Turkey Sausage Ragu

I am sort of a health nut. I love eating things that are good for me and I think I love more that if I eat a ton, I won't feel bad about it. It's a great life I live.

Ragù : an Italian term for a meat-based sauce

Turkey Sausage Ragu

3 tbsp olive oil

1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 tbsp thyme

8 oz spicy Italian turkey sausage, casings discarded

1/4 tsp chile flakes

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 c chicken broth

1 14.5oz can chopped tomatoes in juice

1 tbsp oregano

1 large bunch kale, cleaned, stems discarded, rough chopped

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper, to taste

8 oz fettuccine pasta

Directions:

1. Add 1 tbsp olive oil, onion, and thyme to a medium pot over medium heat. Stir to coat, cover and cook until onion is softened, 5 minutes,. Uncover pot, add sausage, chili flakes and garlic, and continue cooking for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Off the heat, carefully deglaze by adding chicken broth. Return to heat and reduce for 1 minute. Add tomatoes, oregano and kale. Stir well, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove cover and continue cooking until sauce is reduced and slightly thickened, 10 minutes. Stir in an additional 2 tbsp oil plus vinegar. Season with salt and pepper.

2. When sauce is almost finished cooking, add pasta to large pot and cook until al dente. Drain and toss with ragu sauce. Drizzle with olive oil.

*I modified this recipe from the Nov./Dec. issue of Clean Eating

Salsa

Thats what I want right now. You better believe I'm going to make it this weekend. Get ready to have the recipe on monday!

Caramel

I'm beginning to see a trend...

here... o ya and here... and don't forget here...

Yes, I love caramel!

I love it so much I could make an acronym for it!

Celestial
Aromatic
Rich
All too delicious
Mouth-watering
Extraordinary
Luscious

here's why:

1. tastes good
2. smells good
3. full of sugar!
4. makes things look pretty
5. everybody loves it

you can blame my obsession on this... its what started it all...

Caramel Apple Bread (not the pudding)

I made this last night and I remembered why I love apples so much! I would have taken a picture, but I ate it too fast. Priorities people, priorities. Apparently, mine start with eating before anything else. How I'm still a size 2, I have no idea. Eat up!

3 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups shredded apple (3 medium)
1 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
Caramel (for drizzling)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (or 375 degrees for high altitude). Grease a (9x5in) loaf pan or 2 (8x4in) loaf pans and sprinkle with flour.
Mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and baking powder in a large bowl. In another bowl, mix apple, sugar, oil, vanilla, and eggs. Form a bowl like dent in the center of the flour mixture. Pour in the apple mixture and mix until fully blended.
Pour into loaf pan or divide evenly into both loaf pans. Bake 8-inch loaves 50 to 60 minutes, 9-inch loaf 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on cooling rack 10 minutes.
Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans and place top side up on cooling rack. Drizzle with caramel. Slice after 2 hours of cooling.

*You really don't have to wait to slice it. I mean you can if you want, but honestly, I like to just dig right in! Who doesn't love warm bread?
**You can wrap this in parchment paper and give it as a gift!

Pumpkin Butterscotch Cupcakes

So you may have seen me post this about this. Well, I don't ever follow recipes exactly. I use other recipes for inspiration at times. I like to make it my own. In fact, writing some of these recipes is sometimes extremely difficult because I can't seem to measure anything when I cook. I'm more of an eye-baller, if you will. Last year, during the holiday season. I made these cupcakes and they were TO DIE FOR! To get ready for my pumpkin phase in October (as mentioned... here), I wanted to start you off with an old favorite.

Pumpkin Butterscotch Cupcakes

1 2/3 cups (11-oz. pkg.) Butterscotch flavored morsels, divided
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup Pure Pumpkin
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup white chocolate morsels
1/3 cup evaporated milk

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Microwave 1 cup morsels in small, uncovered, microwave-safe bowl on med-high power for 1 minute; stir. Microwave in 10- to 15-second intervals, stirring just until melted. Cool to room temperature.

Combine flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg in medium bowl. Stir together melted morsels, pumpkin, vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla extract in large bowl with wire whisk. Stir in flour mixture. Spoon batter into prepared cupcake pan with liners.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 30 minutes; remove to wire rack to cool completely. Drizzle with butterscotch sauce (see below).

Butterscotch Sauce:
Heat 1/3 cup evaporated milk in medium, heavy-duty saucepan over medium heat just to a boil; remove from heat. Add remaining butterscotch morsels and add white chocolate morsels; stir until smooth. Return to heat. Stirring constantly, bring mixture just to a boil. Cool to room temperature. Stir before serving.

