Italian Chicken Sausage Quick Meal

I tried to think of a fancy name for this recipe, but it's pretty straight forward. Don't let the lack of my imagination in the name department turn you away however, because this recipe is simple, has minimal ingredients, and taste fabulous! The featured ingredient in this recipe is Al Fresco Sweet Italian Sausage. Al Fresco has an entire line of gluten free chicken and turkey products that are also free of artifical ingredients, nitrates/nitrites, MSGs, and preservatives. Not all of their products are dairy free, so be sure to read the ingredients if this is a concern for you. The local IGA in Remington carries this brand along with most Meijer stores.
This recipe also calls for a microwave steamer. If you don't own one, I highly suggest investing in one (or two!). They are an excellent kitchen utensil for the on-the-go cook! I used the Large Pampered Chef Steamer in this recipe. The small Pampered Chef Steam is also great for vegetables.

Italian Chicken Sausage, Pepper, Onion, and Potatoes

Ingredients:

1 package of Al Fresco Sweet Italian Sausage, sliced into rounds

1 green bell pepper, cut into chunks/squares

1 red onion, cut into medium chunks/squares

5 idaho potatoes, washed and cubed

1 tablespoon olive oil

Seasoning Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

Directions:

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in large skillet. Add sausage, bell pepper, and onion. Cook on medium heat until cooked thouroughly, approximately 10-15 minutes.

Place the potatoes in a microwave steamer. Season with pepper and seasoning salt. to microwave steamer. Microwave on high for 5-10 minutes, depending on the power of your  microwave. If you are unsure, start at 5 minutes, then add 2 minutes at a time.

The end result?

Meat & Veggies cooking on the stove

Potatoes still steaming!!

Meal complete in approximately 30 minutes!

Mothers always know best

And they are usually right too, even when you think you've "won", the glory is usually short lived when someway, somehow, it hits you. She was right!. I had one of those moments this morning. For the most part, I have truly enjoyed the mother/daughter relationship dynamic of my twenties. Phone conversations everyday about grown up topics, surprising her with gifts she has always wanted with my adult salary, planning my wedding, and asking for advice on how to be a good wife. However, as she often likes to remind me, she will "always be my mother" which entails protecting me and looking out for my well-being....even when it infuriates me.
One way she does this, is buying me things that she feels is crucial to my survival, even if I already have a dozen. "One more doesn't hurt" she says, or "this one is better" she explains. Even when I see no logical use for the item in my life, "There will be a day when you need it". I know I will never win the battle of explaining to her my lack of need for this item, no matter how subtle or blunt I am, yet I still feel the need to challenge her motherly instinct.
This Christmas, she gave me one of these things, which is a pretty common household item, a box of Q-tips she found on sale. My first daughterly rebelious thought was, why would she feel the need to buy Q-tips on sale, they only cost about $3.00 anyway. I can surely afford a box of Q-tips. My second, less rebelious but still frustrated thought was, why out of all the gifts and stocking stuffers she has gotten us, would she hold on to this box of Q-tips just for me to take home, four hours away? With it being Christmas, I decided not to challenge her to a verbal debate over Q-tips. I thanked her, tossed the box of Q-tips in with all the other wonderful gifts her and my stepdad showered us with, and went on my merry way. Once home, I put the box under the sink with all our other surplus supplies, and forgot about them.
Forgot about them that is, until this morning. I am a Q-tip junkie, which is perhaps why my mother felt the need to get me a large box and two additional travel packs in my Christmas stocking. I find at least four uses for a Q-tip every day. This morning at 7:00a, I reached for my daily Q-tip fix in the top drawer only to find I was out. Instantly I was annoyed seeing how I was just at Wal-Mart and CVS the day before. And then I remembered Mom had gotten me a box for Christmas. I was so excited to not have to waste another lunch break to the store and go all day with the feeling of wet ears. Then another thought hit me, of that Christmas visit where I was so annoyed with this small gesture and the seemingly uneeded box of Q-tips. I smiled and shook my head. I will have to call her this evening and thank her for always thinking of me, let her know that she will always be my mother, no matter how old I get, and at least this time, she did know best.

My mom and I at our wedding.

