Month: January 2022

Borscht

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Soup Ingredients

  • 3 medium beets, peeled and shredded
  • 3 carrots, peeled and shredded
  • 3 medium baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 6 oz. can tomato paste
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1/2 medium head cabbage, cored and shredded
  • 1 8 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 teaspoon white sugar, or to taste
  • topping options: sour cream, mayonnaise, or horseradish cream
  • garnish options: parsley, chives, tarragon, or dill

Horseradish Cream Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons grated fresh horseradish
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • pinch of granulated sugar
  • 1 cup creme fraiche or thick sour cream (I thickened regular sour cream by combining 1 cup of sour cream with half a tablespoon of gelatin, stir and heat until its temperature reaches 140 degrees, cool)

Soup Directions

  1. In a large Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook until tender. Stir in tomato paste and 3/4 cup water until well blended. Add garlic and cook one minute more.
  2. Add 6-8 cups of water (depending on how brothy you want it) to the Dutch over and stir. Add the beets and cook until they are more pink than red. Add the carrots and potatoes and cook about 15 minutes or until tender. Add cabbage and diced tomatoes. Simmer until the cabbage cooks down. Season with salt, pepper and sugar.
  3. Ladle into bowls and serve with your desired toppings and garnishes.

Horseradish Cream Directions

  1. Put the horseradish, lemon juice, salt and sugar in a small bowl and let it sit for 5 minutes. Stir in creme fraiche or sour cream.

I am in love with this Borscht! I have been searching and searching for a Borscht that I really like. I always compare it to the Borscht I had at my friend’s aunt’s house when I was 14 and nothing has ever measured up. But FINALLY, I found a recipe that I really love.

I tried all the different toppings and garnishes and they are all really good. I thought mayo was going to be weird, but I liked it. The horseradish cream was great! Sour cream will probably always be my favorite because it gives me that sense of nostalgia. Dill with the sour cream is probably my favorite.

I chose to make this vegetarian because that is how my friend’s aunt made it, if I am remembering correctly. You can make it with sausage, too.

I read that German riesling goes really well with Borscht, so that is what I got. Out of my options at Giant Eagle, the Von Wilhelm Haus Spatlese got the best review. It was very yummy. Nice and light and paired well.

Hands down; one of my favorite soups. My mom loved it, my boss devoured it, and even my husband loved it and he’s so darn PICKY! lol

Enjoy!

Joy – 1 Peter 1:8-9

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Though you never saw him, you love him. Though you do not see him now, yet you exercise faith in him and are greatly rejoicing with an indescribable glorious joy, as you attain the goal of your faith, your salvation. – 1 Peter 1:8-9

I find the story that has been woven for us in the Bible is just so romantic! The Bible is God’s love letter to us. He loves us. And we cannot see Him, but we believe in Him and love Him back. This story can only be from an amazing, almighty God.

When I am trying to glorify God, I tend to think that I am doing it because I love God and He loves me, not so much that I am doing it for salvation. I feel like when I think of it in the first way, my intentions are a little bit more where they are supposed to be. But yes, the ultimate goal is to be able to live with God forever.

I have learned that God’s number one commandment is to love God with our whole heart and soul and then to love others. Then, everything else kind of falls into place. That seems pretty simple to me and that brings me joy.

I am joyful that God loves me and that I have an awesome God to love back. He is my Father and my best friend – He is the best friend I could ever have. That is a reason to feel joy.

All I have to do is love Him and believe in Him and love my neighbor and I can live forever with Him. That is a reason to feel joy!

I am joyful that His promises are good and true.

Whenever looking at a scripture or passage I like to use SPECK so that I make sure I am understanding it and applying it to my life.

S – Sin to avoid

P – Promise to trust

E – Example to follow

C – Command to obey

K – Knowledge of the Lord

I think this scripture tells me that Jehovah is a loving God – love is His main quality – and He wants our love in return and He wants us to have faith in Him. If we do this, He promises us eternal life. And, yes, this brings me joy. I joyfully worship and serve God.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for your beautiful promise for eternal life. As I work on your quality of joy this month, what could make me happier? Thank you for being an amazing, loving God. I could not ask for a better friend, confidant, Father. I am sorry for the times that I forget about your amazing promises because I am so caught up in this world. Please fill me with Holy Spirit and make me mentally and emotionally stronger so that I will always be rejoicing in You. I never want to lose sight of what You have done for me and all I have to do to be joyful is think of You. Please help me to rejoice in every situation, the good and the bad, because no matter what my situation is here on earth, I still have You and Your love and promises. I thank you for that! You are love and joy and please allow me to glorify You and let others see these qualities in You so they can rejoice in You as well.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Spaghetti with Sausage

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Ok, so this is an original recipe so I’m sorry if I am all over the place. 😉

Ingredients

  • 1 box spaghetti – or whatever your favorite pasta is
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • dried basil
  • butter
  • 1 jar of your favorite sauce or homemade sauce – for this we used “Cleveland’s Own Little Italy Pasta Sauce” (I have a “recipe” for homemade sauce, but that is for another post)
  • a blend of your favorite sausage, 5 links total, sliced – we used Johnsonville Italian sausage: cheese blend and hot
  • 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
  • 1/2 pound mini sweet peppers, seeded and chopped – or you could use bell peppers
  • 1 package sliced brown mushrooms
  • sprinkle of salt
  • sprinkle of pepper
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon italian seasoning
  • cheese for topping – we used mozzarella and goat cheese

Directions

  1. Pour a couple tablespoons of olive oil into a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion, salt, pepper and italian seasoning. Add peppers about 4 minutes after onions. Cook until onions are translucent. Add mushrooms and cook until they start to get dark and shrink up a little bit. Add minced garlic and cook a couple more minutes.
  2. Add sauce and stir. Taste to see if you would like more seasoning. Reduce heat to low and simmer.
  3. Add sausage links to a saute pan. Fill the pan with water until the links are half-way covered. Saute over medium heat until the water level gets low and the sausage is almost cooked through. Keep adding water if you need to. When they are almost cooked through start adding olive oil instead. When finished, remove from pan and slice into bite size pieces.
  4. Add the sliced sausage to the sauce and continue to lightly simmer.
  5. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a sprinkle of salt, a tablespoon or so of olive oil and a tablespoon of dried basil. Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain pasta and return to pot. Coat with butter.
  6. Place pasta in a bowl. Top with mozzarella cheese. Cover with sauce and sausage mixture. Top with goat cheese (or whichever cheese you prefer).

Suggestions

Wine. I love wine. I can’t even eat anything Italian without wine. Ha! With this we had Duckhorn Merlot. (Duckhorn Chardonnay is really scrumptious by the way.)

Serve with garlic toast. We were feeling lazy so we got the freezer stuff for this, but I can post homemade garlic toast later on.

Yes – goat cheese. We are obsessed! It adds a creaminess to it that is pretty awesome! I feel like goat cheese is one of those things you either love or hate, it can be an acquired taste, but oh man was it good in this. 🙂

Yes, we always put basil in with our pasta water. A bunch of it will stick to the pasta. We also butter our noodles before putting the sauce on. We have a butter obsession, too. And we don’t seem to notice any issues with the sauce sticking or not sticking with the butter on there.

My husband claims that if you slightly cut the spicy italian sausage and cook it that way, it makes it taste better. I have no idea if there is any truth to that. LOL!

Also, if you are ever in Cleveland, Mia Bella in Little Italy is the best Italian place to go – make sure you make a reservation first. 😉