Sausage, Pepper and Fennel Pasta

This week started so beautifully.  We had unseasonably warm fall weather, with the high temperatures hitting the mid-70's.  Then the snow came.  I had the worst drive to work ever on Thursday, with a ton of slushy snow and wind.  I was happy when school was released at noon and I got to spend the afternoon at home with my girls.  After we watched "The Goonies", we took a little time to make a double batch of my Rosemary Focaccia Sandwich Bread, which I cut into meal-size portions and stashed in the freezer for later.  I could get used to working half-days.  Think of everything I could accomplish!

Focaccia bread--for sandwiches or dipping in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

For supper on Thursday, I used a bunch of items we got in our produce box from Red Goose Gardens. We had red, green and purple peppers, a bunch of tiny fennel bulbs, onions and tomatoes.  I sliced and sautéed the peppers, fennel and onions, then added about a dozen two-inch tomatoes that I chopped and a little rosemary-garlic seasoning I picked up at Sams Club.  I love how tomatoes melt down into a delicious sauce and make everything taste so much better.  I tossed the resulting sauce with hot pasta (the end of two boxes) and some chicken italian sausage (which we got in the meat clearance bin at the grocery store) I sliced up and sautéed.  Seriously delicious.  As I told the girls, they are so lucky their mama can cook! See my recipe below.

Sausage, pepper and fennel pasta.

Then Thursday night I still had the cooking bug, so I whipped up some Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark.  You should make it.  Seriously.  I'm not sharing my batch.  Pretzels coated in butter and brown sugar boiled into caramel sauce and topped with melted chocolate chips.  Cool, break apart and eat.  Enough said.  

Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark

Figure skating started this week.  Yep, October 3 was our first evening at the arena.  The girls really enjoy their time on the ice learning new moves and visiting with their friends while Phil and I walk many laps around the quarter-mile track.  With the start of figure skating, our Wednesday nights became very cramped for time.  We had a couple of avocados aging on the windowsill and I had a bunch of cilantro in the fridge and some limes leftover from last time I made mojitos, so I searched online for recipes that incorporated all of those ingredients.  I came up with Creamy Avocado Pasta, a recipe in which I threw the avocados, cilantro, lime juice and garlic into the food processor and tossed the pesto-like sauce with hot pasta.  I decided the meal needed some protein, so I dug a couple of chicken breasts out of the freezer and baked them topped with chopped cilantro, minced garlic and a squeeze of lime juice.  I'm not sure I would make the pasta again, but the chicken was sure yummy.  

Creamy Avocado Pasta topped with a chicken breast.

I also made my favorite breakfast foods for supper this week--Eggs Benedict and Hash Browns.   As I have discussed in the past, our chickens are good little producers.  Right now we have ten chickens, but only five of them are of laying age.  The other five are still maturing.  Nonetheless, the three or four eggs we get each day are enough for our needs.  I used six of them to make Eggs Benedict.  I had ham and english muffins in the freezer and bought a packet of  Hollandaise sauce mix and poached the eggs.  Almost as good as Perkins, though they probably make their own Hollandaise.  Along with the Eggs Benedict, I served hash browns (shredded baked potatoes) that I cooked on the waffle iron to get them nice and crispy (thanks Pinterest!) and an acorn squash I quartered, baked and sprinkled with cinnamon and brown sugar.

Eggs Benedict with waffle iron hash browns and brown sugar squash.

This weekend, we got together with my family to celebrate a couple of birthdays.  We grilled steaks and shrimp skewers and served them with sautéed green beans and Pioneer Woman's Crash Hot Potatoes.  Have you tried these potatoes yet?  They have been circulating around Pinterest for quite awhile now and I saw them in the Grand Forks Herald a couple months ago.  If you haven't had them yet, give them a try.  They are totally worth the effort of the two step recipe:  First you boil the potatoes, then you crush them, sprinkle them with with seasonings (I used rosemary and cracked pepper) and bake them until they are crispy.  Every time I make these, my girls beg for more!  My brother suggested that they would be really good with cheese on them...why not add bacon, too?

Pioneer Woman's Crash Hot Potatoes

For dessert, I made Apple Crisp with vanilla ice cream.  I always use the recipe from the Betty Crocker cookbook we got for a wedding gift.  An old standby that is always delicious...especially with apples from my Grandpa's trees.

