Dinner From the Sub Shop: Made at Home

I possibly have a sandwich obsession. Granted not to the level of the newest Food Network Star but when I was pregnant with my son I ate my weight in Italian subs and I remain the queen of the breakfast sandwich. The hardest thing for me in the past was whenever I started a low-carb diet. I had to remove bread form my diet in the very beginning stages and then was only able to add it back in small quantities as I continued. A recent medical issue has forced me out of my low-carb ways and has me now eating the “ balanced diet” way so while I am still working to understand the new food plate as opposed to the food pyramid we were all so familiar with for so long, I am happy to reintroduce bread (specifically whole grain varieties of course) back into my diet. I have always looked to reduce the fat and caloric content of food when I can mostly because of my husband’s cholesterol issues so it’s not a huge change and I hope to have fun with it.

Fast forward to a shopping trip I took when I found fresh hot Italian CHICKEN sausage prepared by the grocery butcher. My love for Al Fresco sausage will never die but finding freshly made chicken sausage and in a spicy variety both my husband and I enjoy, is a real treat. Originally I was going to put it in a pasta dish, but much like the meatball night, a sandwich sounded much better! Check out my prep:

Whenever I make cook Italian sausage and leave it whole, I always cook it in a skillet with olive oil heated to medium high heat. I brown the sausages all over. If I am going to continue cooking them in a sauce, I only cook them until they are about ¾ done. If they will be sliced for later, I cook them entirely.

In this case, I removed the mostly cooked sausages and set them aside on a plate lined with a paper towel.  I added to the same pan with the leftover oil a sliced green pepper and sliced white onion. I cooked the vegetables for about 10 minutes, reduced the heat  to low and then to the pan added 1 and half cups of jarred pasta sauce (Bertoli Olive oil and garlic remains are personal fave). I gave it a quick stir and then added back the sausage to the mixture. I covered the pan and allowed to simmer for 15 minutes.

Whenever my local grocery store has wheat baguettes buy one get one, I buy extra and freeze them. Thaw them on the counter when ready to use and they toast nicely! I split one of these baguettes into 4 pieces and each piece I cut almost in half, leaving part of the bread connected together to form a “boat” for the filling. Once the sausage mixture was done, I filled each piece of bread with one sausage, some of the onions, peppers and sauce and topped each now sub sandwich with 2% mozzarella cheese. 

Popped into a 375 degree oven until the cheese is melted and slightly browned….delicious!

And possibly in need of a knife and fork to eat!

Pasta, Pasta! Chicken Sausage Alfredo

The best thing about pasta is it is quick! And when you can put together with a quick homemade sauce and an easy add-in it is also delicious. The quick light Alfredo recipe I discovered from before went great with sun dried tomato chicken sausage and fresh fettuccine!

Quick Meal: Chicken Sausage Fajitas

I have mentioned Al Fresco chicken sausages before in this blog and I continue to be impressed by their quality and taste. I also enjoy the different flavor options and the other day I picked up a package of their jalapenos and roasted peppers variety. Originally, I was going to make a play on an Italian sausage sub using Mexican flavors, but conveniently on the sausage package was a recipe for quick fajitas (and sadly I had used all of my red bell peppers for snacks for my kids. Not sad that they eat them, mind you, just sad I had used them all and not replaced them!)

I did have some leftover jarred roasted red peppers and decided to go ahead and incorporate them, along with the Vidalia onions I had on hand. I also had some limes and planned to add some lime juice while everything was cooking. Here is my prep:

This was also an excellent opportunity to use some more of the chipotle infused EVOO from Savor the Olive! (Seriously, their oils are AMAZING and I can’t wait to get more!) into the pan went all of the ingredients and after a few minutes I squeezed half a lime over the top:

Very, very simple. Scooped onto a flour tortilla and garnished with Mexican blend cheese, lettuce and sour cream:

The flavor was fantastic and had just the right amount of heat. Thanks al fresco for again helping make an easy and tasty meal!

Foodie Find: Savor the Olive

Apparently Lorraine Eaton and I are of similar mind! Check out the article she wrote on Savor the Olive which I just visited for the first time Saturday and am in love with! I have already used their chipotle oil for my roasted tomatoes and a quick chicken sausage fajita. I will be working with their beautiful and delicious 18-year aged balsamic this weekend!

