Rigatoni with Swiss Chard and Sausage

This was the cover recipe on of the November issue of Canadian Living magazine. My sister gets the magazine and we made it together on Sunday night while I was visiting her in Halifax. It was healthy, fresh and just right for a lazy (and cold!) fall evening. We added extra sausage and swiss chard, so it probably could have stood a bit more liquid, but over all, it was very good! Because we nearly doubled the recipe, we made two baking dishes of it, ate one and froze the other. Amanda put it in the freezer after assembly, but pre-baking. We'll see how it is when they go to eat it out of the freezer.

RIGATONI WITH SWISS CHARD AND SAUSAGE
Source: Canadian Living

Ingredients:
4 c. pasta
1/2 c. salted pasta water
4 italian sausages, removed from casings
1 onion, chopped
8 c. swiss chard, chopped
1/2 c. fresh basil, chopped
1 c. diced tomatoes
1 can navy beans, rinsed and drained
3 cloves of fresh garlic or 3 tsp pickled garlic
red pepper flakes
Mozza cheese
Parm cheese (I just used a package of Kraft 4 cheese Italian)

Directions:

1. Turn water on to boil pasta. Cook pasta as preparing the sauce.
2. Cook sausage meat, removed from casing, with the chopped onion. Drain fat. Add garlic, basil, red pepper flakes to taste and canned tomatoes. Simmer for 10 mins. Stir in navy beans.
3. Drain pasta, set aside 1/2 c. drained pasta water. Stir in swiss chard, pasta sauce and pasta water. Pour into baking dish. Top with italian cheese.
4. Bake at 350 F covered in foil for 20 mins. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10 mins.

Autumn Sausage Casserole

AUTUMN SAUSAGE CASSEROLE

Source: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/





Ingredients:

• 1 pound sausage (I used honey garlic, but I can't wait to try it with chicken sausage!)


• 1 large, or 2 small apples, chopped (no need to peel)


• 1 yellow onion, chopped


• 1/2 cup chopped carrots (I used about a cup of shredded)


• 3 cups already cooked long-grain rice


• 1/2 cup raisins


• 1 T dried parsley flakes


• 1 T brown sugar


• 1/2 tsp allspice


• 1/2 tsp cinnamon


• 1/4 tsp black pepper


• 1/3 cup chicken broth or water

Directions:

1. Brown the sausages in a skillet on the stovetop and drain, if they are uncooked.
2. Dump everything in the crockpot and cook on low for 5-7 hrs, until heated through and vegetables are softened.

Comments:

I made this quite a while ago and had been meaning to post about it. My parents were so skeptical but were very pleasantly surprised. This stuff is delicious! The perfect combination of sweet and savoury. You could also do this bad boy in the oven on lower heat, until heated through and vegetables are softened. A perfect fall supper!

Penna a la Vodka and Honey Garlic Sausage and Peppers

I didn't have to cook supper this Sunday! Marilyn and Ann provided the food and Marlyn hosted. It was a nice break, since the last two weeks it has been challenging doing it all on my own (especially the clean-up!)

I thought I would post a couple of recipes I have made in the last few weeks that turned out well. Unfortunately, I have no photos, but next time I make either, I will take some!

Penne a la Vodka
Source: http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2009/01/penne_alla_vodk.html (with a few modifications/additions)

Ingredients:

• 1 box of penne
• 1 can of crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 c. vodka
• 10 cloves of garlic, peeled and whole
• red pepper flakes
• 1/2 c. heavy cream
• grated parm cheese
• chopped parsley

Optional:

• chicken
• Shrimp
• peppers
• onion

**Timing is everything with this recipe. It is best if you have everything all chopped and ready to go, measured out, because things happen quickly!

1. Put water onto boil for pasta. Saute and chicken and veggies you will use as water is boiling. Set aside.

2. Put penne in water. Coat pan in olive oil (probably about 1/4 c.) and drop in 10 garlic cloves. Brown them.

3. Add tomatoes, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste. Boil for 2 mins.

4. Add the vodka and lower heat. Simmer until pasta is ready.

5. Add cream and swirl in.

6. Pick the garlic cloves out of the sauce, unless you like to eat whole cloves, but I would not recommend this! Drain the pasta.

6. In the pasta pot, combine pasta, sauce, veggies/chicken, fresh parsley and about 3/4 c. parm cheese. Continuously stir over low heat until pasta has absorbed sauce.

Comments: This was delicious and looked restaurant quality. I would definitely add chicken or shrimp and some veggies though, otherwise it is quite plain. Do not skimp on the fresh parsley either, it really makes the dish! Good leftovers too.

Honey Garlic Sausage and Peppers
Source: allrecipes

Ingredients:

• 1/4 c. oil
• 1/4 c. dijon mustard (or any dark spicy mustard)
• 1/3 c. honey
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 cloves crushed garlic
• 1 tsp ginger
• brown rice

Optional:

• honey garlic sausage (or any spicy sausage)
• chicken
• shrimp
• peppers (green and red)
• onion
• mushrooms
• shredded carrots
• chopped celery

1. Put brown rice on to cook.

2. While rice is cooking, brown meat (any one of or combination of the proteins above are great!), add veggies and sauce. Saute until veggies are desired consistency.

3. Serve over rice.

Comments: This is more a sauce recipe and you can add any protein or veggies that you want. the first time I made it, I stuck with the classic sausage, peppers and onion mix. Since then, I have branched out and added different proteings and veggies. Last Friday, I used all three proteins, shredded carrots, mushrooms, a chopped pepper, onion and celery. It was still yummy!