Random Baskets - Italian Wedding Soup, Apple Pork Chops with Stuffing, Carrot Souffle, Four Berry Sherbet

I'm sure you've all experienced that thing where you get to the end of the week and know you have a new basket coming but you still have SO much left from the last basket. Or maybe that's just us....either way, we came up with a fun three course meal to use up a bunch of remaining ingredients from past baskets.

Italian Wedding Soup
Uses: Spinach, carrots


12-15 frozen, pre-cooked meatballs (or you can make your own if you want)
6 cups chicken broth
1 cup spinach - rinsed, packed, and thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups pasta (we used mini fusilli)
1/3 cup diced carrots (we omitted these because we used all the carrots on the souffle)

Cook the meatballs according to the package directions. Cut into quarters.
Heat chicken broth to boiling. Stir in the spinach, pasta, carrots, and meatball quarters. Cook, stirring frequently, at a slow boil for 10 minutes or until pasta is cooked. Serve with cheese sprinkled on top (we did provolone but Parmesan or Romano would be good as well).


Apple Pork Chops with Stuffing
Uses: Apples, celery, onion

4 apples
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1 T cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg

Peel, core, and slice apples. Place in crock pot with brown sugar, water, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Just know that the amounts above are approximations--we just put some in there and didn't really measure. Cook on low heat for a couple hours. (You can also use canned apple pie filling instead.) Place cooked apples in the bottom of a rectangular baking dish.

Prepare and cook stuffing. We used this stuffing recipe, but did a slight modification--reduce butter to 1/2 cup and add 1/2 cup chicken broth in with the butter. You may want to cook for a little less than the recipe says since the stuffing will go back in the oven with the pork chops.

Sear 4-6 pork chops in a hot pan. Place pork chops over cooked apples, then cover pork chops with stuffing. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake another 10 minutes.


Carrot Souffle
Uses: Carrots

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/carrot-souffle-2/detail.aspx


Four Berry Sherbet
Uses: Strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries


~3 1/2 cups fresh or frozen berries
4 T lemon juice
1/2 cup plus 3 T sugar
2 3/4 cup milk

You can use a combination of fresh and frozen berries--just whatever you have. Blend berries and lemon juice in a blender until smooth (you may want to thaw frozen berries first). Strain through a fine-mesh sieve to remove seeds. Stir in sugar and let sit for 1 to 2 hours. Stir in milk. Freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.