Sliced Italian Sausage Hoagies

I saw a great idea on Rachael Ray last year and decided to change up my simple italian sausage recipe to include it. Instead of having a big italian sausage on your bun and having onions and peppers falling off every time you take a bite, slice the sausages after cooking and mix it in with the onions and peppers. It also allows you to have smaller portions and use smaller buns, such as hot dog buns if you want. I don't think I will ever serve sausages whole again.

Ingredients:
1 package mild Italian sausage(or whatever flavor your family likes)
Mixture of peppers-sweet and hot(again the kinds your family likes)
1 large onion sliced
4 garlic cloves, sliced
3/4 cup chicken broth
3 Tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon olive oil
Hoagie rolls
provolone cheese

Directions:

Place sausages in a frying pan with 1/4 inch water and bring to a boil.  Once it comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium and cover.  Cook until water evaporates.  Bring heat back up to high and cook outside of sausage, until brown.  

Remove and slice sausages into bite size slices. 

While sausages are cooking, in another frying pan, place oil, garlic, peppers, and onions in pan and cook at medium high for about 15 minutes, or until tender. 

Add tomato paste and broth to pepper mixture and heat through.  Once mixed and heated, add sliced sausage and combine.
Add mixture to a bun and place provolone cheese over mixture.  Broil until cheese is melted.  
 

Bread Machine English Muffins

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
3 1/4 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons yeast
*cornmeal(not used in breadmaker)  

Directions:

Place all above ingredients(except cornstarch) in bread maker as listed. Use dough cycle. Check after about 15 minutes to see if you need to add additional flour if sticky. Add tablespoon at a time if needed.

Once complete, spread cornmeal out on counter and pat out dough until 1/2 inch thick.

If you do not have english muffin cutter, you can use a cleaned out tuna can or biscuit cutter to cut out 14 or so english muffins.

Place on cornmeal coated Parchment paper. Sprinkle cornmeal on tops and cover for 20-30 minutes.

 Heat a griddle or oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle cornmeal on heated griddle or baking sheet and place english muffins on pans. If they have risen too high, you can smoosh them down some with spatula. Cook for 7 minutes on each side. Allow to cool and when ready to eat split with a fork not a knife, to get the famous nooks and crannies. These may be frozen.

Broccoli and Cheese Potato Soup

 I love this combination, but normally the fat and calories when I make this soup in the traditional way make it an unhealthy choice. I stumbled accross a new recipe with the same great taste minus the unhealthy fat and calories. I added more broccoli and broth to stretch this even further, which in turn decreased the calories even more. Most of the fat and calories in the tradional soup come from milk and butter, but this recipe has no butter and only 1/3 cup milk, but still taste very creamy. Ingredients 3 cups peeled and cubed potatoes 1 medium chopped onion 4 garlic cloves, minced 4 cups chicken broth 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1/8 teaspoon salt 5 cups frozen broccoli florets 3 tablespoons flour 1/3 cup fat-free milk 1/2 cup shredded cheese Minced fresh parsley Directions In a large sauce pan, combine first seven ingredients, bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, for 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Stir in broccoli; return to a boil. In a small bowl, whisk flour and milk until smooth; stir into soup. Cook and stir another 2 minutes more or until thickened. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Process in batches in a blender until smooth.
Return to pan; heat through. Sprinkle servings with cheese and parsley. When reheating leftovers you may need to add several tablespoons of water to thin it a bit. About 160 calories per serving and 4 grams of fat.

Copycat Red Lobster Coconut Shrimp and Sauce

We love coconut shrimp, but don't like paying over $10 a plate when we go out for dinner, so we decided to make our own. We were able to get huge shrimp for $6.99lb and purchased 2 lbs, which came out to 42 shrimp. this recipe turned out so well that we plan on doubling this recipe next time, so that we can freeze enough for other dinners. Ingedients 3 cups plain bread crumbs 3/4 cup cornstarch(mix with bread crumbs and coconut) 3 cups sweeted coconut flakes 1 1/2 cup pina colada mix(with the cocktail mixers)* 2 tablespoons powdered sugar 1 1/2 cup cornstarch Canola oil for frying 2 lbs large shrimp, remove shell and butterfly Pina Colada Dipping Sauce: 3 cups pina colada mix 3/4 cup water 6 tablespoons crushed pineapple 4 tablespoons sweetened coconut flakes 9 tablespoons powdered sugar 4 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch 9 teaspoons cold water * Directions Mix bread crumbs, 1/4 cup cornstarch, and coconut in a deep bowl and set aside. Combine pina colada mix and powdered sugar in a small bowl and set aside. Place 1/2 cup cornstarch in a separate bowl(add more as needed). Heat oil to 375 degrees for deep frying. Coat shrimp first in cornstarch, then in pina colada mix, then in bread crumb/coconut mixture, repeat for second coat. Place prepared shrimp in hot oil. Fry until golden brown, remove and drain. For pina colada dipping sauce: mix pina colada mix, water, pineapple, coconut, and powdered sugar in a sauce pan. Heat to medium low until sauce begins to simmer, stirring frequently. Let mixture simmer slowly 10-12 minutes. Mix cornstarch and cold water together, add to sauce and blend well. Let mixture simmer 3-5 minutes longer while stirring. Remove from heat and bring to room temperature. Sauce is served at room temperature with shrimp.

