Pizza, Pizza

Homemade pizza!

(shh the crust is store-bought!)

I'm sharing with you a method for cooking your store bought crust.

And a recipe for quick homemade tomato sauce.

You can top it with whatever you'd like!

I topped this with sweet sausage, caramelized onions, and mozzarella.  

After it was done baking, I garnished it with shaved Pecorino cheese, and arugula and parsley drizzled with a bit of olive oil and red wine vinegar. 

But I had leftover pizza crust! 

 Oh no, what to do?!

 This one I used the same tomato sauce and sweet sausage, added red pepper and diced asparagus, and topped with chimichurri sauce!

I love chimichurri sauce!

I'll share my recipe soon.

 Pizza, pizza.

1 package refrigerated pizza crust

(I used Pillsbury Artisan Whole Grain Pizza Crust, rolled out and cut into a circle, worked lovely!)

Tomato Sauce recipe follows.

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Brush a cast iron skillet with a tsp of olive oil. 
2. Press the pizza dough into the skillet, so it comes up the edges just about 1/2 inch.  
3. Disperse the tomato sauce on the pie (you may not need entire tomato sauce recipe, I had about 1/4 cup leftover)
4. Heat the cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Cook about 5 minutes.  Peek at the bottom of the crust, when it's beginning to turn a light golden color remove from heat. Don't wait until it's completely golden brown or it will burn in the oven.
5. Top the pizza with whatever you desire.  I topped mine with sweet italian sausage, caramelized onion, and mozzarella.
6. Bake about 6-8 minutes, until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.
7. Remove from oven and top with any garnishes desired (I topped it with shaved Pecorino, arugula, parsley). Enjoy!

Quick Tomato Sauce
3 tomatoes (can use canned crushed tomatoes if desired)
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, depending how spicy you like

Use a vegetable peeler to peel the tomatoes. Cut out white core, cut into quarters, and place in large bowl.  Crush the tomatoes using a potato masher (or your hands if you're really into it).  Pour the crushed tomatoes in a strainer, use a spoon to smash them down and drain them of as much liquid as possible. Once drained, mix the crushed tomatoes with all other ingredients. That's it!

Quick Kielbasa Sautee

Here's a quick weeknight dinner for you.

I prepared this on a night when my fridge and cupboards were almost bare, and there was nothing to eat in the house.  Except for kielbasa, zucchini, frozen corn, and rice.

So there you have it.  How this dinner was created.

I really liked the corn/red onion/ zucchini combination, but you could easily substitute whatever you have on hand.  Peppers and/or peas would work. You could add tomatoes if you like.  I've even added pineapple in similar dishes. 

You could also substitute whatever sausage you have on hand, though I do love the kielbasa flavor for a change. 

This is one of my favorite quick weeknight dinners. Limited ingredients, limited time. 

But pretty delicious!

Quick Kielbasa Sautee

13 oz beef polish kielbasa, sliced into 1/2 inch slices
2 cups frozen corn
3 zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup beef stock (preferably homemade of course, or low-sodium)
Jasmine rice

Heat a few drizzles of extra virgin olive oil in a skillet over med-high heat. Once hot, add the kielbasa and cook undisturbed for about 5-8 minutes or until kielbasa starts to blacken slightly.  Give a stir, and let cook another few minutes undisturbed.  Continue cooking until kielbasa has a nice blackened exterior- this gives it a really nice sweet, slightly crispy flavor.

Remove kielbasa and set aside.  In same skillet over med high heat, add red onion. Sautee for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions start to look soft and golden.  Add the zucchini, corn, and garlic.  Sautee another 5 minutes.  Zucchini will start to soften.  Add the beef stock and kielbasa and cook another couple minutes until most of stock is absorbed and zucchini is softened. 

Spoon over jasmine rice.  

Butternut Squash Lasagna with Italian Sausage, Spinach, and Sage

 I asked The Boyfriend to describe this dish for me, and he said it was good.  I pressed him for more details, and he said 'I dunno.. it was cheesy?'

In his defense I'm asking him while he's half asleep on the couch.

I pressed him a bit further... he said it didn't feel like he 'rubbed it all over his face.' 

Yes, that's a direct quote.  

