Sausage & Rice Stuffed Peppers

Recipe adapted from Everyday Food, September 2011

(I know not all of the peppers shown were bell peppers.  I used some bell and some Italian.  Both were great.  Also, you can substitute any sausage or meat.  Just grind it and cook it.  Delicious.)

For quick use, here is an image to save with all you need.  It is as easy as 1-2-3...

Kale + Chicken Sausage Strata

The wind today is out of control.  Like trash-cans-flying-around-the-street-and-fences-almost-falling-down out of control.  I made sure both of our cars were parked inside because the last time it was like this a tree fell on my brother's car, right outside my house.

The problem was, he was serving in Afghanistan and we were surfing in Costa Rica. (Who am I kidding?  He was surfing, I was floundering around, trying not to die.)  Good thing we had great neighbors who took pictures and documented the whole thing... Geico couldn't argue with that.

Today I have no fear of the wind destroying a car or a house.  I just don't think that will happen.  What I do hope will happen is some wind gust picking up my neighbors barbecue that smells oh so good and plopping it smack dab in my yard.  Tri-tip would be preferred.

But since that's highly unlikely to happen (fingers still crossed!) I guess I will be having leftovers tonight.

Not too shabby when it's this stuff, though.  Can't go wrong with kale in this house.

So now I eat, listen to the wind, and watch The Voice.  And wait for that tri-tip to fly in...

KALE AND CHICKEN SAUSAGE STRATA

Recipe inspired by Everyday Food’s Sausage and Swiss Chard Strata, April 2011

SERVES 6  •  PREP TIME: 15 MINUTES  •  TOTAL TIME: 1 hour 10 minutes

ingredients

• 1 packet chicken sausage, cut into cubes
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 2 small spring onions, finely chopped (bulb only)
• 1 bunch kale (about 1 pound), leaves torn off into 2-inch pieces and rinsed
• coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 day-old baguette, cut into ½-inch slices
• 2 ½ cups milk
• 6 large eggs, lightly beaten
• ½ cup shredded Asiago cheese

directions

1.      Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat a large skillet over medium-high. Add sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned. Transfer sausage to a small bowl, leaving behind as much fat as possible. Add shallots and spring onions and cook over medium until translucent, 3 minutes. Add a little water to pan and cook, stirring and scraping up browned bits from skillet with wooden spoon. Add kale and cook, stirring occasionally, until wilted, 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.  Add to sausage and mix together.

2.      Spread half the sausage/kale mixture in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Top with bread, overlapping slices slightly. Top with remaining sausage/kale mixture. In a large bowl, whisk together milk and eggs, season with salt and pepper, and pour evenly over top. Firmly press on strata to submerge bread in egg mixture. Cover dish tightly with foil and let sit 10 minutes.

3.      Bake strata 45 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with cheese, and bake until cheese melts and egg mixture is mostly absorbed and set in center, 6 to 10 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

 COST: $10.25           COST PER SERVING (6): $1.71

Nutritional Information
calories 332.9   •    total fat 18.8 g    •    fiber 1.2g    •    sugars 5.5g   •    protein 29.2g

Creamy Asparagus Soup with Chicken Sausage

There are some things I really stink at.  Like, I am terrible at these things.

Keeping my closet organized would be one of them.

I mean, I do get it organized again every week or so.  But in the meantime?  Eh.  Out of sight, out of mind.

Keeping up with my nails.  Oh man. You do not want to see them on a regular basis.  Broken, chipped paint, hang nails.  Sigh.  It is not (usually) a pretty sight.

Turning in paperwork on time.  Getting out of bed when my alarm goes off.  Sending thank-you cards.

All things I suck at.

But there is something I am really good at --> making soup.

Chop, toss, and cook.

Really, what can go wrong?

Hallelujah for soup!

INGREDIENTS: 

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 pack of chicken sausage, cut into 1/2 inch cubes    
• 1 leek, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced and rinsed well   
• 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 small red-skinned potatoes (4 to 5 ounces total), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 4 cups chicken broth or stock
• Salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 bunches asparagus (about 1 1/2 pounds), cut into 1/2-inch
• One 6-ounce container plain yogurt
• 1/4 whole wheat country loaf, for serving (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat; add the sausage and cook, stirring, until golden, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the sausage to a plate. Add the leek and garlic to the pot and cook until tender, about 2 minutes. Stir in the potatoes and chicken broth and bring to a simmer; season with salt and pepper. Cook until the potatoes are almost tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the asparagus and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
2. Scoop out 1/2 cup asparagus pieces and set aside for garnish. Using a blender and working in VERY SMALL batches, puree the soup. Return the soup to the pot, whisk in the yogurt and season with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls, sprinkle the sausage and asparagus pieces on top and serve with the bread.

COST: $8.50  COST PER SERVING (4): $2.13

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Kick-off to October Unprocessed: White Bean Soup with Kale and Sausage

Canned food is not real food.  At least that's what my Brazilian husband tells me.  Canned beans are not really beans, but something to to be prodded with a fork and stared at.  Then dump down the drain.  I used to laugh at him, but you know what?  Now I pretty much agree.

