Since I've been pretty eating pretty well lately, and on a veggie kick, I wanted to make something comforting but also healthy for a satisfying dinner. Always up for pasta, as I equate this with comfort food goodness, I decided to make my own Bolognese sauce, but instead of with beef or pork, I substituted it with chicken sausage and mushrooms, which made it really hearty. I let the whole concoction cook in a sauce of crushed tomatoes and then placed it on a bed of whole wheat spaghetti deliciousness. It was lovely and such a perfect thing to freeze and use later for pasta, pizza sauce, dipping sauce. Whatever!
Fooditka's Healthy Bolognese (serves 2-4)
Ingredients:
(1) 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 lb of chicken sausage, casings removed
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 package of baby bella mushrooms, sliced (about 2 cups)
1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese
Olive oil
Fresh basil
Salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
Sautee the onions first until they get soft and then add the mushrooms. Add salt and pepper and cook until the veggies get well done. Add chicken sausage and cook for about 5-7 minutes, until cooked through.
Combine with crushed tomatoes and a little bit of water (approximately 1/2 cup). Let it simmer for about 30-35 minutes until all the flavors combine. Add cheese and fresh basil as a last step.
Place Bolognese over whole wheat spaghetti. You can sprinkle it with fresh basil for extra flavor. Enjoy with a tall glass of red vino.
After a long, hard day, with feeling under the weather to boot, I needed something warm and comforting for dinner. I wanted it to be healthy too, as I've been eating out a lot and last night's feast at Koliba didn't do much good for the waistline.
I decided to go for a simple, but quite delicious (and nutrient rich) dish with chicken sausage, mushrooms, fresh spinach and quinoa. Even though the recipe called for farro instead, I opted for the quinoa, as it was cheaper and provided some nice texture from the crunch of the light and dark kernels.
Getting big praises about this from Dan, he thought it was very flavorful and tasted healthful too. It did a nice job of filling us up and because I made a generous amount, we'll have it for tomorrow's lunch as well. Let the goodness continue...
Sausage, Mushrooms and Spinach over quinoa - adapted from a Whole Food Market recipe
It's been a while since I've made a multi-course Sunday night dinner, but tonight I had the opportunity so I went all out. Wanting to cook something special but also not too caloric, I was inspired by a recipe that came from September's Everyday Food magazine. While I altered some of the ingredients such as substituting beef for chicken sausage and using just one kind of squash, I followed the general directions, which resulted in something really delicious.
While I don't think this dish will satiate you on its own, I'd suggest making a fresh veggie salad or an easy side dish to go along with it. My side dish came in the form of stuffed tomatoes, which I filled with leftover squash that I sauteed with garlic and onions...but more on that later. Hope you enjoy this recipe and wash it down with a crisp glass of white wine.
Summer Chicken Sausage and Rice Casserole
Ingredients (serves 4)
1/2 cup of fresh breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan (I omitted this)
2 tbs of olive oil, divided
5 cups reserved quick meat sauce (I sauteed chicken sausage and combined it with tomato sauce)
1/2 cup long-grain white rice (I substituted with brown rice. Please note that the recipe tells you to not pre-cook the rice before mixing it with the other ingredients, but please do cook it or else it will remain extremely al-dente)
1/2 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced lengthwise
2 zucchini or summer squash, very thinly sliced (I only used one of these, the yellow squash, and found that I only needed about a half of it)
Salt and pepper
Directions:
Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Combine breadcrumbs, parmesan and 1 tbs of olive oil. In a large cast iron skillet, bring meat sauce to a rapid simmer over high. Stir in rice and remove from heat. *Once again, please pre-cook your rice instead of putting it in raw.*
Top with onion, then carefully arrange zucchini in a single, slightly overlapping layer. Season with salt and pepper, drizzle with remaining olive oil and top with breadcrumb mixture.
Return to heat and bring to a simmer. Cover with foil and bake for 10 minutes. Remove foil and bake until rice is cooked through and breadcrumbs are golden, about 10 minutes more. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.
Recipe adapted from September 2012 issue of Everyday Food
When I went to Whole Foods to seek some inspiration, I didn't have anything in mind, but then became influenced by the gorgeous baby spinach in the fresh produce section. I grabbed it and immediately thought of the garlic spinach I had at Ornella the night before. Yes, that would do just great.
After making my rounds, I also grabbed a package of Bilinki's cajun andouille chicken sausage and thought to cook it up with cous-cous. The spinach would be nice to add on top, I thought, and there it was, my idea behind my chicken sausage cous-cous-otto.
Foodista's Chicken Sausage Cous-Cous-Otto
Ingredients (serves 2)
1 cup of whole wheat cous-cous (I used Trader Joe's brand)
3 chicken sausages, diced
Handful of fresh parsley, chopped
Handful of dried cranberries
1 package of fresh baby spinach, whole
2 large cloves of fresh garlic, minced
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Touch of truffle oil
Directions:
In a non-stick pan, heat olive oil on medium heat and sautee the garlic. Make sure to watch the the garlic closely, so it doesn't burn. Add the sausage and sautee until golden brown on the outside. Remove from the pan.
In the meantime, cook the cous-cous according to the directions on the package. Add the dried cranberries, and put the lid on, so they puff up. Incorporate the sausage and the chopped parsley.
In the sautee pan you used for the sausage, add the other garlic clove until slightly colored. Gradually place all the spinach into the pan and stir with the garlic for about 2-3 minutes or until wilted.
Place the cous-cous into a bowl and top with a generous amount of fresh spinach. Top with a sprinkling of truffle oil. Enjoy the earthiness and the savory quality of this dish.
