Tag: Italian Sausage

Daily Thoughts

Italian Sausage & Spinach Soup

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It is cold here in Dallas and getting colder by the hour. I love it. The fireplace is on, Randy is working in his little cubby office and we just finished having a cup of coffee and a donut from our favorite donut shop in the world. Seriously we sit there and after each bite, we look at the donut to see if we can possibly see what they do to make then so soft. We just cannot figure out why these donuts are so different. When the rest of the world discovers this place, Dunkin won’t stand a chance. But on to my soup story. Over the weekend, I bought some Italian ground sausage and fresh spinach and had just picked up some spinach-ricotta filled tortellini from Trader Joes, I decided to make us a soup for the cold weather we knew would be here this week. This soup is so good and so filling and goes perfectly with garlic bread. Yep, thats all you need. Garlic bread and soup and then of course some of these amazing cinnamon twists from Donut Palace at Frankfort and the Tollway in Dallas. I cannot lie, I also get a jelly filled donut so I don’t have to decide between the two.

2 cans (8 oz each) tomato sauce

2 cans (14.5 oz) chicken broth

1/2 lb of mild ground Italian Sausage

2 cups chopped fresh spinach

1 small onion, chopped

1 carrot, diced

1/2 bell pepper

1/2 teas Italian Seasoning

1 teas fresh garlic or 1/2 teas garlic powder (I added a little more plus a little more garlic as we love it with added flavor)

In a small skillet, brown the meat with the onion and bell pepper until meat is done. Add the seasonings, and add salt and pepper to your liking.

Transfer to a large saucepan. Add the meat mixture to the saucepan and add the tomato sauce, chicken broth, (Also, you might want to add about a cup of water to the mixture) cup up carrot, 2 cups of chopped fresh spinach and cook for about 30 min over low heat until carrots and spinach are done. Add about 2 cups of the tortellini to the boiling soup and cook according to the package directions. Mine said to cook them about 5 min. We both sprinkled a little parmesan cheese over the top and indulged ourselves with the soup and a few (no I won’t tell you how many slices we had) of wonderful hot garlic/butter bread. But we did save room for the other donuts that were still in the box. And forgive me, we ate the soup so quickly, I forgot to take a picture. But will be making it again very soon, so will add a picture to this post when we do.

Daily Thoughts · Meats · Uncategorized

Italian Sausage With Peppers & Onions

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Last night we were invited to a Italian Night with our small group from church. There were 14 of us and since the hostess was making Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken, Randy “ask” (highly suggested) that maybe I should take sausage with peppers & onions. So I began to search for recipes online for just the perfect one. I ended up combining about 3 different ones and if I had known how good it would turn out, I would have taken pictures and payed more attention to the ingredients (like the oz on the cans). They were really a hit at dinner and everyone was telling me how good they were. They really were very good and so much fun to make. It made me feel like I’m ready to head to Italy to dine with the rest of the great Italian chefs….ok, maybe I’m not there yet, but most assuredly, it was a dish that we will make again and be so excited to serve to others.

If you enjoy Chocolatecastles, would you mind sharing the blog with your family and friends or telling them about it! Thanks so much! Penelope Pumpkin

Serves 14-16

2 cans of Hunts Traditional Spaghetti Sauce(I don’t know the ounces, but it is the tall can that cost about $1 at Walmart
12 oz of water
2 packets of McCormick Thick & Zesty Spaghetti Sauce Seasoning
2 large green bell peppers (cut into 1-2″ pieces)
1 large red bell pepper(cut into same size pieces as the green)
1 large sweet yellow onion (cut into 1-2″ size pieces)
3 tales olive oil
3 packages or 15 mild Italian Sausages in casing (I used 15 and cut each sausage in half after browning them giving me 30 pieces of sausage)
1 tables oregano
1 tables dried parsley
3 cubes of frozen garlic cubes, divided (or garlic to taste if using fresh or powder)

Directions:

in a heavy Dutch oven, pour cans of Spaghetti sauce with the water. Pour the 2 packets of seasoning and 2 cubes of the garlic. Cover and bake in preheated 325 oven for about 2 hours.
While sauce is in oven, using a large skillet, put 2 tables of the olive oil and heat to where it sizzles when you place each sausage in to brown. Turn and brown all the sausages until they are all lightly browned. Remove from Skillet and cut each one in half (if desired). Place sausages in the sauce. If needed, add the other tables of olive oil to the skillet. Place cut up onion and peppers into hot oil. Sprinkle the oregano, parsley and remaining garlic cube over the pepper-onion mixture. Stir and heat until onion and peppers are beginning to get tender. When ready, add to the sausage-sauce mixture. Add any pepper or red pepper flakes if you like added “kick” to your sauce. (I did not, because even the mild Italian sausage we bought had enough kick to it to be little spicey.
Cover with heavy lid and bake in 350 degree oven for about 1 to 2 hours. Sauce should be thick and deep red. Serve over pasta or just with garlic bread.
Gustare! (Italian for taste, savor, relish)

Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Sausage,Spinach & Sweet Potato Soup

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IT is a beautiful day here in Arizona and we are preparing to leave for a party where there will be a tremendous amount of food to consume during Super Bowl. To allow our clothes to be a little loose so we won’t have to unzip our pants during the party, we ate soup for several dinners this week, hoping to loose a pound of two. This was one of the soups which I had found in a Taste of Home magazine and decided to try. I can testify that this recipe will stay in my stack of “favs” for a long time. Not only was it simple, but it was delicious.