Apple Crisp

Tonight for supper, it's chicken cooked in the crock pot.  I jammed two frozen chickens in my large crock pot at lunch time today, sprinkled them with seasoning and turned the cooker on high.  By 6:00 tonight, supper will be done and I will have leftovers for at least two meals this week and the makings of home made chicken broth that I will stash in the freezer for another day.  Check out this link for the recipe!

Two whole chickens roasting in the crock pot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sausage and Pepper Pasta
1 package chicken Italian Sausage
3 sliced peppers (one red, one green, one purple)--about 2 cups total
1 sliced red onion--about 1 cup
5 small fennel bulbs, sliced--about 1 cup
12 small (2-inch) tomatoes, cored and chopped
seasoning to taste
cooked pasta

1.  Slice and sauté the sausage over medium heat until mostly cooked.  Move to a plate.
2.  In same skillet, drizzle a little olive oil, then add in peppers, onion and fennel.  Cook for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables begin to soften.  Add the tomatoes and seasonings (I used a garlic rosemary seasoning mix and some salt and pepper).  Simmer for about 20 minutes, until the sauce comes together.  Add in sausage for the last ten minutes to blend all flavors.
3.  Serve over or mixed with hot pasta.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tomato Cucumber Bread Salad

Here's another great idea for those ripe summer tomatoes and cucumbers fresh from the garden.  This super easy recipe combines a juicy tomato, crisp cucumber, red onion, basil, olive oil and red wine vinegar together in a delicious salad that is made even more delicious by the addition of some day-old bread.  In Italy, this is called "panzanella" and it seems like every recipe I found has a different combination of vegetables and a different dressing, so I used what I had.

Tomato Cucumber Bread Salad
For one big salad (as a meal) or two small salads (as a side)
1 medium ripe tomato
1 smallish cucumber
a little red onion
a few basil leaves, shredded
olive oil
red wine vinegar (it would also be good with balsamic vinegar)
salt & pepper to taste
day old bread, cut into bite sized pieces and left out while the salad marinades in the fridge

The bread you use should be good bread, not sandwich bread.  I have made this twice.  The first time I used an old baguette, the second time I used some of my rosemary focacccia I had in the freezer.

Dice the tomato, slice cucumber and onion (I used about an eighth of a medium red onion) and shred basil and combine in a bowl.  Add a few Tablespoons of olive oil and a few teaspoons of red wine vinegar and some salt and pepper if you like.  Taste it, then adjust flavors as necessary.  Let sit in fridge for an hour or so to meld flavors.

To serve, dish vegetables on a plate, top with bread cubes, then drizzle with additional dressing.  Let sit for a few minutes so the bread can soak up some of the dressing.

Summer Bruschetta

I have been waiting since May for my single tomato plant to start producing.  I have a self-confessed "black thumb",  but this year I wanted to try a topsy turvy with a tomato plant by my front door.  I have often heard that they don't always work, but surprisingly, mine has grown really well.  Last week, my patience was rewarded.

Believe it or not, this round tomato actually came off of a Roma tomato plant.  Mutant tomato, I guess. Now tomatoes have never been a vegetable (fruit?) that I like to eat on their own.  I love them cooked in most any shape and form, but raw tomatoes?  No, thank you.  Unless I make Bruschetta.  I know in Italy, Bruschetta is just bread, but I call my delicious tomato mixture I eat on bread Bruschetta because I can.  What better way to enjoy a fresh tomato?  Chop it up, add a chopped up garlic clove, a little chopped onion, a few shredded basil leaves, maybe some olive oil and some salt and pepper.  Eat it on some crusty bread, grilled if you like, and it tastes like summer.

 Like much of my cooking,  I don't use an exact recipe, but here's the general idea:

Summer Tomato Bruschetta
1 chopped ripe tomato
1 minced garlic clove
2 T. minced onion
a few basil leaves, shredded
a little olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Mix it all up and put in the fridge to marinate for an hour or so (if you can wait that long) and serve on fresh crusty bread.  I like to brush the bread with a little olive oil and either grill it or place it under the broiler for a minute so it gets warm and chewy.

Now that recipe is just my portion :).  If you are planning on sharing with someone else, you should make more.  The middle bread in the above picture has a little basil pesto under the tomato mixture.  Either way, it's pretty amazing.  Eat it by itself for a light meal or pair it with a salad or some pasta.

