Kielbasa, Pepper, Onion and Potato Hash

Tonight's dinner was such a nice treat. I got home in record time. One hour!!! So I actually prepared dinner tonight. Okay I did chopped everything but the potatoes this morning, but still it was fun actually making dinner on the night we were eating it!
The recipe is from The Two Bite Club. I do not know how I came upon this blog but I hope to visit it again very soon.

Kielbasa, Pepper, Onion and Potato Hash from The Two Bite Club -

Ingredients-
1 (14 ounce) package turkey kielbasa, cut into 1/4 inch rounds
1 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 yellow, red or orange bell pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
3 small or 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
salt and pepper

Method-
In a heavy bottomed skillet (I like to use my cast iron), heat 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add the potatoes to the skillet and season with salt and pepper. Fry until golden brown and cooked through, around 8-10 minutes, stirring a few times to ensure even browning. 
In a separate skillet, brown the sliced kielbasa for around 5 minutes in 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium high heat.  Remove the kielbasa from the pan and set aside.  Add the peppers and onions to the skillet and season with a pinch of salt and pepper.  Cook for 5 minutes, or until softened, stirring occasionally. 
Add the cooked potatoes and kielbasa to the skillet with the onions and peppers and mix everything together.  Serve nice and hot!

Ravioli Lasagna

Brilliant! That is how I would categorize this recipe. I found it on Iowa Girl Eats. This dinner received rave reviews. I think it was the sauce, Marcella Hazan again!

Ingredients-
1/2 lb lean ground beef
24oz marinara sauce
1-1/2lbs frozen mini cheese ravioli (Do not thaw. Could use normal sized ravioli)
6oz shredded mozzarella cheese

Method-
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brown ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat, seasoning with salt and pepper, until no longer pink. Drain then return to the skillet and set aside.
Spread 1/4 cup of sauce in the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish. Add 1/3 the frozen ravioli, ground beef, sauce, and cheese. Repeat layers two more times.
Cover with a sheet of non-stick sprayed foil then bake for 1 hour. Remove foil then bake for 10 more minutes, or until cheese is golden brown and bubbly.

Italian Chopped Salad

I eat leftovers for lunch. My plan tonight was to make a salad that would result in having a weeks worth of leftovers. SCORE!!  I made this salad back in 2011. I made a big change in the recipe tonight. I did not use Romaine. I found a package of lettuce at Robert's this week that seemed kind of expensive, $4.99. But I got tonight's dinner and 4 lunches out of that package of lettuce.

As long as you have dinner ready...

One of the things my mom always said was that as long as you had dinner ready there was no reason why you could not go out shopping. Today was 9 years that my mom past. Every year on this day I go to mass and I go shopping. And I make sure I have dinner ready.

Tonight we had meatball sandwiches. The meatballs were made last week and put in the freezer. (I was planning ahead.) I made the sauce when I got home from shopping, I was only gone 4 hours and that included going to mass. The sauce was Marcella Hazan's recipe, of course.

 

The salad came together quickly when I realized I had nothing else to serve as a side. I had a little farro and a little pasta. I cooked both up and added some chopped carrots and celery, some fontina cheese and cured olives. The dressing was olive oil and lemon juice with parsley and salt and pepper.

And I did by a pair of shoes and a 3 tops today! 

Thank you Mom for the many years of combat shopping training. 

And thanks for making the matching outfits!

Miss you...

Steak au Poivre

 

What a busy day! My niece, Makena, received her First Communion today. The mass was very nice and the kids all looked so cute. A perfect day to catch up with my brother's children. The cake was from J Cakes. I had just a taste and wow, what a tasty cake!

Dinner was really quite good. Steak au Poivre. I got the recipe in an email from the New York Times this week. I read it and it seemed simple enough. Well it was simple and the result was a delicious piece of steak. The butcher did cut it for me about 2 hours before it was cooked. That's fresh! The sauce was perfect. I used heavy cream instead of crème fraîche. Click here for the recipe.

For side dishes I made Roasted Potatoes and Roasted Asparagus that was tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper and bread crumbs.

The Book Club

This month's book club selection was The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. I think this was my favorite book since joining the book club. I like history based books. I like books that I can google people's name and find photos of them.

Tonight the book club met at Kate's house. The invitation said to be prepared for a Charleston Dinner. I was not sure what to expect. What was served was a delicious meal.

