The Food Brie Cooked and Baked

Recipe source: Allrecipes.com

I do not know Colleen, but she makes a mean jambalaya.

This was very good, but mine was definitely too spicy – the kind of spicy that makes your nostrils burn when you smell it.

Next time, I’ll choose a milder sausage and cut down on the cayenne pepper.

Colleen's slow cooker jambalaya

Recipe source: Diane, my super-sweet coworker

When Diane told me about this recipe a while back, I tucked it away for future reference. And it sounded like a good, easy meal for this weekend, so I pulled it out.

It’s a simple recipe:

Add some water to cover the bottom of a large skillet. Layer one head of cabbage (cut up into pieces), some sliced potatoes (enough to cover the cabbage), salt and pepper, and then slice Polish sausage on top. Cover and simmer for 1.5-2 hours.

This was a very simple, really good meal – and economical, too! We like bread (a lot), so we also had a baguette with our meal.

sausage, cabbage and potato skillet

Recipe source: I have no idea

Ever since finding this recipe, I have never made traditional stuffed green peppers with rice. I don’t even remember where I got the recipe from, but it is the absolute best stuffed green pepper recipe I’ve ever tried. BP loves it, too.

Instead of rice, the peppers are filled with a mixture of ground beef, sausage, tomatoes, feta, Parmesan, mozzarella and some spices. Delicious.

I halve my peppers and lay them in a 9×13 dish, rather than actually trying to stuff them, which is why you can hardly see any of the green pepper in the photo. It’s buried.

beef and feta stuffed green peppers

Recipe

1 tbsp. butter

4 green peppers

1-1/2 lbs. ground sirloin (I use ground chuck usually.)

1/2 lbs. ground sausage (hot or mild)

1 small white onion, diced

oregano, seasoned pepper and fennel seed (optional) to taste

6 Roma tomatoes, sliced

2 tsp. crushed garlic or 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

6 oz. fresh feta cheese, crumbled

1/2 c. grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray casserole dish with non-stick spray. Cook ground sirloin and sausage at low-medium heat, stirring often. Once meat is cooked through, drain thoroughly. Add all butter, onions, garlic, oregano, seasoned pepper, fennel seed and 3/4 of the tomatoes. Simmer over low heat, approx. 20 minutes.

Cut off tops of peppers, remove inner seeds and membranes. Wash and dry. Fill peppers with meat mixture, alternating with a layer of feta and Parmesan cheeses. Place peppers into a casserole dish, side by side, adding remaining tomatoes to the dish (around and under the peppers so they cook up and into the peppers).

Add remaining mixture around the peppers and sprinkle all remaining feta and Parmesan cheeses on top. Add shredded mozzarella cheese.

Bake at 350 for approx. 30 minutes, or until browned and bubbly.

Recipe source: Allrecipes.com

If you have an abundance of summer garden produce at your disposal, then you really need to make this dish.

I stumbled upon this recipe a few years ago, and I’ve made it every summer since. It’s perfect for when you have a lot of vegetables ready to go in your garden. I generally follow the recipe almost exactly, but you could substitute in whatever vegetables are ripe in your yard.

This time, I found everything I needed in our garden except for the yellow squash, so I doubled the zucchini instead.

Also, the recipe calls for farfalle pasta, but I didn’t have any, so I used a box of rotini I had on the shelf.

pasta primavera with Italian turkey sausage

Recipe source: Simple & Delicious, June/July 2010

Grilled pineapple may just be my very favorite grilled food item. It is seriously delicious, and I think it’s what made these kabobs rock it out.

BP and I did not eat this with ranch dressing, as the recipe suggests. They were delicious by themselves, straight off the grill.

sausage & chicken kabobs

1/4 c. soy sauce

1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/8 tsp. seasoned salt

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-1/2-in. cubes

1 lb. fully cooked kielbasa or Polish sausage, cut into 3/4-in. slices

4 medium red potatoes, cut into 1-1/2-in. cubes

2 c. cubed fresh pineapple

Combine the first five ingredients; add chicken and sausage. Stir to coat. Refrigerate one hour.

Meanwhile, place potatoes in a large microwave-safe bowl. Cover and microwave on high for 6-8 minutes or until almost tender, stirring twice.

Drain and discard marinade. On metal or soaked wooden skewers, alternately thread the chicken, potatoes, sausage and pineapple. Grill, covered, over medium heat for 10-15 minutes or until chicken juices run clear, turning frequently. Serve with ranch dressing.

Recipe source: Allrecipes.com

I chose this recipe for tonight because I wanted to use up broccoli from our garden, and it was a good choice.

Not only did I get to use two heads of fresh-from-the-garden broccoli, but BP and I also enjoyed a really good supper.

The recipe calls for cavatelli (obviously), but I had rotini so that’s what I used instead. I also added a half cup of the starchy pasta water when I mixed everything together.

My only regret: not inviting anyone over for supper. This made a big skillet full of food. We will be eating this for days.

broccoli and sausage cavatelli

Recipe source: MarthaStewart.com

I know it sounds a little funny, but this was unexpectedly very good. Even BP agreed – but only after he told me he was not expecting a meal that tasted good (before he tasted it). Ha!

The combination of the Italian sausage with the pasta and Parmesan is, obviously, a no-brainer. But it’s the addition of the raisins, pine nuts and chard that made this dish really worth the time.

gemelli with sausage, Swiss chard and pine nuts

Recipe source: Allrecipes.com, with crust from The Noshery (which pulled the recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks) Whew! That’s a lot of attribution!

If you enjoy thick-crust pizza, you will enjoy this pizza.

I’ve made this pizza a couple of times before, and BP requested I make it again this week. In the past, I’ve always used store-bought pizza dough. This time, however, I decided to make my own. I used the recipe referenced above, and although it says it makes two crusts, I used the whole ball so that it would be extra thick.

It turned out great! I think I probably will make up a batch and freeze the dough so that it’s handy next time I’m feeling like pizza night.

Chicago-style pan pizza

Recipe source: Simple & Delicious, March/April 2010

This was worth the time and effort.

It took me about an hour to put this together, but I ended up with two 9×13 pans of a delicious, hearty meal – one of which we ate right away and the other is in the freezer for next month.

Chock full of veggies, this was a meal I will make again. One 9×13 casserole fed me, BP, Dad and Little Brother, plus BP and I had enough leftover for supper the next night.

The recipe called for fully cooked Italian sausage links, but the deli I go to was out of them, so I bought bulk sausage instead and cooked it before putting it in the dish.

chicken and sausage manicotti

Recipe source: Simple & Delicious, January/February 2010

Italian sausage, kielbasa, tomatoes, basil, oregano, pasta – what’s not to love? This was an easy, tasty dish on a cold winter night.

hearty sausage stew