Sausage & Spinach Strata

The first time I had this recipe was at my friend Erin's Wedding Shower....I pregnant with the Twins and I could not eat enough of this. It is soooo good. We eat this regularly for breakfast on the weekend with a fruit plate.....I have adapted Mrs. Larsen's recipe to our family's tastes by adding in spinach....I try to sneak veggies in when I can with the girls.....This recipe is always a big hit at brunches....You have to plan for this one since it needs to rest in the fridge overnight before being slow baked in the AM....

Makes: 13x9 pan

8-10 slices of White bread, cubed
2 C Cheddar Cheese, Shredded
1 1/2-2 lbs of Sausage Links (Could use Ground Sausage)
1 10oz box frz Spinach, thawed & squeezed dry (or fresh spinach leaves if you have them)
4 Eggs
2 1/2 C Milk

Topping: (do the morning of baking)
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 C Milk
3/4 T Dry Onion Soup Mix

Spray a 13x9 inch pan with non stick spray. Brown Sausage links in a skillet until cooked through. Slice into bite sized pieces. Place cubed bread in the bottom of the baking dish and top with the grated cheese, spinach, and sausage pieces. Beat the eggs with the 2 1/2 C of milk and pour over bread, cheese, spinach, sausage mixture. Cover and place in the fridge overnight. In the morning preheat the over to 300 degrees. Mix the topping ingredients together in a small bowl and pour over the top of the bread mixture. Bake uncovered at 300 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Enjoy!

Sausage Dip

So the fall for us brings "Snack Saturday".......We love to eat finger foods and snacks all day while enjoying College Football....This is one of our staples.....I will warn you it is not healthy but it sure is good....I suppose most food is like that....Anyway the best thing about this dip is it is so versatile, you can change the tomatoes and the chips to tortiall or crostini....to a totally mix it up.....

Makes: A bowl full!

1 lb Ground Hot Sausage

1 14.5-15oz can of Italian Style Tomatoes (Or like I said, any of your favorite)

1 8oz package of Cream Cheese

1 BIG Bag of Stacy's Pita Chips, Simply Naked Flavor (I buy a huge bag at Costco)

In a large sauce pan over medium heat, brown up the sausage and drain off the grease. Stir in the tomatoes and simmer for 8-10 minutes. Stir in cream cheese, reduce heat. Cook until melted completely and hot throughout. Serve with Pita Chips....

Sausage, Potato and Roasted Pepper Soup

I have really been trying to eat more soup.......its hard to make in our house with a picky husband that doesn't like a ton of really good veggies.....but we make it work by cutting them really small....anyway this soup was one that Nana and I made in Pullman......and it turned out great.....I added a bit more stock in this one to make more and it turned out just as good.....Its pretty freaking good soup.....and best with warm ciabatta bread slices or any good crusty bread.......to dip in it.....

Makes 8 servings

1 lb Hot Sausage (Jimmy Dean)

3 T Butter
1 T Olive Oil
1 Small Sweet Onion, diced
1/2-3/4 C Carrots, diced
1/2-3/4 C Celery, diced
3-4 Cloves Garlic, minced
3 T Flour

4 C Veggie Broth

4 C Chicken Broth

5 Med Red Potatoes

1 1/2 C Half & Half

1 6oz-8oz jar Roasted Red Peppers, drained & chopped

2 tsp Fresh Thyme
2 C Arugula, chopped

Salt & Pepper, to taste

Crusty Bread, optional

Fry Sausage in a stock pot over medium heat. Once browned and cooked through, drain in strainer. Wipe out some of the grease in the pan and return to heat. Over medium heat melt butter and then add in olive oil. Saute onions, carrots and celery for about 5-6 min until the onion is lightly browned season with salt and pepper. Stir in garlic, and continue to cook 1 min. Mix in the flour. Wisk in the broth and bring to a boil. Add back the sausage to the pot and add in the potatoes. Reduce heat to low and cook for 15 min or until potatoes are tender. Stir in the half & half, roasted peppers, arugula and thyme. Reseason with salt and pepper. Continue cooking on low until heated through about 5-8 min. Serve with crusty bread.

