Pasta with Chicken Sausage and Broccoli

Pasta is easy- we have it, in some form, once a week. I love this recipe because it takes the ease of pasta and “upgrades” it with sausage and a vegetable. My girls love this.

Of course you can switch things out… I usually use half a ring of turkey kielbasa instead of the chicken sausage and you could easily use a different vegetable.

I found this recipe in Real Simple magazine.

Serves 4 Total Time: 20m

Ingredients
* 12 ounces rigatoni (about 4 1/2 cups) (I use what I have on hand)
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1 onion, sliced (I use dried chopped onion, about 2T)
* 6 ounces fully cooked chicken sausage links, sliced (I use turkey kielbasa, sliced and browned for a couple minutes in a skillet)
* 1 small head broccoli, cut into florets and stems sliced
* 1/4 cup grated Parmesan (1 ounce)

Directions
1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions.

2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the onion, stirring often, for 3 minutes. Add the sausage and cook, stirring, until browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the broccoli and 1¼ cups water and simmer, covered, until the broccoli is tender, 5 to 6 minutes.

3. Toss the pasta with the sausage mixture and any remaining liquid and the Parmesan.

Baked Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

I planted spaghetti squash this year. It was my first-ever garden and I planted every seed in the package. Needless to say, the spaghetti squash took over and produced abundantly! Since my family is getting a bit bored with plain spaghetti squash with olive oils and herbs and spaghetti squash in place of spaghetti I went in search for a new way to prepare it.

I found this recipe at AllRecipes.com. The original recipe is meatless, but I replaced the olives with ground turkey.

Ingredients
* 1 spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
* 1 onion, chopped
* 2 tablespoons minced garlic
* 2 (14 ounce) cans stewed tomatoes (I recommend draining a bit of the juice)
* 1 tablespoon dried basil
* 1 cube vegetable bouillon
* black pepper to taste
* 1 (15 ounce) can black olives, chopped (I substituted 1/2 lb ground turkey, browned and crumbled)
* 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
* 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Spray a baking sheet with a thin layer of cooking spray. Place squash halves cut side down on the baking sheet.
2. Bake squash 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife can be easily inserted. Remove from oven, and cool.
3. Meanwhile, spray a non-stick saucepan with cooking spray. Over medium heat, saute the onion and garlic until golden brown. Stir in tomatoes, basil, bouillon cube, and black pepper. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until you have a medium thick sauce.
4. Remove squash strands with a fork, reserving the shells. Layer each half with a spoonful of the sauce, a layer of spaghetti squash strands, olives, and mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers until shells are full, or until all of the ingredients are used. Top with Parmesan cheese.
5. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until Parmesan cheese melts.

Nutritional Information Serves 6 Calories: 280 | Total Fat: 15.9g | Cholesterol: 27mg

Lite Creamy Broccoli Lasagna

One of the perks of writing about food is that, sometimes, companies want you to eat their food. Depending on the company I will either accept or decline the offer.

A couple of weeks ago Robert's Dairy, a company well known in the Midwest, reached out to me via Mom Select and asked if I would be interested in trying some of their products. Trying? I already use their stuff so I, quite nonchalantly, said, "sure". OK, so I wasn't nonchalant. I told them straight up that I already used and loved their products so they should choose me. And they did.

A few days ago I received some great coupons in the mail for me as well as this link so all of you could get coupons too! Roberts Dairy serves Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas as well as parts of Colorado, Illinois and South Dakota.


Now... About those recipes. I only received a few but you can find hundreds at the Roberts Dairy website. And, though they call for Roberts Dairy products you can, of course, use whatever brand you like.

I made the Lite Creamy Broccoli Lasagna last night. I had been looking for a new meatless recipe, and this fit the bill. As I'm not a fan of fungi (mushrooms), Doug was surprised I made this. My girls devoured it- especially the mushrooms! The cottage cheese gave it a lovely "melty" texture. It's a great way to get the kids to eat their veggies!

