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December 26, 2009

it’s good to be home

Filed under: Blog,Comfort foods,Desserts,Dinner,Holidays — Tags: , , , , — Kristen :) @ 3:10 am

IMG_6173 Even though I was born and raised in Las Vegas, I consider ‘home’ to be anywhere family is really, and right now that is North Carolina.  It has been so nice getting to visit with my mom, step dad and grandparents!

I just feel so relaxed and happy here.  It’s nice to have a break from school and work, but I really shouldn’t be taking too big of a break.

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Our flight was without hiccups and we arrived late Wednesday evening.  Thursday we didn’t do a whole heck of a lot and slept in late, which was really nice.  We drove to Trader Joe’s and picked up a few last minute things.  For dinner I decided to make the Sausage Broccoli Pasta that is always a hit and my mom’s favorite dish.  It’s so easy and yummy!  She also had a bottle of Charles Shaw Chardonnay and it wasn’t all that bad actually.  I had a glass and a 1/2.

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After dinner we decided to watch The Hangover.  I’ve never seen this one before and it was pretty darn funny!  I sure hope that doesn’t really happen in Vegas! lol

Of course there was some munchin’ during the movie and we broke out the stash of popcorn my mom has.  Think we have enough?  The Trader Joe’s Lite Kettle Corn is my fav and I had a small bowl of that mixed with the regular lite popcorn and a few small clusters of the moose munch.  That stuff is too rich!  I also had a glass of Celestial Seasonings Mint Green tea which is my favorite after dinner tea.

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Today my mom had to work, but I just spent most of the rainy day prepping the sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pie and turkey for dinner while Chris and my step dad watched sports.

Here’s what I had for lunch while drooling over the Southern Living Magazine and their praline pull-apart bread recipe 🙂  A simple pressed turkey sammie with roasted red pepper hummus, muenster cheese and 1/4 avocado.  I think I could just read recipes all day . . .

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IMG_6228I had an apple for an afternoon snack and my cat Tweety likes to lick the core!  So funny!

I was a little worried about the turkey though because my mom had only taken it out of the freezer a day and a 1/2 before!  It was only 14 lbs, but it needed at least 3-4 days to defrost.  So when I got up this morning I made a quick cold water bath for it, changed it a few times during the day and prayed that it would defrost and not get too warm.

At 2:30pm when I went to get the bird ready it was still kind of frozen in the middle, eek!!  So we ran some cold water down the cavity and pulled all the bagged middle stuff out.  It was actually the first time I have made a turkey all by myself!  After patting it dry, I rubbed the turkey and underneath the skin with this mix:

  • 4 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp dried thyme
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh sage
  • 1-2 tsp poultry seasoning
  • garlic powder
  • salt and pepper

Place it in a roasting pan, breast up with 2 cups of chicken broth in the bottom of the pan.  Roast at 425 F for 30 min, then turn down the oven to 325 F and roast until the meaty part of the thigh reaches 165-170.  Be sure to baste it with the broth every 30 minutes or so.  Take it out of the oven and tent with foil for 20 minutes to rest.  This was the moistest turkey I think I’ve ever had!!  I was so relieved that it tasted good and everyone enjoyed it 🙂

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My mom had a Charles Shaw Merlot, and while it was nothing to sing home about, it was an easy red that didn’t over power anything else too much.

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I also made a sweet potato casserole from Cooking Light.  It was great, but next time I think I will reduce the sugar a bit more.

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Everything else we had alongside was really yummy too!

IMG_6245My grandma made corn bread stuffing and fruit salad.  We also had a green salad, honey baked ham, and Chris made some awesome gravy.  I’m not a gravy person, but his was really good!

Here’s my plate . . .

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IMG_6180And then . . . DESSERT!  I made another recipe from Cooking Light called vanilla bourbon pumpkin tart, except I didn’t have a spring form pan or bourbon and made a gingersnap crust, so it’s kind of like pumpkin cheesecake.  I also doubled the spices of course 🙂  FYI a few teaspoons of amaretto in whipped cream is amazing!

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Oh boy, I think I’m going to pop!  It was all so delicious.  I only had 1 glass of wine and 1 plate and I’m still full, but not uncomfortably full.  My biggest weakness is when we put all the food away I find myself taking more little bites and licking spoons darn it!

I hope you all had a nice Christmas if you celebrate and I can’t wait to read about all your holiday festivities soon!