Rosemary Focaccia Sandwich Bread

I woke up on Friday morning thinking about fresh rosemary bread. I had been indulging in my favorite past time...reading cookbooks, and stumbled on an amazing recipe for Rosemary Focaccia that I dreamed about all night. Literally dreamed about bread. Do I have a problem or what? So I checked the recipe in "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" by Deborah Madison, which I took out from my local library. I was so excited to see that I had all the ingredients to make it, thanks to the pot of rosemary that is growing out of control on the south side of my house.

When I turned on my oven to preheat, I thought I smelled my fireplace burning again (this has happened a couple times now), so I looked for the smell and couldn't find anything. When I thought the oven should be heated up, I came back and noticed the clock on the stove wasn't on. I opened the oven and the light didn't come on. I went downstairs and flipped the circult breaker. Nope, that wasn't it, either. So I grabbed a screwdriver and took apart the back of the stove, only to find this:

Yep, whatever that piece is called (I looked it up, it's a "terminal block") was all melted. There was an electrical fire in the back of my oven. Crap. No bread for me today. For most people, a broken oven is cause for celebration, as in "Yay,I can't cook, let's go out!". For a foodie like me it was a huge tragedy... Then my awesome neighbor came to the rescue. The next morning (after an extra slow rise in the refrigerater overnight), I baked my pan of bread next door. It seems like a mean trick...I made their house smell like amazing fresh rosemary bread, then I took the bread home with me. I did share about a third of the pan with them later, so I paid them back.

Sandwich Focaccia with Rosemary
2 c. warm water
1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
1 t. sugar
3 T. Olive oil, plus extra for the top
1 1/2 t. salt
3 T. finely minced rosemary
6 c. all purpose flour

Dissolve yeast and sugar in water and set aside until foamy.

After about 10 minutes, in a large mixing bowl, combine yeast mixture, olive oil, salt, 2 T. rosemary and 1 cup of flour. Wisk together until smooth. Slowly add the remaining flour, until too hard to stir, then turn out onto counter and knead until all the flour is worked in and the dough is smooth. Place it in an oiled bowl, cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

Oil a large sheet pan. Place the dough in the pan and press out to the edges with your fingers, making sure it is all the same thickness. Cover and let rise for another hour.

Preheat the oven to 400 during the last 15 minutes. Right before putting in the oven, dimple the dough by poking it with your fingertips, then brush it with olive oil and sprinkle with the remaining rosemary. Bake in the bottom third of the oven until evenly browned, about 30 minutes.

After allowing to cool most of the way, I cut 4 squares of the bread through the middle crosswise to make sandwich bread for lunch on Saturday. It was fresh bread, so it was delicious, of course. I put the rest in the freezer and I know someday soon it will go well with another meal. I cannot wait to try it warmed and dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar!

Recipe adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, by Deborah Madison.

Grilled Sweet Potatoes

It's getting to be grilling season.  For most of us, this involves throwing some sort of meat on the grill with side dishes as an afterthought.  As fresh vegetables become more abundant, I like to focus on the side dishes and even skip the meat sometimes.  Most anything can be cooked on the grill.  I can't wait until asparagus season...mmmm....grilled asaparagus. 

Almost as good as grilled asparagus is grilled sweet potatoes.  Sweet potatoes are a relatively new discovery for me.  I didn't grow up eating them, but as I began to eat healthier, I started looking for ways to cook sweet potatoes that aren't loaded with butter and sugar.  They are a great way to get your veggies but feel like you are eating carbs.  I love carbs more than grilled asparagus...

This is a recipe I use all the time, for both white potatoes and sweet potatoes.  If you use the microwave to pre-cook the potatoes about halfway, they cook quickly on the grill along with whatever meat you are cooking.  I credit my parents for this recipe, which we use at the lake all the time. 

Grilled Sweet Potatoes
Whole sweet potatoes (I use two for the four of us, but use as many as you need)
nonstick spray or olive oil
seasoned salt
chopped rosemary and garlic or rosemary garlic seasoning

Wash sweet potatoes (don't they look pretty?), then cut into 1 inch discs.  Place discs on a microwavable plate and spray with nonstick spray or brush with olive oil.  Sprinkle lightly with seasonings, as shown below.

Cook in microwave for about 5 minutes, until they are about half cooked. 

Place on top rack of pre-heated grill while your meat is cooking and cook for 5-10 minutes per side.  As you can see from my picture, they don't always cook evenly and the high sugar content makes them brown (or even burn).  I think the crispier they are the better, but keep an eye on them so they don't get over cooked!  Serve with a little butter if you like. 

