Dairy Free Chard and Sausage Pasta

Sometimes when a recipe is found, I immediately know it will be a winner. Fusilli with Spicy Sausage and Swiss Chard was one of those recipes.

Modifications Made:
Two links of sweet and three links of regular italian sausage were used instead of spicy sausage. One small onion, cut in half, then finely sliced into long thin slivers was cooked until soft in remaining sausage grease along with three teaspoons of minced garlic and one teaspoon of red pepper flakes. Frozen chard and one cup of reduced salt beef broth was added to onions and garlic mixture along with returned sausage crumbles and. Mixture was cooked until chard was soft and tender adding water as necessary. Al dente cooked noodles were added, seasoning was adjusted, and noodles finished cooking in mixture. Feta , oregano, and parsley were omitted.

Scaled for Likability: Great
Oh, this recipe would have been wonderful with feta crumbled atop. The saltiness of the feta to accent the sweet chard and sweet sausage. If not feta, then thick parm flakes. However, the pasta dish was fabulous without any cheese or milk or flour. Of course, half spicy sausage and half sweet sausage would have been great, too.

This was a simple meal providing plenty of room of modifications such as cheese, mushrooms, sweet onions, fennel (mmm), or mustard greens. What I would not change would be to switch out greens for spinach as the leaves are too tender, spiral pasta for thin noodles as the sauce needs the spirals to adhere into, or sausage exchanged for chicken or ground pork. Stick with the heavy greens and italian sausage but play with the rest.

Papas a La Mexicana (Ranchera)

It is a crying shame that there are six hens and not a egg in sight. What am I supposed to do with homemade ranchero sauce? Thankfully with a few quick searches of the internet a recipe from my hometown newspaper was discovered: Papas Ranchera . Not once in the thirty years I lived in my hometown did I ever eat at a local food joint serving papas rancheras. No time like the present to remedy this cultural dish. Because this recipe is hidden behind a paywall (grrr...) I have included it here for you: Servings: 4-6 Ingredients: 1 pound potatoes, diced 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/2 large onion 1 1/2 medium tomatoes 3 jalapenos 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup juice from canned tomatoes Instructions: Fry potatoes in vegetable oil until lightly browned (about 4-6 minutes). Saute onions, tomatoes, jalapenos until soft. Add garlic powder and salt. Add tomato juice until vegetables are covered (may need to add water). Bring to a boil and then add po...

Better Than Campbell's Old Fashion Vegetable Soup

Went to the store with the hopes of gathering fresh produce for soup. With more than 45 people in line for two packages of any meat product and the produce section containing only avocado, orange, and most randomly, strawberries, I settled upon canned soup. Well not canned soup since that section was still void of food, too. Instead soup made from canned goods as the canned vegetable section had been mostly restocked. Soups like this 15 Minute Vegetable Soup are ideal in dire food situations such as current times. Modifications Made: Plain petite diced tomatoes omitted, frozen carrots instead of canned, green beans and corn undrained, peas omitted (gross, nasty little pods), one cup celery, three cups diced potatoes, one can tomato sauce, two beef and two pollo de tomate bouillon cubes, six cups water. Once onions were softened, carrots/celery/potatoes/juice of green beans and corn, sauce, bouillon cubes, water were added and allowed to simmer until carrots almos...

Cold Corn Bean Salsa

Nothing says junk food like chips and salsa, chips and cheese dip, chips and guacamole. Over the years I have perfected my salsa. It's good on tacos, on nachos, on enchiladas, and of course on chips. Just because I have the best salsa doesn't mean I don't like to try new salsa's like this Best Black Bean and Corn Salsa. Modifications Made: Shoepeg corn was replaced with one can of standard yellow corn with no salt added. Petite diced tomatoes were reduced by half. Italian dressing was swapped for half teaspoon comino, half teaspoon of chili powder, and two tablespoon of fresh lime juice. Salsa was made and let rest for two hours before eating. Scaled for Likability: Good Salsa this was not. Good it was however. It was too much for chips by themselves but was great served over a soft beef taco.

Eating Waffles

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