Some recipes, like this one for Italian Sausage Bread, are so easy and yet are oh so satisfying. My mother-in-law seems to have an endless supply of sausage bread prepared at her house, so I never really thought to make it myself until this past year. Now that I have, I know it is the perfect make-ahead option to keep in your freezer!
This sausage bread can be made with either hot Italian sausage or sweet Italian sausage. I suggest changing the color of the pepper you use inside so that when you have it out for snacking, everyone knows what they are about to bite into. (I used red in these photos because I was making one with hot Italian sausage; I use green in my sweet Italian sausage breads.)
Tomorrow, March 19th, is the Feast of St. Joseph, an important feast day in Italy or more specifically, Sicily. St. Joseph is particularly important to Sicilians, because he is credited with preventing a famine in Sicily during the Middle Ages through prayer. Each year, a large feast is prepared in his honor. Desserts typically include Zeppoli and Italian Fig Cookies.
Italian Fig Cookies, or Cuccidati, also tend to show up around Christmastime, so they are more of a “celebratory” cookie than linked to any specific holiday.
I wasn’t ready to conquer Zeppoli just yet, so I thought I’d try Italian Fig Cookies! This recipe is based off a recipe from Epicurious.
I live in Philadelphia, and last week I was kind “stuck” at home because of the pope’s impeding arrival. So I used the opportunity to cook up a storm! (Seriously, I managed to make Saucy Chicken Over Rice, Chicken Tacos Bowls, Tomato Sauce, this recipe shared below, and a bunch of other yummy freezable dishes. My slow cooker and stove had quite the week!)
Here’s one of my favorite “freezer friendly” meals, with directions on how to store in your freezer and how to reheat when ready.
These Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells are easy to make, and are great to pack away for future meals (or eat immediately, that’s totally allowed too).
One of the first products I noticed in the basket was Smoked Mozzarella. I’ve had smoked mozzarella in the past and found the flavor to be a bit… overwhelming… so I was interested to see if I could get it to work well in a recipe instead of becoming the only flavor you can taste. But Formaggio’s smoked mozzarella was a pleasant surprise! The smoky flavor is present without being overpowering and works to enhance other flavors instead of covering them up.
Stuffed mushrooms are one of my favorite appetizers, they always hit the spot! So when Jimmy Dean contacted me about their new Fully Cooked Sausage Crumbles, I knew I wanted to use the crumbles in stuffed mushrooms.
I adapted this recipe from one I found on the Jimmy Dean website. It comes together very quickly, in about 30 minutes. It’s simple enough to whip up when you need an appetizer in no time!
Ingredients:
12 oz medium sized mushrooms, stems removed
1 package Jimmy Dean® Sausage Crumbles, Original
1 garlic clove, minced
2 eggs
¾ cup dry Italian bread crumbs, divided
½ cup (2 ounces) grated Parmesan cheese, divided
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon olive oil
#spon: I’m required to disclose a relationship between our site and Jimmy Dean. This could include Jimmy Dean providing us w/content, product, access or other forms of payment.
The weather in Philadelphia decided to take a break from the cold and give us two days of summer! We hit temperatures above 80 degrees so I wanted to prepare a light meal that didn’t involve much time over a stove. This Vegetable Couscous Salad from Cooking Light is perfect for summer dinners. It also travels well, so it would be a great addition to a barbecue, just make it ahead of time and bring it with you!
Ingredients:
Dressing:
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 (.6 ounce envelope Italian dressing mix) or Italian spice blend
Salad:
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup uncooked couscous
2 cups chopped red bell pepper (I used two peppers)
2 cups chopped tomato (I used two beefsteak tomatoes)
I received Italian Frying Peppers in my CSA share this week. I had no idea what an Italian frying pepper was so I was curious to find out more about these fun looking peppers. Although they look like they might be spicy, they are definitely closer to the flavor of a bell pepper, but there is a hint of spice. They come in a range of colors so I thought they’d make a beautiful bruschetta-type appetizer. I figured there was good reason they were called frying peppers, so I kept it simple and did just that: sauteed them up in some olive oil. (Sorry about the lack of amounts of each ingredient, I made this up as I was going)
Ingredients:
Italian frying peppers, cut small/thin enough to fit on bread slices
French or Italian bread, sliced
Olive oil (I used Nudo’s basil olive oil)
Parmesan cheese
Fresh basil, chopped
Preheat your broiler. Brush the pieces of bread with the olive oil. (I realized after I did this with basil how fantastic it would have been with Nudo’s olive oil with chili. Sigh. I’ll do that next time!)
Top with Parmesan cheese and add to a cookie sheet.
Broil for 1-2 minutes or until the bread begins to brown.
Add 1 teaspoon of olive oil per frying pepper (I cooked three so I used 1 tablespoon) to a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the peppers.
Cook until they begin to brown, turning once, about 4-5 minutes.
Remove the peppers from the pan and top the bread with slices of peppers.
If desired, add a bit more Parmesan cheese and broil for another 30 seconds to a minute, or until the cheese melts.
They can be served as is. Simple, delicious, and quick.
You can also add some freshly chopped basil to the slices to add a bit more flavor.
These were really stellar. I loved how (for lack of a better term) creamy the peppers became once fried. This recipe was really delicious with the basil olive oil, but I bet the chili olive oil would have been spectacular. Normal extra virgin olive oil would also do the trick.
It’s almost July 4th weekend, so I am preparing a bunch of dishes for me to trek down to the beach.
