Lasagna sauce

Let’s make some hearty lasagna sauce today.  

Today it’s a little different than I usually do because I used bulk sausage more than I usually do in a red sauce recipe.

My typical ***meat sauce is usually a  combination of ground beef and pork.

Note:  I used what I had in my pantry today.  It is delicious!

1 -28 oz. red pack crushed tomatoes 

1 -28 oz.. Hunts tomato purée  large 

1 - 28oz. Happy Harvest crushed tomatoes ( Aldi brand)

1 -15 oz. Hunts sauce 

1 - 4 oz. small Happy Harvest tomato paste

3 minced garlic cloves

4 fresh basil leaves

I lb. Bulk ground sweet Italian sausage

1/2 lb.  Bulk ground Hot Italian sausage

1 lb.  Ground Chuck 

To assemble lasagna you will need:

A 13 x9 inch casserole dish

Fresh above sauce 

1-15 oz. Whole milk Ricotta

1-egg beaten

Shredded or sliced mozzarella cheese

Pecorino Romano cheese for top.

I package Barilla no boil lasagna pasta 

Here’s my baked lasagna

Fresh garlic and basil.  3 or 4 minced garlic.  3 large basil leaves.

I fried the ground (bulk) meat in olive oil while breaking it apart.  Added the garlic and then added  the sautéed  ground mixture it my crockpot with fresh basil.  Cooked on high for 2 hours.  Then low for 2hours. Delicious! 

Enjoy!

****Note:  this recipe can be made on top of the stove in a large Dutch oven making sure to stir often so it won’t stick to pan. Cover slightly with a lid.

Minestrone Soup or Zuppa!!!

 Buongiorno!    Good  Morning!

 This Italian Vegetable soup is loaded with veggies and an Italian family favorite. Enjoy!

 Hearty and just the right soup to make on this cold and windy day.. The flavor is amazing and packed with healthy goodness in every bite. A good choice for your family to get 5 veggies or more vegetables in your food plan.

Note:  If you want to make this with some sausage you can easily do it.
Before adding your veggies brown slightly some sausage, cut into slices and add to your ingredients while cooking.

Happy Cooking from my kitchen to yours! 

Stay warm!!!

Loaded with vitamins and anti oxidants..Healthy for sure!

Minestrone Soup or Zuppa

Soup or Zuppa

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 medium carrots, diced

1 celery stalk, diced

2 medium zucchini, diced, seeds removed

1 clove garlic minced

*3 medium potatoes, unpeeled and diced optional

3 cups savoy cabbage sliced thin

1 –15 oz. Can cannellini beans

15 oz. Can diced tomatoes, undrained

2 cans reduced –sodium chicken broth

 3 cups water

½ tsp.crushed dried rosemary or Italian Seasoning

½ tsp. Salt

½ tsp. Pepper
*1/2 box small shaped pasta

Grated Pecorino Romano cheese optional

Heat oil in large stockpot over medium heat.  Add onion, cook. Stirring occasionally, until softened

Add carrots and celery cook, stirring occasionally about 3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients, except cheese.

Cover and bring to a slow boil, reduce heat and simmer gently 1 to 2 hours, Serve with grated cheese if desired.

Hint:  If you find that you would like this minestrone a bit thicker, add 1/2 cup  small pasta 15 minutes before serving..

 



11/12/11
11/12/13

4/27/2022 repost

Savory Clafoutis

Hi and welcome.

I've been working on getting together a few new recipes I  think would be of interest.

This particular recipe I thought would be very easy and a nice change for you.

We tend to make the same recipes over and over and I am guilty of it.  We know what works for our family and I know my hubby and he will try a new recipe and give his opinion.

He enjoyed this very much and I included hot sausage to give it a punch.

You can use ham, bacon or even prosciutto in it.  It all depends on your taste.

This recipe is similar to an Impossible Pie type dish if you are aware of what that is. It makes its own crust. 

Note:  ONLY use 1 cup of cooked ground sausage.  I used more and it was too thick.  I wanted more of a custard texture with some sausage mingled in it.  Mine was a little too meaty..

 Enjoy!