I think tomorrow my mom and I are going to wake up early and do a little shopping to try and find some deals.  Maybe we’ll stop by the Carolina Blonde Brewery for a little tour?  So many things to try and do still with the family, and I love that nothing of it has to do with work or school 🙂

What’s your favorite part of the holidays??

November 21, 2009

sticking with it

Filed under: Blog,Dinner,Fitness/Health — Tags: , , , , — Kristen :) @ 2:29 am

IMG_5487Happy Friday all!  Since we met last my knees were in a bit of a fuss for the 4-5 mile run I decided to put them through last Sunday.  I am happy to report that they are feeling much better and Diana introduced me to a training program called ‘Couch to 5k’.  It’s a simple training program that combines running and walking, where the running is gradually increased until you can run a full 5k without stopping.

image At first I was thinking, well I’m not a couch potato!  I need to be running 3 miles right off the bat because I can handle it.  Well, you know what, this program is going to be just what my knees ordered I believe.  I did the first 30 minute session yesterday morning at 4:30am and was even able to do a weight lifting class that evening at 8pm without any mysterious aches and pains!  Yes!  The best part is it has an iPhone app too that tells you exactly when to run and when to walk.  Yes!  I’m feeling empowered already and am actually looking forward to my next lil session.  So I guess I’ll be sticking with this running thing a bit longer 🙂

I also signed up for my first 5k Turkey Trot!!  I’m really excited, and while it’s going to be way before my C25K training will be over, I figure I can just take it easy and see how it goes.  Anyone else doing some planned physical activity on that holiday weekend? Great way to balance out all those good eats, although we will all be practicing proper portion control, right?!

I still can’t get used to this time change!!!  The lighting is just terrible in my house now by the time I get home and I think I’m going to have to search for some kind of lighting station or special photography lights??  Anyone know of something like this that is reasonable?

I’ve been wanting to share this casserole recipe because it has become one of my favorites among many.  I love casseroles because they can be easily adaptable to a healthier profile and are so easy!

Quinoa Chicken & Broccoli Casserole

Serves 8

Ingredients

  • 2  tbsp  butter, 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1  medium onion, diced
  • 2  garlic cloves, minced
  • 1  pound shiitake or other mushrooms, sliced
  • 3 tbsp AP flour
  • 3-4 cups skim milk (or you could do 1/2 broth, 1/2 milk)
  • 3-4 heads of broccoli, chopped
  • 2 cups quinoa
  • 1-1.5 cups Italian cheese mix, shredded (I used TJ’s Italian Mix)
  • 1/2  tsp  salt, all purpose seasoning, garlic powder, 1 tsp thyme, 1 tsp herbes de provence, pinch of cayenne
  • 2 cups cooked chicken breast meat, chopped

Preparation

1. Heat 1 tsp olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, and cook. Stir in garlic, and cook 1 minute. Add mushrooms, and cook 8 minutes or until softened.

2. Melt 2 tbsp butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add flour, and cook, whisking constantly, 1 minute. Slowly whisk in milk, and cook, whisking constantly until mixture thickens.  Add broccoli and quinoa to cook halfway.  Remove from heat and slowly whisk in 1/2 cup cheese, seasonings, mushroom mixture and chicken.  Transfer to a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch (4-quart) casserole dish.

3. Cover and refrigerate overnight, or bake, covered with foil, at 375° for 30 minutes or until bubbly, uncover, sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and brown for 10 minutes.

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Great for leftovers too!

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As far as the weekend plans . . .

Tonight Chris and I are heading out with some friends to a place called Casa di Amore.  They have great Italian food and also a live crooner that sings till the weee hours of the morning and sounds just like Sinatra.  I just love that kind of music, especially with a nice glass of wine.  We’ll see how pictures go, as you can imagine the lighting is pretty low to ‘set the mood’.

photo (2) At the Lee’s Wine Experience that we went to a little while ago we found a Pinot Noir that was out of this world called Ritual.

We thought we should order some since it was such a special find.  Well, I guess we got a few of them!!  We aren’t going to drink all these ourselves, but will take a few bottles for Thanksgiving and for gifts.

Other than that I would like to get another run/walk or ride in and finish tackling my proposal/presentation for Research Methods.  I have the lit review mostly done and now have to start working on the methods/statistics, eeek!  This is my area of weakness.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!!