Picture taken by Marvelous Things Photography

First Recipe Post

I know, I know! I promised I'd also share gluten/dairy free recipes for all you allergy friendly cooks out there! With my last basketball season as cheer coach under full swing, it has been difficult to cook gourmet GF/DF recipes lately. However, just because life gets busy, doesn't mean my food sensitivites go away. Which brings me to my inspiriation for the next few posts, quick, easy, and scrumptious recipes for the busy woman! It is a common but understandable myth that gluten/dairy free cooking is complicated and time consuming. I say understandable because I have spent a lot of time with my nose buried in cookbooks and magazines that would appear to prove this myth as true. Now don't get me wrong, if you are wanting to make a bread from complete sratch, be prepared to spend several hours in the kitchen, which I do when time allows me. However, in my almost three years as having a diet completely free of gluten, dairy, and red meat I have conjured up several of my own delicious dishes that do not required a cookbook or internet search! And remember, most of these ingredients can be adjusted to fit your allergy needs. If I say soy cheese but you don't have a dairy allergy, then please indulge in some creamy mozerella for those of us that can't!

Quick Bake Mini Pizzas

Ingredients:

1 jar of pizza sauce or italian style marinara (if you are watching your sugar, be sure to pick one with low grams of sugar)

Small 100% soft corn tortillas (rice tortillas also work, but are larger)

1 bag of soy shredded mozeralla cheese

1 teaspoon of olive oil

Pizza Toppings (of choice). I use:

1 package of turkey pepperonis

1/2 chopped green pepper

1/2 chopped onion

1 roma tomato (sliced)

Fennel Seed (if you like)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Quick sautee the green pepper, onion, and other veggies of choice in 1 teaspoon of olive oil until just softened.

Place tortilla shells on a greased cook sheet/pizza pan. Use as many as you like for how many people you are serving. Spread pizza sauce on tortillas. Sprinkle fennel seed on the sauce. Add pepperonis, then sauteed vegetables, tomato slices, and finally cheese. It is important that you put SOY cheese on last, as it takes longer to melt, so you want it to have the most exposure.

Cook in oven approximately 15-20 minutes until cheese melts. If this is your first time using soy cheese, a lot of brands do not melt to the consistency of dairy cheese. If the rest of your ingredients are cooked, but the cheese is still not quite melted to your preference, just pop it in the microwave for about 30 seconds.

Our Lucky Penny

“Why do you still have that?” our 4 year old niece asked pointing to Penny’s pink collar on the end table. “To always remember her by” I answered. “What was her name again?” she asked.

“Penny.”

Instantly there was a spark in her eye all children get when they remember something, and a smile full of memories lit up her face as she exclaimed “Penny!”

We did not know much about Penny’s passed before we got her. The rescue was able to tell us that she was confiscated from her home with three other Cane Corsos. One of her siblings had been put down, one had just been rescued, and the fate of the third was unknown. She did not have a name when the rescue got her, so they named her Penelope.  She was somewhat familiar with the name, so we did not want to change it completely, but the picture of my husband yelling “Penelope” across the yard was too hilarious. “What about Penny?” I asked on the ride home from the rescue. It was a shortened version of her name and her beautiful fawn coat had a copper tint to it. Penny it was.

Penny was loved by everyone that met her. She had a timid personality at first, but quickly warmed up to people. She was excellent with other dogs, and made a best friend in my brother and Kalyn’s dog, Scooby. Their reunions could’ve been out of a movie, the way they’d run at each other in complete joy and delight as if they hadn’t seen each other for 50 years. The rescue did not misspeak when they said she loved to be petted either. You could pet her for the entire length of a movie and if you stopped, she would quickly be nudging your arm with her head to continue.

Not only did she love to be lazy, she also loved to exercise. We often took her to parks or open fields to just walk around and explore. When she stayed with our nieces, she slept by their bed the entire night, just like she did at our home. It amazes me how such a short period of time with someone or something can have such a profound impact on your life. We only had Penny for 4 months before she passed away, but the memories we made with her will last for a lifetime.