Here's the recipe for the Savory  Clafouti (Very adaptable, could use bacon, ham, sausage & various cheeses)

 I sauteed in olive oil 1 garlic clove, 1/2 onion, with 1 cup of ground hot sausage.. set aside

In a mixing bowl place 1/2 cup flour.  Add 2 beaten eggs, 3/4 cup cream (or milk) (I used milk),1 tablespoon melted butter, salt & pepper. Whisk well. or you can use your blender to blend it well.

After whisking egg milk mixture add 1 cup grated cream cheese@mozzarella blend,(new blend I saw and bought)and
 1 cup grated sharp cheddar & some finely chopped scallions and parsley. ****Note substitute cheese if you like ( gruyere)cheese can be used as well..

 Fold sausage gently into milk/ cheese mixture and pour into a 9 inch pie plate. Bake for approximately 25 minutes at 425 degrees depending on your oven.   Note:  You will notice the center is set and doesn't jiggle. 

Sausage and Italian bread stuffed peppers

Good Day everyone!

I just read a beautiful article about love.  It touched me very much especially today because even though I have had no desire to bake or cook most recently my hubby was a little bit out of the weather because of his recent oral surgery. 

A small gesture of kindness to those who we love is good for the soul. 

 Soft healthy meals.  Baked oatmeal today! French toast yesterday.

Small kind gestures speak mountains about what love is.

In a few days some pasta with either butter and Italian cheese or I’ll run a light amount of sauce to the pasta. Soups for sure.

Being in today playing nurse inspired me to do a little cooking for me as well.  I have lots of ingredients that I should be using and have been in such a slump so today's a good day to make a few meals to freeze.

So we both win!  I’m staying in so I’ll keep busy while he sleeps.

French toast yesterday, baked oatmeal today and this for me because playing nurse makes me hungry!

I don’t have an exact recipe for today’s meal on hand but do have one on the blog.  If you would like the recipe link let me know.  

Stuffed peppers.  Make them anyway you might enjoy them.

Mom's Italian meatless bread stuffing is the best.

 Check out my Italian bread stuffed peppers.  They are delicious!

 My grandfather on my mom's side of the family was from Naples, Italy and my grandmother was from Yugoslavia or now as it's referred to as Croatia. So combining flavors and favorites I am sure are how her recipes were created.  She passed these recipes on to her children of which my Mom was the 4 child out of 7 children.  Three daughters and 4 sons.

Today's version I didn't use a special recipe just ingredients I knew were in the stuffing my mom would use for her stuffed green peppers. Personal preference today would be red peppers.  Sweeter and not bitter as a lot of green peppers seem to be today.

I used an Italian bread stuffing for the larger pepper.  Several slices of Italian bread broken.  One egg beaten, butter and onion sauté and added to the bread, salt, pepper parsley and lots of Parmesan grated cheese .  Ps.  I ran low on Pecorino Romano so Parmesan will do.  I added Milk to hold all together.  The consistency should be workable and easy to spoon into the peppers.

I separated the bread stuffing into two small bowls and added cooked Italian sausage to one of the bowls.(I used already cooked ground sausage)

After  washing and drying the peppers I removed all seeds out of the large and small peppers   

I filled the largest pepper with the yummy bread stuffing.

I used 15 oz. can Kirkland brand organic sauce. First Place some the sauce in your casserole dish, then placed stuffed peppers. Add the remainder of sauce on top and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Top with lots of grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese.

 Cover and bake at  350 degrees for 60 minutes. 

Yes I tasted them both and they both are delicious.  My favorite is the meatless one but I’ll eat them all as will my family.

Enjoy!

 Moms bread stuffing recipe and I added some hot Italian sausage to part of it.

From my kitchen to yours,

 

 

Sausage cream and Orecchiette soup

Hi and a very good day to everyone.

Hubby made himself a huge bowl and went to the store especially for crusty rolls.  I guess this will be on his favorite list of soup to make again.

My foodie friend Meredith Merriner made this soup and shared her recipe with me.  I made it to my liking.

 She used a few more spices than I did but my sausage had such wonderful flavor I felt it wasn’t needed. So yummy!

The below was my adaption of Meredith's version of this recipe.

