (not pictured)

Directions:
   1.  Preheat oven to 450.
   2.  Put half of the bag of CA blend vegetables in a microwavable bowl; remove carrots. Microwave broccoli and cauliflower for 45 seconds. Place in food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Return to bowl.
   3.  Add green pepper, cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese, shredded cheese, salt and pepper and stir together.
   4.  Roll pizza dough into a rectangle; divide into four portions. Spread 1/4 of the broccoli mixture on one half of each portion. Fold the other half over mixture; pinch edges to seal.
   5.  Transfer pockets to a baking sheet; bake 10-12 minutes or until brown.

Adapted from: Good Housekeeping

This is linked to URS.