Spicy...whew...

Well...no picture...we sorta dove in to quickly cause we were hon-gree and just plain forgot!  Sorry.

I still had some Italian sausage left from the other day.  (Remember, I had the marvelous coupon and just had to use it.)  Today I decided to spice up an old favorite.  My darling husband/best friend cooked dinner one night (before he became the husband part of his name) and it still rotates into the dinner rounds quite often.  The original recipe is a package of Zatarain's Dirty Rice with browned sage sausage.  The box tells you how to do this with hamburger but we prefer the taste of the sausage.  Tonight I decided to expound on that recipe.

I took the rest of the Italian sausage out of their casing and put it in the skillet on medium high with one chopped onion, one chopped green pepper, one seeded and chopped jalapeno pepper and three chopped cloves of garlic and a splash of olive oil.  After the sausage was done and the peppers a little softened (about four minutes) I added one can of kidney beans and the Zatarain's mix with 2 cups of water.  I brought this to a boil and turned it down to a simmer and cooked it for about an hour.  We had some leftover raspberry tea to wash it down with...and man, did that hit the spot.  I will admit, this dish was on the verge of being a bit too spicy for me.  I think that jalapeno pepper was a hot one.  Sometimes they are real mild but sometimes, whew....sweating...

My darling husband/best friend took one bite and said, man-that's good.  Words to warm a cook's heart.  There is nothing like cooking for someone who truly appreciates your efforts. Thanks honey.

With no protein left in the house, I have no idea what tomorrow will bring to the dinner plate. That's exciting.  Maybe I will be able to pull out something brand new and complicated and try my hand at it.  Keep the Pizza Hut number handy...

Italian night! Yummmmm

 Italian night...yipee!!!  I love me some Italian food.  Who am I trying to kid, I love all food.  Except offal.  I don't like offal.  Anyway, on to the Italian discussion.  No leftovers to contend with, the fridge is all cleaned out, so I have a clean slate for a dinner decision.  One of my favorite go-to meals is spaghetti.  We went to the grocery store the other day and I had an excellent coupon for some Italian sausage.  Now, we don't normally buy and or eat such things because we are trying to..."lighten our load" to put it nicely. However, an excellent coupon just begs to be redeemed. So we bought a pack of Italian sausage.  And since we don't normally buy such things I had to put on my thinking cap on what to do with it.  I thought why not just add it to spaghetti sauce.

My go-to spaghetti sauce is so much better than any jarred sauce I have ever tried...and so easy to make.

Spaghetti Sauce

1 onion finely chopped
4 cloves garlic finely chopped
2 15oz cans petite diced tomato
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 Tbsp red paper flake (remember, we like it hot)
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion and garlic in some olive oil for about three minutes on medium.  Add everything else and simmer for at least an hour.  I let it go two if I have the time.  You want to end up with almost a paste, not much liquid.

When the sauce was done I took two of the Italian sausages and pinched off pieces creating small little chunks of sausage which I fried up real crisp and then added to the sauce.  I didn't cook the sausage in the sauce because I wanted that crispy texture to come through.

I always use Dreamfield pasta.  It is a higher fiber pasta that is better for you.  I cook it according to the package instructions and it is always good.

And of course you have to add the grated parmigiana cheese.  Wouldn't be the same without the cheese! Enjoy!