1 lb. lean Italian loose sweet sausage

1 - 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

1-32 oz. container beef broth

1- 14.5 can beef broth

Salt and pepper

1 1/2 cup orecchiette pasta (cook pasta according to directions before adding to soup)

8  oz. cream cheese ( softened)

8 oz. sour cream 

2 cups fresh spinach ( I used frozen washed and pressed) it equaled I cup)

In a medium Dutch oven sauté sausage until lightly browned.  Add beef broth, and crushed tomatoes.  Allow to cook until the broth starts to come to a light boil. *** Note:Add cooked Orecchiette AFTER  you have whisked in cream cheese and sour cream and continue to cook at a slow boil. . Add spinach right before serving.

Here’s is Meredith’s recipe.

I tweaked the Tortellini-Spinach Soup and used ground sausage and Orecchiette for this dish...It smells and tastes amazing! I used 2lb browned ground sausage, 2 cartons of organic beef broth, Penzey’s garlic powder, pepper, pink Himalayan salt, Herbs deProvence from “The Strip,” 2-29 oz cans of crushed tomatoes, one container of sour cream, one block of cream cheese, a 5 oz bag of spinach leaves, and 2 cups of Orechetti pasta, also from “The Strip.”

Thank you Meredith (our foodie group friend).

Come join we love to have you be part of our Facebook group..

It’s called "We like to bake and cook group"!

Shrimp and cheesy grits

I've been wanted to make shrimp and grits for months.  I personally love grits and if you aren't sure if you'd like them try a small amount.  They are similar to polenta or cream of wheat in texture although I think grits have a little more texture.  

I came across this recipe online on the Food network.  It did call for sausage and bacon using the bacon drippings to saute the veggies but since I only had shrimp available I adjusted the recipe to my liking.  Hubby and I both totally enjoyed this but if you would like add the cooked sausage and bacon to this recipe.  All in all this is a very tasty and delicious recipe. Serves 2 generous servings.

 Enjoy!

I lb. cooked  peeled and deveined medium shrimp
1/2 cup each  diced, red, green and orange pepper
1 medium onion diced or sliced
1 clove minced garlic
1 small lemon
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese shredded
2 T butter
4 T oil
2 chopped scallions (green tops too)optional for garnish

Saute vegetables in butter and olive oil until tender.  Add shrimp and saute until shrimp are heated through.  

1/2  cup grits
1  1/2 cup water
1/2 cup half and half
Salt to taste


Bring water, grits and salt to a boil in a 3 quart sauce pan with a lid.  Stir in half and half and simmer until grits are thickened.  Add cheese and stir.  Set aside.

• 
  
• 
  

1. Sprinkle cooked shrimp with salt and cayenne pepper; drizzle with lemon juice. Set aside in a bowl. 
2. Saute  green, red, and yellow bell peppers, onion,in butter and olive oil until tender. Add seasoned shrimp and stir until shrimp is warmed.






3. Serve shrimp mixture over cheese grits.

Italian Sloppy Guiseppe's aka Joe's

I really love to use Tuttorusso Tomatoes for just about any recipe that calls for tomatoes. They are always consistent in texture and have an awesome fresh tomato taste. Most of my Italian friends agree they are the best canned tomatoes out there. IMO

10/14/17

Today I saw a recipe on their website and I changed it up slightly with the produce and ingredients I had handy and I used the Tuttorusso tomato sauce as a nice alternative.

Here's their recipe and my changes will be noted.

1 pound Italian turkey sausage or regular Italian sausage ground**
1/2 lb. lean ground beef
1 medium sweet onion chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
1 red bell pepper chopped
1 green bell pepper chopped
8 oz. sliced fresh mushrooms
1-28 oz. can tuttorosso crushed tomatoes**
1-6 oz. can tomato paste**
1/2 tsp. fine dried rosemary
6 oz. provolone cheese sliced**
1 cup baby spinach

6 whole wheat buns

• In a large skillet cook the sausage and ground beef; breaking into small pieces until cooked through, about 5 to 6 minutes.Add onion and garlic and cook an additional 2 minutes.Drain very well.
• Add peppers, mushrooms, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, rosemary, salt and black pepper.Cover and cook on low for 25 minutes.
• Sandwich Build: Place a piece of cheese on each bun.Top with meat mixture and finish with few spinach leaves.

Note all with an ** is where I adapted the recipe.

