Roasted Italian Sausage with Potatoes and Mushrooms

 

This month at Alphabakes, the letter of the month is I. Caroline and Ros host Alphabakes every month – taking turns of who features it on her blog.

I racked my brain this month for something I could make with an I. I got stuck on Italian sausages, so I decided to take the savory route this month. This dish was super easy to make and had a lot of flavor. It took a while in the oven, but most of that time didn’t include actual labor. I love it when I can let the dish do its own thing while I do mine.

Roasted Italian Sausage with Potatoes and Mushrooms
(inspiration)

Ingredients
1 garlic clove
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
1/4 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tbsp olive oil
4 medium potatoes, quartered
1 lb sweet Italian sausage, pushed out of the casing
2 onions, cut into chunks
1 lb mushrooms, sliced
4 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400.

2. Combine herbs, olive oil, salt, and pepper to the potatoes. Toss to mix.

3. Place the sausage and potatoes in a roasting dish. Roast for 30 minutes.

4. Add the onions and mushrooms. Roast for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

5. Sprinkle with mozzarella and leave in the oven for 5 more minutes.

* serves 6
* Besides Alphabakes, this recipe is being shared with Mix It Up Monday & Mealtime Monday

Tuna Casserole

 

This month at Belleau’s Kitchen Dom moved away from cookbooks from the random recipe this month. To pick the Random Recipe this month, Dom instructed us to randomly pick a recipe from our cuttings, memories, and clippings. My mom has a whole stack of recipes scribbled down on pieces of paper, magazine clippings, and the like. But the closest I have to anything of this sort is a recipe box of recipes I made, enjoyed, and wrote down. I have too big of a problem cutting my magazines apart, so I wind up keeping the entire magazines.

Dom, you should do a random food magazine round up one month, because I have a ton of those.

Since I don’t really have any clippings, I went the “memory” route. I closed my eyes and pulled a recipe out of my bright red recipe box. I have no idea where this recipe came from, but I’d made it in the past and oh my god, so easy. For the minimal amount of effort this dish takes to make, it tastes delicious.

Tuna Casserole

Ingredients
2 cups dry pasta
1 can tuna, drained
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup mozzarella, shredded
bread crumbs, as needed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Boil water in a pot. Add the pasta and cook until al dente and drain. Mix the tuna, cream of mushroom soup, and cheese in with the pasta. Pour into a casserole dish and cover with bread crumbs as desired. Bake for 15 minutes.

* serves 2
* Besides Random Recipes, this dish has been shared with Tried and True Recipe Party, Weekend Cooking, & Strut Your Stuff Saturday

Eggplant Parmesan

 

I know I say this every time I post a recipe that uses eggplant: I really don’t like eggplant. But I have this tendency when I don’t like certain foods to keep making them in different ways. I figure that it isn’t always the actual food I dislike, but the preparation of the food. The eggplant parmesan was a great way to eat eggplant. It didn’t even taste like eggplant. I first breaded and fried it and then baked it.

In retrospect though I should have served it with something else. I had just made the eggplant, but it would have been good with pasta or even some garlic bread.

I loved the fresh basil. I love basil anyway, but for some reason it tasted even better than usual.

Eggplant Parmesan
(source)

Ingredients
1/2 eggplant, cut into 4 slices
1 15-oz can whole tomatoes
1 clove garlic, peeled
a glug of olive oil
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 eggs, beaten
6 oz mozzarella, sliced
1/4 cup basil leaves, chopped

Directions

1. 2 hours before you’re ready to start cooking, place the eggplant in a colander. Sprinkle the eggplant with salt. Set over a sink and let sit for 2 hours.

2. Once the 2 hours are passed, press the eggplant slices with a paper towel to remove the excess moisture.

3. In a food processor combine the tomatoes, garlic, and the glug of olive oil. Process until well combined and chopped. Season with pepper. Set aside.

4. In a shallow dish combine the flour and breadcrumbs. In another shall dish beat the egg. Dip each slice of eggplant in the egg and then dredge in the breadcrumb mixture.

5. Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil. Once hot, add the eggplant slices. Fry until golden brown. Flip and fry the other side until golden brown.

6.  Preheat the oven to 350. Add 1/2 cup of tomato sauce to the bottom of a casserole dish. Place 2 slices of eggplant in the casserole dish. Use 1/2 of the mozzarella to layer the eggplant. Place the basil on top of the mozzarella. Layer another slice of eggplant onto each stack. Cover with the remaining sauce and then the remaining cheese.

7. Bake for 30 minutes and allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving.

* serves 2
* shared with Foodie Friends Friday, Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, and Foodie Friday

Baked Orzo with Kale and Cheese

 

Finding new ways to incorporate my veggies into my stomach has been interesting. I’m trying to include at least one veggie into my dinners. This is something I always intend to do, but have been slacking at considerably. I’m such a meat and potatoes girl. A pizza and ice cream girl. I like carbs and I like sweets and I like junk food. It’s a struggle to get my head into thinking otherwise. But I started this new year with a bang and so far have been pretty successful.

