An old favorite…

 

I’ve been a Cooking Light subscriber for years – since 1998, if I remember right.  This recipe was printed in their Jan/Feb 2001 issue and was one I tried almost right away and continued to use on homemade pizza (the Chicago-Style Pizza) for a number of years.  Then I put the magazine on a bookshelf, forgot about it, moved it to the farm, and just now found it again.  The page is still marked and it’s been on my shelf for over 10 years!  Time to take it off the shelf.

Atsa Spicy  Pizza Sausage

Yield: 5 cups

 

INGREDIENTS

1 lb. ground turkey

1 lb. ground pork

1/2 cup dry red wine

1/3 cup minced fresh parsley

2 Tbl. grated Parmesan cheese

1 Tbl. fennel seeds

1 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. dried thyme

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

4 garlic cloves, crushed

DIRECTIONS: Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  Cook sausage in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until browned, stirring to crumble.  Drain.

Note:  The sausage can be frozen in zip-top plastic bags for up to 3 months.

Italian Sausage Bake

This recipe is an adaptation from one found on the Velveeta box; it turned out great and the kids loved it … well except for one who doesn’t really care for spicy Italian sausage.  We made a deal and he ate half the meat on his plate – made sure his water glass was handy to tame the fiery tongue!

Italian Sausage Bake
Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients:
16oz. Rigattoni (or other tube shaped) pasta
1 lb. Italian sausage, casings removed
16 oz. tomato sauce
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 lb (8 oz.) Velveeta, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Cook pasta as directed.
2. Brown the sausage in a deep skillet over medium heat.  Add tomato sauce and oregano.  Add the Velveeta and stir until thoroughly mixed.
3. In a 13x9 inch pan, mix the pasta and meat mixture together.  Top with parmesan cheese.
4. Bake 20-25 min. or until heated through.

** Serve with a side salad and garlic toast.

--UPDATE--
While the kids and I really liked the spicy flavor (except for the one child, anyway!) we ALL agreed that it was too much Velveeta, especially noticeable on leftovers.  I would cut the amount back to 3/4 cup or even 1/2 cup.

Manicotti Alla Romana

This is a new recipe to me.  I've had the manicotti pasta on hand for a while and decided during menu planning that it was time to 'use it'.  So, while this recipe doesn't recommend or even talk about doubling and freezing, that's my experiment.  I'm quite certain it will work because I frozen similar dishes with great results.  I am planning to change the recipe from the original I found online, so I can give you my ingredients and extended directions.  Please note that the ingredients are for a double batch and I do plan to freeze half.  This recipe is a bit time-consuming, so the double batch makes it more worthwhile for me.

FAMILY RATING:  *****

This recipe is soooo good.  For our family, one manicotti was enough for the three youngest.  Graham would have had enough with 1/2 or 3/4 of a manicotti, but I dished him without thinking.  He ate it anyway (I'm sure he's stuffed!) because the Cookie Cake Dessert was enticing.  I served the main dish with vegetables, so there should be enough left for dinner/lunch tomorrow, as long as I supplement with veggies or garlic toast. 

Manicotti Alla Romana (Doubled)
Yield: 14 servings (7 large adult servings per dish)

Ingredients:

2 Tbls. Olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

6 cloves minced garlic

2 lbs. ground beef

Sea Salt to taste

1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained*

2 – 15oz. containers Ricotta Cheese

2 eggs, beaten

6 cups spaghetti sauce, divided

4 Tbls. Butter

4 Tbls. All purpose flour
4 Tbls. Beef bouillon
4 cups half & half
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbls. Chopped fresh basil
1 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

Directions:
1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Saute onions until translucent. Add minced garlic and sauté for 1 minute more. Stir in ground beef. Cook until well browned. Season with sea salt and set aside.

2. Cook spinach according to package directions.

3. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boil. Add manicotti tubes and parboil for half the recommended time on the package. Drain and cover with cool water to stop the cooking process and prevent cracking.

4. To the ground beef, add the cooked spinach and ricotta cheese. When the mixture is cooled, add beaten eggs. Spread 1/4 cup of spaghetti sauce in the bottom of each 9x13 inch pan. Gently drain the manicotti tubes and carefully stuff each one with meat and cheese mixture. I put the mixture in a Ziploc storage bag, cut the corner and squeezed the mixture into the tubes. Place half the pasta in each pan. Cover with a damp cloth to prevent cracking.

