Baked Spinach and Sausage Stuffed Tomato

In general, I think the theory that our taste buds changed every seven years is true. When I was little I didn’t care too much for tomatoes, but now I like them for the most part. Except, I still hate the squishy guts inside. I love the idea of stuffing tomatoes and baking them till they are slightly soft. This is probably because I have a slight obsession with stuffing items with delicious concoctions. It’s safe to say that anything stuffed makes me happy. And if you pair something stuffed with any kind of dip or sauce, I have seriously died and gone to heaven.

Anyway, this recipe can do triple duty in your kitchen. It can be served as a main course, an interesting side dish, or if you use roma tomatoes, it can be a great appetizer. This makes 4 large vine-ripe or beefsteak tomatoes, but if you want to make it as an app, go with about 6 roma tomatoes and halve them.

Even though my cheese got a little too browned, I couldn't not share these with you.



Italian Sausage and Spinach Baked Stuffed Tomatoes
*Makes 4
(printable recipe)

What you need:
- 4-5oz loose mild Italian sausage
- 4 large beefsteak or vine-ripened tomatoes
- ¼ cup minced onion
- 1 small garlic clove, minced
- 1/3 cup frozen spinach, squeezed of excess liquid
- 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese
- ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon garlic salt
- salt and pepper

Smoked Gouda and Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms

I dreamed this recipe up a few years ago and it is one of Brent’s favorites. Anytime I take it to a party it always goes over really well and I get asked for the recipe. Once there was someone was telling people that they weren’t any good. I overheard this and didn’t think much of it until Brent told me later that the guy asked for the recipe. Odd, right? He admitted to Brent that he was telling people they weren’t yummy because he didn’t want every one else to eat them.

It was kinda genius if you ask me.

Anyway, stuffed mushrooms do take a little bit of prep work, but they are worth it in the end. You can prep them up to a day in advance; just make sure you cover them before putting them in the fridge.

Smoked Gouda and Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms

*Makes 45-55
(printable recipe)

Ingredients:
- approx 32-40 oz of whole button mushrooms
- 1 lb bulk breakfast sausage, such as Jimmy Dean
- 12 oz smoked gouda
- 1.5 cups Italian bread crumbs
- 1.25 cups butter, melted
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
- salt and pepper, to taste
- cooking spray

Directions:

1. Break up and brown sausage in a large skillet over medium high heat. Once done, drain well and place on a paper lined plate to cool. You want to omit as much grease as possible. Once cooled, give a rough chop to eliminate any huge pieces.

2. While sausage is cooking/cooling, de-stem mushrooms and wipe off excess dirt with a damp paper towel. Season with salt and pepper. Also take this time to shred the gouda with a cheese grater.

3. When ready, combine sausage, cheese, butter, bread crumbs, and spices in a large bowl. Stir to incorporate. Next stuff each mushroom with a teaspoon to tablespoon amount of stuffing depending on size. It’s best to form a rough ball first and then form to make a dome on top of the mushroom. See the pictures below.

Italian Sausage and Vegetable Soup

I was debating between soup and stew for this dish. It’s pretty hearty and even though there is a lot of chopping, its a snap to make thanks to the crock pot. Brent and I originally came across the idea for this recipe in a crock pot recipe booklet. You know, one of those little ones you find in the grocery line. We’ve made several adjustments to it, and it's one of our favorites. You’ll need a large crock pot for this.

Italian Sausage and Vegetable Soup

Sweet lil Smokies

First and foremost, I cannot take credit for this one. A lovely lady, which I feel privileged enough to call a friend, shared this idea with me. She said it’s always a hit when she makes it. I wanted a new appetizer to try on Thanksgiving so I decided to try this one out. Since then, it’s been requested three more times.

These little guys are incredibly yummy. But in all honesty, I don’t know why there are so damn good and addicting. I mean really, really addicting. There are just three ingredients and it’s so simply to prepare, but creates amazing results. Its one of those foods that you know will be good based on the ingredients, but you don’t realize how fantastic it will be until you actually pop one of those little babies into your mouth.

Ok, I’ve gushed enough. Below is the recipe.

Breakfast Paninis

When I was a little girl, probably 7 or 8 years old, I remember my mother telling me that pancakes were for dinner one night. I thought she had lost her mind. I can clearly recall thinking: you can’t have breakfast for dinner – it’s just not right. Now at 26, breakfast for dinner is one of my favorite things to do. Usually I will do this when it will be just me for dinner. It’s really quick, affordable, and perfect for one person because I almost always have everything I need on hand.

As I sat at work, waiting for my computer to find the file I needed, I started brainstorming about what to do for dinner. By the time I finally had the file – dinner plans were set. Breakfast sandwich!

Personally, I am a huge fan of the breakfast sandwich. I won’t lie; I love them because bacon and cheese are a fairly standard choice. While I have always loved bacon (sadly I could eat a pound of it by myself), I haven’t always been a huge fan of eggs. As a kid I would dip my sausage, bacon, or toast in the yolk of a sunny side up or over easy egg, but I wouldn’t touch scrambled or eat the whites. It wasn’t until I was 18 or 19 and managing a restaurant inside of a charming hotel that had a Sunday brunch that I actually started to even consider trying them. We had an omelet station on the brunch and the omelets just looked so GOOD! And after a long Saturday night, they were calling to me. I would load them up with every veggie possible, some bacon, and a ton of cheese. Not to mention a good amount of salt and pepper. Nowadays, I will eat eggs in a variety of ways but never plain or by themselves. I guess you could say they have to be “masked” in some way shape or form.

