Kale, Bikes, Oatmeal, and Pork

Kale

How about a quick 5-ingredient soup today?  Here's my version that tastes remarkably like Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana and is easier and better than the copycat recipe on food.com.

The Ingredients

Brown the sausage in a big pot, add chicken broth, milk and sliced potatoes.  Cook until the potatoes are almost done.  Add the kale and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Yum!

Leftovers Freeze Great!

Bikes

The 13th Annual Cumberland River Challenge bike ride and fund raiser is tomorrow.  We've been a part of the Friends of the Trail group that puts on this ride for many years now.  We have about 120 riders that do either a 62-mile, 31-mile, or 11-mile ride.  All the money we raise goes to maintaining and supporting expansion of the Cumberland River Bicentennial Trail that you see us walking on.  

We'll be down at the park at about 6:00 a.m. getting set up for registration and the breakfast our group puts on.  

Yesterday we went down to the Parks and Rec. Department to fold shirts and stuff the goody bags for the riders.  As you can see, we were working hard.

Midge, Rudy, Tony and Penny
Working Hard!

Oatmeal and Pork

This morning I made my contributions to the breakfast.  First I made Baked Oatmeal (no flour) with Dried Cherries and Organic Blackberries.  Baked Oatmeal is one of our favorite breakfast foods and over the years I've experimented with different fruits and baking pans.  This year I used my muffin tins.  I found a new kind of liners and I just love them.  They don't get all sloppy-looking like the usual paper liners.  They keep their shape and their color through the baking process.

We always have a lot of blackberries in our freezer so that was a definite add-in.  I also love the dried tart Montmorency cherries I pick up at Trader Joe's so I added them in, too.

I've adjusted my recipe for more oatmeal than the recipes on the internet call for.  Other than that, it's just egg, milk, sugar, butter, salt, baking powder and vanilla.

Mix it all up.

Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

One batch done!  Note the liners.

The next item on the agenda was the Pork Sausage Rings.  I've been making this recipe for 30 years now.  It makes a great breakfast meat with common ingredients and it can be made ahead of time.

The Ingredients

 I use my "Apple Master" to peel, core, and slice the apples all in one step.  What a time-saver that little gadget is!

The Apple Master

The best way to mix this up is just to get in there with your hands.  I always have a box of disposable gloves in the kitchen for this purpose or for playing doctor.  EEEEEWWWWWW!!!!!   (I just put that in there to see how many people read this!)  LOL

Mix It Up

One ring just came out of the oven.  I'll let it cool before I take the rest of the pan off.  I'll wrap it up in foil and heat it up in the morning for the breakfast.

Pork Sausage Ring

I'm ready for tomorrow and it's not even 9:00 a.m. yet so I can spend the rest of my day getting ready for Florida.  The guy from Good Sam Emergency Road Service is here now.  Would you believe we have a flat tire on the camper!!!!  Better here than on the road, I guess.