Italian Pesto Pasta

So this is one of those meals that I usually have everything for and it is easy to whip together....We love it with sliced Italian Sausage links, but I will use whatever I have from cooked Chicken to Flavored Smoked Sausage to Salami......This is probably one of Mikiah's favorite meals....whenever I ask her what she wants for dinner she usually replies with "Pesto Pasta"......You can use any semi soft or soft cheese that you like.....I just so happened to have some Farmers Cheese which worked great.....Havarti also works great as well as those flavored spreadable cheeses....add more veggies if you like.....Peppers would be a good add in.........Oh and I love Trader Joe's pesto....which is a major bummer about living in San Antonio....No Trader Joe's down here.....Totally miss that store.....

Makes 4-6 servings

1 pkg Italian Sausage Links (Sweet or Hot)

2 C Cream

1/4-1/3 C Prepared Pesto

3 oz Cream Cheese

8 0z (1 C) Farmers Cheese (or any other Semi Soft/Soft Cheese)

Pepper, to taste

2-3 C Fresh Broccoli, cut into florets

1 Lg Can Medium Olives (you can slice, I don't so Shawn can pick them out)

1 lb Pasta (we use Mini Penne or Bow Tie, easier for the twins to eat)

1/2 C Parmesan Cheese or Parm Cheese Blend, garnish on top

Fry up the sausage links until done all the way through. Remove from heat and slice.

Boil a pot of water. Add in a some salt and then the noodles. Cook according to package, except in the last 2-4 min (depending on how done you want your broccoli) add in the broccoli to the pot. Drain and dump back into the stock pot and then add the olives on top.

While noodles are cooking. Start the sauce. Pour the cream into a sauce pan or deep skillet. Heat over med low/med heat for 5-8 min until hot through. Stir in pesto and heat another 1-3 min to bring back to hot. Stir in cream cheese once combined add in the semi soft cheese and stir until melted and well combined. Then add the sausage to the pan and season with pepper, keep over med low/med heat and bring sauce to back to hot and slightly thickened around 5 min or so. Pour sauce over the noodles/broccoli/olives and stir to combine, serve out of the pot or dump into a pasta bowl.....Top with Parmesan Cheese and Enjoy.....

Velvet Slippers Pasta

Ok, so the name is a bit funny, but this is what Shawn's brother Joel thought....he said this pasta was like wearing "Velvet Slippers"..... This recipe use to be called Crap-Shoot Pasta becuase Nana called this dinner a crap-shoot and I think it stuck in my head as the perfect name since we basically (mostly Nana) made it up as we went. Which by the way is one of my favorite ways to cook. I love pasta main dishes and this one works well for that. It all started because we had some leftover Jalapeno Popper filling (Cream Cheese and Hot Sausage) that we needed to use. Anyway we looked through the cupboard and 'Ta-Da' here is dinner.....

Serves 4-6

1 lb (16oz) of Your Favorite Pasta (we use Mini Penne the girls love the size)
2 C (1 pint) Heavy Cream
1/2-1lb of Meat, cooked (Italian Sausage, Sliced Flavored Sausage Links, Sliced Chicken)
3-4 oz Cream Cheese, Cubed
1 C Havarti Cheese, shredded (any mild cheese would be good, Munster, etc)
1/3-1/2 C Sundried Tomatoes, chopped (I prefer them packed in Oil)
1/2 C Fire Roasted Peppers, chopped (I use the jarred Yellow/Red ones)
1 Small can Sliced Black Olives
Zest of 1 Lemon
Juice of 1 Lemon
1 4-5oz Bag of Arugula or Baby Spinach
Salt & Pepper
Fresh Sliced Tomato, Garnish
Parmesan Cheese, Garnish
Green Onions, Garnish

Boil water and add in salt & pasta, cook according to the box and drain (Do not rinse). Start the sauce while cooking boiling the water for the Pasta and it should all come together around the same time. Pour the cream into a sauce pan and heat over Medium or Medium/Low to warm and heat the cream but not scald. When heated melt in Cream Cheese and stir. Add in the meat to heat it through. Then add some of the zest of lemon (if you like a more punch lemon taste you could as some of the juice of the lemon) reserving some zest for the top of the finished dish. Stir and season with a little pepper. Add in the Havarti and stir in to combine. When melted add in Sundried tomatoes, Peppers, Olives heat until warm, probably a few min or so. After noodles are done and still hot put back in the pan you cooked them in and pour sauce over. Add in Spinach and toss together and season with Salt and Pepper if it needs it. Place in a serving dish, garnish with sliced tomatoes, green onions, and Parmesan.