Meal Planning - Cooking "Ahead"

One of the important parts of meal planning is what I call "cooking ahead". There are actually two ways to "cook ahead": 1) cooking in a large quantity and freezing leftovers for future meals and 2) making meals that will be cooked or reheated and eaten later.

I actually stumbled upon cooking ahead out of my inability to cook any meal that would only feed 2-3 people. I would freeze leftovers in individual containers that could be used as lunches for me and my husband later. However, as I began to use the meal planning calendar and our schedules became more hectic with the birth of our son, I realized freezing the entire quantity of food could equal an "emergency meal" if we weren't able to do what was planned or would work in a pinch for a very busy night in which I couldn't cook a meal from scratch and we didn't want to do take-out. The first few times I pulled a meal from the freezer for a dinner, it was so liberating I started thinking about actually preparing meals just for the purpose of reheating or cooking later.

There are tons of "do-ahead" recipes out there and many of them are the stand-bys like lasagnas and casseroles. However, I got creative and did things like enchiladas, pulled chicken and pork and sausage and peppers. My only advice is the following few points:

1. Label your meals with a date and a name. Nothing worse than a huge container of unknown food slowly becoming a fossil in your freezer or going to thaw a meal past its prime.
2. Use proper containers. I ruined a few lunch meals early on thinking I could re-use that Hillshire Farms  Ham Glad container!
3. Pay attention to what can be frozen safely and properly. The USDA tends to know what it's doing. http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/focus_on_freezing/index.asp

Also, not everything has to be frozen. Some of my friends make meals on Sunday that can be used during the week and they go right into the fridge. Find out what works for you and even better...share it with us here!

Finally, now that I am really trying to stick to South Beach, the idea of cooking ahead has been expanded to include breakfast. Breakfast for me has always been my diet killer. All it would take is one morning getting out the door late to work on an empty stomach and through a Chick-Fil-A/Hardee's/McDonald's drive-thru I would go. So tonight, I made a breakfast casserole that I can eat on the remainder of the week and freeze in containers for next week. Kalyns Kitchen is my go to South Beach recipe site right now and below is the link to her basic breakfast casserole. Tonight's creation was turkey Italian sausage, fresh spinach, canned mushrooms and reduced fat Italian blend shredded cheese. And I can attest to its tastiness since I have already cut it up into servings for the week and of course enjoyed a little knife nibble! 

http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/2006/01/breakfast-casserole-many-wayswho-knew.html

Steal of the Week: Quick and Easy (And tasty!) Alfredo Sauce

Inspiration can come from the strangest places. I was sitting in the courthouse for jury duty..yep, Jury Duty-the reason your Cook Crook has been so quiet lately! Combine an ENTIRE WEEK of jury duty with a holiday weekend that included a party I threw for my husband’s 40th birthday and returning to work after said time off and the result is absolutely no blogging, and frankly very little cooking! But, I did stumble across a little reader submitted recipe idea in a woman’s magazine (and if I could tell you which one I would) that mentioned creating a quick alfredo sauce from cream cheese, milk and parmesan! When I got home, and couldn’t remember the magazine I saw it in (and was scared to rip out said page from the magazine WHILE IN A COURTHOUSE) I decided to go to my very trusty online recipe reference: AllRecipes.com

And there it was, Quick and Easy Alfredo Sauce a very easy I-have-every-ingredient-in-my-house-already recipe. The changes I made were to use the Neufchatel cheese, skim milk and light butter. 

The question was what to go with it?

I started with my new favorite prepared meat: Al Fresco sausage. These chicken sausages are so delicious and come in some great flavors. I had a package of the spinach and feta sausages on hand! And my herbs are doing grand so I picked some fresh Italian basil and parsley and made a little herb blend.

I sliced the sausages and added them to a cooked bag of another favorite Wacky Mac pasta! 

Tossed with the finished alfredo sauce and sprinkled with the fresh herbs, a delicious meal!

This is going on my list of company meals. It makes a ton, it's delicious and I don't believe anyone would ever know how lighter on calories it really was. This sauce recipe is a keeper for sure!