Pasta for lunch

I need to go grocery shopping. Pretty bad. So yesterday for lunch I threw together a simple pasta dish. I took photos while I was doing it, and since it turned out well, I thought I would share it :)

Ingredients:
1 lb ground, mild Italian sausage
1 can of black, pitted olives cut into fours
1 package of spaghetti noodles
1 jar of vodka sauce
Mozzarella cheese

While my noodles were boiling and my sausage was browning, I drained my olives and cut each one into four pieces

Next I added my browned meat

I added a bit of my vodka sauce to my meat/olive mixture and let that sit for a moment while my noodles finished cooking, and then while I drained them

Added the pasta

Topped it with some cheese, though not too much because my daughter doesn't like cheese

And voila - lunch! (cheese melted in)

Some rockin' pasta

I made a pretty delicious pasta tonight. Granted the sauce was jarred, but still. It was pretty friggin awesome. My brother even had 4 or 5 helpings!

I browned a pound of mild Italian sausage while boiling water for the penne pasta. While the pasta cooked, I continued browning the sausage, added some chopped red bell pepper and diced tomatoes. I also sprinkled on some dried parsley and onion powder. Once the pasta was done cooking, drained, and rinsed, I added the meat mixture and the sauce (Classico brand sun-dried tomato Alfredo) to it and then cooked it together with some more diced tomatoes for a few minutes. While that was cooking together a bit more I sauteed some baby bella mushrooms. I'm the only one in this house that likes mushrooms (and well, I love them) so I did it separate and just added them to my own.

The pasta turned out to be quite good. My brother loved it, my dad (who doesn't like bell peppers) liked it - and he added Parmesan cheese to his, and so did my daughter (she had seconds). I'm looking forward to the leftovers!

Easy peasy but so yummy

This is a really easy dinner we like to do. We just brown some ground Italian sausage, cook up some rigatoni or penne noodles, then move the noodles into the pan we used for the sausage. We add in some sauce - this time we used Sockarooni by Newman's Own (because it was on sale). Then we put in some Italian shredded cheese and stir it together, so the cheese melts in. It's delicious! This was our first time with that particular sauce and it smelled spicy, so we were worried, but it wasn't. It was actually a perfect one to use with the sausage. Very nice combination.

We served it with French bread and green beans. 

I didn't take the picture until we'd all had at least 1 helping. Sorry.

Dirty rice (crock pot)

I was searching for something to make in the crock pot today. I figured if I made something in it, using the Italian sausage I had on hand, I'd be less likely to bake treats and then eat them all LOL. I found this on 365 Days of Slow Cooking, and adjusted it slightly. 

1 pound Italian sausage
3 cups water
1.5 cups uncooked medium grain rice
1.5 cups chopped onion
1 large green bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp crushed red pepper

Brown sausage in skillet. Drain. Place in slow cooker. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours or until rice is done.

The dish was spicy. It could have used less spice. Perhaps less crushed red pepper. Or milder sausage. It was yummy, but too spicy for children, definitely. I won't even attempt to give it to my 4 year old, but I'll eat it for sure, and I'm sure my brother will appreciate it as well.

This is the Italian sausage I used - generic brand

And this is the rice I used

My helper happens to love bell pepper, and she stole a bite when I was checking the recipe

And this is everything stirred together and ready to cook

Finished product

Crock pot Zuppa Toscana (crock pot)

As part of the "soups and stews" food challenge that my mom group was having, I did this. It's apparently a very popular soup at Olive Garden, though I had never heard of it before a friend posted about it. I found a crock pot version online, and made it.

1lb Italian sausage
2 cans chicken broth
1 cup water
1/4 cup onion
3 large russett potatoes (cubed)
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup bacon bits
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 container of sliced white mushrooms
Kale

Crumble Italian sausage and put in crock pot with chicken broth, garlic, potatoes, onion, and mushrooms and cook on high for 4 hours until potatoes & sausage are cooked. Add bacon bits, whipping cream and cut up kale right before serving.

My mom and I both really liked it. She said it's right up there with my South Carolina Catfish Stew. The Italian sausage could easily be swapped out for different meat and also be good.