Changing up my Kinseo Taping for my trunk swelling.

I met with my le therapist about 2 weeks ago and we came up with some ideas to change up where I use Kinseo taping on my trunk area, since I have been having increased swelling, that has become very painful and affecting my daily activities. A couple days ago, we tried putting the anchor on my front and running strips to the back area, ending on my lower back. It would help to have pics, however, we do not have the tape right where we need it, so I don't want to post incorrect pics. We are still playing with what will work the best and I am measuring under my bust, waist, and hips daily to see how well(or not) the position of the Kinseo is affecting my swelling. Also, I keep a daily log on my weight, to keep a handle on swelling changes, which can go up by as much as 10lbs in a day. We were focused on my lower back and forgot to do ghe normal taping on my upper back, until I had a duh moment last night after suffering 2 full days and nights of severe neck pain. Put the upper back Kinseo tape on before bed last night and my neck pain was gone by this morning when I awoke. Last night I also taped a spot on the left front of my stomach, which is another swelling pocket. The pocket looked better this morning and I will continue to monitor. This fluid pouch has been a problem for several years and shows in some of my closer fitted shirts, so will be excited if this helps. I will keep this updated and once I have some success with the position of the Kinseo tape I will post pictures.

Gourmet Cream of Zucchini Soup

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Ingredients:

3 cups sliced onions
3 tablespoons margarine
4 cups shredded zucchini
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup chopped parsley
8 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt
dash of pepper
1 Tablespoon Mrs. Dash

Directions:

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 In a large kettle, saute onions in margarine till transparent.

Add rest of ingredients.  Cook until tender; cool, run through a blender.

Put back in kettle and bring to a boil, before serving.  Makes 2 quarts.

Spring afternoon in Urbanna, VA

 

Spent the afternoon in Urbanna recently and wanted to share some great and so/so places we found while we were walking around, enjoying a beautiful spring day.  Of course I had to take a picture of the water, because how could you not when you see the pretty blue water at the marina in town.  

We ate lunch at The Urbanna Oyster House on Virginia Street(the main drag of this small down).  Notice in the name it is a seafood restaurant and what does my husband order...a chili dog..omg of all things, once they said they had that he was a goner and had to order it.  The owner asked for feedback on the chili dog and my husband told them that it had too many beans to go on a hot dog for him, but it was okay.   I can not say anything about my husband ordering chili dogs at a seafood place because anytime I see claim strips, regardless of the type of restaurant I order them.  So for me I ordered claim strips and fries and they were just so/so.  Our 17 year old ordered Fried oysters and claim strips with fries and her order ended up being smaller than mine, but hers cost more.  We felt we had overpaid for the quality and quantity of our lunches.  Based on other reviews, we will not give this place a second chance.

The real reason for our visit to town, was that we fell in love with Taste of Urbanna, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Taste-Gourmet-Foods/228023167208059 last fall and had run out of some of the things we had purchased last fall and needed to restock.  Check out their facebook page, which will show events offered and has a link to their recipe blog.  We love going into the store, because they always have free samples, so you can try before you buy.  My husband's latest find was Wickles, which are spicy pickles.  We also love the Thai Plum Garlic sauce and use it for dipping dumplings or using in stir fries.  We have tried Pecan pie in a jar and omg you could eat it straight from the jar.  The store has furniture as well, which is reasonably priced and not your big box store thrown together stuff.  The pieces are quality made and have a one of the kind look.

We have gone several times to Cross Creek Coffee, across the street from Marshall's Drug store, on Cross Street.  Between last year and this year we have purchased tea, regular coffee, lattes, and a couple of different pastries.  Everything has been wonderful and this place has become a must stop when we come into town.  On this trip we got a Harvest cookie and it was so yummy.  I need to find a copycat recipe for these, because they would be great for a grab on the go breakfast for my family.

Next door to the coffee shop, is a thrift shop, that we cannot recall the name, but it is beside the coffee shop and right next to the road leading down to the marina.  The owner has been there since 1966 and has a wide assortment of things in the house and in the garage that you can look thru.  If you feel like digging you can find some interesting things and she is pretty interesting to talk to as well.

If you continue out of town on Virginia Street about 2 miles, you will see a store on the right called  Something Different Country Store & Deli.  This place is one of those places that once you go once, you will want to go over and over again.  They have smoked brisket and tri tip for you to try and once you do, you will have to order it.  In fact, they let you try whatever you want and seem proud of how they make their food and happy to see you enjoy it.  The more you enjoy, they more they grab something else for you to taste..  We stumbled on this place last year and love the owner and his stories.  Check out the link to see his stories, which are quite entertaining.   We have had the Tri tip, Brisket, and smoked ribs;  servings are large and delicious.  I have had the She-crab soup several times and love it, another must have when we go.  Take home the country sausage with sage, to have for breakfast the next morning.   They have home made ice cream, some of our favorites are White Peach, Cappalottachinomocha, and Buttered Pecan. 

These are just a couple of places in town, it is best to take an afternoon yourself and wander in and out of the places, which have so many different things to offer.