In A Galaxy of My Own

I’ve mentioned before that I have an Italian grandmother. When my sister and I were little we were always expected to help out in the kitchen. I remember I enjoyed it, I liked watching what my Granny was doing and she would even give me small tasks that my mom wouldn’t even let me do at home. I guess that’s why I enjoy cooking so much. We moved to a different state when I was 8 and I remember missing my Granny the most. Helping in the kitchen just wasn’t the same. I remember her coming to visit and she always had something new to make for us.

A couple of years ago she made this Italian Sausage Pasta that was AMAZING! It’s really easy to make and what makes this dish great is that any left overs you have are even better heated up the next day! So of course I’m going to SHARE!!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 package of either hot or mild italian sausage links (we use mild)
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic (sliced in half)
• 1 small onion
• 1 medium green pepper
• 1 can peeled diced tomato with the juice
• 1/4 tsp italian seasoning
• 2 cups of penne pasta

In a big skillet over medium high heat, toasted the sliced garlic cloves in the olive oil. Remove the garlic once it turns a light brown. While the garlic is toasting, cut the sausage links into chunks.

Infusing the oil with garlic.

After you take out the toasted garlic, add the sliced sausage to the oil in the skillet and brown.

Browning the sausage.

After the sausage is browned through, slice the onion and add to the sausage.

Add the onions to the sausage so they can start cooking down.

Let the onions cook with the sausage for about 5 minutes and then add the green pepper. Slice the green pepper the same size as the onion.

Add the pepper after the onions.

Let the sausage, onions, and green pepper cook for about 10 minutes before opening the can of tomatoes and adding those in.

Add the tomatoes with the juice after the peppers have been added.

Turn down the heat to medium, add the italian seasoning, and cover. Stir every so often.  After you cover the skillet, start cooking the penne pasta.

Boil the pasta.

You’ll know the dish is down with the onions and green peppers have cooked down.

All the goodness simmering and cooking!

When the pasta is finished cooking, add the cooked pasta to the skillet and stir in. Cover the skillet and let simmer for another 5 minutes. I took this opportunity to put together a salad and slice up some bread.

I chopped up some romaine lettuce for a salad!

The finished salad.

Sliced bread!

When the salad is ready and the bread is sliced, then you are ready to CHOW DOWN! Here’s the finished dish! Before eating, sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on top and then nom away!

Finished Italian Sausage Pasta

I couldn’t resist taking a picture of our dinner table before we sat down and dug in!

Before we sat down and dug in.

Hope everyone enjoys! Thanks Granny!

My parents took a 2 week vacation to Maui back in 2005 and when they returned, all they would talk about were the sights and of course… the food. My dad is allergic to fish so they had to find places to eat that served a variety of other stuff as well. They remembered this steak dinner they order one night that was marinaded in this AWESOME marinade. My parents are pretty crafty in the kitchen so when they got home, they got to work on recreating it from memory. It has taken them quite awhile to perfect it and I would love to sure it with everyone. The awesome part about this recipe is you can be so creative with it. No culinary background is needed to make this recipe your own. Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1/2 cup of honey
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• 1/2 cup +2 tablespoons of less sodium soy sauce (trust me on this… you’ll feel so thirsty if you use regular)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of ginger (you can use either fresh or the dried ground ginger, we use the dried)

You just mix everything together and taste to see if it requires anything else to your tasting! To marinade meat or fish, a sealed bag works best or a deep container. This recipe makes quite a lot so feel free to only use half to marinade with and the other half to drizzle over your meal.

Here are some ideas to spice this base recipe up:

• Add fresh orange juice, lemon juice, or lime juice for a zesty citrus twist!
• Mix in chunks of fresh pineapple (this works well if you’re going to be grilling your meat on a grill.. mmm grilled pineapple!)
• Use this marinade as an awesome way to jazz up vegetables, plain pasta, or rice!
• Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over your meat, pasta, veggies, or rice after using this marinade!

That’s what I love about this marinade… you can do SO many different things with it. We always keep some mixed up on hand so it’s there whenever we feel the urge to drizzle it over something. So far we’ve tried it on steaks, chicken, salmon, rice, mixed vegetables, and chicken stir fry! We haven’t been disappointed yet! Enjoy!

I watch foodnetwork… a lot! I have an italian grandmother so growing up I was forced to be in the kitchen when meals were being prepared. I learned how to make all the basics at a very young age and enjoy cooking a lot now that I’m older. I try out new stuff all the time and develop my own personal tricks along the way. Mel gave me the awesome idea of blogging about all the yummy stuff I make (with pictures!) and sharing all my neat little tricks.  So for my first food breakthrough I decided to share this custard rendition of a strawberry shortcake that is easy to make… and its verstile for anyone who is watching what they are eating. I’ve tried both ways and I honestly couldn’t taste the difference.  Here is the original recipe off Foodnetwork’s website: Strawberry Shortcake

Ingredients:

Angel food cake (You can either make your own or buy one at the store… I used store bought just to save time… heh.)

1 8 oz package of cream cheese – at room temperature (you can use 1/3 less fat cream cheese instead)

1 12 oz package of whipped topping – thawed (you can use lite or fat free whipped topping)

1 cup of sugar

2 tbs cornstarch

3 tbs strawberry jello (you can use sugar free jello)

1 cup water

2 cups fresh strawberries chopped into chunks

1 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk (fat free is available!)

First you want to make the strawberry glaze that you will add to the strawberries for one of the layers. To do this, add the cornstarch, jello, water, and sugar into a medium saucepan. Heat until bubbling, stirring constantly, over medium high heat. Take it off the heat when the liquid starts to thickly coat the back of a spoon.

Strawberry jello liquid!!

While the glaze is cooling (you can’t add the strawberries to it until the glaze has completely cooled!) go ahead and cut up your strawberries into your desired size. I usually cut mine up into medium size pieces.

After you get the strawberries cut, set those aside and get a big bowl to mix the custard whipped topping filling. First, cream the cream cheese and condensed milk together with a whisk. Since the cream cheese is at room temperature it should be fairly easy to mix into the condensed milk. If you’re using the 1/3 less fat cream cheese, you may need to mix with an electric mixer to eliminate any clumps. Lastly, add the thawed whipped topping and fold that into the cream cheese/condensed milk mixture until it is completely mixed.

Custard Topping

Set the custard topping in the fridge to keep cool while you are working with the glaze and strawberries. Only add the glaze to the strawberries if the glaze has been completely cooled!

Glazed Strawberries!

Now you’re ready to start assembling your dessert! The recipe on foodnetwork’s website says to cut your angel food cake into 3 separate layers, I just tear it into junks, you can do it either way that works for you.

Assembly

First you want to layer the bottom of your dish with angel food cake.Then add a layer of the strawberries and glaze.

Layered Awesomeness

The last layer is going to be the custard whipped topping. Normally you can get about 3 layers if your bowl is deep enough. This dessert will taste good no matter how you layer it… so do what works for you!

First Completed Layer

And here is the finished product!

Finished Dessert!

Here’s what this dessert will look like if you make it in a truffle dish!

Truffle Dish

Ta da! This dessert is very yummy, but make sure you eat it as soon as possible after you make it because the liquid in the strawberry will turn this dessert into mush quickly. So do the right thing… share.