Sausage Rolls

I don't know why, but I was a bit nervous to make this dish. They turned out absolutely fantastic! I remember eating them and just saying, "this is one of the best things I've made in awhile!" The best part is, it could really be made with your favorite ingredients-olives, ground beef instead of Italian sausage, cheese, whatever you want! The puff pastry makes it just decadent. I dipped my rolls in ranch, but you could use your favorite condiment.

Sausage Rolls-adapted from Every Day with Rachael Ray
Total Time: 45 Minutes
Serves 4

• 3 Italian sausage links, casings removed
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thrawed but chilled
• 1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Crumbe the sausage into a large bowl and mix in bread crumbs and bell pepper.

Line a work surface with parchment paper. Set the puff pastry on top and roll into an 11-inch square. Cut the pastry in half. Roll sausage mixture into 11-inch logs and place one log on each half of the pastry. Brush the long side of the pastry with the egg. Wrap the sausage in the pastry, press the seam to seal, but do not seal the short ends.Transfer to the baking sheet, seam side down. 

Brush the tops with the remaining egg. Bake until puffed and golden, 25-30 minutes. Quarter each roll. Serve with ranch or your favorite condiment.

Chicken with Balsamic Onions and Mushrooms

Balsamic-anything is my latest obsession. I just love the flavor and goodness it brings. Balsamic chicken with onions is one of the easiest things that will definitely get made over and over again!

Chicken with Balsamic Onions and Mushrooms-adapted from Everyday with Rachael Ray
Total Time: 30 Minutes
Serves 4

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Seasoned salt and pepper
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 2 medium onions, sliced
• 4 ounces mushrooms, sliced
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

In a large skillet, heat two tablespoons oil over medium high heat. Season the chicken to taste and cook, turning once, until golden brown, about 5 minutes each side. Transfer to a plate and keep warm.

In the same skillet, heat additional tablespoon oil over medium heat. Stir in the onions, mushrooms and vinegar and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to caramelize-about 15 minutes. Towards the end, stir in 1/4 cup water and scrape any browned bits. Serve onion mixture over chicken.

Tarragon Chicken

I've gotten behind on blog posting. Again. I think I have a problem. I get really far ahead, which helps...for about a week. Then I don't post anything further that week. Like I said, it's a problem.

I made this so long ago, I truthfully barely remember eating it. I know I didn't hate it and that we didn't love it, so I'll just give this a rating of good and put it on the list to make again. Forgive me!

Tarragon Chicken-adapted from Every Day with Rachael Ray
Total Time: 5 hours
Serves 4

• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons chicken broth
• 4 tablespoons dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper, more to taste
• 4 pounds bone-in chicken parts
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons fresh tarragon, chopped
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup lemon juice

Pour the chicken broth into a 6 quart slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine mustard, salt and pepper and rub on chicken pieces. Place chicken in the slow cooker and top with garlic and tarragon. Cover and cook on low for about 5 hours or until chicken is cooked through.

Transfer chicken to a plate and cover to keep warm. Strain the juices in the slow cooker into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over high heat. In a small bowl, combine the cream and cornstarch. Whisk the mixture into the saucepan and cook until sauce has thickened; stir in the lemon juice. Pour over chicken.

Sun-Dried Tomato Guacamole

For tacos tonight, I decided to try a new guacamole. To be honest, the base of the guac still came from my favorite, go-to guac, but I switched up a few things. I swapped out the tomatoes and onion in the original, to add sun dried tomatoes, sour cream and tabasco sauce. For me, this was too spicy--pretty sure it was the tabasco, I'm just not a fan. But Scott loved it. Just make sure you dice the tomatoes really small, otherwise they get a little chewy.

Sun-Dried Tomato Guacamole-adapted from Every Day with Rachael Ray
Total Time: 10 Minutes
Serves 6

• 4 avocados
• 1 jalapeno, diced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 3 teaspoons lime juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 ounces sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• 1 teaspoon sour cream
• 1 teaspoon tabasco

Peel and remove the inside of the avocados from the shell into a medium bowl. Mash avocados and stir in the remainder of the ingredients. You can add additional to taste.

Shrimp and Noodle Stir Fry

Shrimp stir fry isn't something I make very often, but now I'm thinking I should. The flavors in this recipe were great, after I added some soy sauce to it. The noodles also give it just a little something extra over using rice.

As a few people mentioned on my Facebook post, you can make this with any kind of protein. Chicken, shrimp, spicy sausage-whatever you have on hand or are craving at the time! Adding in additional veggies is one of my favorite things about stir fries too!

Shrimp and Noodle Stir Fry-adapted from Every Day with Rachael Ray
Total Time: 30 Minutes
Serves 4

• 8 ounces rice noodles
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated
• 1 teaspoon seasoned pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 4 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 cup carrots, cut into matchsticks
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 cup broccoli florets

Cook rice noodles according to package directions. Drain, rinse and transfer to a large bowl.

In a small, heatproof bowl, combine the green onion, garlic, ginger, seasoned pepper and garlic salt. In a large skillet, heat 3 tablespoons canola oil. Carefully mix the hot oil into the green onion mixture; reserve the skillet and set bowl aside.

Add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil to the skillet and heat over medium high heat. Add the shrimp and soy sauce and cook for 1 minute. Add the carrots, bell pepper and broccoli to the skillet and toss until cooked through. 

Toss the stir fry into the noodles, and add reserved green onion mixture and stir until well combined.

Thai Chicken with Basil and Pineapple

I've said it many times before, but I love stir frys. Of pretty much any flavor and protein. They're just so tasty! This had a lot of flavor to it and will definitely be added to my list of stir frys! I only used a small serrano pepper and it added just enough kick to not make it too spicy for me! Serve with some rice and egg rolls and you have yourself a meal!

Thai Chicken with Basil and Pineapple-adapted from Everyday with Rachael Ray
Total Time: 30 Minutes
Serves 4

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless opp breasts, chopped into bite-size pieces
• 1 can diced pineapple
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 serrano pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 1/2 inch ginger root, grated
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 cup basil leaves, torn

Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken about 6 minutes, or until thoroughly cooked. Transfer to a plate.

Add additional 1/2 tablespoon to skillet and stir fry pineapple, peppers, ginger and garlic until crisp tender. Stir fry about 3 minutes, and then add in soy sauce and fish sauce. Mix in chicken and toss to coat. Top stir fry mixture with basil leaves.

Fish with Brown Butter Sauce

As I've mentioned in previous posts, unless I know the flavor of a fish really defines the outcome (like salmon. Or maybe it's just that I love salmon, who knows?!) I usually go with what I have on hand and prepare the rest of the recipe as indicated. This particular recipe called for flounder, but I used cod. I included both in the recipe below.

This recipe helped me to remember how much I truly love recipes with brown butter. The flavor is absolutely amazing. If you can believe it, it's better than plain butter (shocking, I know). The almonds didn't provide anything to this particular dish, so I've crossed them out below. Either way, the flavors were fantastic and this was a great recipe. Just an amped up cod with butter recipe, which is just delicious to me!

Fish with Brown Butter Sauce-adapted from Every Day with Rachael Ray
Total Time: 25 Minutes
Serves 4

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 yellow pepper, diced
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• Lemon pepper and seasoned salt for seasoning
• 4 flounder or cod fillets, patted dry

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and cook, swirling often, until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in almonds, pepper, lemon juice and parsley. Keep warm and stir occasionally.

In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons canola oil over medium-high heat. Season the fish with lemon pepper and seasoned salt, add to the pan, and cook 6-8 minutes or until lightly golden.

Spoon the browned butter sauce over the fish.