September 4, 2009

nice and refreshing

Filed under: Blog,Dinner — Tags: , , , — Kristen :) @ 5:44 pm

IMG_4573ahhhh, Fridays, the love of my life, I look forward to you all week!

Overall the week was good!  Progress has been made in my thesis in that I am meeting with my chair next week to get the ball rolling and hopefully I can come up with a topic that will be both interesting and doable.  I’m really interested in the coconut water topic, but there are no studies out there that I can find as of yet.  This would not be good for me in that I wouldn’t have any suggestions or methods to base my research off of.  Any of you with an MS out there have any suggestions for me as I embark on this crazy journey that you wish you would have done differently? I’m still trying to learn the proper protocol for everything, and I can’t believe all the grammatical rules, yikes!

I am sooooorrre today!  My muscles are not liking me at the moment, but I tried to win them over with some chia, flax, wheat germ oats love this morning 🙂  Workout week looked something like this . . .

tuesday – hip hop

wednesday – kick box (always makes me sore) I think my HR monitor is freaking out because it has told me twice now I maxed at 222, um cardiac arrest?!

thursday – first jazz class in a long time and I have definitely lost a lot of my technique and my hips were in shock.

friday – spin

I have to say though that since I’ve started cycling, my exercise classes have been feeling a lot easier and I don’t get very winded.  Granted I am still sucking air like a girl on my rides trying to keep up with the pros, other things are now feeling easier, just for conditioning.  I’ve got my clipless shoes, so now I just have to get the pedals.  Why did I decide to start something so pricey, geez!  I’m really nervous about this because you are practically locked into the bike and I can just imagine myself falling over while screaming ‘I can’t clip out!!!’  oh dear. positive thoughts.

Many of you around the blog world have been joyously praising the new fall weather coming your way and I’m jealous!!!  Please send some out my way!  It’s still freaking hot here and I look forward to the days when I can actually do activities outside in the afternoon without dying from heat stroke and bake lovely comforting warm casseroles without heating the house to oblivion.  So because of that I have a nice refreshing pasta dish, adapted from my pasta idol Giada, that is great really at any temperature and very refreshing!

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Lemony Roasted Chicken & Broccoli Pasta

Ingredients

  • about 3 bunches broccoli, trimmed and chopped
  • 1/2 box of your favorite long pasta (I usually make fresh fettuccine, but in a crunch we had spaghetti rigati)
  • 1 (14-ounce) can reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 cups shredded roasted chicken (from about 1 roasted chicken)
  • 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
  • 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • Salt, freshly ground black pepper and all-purpose seasoning

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add pasta and cook until 4 minutes from al dente, then add broccoli and finish cooking together.  Reserve 1/2 cup liquid; drain and rinse with cold water.

Meanwhile, bring the broth and lemon juice to a boil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Boil until the broth reduces a bit. Add the garlic and chicken, simmer on low.  Add broccoli and pasta to the chicken broth and stir to combine. Add 1/3-1/2 cup of Parmesan, pine nuts, oil, and lemon zest. Toss to coat, adding some of the reserved cooking liquid, 1/4 cup at a time, to moisten if needed* Season to taste. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan and serve.

*note  this is a really light sauce so it will seem as if it’s not ‘coming together’  give it time and some good light stirring.  The chicken and broccoli will absorb all that lovely juice.

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It’s great as a cold salad for leftovers too!

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If you couldn’t tell, I’m really looking forward to the extra day this weekend.  We don’t have any specific plans, but I do hope to make some progress on my school projects, organization and sanity, along with other house stuff like cleaning and wash.  Oh and hopefully a bike ride in there somewhere.  Tonight I plan to get together with a good friend for a little bite to eat and some drinks 🙂

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

August 22, 2009

a little bit of randomness

Filed under: Blog,Dinner — Tags: , — Kristen :) @ 3:37 am

IMG_4446 I don’t really have a specific topic for this post, and it probably won’t be my most stellar, but I just wanted to post and say hello!

Whew, today is Friday and boy am I a happy camper in the non-tent, non-outdoor form, of course!  Fridays always make me happy even though the weekends always fly by way too fast.