My adaptation is:

ground beef and sausage
Tuttorosso tomato sauce
no mushrooms
1/2 tsp. sugar
cooked and seasoned garlic spinach for toppting 
Small crusty Italian rolls
mozzarella or pepper jack slices

Hubby chose Mozzarella and I had the Pepper Jack...Both excellent.

Crockpot Sausage stuffed peppers

I don't know why I haven't tried this before but today I decided to stuff some variegated peppers I had bought and not used. 

 Wow!  Why did I wait so long?  We loved them and they were so easy that I'm almost embarrassed to say how little time and effort it took.  Of course I had amazing hot sausage so I must give my special butcher credit for this sausage. 

1 lb. loose Italian sausage (you can use link sausage but you must remove casing before stuffing the peppers)
3 medium size variegated peppers
Note:  red, yellow and orange are the sweetest.

1 (28 oz) large can of your favorite tomato sauce.(I used Hunts but I like Contadina too).
A little water(clean out can with about 1/4 cup water)

Clean and hollow out peppers.  Wash thoughly in cold water

Fill with sausage. I pack the sausage tightly in the pepper.

In a large Dutch oven pan place 2 to 5 T oil. Place heat on medium heat to warm , add stuffed peppers and allow to brown slightly on each side.  Add sauce turn heat to low simmer covering slightly. Stir slightly from time to time so they do not stick.

Cook until peppers are soft and sausage is cooked.  Simmer after starting to bubble On low heat until cooked thoroughly.

  Approximately 1 1/2 hours to be cooked to our liking.  Enjoy!

Serve with bread or vegetable.

PS  This meal is crockpot friendly. I like to brown the peppers before I put them and the sauce in the crockpot.

Sausage meatballs

Three Ingredient Recipe!! One two three....

A quick an super easy Recipe that I made in a pinch over the weekend. Sausage Meatballs!!!

I had some fresh ground hot sausage(remove casing if you can't find loose sausage) and didn’t know what to do with it so I decided to try two ideas that popped in my head.

The first was using my fresh sausage and making sausage meatballs and the second stuffing bell peppers.  If you really want to spice it up stuff hot peppers.

Here’s my easy recipe. My sausage was already seasoned so I added breadcrumbs and an egg to the pound of sausage.

Ingredients

I lb. hot sausage
1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
1 egg slightly beaten

Mix ingredients with hands with cold water while mixing.  I place my hands under running cold tap water to allow incorporating all ingredients.

Spray a little cooking spray on cook sheet and make medium size balls.

Place in heated 400 degree oven for approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and use or freeze after cooling for later use.


Add your favorite pasta sauce and serve or you can serve them without sauce.  They are delicious. P.S. buy good quality Italian sausage.....Yummy!

Creamy sausage, potatoes and spinach soup

Here's another quick crockpot meal.

There is no need to brown sausage for this meal and this soup is brothy unlike a thick cream soup. The broth is awesome and I felt it might be too thick if I added anything to thicken the broth.

Enjoy!
Fall is in the air and winter is not far behind so I decided to make two soup recipes for us today.

 Today's weather calls for high sixties and although it may be too hot for this meal, (I can always cool and refrigerate until tomorrow)winter is definitely on the way with the temps dropping over night tonight. 

Our weather has been crazy. Up and down temperatures and of course I caught a cold so I'm in a comfort food mode and in high gear. This was so easy and I recommend chicken sausage. This brand was appealing because it has no nitrates, no fillers and no bi products. It's a win win..

I just love my crockpot.

1 lb. hot link chicken sausage cut in large pieces(my sausage was a natural casing sausage)
1 lb. red potatoes cubes(skin removed or leave the skin on)
4 oz. cream cheese
1 to 2-15 oz. chicken broth
2 T. dry ranch dressing mix
1 to 2 cups cut up spinach or you can use cut up kale (kale may take longer to cook so add immediately when you add soup mixture).

This recipe made enough for several servings.


Either line or spray your crockpot with cooking spray.  Place cut sausage and potatoes in crockpot. Mix cream cheese, ranch dressing and soup in a bowl. After blended as well as you can pour over sausage and potatoes. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 to 8. 


Ten minutes before serving add spinach.





Today I made two soups; Beef Barley with veggies and Creamy Spicy sausage, potatoes and spinach.  Here's a photo of the two.