Tag: cream cheese

Creamy Italian Sausage and Tortellini Soup

 

The holidays sure do look different this year! Most of you know that gathering with my family has always been a cherished time for me. That time holds memories like no other; gathered with the people who know me best and love me anyway.

I admit I may have had a tiny meltdown today. I mean, Thanksgiving was one thing, but Christmas is another thing altogether! However, I have so many things to be thankful for this season that I will not let a little distance spoil my season.

Typically, I would be running around. I would be searching for the perfect gifts. I would go a little overboard and spend way too much money. This year, I will make homemade gifts, spend more time reflecting on all of the good things in my life and the incredible things that await me in 2021, like my very first grandchild!

Today I share a new recipe that I made for Savannah while she was home during Thanksgiving. This soup is delicious and perfect for a cold night. It comes together fast, so it’s easy to put on the table after a busy day of work, shopping, or making homemade gifts.

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Creamy Italian Sausage and Tortellini Soup

Author Amye Melton

Ingredients

  • 1 pound Sweet Italian Sausage crumbled, cooked and drained
  • 4-5 cups Vegetable broth
  • 2 14-ounce cans diced tomatoes undrained
  • 1 cube Vegetable bouillon cube
  • 2 cloves garlic grated with microplane grater
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 8-ounce cream cheese cubed
  • 18 ounces cheese tortellini
  • 3 handfuls fresh baby spinach

Instructions

  • Add browned and drained sausage to a slow cooker.
  • Add broth, tomatoes, bouillon cube, garlic, oregano, and cream cheese.
  • Cook on low, stirring occasionally, until the cream cheese has melted.
  • Add tortellini and spinach. Give it a stir and cook about 30 minutes, or until tortellini is tender and spinach has wilted.
  • Serve with garlic bread, if desired.

Low-Carb Biscuits and Gravy (Keto, GF)

Where did the phrase “fat and happy” come from? From where I stand, I can tell you that it’s not true. I know that I am not alone in saying I have spent this pandemic baking, cooking, and eating anything my heart desired. Quite frankly, I feel miserable!

Last week I cleaned out the cabinets and the refrigerator! I am taking control of this madness! Of course, I turned to the way of eating that I can rely on best, and that is low-carb.

Growing up in the south, I have had my share of homemade biscuits and gravy. That has always been one of those things I want my mom to make when I go home. Biscuits and gravy are one of those comfort foods that makes all with the world right again.

This recipe comes from the very first Keto cookbook I ever bought, Simply Keto by Suzanne Ryan.  She did a jam-up job creating this recipe!  These Keto Gravy and Biscuits are one of my favorite “good for me” breakfasts! The biscuits alone are nothing to write home about but topped with this tasty gravy, they are incredible. I have never had anyone turn down these biscuits and gravy, health-conscious or not.

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Low-Carb Gravy

Course Breakfast
Servings 2
Author Amye Melton

Ingredients

  • 4 ounces breakfast sausage
  • 3 ounces cream cheese softened
  • 1/3 cup half-and-half
  • Salt and black pepper
  • 1 batch 60-Second Mug Biscuits recipe follows

Instructions

  • In a small skillet over medium heat, brown the sausage, breaking up as it cooks.
  • When the sausage has browned, add the cream cheese and stir until blended.
  • Add the half-and-half and mix well.
  • Allow the gravy to reduce and thicken slightly over medium heat then remove from heat.
  • Season with salt and lots of black poepper.
  • Serve over biscuit.

Notes

Nutritional Info:
Calories: 518
Fat:  46 g.
Net Carbs:  6 g.
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60-Second Mug Biscuits

Course Breakfast
Servings 2
Author Amye Melton

Ingredients

  • 1 large egg
  • 3 tablespoons blanched almond flour
  • 1 tablespoon coconut flour
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter softened
  • 1 teaspoon avocado oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • Pinch of salt

Instructions

  • Place all the ingredients in a microwave-safe mug and mix with a fork until smooth. Use the back of a spoon to smooth the top.
  • Microwave for 1 minute (you may need to adjust the cook time based on your microwave).
  • Carefully remove the mug from microwave (it will be hot), cover with a plate, and turn upside down to allow the biscuit to slide from the mug onto the plate.
  • Set the muffin on its die and cut into 4 even slices.

