Sausage and Peppers

This is my son's favorite meal. I make for him often and especially on his birthday. Its something I plan on teaching whoever he chooses to marry (many years from now) how to make, just so he always gets his favorite meal. Yeah, I'm that kind of Mom.

I first got this recipe from a Woman's Day article a few years ago. I've since lost the original card that came with it, but I've made it so often that it's one of the few things I cook I don't need to look up. I've made my own changes to the original, which I think most cooks do anyway. What I like about this recipe, besides that my son absolutely loves it, that it is very versatile. It's more of a sausage and pepper sauce for pasta than true sausage and peppers. My best friend Angel makes traditional sausage and peppers and it's to die for. Truly. I could eat the whole plan, but when she makes it, it's usually at a group gathering and I have to fight for my share with my son, her hubby and my brother. She likes my recipe just as much. It's nice when your friends like your cooking.

Versatility is what I think makes this dish great. I've adapted it to certain tastes and I even gave it to my son's boy scout troop to make one cookout. The boys found it easy to make on the trail and they all loved it. You can use the regular Italian sausage links found in most grocery stores or if you're lucky enough to have a meat grinder of your own, you can grind it, like if you were making stuffing. My local supermarket is known to have packages of ground sausage around holidays. Either way, crumbled or just cut up it works great. The same goes for the peppers and tomatoes. I personally, LOVE red peppers. I like the sweetness of them and of course the color. What peppers I use is usually dependent on what produce is in season and on sale. For example, this past week, my local grocery store has red peppers on sale for 99 cents a pound. They usually sell for 2.50 a pound so I grabbed a bunch of them and have made my meals for the week around peppers. To add variety and color, I also added a cubanelle pepper. They're easy to fry up and add a dash of green to the dish. Sometimes I use the pre-packaged "stop-light" peppers (red, yellow and orange). It's entirely up to you and what you like.

The same goes for tomatoes. I usually used Cento's Crushed tomatoes for the sauce. Sometimes I switch it up and used fresh diced tomatoes or canned diced tomatoes (depending on what I have on hand). Again, this is entirely a personal choice and you should use what you like best.

Mama's Sausage and Peppers with Penne Pasta (adapted from Woman's Day magazine)

6 Italian sausage links, sweet or hot - you can also use crumbled Italian sausage
1 box of whole wheat penne pasta
1 large can of crushed tomatoes - canned diced can be substituted if preferred.
3 peppers - use whatever peppers you like, for this serving I used 2 red peppers and 1 cubanelle pepper
1 medium onion diced
3-5 cloves of garlic, minced
EVOO
Oregano
Basil
Rosemary
Red pepper flakes
Black pepper

*You will notice that I do not have salt listed on the ingredients. I try not to use salt in my cooking as previously stated in other posts. I don't salt my pasta water and if I can avoid it, I'll use other spices to add flavor to my dishes.*


Start the water for the pasta. Once boiling add the pasta and cook to al dente. If you're lucky enough like myself to be blessed with a pasta pot, this process takes a little bit so while waiting for the water to boil you can prep the rest of the meal.

While waiting for the water to boil, slice the casing of the sausage off. Once the casing is off, you can run your knife through breaking it up before putting into the pan. In a large skillet, heat up some EVOO for one turn of the pan on med-high heat. Add sausage and begin to brown. In the photo I have some hot sausage browning.
While the sausage is cooking, begin prepping the veggies. Dice the onion and slice the peppers into thin slices. Prep the garlic cloves last, because you'll be adding them last.
Once the sausage is browned, remove from the pan and set aside to keep warm. Drain off most of the fat and then add the onion and peppers to the pan. Cook the onion and peppers for about 5 minutes, until the onion is translucent and the peppers softened. Once they are cooked through, add the garlic. Cook the garlic for about a minute, until you can smell it cooking. Add the canned tomatoes and stir to mix together. Add basil, oregano, red pepper flakes and black pepper. Stir again to combine. Stir in the sausage and lower heat to low. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes, to let the flavors combine.
Drain the pasta and then add the sausage and peppers to it. Mix together, serve and enjoy!

I hope your family loves it as much as my family does.

Fried Pork Chops

I got this recipe from Food Network. Sunny Anderson featured it on her show. I did some tweaks. Like switching out vegetable shortening with canola oil. I also use salt very sparingly. Both Bear and The Boy (shocking I know!) have high blood pressure. I use different herbs and seasonings to add flavor to my food instead.

Please forgive the bad photos. I realized in the middle of frying up the pork chops, that I had left the camera downstairs. I didn't want to leave the kitchen while the chops were on the stove, so I took the photos with my cell phone. This is my first attempt at photographing and posting to a blog, so I guess it's a learning experience.

