Pasta with Italian Sausage and Pumpkin Sauce

This went over surprisingly well tonight.  Ellie had two helpings and Will had three!

• 1 pound bulk Italian sausage
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, diced
• 1 (16 ounce) packagecampanelle pasta
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
• 1/2 cup half-and-half

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese, or to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning, or to taste

Directions

1. Cook and stir Italian sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat until the meat is browned, breaking it into crumbles as it cooks, about 10 minutes. Drain excess grease. Stir onion and garlic into sausage and cook until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a boil. Stir in campanelle and return to a boil. Cook pasta uncovered, stirring occasionally, until cooked through but still firm to the bite, about 10 minutes; drain.
3. Stir pumpkin puree, chicken broth, half-and-half, sour cream, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and black pepper into the sausage mixture and cook, stirring often, until sauce is creamy and thick, about 5 minutes.
4. Transfer cooked campanelle pasta to a large pot and pour sausage and pumpkin mixture over pasta. Place over medium-high heat and gently stir until pasta mixture is heated through, 4 to 5 minutes. Serve topped with Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning.

(Copied from allrecipes.com.)

Brined Rosemary Pork Chops

Brine

3 T salt

3 T brown sugar

3 branches of fresh rosemary

2 T extra virgin olive oil

2 T balsamic vinegar

1 t black pepper

4 pork chops

1. To make the brine: In a medium bowl, combine the salt and sugar.  Pour 1 cup hot water into the bowl and whisk to dissolve the salt and sugar. Add 2 cups cold water along with the remaining brine ingredients.  

2. place the chops in a large, resealable plastic bag and pour in the brine.  Press the air out of the bag and seal tightly.  Turn the bag to distribute the brine, place the bag in a bowl, and refrigerate for 4-6 hours.

3. Remove the pork chops form the bag and pat dry with paper towels.  Discard the brine.  Allow to stand at room temperature for 20-30 minutes before grilling.  Lightly brush or spray both sides of the chops with oil.  Grill over Direct Medium heat until barely pink in the cent of the meat, 8-10 minutes, turning once.  

Potato Lasagna

2 T olive or vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
 7 medium potatoes, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 lb. Italian sausage
1 large onion, chopped 2-10 oz packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 c ricotta cheese
1/4 c seasoned bread crumbs
Dash cayenne pepper
2 c shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 c chicken broth
2 T grated Parmesan cheese

In a large bowl, combine oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Add the potatoes and toss to coat; spread evenly in an ungreased 15x10 baking pan. Cover and bake at 425° for 35-40 minutes until tender. Cool for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook the sausage and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Combine the spinach, ricotta, bread crumbs, cayenne, salt and pepper; mix well. In a greased 13x9 baking dish, layer a third of the potatoes, and half the spinach mixture, sausage and mozzarella. Repeat layers. Pour broth over all. Top with remaining potatoes; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

8-10 servings

I've cut this recipe in half and put it in a square pan.

Creamy Spaghetti

This is a really simple tip that we use to add a little pizazz to the boring old spaghetti that is a staple at our house.

-pasta
-ground beef
-jar of spaghetti sauce
-CREAM CHEESE!

Just add 1/2 a block of cream cheese to your jar of sauce and stir through until heated.  This makes a really yummy, creamy sauce.  It is a delicious alternative to 'regular' spaghetti! I stock up on cream cheese when it goes on sale for 99 cents and this is one dish we always make when we have cream cheese on hand.

Easy Stuffed Peppers

Looking for a great ground turkey recipe?  Well, look no further! Peppers were on sale for 50 cents each recently so I concocted this recipe to use the peppers that were in my fridge and a roll of ground turkey that had been in my freezer for awhile. I feel like I found a winner for ground turkey usage!  I've tried a few ground turkey recipes and this is the first one I've truly liked.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Halve 3-4 peppers and scrape out insides. Bake peppers while the rest of the ingrediants are being prepared.
Prepare rice (I used white minute rice to save time-maybe 3 cups)
Brown ground turkey with minced onion (I used half a medium onion)
Black beans (about 1/2 a can or whatever you like)
Mix rice, turkey/onion, and black beans and fill the peppers
Salt to taste
Top with cheese and continue to bake until the peppers are soft.

*Tip--- Make sure the peppers are pretty soft before you add the rest of the ingrediants.  I think I put my ingrediants in too soon. I had to remove the peppers before the cheese burned, even though my peppers were still a little crispy.

Pudding Shots

Here's the recipe I know you've all been waiting for. Sorry most you can't use it right now... maybe this fall! Oh and I wouldn't recommend serving these for dinner!;)

1 small pkg. chocolate instant pudding (make sure you use instant pudding and not the cooking kind-it will not work)
3/4 cup whole milk (I had used 1% and they turned out OK)
1/4 cup Vodka
1/2 cup Bailey's Irish Cream
8 oz.Cool Whip

Mix milk and pudding together with electric mixer.
Add alcohol, make sure it's mixed well.
Mix in Cool Whip.
Pour into little individual cup (the ones with lids work great if you can find them.
Keep in the freezer-do not refrigerate.
You should get 21 to 25 shots out of 1 batch.

Other flavor suggestions:
Vanilla pudding + Rootbeer Schnapps = Rootbeer float
Vanilla pudding + Tequila Rose = Strawberry Pudding Shots
Chocolate pudding + Khalua = Cafe Mocha
Banana pudding + Coconut Rum + Blue Maui (blue raspberry vodka in place of regular vodka)= Tropical Flavor
Vanilla pudding + Triple Sec + Orange Vodka(in place of reg. vodka)=Orange Creamsicle

Italian Dunkers

Hot dog buns were on sale for 88 cents so I bought a bag even though we didn't have any hot dogs. I racked my brain for awhile, trying to come up with something to use them for before the buns expired. They were getting a little dry as they approched the expiration date so I decided to do something that involved baking the buns. I sprinkled shredded cheese over the hot dog buns and then sprinkled each one with a little garlic powder. I baked them just long enough for the cheese to melt and the bread to become crispy and then we dipped them in spaghetti sace with browned ground beef. This was cheap and easy!