This was a smitten kitchen recipe which I slightly altered to make it work with the ingredients I had.

Baked Orzo with Kale and Cheese
(inspiration)

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 celery stalk, diced
1/2 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 oz uncooked orzo
1/2 tsp tomato paste
3/4 cup vegetable broth
1/2 tsp lemon zest
2 oz shredded mozzarella
3/4 oz grated Parmesan
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1/2 head kale, sliced into thin ribbons
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350. Heat a large pan over medium heat. Add the olive oil and saute the celery for 3 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 more minutes.  Stir in the orzo and tomato paste and cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the mozzarella, Parmesan, tomatoes, kale, lemon zest, vegetable broth, and salt and pepper. Stir well to combine.

2. Transfer the mixture to a baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 20 more minutes.

* serves 2
* shared with Mix It Up Monday & Mealtime Monday 

Slow Cooker Coq Au Vin Two Ways

This month at Food ‘n Flix we’re watching the movie Julie & Julia. The movie is about a blogger, Julie Powell, who blogs for one year, making each one of Julia Child’s recipes from the famous cookbook The Art of French Cooking.

When this movie first came out I saw it with my mom in theaters. We both loved it so much that I bought her Julia Child’s cookbook for Christmas. For Mother’s Day she requested from my brother and me that we make her Boeuf Bourguignon. It was time consuming when we made it, but at least we didn’t have the same disaster Julie did when she made it. That was the first Julia Child recipe I made. It was yummy, but a lot of her recipes are far too time consuming for my typical day-to-day cooking.

(Meryl Streep plays an excellent Julia Child.)

For my recipe this month I had planned to make something with Hollandaise sauce. But the night I was making the dinner, it just flopped. The sauce was butter. I wasn’t about to pour melted butter onto a dish if it wasn’t at least sauce. So I left the sauce off and had my asparagus plain. I went back to the drawing board.

I was googling around looking at Julia Child recipes to make and I somehow stumbled upon this slow cooker recipe. This was the solution for the time consuming French food! Make it in a slow cooker! I use my slow cooker every Monday and I cook enough food to get at least two meals out of it – sometimes I get more. And actually, even though I’m presenting this dish as Coq Au Vin two ways, I actually still have more in the fridge that I’m probably going to make a sandwich out of tomorrow for lunch. But anyway, I decided to skip all the Julia Child’s technique and use the slow cooker instead.

Coming home from class yesterday to my house smelling like delicious, delicious chicken. And the flavors in my mouth were even more than I had hoped for. The dish was great. It was definitely more work for a slow cooker meal than I usually put in, but that had a great impact on the flavor of the dish.

This rendition of a Julia Child’s dish was perfect. I’m sure Julia wouldn’t exactly be proud of me tossing things in a slow cooker and walking away . . . But hey, sometimes we gotta do what we gotta do to get yummy food. And I switched the cognac for marsala, but it’s just because I couldn’t justify buying cognac when I don’t really drink ever.

I’ll break down the recipes like this: First I’ll post the crock pot recipe for the chicken. Then I’ll breakdown each dish into it’s own mini-recipe using the slow cooked chicken. And shoot – I know Julia Child would not be happy with this pasta bake coq au vin, but I had class until 8:15! I’m looking for simplicity!

The entire recipe makes 6 servings. Each mini-recipe makes 2 servings.

Slow Cooker Coq Au Vin

Ingredients
6 chicken thighs
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
salt and pepper, to taste
3 tbsp olive oil
4 slices bacon, cut into pieces
1 onion, sliced
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
1 cup red wine
1/4 cup marsala wine
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
1 bay leaf

Directions

1. In a large ziplock bag, combine the flour, salt, pepper, and chicken. Shake the bag to coat the chicken with flour.

2. In a skillet heat 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add the chicken and cook for about 3 minutes on each side, allowing to brown. Stir the remainder of the flour from the bag into the skillet. Remove the browned chicken and any juice and place in the slow cooker.

3. In the same skillet, heat the remaining olive oil. Saute the bacon, mushrooms, and onions for about 4 minutes, until they begin to soften. Drain any excess fat from the skillet and add the mushrooms, onions, and bacon to the slow cooker.

4. Mix together the wines, tomato paste, garlic, thyme, oregano, and bay leaf into the slow cooker. Cook on low for 8 hours.

DAY 1: Coq Au Vin and Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients
1/3 coq au vin
4 red potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
2 tbsp half&half
3 tbsp margarine
salt to taste

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the potatoes and cook 20 minutes or until tender. Drain.

