Sausage Stuffed Zucchini

Taking advantage of B being away, my plan of action for feeding myself involved stuffed vegetables. My husband has liked all but 2 things I have ever made for him: Stuffed Peppers and Stuffed Zucchini. I can’t fault him for knowing what he likes (and doesn’t like).

I dedicated a Sunday to making a big batch of my grandmother’s sauce, freezing it in smaller batches for rainy days. With a portion of the sauce, I added some crumbled sausage and veggies to stuff into hollowed out zucchini.

I took 4 large zucchini, split them down the middle length-wise, scooped out their middles (adding the pulp to the sausage mixture), filled them with sausage and sauce then covered them with mozzarella. I covered them with foil and baked according to Gina from Skinny Taste’s website.

They were perfect. I devoured 2 boats with delight as I packed the rest away for dinner for the rest of the week. Things always taste better the next day!

The following day, I went about my day as usual. Got ready for work. Walked the dog. Took the train to work… and then it happened.

With my feet sore from the plantar fasciitis, I had a slight limp in my right foot to alleviate the discomfort as I walked. While entering the train station, I heard my train coming and decided to pick up the pace. I turned onto my right foot and felt a “POP” in my right foot followed by an immediate white hot sensation in my foot. It happened so quickly. I didn’t know what just happened but I immediately started to sweat as my foot was stinging in pain.

I hopped along… miraculously making the train and feeling so much panic. My family was away on vacation in California and my husband was in DC. I didn’t know what to do.

Luckily, my podiatrist is 2 blocks away from my office. I limped over to his office and that’s when he told me the crappy news: I tore the fascia. For anyone the is curious, don’t tear your fascia. Its now MONTHS after the fact and I am still not back to normal.

After the lovely zucchini boats ran out, my crock pot came to the rescue. Stay tuned for those!

Slow Cooker: Sausage and Lentil Stew

You know what I love?

When something really delicious takes minimal effort to make. When you can throw several things together and let them simmer or hours and the end result in a dish you can eat for days and never tire of.

While perusing my favorite slow cooker source, I came across a sausage and lentil stew that not only sounded simple, it sounded PERFECT for the winter! I am a family of 1 and look for meals I can make in bulk to freeze and to enjoy over the week to minimize my time spent in the kitchen, also the amount of money I waste in the grocery store.

With minimal tweaking, I prepared the Crock Pot Lady’s Sausage and Lentil Stew and now have a new favorite dish that I am eager to share with my family during the holiday break when we have nothing to do but curl up under flannel blankets and watch movies on Demand. This is the dish that spells comfort. Its hearty. Its simple. Its absolutely delicious.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1 cup lentils

2 cups beefChicken broth

1 (12-ounce) package smoked chicken or turkey sausagespicy pork sausage, cooked and sliced into one inch pieces.

1 cup chopped carrots

1 (14.5-ounce) can diced fire roastedtomatoes

salt and pepper to taste

9 ounces (or so) fresh spinach (to add at the very end)

Method:

My first order of business when it comes to preparing fresh sausage is a quick boil. I boil the sausage to get the innards cooked without drying them out. Once they are cooked, I throw them onto a hot pan to crisp up the skin. That gives them a really nice snap.

I allowed them to cool once they browned on all sides and sliced them into one inch pieces on the diagonal.

In my slow cooker, I added the broth, tomatoes, lentils, and sausage. I seasoned with a sprinkling of salt and pepper. It might not be necessary but I enjoy a GOOD amount of salt in my dishes.

I let the ingredients soak together the night before in the fridge and right before I left for work I put the pot on the base and cooked it on low for 8 hours.

When I returned home, I added the fresh spinach and cranked the cooker up to high or 30 minutes to allow the spinach to wilt.

The end result was a HEARTY lentil and sausage stew that was smoky and filling. I served myself about 1.5 cups (which was probably a little greedy) and enjoyed with a slab of crusty bread. You can serve yourself even less and pour over some rice. Brown if you’re really healthy.

I froze half of this recipe for an emergency dinner night but savored every bite of this baby! For my vegetarian friends, I would substitute some smoky veggie sausage and let this baby do its thing!

