Sausage Kale Fettuccine

I got this recipe from my lovely in-laws. They cook a lot with sausage and pork, probably inspired by their pig farm, Pink House Farm. They always have some on hand and have a lot of creative ways to use it. For anyone in the Richmond area, you need to check them out!

This dish is one of my absolute favorite things to make for dinner. The awesome thing is that it only requires a handful of ingredients and it is easy to make! It is perfect for a winter night meal with a glass of white wine, and super comforting. ....and the kale makes it healthy, right?..... right!

Ingredients:
1 lb ground sausage (your preference)
1 lb fettuccine noodles
2 bunches of kale
1 cup of chicken stock
Parmesan cheese, grated (your preference how much)

How you make it: 

Heat up a large pot of water and bring to a gentle boil. Tear the kale off the stems and place into the water to blanch. While you wait for the kale, brown the sausage in the biggest skillet you own. When the kale has cooked for a few minutes, scoop the kale out and put it in the skillet with the cooked sausage. Sautee the kale with the cooked sausage so it absorbs all of the flavor.

Place the fettuccine noodles into the boiling water you cooked the kale in. Add the chicken stock to the kale and sausage once the kale has really cooked down, and reduce the heat on the pan. Once the noodles have cooked, drain them and put them in the large skillet and mix everything together. Top off with parm cheese.

Sausage Peppers and Onions with Garlic Smashed Potatoes

Sometimes you need to cook something quick and easy... I think a lot of us find ourselves in this situation, actually. It can be from exhaustion, laziness, or you are just ready to eat!

This was the predicament I was in last night, but for a slightly different reason! It was our first night with our new dog, Mr. Darcy! We adopted him yesterday from the Roanoke SPCA. We love him and he is doing wonderfully. I picked him up after work and it was probably the most hilarious car ride ever... I caught every train and light of course. Mr. Darcy decided to show his affection by constantly licking the side of my face, which can make driving a little difficult!!

Anyways, I knew I needed to do something easy and fast for dinner so I could spend lots of time with Darcy and not a lot of time running around fixing interesting smelling things that he's not allowed to have.

So, I went to a stand-by - my version of Sausage Pepper and Onions, which I serve with Garlic Smashed Potatoes! It is also a very manly sort of dish, so you can convince your hubby/boyfriend/fiance whoever that you made it just for him! :)

The Ingredients:

1 package of your favorite sausage links (we like Bratwurst)
1 medium yellow onion
1 green bell pepper (or whatever colors you like)
2 tblspoons of olive oil
5-6 Yukon Gold Potatoes (medium to small sized, more if you want)
4 cloves of garlic, smashed with garlic press (or more, we love garlic)
2 tblspoons of butter 
1/2 cup or so of half n half (or milk)
Fresh parsley
Salt and Pepper to taste

How to make it: 

First, dice up your Yukon potatoes into quarter ish sizes. I leave the skins on. Put in a large sauce pot with salt and water, enough to cover the potatoes. Bring the water and potatoes to a gentle boil. Check the potatoes until they are fork tender, about 15 minutes or so. Once they are tender, drain the potatoes and put them back in the pot. Add the half n half, butter, garlic, fresh parsley, and salt and pepper. Then, smash them all together with a potato masher. Taste and add more of what you like! :)

While you wait on the potatoes, heat up a large skillet with the olive oil on medium low heat. Place the sausages in the skillet. I like to use tongs to flip them easier. Check them every few minutes or so and turn so they cook evenly on all sides. I also tend to move them around in the pan for even cooking. They start to brown like this, but that's good:

  The sausages take about 15 minutes. I check mine with a fork and knife to make sure there is no pink in the center. Once they are done, transfer them to a plate. Chop up the onions and peppers and put them into the same skillet you used for the sausages. The onions and peppers are going to absorb all of that amazing flavor.

After ten minutes, they start to look like this:

Yummy!!!!!

Once you are happy with your peppers and onions, dinner is ready! I put the potatoes down first, then the peppers onions and sausage links on top. Serve with your favorite beer :)

Anyone else have a man-pleasing easy dinner? :)

Spicy Thai Peanut Coconut Sweet Potato Soup (phew!)