Since my last post I went to the Farmer’s Market here in Las Vegas started by Molto Vegas.  I actually found out about it from our Staff Meeting at work.  Every meeting they highlight a specific program at UNCE, and this time it was the ‘Producer to Chef’ program with Bob Morris.  Wow, this really got me excited!  Doug Taylor, the executive pastry chef for Molto Vegas was also there because he was the man who started the great producer-to-chef relationship with all the local farms near the Vegas area (150 mile radius).  When they told us about this farmer’s market, I literally wanted to jump out of my seat with delight!  I’ve been to a few farmer’s markets here and just haven’t been that impressed.  This one . . . oh my gosh, loss for words.  It is located in a warehouse that is pretty cramped and there were a lot of people (word got out), but the product was just gorgeous!  The chefs in town get first dibbs and then the public gets to look around.  Connecting with the chefs is what really makes this farmer’s market work and helps the farmer’s to actually make money.  Boy, I am so glad they opened it to the public too.

IMG_4444 I got some really great things and oh let me tell you I could have bought it all!  I got some pumpkin blossoms, leeks, yellow summer squash, figs, peaches, plums, lemon basil and purple basil.  I cannot wait to try these out!  I already had a bite of the lemon basil and it about knocked my socks off it was so good.  It’s like basil with a refreshing lemon-y punch.  You have to try this!  I also had one of the plums which was juicy and so full of flavor.  Usually at the store they taste like flavorless hockey pucks.

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mmmm . . . I’m in heaven with this kind of stuff!  And you know what I’ve finally come to the realization that I have to go to culinary school no matter what that looks like or how I get there.  I’ve danced around the idea forever now.  This truly makes me excited and happy!  I’d like to go to Johnson and Wales because they actually have a culinary nutrition degree and I’ve taken a lot of the science-based classes already.  But, I may have to settle for the community college here because it’s way too expensive.  It is definitely on my must-do list 🙂  You have to hold me to it!!

This weekend we are planning on going to our friend’s double birthday/housewarming party which should be a lot of fun.  They plan on having beer pong, hehe!  Takes me back to the college days, although I wasn’t a big partier at all.  I didn’t even have a drink till I was 21 I swear.  But I do like to go dancing in da club!  I’d also like to get a good bike ride in on Saturday, but we’ll see how it goes.  I’ve been sorely sleep deprived this week and really just want to sleep in and catch up to be honest 🙂

Tonight for din din I went back on that chicken sausage broccoli pasta idea that I had in mind before my guy made us something special Wednesday 🙂  This is really a winner, and everyone I make it for really likes it.  My mom always requests it when I come to visit.  Oh and my mom is coming to visit me October 20th for a week!  I’m sooo excited!  Being that she is in North Carolina and I’m way over here in Vegas, it makes it really hard sometimes for me.  I do call my mom every day on the phone though!

Sorry for the terrible lighting, it was getting dark and the precious sunlight was dwindling!  Any camera pros know of a cheap light tent or some kind of light station to make great light?

I also added some of the farmer’s market leeks and TJ’s heirloom tomatoes.  This recipe is great because you can vary the ingredients based on what you have on hand 🙂

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I also made stuffed squash blossoms because, well, I’ve always wanted to try and make them!  I stuffed them with a mixture of ricotta, parmesan, goat cheese, garlic, pine nuts and lemon basil.  This is sooo good and would also be great stuffed in calzones, added to scrambled eggs, or as a bruschetta topping.

Then I made a tempura batter to plop them in before frying them to a crisp.  Here’s the recipe I based mine off of and this one too.  Wow!  So good!  I didn’t know how easy tempura batter is.  The blossoms are very unique and I love the puffy tempura batter!  Once we started frying Chris got a little fry happy, so we decided to try anything we could find 🙂  Broccoli, sweet potatoes(these are my favorite), whole wheat tortillas  . . .

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And even a string cheese!!!

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Oooey, gooey cheese in the middle!  Yum!  I love tempura batter, and I haven’t fried anything ever in my own kitchen.  Can you believe that?  Of course I’ve had it at restaurants though.  It was fun, a bit messy, but oh so good!

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Another big question for you  .  .  . I’ve been wanting to update my site for ages now, but it just hasn’t seemed to pan out mostly because I have no idea when it comes to website design.  I’d like to ask if you guys know of any one that is good with this kind of thing?  I’d be willing to pay, but I don’t have that big of a budget being that I just had to fork out my left kidney for grad school.  (Speaking of which, I’m going to be taking sports nutrition and research methods in physical activity).  I’d mostly just like to make it easier to navigate, with better graphics/background and add a few tabs, including a recipes tab with all my recipes I’ve posted.  Thanks for your thoughts!