Perfect for the rainy/snowy/freezing weekend! Get a cozy blanket and let the smells of this stew put you in the greatest of moods.

Enjoy!

sausage and escarole over penne

Last night after yet another potential roommate stood me up, I met up with Dude for dinner and some much needed laughs. Its been forever since I have seen him (for longer than 15 minutes at a time) and Otto is kinda one of our favorite spots (and he is like VIP there…im way jealous). It was definitely a great time and as we dined at the bar (with Frank, the Awesomest Bartender ever!), we spotted Mario Batali just sitting at the other end of the bar having a glass of wine.

Dude nonchalantly is like “Look, its Mario Batali” And i thank sweet baby cheeses because i usually make an ASS out of myself when i see celebs (believe it) but this time I just blushed and kind of quietly said “Oh Em Gee” and then kept eating like “yeah, im eating next to Batali. This is the norm…” [EDIT: I’ve been called out by “you totally downplayed your reaction to batali lmao” According to Dude, i freaked out for about 5 minutes and THEN i ate my pasta. I maintain that the excitement altered my memory…]

I wonder how you all put up with me.

Prior to my food fest at Otto, I had been craving some good ol’ italian comfort. And one of my favorite dishes there is the fusili con sausage and escarole. Its not rocket science but sometimes the simplest dishes are the ones that taste the best.

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 medium green bell pepper, sliced

1 lb of turkey sausage (casings removed)

1 medium head of escarole, roughly chopped into large pieces (they wilt)

salt

pepper

red pepper flakes

parmesan cheese

1 lb of penne (or pasta of your choice)

Method:

Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil for 5-7 minutes over medium heat until the onions are slightly clear. Add the sliced bell pepper and saute till crisp tender (about 7-10 minutes). Remove the peppers, onions and garlic from the pan and set aside.

Crumble in turkey sausage and cook through, breaking into small pieces as it cooks. (about 15 minutes). When the turkey sausage is cooked, return the peppers, onions and garlic to the saute pan.

Add the escarole little by little to the saute pan. As it cooks, the escarole will wilt down and believe me, an entire head of escarole will fit!

Season with salt and pepper (to taste) and a tiny shake of some red pepper flakes. A little goes a long way!

Allow the turkey sausage and escarole to simmer on the lowest setting while you prepare the penne. I boiled the penne for 7 minutes (i like it al dente), drained, reserving a 1/2 cup of pasta water to add to the turkey sausage and escarole.

I tossed the pasta with with escarole and sausage with a healthy sprinkling (ie a big one) of parmesan cheese.

Its so simple. But yet, this dish makes me feel all cozy inside. Its no fancy plate from Otto’s but its a nice dish to make at home- and in no time at all!

I gotta go, i am still reeling from my insane facebook thread about NKOTBSB… dont judge. LOL

Radiator Pasta with Sausage and Kale

Happy Monday.
Fall is definitely making its way…I took a long walk through Forest Park with Mickey around 4 and when we were making our way back around 6 there was an amazing silence in the woods. The sky had darkened slightly letting you know that the sun is making its way down and every creature in the forest had stood still. It was breathtakingly beautiful. I was walking listening to my iPod and actually turned it off to bask in the silence. If i werent such a chicken shit, i’d stay in the forest till it got dark just to enjoy the silence for a little longer.
But after a 4 mile walk- you get hungry. And i could think of only one thing that would be amazing in my belly…
Carbs. Radiator pasta to be exact. I love fun shaped pasta- i love pasta over all but the fun shapes enhance my dining experience. Because im 5. I aldo added some kale, turkey sausage and peppers to the party.
Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, julienned
1 lb of sausage with casings removed (i used turkey sausage)
1 lb of pasta (i used radiatorre)
1 head of kale (trimmed of spine and stem and cut into pieces)
1 14 oz can of crushed tomatoes
parmesan cheese
Start off by dicing onions and slicing peppers into julienne strips. Saute the onion and pepper for 5-7 minutes with a little olive oil and crumble in 1 pound of turkey sausage with the casings removed.

Using a spoon (or whatever is easier) break the sausage up as its cooking to make it crumble. When the sausage is cooked, add a head of kale (ripped into pieces with the stems and spines removed)

Allow the kale to wilt. Should take about 5 minutes. At this point, I would say add a little salt if needed but I nixed the salt in favor of a palmful of parmigianno reggiano cheese.