I tend to make food that can marinate for a day or two so that I have time to make it without rushing around right before we leave. This time around, I decided to make a pasta salad based off my mom’s version.
I have no idea why the concept of a food swap stresses me out so much. But trying to find a recipe for this month was so difficult! I finally found this recipe from a blog called The Bad Girl’s Kitchen; she has a whole section of freezer-friendly meals.
Ingredients (I was making 10 servings):
Salt
2 pounds penne
8 tablespoons olive oil
6 cans of artichoke hearts, rinsed and chopped
1 medium onion, minced
8 medium garlic cloves, minced (about 8 teaspoons)
Zest from 1 lemon
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup dry white wine
2 cups heavy cream
2 pounds chicken thighs
3 bay leaves
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
16 ounces shredded Italian cheese blend (about 2 cups)
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Ground black pepper
3 tablespoons minced fresh tarragon leaves
that’s quite a few ingredients
To cook the pasta, boil water in a pasta pot over high heat. Add a tablespoon of salt and the pasta and cook for 5 minutes (it will be very al dente– they will cook fully in the oven later). Drain pasta in a colander and toss with two tablespoons olive oil. Set aside.
Prep your artichokes, onion, and garlic.
In a large pot, heat 6 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the artichokes, onion, and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook until the artichokes are lightly browned (about 10 minutes).
Add the garlic and lemon zest and cook for about 30 seconds. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the broth, wine, and cream.
Add the chicken and bay leaves and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat, cover, and cook for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken registers 160 degrees.
Remove from heat and discard the bay leaves. Remove chicken and set aside to cool. When cooled, shred into bite-sized pieces. Stir the chicken back into the sauce, adding the pasta, peas, 2 cups cheese and lemon juice. Stir until combined and season with salt and pepper.
I transferred these into tupperware dishes. I included a freezer bag of cheese and put them in the freezer.
To cook, thaw the meal in the refrigerator (about 24 hours). Add to a casserole dish and top with the cheese.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cover with aluminum foil sprayed with vegetable spray. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes.
Remove foil and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes. Sprinkle with tarragon and serve.
Whew. I heated up a tiny portion of this, just to make sure it was edible. Well, it was more than edible, it was really quite good! I was impressed with how much flavor was in the dish. Thanks for such a great recipe Bad Girl’s Kitchen!
Lasagna. It seems like such a simple dish that will result in many freezable meals (9 to be exact). Always looking for a way to have already-prepared lunch or dinner options, I decided this weekend was the time to conquer the classic Italian food. I mean, how much work can layering different ingredients be?
Three hours later, I ended up with this:
Not too shabby. Just a long process!
Ingredients for Lasagna:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus 2 tablespoons for the lasagna
1 tablespoon each of dried: thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary and parsley
The tomato sauce takes a good hour itself, so start this before anything else. While making the sauce, leave the milk on the counter so it can reach room temperature. Also leave out the frozen spinach to thaw.
In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and sauté for 2 minutes. Add cans of tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, and the rest of the spices (bay leaves through parsley). Simmer over low heat for 1 hour. Remove bay leaves and remove pot from heat.
Feel free to use just some store-bought sauce. I personally can’t do it. Who told all the sauce companies that sugar should be a main ingredient? Gross. So yeah, the 25% of me that is Italian absolutely cannot handle sauce out of a jar. I digress…
Next, to make the béchamel sauce, melt 5 tablespoons of butter over medium heat in another pot. When the butter is melted, add the flour and whisk until smooth, about 2 minutes.
um. “smooth”? yeah, I don’t know what happened
Gradually add in milk, whisking constantly to prevent any lumps. Continue to simmer and whisk over medium heat. Make sure the heat isn’t up too high; you don’t want the milk to burn! Stir until thick and creamy, about 10 minutes.
it should coat the back of a wooden spoon, like this
Remove from heat and add to tomato sauce. Stir until well combined. Set aside and allow to cool completely.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
While the sauce is cooling, cook the lasagna according to the package directions. Lay lasagna pieces out individually on a tin foil so that they don’t stick together.
In a sauté pan, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When almost smoking, add the ground beef and season with salt and pepper. Break up large clumps to make sure all parts of the meat are browned, until there is no more pink meat. Remove from heat and drain any excess fat. Set aside and allow to cool completely.
In a medium sized bowl, mix the ricotta and eggs. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
To assemble (in a lasagna pan):
line bottom with lasagna sheets
add 1/3 of bechamel sauce
add all of the ricotta mixture
add all of the spinach
another layer of pasta sheets
add all of the meat
add half of the mozzarella cheese (1 bag)
add another 1/3 of the bechamel sauce
one last layer of pasta sheets
add the last of the bechamel sauce
top with remaining mozzarella cheese
add Parmesan cheese and thin slices of 2 tbsp of butter
To cook, line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the lasagna pan on top, cover with tin foil and place on the middle rack of the oven. Bake until the top is bubbling, about 30 minutes. Remove the cover and bake for another 15 minutes.
woo! finally done!
Allow to cool if you plan on putting into individual containers (as I did). I find it hard to believe that something with this much cheese, pasta, and sauce could honestly taste bad. But seeing how much not-so-good-for-you things went into this, I think I’d sub in some “less” bad ingredients next time (skim milk, partially skim cheese, low fat ricotta, ground turkey).
Although this was quite the task, I think it was totally worth it. I’ve already had this for lunch one day this week and have plenty more stored away in my freezer for future meals. Yum.