2. Add the half&half, margarine, and salt. Mash the potatoes.

3. Serve the chicken over potatoes.

DAY 2: Coq Au Vin Pasta Bake

Ingredients
1/3 coq au vin
6 oz pasta
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain.

2. Pull the chicken off the bone and tear into pieces. Stir in the chicken and some of the sauce into the pasta and half the cheese.

3. Top with the remaining cheese.

4. Bake in an oven preheated to 350 for 20 minutes.

* Made for Food ‘n Flix hosted by La Cocina de Leslie (learn about joining this month’s movie watching here!)
* Also being shared with Delicious Dishes, Tuesdays at the Table,  Tasty Tuesdays, Tasteful Tuesdays, Recipe Box, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, & Wednesday Extravaganza 

Crock Pot Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken Two Ways

 

As the semester comes to an end I’m looking forward to more days of actually being able to make involved meals instead of quick stuff for the nights when I’m in class past 8 p.m.  But as for now, I’m still making my weekly slow cooker meal to make into several meals. Next semester I have three classes instead of two classes in the evening, so that’s going to be even worse.

But then I’ll be done with law school.

This chicken was really good. When I was grocery shopping I found this Hawaiian flavored teriyaki marinade. I decided it would be the perfect accompaniment to my slow cooker meal for the week.

The second night of chicken was made into pita mini pizzas. Two favorite different and delicious dishes!

DAY 1: Crock Pot Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken

Ingredients
4 boneless chicken breasts, defrosted
1 bottle of Hawaiian teriyaki marinade
20 oz can crushed pineapple

Directions

1. Place your chicken into the crock pot and cover with the teriyaki. Pour the pineapple on top. Cook on low for 4-6 hours or on high for 2-3.

2. Once the chicken is done, shred. Serve over rice.

DAY 2: Hawaiian Chicken Pita Mini Pizzas

Ingredients
leftover crock pot Hawaiian teriyaki chicken
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1 tomato, sliced
1/4 cup pizza sauce
2 pitas

Directions

1. Smear 1/2 the pizza sauce on each pita. Cover with shredded cheese. Then divide the chicken and tomatoes evenly between the pitas and layer on top of the cheese.

2. Place the pitas on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

* Sharing with Foodie Friday & Foodie Friday

Baked Portobello Mozzarella

 

Oh man.

I’m such a meat eater. I know I don’t need to use meat as the star of every recipe I cook, but I typically do. I mean, I love chicken, and I love beef, and if I want to be full I always eat meat. But maybe I’ve been wrong.

I made this Baked Portobello Mozzarella and was so pleasantly surprised at how wonderful the dish was. The big mushrooms were bought at the farmers’ market this last week and were beautifully shaped. I’m really glad I decided to do this with the mushrooms instead of cutting them up, because these guys deserved to be the star of the meal.

The mushrooms tasted wonderful. You get the mushroom taste through the cheese and sauce. It definitely ranks up there pretty high in my favorite recipes.

Baked Portobello Mozzarella

Ingredients
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 cup parmesan cheese, divided
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp salt, divided
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
4 portobello mushrooms
1 1/2 cups mozzarella, shredded
1 cup tomato sauce

Directions

1. Clean your mushrooms. To do so, pull the stem out of the mushroom. Then take a spoon and scrape the gills off the bottom of the mushroom.

2. Preheat the oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with foil. Place a wire rack on top of the sheet.

3. Combine the breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup of Parmesan, paprika, and 1 tsp salt into a shallow pan. Set aside.

4. In another bowl, combine the eggs, 1 tsp of salt, pepper, oregano, and garlic powder. Mix well.

5. Dip the mushroom into the egg mixture, covering both sides. Dredge the crumb mixture until both sides are completely coated with bread crumbs. Place the mushroom on the prepared wire rack, stem side down. Spray the tops with cooking spray and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and raise the heat to 450.

6. Turn the mushrooms over. Fill each mushroom with 2 tbsp of Parmesan, 1/4 cup of mozzarella, and 1/4 cup tomato sauce. Return to the oven for 10 minutes.

* serves 4
* Shared with Full Plate Thursday & Show Off Your Stuff Party

Cheesy Chicken Parmesan

This month the Crazy Cooking Challenge revolves around fried chicken. I was initially going to make a traditional fried chicken in the deep fryer, but I probably don’t need the calories associated with the oil and crispy crispy breading. Instead I decided I’d make something standard, but maybe not something always associated with fried chicken. The requirements of this challenge were that the chicken be somehow fried.

I’ve actually never fried chicken parmesan before. I usually just bake it. But frying the chicken before putting in the oven definitely made it better. It made the breading be so much crispier and it also made the chicken really juicy.

