Day 316: Thanksgiving leftovers day 1--Sausage Bechamel Shells

So after a long weekend of eating actual leftover Thanksgiving dinners and a couple birthday celebrations, it was time to re-invent some leftovers.  Once the vegetables and potatoes ran out, we were left with 2 types of stuffing and massive amounts of turkey leftover.  What to do, what to do?

I started with the sausage stuffing to give us a break from turkey from a night.  I'll give you the original recipe first, then the recipe for what I did with the leftovers.

Roasted Chestnut Sausage Stuffing (Tyler Florence)
I replaced the chestnuts with walnuts, which I simply toasted on a dry skillet for a few minutes until they were fragrant.  Everything else in the recipe I followed exactly.

1 carrot, peeled & roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
1/2 bunch fresh sage
1.5 pounds sweet Italian sausage (ground or loose)
olive oil
salt and pepper
5 cups cubed sourdough bread, crusts removed
1 lb roasted chestnuts
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 large egg

Preheat the oven to 375* and butter a 9 x 11-inch baking dish.  In a food processor, puree the carrot, onion, celery, and sage into a fine pulp.  Brown the sausage in a large skillet with olive oil over medium-high heat.  When the sausage is good and brown, remove it with a slotted spoon and place it in a large mixing bowl.  Add the vegetable pulp to the skillet and cook until most of the moisture has evaporated.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add the pulp to the mixing bowl with the sausage.  Add the bread cubes and the chestnuts (walnuts, for me!).
Mix together the chicken stock, cream, and egg.  Pour this wet mixture over the meat, bread, and vegetables.  Season and fold everything together.  Pour out into the roasting dish and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown on the top.

So, that was one of the stuffings I had leftover.  To turn it into a sausage béchamel shell dish, here's what I did:

Sausage Béchamel Shells
Béchamel sauce is simply a white sauce with nutmeg.  It's a little sweet and very smooth and creamy.

1 lb medium shell pasta
4 TB butter
1/4-1/3 cup flour
1 cup or more of whole milk
nutmeg
parmesan cheese
leftover sausage walnut stuffing
beef broth

Preheat the oven to 250*, just to warm the leftover stuffing.  Drizzle a little bit of the beef broth into the leftover stuffing to liven it up a bit and place the stuffing in the oven to warm.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil and season liberally with salt.  Add the shells to cook according to package instructions.  In a large skillet, melt the butter and add the flour to create a roux, or a thickening agent.  Add in the milk and whisk continually over high heat until it starts to bubble, then immediately reduce the heat to "low" and season with nutmeg.  Continue to whisk, the sauce should be thick.  Add more milk to thin it out if desired.  I also added about a teaspoon of fresh chopped sage to help bring out the sage flavor in the stuffing.  When the pasta is done cooking, drain it, and combine the pasta, béchamel sauce, and leftover stuffing.  Mix well, season with parmesan cheese if desired.  Enjoy!

Days 267-268: Mexican Stuffed Peppers, Roasted Vegetable Tostadas, and Blackberry Margaritas

Good morning!  Are you wide awake, energetic, enthusiastic, and ready to go?!  If so, I'll have what you're having.  I'm sitting here with my coffee, doing major blog catch-up (and am actually excited about it because the recipes for the next few weeks are going to be awesome) but I'd still rather crawl back into my warm bed.  I love the house this quiet, and I love being the first one up, but this morning, my coffee just seems to be taking extra long to kick in! 

This past week has been a total blur.  I can hardly distinguish one day from another.  So I guess it's a good thing I have this blog, separating the days by meals--otherwise I'd be totally confused!  I wrote about last weekend's catering job in my previous post.  So let's continue on the daily journey and talk about Monday, Columbus Day.