Have you tasted fresh beans compared to canned beans?  WOW.  So much difference.  And the most interesting part?  Canned beans don't go bad for a long time.  Really.  You can leave them in the fridge for a week and a half and they still smell normal.  That can't be natural.  Too many preservatives, I suppose.  So we are 99% of the time can free.

Except for Campbell's.  Don't take away my Campbell's.

Monday starts the month of October, and with that means in our house (and many houses around the country -- maybe even world) October Unprocessed is about to start, as well.  As I shared last year at this time:

What is this, exactly?  Well, according to the mastermind behind it, Andrew Wilder, it is a push to get people to stop and think about what they putting in their bodies.  For the month of October, over 1,800 of us (yes, you read that correctly) have decided to put away packaged goods and go for it. 

Of course, each person might consider something processed that another does not, so here is the working definition for unprocessed food that we are using for this challenge (taken from Andrew's blog, Eating Rules!).

Unprocessed food is any food that could be made by a person with reasonable skill in a home kitchen with readily available, whole-food ingredients.  It doesn’t mean you actually have to make it yourself, it just means that for it to be considered “unprocessed” that you could, in theory, do so.

What does that mean for us?  Well, Ok, you can take away my Campbell's.  And the Skippy.  Condiments will be shelved for the month and I will be baking with raw sugar and unbleached flour.  But really, it isn't that hard.  See this bowl of soup?  Beans, in the pressure cooker, with some garlic and fresh chicken stock (not Knorr, which I usually use).  Add some kale, grill some fresh chicken sausage from Trader Joe's (no preservatives, just meat), and top with some Parmesan, also from TJ's (ingredients: milk, live bacteria, salt).  

Easy.  Fresh.  Unprocessed.

Last year at this time I was terrified.  TERRIFIED.  How on earth was going to survive a month without processed foods?!  But I did.  And I thrived.  I learned a lot, tried new things, and pretty much started a new way of eating year round, not just in October.  

Not to mention, I lost some pudge around my belly.  That was a completely unexpected result, but one that I will take gladly!

I have looked through my recipes from this year and have some great tasting and easy to make recipes that fit this bill, so I am going to be making a menu plan for each week for any of you brave enough to try October Unprocessed.  The first weekly plan will be up tomorrow, so check back to prepare for the week. WE CAN DO IT, Friends!  

Are you brave enough to join me?  Come on, let's do it!

(To read through my experience last year, click HERE.)

Recipe adapted from Everyday Food, September 2012

YIELD: 8 servings       PREP TIME:  15 minutes        TOTAL TIME:  1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 pound dried white beans
• 4 cups fresh chicken broth, either from Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, or make your own
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• Salt
• 1 large bunch kale, roughly chopped, ribs removed
• Vegetable oil, for grill
• 1 pound chicken sausage, from Trader Joe's or Whole Foods (or a butcher)
• Grated Parmesan, for serving  (remember -- FRESH.  Nothing weird on the ingredients list!)

Directions

1. In a 6-quart pressure cooker, cover beans by 2 inches water, bring to a boil, and remove from heat. Let soak 30 minutes. Drain beans and return to pressure cooker. Add broth and garlic; season with salt. Secure lid. Bring to high pressure over medium-high heat; reduce heat and cook until beans are tender, 20 to 22 minutes (adjust heat to maintain pressure). Remove from heat, vent pressure, and remove lid. Stir in kale.
2. Meanwhile, heat a grill or grill pan to high. Clean and lightly oil hot grill. Grill sausages until browned, about 12 minutes; let rest 5 minutes, then slice. Serve soup topped with sausages and Parmesan.

Cook's Note

To get the basics on pressure cookers, click here.

COST: $6.93    COST PER SERVING (8): $0.87

Need To Do vs. Want To Do... (Rigatoni with Broccoli and Sausage)

I woke up this morning with the birds singing and the sun shining in.  Literally.  The sunshine I enjoyed, but I wanted to throw a shoe at the birds.  I guess I am not related to Cinderella.  But it was all good because it is Spring Forward Day.  Oh how I love today!  Yes, I may "lose an hour" (which I will gain back in nine eight months, so it really isn't losing so much as postponing it...), but know the sun will be up until later tonight.

7:19 to be exact.

Woot-woot!

I was all ambitious this morning.  I had a list of things I needed to accomplish and another I wanted to accomplish.  My "want to-do" list included things like read The Mockingjay, make another batch of what I made yesterday and take beautiful pictures, watch some CSI.

None of those things happened.

Instead, I conquered my "need to-do" list, or at least most of it.  I am still in the process of doing so.  But I have checked off "wash the dishes", "clean the stove", "run errands", "sweep and mop the floor", and "write a card to my grandpa" (although that one belonged on both lists, really).  There are still more things to be done however.  I guess this is one of those days that I will chalk up to "productive" rather than "fun". 