If you have a person in your family that doesn't eat sweet potatoes, feel free to substitute regular potatoes or use both for a variety.  Of course you can also vary the seasonings.  Personally, I love rosemary and garlic together, but Mrs. Dash would be good or just seasoned salt and pepper.  Whatever you like will work for you, be flexible!

Favorites II

I haven't been very creative in the kitchen lately. For that matter, I haven't cooked very much lately. Between the kids activities, work, grad school and a bum tooth, food hasn't really been a priority. For today's topic, we'll have to make to with a favorites list: 

1. Homemade Artisan Bread.  This is seriously easy.  Flour, water, salt and yeast are all the ingredients you need.  Oh, and time.  You need at least 12 hours of rising time for this recipe, but it is so worth it!  Total hands on-time is about 15 minutes and you end up with a delicious round loaf of bread that you would have paid a lot for in a bakery.  That's my loaf shown above...I could hardly believe I made something that looked so professional!  Eat it with soup, slice for sandwiches, or my favorite, put in pan while cooking eggs so it gets toasty and spread with jam.  Yummy!

2. Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup.  Another super easy one...potatoes, garlic, onion, chicken broth in slow cooker for hours, then made creamy with cream cheese.  Of course it's delicious, just don't make a habit of it... this is not a healthy way to eat your veggies!

3.  Home Made Body Wash.  I don't know why, but when I saw this recipe,  I just wanted to try it.  It seems like I always have body wash on my shopping list.  It's kind of expensive and doesn't really last very long.  I ordered soap (Tom's of Maine) and vegetable glycerin from Amazon.com and bought distilled water at the grocery store.  Grate the soap and combine it with the glycerin and distilled water in a big soup pot.  Heat until melted and combined, then put in bottles to use. I use it for body wash and hand soap.  Kind of a lot of work, but I like knowing that I made it and I don't freak out when the kids dump a half a bottle down the drain "by accident". 

A couple weeks ago, I attended a Taste of Home Cooking School event in Fargo.  It was a lot of fun and I got some great recipe ideas from the presenter.  We also got two limited edition Taste of Home magazines full of recipes and a year subscription to Healthy Cooking.  A few of the recipes I have tried so far:

4.  Johnsonville Sausage Meatballs.  Using Johnsonville Italian sausage links as the meat in these meatballs adds great flavor.  These were really quick to make and went great with my homemade marinara and pasta. 

5.  Emeril's New Orleans Garlic Chicken.  All I can says is Yummy...try it and you will see.  Emeril takes "simple" breaded chicken breasts to a whole new level.  Phil doesn't eat breading, but he said this chicken was so moist and tender I can make it again.  That's a definite compliment coming from him!

6.  Grilled Chicken, Pesto and Two-Cheese Naan Pizza.  Using naan (Indian flat bread--I just buy it at Walmart off the clearance cart) as the crust, this pizza is super easy.  Pesto sauce (which I still have a ton of in the freezer from last summer), chicken red peppers, olives and cheese all combine into this delicious meal.  Try cooking it on the grill for a summery twist!
A few that I have bookmarked and will be trying in the near future:

1.  Stacked Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas.   Any excuse to get veggies on the table is a good one in my book.  Roasting the veggies before putting this dish together just adds another dimension of deliciousness!

2.  Spaghetti with Garlic, Olive Oil and Pepper Flakes  Simple as that, nothing else.  Whenever I cook pasta, I try to make double and stash some in the fridge for later in the week.  I have a big baggie of spaghetti just waiting for some garlic and hot pepper flakes.  As Rachel Ray would say...Yum-o!

3.  Tomato, Basil, and  Fresh Mozzarella Salad.  I can't wait until summer comes and we start getting our weekly CSA boxes...this is what I dream about all winter when I'm eating frozen or store-bought produce.  Maybe with the early melt, the deliveries from Red Goose Gardens will start early?

Roasted Squash with Pasta

I shared my love of Lynne Rossetto Kasper in a previous post.....she is a cooking goddess.  I try to listen to her radio show every Saturday at 2:00 and if I miss it, I listen to the podcast later.  I have learned a lot about cooking from her.  She always has great ideas about how to use up ingredients in the fridge and comes up with creative, delicious recipes.  I have her cookbook "How to Eat Supper" on my counter at all times, and refer to it frequently.  Along with delicious recipes, she also includes great stories about the history of using a certain food product or advice on alternate ways to cook things. 

