Lady Ford's Blog About Everything!

Lasagna soup I found a recipe titled "lasagna soup", read it, and knew I could make it WAY, WAY, better. This is authentic Italian lasagna soup, not some bastardized American version that has no flavor. If you want the real thing, this is the recipe for you. It will drop jaws, raise noses and get you kisses, I promise! - 7 cups of water - 1 T beef consume (condensed form of beef broth)* - 3 cans organic diced tomatoes(14 oz) - 1 6oz can tomato paste - Half of a large yellow onion - Half a cup of carrots - 10 cloves garlic - 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil - 3 T dried basil - 3 T dried oregano - 1/4 t dried red pepper flakes - salt & pepper to taste - 1 pound lean, organic, ground beef - 1 1/2 cups Portabella mushroom pasta sauce (muir glen) or pasta sauce of choice - 1/2 an eggplant, cut into bite sized pieces - 2 cups dried pasta noodles of choice (spiral shapes look the best) - 1 cup Ricotta cheese ** - grated Pecorino Romano or Moz...

Hearty Italian Chicken Soup with Orzo - 30 oz leftover chicken drippings/chicken stock (see below) - 6 cups water - 2 pounds organic, ground chicken - 1 cup of dried or sun-dried tomatoes (with or without olive oil) - 1 cup dried Orzo - 1, 1 ounce package dried shiitake mushrooms, broken into bite-size pieces (fresh mushrooms perfectly suitable as well, but the texture remains when using these)* - 1 1/2 cups artichoke hearts - 1, 14oz can diced tomatoes - 1 giant elephant clove garlic, or 10 regular cloves - 1 onion, diced - 1 cup carrots, chopped - 4 tablespoons capers - 2 tablespoons dried oregano - 2 tablespoons dried basil - two small pinches dried red pepper flakes - Half a package frozen peas (about 8 ounces) - one zucchini sliced and quartered - 1T Salt and 1 T pepper, more to taste, if needed Makes a large batch, but great for leftovers or even freezing. * I really wanted mushrooms in the soup and this was the only thing I had in the house. After...

Enchilada Stew This recipe, as listed makes a pretty large batch, which I wanted, so we had plenty for leftovers and to share with a friend. You could very easily half the recipe or freeze it for the future. Ingredients: 2 lb lean, organic, grass fed ground beef 2 cans beans (I used 1 can pinto, 1 can kidney b/c it was what I had on hand) 3 cans organic diced tomatoes 3 cans organic tomato sauce 1 can organic tomato paste 4 cups organic beef broth 1 cup quinoa (dried) 1 small red onion, diced * 1 small bell pepper, diced * 1 head garlic, or garlic powder & fresh garlic * 1 zucchini quartered and sliced 1 small can green chilies 1 cup frozen, diced poblano peppers (fresh, of course ok) 5 T chili powder 4 T cumin 6 T garlic powder (omit half or all if using fresh garlic) 4 T onion powder (add more fresh onion if desired) 3 T oregano 2 T salt 1 T pepper 1 t paprika * Ingredients in italics are the basis for my enchilada sauce. I've tripled it here, ...

Oh my gosh, blog, how I've missed you! It's been far, far too long! It seems about time to get back in the swing of things, inspiring, cooking and finding the simpler things in life. With that, I came up with this "amazebowls" recipe! This morning I had a brainchild coming, I could feel it, sense it, smell it in the air. We had fall today, in West Texas in early September, that is too soon. It's still supposed to be in the 80's, not gloomy and certainly not raining all day! But, while sipping my Chai Tea, it came to me...."Stick to your bones, hearty goodness...it's going to be raining all day...football tonight....?!" I couldn't quite pin point it, I skimmed dozens of "shrimp and grits", "chicken stew", "chicken and okra" recipes...Nothing was quite perfect. I also kept coming back to one of the most phenomenal breakfast's I ever had at Brown Sugar Kitchen where I had Shrimp and Grits (I've made t...

I absolutely LOVE these chips from HEB. When I get to the end if the bag, where all the small bits and flavors are, I empty the remainder into a container. The small bites are perfect sprinkled over chili, Mexican casseroles, or even over black beans. Zero wasted food, is a plus, too!