I then added a 14 oz can of crushed tomatoes and allowed the mixture to simmer for 20 mins…or until the sauce thickened. While the sauce is thickening, cook the pasta till its al dente.

Serve yourself a healthy portion of pasta and several spoonfuls of sausage junk.

Mad good yo. Mad good.

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Sausage Ragu over Polenta

When I came across this recipe with polenta, i KNEW i had to make it. I am a huge fan of polenta! i just dont make it enough…. probably becuase i never know what to make it with.
Take a wild guess where i got this recipe from?
If you said take 5, you would be guessing correctly… but these days I am drawing inspiration from take 5 more than copying the recipe. Its nice to get the creative juices flowing every now and then and sitting down to a meal that took a mere 30mins to prepare.
You’ll need:
1 lb of turkey sausage (casings removed)
2 cans of black beans (rinsed and drained)
1 can of diced tomatoes with jalapeno
1 clove of garlic (minced)
salt and pepper
Sprinkle of parm cheese
1 cup of prepared polenta
I started off with some turkey sausage. I neglected to remove the casing and sliced it into one inch pieces. Removing the casing and crumbling in a sauce pan would be a better way to go.

I cooked the sausage till it was no longer pink. Then added the garlic and let it get all loved up on the sausage, about 2 mins. Add black beans and canned tomatoes. Stir fry all the ingredients and season with salt and pepper.

While that was going on, i made some instant polenta (gasp).

And added a bit of parm cheese to the ragu.

I tasted. I loved. I plated.

And I ate.

It was awesome. This was something I didn’t mind eating all week. Hearty portions. Extremly filling and effortless to make.

Cheese eater was home while i was making this and decided it looked too healthy… he went out for pizza. And I? I enjoyed leftovers.

Plans for the weekend loves?

Raise Your Hand, Mickey!

Raise your hand if you’re excited for BlogHer!

Weeeeee! Silly Mickey! She gets to go to her aunt Patti’s house while Momma scores swag bags and makes new friends.
My life is so hard sometimes.
Especially when it comes to eats.
Food. GLORIOUS Food.
My weakness: New York Bagels.
My Savior?
Thomas’ Bagel thins. 100 calories of Bagel. Do i miss the other million Cals? Sometimes but I really love the bagel “feeling”. Especially with Whipped Cream Cheese. Drool.
At lunch, i was craving some takeout. But i was really TRYING to be good. So…

I ordered chicken with mixed veggies with brown rice and the sauce on the side. I put 1/3 of the portion on a small plate and ate to my hearts content. The smaller plate really helps. I had leftovers for another day. And the sauce on the side only sucked a little…but nothing beats the taste of fresh veggies. (maybe the taste of fried chicken… )

Later on, i hit the pavement with Mickey and it started to pour, We ran to Patty’s house for cover…

And mickey was happy because Patti keeps the good treats on hand. Look at Mickey’s Focus on that bacon. SMH. Like my nails? 🙂

And of course My Patti cooked dinner and made enough for me. Since i missed almost ALL of the street fairs this summer, I was so happy to hear patti say she was making sausage and peppers! My fav street food!

I would normally post pics of her cooking but the last time I did that she sent me a death threat via text and I cant die Before BlogHer… I just cant.

Once again, it was awesome to have a nice dinner with friends (and no dishes to clean) and play with the doggies. I just learned that Patti has RockBand.. and DJ Hero. There will be more time away from the Mo-Tel and lots of time at Chez Patti for some game time. HEEEELLLL YEAH.

Whats your favorite Street Food?

WHen you are DYING for takeout, how do you make it healthy? (or do you just go for broke and order what you want?)

