Penne Pasta with Sausage Tomato Cream Sauce

Mmmm this was good. We had some penne just sitting in the cabinent as well as some unused Jimmy Dean sausage so I decided to throw them together to make a hearty meal. You think I would wait until Fall to make this soul warming dish, but since it's 60 degrees in August, I thought... what the hell. I used a little red wine in the sauce that added a delicious depth of flavor that I wouldn't have gotten other wise. I don't usually cook with wine but I'm going to start now. It totally changed the entire flavor of the sauce. So good (if I don't say so myself).

1 Package of Reduce Fat Jimmy Dean Sausage

2 Cloves of Garlic

2 Cans of Diced Tomatoes

1/2 Teaspoon of Dried Italian Seasoning

1/2 Cup of Cabernet Sauvignon

1 Heaping Tablespoon of Sour Cream

1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese

1 Package of Dried Penne

Heavily salt a large pot of water and bring to a boil. Cook penne to directions (about 8 minutes or until al dente). Drain and set aside. Saute sausage in pan until only a little pink remains. Add 2 minced garlic cloves and stir. Deglaze the pan with 1 can of diced tomatoes (do not drain, pour the liquid in the pan too). Stir to get any remaining bits of sausage from bottom of the pan. Add last can of tomatoes and Italian seasoning and simmer on medium for 2-3 minutes until sauce slightly reduces. Add wine and reduce again for another 3 minutes. Remove from heat and cool for a few minutes. Add sour cream and parmesan cheese. Stir until all ingredients are incorporated. Pour penne into saute pan and mix pasta with sauce. Top each serving with some additional parm and go to town!

Spicy Lime Chicken Fajitas with Radicchio Slaw

This recipe was a product of having a bunch of random ingredients in the fridge and needing to use them up. I've been trying to cook with a little more spice and jalapenos are the perfect pepper to start with. I went sans tortilla to keep it low carb, but I snuck a bite of Charlie's. The slight bitterness and crunch of the radicchio slaw was a perfect alternative to flavorless (and nutritionless) iceberg lettuce that you'd find in a traditional fajita.

Chicken & Marinade

2 Large Skinless Chicken Breasts

1 Lime, Juiced and Sliced Thin

Zest from Lime

2 Garlic Cloves, Chopped Fine

1/2 Jalapeno, Sliced Thin

1 Large Green Onion, Chopped

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

Radicchio Slaw

2 Heads of Radicchio, Sliced Thin

1/4 White Onion, Sliced Thin

3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons of Red Wine Vinegar

1 Garlic Clove, Chopped Fine

Salt & Pepper

White Flour Tortillas

Cheddar Cheese

Sour Cream

Green Onions for Garnish

In a large zip lock bag, mix chicken, jalapenos, lime juice, lime slices, zest from lime, garlic, green onion, iolive oil and salt and pepper. Toss around and let marinate for 4-6 hours. Grill until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. While cooking, prepare the radicchio slaw. Add sliced radicchio and onions to a bowl and toss with olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, and salt and pepper. Let sit until radicchio begins to wilt slightly. To assemble the fajitas, add a layer of radicchio slaw, chicken, cheddar cheese, sour cream, and green onions. Serve with hot sauce or salsa. Charlie says "top five!"

Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts

I remember the first time I had these little bites of love. OMG. It was Christmas Eve at Charlie's house, the night that everyone makes their favorite appetizer or snack. Charlie's Aunt Josie made the HUGE mistake of giving me a preview of what she had brought. Needless to say I lost all self control and ate about 20 of these. Story of my life. These are by far the easiest and most delicious recipe you can make. Salty, sweet, and crunchy - doesn't get much better than this. Make this recipe for your next party and I promise at least 3 people will frantically track you down to ask how they can make this themselves. Stay tuned - I've been cooking up a fancy version of these in my head that I plan to post soon!

