Sausage and Cabbage Tortellini Alfredo

 

 

 Now that we're in the blazing heat of summer, I find myself being less gung-ho about cooking a big meal. Does anyone really feel like dealing with a hot oven?? I think not. But then again, how much take out food can we really stand before we get sick of it? (And lets not even talk about how it can break the bank.)
So I started looking for ideas.
Hmm.. I was thinking maybe something for the stove top (no hot oven).. something in one pot (no extra dishes to wash) and something that is quick and easy to throw together. Right.
Then I saw someone on the tick tocks making a Sausage and Cabbage Alfredo. Oooo YUM. That's it! So I gave it a try. Sounds delicious, right? WRONG. I made it exactly as it was written, and it was absolutely terrible! It was so over seasoned, I couldn't even eat it. Crazy, right?? Of course, I should have known better. I knew it seemed like too much seasoning as I was cooking it. Ah well. Live and learn, I suppose. But I still loved the idea, and I knew I could do better, so I started over.
First and foremost, I knew the smoked sausage would have enough spice for the entire dish, so I literally cut out all other additional seasonings. I didn't even add salt. It was all already ready already. 
Second, I knew I could make my own Alfredo sauce, but frankly, I was going for the super easy short cut, so I just used a jar of Prego and called it a day. I'm certainly not above using a jar of marinara sauce for spaghetti, so I'm definitely not above using a jar of Alfredo sauce.
And finally, I decided to add bacon and tortellini, because why not?
Let me just say, OMG it was absolutely delicious!!! THIS, Ladies and Gentleman, was what this dish wanted to be all along. It also fits all the criteria and it came together in a snap.
Bonus, it feeds a crowd and you won't break the bank. Perfect, right?? 
So keep this one in mind the next time you don't really feel like cooking. I promise your family will thank you!


5 or 6 strips bacon, chopped
1 small onion, sliced
1 lb any kind of smoked sausage, spicy or mild, sliced into coins
1/2 of a medium green cabbage, cored and sliced into ribbons
1 14oz jar purchased Alfredo sauce (I like Prego) 
1/2 sauce jar of milk
1 lb cheese tortellini 
Parmesan cheese


Place the bacon in a cold large pan or dutch oven over medium heat, not too high. Let the fat slowly render. Now add your sliced onions and sausage coins. Continue to sauté and stir over medium heat until the meats begin to brown and the onions begin to soften. 
Add your sliced cabbage. Give everything a good toss. Cover. Let it steam for a few minutes, then remove the cover and toss again, making sure to scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Continue to wilt the cabbage until crisp tender. Now add the tortellini and jar of Alfredo sauce. Fill the jar halfway with milk to rinse out the remaining sauce and add to the pot. Gently stir everything to combine. It should only take a few minutes to heat through. When the tortellini is done, you're ready to serve. Sprinkle a little grated Parmesan cheese over the top. Garnish with a little chopped fresh parsley, if desired.

Tips:
Be sure to start out with a big pot. I have a big enamel plated cast iron pot that works nicely. 
If your bacon doesn't give you enough fat to sauté the sausage and onions, go ahead and add a little olive oil. 
There's no need to add any extra liquid for cooking the tortellini. The cabbage gives off enough moisture to take care of it. If you find that the sauce is too thick for your liking, add a little drizzle of milk.
Feel like making your own Alfredo sauce? Who am I to stop you???
If you're counting carbs, just cut out the tortellini. 
Don't like tortellini? Pour it over wide egg noodles or rigatoni! Just cook them according to package directions. Easy!  

Tomato Relish

 If you know me, you know how excited I get every summer for our fabulous Jersey tomatoes. From the end of July until the end of August, I’m making weekly trips to my favorite farm market, Stella’s. And I’m buying as many baskets as I can. Then the canning starts. Everything from stewed tomatoes to homemade marinara to salsa to just straight up quarts of peeled tomatoes. They all go into my canner and onto my shelf to be enjoyed all year. And of course, you know it wouldn’t be summer without my favorite tomato sandwich… fresh slices of tomato with a generous slather of mayonnaise on toasted bread. HEAVEN. Does it get any better than that? I think not. 
 So anyway, last summer, I was looking for fun new recipes for canning tomatoes, and I found this recipe for tomato relish on a YouTube channel called Cooking with Lee. It was an immediate favorite!!! Really basic simple ingredients, easy to make, perfect for my summer canning. I gave some to my friend, Jason, and he told me it’s one of his favorite things that I’ve ever made. Like ever. Really? Well OK then! So, you KNOW I’m keeping this in the summer rotation. Actually, come to think of it, I might need to make a second batch. It’s just that good. So, thank you, Lee, for your fabulous recipe. I’ll definitely look forward to making it every year! 


10 lbs tomatoes
3 1/2 lbs onions
1/3 cup salt

5 cups vinegar
5 cups sugar
3 tbs mustard powder
2 tbs curry powder
1 tbs cayenne pepper

First, blanch and peel the tomatoes:

Cut an X into the bottoms of all the tomatoes, then plunge each one into rabidly boiling water for about 30 seconds. Remove to an ice bath. The peels will slip right off. Place the tomatoes in a big pot. 

