Super Green and Hot Sausage Celletani

Everywhere you look, there is another article about the health benefits of the superfood KALE!  Lately, we've been trying to incorporate it into things we try in the kitchen.  We have bought super greens (that include kale, spinach, swiss chard) for salad, included tons of kale in beef stew, and last night, adapted a tasty pasta recipe (from Simply Scratch).  It was really tasty, and way healthier than a bowl of regular pasta and sauce.  This morning, Mr. S, who is not usually a fan of leftovers, requested a repeat for dinner.....that's definitely my gauge of this dish's tastiness :)

Ingredients:

8 ounces cavatappi, celletani, or other twisty pasta
salt for pasta water
1 cup of halved Grape Tomatoes (if desired)
Olive Oil
3 to 4 Hot Italian Turkey or Pork Sausage links
4 to 5 Garlic Cloves, minced
1 {14.5 ounce} can of diced Fire Roasted Tomatoes
1 14.5 ounce can of Don Pepino  (Or a second can of fire roasted tomatoes and fresh basil)
3/4 teaspoon of Kosher Salt, more or less to taste
1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper, more or less to taste
4 or 5 handfuls of Baby Kale or Baby Spinach  (more if you want!)
Parmesan Cheese Shavings, for garnish

Directions:

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.

Pulse the can(s) of fire roasted diced tomatoes (or don Pepino's) and its juices in a food processor.

If you want to add "blistered" tomatoes:  Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a skillet, once hot add in the halved grape tomatoes and cook for two minutes. Flip and continue to cook for 2-3 more minutes until blistered and slightly caramelized. Put in a bowl and set aside

In the same skillet on medium-high add another splash of olive oil and sear the Italian Sausage on all sides. Remove and let cool a bit.  Slice the sausages into pieces (you will notice that the inside of the sausage is raw).

Reduce the heat to medium and minced garlic and sauté until the garlic is soft and fragrant. Add the pulsed tomatoes, 2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese, the sliced Italian sausages and cook for 10-15 minutes until the sauce thickens and the sausages are cooked through. Add water if necessary to get the sauce to your desired consistency.

At this time, season the boiling water with a half tablespoon of sea salt and then drop in the 8 ounces of fettuccine noodles, cook as the package directs. Drain the pasta.

Season with tomato sauce with kosher salt and black pepper, add the handfuls of kale and top that with the drained pasta noodles. Toss until the kale is slightly wilted (we used a combination of kale and super greens since I couldn't find baby kale).  Toss in the blistered tomatoes if desired.

Serve with shavings of Parmesan cheese.

Fantastic French Toast

I've tried a lot of french toast recipes over the years, but this one, adapted from the food network's Alton Brown (with a few tweaks), is by far the best I've ever had - and Mr. S agrees!

Although you can use any kind of bread, a loaf of Italian bread is my favorite (a couple days old!).  I think the other secret is the orange zest.  I decided out of the blue to put it in one day, and it makes all the difference.

French Toast

1 cup fat free half-and-half
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons honey, warmed in microwave for 20 seconds
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon McCormick Saigon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

zest of 1/2 an orange

6-8 (3/4-inch) slices challah bread (or brioche, french, etc)

1 Tablespoon butter (for pan frying)

Preheat oven to 375.  Line a baking sheet with foil and place a backing rack on top. 

Whisk together the half-and-half, eggs, honey, cinnamon, salt, cinnamon, orange zest, and vanilla.  Put mixture in a deep baking dish.   Dip bread into mixture, allow to soak for 1-2 minutes on each side.  Then put them on the cooling rack and allow to sit for 1-2 minutes.

Over medium-low heat, melt one teaspoon (more if desired) of butter in a nonstick skillet. Place bread in pan and cook approximately 2 - 3 minutes per side (until lightly browned).   Repeat for all pieces of bread. (NOTE: french toast should still be wet and not fully cooked). Once all pieces have been browned in the skillet and removed to the rack, place on rack in oven for 5 minutes.  Serve immediately with maple syrup, whipped cream or fruit.

Tasty Fish Tacos

It's always challenging to figure out new, tasty recipes during lent, when meat is out and fish and seafood are in!  I can only imagine that this is WAY harder when you fast from meat/fish/anything with blood during the entire 40 days of lent, like many Greek Orthodox followers.

We came up with this quick and delicious recipe after seeing a new McCormick packet, Zesty Garlic Shrimp Tacos.  Instead of using the packet as directed, we used it as a dry rub for the fish and grilled it in a grill pan.  Then, we topped it with lots of fresh ingredients - mixed field greens, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, salsa, guacamole, and Greek yogurt - YUM!

