Italian Sausage and Italian Pasta Salad

Today is so hot and humid - and I didn't feel like spending my day in the kitchen today. The car is acting up and it's just one of those days!

I ran to the market very early this morning to pick up a few things - one being some rope Italian sausage. That won't keep me in the kitchen all day.

Last minute decision - Italian sausage with peppers and onions on crusty Italian bread with a nice pasta salad and fresh corn on the cob! Sounds good to me!





While the water was boiling for the macaroni, I prepped the other ingredients:
Cut cheese into various sizes (sharp Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Muenster - although you can use any type you want); sliced pepperoni; sliced black olives in thirds; sliced green olives in half; sliced celery; sliced and halved Vidalia onions; cut baby carrots into small chunks; diced deli ham.

Once the water boiled, I added my salt and allowed the water to return to a full rolling boil. I cooked 1 pound mini farfalle pasta al dente; drained; rinsed under cold water so that the pasta would be cold.



Using a large mixing bowl, I poured about 1/3 cup zesty Italian salad dressing into the bowl and then added my drained farfalle; mixed well.



Combined my prepped ingredients with my pasta; poured about 1/3 cup olive oil over and mixed well.





Since I had a half can of black olives left, and more stuffed olives, I sliced additional celery and made my olive salad.



When ready to eat, I cut my rope sausage and fried in olive oil with sliced Vidalia onions and sliced red bell pepper.



Cut Italian bread and fill with sausage, peppers, and onions; served remaining peppers and onions on the side with pasta and olive salad.

It was nice not having to stand at the stove all day cooking and I have enough pasta salad leftover for tomorrow's meal.

there is a method to my madness!

Yesterday I made oven-baked chicken thighs - way too many for us to eat too.

But today I get off easier - I'm having baked beans and re-heating the chicken thighs in a honeyed BBQ sauce. Serving with a simple salad. Iced tea.

It's easy and fast, and I can continue in the garden.......

A “thankful” meal -

It’s been cold, damp, and raining for the past couple days - perfect weather for oven cooking!

This morning I ran to the market and bought a package of chicken thighs and I grabbed celery and a big fat sweet potato. Today we will eat a nice big meal - a real tummy filler!

I cleaned my thighs, removed the extra “butts” they tuck underneath, and washed them well in salt water; rinse and pat dry.



I poured my olive oil in my baking dish, placed my thighs in the dish, rolling to coat with the oil. Not a lot of oil - just enough. Seasoned with Kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper, parsley, garlic, onion powder and covered with foil. Placed in a preheated 350* F. oven.



Now it’s time to start the veggies - I’m making my dressing. I chopped a Vidalia onion, half a large red bell pepper, and 2 ribs of celery - including the leaves.



Next, it’s time to break the bread - about 1/3 loaf of unsliced Italian bread (day-old), slices of hearty Italian, a few slices of seeded rye.

I placed my fat sweet potato in a pan, covered with water and placed over medium-low heat.

Washed and peeled my white potatoes and left soaking in cold water for a bit.



Using my wok-style fry pan, I melted a stick of butter, added my veggies and sautéed until soft. Seasoned with Kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper, parsley, onion powder.

At this point, I turned my thighs and seasoned again - removed the foil and returned to oven to finish baking.



Once the veggies were soft, I added my bread, and poured my broth over; mixing well.



Transfer mixture to casserole and place on top shelf of oven. Place white potatoes over medium heat to cook.

Started my gravy using broth and a roux.

Drain my white potatoes and made mashed potatoes - milk, butter, salt, pepper. Peeled and sliced my sweet potato.

Nice, filling meal - baked chicken thighs, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, and stuffing! Almost like Thanksgiving!



Now we are stuffed!

Just an “normal” Sunday in an Italian home??

Being Italian, it was normal to have macaroni on Sundays and Thursdays each week. And of course, since Friday was a no-meat day, if you didn’t have fish - you ate macaroni. I never tire of macaroni. It can be fixed so many different ways that you could never get tired of it.

There are so many sauces that you can use, and so many ingredients that you can add to make wonderful dishes.

But today I was going to make something completely different than macaroni. Until last night/early this morning…………..

You see - where I live - we don’t get tornadoes and we don’t have systems in place with sirens to warn us to get to shelters. But with the storms we had going through here last night, and a tornado heading this way in the middle of the night - WHAT DO I DO? My knowledge of tornado-safety (?) comes from watching movies like, “Tornado,” “Atomic Twister,”, “Twister,” and, of course, “The Wizard of Oz”!! Okay - stop rolling on the floor laughing. I prefer to stay in the kitchen - it’s safer than the outside world! LOL! (and it keeps me out of trouble - sometimes!)

But seriously, when it’s storming outside, and it’s the black of night - you can’t see anything coming! We had so much rain that I felt like my home was under Niagara Falls! And this tornado warning/watch/whatever was on until 9 this morning. So dummass me stayed up ALL NIGHT LONG so that I can get us down into the basement. They say it sounds like a train when it is coming. I know that sound - we have trains right down the street from us. Like THAT is going to help. I can just see me rounding up everything because a train is on the tracks!

Needless to say - the tornado warning/watch/whatever moved south of us - far enough that we didn’t have to worry. But you never can tell. So I went to bed at 9 this morning and slept for an hour and a half, I’m dragging my butt, I feel like I am in the Twilight Zone, and my plans for a nice meal today were blown away with the storm. And it was a perfect day for oven cooking - it’s cold, damp - just right for warming up the house and the tummy.

So I resorted to macaroni. I’ve been wishing for macaroni with beans anyway so I heated my big skillet and placed a frozen solid lump of ground beef in it; “working it down” so I can season it with Kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper, ground fennel, garlic, parsley, onion powder.



No way was I going to make a “normal” spaghetti sauce - I just wanted to cook and get it over with. So I added a small can of tomato paste, 2 paste cans of water, a can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes, seasoned with more salt, pepper, parsley, basil, marjoram, onion powder, paprika, a pinch of chili powder and red pepper flakes, garlic and a sprinkle of fresh grated Pecorino Romano.



Then I rinsed a can of kidney beans and added those to the skillet. I let that simmer away until my macaroni was cooked.


Meanwhile, I boiled my water, and cooked small rigatoni. Drained and added to skillet.



Made a quick salad - lettuce, tomatoes, onion with olive oil and vinegar; seasoned. Add a slice of hearty Italian bread - and it was all done in less than 45 minutes!



Now - the sun is shining - it’s still cold - and the storms may come back tonight. But I think this “tornado scare” is over for us.

And I need some zzzzzzzz’s!

(stop laughing at me…….)