Tag: Food

Family, Food

Italian Sausage Soup

thestlouiscooks

Italian Sausage Soup 2

Soup is one of my very favorite foods.  I’m a big fan of broth soups as opposed to cream, but I like them all. Considering this is my first soup recipe included on The St. Louis Cooks, I decided to start with this hearty family favorite.  It is not a hand me down.  This recipe is compliments of yours truly.

It combines some of my all time favorite things to eat…zucchini, tomatoes, and sausage.  Plus my kids enjoy it.  Serve it with salad, sandwiches or solo.

Italian Sausage Soup

  • Servings: 4-5
  • Difficulty: Super Easy
  • Print

Ingredients:

  • 1 Pound of bulk Italian SausageIngredients for Sausage Soup
  • 1 Medium Onion, sliced
  • 1 1/2 Cups of Water
  • 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh Basil or 1 teaspoon of dried Basil
  • 2 Medium Zucchini or yellow Summer Squash, cut into 1/4 inch slices (4 cups)
  • 1 Can of Diced or Stewed Tomatoes, undrained
  • 1 Can of Garbanzo Beans, drained
  • 1 Can of Condensed Beef Broth

Directions:

  1. Cook sausage and onion in a large pot over medium-high heat for 10-12 minutes, breaking up sausage, and until no longer pink; drain.
  2. Stir in remaining ingredients, breaking up tomatoes.  Heat to a boiling; reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer about 10 minutes or until zucchini is tender.
  3. Sprinkle each serving with fresh Parmesan cheese and oyster crackers if desired.

Enjoy!

Drinks, Life in General, St. Louis Small Businesses

Great Perks at The Breve Coffee Company

thestlouiscooks

Coffee Beans

Good Friends and Good Coffee! Two of life’s greatest perks taking place right here in St. Louis!

Tis the season with a cup of joe from my dear friends at The Breve Coffee Company!

Their story is unique. It’s one of passion and hard work. Owner and founder, Kevin Wiesehan, an aeronautical engineer at Boeing Aircraft was transferred to Seattle to work with a supplier back in the early 90’s.  Both Kevin and his wife, Holly (my good friend from high school) lived in Seattle for three years.  Yes, Seattle…the coffee capital of the world! Kevin was working 100 hours a week and soon became a coffee drive thru junkie.  He loved it, and the entire coffee concept. This is where it all began…the idea, the passion, and the dream to one day bring this idea to the Midwest. He did just that.

On March 5, 1995, Kevin opened St. Louis’ first Espresso Bar in downtown St. Louis in the Paul Brown Building.  This was seven years before Starbucks even came to St. Louis!  Later in 1995, they introduced St. Louis to the first Panini press sandwich.  It wasn’t easy building the business, but in time the people kept coming back.  The quality and the passion was there in every cup of coffee because Breve Coffee only uses the finest coffee beans. Those coffee beans are grown in the mountainous regions of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Java, Sumatra, Columbia, Kenya, New Guinea, and other remote areas. Breve Coffee has a unique distinction of quality because of their true small batch roasting and temperature control all done right here in Pevely, MO at their Roastery.

Today, The Breve Coffee Company, has three locations 1) Lobby of the AT&T Center, 2) Lobby of the PNC Building in Clayton, and 3) Lobby of SSM St. Anthony’s Hospital. You can also find their coffees sold in some local stores.  If you are not located in St. Louis, look no further then their awesome website where you will find all their coffees including great Christmas blends perfect for holiday gift giving! Their website includes a wealth of information about all their coffees, how to purchase them, pictures of the locations, menus, hours, and so much more. Check them out at www.brevecoffee.com or contact them directly via this link…https://www.brevecoffee.com/contact.html

Don’t worry if you haven’t experienced Breve Coffee yet, better latte then never!

The St. Louis Cooks love to support and promote small businesses.  I hope that you will too!

Cheers!

Breve Logo

Family, Food, Kids, Snacks

Pretzel Rolo Snacks

thestlouiscooks
Pretzel Rolo M&M's

I’m a huge fan of sweet and salty mixed together.  I love pretzels and I love Rolos!  Unfortunately I can’t take credit for this recipe, but I still wanted to share it with you because it’s so good and easy!  Plus, it’s always a big hit at any party and my kids always help out in the kitchen.

There are tons of different variations of these pretzel Rolo snacks floating around.  My all time favorite ones include the pecans on top, however my third child has a peanut and nut allergy so I do not get to indulge in those anymore.  I decided that there had to be something else I could use as my topper on these awesome snacks. I came across a few different options.  I must admit that these Pretzel Rolo M&M’s are just as good as the Pretzel Rolo Pecans. Plus, my little one can eat M&M’s with out any problems so it was good for all of us!

Ingredients

  • 2 bags of Rolo’s
  • 1 Bag of Pretzel Snaps ( can use regular pretzels but I prefer to use the Snaps)
  • 1 (12.60 oz.) Bag of M&M’s
  • Foil

Directions

  1. Place foil on baking sheets.
  2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  3. Place pretzels on foil until entire sheet is full approximately 1/2 inch in between.Nick making Rolo Pretzels
  4. Open all the Rolos and place in the center of each pretzel. I usually have the kids do this part because they love to pop a few in their mouth.
  5. Place the pretzels with the Rolos on top in the oven for 3 minutes. Remove from oven. Then add one M&M to each one and gently push down to spread the Rolo all over the pretzel.  I also take a few of them and make a pretzel sandwich by adding another pretzel on top instead of an M&M.
  6. Cool the pretzel snacks and then place in the refridgerater so they can set.

The best way to serve them is at room temperature.

Enjoy!

Stage 2
Stage 1