Fish Tacos
1 pound white fish (we used Swai, but tipalia, flounder, or even mahi would work)
2 tsp. olive oil
1 packet McCormick Zesty Garlic Shrimp Tacos
soft taco shells (we used Corn and Wheat tortillas)
1 lime
Zest of lime

Toppings
Shredded Cheddar
Mixed field greens
grape tomatoes
Salsa
Guacamole
Greek Yogurt


Rub each side of the fish with olive oil, sprinkle with taco seasoning, lime zest, and rub into both sides of the fish.  All to sit with 15 to 20 minutes to allow fish to season.  Heat grill pan to medium high heat and brush slats with oil (to allow pan to leave marks on fish).  Grill fish 2-3 minutes on either side, until flakey.   Squeeze lime on fish as it's cooking.  Remove fish from grill pan and cut into chunks.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper and toss with lime juice.

Add fish and desired toppings to tortilla and serve immediately. 

Greek Yogurt Pizza Crust! + Caramelized Onion, Prosciutto, Asparagus Pizza

Over the past few months, I've seen a number of recipes for a magical "two ingredient" Greek yogurt pizza crust.  Each time I saw one, I thought to myself, this can't be for real....how could that actually work?  Mr. S was also very doubtful about the merits of these recipes. In an attempt to eat healthier and eat more calcium (and because we are Greek and just like Greek yogurt), we almost always have a container (or many) of Fage in our fridge.

With a backup store-bought crust ready for use, we reluctantly tried this "two ingredient" Greek yogurt pizza dough....and added a bunch of spices (I cannot be married to a man who works for McCormick and have a cabinet full of amazing spices, and not add spices to everything!).  Suffice it to say, it was an INCREDIBLE success!

With the ability to make it in 5 minutes, not sure I'll ever buy a store-made crust again!  The crust was both tender and crispy and with the addition of herbs, it was very tasty!  I'm guessing that like us, you are reading this probably think, yeah right!  But, give it a try for yourself!

Pizza Crust - makes one pizza

1 cup Greek Yogurt (we used non-fat Fage)
1 to 1 1/2 cups self rising flour
1 tsp garlic paste or minced garlic
2 tsp. McCormick Herbes de Provence  (you can use whatever you choose - 1tsp oregano/1 basil)
1/2 tsp salt

NOTE:  An electric stand mixer with dough hook is needed for this recipe (unsure of results without)

Add spices, salt, and garlic to yogurt and mix in small bowl.  Add yogurt to the mixer bowl and turn mixer onto medium high.  Slowly add the flour, scraping the sides as necessary.  Start with one cup and keep adding until the dough has come together.  Kneed for about five minutes until dough forms a ball.

Roll out to desired size/shape.  Dough seemed to be a little sticky, so I added a little more flour as i rolled it out.  Also, I used a little cornmeal on the surface so it wouldn't stick.

 Use a fork to poke holes around the crust, so you don't get bubbles.  Bake on pizza stone at 425 for 6 minutes.  Add desired toppings.  Bake anotehr 5-6 minutes until cheese is melted and you have reached desired doneness (we like ours somewhat crispy).


Caramelized Onion, Prescuto, Asparagus, Lemon Ricotta Pizza

1 recipe pizza dough as above
3-4 thinly sliced prosciutto
1 large onion (more if desired), sliced very thinly
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp brown sugar
 7-8 stalks of thin asparagus (more if desired)
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

ricotta mixture:
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
zest of one lemon
1/2 tsp minced garlic/garlic paste

olive oil mixture:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic/garlic paste
pinch of salt

Heat a pan over medium heat. Add 1 tsp olive oil to pan.  Add onions and brown sugar.  Cook, stirring often.  After about 2 minutes add asparagus to pan and toss with onion.  Cook until onions are caramelized, about 5-6 minutes.  Asparagus should still be crispy, as it will cook more in the oven.

Mix ricotta cheese, zest of one lemon and garlic paste in a small bowl and set aside.

Mix 2 Tbsp of olive oil, garlic and salt in a bowl, set aside.

After pizza crust has cooked for 6 minutes, as explained in the pizza dough recipe, take out of the oven and brush with olive oil mixture.  Add spoonfuls of ricotta mixture around the pizza.  Add mozzarella, onions, and prosciutto randomly around the pizza.  Lay asparagus on top.

Put pizza stone back in the oven for 5-6 minutes until cheese is melted.  Grate some parmesan cheese on top if desired.