Italian Sausage Bake

Like many others, I am always in search for easy and delicious one pot meals. Unfortunately I have found they are few and far between. This is a great one for a weekend, or if you have an opportunity during the week to assemble and bake a couple of hours before dinner. Sausage and potatoes gives you your main course and side dish with some great flavoring from the peppers and onions. We generally will make a side salad to go with this as well. If you have someone in your house on a gluten free diet, this dish is perfect for you!

Fixing to cover and head into the oven.

A couple of notes for you. Do not cut up the potatoes too small or they won’t hold up well after two hours. I try to stay between 1.5 – 2 inch pieces. Also, the first couple of times I made this I added the tomatoes at the beginning, as the source recipe called for. They definitely don’t hold up for that long. They still had flavor, but they were too mushy for my taste. So I add them at the 90 minute mark when I remove the foil. They hold up much better that way. We also use sweet Italian Sausage instead of spicy as that is just our preference. And if we ever have leftovers with this one, which is rare, I turn it into a sausage and potato hash with eggs for lunch the next day. Yum!!!

Enjoy!

Ready to eat!!

Italian Sausage Bake

Ingredients

1 pint grape tomatoes, red and/or yellow variety

1 pound honey gold potatoes, cut in to 2″ pieces

2 large bell peppers, chopped length-wise 1-inch

1 large red onion, sliced

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

6 links Italian sausage, sweet or spicy

5 sprigs dried thyme

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F. In a large baking dish, toss potatoes, bell peppers, and red onion with one tablespoon olive oil and chopped garlic. Mix well until incorporated and salt and pepper to taste.

Place the sausage links on top of the vegetables. Place sprigs of thyme throughout the dish. Cover with foil and bake for 90 minutes.

Remove foil from baking dish, add the tomatoes, mix vegetables around, and bake for an additional 30 minutes (flipping sausages halfway) until the sausage is golden brown.

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Recipe slightly adapted from Katie’s Cucina.

Potato and Sausage Hash

If you are all about breakfast for dinner as we are, then this is a must try. Not too mention it would be a great breakfast for a weekend morning, and leave your house smelling wonderful all day long! It has all the essentials for a great dinner. Meat, potatoes, and veggies, and then throw some eggs in there and you have a pretty complete meal! When I first saw this at Tracy’s blog, scratchitcook, I knew I had to make it. I was not disappointed!

Much like my migas recipe, this is an extremely tasty meal that can be personalized with any of your favorite ingredients. Change the meat and or veggies, and you can remake this recipe to suit your family’s tastes. The only changes I made from Tracy’s original is I used EVOO to cook in verse butter. Second, I added the bell peppers in at the beginning as I like them to not have a crunch to them, but be completely softened like the onions. The sausages I stuck on the outside grill a little while before dinner, and that grill flavor really complimented the dish well.

Enjoy!

Potato and Sausage Hash

Ingredients

2-3 russet potatoes, diced

1 onion, minced

1 green bell pepper, diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/3 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

2 sausage links, cooked and sliced (I used Johnsonville Italian Sausage)

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a large skillet, heat oil on medium heat. Once heated, add onion, pepper, and garlic. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until slightly softened.

Add potatoes, and stir to incorporate. Increase heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring occasionally so the potatoes don’t stick, but not too often as you want the potatoes to obtain a crispy edge. Salt and pepper to taste.

When potatoes are close to done, stir in the sausage and cook for 2-3 more minutes until the sausage is heated through. Remove pan from heat, and stir in shredded cheese.

Serve with your favorite style of eggs.

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Tater Tot Hot Dish

This recipe comes from another one of my favorite food blogs to read, Sarah ‘n Spice. If you are a fan of Alton Brown on the Food Network, definitely check out her My Good Eats section as well, as she cooks every recipe from every show.

If you are anything like us, you like to make breakfast for dinner once in a while. We do it once every week or two, as everyone in our house loves breakfast foods, and it is usually a sure bet for the boys to eat a real good dinner. I am not sure this is a true breakfast casserole, but that is what I have always made it for in the past. It is really a just meat, potato, and cheese dish, wish some cream of mushroom soup to help give it some moisture.

So go ahead and make this for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and you will not be disappointed at all. Oh, and it is super easy!

Tater tots in a lightly sprayed pan. I was running behind, so I could not make the Tater Tot Army I was hoping for. See Sarah’s original for that one.

The sausage cooked, drained, then with the milk and cream of mushroom soup added.

Going into the oven (minus the foil) and then out of the oven. I had some really cranky hungry boys by this time, so I could not leave it in long enough to get nice and golden brown.

And of course I didn’t get a picture of it portioned on the plates. Maybe next time. Anyway, we served this with some basic scrambled eggs and biscuits. Very hearty, filling meal!

Enjoy!

