Random Recipe Monday - Sausage Manicotti

Me and Italian food - we go together like rama lama lama
ke ding a de dinga a dong. Forget Sandy and Danny, me and marinara are the best couple around. I'm kinda of the mind that even bad Italian food is good Italian food, so it isn't surprising that we tend to eat a lot of it around my house.

I'd like to say that my efforts are like Chef Mario Batali. Unfortunately, I have to admit they are closer to Chef Boyardee - but again, bad Italian is good Italian, so I soldier on. Spaghetti is far and away the most often prepared, but lasagne makes a good second showing. Italian meatball subs, polenta, baked ziti - all good stuff that shows up periodically on my table.

Well, Saturday night another dish joined the ranks - manicotti. I've made it before but for some reason I never think of it. Hubby mentioned having some at work and it sparked my brain into making it at home. I'm glad I did because it was easy and tasty, plus it made a nice change from the spaghetti. I made it with Italian sweet sausage, lots of onion and ricotta for the filling - but there are tons of variations. The one downfall was using an "on sale" marinara sauce. Man, the sauce does matter; don't just grab any old cheapie thing. Normally, manicotti takes tubular pasta but I like using the big shells.

Here's my version for your reading pleasure:

1 box large shell pasta (I used Barilla - my usual pasta)
Olive oil
One jar of marinara (get the best you can find)
1 package of Italian sweet sausage
1/2 large sweet onion, finely chopped
Salt, pepper, nutmeg
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Boil the pasta according to the package directions. Once they are done, drain and rinse in cool water.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, heat two tablespoons (or so) of olive oil in a large pan and saute the onions for about three minutes. Add the sausage, crumbling it up into small chunks as it cooks. Lightly pepper and salt the cooking sausage and onions. Cook until meat is no longer pink, remove from the heat.

Mix ricotta, beaten egg and parmesan in a large bowl. Add teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, and a couple dashes of nutmeg. Mix well. When the meat mixture has cooled slightly, add it to the ricotta mixture, blending well.

Pour approximately 1/3rd of the sauce onto the bottom of your baking dish, spread to coat. Using a large spoon, fill each cooked shell with a scoop of the sausage mixture. Place each shell in the dish, top the shells with the remaining sauce and mozzarella. Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes.

Chang chang chang-it-ty chang
shoo-bop
That's the way it should be
Wha oooh yeah!

A little oomph

Some days just take a little more oomph to get rolling. Whether it is the blahs, the blues or the I-just-don't-wanna-get-ups, there are days that make you want to give up on the world - at least for awhile.

For those days, sometimes I make a mental list of things I'm grateful for; not "big" things like NR or a roof over our heads, but little things - things that make life infinitely more pleasant or a rotten job slightly less unpleasant. Today is one of those days and here is one of those lists:

salted caramel hot cocoa - a new cocoa at Starbucks that is so delicious that I broke my sugar reduction plan to have it. Now, darn it, I need to figure out how to make it at home on the cheap and without sugar.

disposable latex gloves - when you have to do the bathroom cleaning and you have two males in the house - enough said.

a fresh mop for cleaning the tub and the glass shower doors - something that keeps me from kneeling into a wet tub or shower, sniffing cleaner fumes? Yeah, that's good.

a nearby library with online browsing - wow, has this saved me money from the bookstore. Just the place to feed my mania...err...passion for new topics.

new authors of good fiction - better yet when the books are at the library. Check out Brunonia Barry's "The Lace Reader" and Laura Dietz's "The Tenth House" - good ones for October.

earl grey tea - some days just need tea with bergamot.

casseroles - for when dinner has to be hot, easy and comforting.

favorite movies on dvd - some days just need a viewing of Almost Famous or Emma.

a clean kitchen, washed and folded laundry, new rolls of toilet paper - fresh starts can be very satisfying.

What's on your list?

The reality of economics in your stomach

We all know that prices are up for everything. Gas, heating oil, energy, the stuff traded on commodities boards. We all know (or at least have heard) that our economy is hanging by a thread, unless something is done. It's the something that has most people stymied.

I'm no economist but I've been noticing higher and higher grocery bills and I wondered just how much more I'm paying. Turns out, it is alot.

According to the Consumer Price Index (you can check it out at bls.gov), everyday foods are up from last year. Here are a few eyeopeners from the August report:

bread: this staple is up 16% from August 2007.
eggs: up 7%, nothing to cluck about for sure.
chicken: up almost 5% - a wing's worth.
ground beef: is up almost 8%
apples: up almost 19%, that's a serious bite.
potatoes: 29% more for your spuds

The list goes on and on, just like the grocery bill. So, to eat the same foods you ate last year, you have to spend significantly more money.

Well, we can all go on diets based up on the CPI and look for low cost foods (oranges and bacon are good choices - doesn't that sound yummy...) or we can figure out how to get our food for less. Just like dieting, these ideas aren't news - we all know that menu planning, eating home, using leftovers, shopping coupons and avoiding convenience food saves money. But with the new CPI report coming out in October, we might have even more incentive to put those good ideas into practice.