Have you guys seen the FoodBuzz Blogger Festival itinerary yet??  Wow!  How freakin’ cool would that be?!  I am still in the process of being a featured publisher, but I would love to go!

Well, if you’ve made it through this post and your head doesn’t hurt, I commend you!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  Any fun plans??

April 17, 2009

few delays

Filed under: Blog,Dinner,Recipes in a Flash — Tags: , — Kristen :) @ 2:35 am

We found out that we won’t be able to close until next week sometime because there are 25 people ahead of us waiting to close at our title company and they are slammed.  And I thought people weren’t buying houses right now?  Even though we will be pushed back a bit, we still can spend time doing lots of packing this weekend.  Ugh!

I also made a quick and easy dinner since C has class tonight.  Basically it’s a couscous pre-mix doctored up with some sautéed tofu, mushrooms and broccoli.  So easy!

100_2696But for starters I had some home-made Italian-style hummus with a can of drained chickpeas, 2 garlic cloves, 1 roasted red pepper, handful of basil, 1/4 cup parmesan and 2 tbsp pine nuts along side some whole-wheat naan from Trader Joe’s for dipping!  I saw this naan in the store when I was shopping today and thought . . . I want to make some hummus!

I can’t wait to try all their naan flavors, and they even have some in the frozen section, which would be conducive to less spoilage and a better texture believe it or not.  I usually freeze all my fresh breads and cakes before frosting because they don’t dry out that way.  I loved this stuff!  It100_2699 has a wonderfully moist texture and is the perfect accompaniment to hummus.

The whole wheat also has 8g of fiber per serving!  I want to try this for a quick pizza base too.  Yum!

On to the main course . . .

  • 1 box of pre-mix whole-wheat couscous with pumpkin and red pepper (Sofella brand from Costco) cooked according to the package, with just water
  • 3 stalks broccoli, chopped
  • 1/2 carton crimini mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 blocks TJ’s Teriyaki flavored tofu, cubed
  • splash of rice wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
  • 1 tsp toasted sesame oil

100_2372 Cook the couscous according to the package directions (I used the pumpkin with red pepper flavor not the one to the left), omitting the oil.  Gently steam the broccoli until al dente; drain and rinse with cold water to preserve the green color.  Sauté the mushrooms and tofu in a large pan with a little olive oil until golden.  Add the broccoli and continue to cook to char it up a bit.  Turn off the heat.  Splash a couple glugs of vinegar, with the hoisin and sesame oil and mix everything up.  Serve along side the couscous or mix it all together.  Yum!

I made this bowl at one of those pottery places awhile ago and it has a sunflower in the middle at the bottom.  I Love cute eating-ware because it makes eating such an even better experience!

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Any fun weekend plans?

April 4, 2009

new demo site

Filed under: Blog,Dinner,Recipes in a Flash — Tags: , , — Kristen :) @ 5:40 pm

100_2657 Happy Weekend!  The new demo site for eatingRD is up and running!  It will just give a little preview of what I’m piloting for a new business endeavor.  It’s still being tweaked and adjusted and there are still many things we need to add, so that is why I am asking for all your comments and feedback.  You all have such great ideas and insight and I would love to hear from you, good or bad, about what you think.

imageHere is the link!  There is a short survey you can take that will give us some insight as to what you think of the new site, your impressions and expectations of RDs and a business like this, and ways you think it can be improved.

Five entries will be chosen at random to win a 1GB flash drive from newegg.com.  Here’s an example one at the left.

Now on to dinner! . . .

This is definitely my favorite go-to dish because it’s pretty easy to make and it was the first recipe I ever got comfortable with.  It’s such a great feeling when you are in the kitchen and can just grab ingredients ‘a little bit here, a dash of that’ and it turns out well!  That’s what makes cooking so much fun, even if it doesn’t always turn out.  It’s a big experiment!  Go ahead and try it with different types of sausage (lower fat of course) and pasta to make it your own. I have made it for several family and friends, who always request me to make it, and it’s great for a casual yet elegant dinner party.  It always seems to disappear too fast!  This dish is great for leftovers, and I am all about the leftovers! They can be a great way to stretch food dollars.