It is difficult when I reflect on Penny to keep my mind from going directly to that dreadful day in July when we found her unable to move in our home. Penny had a genetic condition called intervertebral disc disease, a term we’d never heard until that night at the Purdue Animal Clinic. The disease can either show itself through symptoms slowly over time, or present suddenly in a dramatic fashion. Penny’s was the latter. The deteriorating disc in her back ruptured without notice, damaging her spinal cord and causing her to lose several functions, including her ability to walk. She was in so much pain; it took us two hours to get her into the vehicle and to the clinic. Once there, they informed us of her disease and the severity of her injuries. We said goodbye to her that night.

The shock of losing her so suddenly did not just affect us, but our family and friends as well. We were showered with sympathy cards, visitors, phone calls, tears, and laughter. I do not feel this reaction was a reflection of us or what type of caretakers we were at all, but the type of dog she was. My mother in law helped put the entire situation into perspective best for me. Penny’s fate was sealed since she was born with her genetic condition. However, she got to spend her last few months, not in a cage at a rescue or animal shelter, but in a home filled with laughter, warmth, and love. She got to experience family, good meals, children’s laughter, hugs and kisses every day, and had a warm bed to curl up in every night.

As hard as it was losing Penny, it is because of her that we adopted Pacino. Rescuing again was not about replacing Penny, but helping other Cane Corsos that were in her same situation, misunderstood, mistreated, and abandoned, and giving them a loving home with owners that have the patience to teach them, understand their breed and personalities, and won’t abandoned them at the first sign of “behavioral issues”. So now we've started a new journey, with a extra large, fun loving, sweet, and stubborn boy named Pacino, and we will always hold a special place in our hearts for our Penny Girl.



Penny with our niece Kami



Penny taking a break at the park

 

Penny Girl



Cane Corso Puppies for Sale

I had only dozed off for a second. I woke up to the feeling of something cold and wet running down my scalp. As my eyes opened, I saw an oversized droopy face about 5 inches from my own. Our 130 lb. Cane Corso Mastiff had just got a drink of water and decided my hair needed a little of his homemade product. I yelled at my husband “Get me the towel!”, a phrase that had become very common in our household. I wiped the slobbery goop out of my hair, rubbed his head and gave him a big kiss. There is no amount of slobber that can keep me from loving this dog unconditionally. Our story rescuing dogs, however, began before our extra large rambunctious boy, with a gentle-hearted girl named Penelope, or “Penny girl”.

My husband had rescued boxers growing up, so there was no question that our first dog as a married couple would also be a rescue, but choosing a breed to best fit our personality and lifestyle was another story. My husband always joked he wanted a Great Dane or Mastiff, but one look around our small newlywed home I thought he was certifiable insane. One day, as we were at the pet store with my brother and his girlfriend buying treats for their fun loving rescue dog, Scooby, my husband noticed an ad on the bulletin board, “Cane Corso Mastiff puppies for sale”. New things always spark Braden’s curiosity, and this breed was something he’d never heard of. He immediately began researching the breed. We soon agreed this was the right dog for us. Smaller than an English Mastiff, but extremely athletic and muscular, Cane Corso’s have an excellent temperament, are unconditionally loyal companions to their owners, love children and other animals if socialized correctly, and make excellent guard dogs. They are very smart, easily trainable, have good memories, and are very aware of their surroundings and people, being able to sense dangerous situations and their owner’s emotions.

At the advice of my brother’s girlfriend and my best friend, Kalyn, we used the Pet Finder website to begin our search.  Once close to extinction, and just accepted into the AKC in 2010, we quickly learned that there weren’t many Cane Corso’s in our area, with the largest populations being on the east coast and in the southern states.  However, as anyone that has used Petfinder knows, their list of rescue animals is constantly changing. We soon saw a beautiful fawn girl named Penelope in Toledo, OH. My mom lives in Toledo, so it was easy for us to travel there. Before we knew it, we were traveling to Ohio to meet our potential new family member.

We walked into a back room and saw her lying there getting her belly scratched by one of the workers. They told us that she absolutely loves to be petted, and she preferred lying on the floor on her back over running and playing. All the workers agreed she was a favorite among them. She instantly took a liking to Braden, quietly walking over to him and lying there just as gentle as can be. Within a few hours, we were on our way home with our new girl. We brought an old comforter to cover the back seats on the ride home, not expecting it to be her permanent bedding. Little did we know that this very first encounter with something soft and warm would come to be her safe spot. It was hers from that day on.

Penelope on her favorite comforter