I bought the largest package of Italian sausage I had ever seen. Three dinners? Four dinners? Three dinners. I can get three dinners out of this package. The first dinner I had planned to make was sausage & peppers, but green peppers weren't in this week. Meat sauce it is. I added shredded cheese under the sauce for this plate. It's not even close to tasting like baked ziti, but at least I won't have so much cheese left to expire.
As far as I was concerned, PTI had ended a "long" time ago. Sports Center had been on for almost 10 minutes. "Have you made a decision about dinner?"
"No... But we always eat out once during the weekend. So, either we eat out today or we eat out tomorrow."
"Or we eat out Sunday? What are you saying? You can't eat Italian sausage without the peppers?"
"No, I can."
And then I made LV go buy rolls so we could eat the leftover sausages.
I reached for the Italian sausage and put it in my basket. What I planned to do with it, I didn't know. Turns out, it made for a great sauce. LV raved about the leftovers.
When I purchased the asparagus and the Italian sausage, I didn't see them going together. But come Wednesday, this seemed like a good idea.
I think I grilled this batch of sausage on the Forman with less cursing, fewer pieces getting stuck to the grill and then popping off onto the floor. Or just plain burning myself when trying to sweep all the pieces into a bowl or plate.
Rather than use ground beef again, Italian sausage sounded like it would be better option. With the asparagus and penne, it was really good.
Last time I made sausage and peppers with the Foreman, I ended up burning a bunch of the sausage. Things worked out much better this time around. Plus, I didn't have to wash any pans afterward.
Pasta was on a crazy sale, but most of the boxes seemed to be ziti. I've never used ziti for anything, so I was really excited to find a baked ziti recipe. Like lasagna, there seem to be an infinite number of ways to produce baked ziti. This is a combination of a Martha Stewart Everyday Food recipe (which was poor sauce over cooked ziti and bake) and a more labor-intensive recipe (combine seven pounds of fresh vegetables and Italian sausage to create your own sauce before baking). I was happy with the results. So were Scrappy and LV. But I was really happy. All that ziti fed my Italian food craving for a week.
These are sausages and peppers... There's not much to say, except that this time I actually made it all in a pan instead on the grill. The main difference there was that I got bored quickly and tried to serve the sausage while it was still uncooked. Kind of gross...
The only thing easier than Hamburger Helper is a frozen meal. I'm in the middle of retouching for my portfolio and LV's in the middle of making changes for freelance clients, so we went to the grocery store, picked up a Bertolli bag of frozen sausage and peppers (I think) and dumped it on the stove. Again, I forgot all about it and let it burn to the bottom of the skillet. Oops... But, again, the burn wasn't all that noticeable.
I liked the sausage and peppers when we had it on sandwiches, but in order to make that I actually have to remember to go to the store and get the hero rolls. I didn't plan ahead. We sausage and peppers over rice. It was fine.
I wanted to use up the vegetables (zucchini, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, onions...) the night before in a big omelet or something, but we only had five eggs. So, this night I threw all the vegetables in a pot to simmer in beef broth. I knew the asparagus might turn icky, but I didn't really care; enough salt and pepper can help you forget the texture of stringy vegetables falling apart. That and a love of rainbow sherbet. After being warned that there wouldn't be time for Baskin Robbins if Scrappy spent two hours making faces at the mush, she ate everything green on her plate.
Requests aren't that common, but two came this week: pancakes and sausage & peppers. It just so happened both requests were met on the same day. This is not a pancake. It is a weak attempt at a crepe. Maybe next time I won't need the toothpick to keep it shut.
Considering I've never ever had sausage & peppers before and am totally unfamiliar with what they should be like, I thought this was an awesome attempt. Two minutes of surfing Google results for a general idea, and I was on my way with sautéeing and grilling.
I thought I could trick the little one into eating vegetables if they were mixed in with a sauce. No such luck. She ate all the pasta, leaving behind all the sauce.
The new issue of O had just shown up with an article proclaiming Bolognese the most seductive of sauces. I stuck with the Better Homes & Gardens recipe. There's nothing seductive about telling a six-year-old she needs to eat two scoops of the sauce before she can leave the table.
