Pork
This week I am sharing some of my favorite things! I’m starting with this pasta dish that was delicious. It does take a bit of work and time but it was well worth it. Jim has been asking for this again and again. I shared some with a neighbor and she enjoyed it as much as we did. There are so many great flavors in this dish, the spicy sausage, the sweet sun dried tomatoes and the peppery arugula! Perfect on one of these cold snowy days we seem to be having!
INGREDIENTS
1 pound spicy Jimmy Dean sausage
1 large onion, diced
2 cups of heavy cream
2 1/2 cups of gruyere cheese, divided
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese
1 cup of chopped sun dried tomatoes
2 cups of mixed spinach and arugula
1 Package Farfalle pasta
DIRECTIONS
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a large pan, add the sausage and start to brown, remove fat if needed and add the diced onion. Continue to brown the sausage and let the onion soften. When cooked through, Add cream, cream cheese and 1 cup of the gruyere cheese and stir until creamy. Add the nutmeg, sun dried tomatoes, arugula and spinach stir to combine. Once the spinach and arugula are wilted remove from heat.
Boil the pasta according to the package directions . When the pasta is done, drain and add the sauce mixture. Pour into a 9×13 baking dish top with remaining cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes until heated through and cheese is melted.
Serve warm.
Enjoy!
I don’t make pork chops very often but once in a while Jim will ask for them. So when he asked this time, I knew I wanted to add a lot of flavor as I’m not a huge fan of pork chops. I don’t think there is ever enough flavor and can be dry. So when I came across this simple recipe with some bold flavors I knew I wanted to try it. I served it with a side salad and dinner was done and Jim was a happy guy!
INGREDIENTS
4 pork chops ( I used boneless pork chops)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 Tablspoons honey
4 cloves of minced garlic
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon minced ginger
2 teaspoons Sriracha
Black pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS
In a medium size bowl whisk together soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, sesame oil and Sriracha sauce. Pour over pork chops and let marinate for 20 minutes. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium to medium high heat. Remove the pork chops from the marinade (save marinade) and cook pork chops for five minutes on the first side or until you get a golden brown color, flip pork chops and pour the marinade over the pork chops and continue to cook on the second side for another five minutes. If you have thin pork chops, like I did, you can finish cooking in the pan. If you have large bone-in pork chops you can finish cooking the pork chops in the oven at 400 degrees. If finishing in the oven, roast for about ten minutes or until fully cooked through.
Serve warm.
Enjoy!
This is a dish that just happened with what I had on hand. I will sometimes add the “hot” Jimmy Dean Sausage into my pasta plates for that extra bit of flavor but I did not have any, but I did have one pound of original Jimmy Dean Sausage. After giving it a bit of thought I decided to make it on the sweet side and added a little bit of pure maple syrup to the sausage while I cooked and crumbled it. As it turned out everyone loved it!
INGREDIENTS
6 ounces of cooked spaghetti
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
2 large eggs, beaten
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound Jimmy Dean original sausage roll
1/4 cup onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce (I used Ragu)
1/4 cup real maple syrup
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
DIRECTIONS
To make the “crust”… in a large bowl combine cooked spaghetti, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, eggs, salt and pepper. Spread the mixture into a greased pie plate forming the crust. Set aside. In a skillet on medium high heat cook the sausage, onion and garlic crumbling the sausage as it cooks. When the sausage is cooked about half way through, drain any excess fat and add the pure maple syrup coating the mixture. Continue cooking until the sausage is cooked through. When the sausage is cooked through, add your pasta sauce mixing well. When the sauce is warmed through spread the sausage mixture over the spaghetti crust in an even layer. Top with both cheeses and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and melted. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve warm.
Enjoy!
I recently saw a recipe for breakfast nacho’s and knew my family would love it. I did change a number of the original ingredients because my family really likes bold flavors. This recipe is very easy to change to suit the tastes of your family. We also did a Mexican take on this. using chorizo, adding peppers and onions to the scrambled eggs and serving salsa and sour cream! This will easily feed a hungry family of four. Did I also mention I served this for dinner! When Mr. MCYM travels we often make breakfast for dinner and this will be in our rotation often! I know I’ll be making it for Jim very soon!
NOTE- you can cook and crumble the sausage early to make for a fast breakfast or dinner. Store in fridge until ready to use.
INGREDIENTS
8 frozen waffles
1 pound “hot” Jimmy Dean sausage (crumbled and cooked through)
1/4 cup maple syrup (more for serving)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese
6 eggs (scrambled, cooked and seasoned with salt and pepper)
DIRECTIONS
Turn your oven to broil with the oven rack being in the top 1/3 of the oven, leaving the oven door slightly ajar. Toast the waffles, being careful not to toast too much as they will crisp more in the oven. When the waffles are toasted, cut each waffle into four pieces and place on a baking sheet. Top with the cooked crumbled sausage, drizzle with maple syrup and top with the cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese. Broil for 3-4 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Remove from oven and top with the scrambled eggs. Serve with more maple syrup if desired. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!
This was a good, hearty and very filling dish. With the cooler weather making its way into New Hampshire, it’s time for a little bit of comfort food. This pasta dish filled with spinach and sausage is just right. Add a salad and your dinner is done. I also made this in the morning and put it in the fridge until we were almost ready to eat! You don’t see much of the spinach in this picture, but trust me it’s there, and delicious in this dish!
INGREDIENTS
1 package of jumbo shells (16 ounce)
4 cups ricotta cheese
12 ounce shredded mozzarella cheese
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 large jar of your favorite pasta sauce
4 cups chopped spinach
1 pound Italian sausage
DIRECTIONS
In a skillet over medium heat, brown and crumble the sausage and drain any excess fat and remove from the heat to a plate and set aside. In the same pan cook the spinach until wilted about 2 minutes. Cook the shells according to package directions.
In a mixing bowl combine the ricotta with 8 ounces of the mozzarella, 1/2 cup Parmesan, eggs, oregano and garlic powder. Stir in spinach. Coat the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with the entire jar of the pasta sauce. Spoon the cheese mixture into the shells and place the shells open side up loosely together in the dish. There will be more shells than will fit in the pan so you can make a second smaller dish or freeze for a future use. Sprinkle the sausage over the top of the shells and top with the remaining 4 ounces of mozzarella and 1/4 cup of Parmesan. Cover with foil and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly. If you put in the fridge to bake later, the baking time will be closer to 40 minutes!
Serve warm.
Enjoy!
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