Ingredients

9 uncooked lasagna noodles (I used wheat. I think you could also use the "no boil" noodles in this, too)
1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons Roberts Butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
3/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1-1/2 cups Roberts Skim Milk
6 cups broccoli florets
1-1/2 cups Roberts 1% Cottage Cheese
10 ounces reduced-fat Swiss cheese, shredded, divided

Preparation

Cook noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, sautè mushrooms and onion in butter until tender. Add the flour, bouillon, garlic salt, pepper and thyme; stir until blended. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add broccoli; cook for 3-5 minutes. Stir in cottage cheese and three-fourths of the Swiss cheese. Drain noodles.

In a 13in.x9in.x2in. baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray, layer three noodles and a third of the sauce. Repeat layers twice. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until bubbly and broccoli is tender. Sprinkle with remaining Swiss cheese. Bake, uncovered, 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

Yield: 12 servings

This post sponsored, in part, by

Crispy Un-Fried Chicken and Popcorn Cauliflower

I'm actually a bit torn about this chicken recipe. Not that it isn't good- because it is- but because it seemed like kind of a hassle. And, honestly, the place I got it (an unsolicited "trial issue" of Cook's Country) was a bit pretentious for me, stating "no self-respecting fried chicken lover would dream of using anything other than bone-in chicken parts." Well, I'm sorry to disappoint the cooks but, having grown up on a farm and actually killing, plucking and taking apart entire chickens I'm well over anything having to do with chicken bones. I used boneless chicken breasts- I actually cut them into strips (gasp!)- and all was well.

But Caelan loved these, eating three strips, so this recipe will be appearing on my table again. Along with these simple and tasty popcorn cauliflowers, which both girls ate greedily. I suppose it's because they love popcorn...

Crispy Un-Fried Chicken
Serves 8

2 c buttermilk
2 T Dijon mustard
2 1/4 t salt
1 1/2 t garlic powder
1 1/2 t black pepper
1 t hot pepper sauce (I omitted this)
8 (split bone in) chicken breasts, 10 to 12 ounces each, skin removed, ribs trimmed with kitchen shears
2 1/2 c corn flakes (crushed. To do this place in a plastic bag and let the kids play steamroller over it with a rolling pin)
3/4 c fresh bread crumbs
1/2 t ground poultry seasoning (I omitted this)
1/2 t paprika
1/8 t cayenne pepper
2 T vegetable oil

Whisk buttermilk, mustard, 2 t salt, 1 t garlic powder, 1 t black pepper & hot sauce in a large bowl. Add chicken, turn to coat well, cover & refrigerate at least one hour or overnight.

Adjust oven rack to upper middle position and heat to 400 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with foil, set wire rack on sheet and coat with baking spray. (I used the broiler pan)

Gently toss corn flakes, bread crumbs, 1/2 t garlic powder, 1/2 t black pepper, 1/4 t salt, poultry seasoning, paprika and cayenne in shallow dish until combined. Drizzle oil over crumbs and toss until well coated. Dredge chicken, one piece at a time, in crumb mixture; firmly press crumbs into all sides of chicken. Place chicken on prepared rack, leaving 1/2 inch of space between pieces. Bake 35-45 minutes until chicken is deep golden brown, juices run clear and thickest part of the chicken breast (away from the bone) reaches 160 degrees.

Spice it up: increase the hot pepper sauce to 1T, replace salt in crumb mixture with 1/2 t chili powder and increase cayenne to 1/4 t.

This chicken reheats really well. Just heat the oven to 400 degrees and bake a few minutes. Or serve it cold.

Popcorn Cauliflower

Cut a head of cauliflower into small florets (about 3 c). Toss with 2T olive oil and 1/4 t pepper (I also added some garlic salt). Roast at 450 degrees, uncovered, until lightly browned stirring once or twice; about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese & serve.