Italian Sausage with Peppers & Onions

Yessss, I know I haven't been blogging for a while. Yesss, I know. In my past few posts, I said that I will be blogging more but I have yet to do that. Sooo, here's what I am going to do. I am going to pretend that there wasn't any break in my blogging and just carry on blogging like usual :P How's that? LOL! Anyways, it's been a while since I shared any recipes with all of you. So, here's a quick one that's really simple to make but super yummy to eat. I would make this on days when I am really lazy but still want something home made and hearty. Try it, this recipe is definitely a keeper.

Start off by browning 6 links (about 4 oz) of sweet Italian sausages in a large pan. If you like it spicy, you could use hot Italian sausages too. Make sure you brown all sides of the sausages. Once it's done, remove it from the pan and then set them aside.
Using the same pan, add in some green peppers and onions. You could also add in some yellow and red peppers too if you like.
After sauteing for a bit, season with some basil, oregano, black pepper and garlic powder. Then, add in a can of diced tomatoes. I used diced tomatoes that has been seasoned with Italian herbs but you can pretty much use just any regular diced tomatoes.
Mix the tomatoes with the rest of the ingredients then add in about half a cup of red wine. If you like, you could also use Marsala wine. Remember to try and get as much of the burnt bits off the bottom of the pan. You'll be surprised how much flavor that adds to the dish.
Give everything a good mix and return the sausages into the pan. Allow it to simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes, until all the sauce is reduced and it's good to go! How easy was that? I served that up with some penne pasta but you can pretty much serve it with anything. Pasta, rice, potatoes, Italian bread....anything that you like! Try it and let me know how it turns out! :D

Sage Sausage and Cranberry Stuffing

How can you make a holiday meal without making any stuffing? In my opinion, I feel that the stuffing completes the meal. It usually doesn't get to be in the limelight, unlike the turkey but Thanksgiving wouldn't be Thanksgiving without the stuffing. So, I have saved the best for last. This is the final part in my four part series of simple Thanksgiving recipes. It's been fun sharing those recipes with you and I hope you will enjoy making them as much as I enjoyed sharing them with you.

This is another really simple but yummy recipe. Start off my melting 4 tablespoons of butter in a large pan. Then, crumble and cook 1 lbs of sage sausage until brown.
Next, add in approximately two cans (14.5 oz) of chicken broth.
Once the chicken broth comes to a boil, turn off the heat and add in one package of herb flavored stuffing. Gently fold in the stuffing into the broth and sausage mixture.
Finally, add in about 1 cup of dried cranberry and gently mix it into the stuffing mixture. Once, it is all evenly mixed, transfer the stuffing from the pan into a casserole dish. Then, cover the casserole dish with aluminum foil and pop it into a 325F oven for about an hour. There you go, another simple holiday recipe. Now, who says cooking for the holidays needs to be stressful? :D

Whole Wheat Pepperoni & Sausage Stromboli

We found some fresh whole wheat pizza dough on sale at our local grocery store not too long ago and we bought a few packs. Instead of making a pizza or calzone (which we always make), we decided to try something a little different. We made a stromboli instead! It turned out to be pretty yummy, so here is the recipe for it.

You start off by sprinkling some corn meal on a lightly greased baking sheet.

Then, press out the pizza dough evenly into a rectangular shape. Sprinkle on some garlic salt and Italian herbs.

Place a generous amount of shredded cheese (I used mozzarella) right down the middle of the dough.

Next, place some crumbled Italian Hot Sausage on top of the cheese. You can pretty much use any type of sausage that you like.

The next thing to go on are the caramelized onions. You can use fresh onions if you like but I find caramelized onions to be way tastier.

Then, arrange some pepperoni slices on top of the onions. The pile might look as though its getting really high, but don't worry about it. We need to pile it on high because it will all reduce when it's in the oven.

Lastly, sprinkle on more shredded cheese and some fresh basil leaves. Remember to tear the basil leaves into smaller pieces, it will just release the most amazing flavor when baking.

Brush on some eggwash all around the sides of the pizza dough and then you can roll it all up. After rolling, tuck the sides of the dough in well, so that the filling doesn't spill out when baking.

Make little cuts at the top of the stromboli to allow the steam to escape when baking.

Brush on more eggwash on the top (this is to help give it color - it will turn a nice golden brown when it's done) and it's ready to go into the oven.

Pop it into a 375F oven for about half an hour.

There you go! It's done! A nice looking yummy golden brown stromboli. Just allow it to cool down for a little, then you can either cut it into half or slice it into slices before serving. I sliced our stromboli and served it with a large side salad. Yuumyy yummy yum yum!

Spicy Italian Sausage Pasta

Spicy Italian Sausage with Angel Hair pasta. Ahhhh...this is one of my favorite things to cook when I feel like eating something yummy but don't have much time to cook it. It's really simple to make and doesn't take long at all. Here's how you do it.

Start of by cutting some Spicy Italian sausages into small pieces (almost the size of a small meatball). Heat some butter in a pan and place the sausages in together with it. Once the sausages are nicely cooked and browned, remove them from the pan, place them on some kitchen towels and set them aside. Drain all the excess oil from the pan, except just a little...to coat it.

Turn the heat back on to high. Once the oil is hot again, throw in some chopped onions.

Stir that around for a bit then add in some chopped peppers.

Allow the onions and peppers to cook for a bit, then add in the sausages once again.

Next, add in a can of diced tomatoes.

Mix them all together and allow it to cook for a bit. After a few minutes, add in some pasta sauce.

Stir in the pasta sauce with everything else and allow it to go into a boil. Give it a few more quick stirs and the Spicy Italian Sausage sauce is done!

Now, wasn't that easy? You can serve it up on top of some angel hair pasta (just like the first picture) or you can toss in some angel hair pasta into the sauce and mix it before serving. It doesn't matter how you serve it, either ways, it's absolutely yummy! I just love how all the different taste and textures just come together, it's definitely one amazing dish!