Notes

Nutrition: 
Calories:  182
Fat:  16.5 g.
Net Carbs:  2 g.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

My mother recently stayed with me for over a month due to the coronavirus. Initially, I was a bit concerned because we have not lived together for quite a while. Bringing someone into your home for an extended visit can be stressful, even if it is your mother. However, my time with mama went great.

During her visit, she often said that she would never be able to repay me for what I was doing for her. What she does not realize is that anything I have done for her, ever, will never repay all she has ever done for me! She made many sacrifices over the years to give me the best of everything. So for that mama, the debt is mine to pay.

Mother’s Day may be a little different this year. We will not be waiting in lines at restaurants to treat mom to that special meal. Our families will most likely not be gathering at her house. Shopping for her may even be different. In some circumstances, you may not be able to see or talk to your mother. Although Covid-19 may have changed things, it can’t stop us from celebrating the mothers in our lives.

For those of you living with or near mom, here’s a super easy and delicious cake that even the kids can make. Depending on their age, they may need a little help from dad.

This Chocolate Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting is the perfect way to show mom how much you love her.

If you want to decorate your cake as I did here are a few suggestions.  It was a little tricky until I got the hang of it.  I did have the advantage of taking  a picture of the good side. I filled a piping bag, with no tip, with the cream cheese frosting and snipped off the end. My suggestions are to start on the outside of the cake working toward the center. I found that if I kept the piping bag away from the cake a bit and just “draped” the icing in place that it worked best. If you have extra frosting, pipe it into the center.

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Chocolate Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Course Dessert
Author Amye Melton

Ingredients

  • 1 (15.25-ounce) package Devil's food cake mix
  • 1 (3.9-ounce) box chocolate instant pudding mix
  • 3/4 cup sour cream
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 3 large eggs room temperature
  • 1/2 cup cold water
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350℉.
  • Spray a 10-inch bundt cake pan well with Baker's Joy, set aside.
  • In a bowl, add the cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, mayonnaise, eggs, water and oil. Mix using a mixer or whisk until the mixture comes together and there is no dry mix left in the bowl.
  • Add the chocolate chips and fold into the batter using a spatula.
  • Pour batter into the prepared pan. Tap the pan on the counter a few times.
  • Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a wooden skewer comes out clean.
  • Cool in pan, on baking rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely before icing the cake.
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Cream Cheese Frosting

Course Dessert
Author Amye Melton

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces cream cheese softened
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter softened
  • 2 cups powdered sugar sifted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Beat the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until combined, but do not overbeat.
  • Add the vanilla extract and powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
  • To ice the bundt cake, fill a piping bag with no tip. Pipe from the outside of the cake working your way up and over the top and toward the center.

Lemon Oreo Cheesecake aka The Best Cheesecake EVER!!

 

Hey, y’all! I would like to thank my guest, Loretta, for writing about this scrumptious cheesecake. Loretta and I have been friends for years and have seen each other though the good and the bad. I’m thankful to have friends like this, and I hope you enjoy her post! Thanks again, Loretta!

TIME – I used to think I never had enough of it. Now, I have more than I ever thought I would. With the Coronavirus keeping us home and the fact that I just got laid off from my job, TIME is precisely what I’ve got. If you’re like me, we all have lofty goals of EVERYTHING we have ever dreamed of doing if only we had more TIME. Well, I’m happy to say that cooking and baking just made my list!

Hi, my name is Loretta. Amye and I have been friends since middle school, and with a little extra time on my hands, she asked me to be a guest on NJSD.