Broccoli Sausage Pasta

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

  • Freshly ground pepper or Mrs. Dash seasoning
  • 2-3 heads broccoli, trimmed and washed
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
  • 2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
  • 5 links turkey or chicken sausage (lower fat), casing removed
  • 1 1/2 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth whisked with 1 1/2 tbsp flour and 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 12 oz of your favorite pasta, such as campanelle or farfalle
  • 1/8 teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes
  • 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan/Romano cheese, plus more for sprinkling

Directions

  1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and shallots; cook until just golden. Add sausage; sauté, breaking up with the back of a spoon, until cooked through and forms crumbly bits on the bottom of the pan. Add broth mixture and scrape bits off bottom of pan. Cook until heated through, thickened and reduced down a bit, about 10-12 minutes.
  2. While that is reducing, add pasta to large pot of boiling water; cook according to package directions until al dente. Add broccoli florets, in the last 3-4 minutes of cooking.  Drain together.
  3. Add pasta and broccoli to skillet or large pot; toss everything to combine. Season with black pepper and/or Mrs. Dash, and crushed red pepper. Sprinkle with cheese; toss to combine and serve!

You can increase the amount of veggies by sautéing mushrooms and zucchini with the sausage too. I also recommend serving it with a nice piece of crusty bread and a fruity balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Yum!

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100_2660 Along with the pasta we tried a new Chardonnay that turned out to be great!  This is the perfect malolactic – type chard if you have never experienced it before.  I would highly recommend it.  It was so full and buttery, and yet still crisp and refreshing.  The sausage I used in 100_2662the pasta was slightly spicy, and this chard stood up to it well and enveloped the spice in its buttery goodness.  There were notes of melon and nectarine with a slight citrus-y brightness.  It was pretty reasonable too at $12, you should try it!

100_2661 After dinner, we cuddled up (well, my guy fell asleep!) and watched Twilight.

I’m still trying to find the time to get through the book portion!

This weekend I am planning on making a batch of granola bars (I tried them with 2 egg whites and less oil and they turned out good!) and Oatmeal Triangles with a new product from TJ’s to last for the week, along with a little bit of prepping of recipes to come . . . I see a twist on lasagna maybe?  Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

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How do you find time to make your meals?  Do you prep before hand or put it all together the same day?  Or rely on other quick methods?

December 19, 2008

Always a good standby . . .

Filed under: Blog,Dinner — Tags: , — Kristen :) @ 10:39 pm
I couldn’t let another post go by without highlighting this recipe, adapted from Martha Stewart. Some of you have already seen it on my MySpace too. This is definitely my favorite go-to dish whenever I don’t have any other ideas for the weekly meal plan. It always turns out great and is really really easy to make. Go ahead and experiment with different types of sausage (lower fat of course) and pasta to make it your own. I have made it for several family and friends, who always request me to make it. This dish is even great for leftovers, and I am all about the leftovers! They can be a great way to stretch food dollars. I know when I go visit my mom in NC for Christmas, this will definitely be on the menu!

Broccoli and Sausage Pasta

Pasta with Broccoli Rabe and Sausage

Ingredients

Serves 2-3.

  • Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 1/2 pound broccoli, trimmed and washed
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
  • 2 shallots, peeled and chopped
  • 8 ounces turkey or chicken sausage (lower fat), casing removed
  • 1 cup canned low-sodium chicken broth mixed with 1 tbsp flour
  • 1/2 pound pasta, such as campanelle or farfalle
  • 1/8 teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan/Romano cheese

Directions

  1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Prepare an ice-water bath; set aside. Add salt and broccoli to the boiling water. Cook until just tender, about 3-4 minutes. Drain, and transfer to ice bath. When cool, drain, and set aside.
  2. Heat oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and shallots; cook until just golden. Add sausage; saute, breaking up with the back of a spoon, until cooked through. Add broth. Cook until heated through and reduced, about 10 minutes.
  3. While that is reducing, add pasta to other pot; cook according to package directions until al dente. Drain.
  4. Add pasta and broccoli to skillet; toss to combine. Season with salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper. Sprinkle with cheese; toss to combine. Serve immediately.

Feel free to double the recipe because left-overs are extra delicious. Increase the amount of veggies by sauteing mushrooms and zucchini with the sausage too. I also recommend serving it with piece of crusty bread and a nice fruity balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Yum!

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