Columbus Day I spent all day shopping with my mother and aunts--a tradition, like many, in our family.  I read in a book one time, "Some people are happiest when they're saving money, others are happiest when they're spending it."  (or something along those lines)  I'm the latter.  I think it's how I was raised... wink wink, Mom!  I don't think I spend carelessly, nor do I consider myself a "shopaholic", though I suppose those things are pretty subjective.  To the person who rarely buys anything, it may look like I shop a lot, but to the person who loves to shop, I don't shop nearly enough. The truth is, I really DON'T like to shop.  That's why I can only spend 2 full days a year shopping: Columbus Day and Black Friday.  And on Black Friday, I'm up early and generally done by lunch.  Other than that, I'll go out and get a few things here and there that I or someone in my family needs, and I do love to buy presents for people, but I'm certainly not a "browser."  I know what I want and if I don't see it, I don't buy anything.  This is why I can't shop with my husband--he could spend all day "deciding" on what to get and wanting to look here or there for things.  That's the kind of shopping I can't stand.  When I'm at a store or mall, I'm mission-minded!

Collecting fall leaves--this is the kind of browsing I can get into!

Columbus Day, for me, sort of "rings in" the shopping holiday season.  I get into the spirit of buying Christmas gifts, stocking stuffers, and a few fall/winter clothing items for myself, husband, and kids.  You know I love this time of year, and Columbus Day at Wrentham Outlets is just another fall tradition that makes this my favorite season!  Anyway, I suppose I explain all of that to say that Monday's dinner was Velveeta Mac & Cheese, again.  Didn't feel much like cooking, but more like showing off a few key items and carefully hiding the rest.  Randy graciously stayed home with the kids that day, making it a true "holiday" for me, and he even grouted our kitchen's backsplash!  The kitchen is almost done, and I promise I'll have before and after pictures soon!

Tuesday is Mexican night, generally, according to my weekly meal menu.  So for Day 268, I made Mexican Stuffed Peppers, Spicy Roasted Vegetable Tostadas, and Blackberry Margaritas.

Mexican Stuffed Peppers
Usually I use green bell peppers to stuff, but since the peppers I wanted to serve were going alongside another "main" dish, I decided to use smaller peppers.  Also, since I wanted more of a "Mexican" or "Southwestern" flavor, using poblanos seemed to make the most sense.

4 poblano peppers

3/4 cup cooked brown rice
1/2 lb breakfast sausage
cumin
paprika
cayenne chili powder
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 a red pepper, small diced
salt, pepper

Slice the tops off of the poblano peppers and then dice the tops (minus the stem) to add to the cooked rice.  Crumble the breakfast sausage into a small skillet and season with cumin, paprika, and chili powder to taste while browning.  Once the sausage is browned, add it to the rice along with the diced pepper and the frozen corn.  Stir in some salt and pepper to taste.  Use the filling to stuff the 4 poblanos and place them in pan filled 1/3 of the way with water.  Bake them at 400* for about 20-25 minutes.

Spicy Roasted Vegetable Tostadas
Because it's fall, I wanted to use vegetables that resembled this season.  You can certainly use any kinds of vegetables you'd like, though.

small, round, corn tortillas
1 cup of butternut squash, small diced
1 Italian eggplant, small diced
1 red pepper, small diced
1 medium zucchini, small diced
olive oil
cumin
paprika
cayenne chili powder
red pepper flakes
salt, pepper
hot sauce (if desired)
Mexican cheese
sour cream

On a rimmed baking sheet, place all of the diced vegetables.  Drizzle liberally with olive oil.  Season to taste with the cumin, paprika, chili powder, and just a few red pepper flakes.  Stir to combine.  Roast in the oven at 400* for 10-15 minutes, or until cooked through and fragrant.  Meanwhile, toast each tortilla over the flame of a gas stove, or on a dry skillet, both sides, until brown and crispy.  When the vegetables are done, place a generous spoonful of vegetables on each cooked tortilla, top with Mexican cheese, sour cream, and hot sauce (if desired).

Blackberry Margarita
I've had a pint of blackberries in my fridge for sometime.  I meant to use them to make a jam of sorts with strawberries, but little by little, the blackberries started disappearing for simple snacks.  With only a small amount left, I wondered what to do with them.  Then it hit me--drinks!

