Tag Archives: turkey sausage

Turkey Sausage and Spinach Lasagna

July 29, 2014
Shannon
1 comment
cheese, food, pasta, spinach, turkey sausage

I don’t know what has happened to me but I think I’ve turned into a little girl again getting all giddy every time Frozen comes on television. The past couple of weekends, I’ve been getting ready to cook some food and scroll through the tv stations for background noise only to find Frozen on one of the cable channels. When I see it’s on, I can’t help but turn it on. And yes, I sing at the top of my lungs. Frozen has become one of those movies I turn on whenever it’s on. I’m even pretty darn close to downloading it. I mean, I have a niece who turns six on Friday so I should at least download it so I have it available for her to watch when she visits, right? It only seems like the right thing to do. Anyway, one dish I made while belting out Let It Go was this Turkey Sausage and Spinach Lasagna.

Hot turkey sausage, fresh spinach, shallots and garlic are the basis of this lasagna which is layered with no-boil lasagna noodles, ricotta cheese, and a béchamel white sauce. Topped with mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses, this tomato-less lasagna is creamy, a little spicy, and a lot flavorful. It makes six servings so this is a great meal for a family or easy to portion control for lunches or dinner leftovers. Maybe you won’t feel like making lasagna during the summer but after watching Frozen for the umpteenth time, I felt like having a warm meal. Do you want to build a snowman?

If you like this, check out Turkey Lasagna.

Weigh or lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, milk, stock, oil and bay leaf in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring with a whisk. Cook 8 minutes or until thick and bubbly, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; stir in salt and pepper. Spread 1 cup milk mixture in bottom of an 11 x 7-inch glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons water and spinach to pan; cook 2 minutes or until spinach wilts. Drain spinach, pressing until barely moist. Increase heat to medium-high. Remove casings from sausage. Add sausage to pan; cook 4 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Remove sausage from pan. Add shallots and garlic to pan; sauté 2 minutes. Stir in remaining milk mixture, spinach, and cooked sausage. Remove pan from heat.

Arrange 2 noodles over milk mixture in baking dish; top with 1/2 cup ricotta and one-third spinach mixture. Repeat layers twice. Sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375°F for 40 minutes. Remove foil.

Preheat broiler to high. Broil 4 minutes or until cheese is golden brown.

Let stand 10 minutes.

Additions: None

Omissions: None

Substitutions: None

Overall Rating: Love It

Source: Cooking Light magazine

Kale, Bean and Sausage Stew

February 10, 2014
Shannon
1 comment
beans, food, kale, soup, tomatoes, turkey sausage

Here we go again with the Olympics. I feel like it was not so long ago when I was writing about how I was spending my entire Saturdays and Sundays watching the summer Olympics. My how time flies. Before the opening ceremonies on Friday, I started to watch the very first competitions on Thursday but just couldn’t do it. I was so sick of the cold and snow and ice that the last thing I wanted to do was watch it on TV. But then the opening ceremonies happened and my patriotic spirit was tapped and I’ve been glued to events I wouldn’t normally think twice about ever since. I’d been excited all week to spend some time in my kitchen making some good food this weekend but when Saturday came and I got sucked into figure skating, I suddenly didn’t want to be in the kitchen. Fortunately, this Kale, Bean & Sausage Stew was so simple that I didn’t have to work too hard and it basically cooked itself.

Smoked sausage, cannellini beans, and kale are cooked with fire-roasted tomatoes to make a hearty and flavorful stew. Smoked paprika (which you may remember is my favorite spice ever) adds another layer of smokiness making this stew hit a smoky trifecta. The sausage and creamy beans give this stew some real heft while the kale adds an earthy yet fresh addition (the recipe calls for swiss chard but any leafy green will do). This stew came together quickly and was everything I could have asked for in a stew. It was the perfect warm lunchtime meal to be slurping down while I sat on my couch cuddled up in blankets watching the Olympics.

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until golden, about 7 minutes. Add the sausage and cook until browned, about 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and paprika and cook for 1 minute.

Stir in the tomatoes and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring, until almost dry, 2 minutes. Add 6 cups water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, stir in the beans and simmer for 15 minutes.

Stir in the greens and simmer until tender, about 5 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper.

Additions: None

Omissions: None

Substitutions:

Kale

Overall Rating: Love It

Source: Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine

Slow-Cooker Beer-Braised Smoked Sausages and Onion

This weekend is the Super Bowl and, as if we don’t turn on the news every single night and have to constantly hear about the Polar Vortex and how cold it is outside, the biggest story surrounding the big game is what will the weather be like. Like the organizers of the Super Bowl didn’t know when they chose East Rutherford, New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium that it didn’t have a DOME and that it could be cold, and possibly snowy, in January. So when the news people finally stop talking about the weather and move on to sports, we still have to hear about the weather. Sorry, but isn’t the Super Bowl about football? Anyway, whether you are having people over for the game or sitting at home watching the game alone, why not make some fun food just because you can? These Slow-Cooker Beer-Braised Smoked Sausages and Onion are an easy food to throw together and forget about for several hours.

Smoked sausages with cheese (I used Johnsonville’s Turkey Sausage with Cheddar) are browned in a skillet before being layered into a slow-cooker with butter, grainy mustard, brown sugar, caraway seeds, and onions before being bathed with your favorite beer. After a couple of hours, these sausages take on a completely differently unique – and amazing – flavor. If you are like me and never really knew what caraway seeds tasted like, they taste like rye bread which I happen to love. I’ve eaten these particular sausages before and this recipe completely transforms their flavor. Serve these on your favorite roll or eat them plain for the game this weekend and maybe you might not care a lick about the weather.

The ingredients:

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausages and brown on all sides, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, coat the bowl of a slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Place butter, brown sugar and mustard in slow cooker; stir in onions, caraway seeds, salt and pepper. Place sausages over onions and pour beer over the top.