Italian Sausage Supper Stuffing

Classic Structure, Wendy Pflaum, guest writes this week’s PixieTips. A week’s worth of ideas for home cooked meals, perfect for Classics, Smart Structures and Organic Structures.

This tip is all in the planning, as they say. If you plan for 14 meals at a time and cook 7 days a week, you can get through 2 full weeks. Of course when you are selecting recipes, consider the sources of your recipes and their contents. Look for recipes that are not labor intensive, and most importantly, do not require too much cooking time. Dinner should not take much more than 30 minutes to prepare.

Another thing to consider is whether the recipe is fairly inclusive of all the food groups, and it’s helpful if it can stand alone as a meal. I like to use a lot of one dish skillet, casserole or crock pot recipes. (Remember that crock pot recipes have to be prepped the night before or morning of, so plan your time accordingly)  Of course, if it is a recipe for just an entrée, don’t be afraid to use those frozen veggies, but try to stay away from pre-packaged sides (e.g.. rice a roni, or instant potatoes) to stay healthy.

Magazines these days are the best sources for fresh easy meals. I am a particular fan of Everyday by Rachel Ray as a great source. Many women’s, parenting, and lifestyle magazines contain great ideas for recipes. Tear them out as you see them. I put them in plastic protectors and keep them in the binder organized by category (Veggies, Beef, Pork, Pasta etc). Even if you use cookbook or internet recipes, copy or print them and put them in your binder, it will make it much easier to only have to search in one place when you are planning.

This recipe is an example of a one dish meal that has all the food groups covered:

Italian Sausage Supper Stuffing

  • 1 pint grape tomatoes
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
  • 1 pound hot Italian sausage, casings removed (or sometimes I use Chorizo)
  • 1 large bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 4 hot pickled cherry peppers, seeded and chopped (optional if you don’t want it hot)
  • ½ cup white wine
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • ½ loaf Italian bread, cubed
  • ½ cup Parmigianino or Romano cheese
  • 1/3 cup parsley, chopped
  • 1 cup of basil leaves chopped (also optional to taste)

 

  1. Preheat the oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil, spread out the tomatoes and toss with a tablespoon of olive oil and roast until tender about 15 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, add another tablespoon of olive oil and crumble the sausage into the pot and cooked until the pink is gone and sausage is browned.  Add the pepper and onion, season with salt and pepper, and cook until vegetables are tender.  If you are using the pickled hot peppers, stir these in now.
  3. Pour the white wine into the skillet, scrape the bottom well to deglaze the pan, and cook until almost evaporated. Remove the mixture and put in a bowl on the side.
  4. Now melt the 2 tablespoons of butter in the pan, whisk in the flour and cook for one minute o form a roux. Then in a steady stream while whisking, pour in the chicken broth and cook until reduced.  Add the roasted tomatoes and mash into the gravy, cover the gravy to keep warm.
  5. In a microwavable bowl, combine the remaining oil, butter and garlic and microwave for 20 seconds.  Toss the butter garlic mixture over the bread cubes. Place them on a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes.
  6. Toss the Bread cubes with the sausage pepper onion mixture, serve in bowls and top with tomato gravy.