Simple Sausage Marinara

I've made this a few times now and I find it super savory! This red sauce with sausage is super easy. Its one of those meals you do a bunch of prep work for, and then you relax while the sauce simmers it's way into the juiciest parts of the sausage. Let's get started.

You will need:

• 6 hot or sweet Italian sausage, whichever you prefer or mix it up
• 14 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
• 14 oz. can of whole peeled or diced tomatoes
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, diced
• fistful of basil, chopped
• salt & pepper to your taste
• olive oil

Start prepping by filling a medium sauce pot 2/3 full of water. Set that on medium-high heat and let it come to a boil while you're dicing up the onion, garlic, and basil.

Pour olive oil into a large sauce pot, enough to cover the bottom of the pot, and put it on medium-low heat. Once the olive oil has heated up a bit, dump in the diced onion. Let the onion cook until it looks a little translucent and then stir the onions to the sides of the pot to make a little landing pad for the garlic. Let the onion and garlic simmer for a while until the garlic looks yellow, then stir it up. If the onions start to burn or cook to quickly, definitely turn the heat down.

Before you place the sausage in the boiling water, use a fork to poke each sausage three or four times. Let the sausages cook for 4-6 minutes each at the most. After they're done, I like to cut them into twos or threes so the sauce gets in. My Nonno (grandfather) preferred cooking them whole. It's alright if they aren't cooked through because they're going to be in the sauce which is still thickening.




Turn the heat way down and let your sauce simmer for at least 30 minutes. I like to simmer my sauce for as long as possible. Well, go try this and tell me what you think. Whatever, you'll like it.

Love,

Liz

Healthy Broccoli Cheddar Soup

I'm OBSESSED with Panera's soup. But I don't always feel like driving 10 minutes down the street to get it in the cold snowy, snow. PLUS, I don't want to spend $7 on a bowl of soup that is in no way big enough to satisfy a hunger like mine. After a lot of prodding and nagging, I finally gave in to myself and took a swing at making this creamy, cheesy concoction last Friday night.
I based this on a recipe I found and took out the nasty things like nutmeg, and added delicious things like carrots and potatoes. Who wants nutmeg in their soup? Gross.

You will need:

• 1 bunch of broccoli
• 1 small onion (diced)
• 2 medium red potatoes (diced)
• 1/2 cup carrots (shredded)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 3 cups chicken or vegetable broth (I prefer chicken)
• 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 1 cup milk
• 1 TSP Worcestershire sauce
• 1 12 oz. can evaporated milk
• salt & pepper to your liking
• 2 scallions (to top off your soup, optional but HIGHLY recommended)

You're going to start by cutting up your broccoli, keeping the stems and the florets separate. Finely dice the stems, coarsely chop the florets and - once more - KEEP THEM SEPARATE. Trust me, it's a real pain in the ass to do it afterwards.

Grease up a big soup pot and put it on medium heat. Toss in the carrots, diced onions, potatoes, and broccoli stems. Make sure to stir them up a lot until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour next and stir it around until it becomes toasted which should take about 2 minutes.

While you have the vegetables sauteing, prepare a small saute pan with 1/2 cup of water and dump in the broccoli florets. Bring the florets to a boil and steam them until they're crisp and bright green, about 5 minutes.

Now is the time to stir in your broth and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to keep the pot on a steady simmer. Stir the pot every occasionally until the vegetable are soft and the soup is thick, 12-15 minutes.

Empty the broccoli and florets and any remaining water into the soup pot. Give it a stir and then add the Worcestershire sauce, milk, cheese, and evaporated milk. Add salt and pepper to your taste. Garnish with a little extra cheese and some fresh scallions - you will be addicted to the cheesiness!

This recipe is guaranteed to cure the Winter blues!

Love,

Liz

Mama's Crab Cakes

     A magical thing happen here in New England, more magical than the usual Autumn fair that sweeps the nation. I'm sure you've seen the piles of leaves, plump, orange pumpkins and their carved, rotting counterparts, and everything is pumpkin or apple flavored for the next few weeks until everything is peppermint flavored. Most importantly, the fall brings harvest and harvest means roadside farm stands full of freshly picked crops.
     But as I said, here in New England something special happens. The farm stands sell freshly snagged crab meat! Can you believe?!
So my Mama, being of infinite appetite and imagination picked up some of local crab meat and surprised me one night last week.
     You don't need a local supply of fresh crab meat, but most grocery stores carry it in the seafood section. Or you could go the extra hard route and go as far as catching, cooking, and smashing the crab meat out yourself. Either or.


You will need:

• 1 lb. crab meat
• 3-4 TBSP mayonnaise
• 3 TBSP lemon juice
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 1/2 red bell pepper (finely chopped)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped red or white onion
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1/8 TSP cayenne
• salt & pepper to taste
• Parsley or chives to taste (finely chopped)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. I like them spicy so put a little extra cayenne than my Mama does.
Using your little hands, scoop up some crab meat and start making patties. This recipes yields about 6-8 patties depending on how big you make them.

Heat your oil to medium-high in a skillet. My Mama hates the greasy smoke from frying stuff so she got an electric skillet that puts out on the porch. On the floor. Like a kook.

Fry the crab for 8-10 minutes on each side. Watch out for falling crumbs and other bits. They'll start to burn in the oil and make it taste funny, so just try and scoop out as much debris as you can.

Isn't she cute, though? Look at her slippers.


 Get a nice creamy ginger salad dressing or just plain old tartar sauce with these little babies. My Mama prefers mayonnaise with capers, and hot chutney mixed in. I like lemon and ginger dressing!

Thanks Mama!

Love,

Liz

Mr. Twiggy wants to know where HIS crab cakes went as Shadow the dog slips by . . .

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