Because we live in an area which does not have an immediately supply of black eye peas, I substituted Am’s Organic Lentil Vegetable soup. Before you get excited and think, “oh my gosh, she has finally done it, she has realized that if she wants to live past 70, she had better get with the program and go organic and quit having chocolate cream pie for dessert every night.” No, it was just the only bean soup I could find on the shelf that wasn’t black beans, pork and bean or pinto bean soup. So don’t get excited and start sending me packets of organic veggies to plant. Just not going to happen besides, I already have my chocolate cream pie piled high with whipped cream ready for dessert tonight.

Ingredients:

2 links of sweet Italian sausage, taken out of casing

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cubed

1 medium sweet onion, diced

1/2 medium green or red bell pepper, seeded

1 small can of tomato sauce or the regular size can of diced tomatoes

1 can (15 1/2 oz) black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained (( substitute Amy’s and did not drain them, but used the whole can, juice and all)

2 cans reduced sodium beef broth (here once again, I used 2 beef bouillon cubes and 2 cups water because I didn’t have any beef broth in the house)

2 cups chopped fresh spinach

1/2 package cheese tortellini

Garlic cloves, salt, pepper, and a about 1 teas Italian Seasoning to taste.

Add the Italian sausage to a big Dutch oven which has been sprayed with Pam and crumble and cook until no longer pink. Add the rest of the ingredients except the spinach. I added more water while soup was cooking to give it more broth. Cook for about 2-3 hours over low heat until sweet potato and other vegetables are tender. The last 30 minutes of cooking, add the chopped spinach and the cheese tortellini . Cover and cook until spinach is wilted and tender and tortellini is done ( it floats when it is done)

Serve with hot crust Italian garlic bread.

Daily Thoughts · Soups · Uncategorized

White Bean With Italian Sausage Soup

Chocolate Castles

Found this in an old Southern Living Magazine. Will be perfect for sitting outside on the porch (oops, excuse me, I forget out here they are called Arizona Rooms), watching the sun go down and having a bowl of soup with garlic french bread. The recipe originally called for Chorizo, but I don’t like it so I used Mild Italian Sausage

1 lb mild Italian Sausage (our preference, but they make it in hot if you like that option better, feel free to use (after all, the Sausage Police won’t come get you if you do), casing removed

2 tables olive oil

1 large yellow onion, chopped (about 2 cups)

2 medium carrots, chopped (about 1 cup)

1/2 lb small red potatoes, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 teas paprika

1 teas kosher salt

1 tables tomato paste

2 (15 oz) cans great Northern beans, drained and rinsed

1 container (32 oz) chicken broth

1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves, chopped

Cook sausage in a Dutch oven over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until browned and crumbled, about 8 minutes.

Drain all on paper towels. Wipe Dutch oven out with paper towel, to remove grease.

Heat the oil in the Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add onions and next 5 ingredients and sauce until tender. About 5 minutes.

Stir in tomato paste and cook 1 minute, stirring.

Add beans, chicken broth and sausage; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes. Stir in parsley, and serve!

appetizers · Salads

Yes, Another Mushroom Recipe

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I LOVE mushrooms. I don’t know if it is the flavor or the fact that you can eat a million of them without worrying about calories. Of course, depending on what you stuff them with or how you prepare the little angels, could quickly send you into Cholestrol Cardiac, but we won’t worry about that at Christmas. Let’s just enjoy them and come January, you can eat raw cauliflower till your hearts content and the cholesterol has been washed out of your system. This recipe certainly cannot be considered diet, but guess that’s what makes it so good. Great appetizer to take to those Christmas and New Years parties.

24 Large mushrooms, cleaned and stems removed

1/2 pound Italian bulk sausage (casing removed)

1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese

1/2 cup picante sauce

1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions (I bet already you are picturing these in your mind as “what a cute little Christmas looking appetizer with the red picante and green onions”)

Place mushroom caps in large shallow baking dish (sprayed with Pam)

Brown sausage in skillet, stirring to break up large pieces

Drain and mix with cheese. Fill mushrooms with sausage mixture. You can prepare to this point up to 1 day in advance and store in covered container in fridge.

Spoon picante sauce over mushrooms and bake at 375 for 15 min or until they are heated all the way through. Top with green onions before serving.