1 Package of Low Sodium Bacon

1 Can of Sliced Water Chestnuts

1 Tablespoon of Low Sodium Soy Sauce

2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

2 Tablespoons of Bacon Fat (optional)

1/4 Cup of BBQ Sauce

Pre heat oven to 425 degrees. Cut the entire package of bacon down the middle. Place one water chestnut at the bottom of a slice of bacon and roll tightly. You might want to fasten each with a toothpick to make sure they don't unwrap during cooking. Make sure you soak your toothpicks in water prior to cooking so they don't burn in the oven. Cook for a good 20-30 minutes until the bacon is crispy and golden brown. Do not rush this. If they still aren't brown and crispy after 30 minutes turn oven up to 475 until they are done. Once they are done, remove from oven to cool and place on paper towels to soak up excess grease. In a small sauce pan, add soy sauce, brown sugar, bacon fat from pan, and BBQ sauce. Cook over medium heat until all ingredients are blended. The bacon fat is optional - it adds delicious flavor but leave it out depending on how greasy your wrapped chestnuts look. Brush sauce on the wrapped chestnuts with a pastry brush and serve. Try to resist eating until your guests arrive.

Summer Vegetable Gazpacho with Herb Oil

After a long weekend of drinking and staying up too late, nothing said detox like a nice bowl of Gazpacho. Fresh vegetables in season really make this a delicious and satisfying summer meal. I had never really made this before so I sort of just wung it.

Gazpacho
1 Large Green Tomato
2 Large Red Tomatoes
1 Medium Orange Pepper
2 Medium Green Onions
3/4 of a White Onion
3 Large Garlic Cloves
Juice from 1/2 Lime
1 Can of Diced Tomatoes
1 Large Cucumber
1/4 Cup Parsley
1/4 Cup Cilantro
1 Tbs of Red Wine Vinegar
Salt & Pepper to Taste

Herb Oil
1/4 Jalapeno, seeds removed
1/2 Cup of Parsley
1/2 Cup of Cilantro
1 Garlic Clove
Juice from 1/2 Lime
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Throw all ingredient for gazpacho into a food processor and pulse until all ingredients are well blended. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place in bowl and chill for 2-3 hours. To make the herb oil, add all ingredients besides olive oil into a food processor. Pulse ingredients while slowly drizzling in olive oil. Keep pulsing until ingredients are emulsified. Place two table spoons of herb oil in the bottom of a bowl. Ladle in gazpacho on top so that the herb oil makes a pretty green border. You can also just drizzle the herb oil on top. Top with sliced avocados, toasted croutons, or a little lime zest.

Roasted Garlic Bread & Linguine with Clam Sauce

Man this was a good dinner! I've been day dreaming about making this in our new condo (on my new stove) and the night finally arrived. This meal was so easy to make and so satisfying. Comfort food to the max - the only way to end a long week. If you roast the garlic ahead of time, this meal takes about 30-45 minutes. Honestly the garlic bread was THE best I've ever had. Make this - the subtle roasted garlic flavor is to die for.

Roasted Garlic Bread

2 Bulbs of Roasted Garlic

1 Stick of Butter Softened

1/8 Cup of Grated Parmesan Cheese

Salt & Lots of Black Pepper
1 Loaf of French Bread

To roast the garlic, cut the top off each bulb so you expose each clove (basically cut the dips of the cloves off too). Drizzle the bulbs with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Wrap each with foil and roast in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes or until cloves become golden brown and caramelized. Cool roasted garlic and add to softened butter. Mix with a fork well and add salt, pepper, and cheese. Cut french bread length wise and spread mixture evenly. Good on top track until cooked evenly. Be very careful not to brown the top too much - garlic will become VERY bitter.

Linguine with Clam Sauce

5 Cloves of Garlic

1 Stick of Butter (shhh it's fine)

2 Cans of Chopped Clams

1 Cup of Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc

1/2 Tsp of White Pepper

1/4 Tsp of Black Pepper

1/4 Cup of Parmesan

1 Tbs of Chopped Parsley

Cook 1.5 lbs of fresh pasta for 2-3 minutes or until al dente, drain, and set aside. Melt butter in a large skillet. Once heated through and butter becomes frothy, finely chop the garlic and add to butter. Cook and stir for 2 minutes until garlc begins to soften. Add chopped clams with juice to skillet and saute until sauce is simmering evenly. Add wine and simmer for 2 - 3 minutes until sauce reduces and begins to thicken. Add parmesan cheese and both white and black pepper and take off the heat. Toss pasta in skillet, finish with parsley and a little more parmesan, and serve immediately.

Zucchini Lasagna (Low Carb!)

I'm on a zucchini kick so I decided to make a zucchini lasagna for dinner tonight. Other zucchini lasagnas I've seen call for bread crumbs or noodles of some sort, but I kept mine simple starch free. You can change this a hundred different ways, but the one I made tonight came out very good. Review from Charlie: "I didn't even avoid the zucchini!!"