I have an abundance of squash this fall and while they are mostly spaghetti squash, which I will post about another day, once I have perfected my recipe, butternut squash is my favorite.  Butternuts are the ones that are light brown in color and kind of long with one end skinny and the other fat.  Like most squash, they are hard to cut into, but with a little effort, they can be peeled, seeds scooped out and cut into small chunks for roasting.  Sometimes, you can even buy them in the store already cut into chunks, although they are probably more expensive that way and who knows what preservatives are on them.   

I have been making this recipe for a couple of years, probably since about 2009, when we first started getting our weekly CSA deliveries.  Squash is one of those items that I didn't have much experience with at first, but I have come to love it and have dragged my children kicking and screaming with me.  Along with using butternut squash, the recipe has a few added bonuses:  one, it is a great way to use up greens, which we always seem to have a lot of and two, it has fresh herbs in it, and you know how I love those! 

Sweet Roasted Butternut Squash and Greens Over (Bow-Tie) Pasta
(From How to Eat Supper by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift)
3 lb. butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into bite-sized chunks
1 large onion, cut into 1 inch chunks
2 big handfuls of washed, dried and chopped greens (Lynne recommends escarole or endive, but I use kale, spinach or chard)
1/3 tight packed cup fresh basil leaves, torn (I used my frozen stash)
16 large fresh sage leaves, torn
5 large garlic cloves, coarsely chopped (I used the jar of minced garlic)
1/3 c. olive oil
1/4 t. red pepper flakes (careful, it could get spicy quickly!)
1 T. brown sugar
sat and pepper
1 pound pasta (Lynne recommends bow tie, we like radiadore or penne, you pick...something bite sized)
1/2 c. half and half (I have been using low fat evaporated milk with great results!)
1 1/2 c. shredded parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 450, putting a large sheet pan in the oven to heat up as well.  Mix together squash, onions, greens, herbs, olive oil, red pepper flakes and brown sugar in a big bowl, salt and pepper generously.  When oven and pan are hot, carefully dump the veggies on the pan and spread out.  Bake for about 25 minutes, turning the veggies a few times.  Once the squash is tender, turn on the broiler for a few minutes to caramelize the vegetables, watching closely so they don't burn.   Meanwhile, boil the water for the pasta and cook until tender.  I like the pasta for this recipe to be pretty firm, otherwise it turns mushy with the squash.  Drain pasta.  Scrape vegetables and pasta into large bowl and add half and half and cheese, tossing to blend.  Serve with more cheese on top, if desired. 

The squash I used this time was huge, so I used two pans.  I plan to use the leftover squash as a pizza topping one of these days. You could also just make the roasted vegetables and serve them as a side dish for a holiday meal! 

One thing I do with this recipe to make it more weeknight-friendly is roast the vegetables on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and keep them in the fridge until later in the week.  I just heat them in the oven while the pasta is cooking and follow the recipe from there.  This recipe also reheats well and actually tastes better as leftovers.

Basil!

 

I wrote about my love of fresh herbs a few weeks ago in this post.  This love is relatively new, but I now grow many of my own herbs throughout the year.  Basil is one of my favorite herbs.  I grow a little of my own, but will buy it in bulk if I can find it.  For about 6 weeks this summer, we got huge bundles of it in our boxes.  In addition, I also bought an additional two pounds early in the season.  I do several things with this basil.  First, I make pesto.  Second, I make marinara sauce. If there is any leftover (and there often is!), I freeze it. 




Basil Pesto
4 c. fresh basil leaves (make sure they're pretty, with no brown spots and unwilted)
2 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
4-6 T. olive oil
1 t. lemon juice
1/3 c. walnuts

In food processor or blender, combine 1 c. basil, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and walnuts.  This gets all the non-herb ingredients mixed together.  Add more basil as the basil is combined.  Add a little water if you have trouble blending it together.  Use fresh or store in the freezer. 

Freezing pesto is super easy.  I put it in ice cube trays or mini muffin cups and throw it in the freezer.  When they are frozen, I put the cubes in baggies.  These keep forever and are great for a quick meal.

I use the pesto plain on hot pasta with a little parmesan cheese.  I also use it to punch up tomato-based pasta sauces on occasion.  My favorite way to use it is as an alternative to pizza sauce.  Top it with parmesan, chicken, black olives, sun dried tomatoes, onions, etc.  Delicious...