Meat and ricotta cheese mixture (above).

13x9 pans prepared with 1/4 cup spaghetti sauce.

Meat and ricotta cheese mixture in a ziploc bag and ready for squeezing into the manicotti tubes.

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

6. Prepare the white sauce by melting the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour and beef bouillon. Increase heat to med-high and cook while stirring constantly, until it begins to bubble. Stir in ½ & ½ and bring to a boil, stirring constantly (a whisk works best). Cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in parsley. Ladle half the sauce over manicotti in each pan.

7. Stir the basil into the remaining spaghetti sauce. Ladle half the sauce over the white sauce in each pan. Try to layer the sauces without mixing.

Manicotti tubes are filled and placed in 13x9 pans (above).  Ready for baking or for freezing (below).

8. Cover aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove from oven, uncover and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered another 10 minutes.


Freezing Directions: 
After layering the sauces on the second pan, cover with plastic wrap and with a layer of heavy-duty aluminum foil. If you prefer, you can even measure the parmesan cheese into a baggie and freeze between the plastic wrap and foil. Label with the following instructions: Thaw completely in frig (this may be more than overnight). Remove plastic wrap and recover with aluminum foil. Bake at 350 degrees, or until done. Remove from the oven, uncover and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered another 10 minutes.

*If you decide not to double, it’s okay to use a full 10 oz. package of frozen spinach per ‘batch’.

An Additional Note:  I used a gallon size freezer bag, but it may be more manageable to use a quart sized bag.

And, a confession ... I forgot to add the eggs to the meat and cheese mixture!  However, the dish was still delicious and no one but me knew about the omission.

Pepperoni Spaghetti Pie

The recipe that inspired this dish originally came to me from menus4moms.com. I did change some of the ingredients to suite what I had on hand, and I added a few ingredients, as well. My family thought this was a keeper. We are all looking forward to leftovers!! Here's my adjusted recipe.

Pepperoni Spaghetti Pie
Yield: 12 servings

1 lb. ground hamburger
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 (4oz.) can mushrooms
1 (26oz.) can or jar pasta sauce
1 (8oz.) can tomato sauce
1 tsp. sweet basil, dried
1 tsp. oregano, dried
2 Tbl. parsely, dried
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper, ground
1 lb. spaghetti, broken into 1 to 2 inch pieces
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 (5oz.) pkg sliced pepperoni*
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded Colby Jack cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the pasta as directed on the package. Drain and rinse. Set aside.

2. Brown the hamburger in a large skillet. Drain excess liquid. Once browned and drained, add the onion, green pepper and mushrooms. Continue cooking until the vegetables are tender.

3. Add the pasta sauce, tomato sauce and all the seasonings. Stir to combine and simmer for 15 minutes to combine flavors.

4. Combine the milk and eggs in a large bowl. Mix the spaghetti into the milk and egg mixture to coat.

5. Lightly spray a 13x9 baking pan with cooking spray.

6. Place half the spaghetti mixture in the pan, then place half the meat mixture on top. Repeat these two layers. Arrange pepperoni over the top of the layers. Spread 2 cheeses over the top of the pepperoni.

7. Cover the pie with foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake an additional 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

To Freeze: After the pepperoni is arranged, put the pie in the refrigerator to cool. Once cooled completely, spread the 2 cheeses over the top. Wrap the pie with freezer wrap (I usually use plastic wrap and foil - cheese will eat away at foil, so the plastic wrap is necessary for freezeing). It will keep in the freezer for up to 2 months.

To Prepare from Freezer: Thaw the pie overnight in the refrigerator. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Remove the plastic wrap and cover again with the foil. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake an additional 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

*I try to avoid meats that have nitrates added. I thought I'd have to make an exception for this recipe, but was surprised to find that non-nitrate pepperoni is available!

Skillet Lasagna

What a surprise of flavor I found in this skillet dish! I needed something quick for tonight because we were gone until 5:30p. Of course, I hadn't thought far enough ahead to plan a crock pot meal (or my menu for this week). I was expecting the noodle, beef and tomato soup hotdish they always served at funerals or potlucks at my hometown church; I expected to spice it up a bit. This is NOT that hotdish - Thankfully!