I found this recipe at The Always Learning Housewiff. She didn’t make any commentary on the dish, but I’ll tell you it’s great! When I was little chicken parmesan was one of my favorite dishes and is still something my mom frequently makes for me when I go home to visit. I think this is the perfect recipe and seems similar to what my mom used to make.

This may not be the traditional fried chicken imagined, but just writing this post is making me wish I had leftovers!

Cheesy Chicken Parmesan
(inspiration)

Ingredients
2 skinless boneless chicken breasts (about 8 oz total)
1/4 cup bread crumbs
4 tbsp Parmesan, divided
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp milk
1/4 cup flour
1-2 tbsp of olive oil, for frying
1 1/2 cups pasta sauce
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella

Directions

1. Rinse off the chicken breasts and pat dry. With a mallet tenderize the breasts and pound until about 1/2 inch thick.

2. On a plate spread the flour. In a shallow bowl combine the bread crumbs, 2 tbsp Parmesan, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. In one more shallow bowl combine the milk and egg.

3. Arrange an assembly line in this order: chicken, flour, eggs, bread crumbs. Working one piece of chicken at a time, dredge both sides with flour and knock off the excess. Dip in the egg mixture and then coat with breadcrumbs. Set on a clean plate.

4. Set a large skillet over medium-high and pour in the oil. Once hot fry each piece of chicken for 2 to 3 minutes per side.

5. Heat oven to 375. In a baking dish pour one cup of pasta sauce. Place the chicken in the dish and cover with the remaining sauce. Sprinkle with cheese.

6. Bake for 25 minutes, or until cheesy is melted and the sauce is bubbly.

* serves 2

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Chicken Cacciatore and Sauteed Mushrooms

The only downfall of this dish is that I should have actually used the mushrooms as a garnish on top of the chicken instead of having them in their own little awkward pile. I’m not sure what I was thinking, but Matt definitely had the right idea when he topped his chicken with the mushrooms. Considering I was alternating between bites of mushrooms and bites of chicken, it really would have just been a better choice.

But each element on its own, the chicken and the mushrooms, were so flavorful.

Next time I know what I need to do different.

Chicken Cacciatore
(from the cookbook The Garlic Lovers’ Cookbook)

Ingredients
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lb canned full tomato
4 oz tomato sauce
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp oregano
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
2/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. Pound the chicken until it’s 1/2 inch thick.

3. In a large skillet, brown the chicken in hot oil. Remove and set on paper towels to drain.

4. Saute onions and garlic in the remaining oil until soft. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt, oregano, and pepper. Smash the tomatoes with your wooden spoon. Bring to a boil, then cover, lower the heat, and simmer for 30 minutes.

5. Place the chicken and sauce in a casserole dish. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove. Cover and sprinkle with cheese. Cook until melted.

* serves 2
* Shared with Cookbook Sundays

Sauteed Mushrooms
(source) 

 Ingredients
1 tbsp Brummel&Brown
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 tsp dried oregano
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced

1. Melt the butter with oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in balsamic vinegar, garlic, oregano, and mushrooms. Saute for 20 to 30 minutes, or until tender.

2. Be smarter than me and top your chicken with these mushrooms!!

 * serves 2

Baker’s Edge Lasagna

For Christmas my boyfriend bought me a Baker’s Edge lasagna pan. I’ve been entirely intimidated to use it, so up until this lasagna dish it’s been sitting collecting dust. I shouldn’t have been so nervous about using it, because I’ve now decided it actually makes making lasagna a lot easier. Doing the layers was easier, serving it was easier . . . It really simplified the lasagna process. I’m glad I finally got over my baker’s edge anxiety and I will definitely be using this lasagna pan here on out!

I decreased the amount of beef in this recipe significantly, because I didn’t want to have to buy more so I just used all I had. But I don’t think that hurt the dish and actually may have helped it more.

Baker’s Edge Lasagna
(source)

Ingredients
15 oz ricotta cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
4 cups pasta sauce
1/4 lb ground beef
12 lasagna noodles, uncooked
6 cups shredded mozzarella

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375.

2. In a bowl combine the ricotta, Parmesan, eggs, oregano, and basil. Mix together well. In another bowl mix together the ground beef and the pasta sauce.

3. Spray the baker’s edge lasagna pan with cooking spray. Spread 1/4 of the meat mixture on the bottom of the pan. Layer one noodle in each section of the pan. Top with 1/2 ricotta, 1/4 meat sauce, and 1/3 of mozzarella. Repeat the process again, beginning with the noodles.  Top with the last four noodles, the sauce, and the mozzarella cheese.

4. Cover the lasagna with aluminum foil. Bake for 55 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additionally 10 to 15 minutes.

* serves about 8
* 569 calories per serving
* Shared with Presto Pasta Nights hosted this week at Bricole, Food of the Month Club, and What’s Cooking Wednesday