Product Review: Giada De Laurentiis' Classic Minestrone Soup Starter Mix

Has the weather changed where you are?

Here in Southern California the weather is up and down.  Today it is down and raining, and they say we'll have ran for a few days.  Boy, do we need the rain, so it's welcome.

When the weather changes I like to make some simple dishes for packed lunches to take to work.  Soup is one of my favorite midday meals.  

So, the other day I was walking around Target and found this soup starter from Giada De Laurentiis.  I adore her and her food is simple, tasty, and easy to prepare.  So this caught my eye and I picked up the package for the Classic Minestrone Soup.  It comes in a cute little box which includes white beans, pasta, dried vegetables, and herbs.  A lot of times I don't feel that the dried vegetables are substantial enough and I end up adding some of my own.  So I though I'd give this a try.

To make the soup all you have to add of your own ingredients are onion, olive oil, stock, and diced tomatoes.  Not bad!  Pantry items in my house, so I was all set!

So I made made the soup, and was pleasantly surprised that the vegetables were nice and hearty.  They had plumped up really well.  Carrots, cabbage, bell pepper, zucchini, and celery were all included and even recognizable   Great job Giada!  I didn't even need to add a thing.  This soup calls for vegetable broth, but I substituted chicken broth as I like the flavor better.  One of the best things is that the ingredients are straight forward.  This doesn't have all the additives that other packaged soup mixes have.  

The package says that this make 5 1 cup servings.  I'm not sure about you but I eat more than 1 cup of soup as a main course.  Even with the side of crusty bread!  So I would say that there are about 2-3 portions in here.  Not much so you might want to double this if you are cooking for a family. 

The soups gets a thumbs up from me!  It is really tasty.  Just perfect for the rainy weather.  I placed the soup in a nice handy take along container to heat up at work.  A nice thermos would be good as well and you can take this along with you most places.

You can find the soup at Target, or click here.

Try Giada De Laurentiis' Classic Minestrone Soup Starter Mix.  You can't go wrong!

Southern Sundays

Welcome to Southern Sundays!

We are back in full swing just in time for the holidays!

Stop by and add your favorite holiday dish.

I can't wait to see what you all come up with.

Since we haven't had a party in a little while we'll skip straight to the party!

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Enjoy, have fun, cook lots of food, and relish your Southern Sunday!

Filet Mignon with Bearnaise Sauce

Time for some beef!

Steak is my favorite, and I must say that I'm a filet mignon kinda girl.  I love that it's lean, and cooks up soooo tender!

After a week of turkey and chicken I'm ready for some steak.  This dish is a little more involved since it features Bearnaise Sauce to top the steak.  It lends such a wonderful flavor, it's a great addition to the steak, and is worth the effort.  The Bearnaise sauce comes from Martha Stewart.  She sure knows her stuff and her recipes come out perfect!  She's my go-to source when I want the best of the best!

When cooking a filet mignon, the following cooking technique is recommended because of the thickness of the steak.  In order to cook the inside enough and not char the outside a quick sear on the stove top and finishing it up in the oven is the best way.  All you need for the steak is some good old salt and pepper plus a hot skillet.  One that's oven proof.  If your skillet is not oven proof you will need to transfer the steaks to an oven safe pan for cooking.

Turn your oven on to 350 degrees and let it preheat.  Prepare the Bearnaise Sauce (recipe below).  Once completed start on the steak and any side dishes you may like.  Salt and pepper your steak and then sear on each 2-3 minutes.  Place seared steak and skillet in oven and continue to cook about 6 minutes for a medium done steak.  More or less time to your liking.

Remove steak from oven and allow to rest about 5 minutes.  Serve with Bearnaise Sauce poured over the top.  

Enjoy the deliciousness of a fabulous steak!

Bearnaise Sauce

By Martha Stewart

Ingredients

2 tablespoons tarragon vinegar

2 tablespoons dry white wine

1/4 cup very finely chopped shallots

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, more if desired

1 tablespoon finely chopped tarragon leaves

3 large egg yolks

1 tablespoon water

1/2-3/4 cup unsalted butter, very soft ( I've always used 1 1/2 sticks)

coarse salt

pepper, if desired

lemon juice, if desired

Directions

Combine vinegar, wine, shallots, black pepper, and 1 1/2 teaspoons tarragon in a small saucepan.  Cook over medium heat until reduced to 1 tablespoon, 5 to 10 minutes.  Add egg yolks and 1 tablespoon of water to reduced vinegar mixture.  Whisk until thick and pale, about 2 minutes.

Set pan over moderately low heat and continue to whisk at reasonable speed reaching all over bottom and insides of pan, where eggs tend to overcook.  To moderate heat, frequently move pan off burner for a few seconds, then back on.

As they cook, the eggs will become frothy and increase in volume, then thicken.  When the bottom of the pan is visible in the streaks left by the whisk and the eggs are thick and smooth, remove from heat.

By spoonfuls, add soft butter, whisking constantly to incorporate each addition.  As the emulsion forms, add butter in slightly larger amounts, always whisking until fully absorbed.  Continue incorporating butter until sauce has thickened to consistency desired.  Season with salt, remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped tarragon and, if desired, pepper.