Even though I stopped at the store, I forgot a key ingredient. No bother, parmessan cheese made a wonderful substitution for the cottage cheese topping. Couldn't find my Italian seasoning at the last minute ... just toss in thyme, oregano, basil, parsely, white pepper and sea salt for taste.

Yes, it was adapted and changed a lot, but it turned out great. Here's my rendition of Skillet Lasagna in recipe form (at least, as close as I can get it).

Suzie's Skillet Lasagna
Yield: 10 servings

1lb. ground beef
1/2 lb. Italian sausage*
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 green bell pepper, diced
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
4 cups egg noodles
3 1/2 cups water
26 oz. spaghetti sauce
6.5 oz. can sliced mushrooms
3 Tbl. dried parsely
1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. ground white pepper
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 cup shredded parmessan cheese

In a large skillet, brown the hamburger and Italian sausage links (if they aren't already - I used frozen browned hamburger and the Italian sausage was frozen and pre-cooked, too). Add the chopped onion and diced green pepper. Saute for 8 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add the remaining ingredients, except for the parmessan cheese. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until the noodles are cooked to al dente. Remove the skillet from heat, spread the parmessan cheese over the top and cover. Let stand until the cheese is melted.

*I used Italian sausage links - that was all I could find at the store - and cut them in slices and then in half. The original recipe called for 1/2 pound of Italian sausage, if you want to substitute.

Mini-Cooking Session

**Sadly, my camera is having a fit. I didn't realize the pictures were all lined and grainy until the day was done and I was importing them into the post. So, no pictures of the days work for viewing. Technology is both wonderful and frustrating!

The day started quite early . . . I woke up at 5:30a and couldn't get back to sleep. Rather than lay there thinking about sleep, I got up and started the mini-cooking session. I had planned to make seven different entrees, but quickly realized that I wouldn't have the energy to complete those and chose to scale back to five. The five I chose to prepare were Breakfast McBiscuits x12, Chicken Enchiladas x1, Chicken Rice Soup x2, Italian Sausage Soup x2 and Taco Soup x2.

6a - You can't start a Saturday morning without a little bit of laundry, so that's where I began! One load folded, one transferred to the dryer and one started in the washer. Now, on to transferring the meat, biscuits & produce out of storage and into the kitchen.

7a - The majority of ingredients for Italian Sausage Soup are in the crock pot and cooking. The Italian sausage is browned and reserved with the Mexican tomatoes to be added later.

8a - Biscuits are baked, 1st batch of bacon ready (some McBiscuits are prepared and eaten for breakfast!), hamburger for Taco Soup browned and the chicken breasts are in the process of being poached. I took a few minutes to wash dishes that I will need later.

8:30a - Taco Soup is simmering on the stove, the rice cooker is started, and the 2nd batch of bacon is in the oven.

9a - Taco Soup is cooling, Chicken Rice Soup is simmering, and the chicken is poached and diced.

9:30a - Preparation for the enchilada sauce is underway; and the enchiladas are rolled and arranged in a 13x9 pan. Bacon is done & placed on paper towels to cool.

10a - Chicken Enchiladas in the fridge to cool. Bacon stored in frig for later.

10:45a - Italian Sausage Soup ingredients are mixed together and left to cool on the stovetop. Washed up the dishes by hand or in the dishwasher and cleaned up the kitchen.

11:45a - Re-heated one pot of Italian Sausage Soup for Dinner! Everyone cleaned their bowls so they could have a Peanut Butter Cup Pie treat.

1p - Everything cleaned and put away, soups (save for the Italian Sausage Soup - which still needs to cool) are double bagged & put in the freezer. Time for a break - Chai Tea and check laundry.

2:30p - Italian Sausage Soup double bagged and into the freezer. I'm now ready to fry eggs and assemble Breakfast McBiscuits.

3:30p - The Mini-Cooking Session is done! The kitchen is back to it's normal state & ready for my oldest ds to prepare his Redwall Feast (He's already got a good start on it. Somewhere during all the above activities, he found time to prepare the October Ale and bake both the Hare's Haversack Crumble and Loamhedge Legacy Nutbread. He takes after me - make sure the sweets are prepared first!)