Herbed focaccia...

Today was a free day.  Breakfast was simply a bowl of cereal.  I didn't even bother to take a picture...corn Chex and Cherrios.  We skipped lunch for some much needed exercise.  We went to Pipstem State Park and ran the disc golf course.  Honestly, I did not make it for the full 18 holes.  The top 9 was about all I could manage.  My darling husband/best friend took on the second 9 and came back to tell me that it was very physically challenging.  Glad I opted out.  We plan to go play the top part of the course at least once a week.  Maybe after a few months of doing that I will be able to attempt the bottom 9.

When it came to fix dinner there was nothing new and exciting that I wanted to try, so I went to an oldie but a goodie.  Some times you just want to throw together something quick.

I don't normally buy bread becasue I love it a bit too much. but when I picked up the ciabatta rolls for the burgers I could not resist the loaf of herbed focaccia bread that was sitting right beside the rolls.  And knowing I DID NOT want that bread to go stale or mold or anything stupid like that I decided to have it for dinner.  And nothing goes with herbed focaccia like spaghetti.  I wanted something a bit spicy so I replaced one can of petite dices tomatoes with a can of the salsa style roasted tomatoes.  Other than that, the recipe is the same as a previous post.  I like to roast my own peppers and such but some days you just have to take advantage of what is already available.  It's nice to have a go to meal that comes together quickly yet is very satisfying.

and the bread lived up to my expectations.  Yummmm

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!