I made 8 pork chops. I ate 2 and my son, who had been working in the yard all day, ate the rest. He really liked them. I was hoping he'd leave one for Bear, who was out eating his weird food with his friends, so he could try it, but it didn't happen. Feeding a hungry teenager is not always easy. I also made honey glazed carrots with this, another recipe I got off the Food Network site. The recipe orginator is sited as Ms. Cathy Lowe. I didn't take a picture of the carrots, because I couldn't get a good one. They are so good though. I first served them at Christmas dinner. My family loved them. Even fussy Bear who's not a big fan of veggies in general.

Now, when I cook, I am of the Rachel Ray school of "eyeballing". I take the list of ingredients estimate accordingly. I'm pretty good at eyeballing amounts, so I don't really follow them. Only when I bake, is when I follow measurements precisely.

Fried Pork Chops (adapted from Sunny Anderson - Food Network)

Canola oil for frying
6-8 bone in center cut pork chops
Salt & Pepper for seasoning - Instead of salt, I used Old Bay Seasoning and Emeril's Bayou Blast
2-3 eggs depending on the size of the pork chops
1 tablespoon water
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper - I used a combo of Chili powder and Emeril's Bayou Blast, I was out of cayenne
1 cup of all purpose flour
1/4 cup of cornstarch

Using a large skillet, heat up canola oil. Use enough to come up about an inch or two up the side of the pan. Heat the oil up to 360 degrees F. While the oil is heating, prep the pork chops. In a reseable bag mix flour and cornstarch together. In a medium sized bowl, mix water, eggs, and pepper together. Season the pork chops with salt & pepper, then dip in the egg mixture. Next put the chop into the reseable, close and shake. Do the same with all pork chops. Once oil is heated up, add chops. I cooked mine in batches of 2 at a time. Cook about 4-5 minutes each side, until done.

I transfered my chops to a plate and didn't use a paper towel to drain, but you may want to. This should serve 3-4 people, or One Mom and one hungry teenage boy.



Again, please forgive the poor quality photos. This is the first time I'm posting food and I know with time and practice I *should* get better at the picture taking.

Chuckles and a Bobcat.

Today I took advantage of the partly cloudy skies and the 60 degree temperature to plant the rest of the bulbs in our little flowerbed. Bear has a set idea on how he wanted the front to look and I'm just following the plan.

However, this plan of his, has had some obstacles. His part of the work in the flower bed has been easy. He digs a hole, plops in the boxwood bush and covers it and is done! Viola! I'm digging in the other part of the garden where there are HUGE ROCKS buried down below. Bear informs me that long ago when he was young, his Grandmother had a flowerbed in the front yard. I asked him about digging them out when they put in the grass and he just shrugged. They apparently just threw down the grass seed and forgot about them. Until now.

Now every spot I dig for the bulbs and plants, there are big rocks that I have to dig out, if I can. I swear I could hear his grandmother laughing at me. I was out there for 2 hours struggling with these rocks when I finally just gave up.

I was frustrated. Bear wasn't home. He left work early to go with his best friend to some weird dinner. All the dishes at this dinner are all wild game. Bear took a picture of the menu and sent them to me. I saw Bobcat on the menu and was a little put off. I have no problem eating venison. I've even tried rabbit. But I don't know if I could try anything else on the menu.

So there's no dinner here at home. Bear is out and The Boy is going out with his friend tonight. I should use this time constructively to finish my paper for class but I just don't feel like it. I'll probably bake brownies instead. And if I do, I'll try to remember to take pictures and post them.

Landscape Excitement

So Bear and I want to do a lot of work on the outside of the house. The house itself looks pretty nice, structure wise. We just need some landscaping done. Bear, as mentioned, is a Park Ranger, so that makes him pretty handy and knowledgeable about these things. My father is also an ex-landscaper (he worked in landscaping when I was small) and he's been great with the advice as well. My Dad visits often enough and is always willing to give advice or a ride to the local store for assorted shrubs, flowers and other needs. He has a pick up truck. We don't. It works.

This past weekend, Bear started to clear out the area where we want to build the dog pen out in the back yard.

He started this right when he came home from work, which is why he's in his uniform. He borrowed the chainsaw from his job and began to take the trees down. My son cleared the brush.
The evergreen tree in the foreground is staying. We have a backdoor to our apartment and we plan to fence in under the porch and out up to the hill and to the left of the yard, closer to our neighbor there. In the background you can see some green shrubs, that much to my sadness, we have to take out. Critters always live there and I am sad to see the shrubs go, but Emma needs room to hang out in when we're in the backyard.



That's our Emma on the side of the house. She was going crazy knowing Bear was home and The Boy was outside helping. I was inside cleaning. At that point I felt it was best for me to stay out of the way. Plus, as excited I am for the work, I don't like doing the heavy lifting and what not. Call me lazy. Cause I am. LOL I don't mind planting bulbs, seeds, and things like that. It's dragging trees and branches that bug me. Plus, why have a teenage son if you don't put him to work!