Hittin’ the Road Pt 3

After our Water Ices from Rita’s we did some serious… and I mean SERIOUS shopping. It was hot like Whoa and we had that AC blasting! After hitting PetSmart, Walmart, Sears, Best Buy, Spencers, and Ollie’s we headed to Sam’s Club for a car battery. We knew in advance that the battery was on the fritz but while on a gas run the car decided it was done. Luckily we were walking distance from Sam’s club.
We did some MORE shopping in Sam’s Club and when we were done we had to wait a while before the car would be ready. After about an hour we got sick of staring at this:
Because it looks REALLY REALLY GOOD. And my cousin said “Dude, its DISGUSTING!” and In our family that means its really freakin good… we’re weird that way. But when we say something is disgusting with disdain… its disgustingly GOOD. Lord, please let nothing edible be really disgusting… cuz the Food Snob fam might think its a green light to eat it!

Vanilla soft serve (though I tell myself its fro yo) with raspberry syrup. Great Googa Mooga. this baby was deelish. We (aka MOM) bought 3 and we all dove in.

I shared mine with this tiny diva. She kept telling me to bring the “juice” to the top. I was glad to because it was saturated with syrup… and I dont need that much sugar. Not pictured is the puddle of water that made its way to my cousins pants… little diva spilled water on a picnic bench and her momma sat right on it… thats when the boredom giggles commenced.

“Tia, take my picture!”

“Mine too!”

And just so you know, there may be a lot of pics below but no where near as many as i had originally taken… but i cant explain my family and their cookiness without giving examples to back it up.

The Food Snob pose.

The Eating Machine Pose.

Another Hour into waiting for the car:

I can only explain this expression by having you refer to the massive quantity of raspberry syrup little diva consumed. CRAZED!

don’t ask. Just laugh.

This is the Evil Lunch Lady… If you’re wondering where the hairnet came from… i bought it at spencers. One because its retro and two becuase it was a buck… im a sucker for sales.

BORED!

We heard our name called and was to let us know they were working on the car. A million hours later. Dude, I look like im gonna cry but I was about to crack up from holding the sad face.

They cracked up shortly after… and Wouldn’t you know it! the car was fixed right after this pick. We only stood in sams club for a million hours! yay! time to go home and make dinner!

Cuzzo started chopping peppers and onions…

cuz we were gonna have italian sausage and peppers.

mmmmm. Love this smell! I let them cook for a long while. they were getting caramelized!

Mom was on time out cuz she kept telling me what to do… Mom, have you seen the blog? I know my kitchen. JK. She was just taking a break (on the time out stool)…but i like the idea of her being on time out.

To ensure a juicy and crispy sausage (TWSS) we boiled them for a few minutes so the innards cooked up evenly. and to help them cook faster without losing their juiciness…

Peppers and onions, check!

Crisping of the sausages, check!

Dad taking a break, Check.

Stuff face. CHECK! Go back for seconds CHECK!

the sausage and peppers reminded of the kind from the NY street fairs- only from a CLEANER kitchen! MMM.

whats your favorite Street food?

Valentines Day Par-Tay

I’m not hungover anymore! yay! But im pissed about all this friggin snow. Spring where the hell are you?
So my Valentine’s Day party was amazingly fun! I started the day with a loving mug of hot cocoa.
I’m getting good usage from my Valentines Day Pressie!

My biggest mistake was taking these babies out when my guests arrived… My heartmallow supply is starting to dwindle. Sad Panda.

Had a really quick Breakfast because I had a lot of prep and cleaning to do before the party peeps started to arrive. I love entertaining guests- it gives me a reason to mop my floors a million times.

On the menu pizza rolls, lasagna, turkey meatballs, garlic cheddar drop biscuits, chips and not pictured sausage dip (aka mommy crack). The sauce for the lasagna was cooked the night before. I like to simmer my sauce with the meatballs for about an hour. My first mistake was when I decided to assemble the lasagna the night before- I usually know better than this but I was eager to prepare so i can enjoy the party as much as possible.

Pizza rolls were the first to go. And the Cheddar biscuits were pretty damn good, if i may say so.

The lasagna, in my opinion was edible but it was not Stellar. The sauce was spot on….theres nothing like homemade sauce. But assembling it while everything was still hot and then refrigerating encouraged the noodles to suck up the sauce. The lasagna lost alot of its volume and pretty much looked like noodles glued together. Not my best lasagna but my guests might be too polite to say so. They ate it and were happy. Love you guys for that!