Slice onions into half rings. Place on top of tomatoes in pot. Don’t stir.
Pour salt over onions. Don’t stir.
Cover and leave at room temperature for several hours or overnight. Drain all liquid.
Add vinegar to the pot. Bring to a boil.
Add sugar. Bring back to boil. Stir in spices. 
Reduce to simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Skim any foam. 
Reduce relish by about 1/3. Add a slurry of water and corn starch (or clear jel, if canning) 
Simmer until slightly thickened to desired consistency.

For canning:
Ladle hot relish into hot pint jars. Process in water bath canner for 15 minutes. 


Tips:

Serve this relish anywhere you'd use ketchup. It's great on a burger, hot dog, or meatloaf. It's also fabulous on fries. It's also delicious poured over a block of cream cheese and served with crackers.

Want it to be spicy hot? Add more cayenne pepper or crushed red pepper flakes. 
The recipe doesn’t say to chop the tomatoes, but I always cut them into chunks. It’s just easier that way. Same thing with the onions. It says to slice into half rings. I just use my handy dandy chopper to dice them. I think it gives a better final result. 
If you’re planning on canning, be sure to use Clear Jel instead of regular corn starch. Clear Jel is a modified corn starch that is specifically made for it, and one should never use regular corn starch when canning. 

Joey’s Corn and Zucchini Skillet Sauté

 I recently hosted a dinner for some of my DEAREST friends in the whole wide world, and decided to do a classic summer menu. We had oven barbecued chicken and ribs, we had baked beans and potato salad, we had a fabulous chilled gazpacho, and of course a big pitcher of home made sweet tea. 

 When I was planning the menu, I knew I wanted to do something with fresh corn. (You really can't beat Jersey corn!) Then I saw a version of this recipe online and I thought, Oh! Perfect! Of course, I changed a few things here and there, because I can never leave well enough alone, and I had to make it my own. I was thrilled with how it turned out, and it was a BIG hit at dinner. I thought, well, this one is staying in the rotation! I think its beauty is in its simplicity. Just a bunch of summer veggies sautéed with a little bacon. How can you go wrong? Plus now you have a new something to do with all that zucchini from your garden. Win/Win! Give it a try!

5 strips bacon, chopped

1 red onion, chopped

1 large red bell pepper, chopped

4 cups fresh or frozen corn

4 cups zucchini, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

a drizzle of heavy cream

 

 

Add your chopped bacon to a cold pan. Turn on the heat to medium, not too hot. You want to gradually render the bacon fat. Give it a stir every so often until it's slightly crisp but not brittle. Add your chopped onions, bell pepper, and corn. Stir and sauté until the vegetables begin to soften. Do be afraid to let them get a little color as you go. Now add your diced zucchini. Give everything a good stir. When the zucchini begins to cook down, add your salt, pepper, and a drizzle of heavy cream. You don't want it to be swimming in cream, you just want to add a little richness. Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed. 

 

 

Tips:

When you're chopping your veggies, you want everything to be about the same size. I found it VERY helpful to use one of those handy dandy choppers that you see floating around the interwebs. You know, the kind where you put a half of an onion down and then slam it closed, pushing the onion through. HIGHLY recommend!

Use any color bell peppers you like. I used red because I liked the pop of color. Yellow or orange would look pretty too. And if you'd like to add a little zing, add some minced jalapeño or serrano peppers. 

Don't have a red onion? Use whatever you have!

To make this vegetarian, just omit the bacon, and use butter or oil in place of the bacon fat.  

 

Slow Cooker Pepper Steak

 

 

  

 

One of my favorite things about summer is that I get to enjoy all of my favorite Jersey produce. I swear I go to the produce market at least once a week and buy TONS of fruits and veggies for canning and roasting and making jams, you name it. 
 So, recently, I had a bunch of bell peppers and figured I’d do something with them, but what? I thought, well, pepper steak is the obvious choice, right Then I realized…wait.. after all these years, do I not have a go-to pepper steak recipe??? What is going on??? Clearly I needed to remedy this!
 I was originally thinking of using my wok, but then I figured it would be a lot easier to just throw it into the slow cooker and let it cook all afternoon. Perfect! This is a  version of a recipe from All Recipes and it’s absolutely delicious. If you’re a fan of pepper steak, then this one is for you! Also, if you still don’t have a slow cooker, what are you waiting for? No time like the present!




2 lbs beef sirloin, London broil top round, or flank steak, cut into 2 inch strips
3 tbs vegetable oil
1 onion, sliced 
2 large green bell peppers, sliced
2 large red bell peppers, sliced
1 (14.5 oz) can stewed tomatoes, with liquid
3 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp white or brown sugar
Salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste
2 cups beef stock, divided
2 tbs corn starch

 

 

 

In a large skillet, over medium heat, sear the beef strips in oil until brown on both sides. Do this in batches so as not to crowd the pan. While the beef is searing, place all other ingredients in a slow cooker, except the beef stock and corn starch. After removing the last of the beef from the skillet, pour 1 cup of stock into the pan and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any brown bits. Add that liquid to the slow cooker. Cover. Cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 3 1/2 - 4 hours. After the cooking is done, make a slurry with the corn starch and remaining cup of beef stock. Add to slow cooker. Let it continue to cook and thicken. Serve over rice, riced cauliflower, or mashed potatoes. 



