Sausage Mac & Cheese

In our house, cheese makes everything better!  If we want to guarantee that Roman will eat his meal, the first thing we do is top it with a little cheese.  I wish I could take total credit for this recipe, but I actually came across the idea of mixing these ingredients together on a local mommy Facebook page.  Another mom had posted a picture of what her house was having for supper and I thought it might be an interesting dish to add to our circulation.  From the minute John and Roman bit into this meal I knew I would be making this again.  In no time flat Roman devoured the entire bowl and John was going back for seconds.

I will be the first to admit this isn't exactly the most calorie friendly recipe but sometimes you just need a thick, gooey cheese sauce to make you happy.  If you wanted to lighten the recipe up you could substitute the traditional cheese sauce for the sauce used in the Smart Mac & Cheese recipe I posted a while back.

Sausage Mac & Cheese
1 pkg. (5 links) sausage, removed from casings
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 cup macaroni, cooked as per package
Cheese Sauce
2T butter
2T flour
1 1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cup shredded cheese

Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium heat.  Whisk in flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.  Slowly whisk in milk to prevent lumps.  Stir in cheese and whisk until cheese is completely melted.  If you find the sauce is a little on the thick side you can  add more milk.

Fry the sausage in a pan over medium-high heat, breaking it into small pieces.  Add chopped pepper and cook until sausage is cooked through.  Reduce heat and add macaroni to the pan, along with the cheese sauce.  Stir until everything is well coated with cheese and warmed through.  Serve with chopped fresh parsley or grated parmesan cheese.

Turkey & Cream Cheese Cannelloni

Today I decided to shop the freezer and see what I could come up with for supper.  I came across a package of ground turkey and thought about making the old standby recipes like taco salad or hamburger (turkey instead) & rice.  But nobody likes living in a food rut so I went on an exploration mission in my cupboards to see what I could come up with.

Somewhere towards the end of oblivion I found some cannelloni noodles.  I haven't made cannelloni in forever so I thought this would be a great choice!  Obviously I didn't quite this the recipe completely through because after I had already filled all the noodles I discovered that I didn't have any crushed tomatoes in the house.  Luckily I caught John before he left work so he picked up a can on the way home.  Saved by the sauce!

Turkey & Cream Cheese Cannelloni
1 box cannelloni noodles (approx. 20)
1 lb. ground turkey
1 zucchini, grated
1/2 medium onion, diced
1t coriander
1t minced garlic
3t dried basil
salt & pepper to taste
1t olive oil
8 oz. cream cheese
1 can crushed tomatoes
parmesan cheese

Heat oil in a pan over medium high heat and saute onions until soft.  Add turkey, zucchini and spices to the pan and cook until turkey is cooked through.  Drop in cream cheese and stir until cheese is completely melted.  Remove from heart and allow to cool slightly.

Spread a thin layer of crushed tomatoes over the bottom of a 9x13" baking dish.  Stuff the cannelloni with the cooled filling using a small spoon, or a makeshift sandwich bag piping bag, and layer them on top of the tomatoes.  I like to stuff the cannelloni over the sauce so if anything falls out the bottom it will land in the pan and be added to the mix.  Continue layering tomatoes and cannelloni, ending with tomatoes, until all the noodles are stuffed.  Bake at 350° for 45 minute or as directed on the cannelloni package.  Serve topped with parmesan cheese.

 

Because I had a partial box of cannelloni I had some extra filling.  If you are also in this predicament, spread the extra filling over the last layer of pasta and then cover with sauce.

Coriander is a fairly new spice in my drawer, and really I didn't know what to do with it, but the side of the jar said it could be used on chicken among other things.  I've used coriander in a few other chicken recipes since I made this one and I am officially in love.  There will forever be coriander in my spice drawer!  I found this filling to have a delicious mushroom taste to it even thought it has absolutely no mushrooms in it, which was a surprise, but a very welcome surprise!

Smart Mac & Cheese

Everyone loves macaroni and cheese, but we also all know that it probably isn't the best thing for us to eat.  Whether or not we listen to what we know is an entirely different question.  I've never had good luck with homemade cheese sauce.  It always ends up thick, goopy, and regardless of how much cheese I add, never cheesy enough.  So when I saw this recipe on an episode of The Social I knew I had to try it!  Not only did it look delicious, but it's also good for you!  Blasphemous!

I know what your thinking, it's probably going to taste unappetizing and be runny.  Your wrong!  This sauce is thick, creamy, cheesy and a glorious orange color!  John and I have fallen in love with this recipe, and I'm confident enough in this recipe that I even give it to Roman with little pastina!  Okay, enough with the chit chat, let's get to the recipe!

Smart Mac & Cheese
3 cups butternut squash, peeled & cubed (approx. 1 whole squash)
1 cup vegetable or chicken broth
1 1/2 cup 2% milk
4T cottage cheese
1t salt
1t pepper
1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
4 cups macaroni

Combine squash, broth, milk, salt and pepper.  Simmer for 25 minutes or until squash is tender.