This recipe is similar to a blackjack margarita, which contains chambord raspberry liqueur (or in our case, sometimes blackberry brandy).  For this recipe, though, I made my classic margaritas.  But before I poured the drinks into the glasses, I muddled 3 blackberries in the bottom of each glass.  It added a great fruitiness to the margarita!  Yum!

Notice the backsplash?!?! :)

Day 66: Sausage Stuffed Peppers

Sausage Stuffed Peppers
(The stuffing could easily fill 4 peppers, I but only use 3.  I like having extra stuffing to serve on the side or for my kids.)
3 green bell peppers
1 cup rice (I use brown rice)
8 oz sausage (breakfast sausage is fine)
1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
salt, pepper
paprika
Southwestern seasoning
grated parmesan cheese
breadcrumbs
butter
water

Preheat the oven to 400*.  Cook the rice on the stovetop.  While the rice is cooking, saute the chopped onion and add the sausage.  Cook until browned.  While the sausage is browning, cut the tops off of the peppers and pull the core, seeds, and veins out of them.  Preserve the tops (minus the core/stem) and chop it up finely.  Add the chopped pepper and the garlic to the sausage/onion mixture.  Season with some salt, pepper, paprika, and Southwestern seasoning to taste.  Add the rice and stir.  Sprinkle some salt and pepper into the whole peppers.  Fill them with the stuffing.  Place the peppers in a pan and pour in about 1/2 cup of water so the peppers are sitting in it.  Sprinkle the tops of the peppers with a parmesan cheese/breadcrumb mixture and then place a pat of butter on the tops of all of them.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Day 41: Two dishes "To-Go": Italian meat & cheese platter, & EASY calzones!!!

Today was one of those days that we were running around like crazy.  It's 8:30 and I'm just now sitting down to write this post.  In addition to the regular Saturday routine of gymnastics plus errands, we had 2 events to attend, both to which I brought food to share.  For the first, I made an Italian cheese/meat/olive platter.  Simple enough to do, but it can get overwhelming when you're looking at the fine cheese department in the grocery store.  My tip for platters is to stick with one region (i.e. use all French cheeses or Italian, etc.)  I sort of bent the rules and picked up some smoked cheddar, which isn't Italian, but it looked good and I thought it fit my style.  For this platter, I went simple: 1 Italian meat, provolone cubes, mozzarella balls, and an assortment of olives.  The lettuce "bed" adds a nice touch!

For a family potluck, I made my version of Ree Drummond's "Easy Calzones."  THEY ARE EASY and so delicious!!!  I don't use her recipe for marinara, I just use my spaghetti sauce recipe minus the meat.

Easy Calzones (makes 24 calzones)
I love this recipe because the calzones are small enough to handle with one hand--just dip and bite!  They stay together well, too.
1 1/2 lb breakfast sausage
1 TB parsley flakes
1 TB dried basil
2 tsp dried oregano
1/2  onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
32 oz ricotta cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 eggs, plus 1 egg for an egg wash
2 TB fresh chopped parsley
salt, pepper
24 frozen dinner rolls (They usually come in packages of 12)

Set the dinner rolls out under a damp cloth to defrost and rise for several hours.
Crumble the sausage into a large skillet over medium heat and start to brown.  Add the Italian spices.  (*Breakfast sausage is generally more mild than Italian sausage, and easier to chew with less gristle, which is why it makes a difference to use breakfast sausage and add seasoning, than to just use Italian sausage.)  Add the onion and garlic and cook until the sausage is cooked through and the onion is translucent.
In a bowl, mix the ricotta and mozzarella cheese and the 2 eggs.  Add the meat mixture and the fresh parsley and season with salt and pepper.  Mix thoroughly.
With your hands, flatten and stretch out the dinner rolls.  Place a dollop or two of the filling on each roll.  I brush a little bit of water around the edges of the rolls so that they will stick better.  Fold the rolls in half and push down around the edges.  Place on a greased baking sheet.  Brush the tops with an egg wash and prick them with a fork.  Bake at 400* for about 10-15 minutes.  Serve with marinara sauce. 