My first recipe post is going to be about a soup - which is ironic, because I rarely make soup. 

I was inspired by browsing pinterest (obsessed), and stumbled upon these lovely blog sites with recipes, and wanted to adapt and make my own version.... thanks to these lovely bloggers for the inspiration, yay! :)

Foodess  
LunchBoxBunch 

So, I put it on the menu this week and bought what didn't have in the pantry. My hubby did the grocery shopping last weekend, and bought me like 7 jalapeno peppers.... anyway. 

I really like to research recipes and combine what I like. I was apprehensive, I hadn't made soup in ages (hardly ever...) and I don't work with the Thai flavor profile often either! But what the heck, I figured we had leftover lasagna if it failed miserably. 

It didn't. It rocked. :) 

Hearty, healthy, spicy, yet refreshing! Mmm!!!

Spicy Thai Peanut Coconut Sweet Potato Soup:

Ingredients: 
1 turn of olive oil 
1 Sweet Potato (pretty big)
1 jalapeno (take seeds out if you aren't into spice) 
3 cups chicken or beef stock (I used a beef bouillon and water, mixed)
1 tsp cumin (more if you want)
1 tsp ground ginger (or fresh, more if you want!)
1 tsp ground coriander (or more) 
1 medium onion, diced
3 tsp curry powder (or a paste if you like) 
3 cloves garlic, minced (love my garlic press, obsessed)
1 can coconut milk
2 tblsp of peanut butter
Lime juice 
Salt to taste (always taste and check!!)
Lotsa cilantro, to put in and to garnish
Dollop of greek yogurt to garnich
Sliced avocado to garnish 

How I made it:

First, I heated up medium saucepan over medium heat or so. Chopped up the onions and tossed them in. Let them sizzle for a few minutes, then threw in the minced garlic. Then, I chopped up the jalapeno pepper. I kept most of the seeds, hubby and I like spicy. Threw that in too. Sautee it around, let it start getting yummy smelling (careful of that jalapeno cooking, yikes). Then, I put in the curry powder and stirred it all around. Pause and enjoy how impressive your kitchen smells. (This is a good time for the hubby to walk in and be all super duper in awe of your skills). 

Next, I diced up the sweet potato. I leave the skins on cuz I'm lazy, but I've also heard that's good for you or something. I put the sweet potato in the pot with the coconut milk and the stock, covered the pot, and turned the heat down a bit. Let it simmer until the sweet potatoes are all cooked through. It took me about half a House Hunters episode or so. I check mine with a fork. 

Okay, so then came the scary part... the blender. I blended the soup in batches (I feel so BA when I blend hot stuff like they do on Chopped and Iron Chef and stuff), put it back in the pot. Once the scary part is over, its all about adding the fun stuff. Add all the seasonings, peanut butter, cilantro, lime juice, etc. I always taste, adjust, reseason, taste, etc, until I'm satisfied. Hubby was home early today so he got to taste and give his opinion too.  I garnished with slice avocado, mooooore cilantro (yuuuummmmm), and a dollop of Greek yogurt (freakin LOVE Greek yogurt....anyhoo). 

Ta da!!!!!

Enjoy! Hubby loved it, and I was pretty proud of myself. I think its kinda healthy, so extra bonus points I suppose.... 

Anyone else have some awesome soup recipes?? I think this has boosted my soup confidence :)

Blogging Goals

I've been debating starting this thing for awhile now.... mainly when my husband and I are sitting around eating something yummy I've made, and I exclaim "I could blog about this!" and he nods between bites. So, after a long day of teaching, here I am, attempting to show the world (or a few friends) what I've got.

My goals -

1.) Share my foodie and recipe tips. I love cooking, and want to share some awesome recipes.

2.) Reflect on the whole wife thing. I feel like I read all these awesome stories and pins and cutesy things from awesome wives all the time and I'm always mega impressed. Is that who I am? A cutesy perfect house spotless wife? I don't think so.... I'm on a journey to find out!

3.) Have a place to be me. And write. And document. And laugh, hopefully - I love to laugh. This picture makes me laugh a lot ----

(Tara Fabling is awesome)

So there we go. I hope I don't suck at this.