Italian Sausage and Spicy Cream Sauce Over Pasta – Low-fat, Easy and Delicious!!!

Tags

Easy, Italian Sausage and Spicy Cream Sauce, low-fat, pasta, tomato, tomatoes

For some reason the turkey Italian sausage is always marked down at my local grocery store. I can’t resist a good deal, so I have a bunch of that sausage in my freezer. I figured I better use some of that stuff! I make my marinara sauce quite frequently, so I wanted to try something a little different last night. This spicy cream tomato sauce was delicious!!! Since I used sweet sausage, the dish wasn’t overly spicy, so even the sensitive palette would enjoy it, but you could easily spice it up even more by using spicy sausage and adding additional red pepper flakes. This would be an easy dish to multiply and serve to a large group too!

Italian Sausage and Spicy Cream Sauce Over Pasta

1/2 red onion, chopped

1 pound turkey Italian sausage, remove from casing

3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed

1 – 14 oz can diced tomatoes, not drained

1 – 8 oz can tomato sauce

1 tbsp tomato paste (Tip: Buying the tomato paste in a tube (vs. a can) is perfect for this type of recipe. You can squeeze out what you need, cap it and put it back in the fridge. Rather than using a partial can and likely throwing away the rest.)

1/2 cup fat free half and half

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 – 13 oz box of pasta (I had whole wheat rotini pasta on hand, so I used that.)

I cooked in my dutch oven, but you could also use a large skillet. Spray pan with olive oil spray and heat to medium high heat. Add onions and cook until tender. Add sausage and cook, breaking up into small pieces. When sausage is almost completely browned, add garlic and cook another minute. Add all tomato products, stir well and reduce to low. Allow to simmer for 30 minutes. While the sauce is simmering, you can boil your pasta in salted water. In the last couple minutes of sauce simmering, add the half and half and cheese and stir. Drain pasta and pour into large bowl. Spoon sausage and sauce over pasta and serve. 8 servings.

Mangia bene!!!

Caprese Salad – A Light, Easy Warm Weather Meal!

Tags

balsamic reduction, basil, Caprese Salad, Honey, motzarella, tomatoes, vegetarian, vinegar

Here in California the weather is still really warm. Ok, it’s hot!!! We’re supposed to hit 101 degrees this weekend! On these kind of days, you just don’t feel like heating up the kitchen with a lot of cooking and a light meal sounds wonderful. I know the Caprese Salad is nothing new, but I’m not ashamed to admit it was new to me. I’ve seen them on TV, I’ve been with people that have ordered them in restaurants, but I’ve never had one myself. I had purchased some expensive motzarella for another dish and didn’t make it. I didn’t want it to go to waste, so I decided to use it to make a Caprese salad. It did not disappoint!!! This dish is stunning and delicious! It’s great for a quick, light dinner or elegant enough for an appetizer to serve to guests.

This salad is REALLY simple!!! Simple is great, but when a dish is this simple it is critical to use excellent ingredients. I had the expensive motzarella; check! I grow my own fresh basil; check! I bought some beautiful, organic heirloom tomatoes at the store; check! Now I wanted to make a balsamic reduction to top off this dish. I’ve got this!!!

Caprese Salad

Motzarella cheese, slides (Invest in some good cheese!)

Tomatoes, sliced (Go big on the investment here too! Hot house tomatoes have very little flavor. Get your hands on some homegrown or heirloom tomatoes!)

Fresh basil leaves

Salt and pepper

1 cup Balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup Honey

The only cooking involved: Whisk together vinegar and honey in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes or until reduced to about 1/2 cup.

Arrange cheese, tomatoes, and basil in alternate layers on plates or a large platter, drizzle with balsamic reduction and then lightly season with salt and pepper.

Mangia bene!!!

Ratatouille with Black Beans and Zucchini – A Healthy Choice as a Side Dish or Main

Tags

Black Beans, main dish, onion, Ratatouille, side dish, tomatoes, vegan, vegetarian, zucchini

It’s that time of year here in California where the zucchini is in great form and is plentiful! I had some beautiful, organic zucchini and wanted to do something a little different with it. I decided to make something with beans rather than the typical potato, rice or pasta side dish. This ratatouille like dish that I threw together hit the spot! It had a variety of flavors highlighted by fresh, organic veggies and herbs. It was the perfect side dish to our barbecued chicken. 

You could also make it with a little more sauce and serve it over rice or pasta as a vegetarian main dish. Leave out the Parmesan cheese and you have a satisfying Vegan dish!

Ratatouille with Black Beans and Zucchini

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed (Tip: Fresh cooked beans would taste the best or you can go the quick route and use canned, like I did. To reduce the salt in canned beans, be sure to rinse them well.)

3 zucchini, sliced

3 Roma tomatoes, diced

1/2 medium red onion, diced

3 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped (or you can use dried)

1 tsp cumin

Salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 tbsp garlic infused olive oil (or use regular olive oil and add a clove of fresh garlic to the mixture.)

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Add olive oil to large saute pan or wok. Heat over medium heat. Add all ingredients and saute until onions and zucchini soften. I like my zucchini more on the al dente side. Top with Parmesan cheese just before serving.

Enjoy!

Extra Thin and Crispy Goat Cheese Tart with Spinach and Thyme Pesto

Tags

Goat Cheese, Pastry, pesto, spinach, tart, tomatoes, vegetarian

This was originally posted by another blogger, but I’m a sucker for goat cheese, so I wanted to post, so I can try it some time in the future. Yummmm!

A real favourite of mine when it comes to vegetarian meals. This is quite a thrifty little meal from Lorraine Pascale! It always goes so much further than you expect. In fact – I have some packed up for my lunch tomorrow! I would definitely recommend making your own pesto – you can really taste […]
https://teatimegems.wordpress.com/2016/05/12/extra-thin-crispy-goats-cheese-tart-with-spinach-thyme-pesto/

This Food Blogger is Stepping Up Her Game with Home Grown Veggies!

Tags

Cilantro, Cooking, Food, Gardening, home grown, oregano, peppers, recipe, tomatoes

   
More to come as time advances, but this girl is stepping up her cooking game this year! I’m a farmer’s daughter who has planted before, but it has been a few years. My husband I just played in the dirt planting Roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, red bell  peppers, jalapeno peppers, oregano and cilantro. We still have some basil and cucumbers left to plant. I’m looking forward to fried green tomatoes, fresh salsa, sundried tomatoes and marinara made with home grown tomatoes! If you have never planted a garden, I can’t recommend it enough! It’s not just the effort, the vegetables truly taste like NOTHING you’ve had before!!! You just can get tomatoes, whether farm fresh or from the grocery store, that taste like home grown! There are so many uses that you can never have too many. You can make sundried tomatoes and marinara and freeze for later use.

Wow we made a mess though! And I’ve washed my hands 3 times and still have dirt under my nails. It will all be worth it though! I can just imagine how wonderful the marinara sauce will be!!! You know you’ll hear more from me about that!!!