Add squash mixture to a blender and puree.  Return the puree to the pot.  *TIP - let the squash cool a bit before blending or it may explode out of the blender, not fun.  You can also use an immersion blender and blend it right in the pot you cooked it in.

Add the remaining ingredients, except pasta, to the sauce.  Heat the sauce on low heat until the cheese is melted.  If you want it extra cheesy you can add more cheese to the sauce.  In a separate pot, cook macaroni as directed on the package.  Serve the macaroni with a heaping scoop of cheese sauce.

Doesn't this picture make you drool!  I would choose this over boxed mac and cheese any day of the week!  I promise this will become a family favorite in no time!  I'm not going to lie and say that you can't taste the squash, you can.  However, the sweetness of the squash is a perfect compliment to the cheese and adds the creaminess that mac and cheese has to have to be fulfilling. 

Quite possibly the best part is that it freezes extremely well!  I usually use half of the sauce for our meal the day I make it and pour the rest into a freezer bag and pop it in the freezer.  When you want to use the frozen sauce, let it thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat it in a pot on the stove or in the microwave.

Pasta with Oil, Lemon and Fresh Tomato

This is a dish that frequently makes an appearance in our house.  Usually saved for the summer, we often break this recipe out when we have little to no groceries left in the fridge and we need to eat.  It's also a great recipe for the nights when John has a meeting after work and I would just rather not cook, but know I shouldn't eat half a box of cookies for supper (you know you've been there too!).

 

Normally this is a "dump it in until it tastes right" recipe, but for the sake of a recipe I've included measurements.

Pasta with Oil, Lemon and Fresh Tomato
1/2 box (225 grams) pasta
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
3 tomatoes, chopped
1/3 cup onion, chopped (optional)
parmesan cheese

Cook pasta as directed on the package.  *My pasta cooking tip* - Hold the pasta vertically with both hands, knuckles facing away from you. Rotate your hands in opposite directions so your knuckles are facing to either side. Set past into the water, release, and the pasta should fan out. This allows the pasta to cook at the same time as it slides into the pot.  Drain and return to the pot.

Add remaining ingredients (excluding cheese) to the pasta.  Toss to coat.

 

Top with parmesan before serving.

In the summer I love to add pea or broccoli shoots from the local farmers market to this dish.  I've even started to see these shoots in grocery stores.  I highly recommend trying them, they are absolutely delicious!  They add a pop of color and a fresh crunch to the pasta.  This is an easy, delicious, and relatively health supper. Especially if the alternative is a box of cookies.

Toasted Pasta with Sausage and Peppers

As much as I love my kitchen and cooking, some days Roman isn't cooperating and I can't cook a big meal, or I've forgotten to take a meal out of the freezer and need some quick and easy.  A quick meal, to me, has to be something that requires very little prep or at least prep I can get done before Roman can crawl to the dogs' water bowl.  Even better is something that I don't have to babysit too much while it's cooking.  This recipe is all of those things combined, and it's delicious!

 

I squeezed this recipe out of my mom whom I think found it years ago in a Pampered Chef recipe book. You probably already have these items in your pantry and fridge so let's get cooking!

Toasted Pasta with Sausage and Peppers

1 pkg sausage

1 box (454g) spaghettinni or angel hair pasta

1 carton (900 ml) chicken stock

2 bell peppers, chopped

Parmesan cheese

Remove sausage meat from casing. You could also purchase meat already out of the casing.

 

Over medium high heat, brown sausage in a pan until cooked through.

 

Remove the sausage from the pan, leaving as much of the juices in the pan as possible. Add dry pasta to the pan and toast over medium high heat, turning the pasta occasionally with tongs. Depending on the size of your pan, you may need to break the noodles in half in order to fit them in as I did.  The pasta noodles will turn a light-deep brown colour as they toast.  If some burn don't panic, they will still taste delicious.

 

Once most of the pasta is toasted, add the chicken stock to the pan.  *TIP - do not hold your hands directly above the pan when adding the stock.  The stock will instantly boil when it hits the pan and the hot steam can burn.  Cover the pan and bring the stock to a boil.  Continue to boil until the pasta is cooked.  There may be some liquid left in the pan once the pasta is cooked but it will be absorbed by the peppers and sausage. 

Add the sausage and peppers to the pasta. Cover and reduce heat until the peppers are warmed through.

 

Top with Parmesan cheese before serving.

 

Toasting pasta seems strange, but it brings out a delicious nutty flavour that you would not associate with pasta.  I've also made this recipe with thicker pasta (like spirals) because I didn't have spaghettinni. It worked, but you don't get the same nutty flavour and you just end up with dark edges.  That being said it works perfectly well with spaghetti, but you may need to add a bit more stock to cook the pasta.

This is a favorite in our house and I hope you enjoy!