I invited 5 people, and a few people brought someone along. So My guest number was about 10 ppl. I love having company. And almost everyone bought some wine. We killed 2 JUGS of Sangria and 5 bottles of wine. One thing I dislike about red wine is the purple lips. Maybe I dont drink it right but if I have more than 2 glasses, my lips, teeth and tongue turn purple. Not the best thing when you are socializing. Good thing there were no potential boyfs around!

Heres some of the group looking at which karaoke songs they wanted to sing. We managed to sing about 3 songs but everyone was running their mouth (which is a good thing!) but at some point they really wanted to chat instead of sing. My lovely Mickey took the moment to command the attention of everyone in the room when she entered the center of our conversation circle and proceeded to squat and pee on my hardwood floor. I picked her up and put her in her room for about an hour. We played some Catch Phrase where I kept shouting Lady Gaga and then teapot… and we tied up the game. We took an indefinite break because someone came out of her room and people wanted to score some sausage dip.

Ariel is holding a very confused Mickey. Sorry Ariel! it was the only photo where you and Mickey didnt have reflective eyes 😛 (isnt Ariel Adorable? I think she looks like Snow White…but her nickname is T.I. )

Minaal was holding Mickey for a while too. this is how Mickey likes to sit in this chair. We sit together watching tv while i rub her belly. Behind Minaal is the sausage dip… clearly Mickey wanted in on the action! And I just realized… Mickey with Min-nie… not quite minnie but close enough!

I got a Valentines Day Present too! A Hugh Jass chocolate bar!

About half of this remains in my fridge. 🙂

I had a great Valentines Day Party! I got pretty sauced too… and as you already know woke up with a raging hangover.

Clearly, God is trying to make me laugh

*ding- dong*
Who’s there?
Fed Ex.
MMM. Okay?
Sign here. Have a good day.
Dear Diva,
I know I have some explaining to do about creating such a stupid excuse for a man and putting him in your life, making you fall in love with him and then later having you realize he was a douche bag. Please accept this apology and gift and know there are plenty other fish in the sea. Good Luck!
Love Always,
The Big Man Upstairs.

In case you couldn’t tell…. this is a box of about 500 condoms. Apparently, someone thought I would make an excellent advocate for teens and young adults in preventing STDs and Pregnancy. Because I spend so much time watching Jersey Shore and am scared shitless of teenagers (somethings making them mean!) it makes me a great candidate to pass out condoms. nice. And then add insult to injury- i just dumped the dipshit. SMH. God really does have a sense of humor! I take it all in stride. I actually have lots of friends who will benefit from such loot! (psst, NY bloggers, If you arent embarrassed to meet me for some free rubbers, email me) And if any of you are stuck in this horrendous snow storm- you might need some love gloves to keep you warm… no?

Hope you are all well fed, warm, and cozy in this nasty weather!

On SuperBowl Sunday, my good friends opened up their home and ordered 100 wings. They asked me to join and I was more than happy to come. Not wanting to show up empty handed I asked them if i could bring anything. In a matter of minutes the requests for Mommy Crack were pouring in.

I made mommy crack a few times in the past and its easy and delicious. Just be warned- its not for the health conscious!

I was making a big batch for those hungry peeps. I started with two pounds of sausage. One spicy, one Sweet.

I removed the casings and diced them into itty bitty pieces and browned them. When they were cooked, I threw them into my 4 qt crock pot.

then two cans of spicy tomatoes or Rotel (can you beleive my supermarket didnt have ROTEL???) on top of the sausage crumbles.

Turn your crock pot on High.

Add two blocks of cream cheese. I used the low fat version… but i didnt tell the guests. I gave it a little stir and let it warm for 1 hr.

After one hour I set it on warm and let the party peeps dip and munch as they pleased. Its an easy crowd pleaser and its affordable! I got this recipe from a stay at home mom who upon tasting it the first time she made it dubbed this the MOMMMY CRACK. and it stuck!

We used the dip on chips, celery, shrimp, even wings!

And BOY where there lots and lots of wings!!! Honey Mustard (my fav), buffalo blue, Honey Terriyaki, and Garlic Parmesean. I will not lie. After the weekend i had i was looking for comfort and I found it in a plate of 6 wings, random handfuls of chips, spoonfuls of mommy crack….

And a big ass bottle of wine!