Here's one way (more to come) that you can save some cash on a convenience food. Make your own Biscuit/Pancake mix*:

6 cups all purpose flour
3 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1 cup instant nonfat dry milk
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup vegetable shortening

Combine flour, baking powder, powdered milk and salt and stir until well mixed. Blend in the shortening until the mix resembles coarse meal. Put the mix in a self sealing bag, label, date and refrigerate for up to six weeks.

Now, use that mix for casseroles and other dishes that serve up some leftovers. Here are a couple to get you started.

*Recipe found in the book "Homemade" - see the widget at the bottom of the page for a link to it. There are other versions with variations; check Google.

Remember K-TEL?

Back when music came on records, did anybody else buy those "greatest hits" compilations put out by K-TEL? I know that I had a few of them in the 80s, back when I was awfully fond of Lionel Richie, Thriller and Wham. Thank goodness tastes change. Although, strangely, I'm still usually listening to 70s and 80s music. Hmmm.

I mention K-TEL because my one year blogiversary is coming up in a couple of days and I thought that I would look back to what I posted way way way back last year (forever on the Internets, don't you know...). Unlike K-TEL, I don't know that I'd call these greatest hits, but it's fun to look through the bargain bin just the same.

For those who are long time readers (Hi, Mom and B) you might recognize my various fads; for the rest, I'm spinning some of the oldies:

My fascination with France: Onion Soup, scrambled eggs and a little peek into homemaking in la maison.

To Russia with love: a stew (see the comments for the recipe) and tea.

Waxing Nostalgic: brigadoon, June Cleaver, and aprons.

Thanks to all of you for visiting my blog and posting your wonderful comments. I really appreciate it.

Random Recipe Monday - Pumpkin Dumplings

The word "dumpling" is so cute, don't you think? It conjurs images of "The Apple Dumpling gang" and big pots of chicken n' dumplings, and fat cheeked babies. It also makes me think of wonderful dim sum meals and things savory. That's good news because I'm trying to cut back on sugar. I know, no fun that's for sure. It certainly puts a crimp in my cupcake baking. But I can still make dumplings - especially savory ones.

"Pumpkin" is another cute word. My favorite word for adorable children, actually. It's also a versatile veggie that works for both sweet and savory dishes. So, just imagine when these two language lovelies get together. Voila, .pumpkin dumplings that work well with fall flavors.

More like gnocchi than your grandma's dumplings, the flavor is mild and more about the butter that the dumplings are sauted in, rather than a burst of pumpkin (I said no sugar, not fat...). You could amp up the taste by increasing the nutmeg but I like them a little more mellow, a little more of a background player to grilled kielbasa or pork chops. A little sage in the butter might be nice and I'll try that next time. But like all good dumplings, the pleasing and the plump goes hand in hand and that's what makes them good.

Whoa, Nellie

My head is spinning. I'm listening to news, trying to get a handle on everything that is happening right now. WAMU, bailouts, debate on, debate off, debate on...everything is spinning.

My first thought was a song (which is usually the case - former singer). I couldn't stop thinking about REM's "It's the end of the world as we know it". I was going to link the video. But I couldn't. If ever we were in need of shiny, happy thoughts, it is now.


Hang on folks, there is a heck of a ride ahead of us. I don't like spinning rides but I fear there isn't much chance of this one ending anytime soon.

An apple a day...

Have you noticed that apples don't taste like apples anymore? Though not a fan of the Wachowski Bros, I must say that the scene from the Matrix where the character Mouse says "You take chicken, for example: maybe they couldn't figure out what to make chicken taste like, which is why chicken tastes like everything" has been on my mind. That's how I feel about apples now.

Apples taste like each other or nothing, depending upon the apple. Sure, some are more sour - granny smith apples hit pucker sooner than golden delicious, but the quintessential appleyness seems to be missing from the fruit at the grocery.

And no wonder. Out of the 17,000 different kinds of apples recorded over history, how many are left? A handful, a basket full - not even a bushel. I bet the local grocery store has five or six, tops. Talk about disappointing.

So I'm on a quest. To find the apple. The real taste of an apple. Not the bland juiciness of a fuji or the mushy graininess of a red delicious. I want to find out what apples really taste like - the apples from the past, when apples had flavor. (You know, back in the same time when roses actually had a scent. When we hadn't bred everything away for perfection.)

This weekend, we'll be heading to the local farms to see what's out there. I don't expect really exotic selections like the Allum or the Arkansas Black, but perhaps we'll find some gravensteins or pippins. Something with some character, some flavor, some zip.

Foodhistory's chart of apples will be on my bookmarks for awhile while I scratch this apple itch. Maybe I'll even look for a variety or two to plant in my own yard. I can't help wondering when we all decided that blemish-free fruit was better than flavorful fruit? Is a year round supply of bland better than a few months of wonderful? I think not.

If you have any favorite apple varieties, please let me know so I can look for a local sample. I'd love to try them.