'It wasn't greasy and overly heavy, it was lighter and healthier than traditional lasagna. Therefore I did not feel like I rubbed it all over my face.' 

I get what he's saying.  It wasn't so loaded with cheese that I felt like I gained 110 lbs just by eating it.  The butternut squash and sage combination gave it a really delicate flavor, and sausage pairs beautifully with the squash, complementing it's sweetness.  

The white sauce made with mascarpone, parmigiana, mozzarella, and ricotta was not heavy or overbearing.  It really lets the flavors shine through. 

This recipe is a winner, and a really nice option for a make-ahead meal.  I made this for an upcoming ski weekend and froze it.  

Then I just took it out of the freezer, let it thaw all day while skiing, and popped it in the oven at night.  

Also a nice vegetarian option- simply skip the sausage and replace chicken stock with vegetable stock.  Don't skip the stock though, it thins out the cheese a bit so you don't feel like you 'rubbed it on your face.'

Sage and Maple Turkey Breakfast Sausage

Good morning America!

How about a healthier (yet delicious) breakfast meat this morning?  

I made these Turkey Breakfast Sausage patties last night, and this morning flung them in a pan and served with scrambled eggs and english muffins.  You could use ground beef or chicken if you so desired.

As we've previously discussed, I must make breakfast items the night before, due to The Boyfriend declaring war on anybody standing in the way of his immediate need for breakfast sustenance. 

:)

We went out to breakfast once and had to wait about 40 minutes being seated.  

He didn't speak.  He didn't move.  

He just gripped his stomach in agony, muttering.. 'why...?   WHY...??'

So I sauteed these bad breakfast boys up real quick, and we had a delicious, healthy, and quick breakfast.  I drizzled some syrup on mine.  Yum.

Would be great to have these patties in the fridge for nights when you may have company.  Or even in the freezer, and if unexpected company, pop them out the night before, defrost in fridge, and voila!

Almost Shepherd's Pie

Okay. This technically is not a pie. 

This is something warm and delicious that falls under the comfort food category- it's what happens when a shepherd's pie meets a meat ratatouille.  

Shepherd's pie is basically a beef and vegetable pie topped with a layer of mashed potatoes. Ratatouille is a French dish that is a tomato-based saute of vegetables, eaten as a side dish or main course.

I used spicy Italian sausage in place of beef, used a bunch of ratatouille vegetables like green peppers, onions, and squash, and skipped adding any tomato.  Instead of a mashed potato topping, I used cubed potatoes sauteed in garlic and butter and topped with cayenne pepper.  

You can obviously use sweet ground Italian sausage if you like, but this wasn't overwhelmingly spicy at all.  It definitely had a little kick though.

The Boyfriend went back for seconds.  So did I.  In fact, we almost ate the entire thing.

Savory Sausage and Spinach Cannelloni

With fall approaching, I can't stop thinking about winter comfort foods. I may be jumping the gun, but I've already made Honey Spice Bread (which is similar to a gingerbread), and have been craving anything that has mounds of melted cheese (brought on by the best macaroni and cheese ever at Casellula in NYC).

So while looking to satisfy that hearty comfort food craving, but in a healthier way, I made this Sausage and Spinach Stuffed Cannelloni.  

This was so good, so warm and filling, and pretty healthy!

  The cannelloni filling is part spicy sausage and part turkey sausage that was sauteed and cooked down with onions and thyme.  The meat then was combined with sauteed garlicky spinach for a hearty, flavorful filling.  The cannelloni's were then placed on a bed of  a very quick raw tomato 'sauce', and topped with bechamel and parmesean cheese.

The cannelloni could easily be made ahead if you're planning on making it for guests or will be short on time.  You could also use jarred tomato sauce to save time.nThe whole thing can be assembled and refrigerated overnight, and then just popped it the oven when your ready!

The best part is the variations are endless! Have leftover chicken? Or even turkey?  Cut into cubes, add some broccoli, and you've got a variation of chicken and broccoli alfredo.  

             You could do sundried tomato, artichokes, and chicken.  Add a little ricotta if you desire..

You could do a caprese style cannelloni- fresh diced tomato, basil, and mozzarella.. maybe add some sauteed pancetta...  and top the whole think with more mozzarella.

I could go on..... but I think you get it ;)