Caramel Apple Bread Pudding

This is my favorite dessert during the fall! It just screams "Hi, its fall! Apples are in season and you really need to make me so you can devour me!" Yes, that is exactly what I hear when this is mentioned. And I could list for days the words (or sounds) that will come out of your mouth once you taste it. The best part is that I don't have to feel guilty about it! Its only 187 calories! I am totally ok with that! So... enjoy and I'd love to know your response after trying it. Its to die for!

Caramel Apple Bread Pudding

1 cp unsweetened applesauce
½ cp packed brown sugar
1 cp fat-free milk
½ cp egg substitute
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp ground cinnamon
5 cps cubed wheat bread
½ cp chopped peeled apple
½ cp fat-free whipped topping
½ cp fat-free caramel topping

Preheat oven to 325. In large bowl, combine applesauce, milk, brown sugar, egg substitute, vanilla & cinnamon. Fold in bread cubes & apple. Pour into an 8-in. square baking dish (or pie dish) coated with cooking spray. Bake uncovered for 35 – 40 minutes (I bake for 45 min.) or until a knife inserted near center comes out clean. Serve warm w/ whipped topping and caramel topping. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 8 servings.

Serving size: 8
**Only 187 calories!

Caramel S'more Rolls

I made these up last night. Heaven. That's all I have to say....


Ok, maybe I'll explain a little bit more. Its basically a s'more inside of a pastry drizzled with caramel and powdered sugar. It doesn't get any better than that. Yum!

2 pkgs (8 ct) pillsbury crescent rolls
1 jar marshmallow cream
1 cup chocolate chips
cinnamon (for taste)
cinnamon sugar (for dusting)
caramel (for drizzling)
powdered sugar (for dusting)

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray to prevent rolls from sticking. lay rolls flat on cookie sheet. Near the larger end of the roll, scoop 1 tbsp marshmallow cream for each roll. Dust with cinnamon and then add a tbsp of chocolate chips. Roll up so that no filling will come out while in the oven. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for 2 minutes and place on a platter. drizzle with caramel and dust with powdered sugar.

YUMMY!

Basic Marinara

So I have an obsession with Italian food. It makes my mouth water. And it all starts with marinara sauce... and sometimes white sauce... and well, anyways, my point is, I love marinara sauce. And this recipe is healthy too! This recipe makes a ton of marinara... as in you'll have a full freezer of it for quite some time! If you don't need enough for ages, just cut the recipe in 3 and you'll have a perfect amount!

3 tbsp olive oil
3 cups chopped yellow onion (about 3 medium)
3 tbsp minced garlic (about 6 cloves)
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
2 tsp fresh basil
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 c chicken broth
3 (28 oz) cans no-salt-added crushed tomatoes

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion to pan; cook 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Add garlic and next 6 ingredients; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in vinegar; cook 30 seconds. Add broth and tomatoes; bring to a simmer. Cook over low heat 55 minutes or until sauce thickens; stirring occasionally.

Makes 12 cups (serving size: 1/2 cup)

**You can puree it if you don't like a hearty consistency. It'll be great for dipping that way!

Fall, Fall, Fall

Well, this is my favorite season to cook! I get so excited! There's apples, pears, pumpkins, squash, cranberries, yams, hot cocoa, etc.

Here's my plan for baking in the fall:

October: Pumpkins
November: Apples, Cranberries
December: Pears

Nevermind, I'm just gonna do it all at once. I love fall!

Here's my new plan, I'm going to make/revamp these:

Pumpkin Butterscotch Cupcakes
Hot Cocoa Cupcakes
Lemon Cranberry Cookies
Pear Puff Pastries
Caramel Apple Bread Pudding
Pumpkin Pancakes

*Keep in mind, these all have my own little twist on it. I'll inform you when I make them!
**For organization sake, I'll have a theme once a month. September is chocolate month...yes chocolate!

Veggie Tacos

If you've ever heard of Island's Restaurant, then you're missing out on their Veggie Tacos. I love to try and recreate things and I decided this time to add my own twist to it. My recipe is more of Mediterranean meets Southwestern. I was a little nervous of how it may have turned out, but to my surprise it looked and tasted GREAT!

Couscous:
1 c chicken broth
1 clove of garlic, minced
pinch of curry powder
pinch of paprika
2 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 c uncooked couscous

Add all ingredients, except the couscous, to a saucepan. Stir and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the dry couscous. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Veggie mix:
2 cup frozen Market Pantry Corn & Blackbean mix (found at Target)
1/2 Zucchini Squash, cut into strips

Oil a pan and toss in veggies. Cook until fully cooked.

Tacos:
Corn tortillas
Green Leaf Lettuce
Couscous
Veggie Mix

Layer lettuce on top of tortilla. Spoon desired amount of couscous on top of lettuce. Add veggie mix on top of the couscous. Eat up!