3 Medium - Large Zucchini's
16 oz of Part Skim Ricotta Cheese
1/2 Cup of Parmesan
1 Tbs of Garlic Powder
1/4 Tsp of Dried Italian Seasoning
2 Tbs of Chopped Fresh Parsley
1 Can of Diced Tomatoes
2 Cups Mozzarella
1 Package of Jimmy Dean Reduced Fat Sausage
Salt & Pepper

Sauce:
1 Large Can of Crushed Tomatoes
2 Cloves of Garlic
1 Tbs of Olive Oil
1 Tsp of Italian Seasoning
Salt & Pepper

***ingredients were catered to a 8 1/2" x 6 1/2" casserole dish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Saute package of sausage. Set aside. Half will be used in the lasagna and the other half will be used in the sauce. Cut off each end of zucchini. Cut zucchini in half side ways. From each half, cut down thin slices (as thin as possible without tearing) of zucchini length wise to make "noodles". They should be about 4 inches long and 1 inch wide. Discard thick or uneven slices. Once complete, cook zucchini in salted boiling water for about 3 minutes or until they become tender. To make the ricotta cheese layer, mix ricotta, parm, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, chopped parsley, salt, and pepper to taste. I had to keep adding salt because the ricotta was pretty bland. Add a little at a time until the cheese tastes savory. Open the can of diced tomatoes and add a little to the bottom of your casserole dish. Add one layer of zucchini, dollops of ricotta mixture, sprinkle of sausage, dice tomatoes, sprinkle of mozzarella, and repeat. I believe I had four layers total. Once complete and all ingredient are finished, shimmy casserole dish to make sure all ingredients settle. Cover with tin foil and cook covered for 20 minutes. Cook uncovered for another 20 minutes or until lasagna is hot and bubbly.

While cooking, you can prepare the homemade sauce to top each serving of lasagna with. Add one tablespoon of olive oil to sauce pan. Add 2 cloves of chopped garlic and heat until fragrant. Add reserved sausage and saute. Add large can of crushed tomatoes and one teaspoon of dried Italian seasoning. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer on low until lasagna is done cooking. If you have fresh basil, I would use that instead.

Make sure the lasagna rests before serving!!! It should sit for at least 30 minutes. If you don't do this, it will completely fall apart when you serve it. Top each serving with several spoonfuls of sauce. Sprinkle with a little parm and parsley and you're done!!!

Easy Creamed Spinach

I've made this recipe about a million times, each time being completely different. This is a good side or main dish. Depending on what you have on hand, you can use frozen or fresh spinach, cream or sour cream, and different aromatics (garlic, onions, leeks, etc). The following ingredients I had on hand over lunch so this is what I made.

1.5 Bags of Fresh Spinach
1/2 Sweet White Onion Finely Chopped
1 Clove of Garlic
1/2 Cup of Sour Cream
1/8 Cup of Parmesan
1/8 Cup of Mozzarella

Saute chopped onion and chopped garlic in 1 tablespoon of each butter and olive oil until onion softens. Add sour cream and parmesan to onion and stir until the onions have a nice and creamy texture. Add the fresh spinach to the pan with the onions. Stir occasionally until all of the spinach has wilted. Add 1/8 of mozzarella towards the end and carefully fold through spinach until melted. If you want, you can top with crumbled bacon or toasted almonds.

The Best Cheese Bread Ever

My lovely vegetarian friend, Ashley Redgrave, came into town this weekend so I wanted to make her something she could enjoy. Since Charlie and I are both meat lovers, I was very tempted to throw some bacon in but I'm glad I resisted! It came out great.

1 Loaf of French Bread
1 Jar of Kraft Old English Cheddar Spread
3 Tablespoons of Room Temp Butter
1/4 Cup of Parmesan
2 Tablespoons of Mayo
1 Teaspoon of Garlic Powder
2 Green Onions

Cut thin rounds of french bread and set aside. Mix together all ingredients (except green onions) until creamy and smooth. Spread a thin layer of the cheese mixture on each round and broil until golden brown (about 3-5 minutes). If you cut the rounds thin enough you won't need to crisp the bottom side of the bread. If you do, put on bottom oven rack for 3 minutes as well. Top the rounds with chopped green onions and enjoy.