Month: November 2023

Baked Penne with Sausage

This post got delayed for some reasons I won’t get into; so here it is 2 weeks later. If you get tired of turkey you might want to make this tasty casserole to warm you on a cold fall evening.

Getting chilly this weekend; time for a classic baked entree with a few twists. I kind of thought this recipe was already on my site but nope. I made some for supper tonight and it was delicious, fairly simple to put together and somewhat healthy. You can leave out the mushrooms if you don’t like them, but I love them with the sausage and tomato sauce. I had penne instead of ziti so that’s what went into this recipe. I actually like it better; smaller tubes are better in my opinion. I used a 32 ounce jar of marinara sauce; so much quicker and it was pretty good tasting sauce. This recipe made a big casserole of hearty yumminess! Enjoy.

This is the inside of the casserole as I build it up; just added fried onions on top of ricotta cheese mixture which is on top of pasta and sauce. Rough layers, sort of like lasagna.
Some on a plate before I devour it! I like the penne; ziti is too big in my opinion. This is good tasting comfort food.

Angie’s Baked Penne with Sausage

Ingredients:

1 12 oz box of gf penne (It is not 16 ounce like wheat flour pasta)

1 package of Italian sausage; 5 of them were in my package

1 24 ounce jar of basil spaghetti sauce

1 Tbsp. EVOL

Olive oil gf Cooking spray

1 Tsp each of dried basil and oregano

1 medium onion, diced fine

2 garlic cloves minced

an 8 ounce rectangular package of mozzarella cheese (I find this at Aldi’s and the price is great there too!)

8 ounce can of sliced mushrooms

15 ounce container of ricotta cheese, preferable whole milk

2 large eggs

1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

1 Tsp. dried parsely

3 sliced scallions

Directions:

Heat a medium saucepan of well salted water. While it heats put a medium frying pan on to heat; spray it first with olive oil cooking spray. I cooked it about 15 minutes until fairly done; turned it over 3-4 times – every 2 minutes I turned them. Once browned I added 3-4 Tbsp water to help it cook. Cook until 150 degrees inside. Let cool and then slice.

Pour the dried pasta into the boiling salted water. Cook to 2 minutes less than package says. Drain.

Once the sausage comes out of the pan add 1 Tbsp. EVOL and then the finely chopped onions, cook 3-4 minutes until softened. Add minced garlic and cook on low for 1 minute. Pour some of the jarred sauce into the baking dish to just cover the bottom. I used an ovel 2 quart dish with 4 inch sides. Add the basil, oregano, scallions and cooked onion/garlic to the open jar of sauce; stir with a long-handled spoon until mixed in.

Start oven heating – 375 degrees. Mid oven rack. Spray a 2 quart baking dish with cooking spray.

Pour ricotta cheese into a medium mixing bowl. Add 2 eggs, dried parsley and grated parmesan cheese, mix well. Grate half the bar of mozzarella cheese with the coarse side of your grater. Slice the other half with a sharp paring knife into 1/4 inch rectangles.

Put 1/3 of the cooked penne in on top of the sauce, top with half the sausage coins, half the jar of mushrooms and then half of the ricotta cheese mixture, the grated mozzarella and a 1/4 of the tomato sauce. then add 1/3 of the penne, then the rest of the coins, the rest of the mushrooms and top with the ricotta cheese mixture and the rest of the tomato sauce Top with the sliced mozzarella. Bake 50 minutes until it is bubbling and hot. Let cool 10-15 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Kung Pao Chicken

I had a lot of peppers harvested from my garden and wanted a delicious chicken dish for supper which highlighted them. This is exactly that sort of recipe. I altered one I found on line at Eatingwell and want to share it with you; fall is a great time for peppers! It turned out tender, flavorful and addictively flavored. I will definitely make this again and again.

Notes: I used boneless chicken thighs as they are more flavorful and tender than breasts, the original recipe used a pound of sliced chicken breast so I used 3 large chicken thighs, boneless and skinless. I added more pepper chunks and several other veggies. The recipe I adapted had 2 Tbsp. dry peanuts sprinkled over it at the end. I didn’t have any and I don’t generally put peanuts on my food but you sure can add them. I served it over long grain brown rice made in my Instant Pot pressure cooker; it makes great rice with no fuss. Enjoy!

Angie’s Kung Pao Chicken

Ingredients

3 boneless chicken thighs

2 tsp. gf soy sauce, divided

1 tsp. plus 1 Tbsp. dry sherry, divided

2 tsp. cornstarch

2 tsp. toasted sesame oil

2 Tbsp. gf chicken broth

2 tsp. balsamic vinegar

1 -2 tsp. chili-garlic sauce

2 Tbsp. canola oil, divided

3 slices fresh ginger, smashed

2 medium green peppers cut into 1 inch cubes

1 medium red pepper cut into 1 inch cubes

1 carrot, peeled and cut into 1 inch diagonal slices

1 medium onion cut into skinny vertical slices

1 cup pea pods

4 scallions – white part sliced into rounds and green cut on diagonal into 1 inch slices

1/4 tsp sea salt

Directions: Slice chicken across into 3 or 4 strips and cut them up into 1 inch squares more or less; mix with 2 tsp. soy sauce, a tsp sherry and the cornstarch. Mix until blended and add sesame oil and stir to coat chicken. Let sit while you cut up veggies and mix the following sauce. In a small bowl put rest of soy sauce and sherry, broth, balsamic vinegar, chili sauce (I used one tsp.). Stir to blend.

Heat mini wok over med-high heat; add 1 tbsp. oil and swirl around pan. Add ginger slices and cook about 10 seconds. Push to side and add the chicken pieces; try to get in one layer. Cook without turning for 3 minutes. turn over and cook about 3 more minutes. Transfer them to a medium bowl. Stir in rest of oil and add the veggies you had cut up except the green parts of the scallions. Stir fry for 3-4 minutes. or until they are mostly cooked. Add back the chicken, stir well, sprinkle with green scallion sticks and cook 3 minutes more on med high heat until chicken is done. I actually stuck my instant read thermometer into one of the larger chunks; make sure it is over 165 degrees.

I served this over steamed brown rice but of course, you can do white rice or even rice noodles. Enjoy!