At least I will have a clean kitchen to show for my day.

But we all know how long that lasts...

But I did get to enjoy some of that tasty dish above.  Last night we had it and it was OK.  Well, truth be told I didn't really like but my husband did.  He really really liked it.  So much so that when I said, "Good, I am glad you like it because I have so much leftover you get it for lunch for the next three days," he replied, "Excellent!"  Now, if you know him you would find this odd because the only thing he can eat three days in a row with out complaining about it is either beans and rice or bananas.  Shoot -- he likes to eat beans and rice with bananas.  Another one of those weird things I just mentally mark a tally under "cultural differences".

Leftovers was the lunch plan for today and so I figured I would just eat it again.  Good thing!  This time it had more flavor.  Like a lot more flavor.  I liked it this time around, a lot.  Now I want to include in our "Meals We Want to Eat Again" list.  I will just make it a day or two before we plan on having it. 

Completely off the topic, <insert brilliant segue here> I bought radishes for the first time in my life.  I don't really like radishes, but they were just too pretty to pass up.

See what I mean?  Besides, I am sure they are very healthy for me and blah blah blah... Truthfully though, I believe that.  So I got them.  I have been slicing them very thinly and putting them into our salads.  My husband doesn't like them either so I am getting practice at being a mom --> sneaking in the healthy stuff so that they don't know they are eating it.  Ha!

The time has come for me to get back to my to-do list...

Whatever, I am totally going to catch up on some CSI.

Recipe from Everyday Food by Martha Stewart, March 2012

Rigatoni with Broccoli and Sausage

Yield: 6 Servings          Total Time: 25 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

• coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 pound rigatoni
• 2 heads broccoli, cut into florets (about 4 cups)
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest, plus the juice of one lemon
• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage (I used chicken sausage... tastes GREAT)
• Parmesan, grated, for serving

 DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions.  In last 2 minutes of cooking, add broccoli and cook until bright green and crisp-tender.  Reserve 1 cup pasta water; drain pasta and broccoli.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together oil, garlic, lemon zest and juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.  Add to pasta after pasta is drained, adding pasta water as needed until it forms a light sauce.
3. In separate pan, cook sausage over medium heat until browned and cooked through (about 8 to 10 minutes).  Remove from heat and add to pasta.  Toss well and serve sprinkled with Parmesan.

Cost: $10.69                   Cost Per Serving (6) $1.79

Include a small salad on the side, and your meal is just a little over $2.00

Tortellini with Green Beans and Tomatoes

This was our lunch today.  Three main ingredients (but sometimes we add an additional one).  Fresh, healthy, and scrumpteous. 

Wanna know how to make it?  It is really quite easy.

  

COST: $7.00            PER SERVING (4): $1.75

With bread and butter: $2.10
With chicken sausage: add $2.69 (Trader Joe's) = $2.77 per serving

A Week of New Recipes -- Day 5: Spinach & Mushroom Pasta with Walnut Pesto

I have actually made this recipe before, nothing "new" here.  I had snatched it up as a recipe I wanted to try before I decided to do the weekly meal plan.  But I liked it last time, so I wasn't too disappointed to see it on the menu again.

Like last time, I substituted chicken sausage in for the ham.  I love me some chicken sausage!

And this recipe is dairy free, which also make me a very happy woman.  Cheese... I have quite the love/hate relationship with it.  My taste buds love it, my stomach hates it.  So whenever I can make a good recipe without cheese or any other dairy product I get excited. 

However, this time didn't out as good as last time.  I don't know what happened, but it just wasn't very flavorful.  I was able to fix it by adding a little more lemon juice and some salt.  Maybe that was my problem to begin with, the lemon I was using was a little dry.  So, this time it didn't get the best of marks (7 and 8), but if memory can be trusted (along with that blog post I put up at the time), it was a pretty solid 9/9.5 last time.  That just means I need to make it again and make sure I have a fresher lemon this time!

My changes are in italics. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pound penne rigate pasta
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Half a pack of chicken sausage, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
• 2 cups white mushrooms (about 5 ounces), thinly sliced
• One 6-ounce bag baby spinach
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 cup walnut pieces (about 4 ounces), toasted
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped parsley
• Grated peel and juice of 1/2 lemon
• Salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta until al dente, about 12 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta cooking water, and return the pasta to the pot.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over high heat. Add the sausage and cook, stirring, until golden, about 3 minutes. Push the sausage to the side, add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, until lightly colored, about 5 minutes. Stir in the spinach and cook until wilted, about 1 minute.
3. Using a small food processor, mince the garlic. Add the walnuts, parsley and lemon peel and process until finely chopped. With the machine on, add the lemon juice and remaining 1/4 cup olive oil; season with salt and pepper. Process to form a paste.
4. Add the walnut pesto and 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water to the pasta; toss to coat thoroughly. Stir in the sausage mixture, adding more pasta water if needed; season with salt and pepper.

COST = $8.15       PER SERVING (3) = $2.72