While it is certainly easier to buy a can of spaghetti sauce at the store, none are as good as homemade.  I like to think that my recipe is pretty easy, and a little work at the front end pays off huge with this amazing sauce: 

Homemade Marinara Sauce
1-2 T. Olive Oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
2 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes (I use fire roasted) OR the equivalent in fresh tomatoes (I have several bags frozen from abundant times, so I sometimes use those)
1 T. minced fresh rosemary
a pinch or two of red pepper flakes
2 c. fresh (or frozen) basil, chopped
salt

Heat oil in large pot.  When oil is hot, add onion and garlic, cooking until softened and fragrant.  Add in tomatoes, rosemary and red pepper. Cook for about 30 minutes on a low simmer, stirring regularly.  As the sauce starts to cook down and come together, add the basil.  Cook for about 15 more minutes, tasting for salt and maybe more pepper. 

I serve this over pasta chunky like it is or will use my immersion blender to make it nice and smooth.  Sometimes I cook it down even further and spice it up a little more and use it for pizza sauce.  More often, I freeze it in meal-sized containers and serve with pasta or eggplant parmesan. 

Freezing basil is easy.  I make sure it's clean, then put it in baggies and freeze it.  Sometimes I spread it on a cookie sheet first and then put it in baggies after it's frozen, but the end results are the same.  I use it in any cooked recipe that calls for basil.  It will not turn out as fresh and green as fresh basil, but the taste is the same.  I can't tell the difference, and it's a great way to carry over the taste of summer well into the winter.

An easy weeknight dinner

Confession time.  I grow my own herbs.  In the prime of summer, I love sitting on my front porch with my basil, chives, cilantro, sage and rosemary plants and enjoying their wonderful aromas.  If Phil is sitting with me, I run my hands through the plants and quiz him to see if he can tell which herbs are which by their smell.  Now that it's fall, I have brought in the sage and rosemary to enjoy for a little while longer. Not only do we get two nice plants to make the living room look pretty, we also get delicious flavors for our meals.    I don't use them very often, but when I do, it's totally worth the effort of watering a plant twice a week.  Other herbs are waiting in the freezer to be used over the winter.  I made a ton a basil pesto for pizzas and pasta and have just plain frozen basil, parsley, thyme, rosemary and cilantro waiting to be thrown into a recipe as well. They don't look as pretty after they've been frozen, but they taste them same, which is way better than dried. 

 

Sage and Rosemary

 It's a proven fact that I love to cook.  I also love to eat really good food.  Sometimes, I either don't have the time to cook a big meal or I don't have the desire to spend  a lot of time in the kitchen.  Tuesday nights are like that at our house.  We've been at work and school for two days, our shorter nights of sleep are catching up with us and the to-do list is getting longer and longer.  For all of those reasons, tonight's supper revolved around a bag of frozen cheese ravioli and a big handful of fresh sage. This super easy recipe is one of my creations, so it bears my name :). 

Vicki's Cheese Ravioli with Sage
1-2 T. olive oil or butter (I use a combination)
4 garlic cloves, minced (I used the stuff out of the jar)
a big handful of sage leaves, washed and chopped
1/4 c. white wine or chicken broth (tonight I used chicken broth, but I prefer the wine version)
1 bag of frozen cheese ravioli or tortellini
1 pre-cooked chicken breast, shredded or cut in a tiny dice (we had roasted chicken for supper last night, so I just saved some.)
1/2 c. half and half
1/2 c. shredded parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Heat a nonstick skillet on medium heat to melt the butter or heat the oil.  When the oil is hot, add the garlic and the chopped sage.  Cook until garlic and sage begin to brown, but don't burn them.  It takes maybe three minutes.  Add frozen ravioli and wine or broth to the skillet and cover.  Stir occassionally, cooking for about 10 minutes, or until the ravioli is no longer frozen.  Add chicken and cook for a few more minutes.  Just before serving, pour in the half and half and cheese.  Keep stirring.  As the half and half and cheese heat, they will melt and combine into a creamy sauce.  Add salt and pepper if you like and serve. 


It's not the healthiest meal I cook and it's not going to win any awards, but we all like it and it's super easy to throw together if you have all the ingredients.  To make up for the lack of vegetables in the main dish, I served it with a big lettuce salad with lots of veggies mixed in.