Main Dish
As those of you that know us , you know that Jim does not cook very often, but I have to tell you when he does it is ALWAYS delicious! This particular recipe is his own recipe that he adapted from HIS Mom’s recipe! We all love this recipe, although it does take most of the day and does have a number of ingredients. I can promise you not only will your house smell soooo good all day long I also know that you will enjoy it and an added bonus… it feeds a crowd!
INGREDIENTS for sausage and sauce
6 hot sausage links
6 sweet sausage links
2 cans (28 ounces) diced tomatoes
2 cans (6 ounces) tomato paste
1 small onion, diced
1 green bell pepper , diced
3 ounces of white wine (any kind YOU like)
2 cloves crushed garlic
Salt
Pepper
12 ounces of water
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon parsley
INGREDIENTS for meatballs
1 1/2 pound 85% ground beef
1 egg
1/8 cup of milk (we use 1%)
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 tablespoon of the spaghetti sauce
Salt
Pepper
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon parsley
Pinch of rosemary
Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1 pound of thin spaghetti (boiled for 9 minutes). In a LARGE saucepan start by browning the sausage links. Remove links from pan. Using the same pan, add the diced, onions, peppers and the crushed garlic cloves along with the wine, salt and pepper. When the onions and peppers are soft, add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, water, basil, oregano, parsley,and sugar. Bring to a boil for 3 minutes. Turn heat down to a simmer. Add the sausages back into the saucepan with the sauce.
While tomato sauce simmers it is time to make the meatballs. Mix ALL of the meatball ingredients together. Roll into any size meatball you like and add the meatballs into the sauce and simmer for three hours.
Enjoy!
I know everyone has their own meatloaf recipe or maybe their Mom’s, but I can promise you this meatloaf recipe is NOT like any of the recipes you have had. The only thing you may recognize is the ketchup-brown sugar topping. This topping compliments the spice of the meat nicely! When meatloaf is on the table at our house everyone is at the table ready to eat and calling dibs on any leftover’s! I hope you enjoy it as much as my family does!
INGREDIENTS
1 Pound Jimmy Dean “HOT” sausage
1/2 pound ground beef
3/4 cup milk ( I use 1%)
2 eggs
Salt
Pepper
1 small onion, diced
3/4 cup Ritz crackers ( or plain Panko crumbs)
TOPPING
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Add all the Ingredients in a large Ziploc bag or a large mixing bowl (except topping ingredients). Mix all ingredients until well combined. Place mixture on a baking sheet and form into one large “loaf”. Combine topping ingredients in a small bowl, mix well.
Pour topping mixture over the meatloaf covering the top and sides of the “loaf”.
Bake for one hour or until juices run clear.
Enjoy,
Boston, an amazing City! With the recent death of two firefighters and the soon to be one year anniversary of the marathon bombings, I thought I’d take some time out and post about our day in this wonderful City. Living so close, we spent last Sunday watching the Boston Red Sox at Fenway park! We have been to Boston many times, sadly much of our time spent there has been for various doctors appointments for both of our kids. Most of our time being spent at Boston Children’s Hospital. We are VERY fortunate to live so close to some of the most talented doctors in the world. They saved Robby’s life when he was a freshman in high school. He had a staph infection and was treated by the emergency room staff along with the orthopedic doctors and a brain surgeon. Robby had to have fluid drained from both sides of his spine and this was done by the brain surgeon. After five nights at the hospital, Robby was treated at home with a visiting nurse team and many more trips to Boston over the next eight weeks! Boston Children’s Hospital also diagnosed Amanda 7 years ago with Ehler’s Danlos Disease after spending many days/weeks/months/years locally trying to find an answer. Thankfully, we are not making THOSE visits as often as we used to! I have the highest respect for ALL of the Boston hospitals. They are all truly amazing with the best staff you could ever imagine! Our visit to Boston last Sunday was to Fenway Park with my brother-in-law Paul, and his wife Cindy! Sunday was a gorgeous day! The sun was out, but it was a little windy but we were okay with that as it seemed as Spring had finally arrived in the New England area!!!
So, since this is a food blog, I have to tell you about some of the food at Fenway park! When you get into the park area there are street vendors with roasted peanuts, pistachios and cashews. Then there are various vendors selling fish and chips, but OUR favorite was the sausage with peppers and onions and what goes best with sausage…a cold beer! 
There are also many street performers, stilt walkers playing with the kids, small bands playing and lots of photographers ready to take your picture! We also made out way into one of the OFFICIAL stores of the Boston Red Sox. They have everything you can imagine or possibly want! Cindy and I both found a Red Sox shirt for the minimal price of $90.00 (sorry Jim and Paul , it was a must have! ) In all fairness, Jim did pick the shirt out!! After our little shopping extravaganza we made our way to our seats! Our seats were great. We had swivel chairs and a table in front of us and we could see the game and players without any problem! Behind us we had a deck area along with a food vending area! Not too shabby! The one and only downside of the seats was that we were in the SHADE! So being in the shade with a little wind it was chilly! They serve a lot of food in the park. Chicken fingers, fries, pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, sausage, peanuts and the famous LOBSTER ROLL! Between Jim and Paul they ate their way through the menu that day! Not a crumb could be found!
We watched the game with great sadness as the Red Sox were not playing well and never pulled out of it. They lost 4 – 0! UGH! That is okay, we love our Red Sox and look forward to a great season ahead! As I close this post, please take some time to think about those in Boston that have been effected by the recent fire, last year’s bombing and ALL of the police, firefighters and hospital personnel that helped all of these people and others each day. Thank your local police and firefighters for the work they do for us too!
I am not sure this even qualifies as a recipe as it is only TWO ingredients, so simple and so delicious! I had planned on making this recipe one evening, so I put the sauce on the shrimp to marinade that morning, well …..I did not make the shrimp that night but made it the next evening, I was worried that the sauce would completely overwhelm the shrimp, but that was not the case! The shrimp were so good… I cannot wait to make them again!
INGREDIENTS
1 pound large shrimp, peeled, deveined (tail on or off)
1 bottle Frank’s Red Hot Sweet Chili Sauce
Skewers, that have been soaked in water
DIRECTIONS
Place the shrimp in a container and cover with the sauce. I used about half of the bottle. Let marinate for up to 24 hours. When getting ready to grill, skewer the shrimp and grill over medium heat until the shrimp turn pink. Take off the grill and Enjoy!
This is the best cornbread recipe I have ever made. This comes from the website allrecipes.com. I have been making this for over five years now and cannot be happier with the results. This is a simple recipe that takes about ten minutes to put together then 30-40 minutes in the oven, sounds simple right? Well, it is ! The biggest and only suggestion I would give you, and I would strongly suggest it, is to have ALL of your ingredients measured and ready to go as this is a very quick working recipe! Try it , I know you will enjoy it, so much better than the box stuff and just as simple to make!
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup butter (no salt)
2/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs (beaten)
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8 inch square pan. Melt butter in a LARGE. Remove skillet from heat and stir in sugar. Quickly stir in eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into mixture Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended. Some lumps will remain. Pour batter into prepared 8×8 pan. Bake in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (mine took 32 minutes).
Enjoy,
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