Two of my favorite things. Soup and muffins. Start it off with Lemon Poppyseed Muffins and finish it off with Zuppa Tascana Soup. This is a knockoff version of the popular soup from Olive Garden. Can’t get much better than this!
I decided to use my mini muffin pan, just because little muffins are so much cuter. Drizzled with a bit of lemon icing and these were the perfect little treat.
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
For the muffins:
2/3 cup sugar
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 stick melted butter, cooled
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
For the icing:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter or spray 12 regular-size muffin tins or 24 mini-muffin tins. In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with you fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of lemon strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and melted butter together until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients, and with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough-a few lumps are better than overmixing the batter. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold. Cool the muffins completely on the rack before icing them. Mix the icing and lemon juice and drizzle over muffins. Enjoy!
Zuppa Tascana Soup
1 lb Italian Sausage
2 large russet potatoes, sliced in half and than sliced into 1/4 inch thick slices
1 large onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2- 32 ounce cartons chicken broth
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 bunches kale, chopped
freshly grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, if desired
Brown sausage in large soup pot. Remove sausage and set aside. To the pot add chicken broth, potatoes, onion, and garlic and bring to a boil. Simmer until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Add cream and sausage to the pot and warm through. Add kale right before serving. Top with freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Yummm. They all sound tasty. Especially the soup! Entire days spent in the kitchen are some of my favorite.
Wow,
Look at all those great recipes! I love that soup, I always order it at Olive Garden. I am a happy girl with a basket full of bread sticks and that soup!
I love the cupcake box, really fun! Great post!
still snowing, eh? that’s a stinker. sounds like you’re making the most of it. carrot cake with cream cheese icing rocks my world, and i don’t see how a little orange zest in the frosting could hurt. ya do good work, stephanie!
oh, and the office rules.
Great recipes! The soup sounds like something I would love, and with breadsticks… a perfect match!
Your mini-muffins and cupcakes look so cute! Sounds like a the ideal way to spend a snowy day.
Steph, these are wonderful! Talk about a fruitful day…
I’m in love with those muffins. Gotta try them myself too.
Wasn’t the weather yesterday just awful! Ugh! We’re probably not done yet either. I’m like you though, it just makes me want to get in the kitchen (ok, so pretty much everything makes me want to get in the kitchen, but that is beside the point, right? right.) Anyway, those all look great. I’m so glad you got Dorie’s book. I have probably just about every page marked (including those muffins). Yum!
Stephanie – you are really gourmet! All those recipes looked tremendous and the cupcakes packaged up in the box looked so professional, plus the fresh orange cream cheese icing sounds awesome. Yum!
You’ve been cooking up a storm! mmm to those cupcakes and an orange icing yum
What a day! I’m jealous – I’m really wanting to be in the kitchen today, but instead, I’m stuck at work. At least it’s Friday!
Snow ? Love the cupcakes and the soup, but snow in April ?
Here I was whining because we will dip into the 50′s next week
You will love Dorie’s book, everything in it is fantastic!
A blizzard? Really? Wow,I wold spend the day in the kitchen, too.
What what a post–there is a lot packed into it! I love that soup too! I will have to make your recipe! I have been craving carrot cake with cream cheese frosting lately–yours look wonderful! Yum!
Everything sounds good. My sister in law made this soup and said it was really good. I’m going to have to try it.
Those muffins look good. I have been wanting to try the Lemon Poppy Seed combo for a while now. The soup sounds really tasty as well.
I know this comment is about a week late. We love the soup recipe, been making it (or at least close to it) for a few years now..yum. We add bacon in it too (bacon bits from the bag). Not sure if the soup at Olive Garden has them or not, but its really good too!
We tried it and loved it. Here were our results:
http://jbjohnsen.blogspot.com/2008/06/zuppa-toscani.html