Day 6: Go-To Make-Ahead Meal: Stuffed Shells

When Randy and I were engaged, I often made dinner for us on Saturday nights at his condo.  One weekend I told him he could request a meal.  When I arrived at his place, he was sleeping (he worked 3rd shift at the time) and he had left me a note requesting stuffed shells.  I remember the note because he also drew a picture of two bumblebees in love. :) I had never made stuffed shells before, but I had a basic idea, so I threw something together.  Since then, I've learned more about herbs and cheeses and LOVE my recipe.  It's the number one thing I make when I need a meal for a friend, or something to make ahead for our family, or to bring on vacation.  And it's always a crowd-pleaser.  Today, I made a large recipe to divide into 3 square disposable pans (1 for our freezer and 2 for a friend).  I will use the quantities I used today to write out this recipe:

1 box jumbo stuffing shells
2 packages ground sausage (1 sweet, 1 hot)
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
32 oz ricotta cheese
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
dried basil, oregano, parsley, salt, pepper
3 cups sauce (I use homemade sauce--recipe to come later in another blog)
1 ball (plus a little more) fresh mozzarella cheese
other fresh cheeses to use on top may include: asiago, parmesan, pecorino
fresh basil

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Season it well with salt, drop in the shells.  While they are cooking (just to al dente), brown the sausage in a skillet.  Add the onion and garlic and saute 2 minutes, until the onion is translucent.  Add a few sprinkles of basil, oregano, parsley.  Add the ricotta cheese and turn off the heat.  Mix well.  Add the parmesan cheese and a little salt and pepper.  Mix altogether.  This is your stuffing!
When the shells have come to al dente, drain them and run them under cold water to stop the cooking.  (It also makes it easier to stuff them when they aren't piping hot!)  Spoon the stuffing into each shell and lay in a single layer in pan.  Pour sauce over the shells, and top with lots of mozzarella cheese, plus 2-3 other freshly grated Italian cheeses.  Garnish with fresh basil on top.  Cover and freeze, or bake right away.  Bake at 375* for about 30 minutes (longer, if frozen) or until the cheese is golden, melted, and bubbling.

So tonight we went out for dinner to celebrate Randy's job offer!  I hoped to snap a picture of the meal, but there wasn't great light, and the presentation left a little something to be desired.  But, I was inspired by 2 things: 1) I will try to add prosciutto to my chicken & broccoli alfredo next time since Randy had it in his tonight and loved it.  2) I have always wanted to learn a good tomato/vodka cream sauce (I had a great one tonight), so I think I'll definitely do that at some point this year!  Bon appetit!

Day 1: Zuppa Toscana

I have a love/hate relationship with my Crockpot.  I love the idea of getting a meal prepared ahead of time, and letting it slow-cook while the flavors meld together; BUT, I am often out of the house for 9+ hours a day, which is longer than most slow-cooker recipes recommend (even on "low").  Plus, I don't really have time in the morning to do any preparations before heading to work with 2 babes in tow.  So, I usually end up saving my Crockpot meals for a day I'm home all day.  This recipe, however, I think I could do on a workday since I've discovered it tasted better the longer it simmers in the Crockpot (and I could do the prep work the night before).  Tonight was my second time making Zuppa Toscana, and it was so much better than the first time I made it, and the only thing I did different was let it cook longer.  I ran across this recipe on the internet at some point, and just made my own minor adjustments.

Here's my recipe:
1 lb (package) of hot Italian sausage (I use ground)
4-6 potatoes, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3-4 gloves of garlic, chopped
32 oz (or more) chicken broth (homemade makes a difference!)
1 bunch of kale
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 TB flour

Throw the broth, potatoes, onion, garlic, and BROWNED sausage into the Crockpot and let cook 5-6 hours on low.  AT LEAST 30 minutes before serving, whisk the flour and cream together and add to the soup.  Add the chopped kale, salt, and pepper.  (The longer it sits, the better it gets!)

With this, I also served salad, garlic/basil bread, and for dessert: Chocolate Caramel Oatmeal Squares (recipe to come later this week).