That was all last weekend. Just before the start of Spring. Today, March 20, Spring officially started according to the calendar. It snowed briefly in the Metro NYC area. I missed it, because I don't open the blinds/shades until well after 9 a.m. The folks on the news and some friends on Facebook were complaining about it. It didn't stick or cause any problems at all. By the afternoon it was gone.

Our project for this weekend, really just Saturday is to finish getting the shrubs for the front walk, put out two more window boxes, haul the heavier logs from the backyard and figure out what to do with a load of wood chips we're getting for free this weekend. Most of this has to be done on Saturday because The Boy and I are going to a big Parade on Sunday and we'll be gone all day. Bear will be gone Saturday afternoon, so we have just the morning to get most of this done.



Today, Bear took me the Lowes, because they had roses on sale. We want to plant them in the bed next to the garage. While we were there, I found spring bulbs that were already started and I was very excited about it. I know it sounds silly, but I really wanted to see tulips and other spring flowers in our yard. Now I'm excited to have the spring bulbs in the ground and the summer and fall bulbs beneath them. I'm worried about the roses though. I've never grown them on my own. My Dad is the rose grower in the family and from his past experience I know that they take a lot of work.

Bear also was looking at some trees. We have a sad red maple in the front of the house. It's half dead. We know we're going to have to replace it. That is going to be a big discussion because both Bear and I have our favorite trees. He was looking at a plum tree, even though he previously talked about replacing the red maple with another. I love weeping cherry trees as well as dogwood. I love dogwood trees. It stems from when I was a little girl. My maternal grandparents had a dogwood in their front yard and when I was small I would crawl underneath the branches and play. It was my own fairy ground. I also have a thing about weeping cherry and weeping willow trees. In fact, I picked our place to get married because the site had two willow trees on either side of the gazebo where the ceremony took place. That obsession came from the Disney version of Robin Hood. Weird I know, but it makes me the wonderful, quirky woman I am.

So these are the projects for the weekend. I don't know what, if anything, will get done. I hope at least something will. If I get anything funny from the Parade this weekend, maybe I'll even post those, just to embarrass some of my family members.

In the beginning...

There was me, Tee. I'm a middle-age Housewife who has gone back to college to earn my Bachelor's degree. Eventually, I would like to gain my Masters and become a teacher. In NYS the law states to be certified you need a Masters. With the Bachelor's I can be a sub and/or teacher's assistant. I have a teenage son. He plays football and baseball. He knows a lot about sports. If only he put as much effort into his grades as he does with his sports predictions he'd be a consistent A student!
My hubby and I have been together for nearly 10 years, however, we only got married in September '08. I will most likely refer to him as "Honey" or "Bear". Because, well, he's a big bear. He's a park ranger for our County and makes a good living. Which is why I've been able to stay home this past year and just focus on classes. We live in the home he grew up in. Hubby has a twin brother who lives nearby with his wife and son. I have a younger brother who is married with 2 kids and an older brother, who is sadly, MIA at the moment. Bear's Mom is alive and lives with us. My parents are divorced. My Dad lives in VA and my mother still lives in NY in the town I grew up in.
In addition to my teenager, I am the "Mom" to a few critters. We have a 4 year old basset hound named Emma. A 6 year old tabby cat named Toby. We also have 2 birds and several fish. We are looking to adopt another dog. Bear says that Emma is my girl and she is. He wants a dog he can rough house with, so we are looking to adopt a male if possible.
That's my little bio. The reason for this blog is because I have been inspired by the WC ladies over at The Nest.com who all have cooking blogs. Staying home gives me the chance to cook and bake a lot, but I didn't want this blog to be only about cooking and baking. I wanted to be about different projects I do. Currently, Bear and I are in the process of re-decorating 3 rooms of our house. The living room, master bedroom and my son's room. I've started with the living room, but it still needs lots of work. The bedrooms haven't even been touched yet. We are also in process of landscaping the front and backyard. We plan on building a dog pen in the backyard so that Emma and any other dog that comes into our lives has a safe area to run and play. Plus, on those mornings when no one wants to get out of bed to walk her, we can just open the back door and let her in her pen.
The front yard has one bed Bear created last fall and another that we still have to dig. We had the front stairs re-done last summer and this was the inspiration to landscape the front yard.
I try to take pictures, but I forget a lot of things sometimes. I'm new to this blogging thing, so it may take a while for this to become a "pretty" blog.
As for cooking, I haven't really "created" anything on my own. Usually what I cook, comes from an already existing recipe that I've tweaked to my family's likes and dislikes. Sadly, Bear is one of the pickiest eaters I know. He makes it difficult sometimes to try new ideas. Luckily, The Boy (aka my son) likes to try things at least once and is very honest when something truly doesn't taste well.
So I guess that is it for this post. I do have some dishes to post as well as the beggining of the outdoor projects. Thanks for stopping by. I hope as time goes on I'm able to share with friends and family.