Tips:
This makes a very saucy pepper steak. If you’d prefer less sauce, just cut the stock down to 1 cup total.
If you’ve never tried riced cauliflower, you should! It’s as easy as buying any other frozen vegetable, and it absolutely works instead of rice, especially for those of us who happen to be counting carbs. Just sauté in a skillet with a little butter. Delish!

Hot Dog Relish

 

 When I decided to do a recipe for Hamburger Relish, I figured it's only fair to make a hot dog relish as well, dontcha think?? So here it is! This is basically a version of a recipe I found on a website called Our Country Life. Yes, it's the perfect condiment for grilled hot dogs, but it's great for other things too! Serve on grilled hamburgers, sausages, or anywhere you’d like a sweet tangy hit of mustard. It's also really great added to deviled eggs or potato salad. I also like it served with a thick juicy ham steak. SO good! 

 So if you're a mustard person, you need to add this to your pantry! Yum!

 

 

 

3 lbs cucumbers
1 lb onions
1 cup bell peppers, green and red

2 tbs mustard powder
1/2 cup prepared yellow mustard
1 tbs ginger powder
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp celery seed
1 cup sugar
1 cup water 
2 cups white vinegar

2 tbs Clear Jel or regular corn starch, optional




Finely chop all veggies. Add to a large pot with all remaining ingredients.
Bring it up to heat, reduce to a simmer. 
Let it simmer for at least 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the veggies cook down a bit. 
Be sure to stir from the bottom to make sure it doesn’t burn. 
If it gets too thick, just add some water until you reach your desired consistency. 

Store in the fridge or freeze in ziploc bags. 

For canning:
For 1/2 pint or pint jars, leave 1/2 inch head space, process in a water bath for 10 minutes. 

Reminder.. when canning, you must use clear gel instead of regular corn starch, if using.


Tips:
Before storing or canning, be sure to taste it and make adjustments. Would you like it to be sweeter? Add more sugar. Would you like to it be more tangy? Add more vinegar. Would you like a stronger mustard hit? Add more yellow mustard. You could also add other kinds of prepared mustard.. ground, Dijon, spicy brown, it all works!  Would you like some heat? Add some minced jalapeños or other hot peppers.
One other thing…
Many pickling recipes say to salt your vegetables for several hours and then rinse them before pickling. This is mainly to extract some of the moisture and preserve a crunchy texture for your pickles or vegetables. I don’t like a crunchy relish, so I just threw everything into a pot and let it cook. Any moisture that the salt would have extracted will evaporate during the cooking time anyway, so I just skip the salty step. But if you do a lot of pickling and you’d prefer to salt everything, who am I to stop you???!! :)

Hamburger Relish

 

 How do you like your burger? Just cheese? No cheese? Lots of fixins? Or just plain?

When you think of it, there's literally no limit to the way you could fix a burger, but for some reason, we always go back to our tried and true favorites. For me, I'm a fan of lots of cheese, ketchup, and some sweet pickle relish. Occasionally, I'll add a slice of tomato and some lettuce, but that's about it.  

 So when I saw this recipe for hamburger relish, I was all over it. I make TONS of different relishes, so this one needed to be included on my wall 'o jars. It's my version of a recipe I found on a website called Shifting Roots, and it's exactly what you want in a hamburger relish. It's kind of like adding ketchup to regular pickle relish, but it's SO much more. It's light and fresh and definitely worth the effort. Perfect for burgers ! (It's great on hot dogs too!) Especially if you like ketchup and relish. 

 Are you a burger person? if so, you need to make this! So good! 

 

4 cups finely chopped cucumbers (unpeeled)

2 cups finely chopped bell peppers (red, yellow, orange, and/or green)

1 cup finely chopped onion

2 28oz cans crushed tomatoes

2 cups sugar 

3 cups white vinegar

1 tbs yellow mustard seeds

1 tbs turmeric

1 tbs cinnamon

1 tbs allspice

1 tbs ground cloves

 

 Add all ingredients to a large pot over medium heat. Bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer.  Let it continue to simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally. Be sure to stir from the bottom to make sure it doesn't burn. Let it cook down until you reach your desired consistency. Serve on burgers, hot dogs, or meatloaf.

 

For canning:

Always remember- hot jars, hot filling, hot water.

Fill your jars, leave a half inch head space, wipe rims, place your two piece lids, then process in a water bath for 15 minutes. 

 

Tips:

Most pickle and relish recipes start by salting your chopped vegetables and letting them sit for 8 hours or overnight. Then you rinse and drain them and continue with your recipe. This extracts a lot of excess water from the veggies making them more crisp, which is definitely what you want in a dill or sweet pickle. I decided to skip that entire step. Call me a rebel, but I just didn't see the point of it, since I would be cooking it down anyway. 

This makes a big batch, which is great for canning, but go ahead and cut this recipe in half if you don't need to as much.