Italian Anise Cookies

I love anise cookies, outside of the chocolate chip (I live in Whitman, the home of the chocolate chip cookie, of course chocolate chip will be my favorite.) anise has to be my second favorite cookie of all time. I never knew how easy it was to make these cookies. I readily have these ingredients in my cabinets at any given time. Once you buy the anise extract you could make these cookies on a whim. Anise extract is not hard to find. It is available at your local grocery store usually with the spices. If you live in my neck of the woods go to Ocean State Job Lot. The price difference between OSJL and Stop and Shop, like $4! I bought anise extract and almond extract for the price of one anise extract at Stop and Shop. Granted it was pure anise for around $7 but you really wont tell the difference.

Italian Anise Cookies

For the cookies:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons anise extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 -3 tablespoons milk

For the icing:

2 cups confectioners' sugar

3 tablespoons milk

1/8 teaspoon anise extract

food coloring (optional)

decorative candy sprinkles (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

For cookies: cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add anise extract. Blend flour and baking powder. Start by adding about 1/3 of these dry ingredients to the butter/sugar in your mixer, then add 1 T. milk. Add another third of the flour and another 1 T. milk. Finally, mix in enough of the remaining flour until your dough is like a brownie batter (it should be softer than a drop cookie dough). Use a 1 T. cookie scooper to make simple round drop cookies - use wet fingers to pat any rough edges OR for an Easter-Egg look, roll 1 T. dough into an elongated ball. Bake cookies 10-12 minutes (they won't be brown but the insides will be soft and cake-like).

For icing: mix sugar, milk and extract to make a sugar glaze. Add food coloring if desired. Make sure the cookies are somewhat cool or the icing will just melt. Hold cookie in your hand and turn upside down so you can dip the top half in the glaze; turn over and immediately top with sprinkles so they will stick. Give the icing sometime to harden up before eating.

Tortellini, basil, and fire roasted tomatoes soup

Sorry I've been MIA for so long. Life got busy, tablet broke, and my daughter started school full time.
Anyway, I have a new easy dinner recipe for you.
Tortellini, basil, and fire roasted tomatoes soup.
Ingredients:
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 clove garlic
1-quart chicken broth
6 oz. fresh or frozen tortellini
14 oz. canned diced fire roasted tomatoes with their liquid
10 oz. spinach, washed and stemmed; coarsely chopped
8 – 10 leaves of basil, coarsely chopped
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Instructions:
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
Add broth and bring to a boil.
Add the tortellini and cook halfway, about 5 minutes for frozen tortellini, and just a minute or two if using fresh.
Add the tomatoes and their liquid, reduce the heat to simmer and cook just until the pasta is tender.
Stir in the spinach and basil and cook until wilted, 1 to 2 minutes.
Serve immediately, sprinkled with the grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

Pasta e Fagioli

Nothing like having a hot soup on a chilly day. And when we are all feeling like we are coming down with something Pasta e Fagioli is the perfect thing to take that chill away. It's comfort in a bowl!

Ingredents
1 pound ground beef
1 small onion; diced 1 cup
1 large carrot; julienned 1 cup
3 stalks celery; chopped 1 cup
2 cloves garlic
2 14.5-oz cans diced tomatoes
1 15-oz can red kidney beans; with liquid
1 15-oz can great northern beans; with liquid
1 15-oz can tomato sauce
1 12-oz can V-8 juice
1/2 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 pound Ditali pasta; (1/2 package)

Brown the ground beef in a large saucepan or pot over medium heat. Drain off most of the fat. Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic; saute for 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients (except pasta), and simmer for 1 hour.

About 50 minutes into simmer time, cook the pasta in 1 1/2 to 2 quarts of boiling water over high heat. Cook for 10 minutes or just until pasta is al dente, or slightly tough. Drain.

Add the pasta to the large pot of soup. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes and serve.

I served it with a bit of freshly grated parmesan. It hit the spot. I'm now sitting with the hubby watching the Bruins game wrapped in several blankets. The lovely warm feel has now worn off. At least it got me through clean up.

My Wicked Easy Alfredo

I love easy meals, I'm not much of a cook. I do hate packaged meals so when there is a need for an easy meal, its got to be at least semi homemade. I like to make the sauce ahead of time and put it in the freezer. Fridays are always so busy with dance class after school that dinner has to be made quickly. I take out the sauce before Morrigan gets off the school bus and it defrosts while we are at dance. I throw on some water when we get back, put in the pasta after the water boils for 9 minutes. I put the sauce in a sauce pan and heat it up. I love those Perdue Short Cuts Italian flavored chicken strips. I heat those up in the microwave. Also, Morrigan loves broccoli so I heat up frozen spears in my Pampered Chef Microwave Steamer (if you don't have one of these, go buy one, now!) In some water for 4 minutes. I bowl the pasta, throw on top the broccoli and the chicken, pour the sauce on top, sprinkle some parmesan cheese and nutmeg and you have yourself a quick and easy dinner that should of taken you a lot more time and effort.
The sauce....
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.)Cream Cheese
1/2 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
Just cut up the cream cheese into cubes and throw into a sauce pan. Cut up butter as well. Add the parmesan, milk, butter, pepper, and garlic powder and heat it on low until all is melted. You got yourself an Alfredo sauce, it's that easy! You can put the sauce in either a plastic container or just in a freezer bag and freeze it to be used later. I also like to freeze them into cubes in a ice cube tray for easy single servings. I eat Alfredo with pasta for lunch sometimes. To change it up, I also heat up some carrots and peas in with the broccoli and leave out the chicken as a quick lunch. 9 minutes to prepare the pasta and I have an awesome lunch. Its as easy as making a box of Mac and cheese.
Give it a try, play round with it. I wouldn't mind seeing what a little parsley and/or cayenne pepper might taste like in this sauce.