Brunch – Page 2 – The Inspired Parent

Vegetable Soup with Italian Sausage

We have a bit of a love affair with different soup noodles…so many fun shapes & any of them will go perfectly with this super easy & versatile soup. Our daughter chose Garofalo Farfalline Pasta this time around but any of your favorites will be a great addition. For this latest batch of soup, we used Johnsonville Mild Italian Sausage but love using different sausages from our local butcher shop and spicier varieties as well.

Once the soup has been ladled into the bowls, we typically finish things off with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of freshly grated imported Pecorino Romano, which we always have on hand in our home. Yum!

Have fun, play with your seasonings and flavors — soup is one of the easiest meals to change up to suit your mood.

Enjoy & happy cooking!

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Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

This banana bread is moist, flavorful, simple & versatile — it’s been our go-to banana bread recipe for over a decade. Not in the mood for chocolate chips? Toss in some dried cranberries or some toasted walnuts — even a plain slice never disappoints!

It’s easy to double the recipe to make two loaves. If you can find them, we like to use Ghirardelli or Guittard chocolate chips — you can use semi-sweet but we prefer using bittersweet to balance things out a bit. The bread can be wrapped in plastic & kept at room temperature for up to three days — but it never lasts that long at our place!

Enjoy!

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Our Favorite Pumpkin Bread

What we like about this bread is that it has a moist, lighter crumb compared with some denser varieties. The delightfully crispy top does soften up a bit after it is wrapped for storage, as happens with most quick breads, so enjoy a couple of pieces the day you bake these tasty treats. We like to make one loaf with chocolate chips and one without. Another option is adding 1/2 c. of nuts (chopped walnuts are yummy).

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour
2 – 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 – 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground nutmeg (freshly ground, if you have it)
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
3 c. granulated sugar
1 c. unsalted butter, well-softened
3 large eggs, room temperature
One 15 oz. can of pumpkin
½ c. Ghirardelli mini chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350˚F & grease two 9 x5″ loaf pans with butter.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk flour, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder & salt together.
In a larger mixing bowl, cream the sugar, butter & eggs for about 2 minutes, ’til fluffy. Add the pumpkin and blend with a spatula.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet a little at a time, gently folding ’til combined.
Once the batter is combined, pour half of the batter into a one of the prepared pans. Fold the chocolate chips (and/or nuts) into the remaining batter and then pour it into the other pan.
Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a skewer in the center comes out clean.
Cool completely on a wire rack.

Makes 2 loaves