Back to dinner! Tonight I made a breakfast sandwich for dinner. It was super simple and ready to eat in about 15 minutes. This delightful dinner had crispy bacon, eggs with red bell pepper and onion, and creamy havarti cheese on a ciabatta roll. Say it with me now: Mmmmmmm!

Ciabatta Breakfast Sandwich

Steps:

1- Start your bacon or sausage or even ham.

2- Dice up onion and red bell pepper. Sauté till soft in a small sauté pan.

3- Whisk together your eggs with a little splash of milk and S&P. I used two eggs.

4- Once the veggies are soft, add a little more butter and then add your eggs.

5- Here you can either scramble your eggs or make them omelet-like. I was going for omelet-like but I got distracted and had to switch to scrambled. Tastes the same but omelets are easier to work with in a sandwich.

6- Slice ciabatta and layer each side with sliced cheese. Place the eggs on the bottom half, the bacon of the top half, and then put the two halves together and mush down.

7- Here you have several choices: 1-eat as is, 2- toast up in the oven or 3- press it.

8- I pressed mine using my decade old George Forman that is still kicking. It took about 3-5 minutes for the cheese to melt and the bread to get a nice crunch to it. Before adding it to the grill, I find that lightly brushing the bread with a little EVOO helps keeps it from getting burnt.

Interesting Food Fact: Ciabatta literally means “carpet slipper”. Who knew? Well… the Italians I guess.

My thoughts on this dish: Quick and simple – which I love. Havarti was a great choice for cheese because it melts really well and got nice and gooey. I love ciabatta and it had a nice crunch on the outside, but still chewy and soft on the inside. I would have loved if my eggs where omelet style, but scrambled with the peppers and onions was good too. And with all the cheese on there I didn't have to worry about the egg falling out of my sandwich. This is always a good thing in my book.

Kitten ^..^

Quick Trip to Italy: Italian Flag Pasta

Usually by the time 6pm roles around on a Monday night, I am not in the mood to think about dinner - let alone actually cook dinner. I think this is why BD and I got into having Monday night as “slow cooker” night.

Yesterday I was in the mood for some food comfort and I had not made this dish in quite some time. I came up with the idea a couple of years back and it’s one of BD’s favorites that I make. I’m naming it Italian Flag Pasta because you have all the colors of the Italy’s flag and of course – it’s Italian!

Italian Flag Pasta

(print recipe)

Ingredients:

*This recipe serves maybe 4…??? Let’s just say that we had about double leftover after we were done.

- 3 Italian sausage links (use more or less if you like – I used mild)

- 3/4 red bell pepper, sliced thin

- ½ large white/yellow onion, sliced thin

- 8 basil leaves

- 8oz fresh mozzarella, cubed

- 2 cups of tomato sauce

- ½ pound rigatoni or ziti pasta

- Little bit of EVOO just for sautéing

Method:

1 -Take the sausage and remove the casing. You can do this by making a very small incision along the sausage and slowly peeling it back. I remove the casing because if left on while browning, it won’t retain the shape that I want. Then pop them into the freezer for about 15 minutes. This will allow them to harden slightly and it will be easier to slice into ¼ discs. Then in a large sauté pan, over med-high heat, add a little EVOO to coat the bottom of the pan and brown the sausage on both sides.

Once I get them all in the pan and in a single layer, I add a little salt and some pepper. When the sausage is browned on both sides, remove from the pan.

2 - While that is browning, slice your veggies, basil and cheese.

*Basil you can either tear, chop or chiffonade. I prefer the chiffonade because it’s prettier. It’s very simple to do: just layer the leaves on top of each other; roll into a little cigar; and then slice.

Cheeeeeese!

3 – Add some EVOO to a sauté pan and add your onion and peppers. Add S&P and sauté until soft. Takes about 10-15 minutes.

4- Once soft, add the sausage back into the pan and add tomato sauce. I used Hannaford’s Roasted Garlic tomato sauce. It’s probably one of the few jarred sauces that I will use because the flavor is really great. You can use any you prefer or even your own homemade. FYI: Hannaford is Sweet Bay’s private label.

5- Sauté everything together until sauce is heated through.

6- Once the sauce is hot and the pasta done, add the pasta to a large bowl, the sauce with veggies and sausage and stir together. Then add your mozzarella cheese and basil and toss.

Mmmmm

My thoughts on this dish: This dish always full of flavor and so easy to make. It's a great go-to for me, a good crowd pleaser, and feeds your soul. Wow, that was corny! My favorite part of this dish is how the cheese melts just enough to be soft and gooey. I also love the contrast of texture between the cheese and the browned sausage that retains a bit of a crust from the pan. And the fresh basil really gives it a nice burst of freshness. I'm usually not too picky with fresh or dried herbs, but with this dish its fresh basil or none at all, in my opinion.

Kitten ^..^