My beautiful Friend Arlenys, is modeling the damage made to the cheaply delicious JUG of Carlo Rossi Sangria that we polished off in about an hour.

When the Superbowl was over, I walked my tipsy ass home and had the nerve to want to eat some soft serve. And in light of a certain someone being a jackass I sought comfort in eating what I brought for him….

Yes, this feels right… but it should feel better than this.

There, thats better. Now i can enjoy his Soft Serve.

have a great snow day bunnies!!!!

SOPA TUSCANA!

When I returned from my cousin’s house after the Holidays i was craving that sopa tuscana that she made. The soup made with sausage and potatoes brings me back to the one of two times i ever went to the Olive Garden. (because apparently you don’t learn lessons the first time around- I despise Huge restaurant chains like Olive Garden because a lot of what makes food special is tradition and that homemade touch. I just feel a lot of it gets lost in being a Chain…. i digress) The first time i went to Olive Garden was with my cousin a few years ago when the endless soup and salad fad was all the rage. We went there for lunch and the unlimited soup and salad was included with the meal (jeez louise); I ordered chicken parm and when asked about my soup my cousin said sopa tuscana because it was really good. It was a cloudy broth that had chunks of soft potatoes, carmelized onions, crumbled sausage and a smoky bacon taste. I had 3 bowls and brought my chicken parm home (which is where i discovered my hatred for Olive Garden and they horrid sauces).
Well, My cousin made this soup over Christmas break and it was even better than I remembered it. I helped with the prep and figured I could play around with this recipe on my own.
And here are the goods!
2 tbsp milk, 1 tbsp flour, 1 lb of smoked bacon (i used turkey), 1 med sized onion, 6 cups of chicken broth, 6 potatoes sliced into rounds, 1 lb of sausage (sweet or hot), 1 bunch of kale (washed, trimmed, and cut into large pieces)

I washed my kale and ripped the leaves into chunks, discarding the stem and ugly pieces. i set them in a colander to drip dry until i was ready for them.

I roughly diced an onion and sauteed it in a pan with a light drizzle of olive oil.

Roughly diced up some smokey turkey bacon…and added them to the onions. Sautee until the bacon slightly crisps and the onions carmelize.

Get a large pot out and add all your chicken broth to the pot. Start to heat the broth since we now have to cook potatoes in there.

After scrubbing some yukon gold potatoes, I sliced them into rounds and added them to the now simmering chicken broth. I leave the skin on because i loves it… but if it grosses you out you can peel them.

Add you bacon and onions to the chicken broth and potatoes and get ready to cook the sausage. I was looking for the giant tube of jimmy dean sausage filling but I couldnt find any. If you find it, that would be ideal but if not, grab a lb of sausage, take them out of the casing and cook them up on the stove top using your cooking utensil to break them up into bits.

MMMM. Sausage crumbles. Do not taste them crumbles as you cook them. they are more addicitng than they appear.

Once the sausage is cooked…

Add it to the pot of other yummy stuff. Season to your liking. I added some italion seasoning, granulated garlic, salt and lots of cracked black pepper. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Add all of your kale… don’t worry- it will wilt down and turn into something gorgeous.

OH YEA! thats the stuff! We’re almost done! take a small bowl and put a few tablespoons of the broth in the bowl. add the milk and flour and whisk till there are no lumps. this is our thickening agent in our yummy soup. If you want to experience the full effect of this soup, omit the flour and milk and add 1/4 cup of heavy cream… However, with it being a new year and damn near everyone is on a diet I figured i would lighten this up just a little! once the mixture is lump free pour it into the soup and give it a giant stir. Soup is ready when potatoes are fork tender and kale is soft.

Have a big bowl wearing a warm snuggie and get that cozy feeling (hell, i know I needed it with all this FRIGID weather!)

And look at all those leftovers. Its gonna be a SOUPY week for me!

My version of the soup was a bit more “peppery” than my cousins. the addition of garlic powder made the flavors a lot bolder in the soup- with all the smokiness from the bacon- it could be ommitted and still taste amazing.

My apartment still smells like bacon and onions but thats not such a terrible thing…. unless someone comes over unaware that i made a bacon and onion based soup and thinks i need a shower…