On a recent visit to her house, I tasted one of the best cheesecakes! It was light and fluffy and delicious, and Amye gave me the recipe. Typically, I would have thought baking a homemade cheesecake to be a lot of work. I would have added the recipe to my collection, and I would have never taken the TIME to make it – but guess what – I now have the TIME, so I did! It turned out fantastic!

I added some whipped cream around the outside of the crust and sprinkled a little bit of lemon zest over the top. You could also use any leftover cookies and crumble on top as well.

So, if you’re looking for something to do, I say, go through that box of recipes you’ve collected (I know you have them), dust off those cookbooks that are sitting on your shelf, or pick any of these fabulous recipes that Amye shares on NJSD. You might be surprised, like me, to discover that cooking and baking can be fun! Make TIME for it.

My new motto – “Cheesecake for breakfast” – you bet!

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Lemon Oreo Cheesecake aka The Best Cheesecake EVER!!

Course Dessert
Author Amye Melton

Equipment

  • springform pan

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups crushed lemon Oreos (about 25)
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons salted butter melted
  • 5 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese softened
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 4 large eggs
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
  • 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
  • Lemon Curd

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350℉.
  • Wrap the outside of a 9-inch springform pan with a double layer of foil. Have a roaster ready for water.
  • Stir together crushed cookies and melted butter. Press into bottom and 2-inches up sides of springform pan. Bake 7-8 minutes. Cool on wire rack until ready to use. Reduce oven temperature to 325℉.
  • Beat cream cheese on medium speed for about 5 minutes. Gradually add sugar and flour, beating until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time. Add yolks, one at a time. Stir in zest, juice, and heavy cream.
  • Pour into crust and place pan in the roaster. Gently pour water in roaster until water reaches halfway up springform pan.
  • Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes, or until center is almost set but still slightly wobbly.
  • Turn off the oven and let cheesecake stand in the oven with the door partially open for one hour.
  • Remove from oven to a wire rack if it is still warm.
  • When completely cooled, remove foil from around the bottow and sides of the pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Notes

F

Buffalo Ranch Stuffed Chicken

Do you ever get in a rut with food? It seems I have a handful of favorites that I cook over and over again. They are simple, delicious, and never let me down. However, I go through phases when I want something new and different. Times when I get tired of the same ol’ same ol’! Are you with me? I can ask Greg for suggestions, but ultimately, it’s always up to me to decide what we are having.

I have had this recipe on the back burner for a while but just recently tried it. Often, it’s not that a new recipe requires more time, effort, or ingredients. It is just something that requires you to actually follow a recipe rather than throwing a few things together.

We are all about anything buffaloed at this house. This Buffalo Ranch Stuffed Chicken has incredible flavor! It was also so simple that it is now a regular in my rotation of dinner recipes. From a blog that I recently discovered, thatlowcarblife.com, this recipe is an all- around winner!

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Buffalo Ranch Stuffed Chicken

Course Keto, Main Course
Servings 4
Author Amye Melton

Ingredients

  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts about 6 ounces each
  • 4 ounces cream cheese room temperature
  • 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
  • 1 packet Ranch dressing mix
  • 1/2 cup buffalo sauce
  • Ranch or blue cheese dressing for serving

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375℉. Spay a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
  • Mix the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and Ranch dressing mix, set aside.
  • Place the chicken breasts on a cutting board and use a sharp knife to cut a pocket into the side of each breast, being careful not to cut through.
  • Divide cream cheese mixture among the chicken breasts and evenly stuff inside the pocket.
  • Place the chicken in the prepared baking sheet and brush heavily with buffalo sauce.
  • Bake for 25 minutes, brushing with additional sauce after 10 minutes.
  • Before serving, drizzle with additonal buffalo sauce and dressing of your choice.

Notes

Blue cheese crumbled may be used instead of cheddar cheese.  
Nutritional Info:  Net Carbs:  4g; Fat:  20g; Protein:  42g; Calories:  374