 

Tater Tot Hot Dish

Ingredients

1 32oz bag tater tots

1lb ground beef (or sausage)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 cup whole milk

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Arrange the tater tots on the bottom of a 9×13 pan (sprayed lightly with a non-stick cooking spray) in one single layer. Brown ground beef in a skillet. Add in cream of mushroom soup and whole milk. Simmer for 5 minutes. Pour the meat mixture over the tater tots. Sprinkle on cheese. Cover in foil, and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and broil for 3-5 minutes until cheese is bubbling and golden brown. Slice and enjoy!

The recipe can be found at Sarah ‘n Spice.

One Dish Sausage Pasta – Updated

As I search and search for good, easy recipes to make for my family, I have come across many misses, but this one was a definite hit! It is tasty, easy, and loved by adults, as well as children and toddlers. I haven’t steered away from this recipe, albeit I imagine you can add different meats or spices to suit your needs.

If you try one recipe on my blog, I would recommend this one for it is one of the top three tastiest recipes I have, but it is by far the easiest to make.

Simple list of ingredients.

Everything in the pot ready to simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Finished cooking, just out from under the broiler.

Look at how good this looks!

One Dish Sausage Pasta

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 lb smoked turkey sausage (or regular if you choose)

1.5 cups diced onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 (10 oz) can Ro-Tel tomatoes and green chiles, Mild

1/2 cup heavy cream

8 oz penne pasta

1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper, each

1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

1/3 cup thinly sliced scallions

Directions

1. Add olive oil to a Dutch oven over medium high heat until just smoking. Add sausage and onions and cook until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

2. Add broth, tomatoes, cream, pasta, salt and pepper and stir. Bring to a boil, cover skillet, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until pasta is tender, about 15 minutes.

3. Remove skillet from heat and stir in 1/2 cup cheese. Top with remaining cheese and sprinkle with scallions. Broil until cheese is melted, spotty brown, and bubbly.

Originally from Kevin & Amanda: http://www.kevinandamanda.com/recipes/dinner/spicy-sausage-pasta.html

Migas

If you have never been to Texas, you might be unfamiliar with the dish called Migas. It is a breakfast dish, however it is commonly eaten by folks for dinner as often as it is for breakfast, such as our dinner tonight. It is a versatile dish, that can be utilized to finish off any left over scraps of food you might have in the fridge. The base component is eggs (and sausage in my version) and then anything you wish can be added to it. I trust you can find it elsewhere, I just haven’t seen it outside of TX.

We eat ours with flour tortillas, basically making breakfast tacos. I serve these with breakfast potatoes as a side along with salsa.

A couple of popular variations include adding green and or red bell peppers. We have done that, but prefer ours without If you do, add them when you do the onions to the pan. You can also easily remove the sausage altogether.

Just done cooking, fixing to wrapped in tortillas.

We had some leftover migas, and my wife asked if I could make a few more tacos with them, then freeze. I did, and if it works out, she will have some awesome breakfast tacos to through in the microwave before heading off to work. I just hope they freeze well.

Migas

Ingredients

4 whole corn tortillas

1 whole jalapeno, seeds and membranes removed, finely diced

1 whole medium onion, chopped

6 whole large eggs

1 cup cheddar cheese, grated

8 oz Jimmy Dean Sausage

8 oz chorizo sausage

1/3 cup cilantro, chopped

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

2 tablespoons Half-and-half

 

Directions

In a bowl, whisk together eggs and half & half. Salt and pepper eggs, then set aside.

In a small skillet over medium heat, heat oil and fry each corn tortilla just until crisp. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Chop tortillas and set aside.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt the olive oil with the butter. Add sausage, chorizo, jalapenos and onions and cook until the meat is cooked through.  Then add tortilla pieces, stirring gently to combine.

Reduce heat to low. When the heat has decreased, pour egg mixture into skillet. Stir gently,  folding mixture as it cooks. Add in grated cheese and chopped cilantro, and stir to combine.

One Dish Sausage Pasta

As I search and search for good, easy recipes to make for my family, I have come across many misses, but this one was a definite hit! It is tasty, easy, and loved by adults, as well as children and toddlers. I haven’t steered away from this recipe, albeit I imagine you can add different meats or spices to suit your needs.

One Dish Sausage Pasta

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 lb smoked turkey sausage (or regular if you choose)

1.5 cups diced onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 (10 oz) can Ro-Tel tomatoes and green chiles, Mild

1/2 cup heavy cream

8 oz penne pasta

1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper, each

1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

1/3 cup thinly sliced scallions

Directions

1. Add olive oil to a Dutch oven over medium high heat until just smoking. Add sausage and onions and cook until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

2. Add broth, tomatoes, cream, pasta, salt and pepper and stir. Bring to a boil, cover skillet, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until pasta is tender, about 15 minutes.

3. Remove skillet from heat and stir in 1/2 cup cheese. Top with remaining cheese and sprinkle with scallions. Broil until cheese is melted, spotty brown, and bubbly.

Originally from Kevin & Amanda: http://www.kevinandamanda.com/recipes/dinner/spicy-sausage-pasta.html