Place onions, 2 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp salt in Dutch oven, over medium heat. Cook 5-6 minutes or until translucent. Stir in garlic and cumin, cook 2 minutes. Whisk in pumpkin and chicken broth. Add chipotle pepper and adobo sauce. Increase heat to medium-high, simmering and stirring occasionally, 12 minutes.
Process soup in batches in a blender or use an immersion blender in the Dutch oven.
Process avocado, buttermilk, lime juice, 2 tbsp olive oil and 1/2 tsp salt in a blender or using an immersion blender, until smooth. Add water if too thick.
Cook smoked sausage in remaining 1 tbsp olive oil, in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes, or until the sausage starts to brown. Stir in black beans and paprika, cook 1 minute or until warm.
Ladle soup into bowls. Swirl in the avocado cream. Top with the sausage and bean mixture.
4 medium tomatoes, chopped OR 1 15 oz. can stewed tomatoes
2/3 cup chili sauce
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp parsley
1 tsp tarragon
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp pepper
dash crushed red pepper
dash cayenne pepper
Instructions:
In a Dutch oven, cook ground turkey, yellow pepper, onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat, until meat is no longer pink. Drain. Stir in remaining ingredients.
Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer, uncovered, 1.5 hours or until chili reaches desired thickness.
Top with preferred toppings. (Pictured: Sour cream, cheddar cheese and avocado)
In a large skillet, heat 2 tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Place dressing mix in a bowl and dip chicken thighs into mix to coat.
Cook chicken until golden brown, turning half-way through, for about 14 minutes or until a thermometer reads 165 degrees.
Meanwhile cook green beans in boiling water for about 3-4 minutes, then drain. Remove chicken from skillet. Add remaining oil to skillet along with the green beans. Cook, without stirring, 2-3 minutes, or until the green beans are blistered. Stir in tomatoes and olives and cook 1-2 minutes more or until tomatoes start to soften.
Serve chicken with vegetable mixture.
This recipe was adapted from Better Homes and Gardens.
Ok, so this is an original recipe so I’m sorry if I am all over the place. 😉
Ingredients
1 box spaghetti – or whatever your favorite pasta is
extra virgin olive oil
dried basil
butter
1 jar of your favorite sauce or homemade sauce – for this we used “Cleveland’s Own Little Italy Pasta Sauce” (I have a “recipe” for homemade sauce, but that is for another post)
a blend of your favorite sausage, 5 links total, sliced – we used Johnsonville Italian sausage: cheese blend and hot
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1/2 pound mini sweet peppers, seeded and chopped – or you could use bell peppers
1 package sliced brown mushrooms
sprinkle of salt
sprinkle of pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon italian seasoning
cheese for topping – we used mozzarella and goat cheese
Directions
Pour a couple tablespoons of olive oil into a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion, salt, pepper and italian seasoning. Add peppers about 4 minutes after onions. Cook until onions are translucent. Add mushrooms and cook until they start to get dark and shrink up a little bit. Add minced garlic and cook a couple more minutes.
Add sauce and stir. Taste to see if you would like more seasoning. Reduce heat to low and simmer.
Add sausage links to a saute pan. Fill the pan with water until the links are half-way covered. Saute over medium heat until the water level gets low and the sausage is almost cooked through. Keep adding water if you need to. When they are almost cooked through start adding olive oil instead. When finished, remove from pan and slice into bite size pieces.
Add the sliced sausage to the sauce and continue to lightly simmer.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a sprinkle of salt, a tablespoon or so of olive oil and a tablespoon of dried basil. Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain pasta and return to pot. Coat with butter.
Place pasta in a bowl. Top with mozzarella cheese. Cover with sauce and sausage mixture. Top with goat cheese (or whichever cheese you prefer).
Suggestions
Wine. I love wine. I can’t even eat anything Italian without wine. Ha! With this we had Duckhorn Merlot. (Duckhorn Chardonnay is really scrumptious by the way.)
Serve with garlic toast. We were feeling lazy so we got the freezer stuff for this, but I can post homemade garlic toast later on.
Yes – goat cheese. We are obsessed! It adds a creaminess to it that is pretty awesome! I feel like goat cheese is one of those things you either love or hate, it can be an acquired taste, but oh man was it good in this. 🙂
Yes, we always put basil in with our pasta water. A bunch of it will stick to the pasta. We also butter our noodles before putting the sauce on. We have a butter obsession, too. And we don’t seem to notice any issues with the sauce sticking or not sticking with the butter on there.
My husband claims that if you slightly cut the spicy italian sausage and cook it that way, it makes it taste better. I have no idea if there is any truth to that. LOL!
Also, if you are ever in Cleveland, Mia Bella in Little Italy is the best Italian place to go – make sure you make a reservation first. 😉
4 medium multicolored peppers, halved lengthwise and seeded
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 1/2 cups shredded chicken, or jackfruit
1/2 cup plain whole milk greek yogurt
1/2 cup shredded low moisture part-skim mozzarella
1/4 cup hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup chopped scallions
3 tablespoons blue cheese dressing or ranch dressing
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Brush all sides of bell peppers with oil. Arrange cut sides down. Bake until slightly softened, about 10 minutes.
Stir chicken or jackfruit, yogurt, mozzarella, hot sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne and 2 tablespoons scallions in a large bowl.
Remove peppers from oven, pour off remaining juices. Flip peppers. Spoon chicken/jackfruit mixture evenly into peppers (about 1/3 cup each). Bake until tender and heated through, about 15 minutes. Drizzle with dressing and scallions.
Food & Faith 