We started with some apps. A Hot Crab Dip.

Red Pepper and Artichoke Heart Bruschetta. I need this recipe!

Cream Cheese with Orange Sage Marmalade. Oh my God, the Marmalade was so good!

For dinner we had a lot of things I have never had before. Collard Greens with bacon and onion cooked in chicken stock.  I think my  mom made something with Collard Greens but at that time greens were not at the top of my food favorites list. Oh but I loved these! And Pickled Watermelon! My friend, Heidi, always says how good they are and I had never tasted them. I now love Pickled Watermelon!

I loved this dish that the sides were served in!

Charleston Red Rice which was served with the Gumbo. Yeah Gumbo.

Charleston Gumbo. I have been afraid of Gumbo because of the okra. I made a soup with okra once. It did not turn out good at all. I have never had okra since then. Tonight's okra was cooked perfectly. (Note to self, ask Kate how to cook okra). The shrimp, the meat, the sauce was such a wonderful blend of flavors. There was talk of gumbo file powder which is the powdered leaves of the sassafras tree. Kate could not find this so she used powdered sassafras bark. Honestly I was so amazed by the textured of the okra that the other flavors were in perfect harmony.

Then there were the desserts. 

Macaroons!

Peanut Butter Cupcakes!

And Doreen's Amazing Lemon Pound Cake!

What an amazing meal. The book discussion was good and we were started to talk about the quilt that was in the book. Kate then showed us a couple of quilts which were handed down in her family. There was a beautiful log cabin quilt but then she brought out a quilt with women in flowing gowns holding bouquets of flowers.

The bouquets were done in French Knots. The quilt was breath-taking to say the least. The patterns in the dresses were timeless but not anything you could hope to find today. What an amazing piece of history.

Wow! Thank you Kate for a dinner that I will not forget.

Calzones

Happy Earth Day! We have a few Daffodils that the squirrels left us.

Tonight we had Calzones. I had a Broccoli and Cheese
and Chris had Bacon and Onion. Delicious!

The pizza dough was from the Jim Lahey book,
My Bread: The Revolutionary No Knead Bread Method.

 The sauce was the Marcella Hazan 's recipe, of course!

Lentils with Farro

I didn't think that this would be such a perfect dinner. But today was a rainy and raw day. April showers I guess. I found this recipe on Cooking with Nonna. I cut the recipe in half and I still have enough leftovers for a couple of lunches.

Lentils with Farro, from Cooking with Nonna

Ingredients-
1 pound Farro
1 pound Dry Lentils
1 Medium Red Onion, sliced
2 Stalks of Celery, sliced
4 Bay Leaves
2 Carrots, cubed
Crushed Red Pepper
Salt
EV Olive Oil

Method-
Bring a pot of salted water to boil and add the Farro.  Cook it for about 30 mins.
Drain the water and set aside.
Wash the lentils and put them in a deep pot.
Cover the lentils with water with 1 1/2" of water above the lentils.
Add all the other ingredients except the EV Olive Oil.
Cover the pot and let all the content come to a boil. Let it boil for about 10 mins.
Uncover the pot and let it continue to cook. On the side boil some hot water and add it to the pot if the lentils become too dry.
Cook for another 10 mins. Taste the lentils and stop cooking them when they reach your desired tenderness.
Add the Farro to the pot and bring to a boil.
Serve with a drizzle of good EV Olive Oil.

Baked Chicken Cutlets, Again!

Could Sunday night Pizza have some competition. Well I do love this recipe for Chicken Cutlets, and the chicken cutlets were on sale this week so I made them again for our Sunday night dinner. I think it is the lemon dressing that the baked cutlets are dipped in that makes them so over the top delicious.

For a side dish I tried Roasted Zucchini. Another winner! 

Hope everyone had a relaxing weekend.

 

And a Happy Anniversary to Lenore and Ralph! 

The best big sister and brother-in-law ever!

Raise a Glass to a Good Man

This morning the phone rang at 8:30. Nothing ever good happens when you get a call at that hour. A good friend of ours lost her husband. Tonight we went up to Hartford to see the Martha Davis and the Motels. We had a drink before the show and toasted Nancy's husband, James Velvet. He was a wonderful and kind person. I am sending prayers and wishes of strength for Nancy.