Barley Zucchini Boats

Mr. Lawyer went to the grocery store by himself yesterday. He doesn't shop from a list, that's never a good idea! Drives me crazy. Then he comes home with random things like 2 zucchinis. Luckily I always wanted to make a zucchini boat recipe. For some reason I couldn't get barley out of my head so I found this recipe and then tweaked it to make it a smidgen healthier. 

The original recipe called for half a pound of ground beef or turkey which I swapped up for only two links of sausage. You could easily omit the meat and make it vegetarian. I left out the added salt and cut out some of the butter. I liked how you cooked the barley in the tomato sauce so it held a lot of flavor. It got the manly seal of approval!

Barley Zucchini Boats

(adapted from tasteofhome.com)

Ingredients:
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes
2/3 cup medium pearl barley
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
3 medium zucchini (8 to 9 inches)
2 spicy sausage links, casing removed
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions:1. Drain tomatoes, reserving juice. Set the tomatoes aside. Add water to juice to measure 2 cups; place in a saucepan. Add barley and cumin; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until tender.
2. Meanwhile, place zucchini in a Dutch oven and cover with water; bring to a boil. Cook for 6 minutes or until slightly tender. Drain; cool slightly. Slice zucchini in half lengthwise. Scoop out pulp, leaving
a 1/4-in. shell. Chop pulp and set aside.
3. In a skillet, cook sausage, onion, and garlic in oil until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add barley mixture, pepper, tomatoes and zucchini pulp; mix well. Spoon into zucchini shells.
4. Combine bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and butter; sprinkle over zucchini. Place in two greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dishes. Cover and bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until zucchini is tender.

Amazing Spicy Sausage Noodles

Let's rate this recipe: Mr. Lawyer had three servings and is planning on having it for breakfast. WINNER. It was simply and pretty quick. I liked that the sauce was light and not overpowering. Even though the sauce was just a slight coating the flavor was banging! The spicy sausage flavor permeates the sauce and the freshness of the peppers was so summery. I used all red peppers instead of red, orange, and yellow because that's what was on sale and it didn't take away from anything. There was a real depth to the flavor. I think it was the spicy sausage flavor and the wine. Delicious! 

Spicy Sausage & Pepper Noodles in Tomato-Wine Sauce

(Pinterest find! Adapted from thecozyapron.com)

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 spicy Italian sausage links, casings removed and crumbled
1 large onion, quartered and sliced thinly
1 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
½ teaspoon cracked black pepper
3 peppers (red, yellow, orange), cored and thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
½ cup dry white wine
1 can diced tomatoes with juice
1 box rigatoni noodles
Directions:

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan, brown the sausage. Remove the sausage with a slotted spoon and set aside.

2. Saute the onions in sausage drippings, about 5 minutes.

3. Add the salt, pepper, and italian seasoning.  Then add in the sliced peppers, saute until tender (3 minutes). Add the garlic and saute for 2 minutes.

4. Add the wine and simmer until it's over half reduced. Add the can of undrained diced tomatoes and then return the sausage to the mix. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.

5. Cook noodles according to directions on box. Place the noodles in a large bowl and top with the sausage sauce, toss gently.

6. Serve with fresh basil, parsley, or parmesan. 

Giant Stuffed Mushrooms!

Mushrooms are delicious and amazing. But when I said I was making a vegetarian stuff mushroom, I got a look from the boy. Luckily I had one spicy chicken sausage left in the freezer so I was able to augment this dish with some meat and it was a hit. I do think the spicy sausage added a lot to the dish. The tangy earthiness of the goat cheese went perfectly with the rich earthiness of the portobello. I imagine these would be ten times better if they were cooked outside on a grill.

Sausage, Tomato, and Goat Cheese Stuffed Portobellos

(Pinterest find! adapted from a food centric life)

Ingredients:
4 large Portobello mushrooms, cleaned and de-gilled
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoon finely chopped shallot or onion
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 ounces of plain goat cheese
1/2 cup roasted tomatoes

1/3 cup sauteed sausage
Directions:

1. Preheat the broiler. Mix together olive oil, lemon juice, and shallot. Coat the mushrooms in olive oil mixture, salt and pepper to taste, and broil them for 5 minutes.
2. Layer the sausage and tomatoes into the mushroom,. Top with blobs of goat cheese.
3. Bake for 12 minutes or until hot at 375.

For the tomatoes I used grape tomatoes cut in half, lightly coated with olive oil, tossed with 2 cloves minced garlic and a pinch of thyme. They were roasted at 375 for 25 minutes and they were delicious. Especially with a little balsamic drizzled over them.

Just Another Use For Sriracha

In case you were really, really craving one of the spicy leftover sausages but *someone* took them all for lunch leaving with you with a sweet one. 

Sriracha to the rescue!

Kind of a gross messy picture. Apologies.

But delicious.

Breakfast Leftovers

You know how even though you're a super clean person all of the sudden everything just explodes or you were too busy to actually notice it and then you find yourself confronted with these questions:

Why does the inside of the microwave look like an operating room?

How long has that glob of frosting been there?

Wait, how many people live here?!

13 according to this picture.

So on the first day of vacation I cleaned. A nice take everything off the counters, out of the cupboards and off the floors clean. A do the random things you've been avoiding because you were too busy with life or wanted to go to bed at 9:30 clean. Like oiling all your wooden kitchen things.

So this morning I bounced out of bed nice and early to prepare Mr. Lawyer a nice warm and filling breakfast. And by prepare I mean reheat yummy leftovers from this weekend. He was super surprised because he forgot we had them, which explains why they were still in the fridge. He normally has cereal or oatmeal for breakfast so real food was quite the treat, thanks for sending us home with leftovers Mrs. T! This casserole was delicious, extremely creamy and still wonderful after four days. Even the four day old bacon reheated nicely!

Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole

(made by Mrs. T, from Southern Living)

Ingredients:
1 pound ground hot pork sausage
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 1/2 cups frozen cubed hash browns
5 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 3/4 cups milk
1 cup all-purpose baking mix
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Toppings: picante sauce or green hot sauce, sour cream
Garnish: fresh parsley sprigs
Directions:
1. Cook sausage and onion in a large skillet over medium-high heat 5 minutes or until meat crumbles. Stir in hash browns, and cook 5 to 7 minutes or until sausage is no longer pink and potatoes are lightly browned. Drain mixture on paper towels; spoon into a greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish.
2. Stir together eggs, cheese, and next 4 ingredients; pour evenly over sausage mixture, stirring well. Cover and chill 8 hours.
3. Bake, covered with nonstick foil, at 350° for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 to 15 more minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven, and let stand 5 minutes. Serve with desired toppings. Garnish, if desired.

Crescent Roll Heaven

Our friends brought these yummy snacks to our basketball party. I don't have the recipe but it seems that all the filling consisted of was some caramelized onions and chopped up sausage. It was wrapped up in a crescent roll and therefore an amazing creation (I love crescent rolls). There was some extra filling and crescent rolls left over so we made some tonight for dinner. We added a piece of swiss cheese to each puff which made it even better. I followed the directions on the package and baked them for 11 minutes at 375.

Bread, Cinnamon Rolls and Sausage, Oh My!

What is better than homemade bread and cinnamon rolls on a freezing cold Sunday? Not much, other than the boy making dinner! Today's experiment was a new recipe for Amish bread. My loaf came out like a demented football but it tasted nice and sweet but slightly on the dense side. Nice crust. I split my batch into one loaf and one batch of 12 cinnamon rolls which were amazing! I used a Cinnabun clone recipe for the inside goo and top frosting and it was fabulous. The clone recipe did have a different, sweeter dough recipe with it but the Amish bread was perfect with it.

Amish White Bread

(allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
2 cups warm water (110 degrees F)
1/4 to 2/3 cup white sugar (the more sugar, the sweeter and denser the bread. I used 1/4)
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 cups bread flour
Directions:
1. In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.
2. Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
3. Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.

Cinnabun Clones

(allrecipes.com)

Cinnabun Goo:
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened
Cinnabun Topping:
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
Cinnabun Directions:
1. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
2. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
3. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

Aaaaaand since Mr. Lawyer made us a dinner fit for a football game (because that's what's been on all afternoon) I must feature it. He grilled up some yummy Spicy Italian Sausage from Whole Foods with peppers and onions on my new Christmas Grill Pan. I then did a quick toast on the rolls in the grill pan once he had everything out and we topped them with some spicy german mustard (which has horseradish!) They were delicious and I actually kind of felt like we were at the game.

Home Run!

So we had this poor little sad bag of tortellini in our cupboards. The lawyer and I both agreed that one of us could eat the whole 8 oz bag by ourselves so I had to find a way to beef the dish up. I promptly dug through all of my food magazines and found this little gem from Bon Appétit: Tortellini with Italian Sausage, Fennel and Mushrooms. I tend to find Bon Appétit recipes slightly intimidating with all their long and crazy list of ingredients but this one seemed manageable (especially since they weren't making their own tortellini!!). I was also skeptical of cooking with fennel as it is not one of my favorite flavors. However, I am learning to appreciate cooked fennel but still abhor fennel seeds so I omitted them from the recipe. I did add the fennel fronds for garnish and while they looked pretty I thought they kind of tasted like seaweed and would probably omit them in the future. This dish was surprising simple and easy to make. It tasted delicious and I will be making it in the future for a dinner party. I served up this scrumptious dish with some local artisan bread with Pino’s Press Tuscan Herb Dipping Oil from Syracuse on my new Vermont Bread Board (side note: make sure you always screw the cap on tightly after using any bottled substance. Evidently I did not do this after the pita chip experiments and when I went to shake the bottle BAM! Olive oil on my floor! While it was only around two tablespoons it looked like a ton and my kitchen still smells like a well seasoned Italian kitchen) 

Tortellini with Italian Sausage, Fennel and Mushrooms 

(this is the full recipe, I halved it because I only had 8 oz of tortellini)

(Bon Appétit, December 2010) 

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced lengthwise (about 3 cups), fronds chopped

1 pound spicy Italian sausages, casings removed, sausage coarsely crumbled
1 8-ounce package sliced fresh crimini (baby bella) mushrooms (of course we added extra!)
4 large garlic cloves, pressed
1 tablespoon fennel seeds, coarsely crushed (completely omitted by Jenni)
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup (or more) low-salt chicken broth
1 16-ounce package dried tortellini with pesto filling or fresh tortellini with 3-cheese filling
1 5-ounce package fresh baby spinach leaves
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese plus additional (for serving)
Directions:
1. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sliced fennel bulb, sausage, and mushrooms; sauté until sausage is brown and cooked through and fennel is almost tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Add garlic and fennel seeds; stir 1 minute. Stir in cream, then 1 cup broth; boil until liquid is reduced and very slightly thickened, 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cook tortellini in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain tortellini; return to same pot.
3. Add sausage mixture to tortellini in pot. Toss over medium heat until blended. Add spinach; toss gently until spinach wilts. Stir in 1/2 cup cheese; add more broth by 1/4 cupfuls to moisten if dry. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with chopped fennel fronds, and serve, passing additional cheese.

Mr. Lawyer said it was a “home run” and it reheated wonderfully the next day. I definitely recommend it to anyone!