Penne with Sausage, Onion and Cranberry Sauce

I got this recipe here when trying to find easy recipes using fresh cranberries.  It is SO good!!!!!  You'd never guess there's cranberry in it until you run into a little piece of one and I used double the amount called for even!  I used orange juice in place of the sherry just because it was what I had on hand.

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Penne with Sausage, Onion and Cranberries
1/2 pound dried penne or other small pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup cranberries, fresh or frozen and thawed
5 links sweet Italian sausage, sliced or crumbled
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried basil
1/2 cup dry Sherry
3/4 cup chicken stock, preferably low-sodium or homemade
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup pasta water

1. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat and add the onion. When the onion is soft and translucent, add the cranberries, sausage, basil and oregano.
2. Cook until the sausage begins to brown and the cranberries are popping. Add the Sherry and turn the heat up to medium. Scrape the bottom of the pan to remove and cooked-on bits. Once the Sherry is reduced by at least half, add the chicken stock and garlic. Season to taste with salt and pepper. If the sauce is a bit tart for your taste, you can add 1/2-1 tablespoon of sugar to sweeten it.
3. Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water.
4. Once the pasta is cooked, add the pasta water to thin the sauce. Toss the pasta and the sauce and serve.

Pork Steamed Dumplings

It's been a long time since we've had a new family favorite/top rated recipe but this one is getting that title.  They are absolutely fabulous!  I used regular soy sauce and 1/2 Tbsp ground ginger since I had these on hand.  I needed two packages of wonton wrappers eventhough I stuffed them quite full.  They did stick together after steaming but not too bad:)
I found this recipe on the Mom's Plan's blog here.

Pork Steamed Dumplings2 lbs. ground pork
1/3 c. cornstarch
2 tbsp. minced fresh ginger
1 tsp. minced garlic
3 tbsp. reduced-sodium soy sauce
3 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. sesame oil
1/2 c. chopped green onions
60-90 won ton wrappers (depending on how full you stuff them)

-Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.

-Place about 1 tsp of the pork mixture in the center of each won ton wrapper and gather up the corners, pinching them together at the top. Pat the edges with water to make them stick.

To prepare and eat now:
Bring a pot of water to a boil and arrange dumplings in steamer basket over the boiling water. Cover and steam about 20 to 25 minutes or until the pork mixture is entirely cooked.

To freeze:Freeze for one hour on a cookie pan and then place in a Ziploc bag.

To prepare after freezing:Bring a pot of water to boil and arrange dumplings directly from the freezer in the steam basket over the boiling water. Cover and steam about 25 to 28 minutes or until the pork mixture is entirely cooked.

Tortellini soup

I took a recipe from thefrugalgirl.com and modified it to use what I had on hand.  The neighbor gave us the BEST carrots and I used green onions from our garden.  I saw the first tomato starting to turn red so it won't be long and the tomatoes will be fresh and homegrown too.

1 pound sausage(I used bulk natural breakfast sausage)
1 medium onion(or green onion)
1 clove garlic(I used three but we loooove garlic)
5 cups broth...for this I used 5 cups water and 5 chicken boullion cubes from the mega pack I bought at Sams
1 can tomatoes(about two cups)...diced, stewed...whatever kind
8 ounce tomato sauce
1 cup sliced carrots
1 medium pepper(I used half of a yellow bell pepper)
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano(I used a good amount of italian seasoning for this and basil)
1/2 cup red wine(thought I had an open one but it wasn't so 1/2 a cup went in the pot and a big glass went with me for lunch)
16 ounces of frozen tortellini...originally this called for 8 ounces of fresh or 4 of dry(cooked before adding) but with a 3 year old and 1 year old the more pasta the better, right?

Brown the first three ingredients.  Throw in the rest except for the wine and tortellini and simmer for 30 minutes.  Add the tortellini and wine, cook for 1-3 minutes(I did four just to be sure the tortellini was done).  Serve.  Yum!  I meant to throw on some parsley at the end since mom gave us a huge plant but the wine made me forget.  ;o)

Red Beans and Rice

This was from Mandi's week in August and her theme was frugal recipes. Everyone totally loved this! I used spicy sausage and changed the prices to what it cost me. This made a HUGE amount and there were still no leftovers.

Red Beans & Rice

1 lb. smoked sausage (2.42)

1 can (10 ounces) tomatoes and green chilies ($.60 store brand)

2 cans (16 ounces each) red beans or dark red kidney beans, undrained

(I soaked beans overnight, cooked them this morning and then used enough beans for this so .67 for all beans)
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) cream of mushroom soup (I'm out of my dry soup mix so I had to buy campbells healthy one to not have msg... 1.15)

3/4 tsp Creole seasoning (have tons on hand)

4 -5 cups cooked white rice (about $.50)

(Total 5.34)

Cut up sausage into 1 inch chunks. Brown sausage in 10 inch skillet. Add tomatoes, beans, soup, and seasoning and heat through. Add cooked rice and heat through again, if necessary.

Skillet Sausage Pasta

I have made this before and we really like it. I used link sausage since that's what we had on hand and it works great.

Ratings:

Sabrina-10

Hunter-6

Corrine-8

Skillet Sausage Pasta

2 cups uncooked pasta
4 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 pounds fresh white mushrooms, sliced
1 medium chopped onion
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
12 ounces pork or turkey Italian sausage
Salt and pepper to taste
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes(un-drained)
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

Cook elbow macaroni according to package; drain and set aside. In a large skillet heat oil over medium-high heat until hot. Add mushrooms, onion and green bell pepper. Cook and stir until onions and mushrooms are nicely browned, about 10 minutes. Remove from skillet. Crumble sausage and add to the pan. Cook, stirring until sausage is browned, about 5 minutes. Drain fat. Return mushroom mixture to skillet. Stir in tomatoes and their juice, tomato sauce and cooked macaroni. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium low. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with Cheddar cheese. Cover and simmer until cheese melts, about 5 minutes.

Sausage Balls

Sausage balls

1 pound hot sausage(Jimmy Dean or Owens)
2 cups shredded mild cheddar
2 cups Bisquick

Mix by hand until it's fully mixed(will take time). Bake at 400 F for 15 minutes. We serve with what we call secret sauce--a mix of 2 parts miracle whip to 1 part mustard.