Spicy Sausage Fettuccine

If you're a fan of spicy & sausage, this is a great recipe for you!

Now for the disclaimer...this was the first time I ever cooked with link sausage. As soon as I opened the package and started to slice the sausage, I was slightly weirded out. There's this plastic-y stuff on the outside of the sausages! I had no clue what I was supposed to do with it...peel it off, cut through it and cook with it on there? So, I turned to my good old friend, the internet. According to Bon Appetit, you can snip off the end and squeeze the sausage out. bleah. However, according to The Spicy Sausage, if you take the casings off the sausage, it will lose it's shape and become more like ground meat, rather than those nice little disc-looking-things they are supposed to be. I went with The Spicy Sausage's method and voted to leave the casings on. My knife set is not the s

harpest thing on earth, so the sausage didn't slice very well. Bummer. After a long time struggling with casings, my knife, and the sausage, I finally got it all "cut" - or at least maimed - into smaller pieces. THAT is my sausage link experience. Back to the recipe.

All things aside, this recipe has an awesome flavor and is really big on it. The original recipe is from Simple & Delicious (of course) and is posted here. However, I changed so many things - some on purpose; some because I just didn't have the ingredients the recipe called for - that I thought I would just write out what I did rather than have an abundance of explanations after each ingredient. So, without further ado, here she is:

Ingredients

9 oz. fettuccine

1 1/4 lb link italian sausage, cut into 1/2" slices

1 medium onion, chopped

1 yellow pepper, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

1/4 cup whipping cream (I used half&half bc that's all I had. whipping cream would be better, though!)

Directions

Cook noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, cook sausage, peppers, and onion in skillet for 6-8 minutes or until sausage is cooked through and veggies are tender. Add salt, pepper & red pepper and cook one minute longer. Add tomatoes & whipping cream (or half&half:) and heat through. Serve with fettuccine. I mixed the noodles in the skillet and heated a little longer so the flavors would get in the pasta & not just be on top.

yummy!

If you have any better ideas about what to do with sausage links, do share!! I am open to advice. :)

BBQ Bacon Burgers

(Photo Credit: Taste of Home)

So, hubby recently decided he wanted to grill out once a week. Neither of us have ever grilled much before - unless you count camping where you put a hot dog on a stick. I count that as grilling, but then again, its pretty difficult to mess up a hot dog. (Especially if you like burnt ones like I do:) Anyway, we have done a few grilling experiments. The first one was bad. I won't bother to tell all the details. But the past couple times have been great! And its so much fun to cook together! Tuesday night, we grilled out. Jonathan did the burgers and I did the red potatoes. Both were amazing. The burger recipe is from my Simple and Delicious magazine (May edition). It has bacon inside and combines amazingly well with the bbq/mayo sauce!! We did have problems getting the burgers to stay together while grilling them. Any suggestions are welcomed... :) These get a 10 out of 10!!!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
• 4 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled (I used turkey bacon instead)
• 1-1/2 teaspoons dried minced onion
• 1-1/2 teaspoons steak seasoning
• 1 pound ground beef
• 4 slices Swiss cheese
• 4 hamburger buns, split
• Lettuce leaves and tomato slices

Directions

• In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise and barbecue sauce. In another bowl, combine the bacon, 2 tablespoons mayonnaise mixture, onion and steak seasoning; crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into four patties.
• Grill burgers, covered, over medium heat for 5-7 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer reads 160° and juices run clear. Top with cheese. Cover and cook 1-2 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Spread remaining mayonnaise mixture over buns; top each with a burger, lettuce and tomato.

Once again, I recommend making more sauce than called for. Then again, if you run out, just slap some mayo and bbq sauce on your bun before putting the burger on it. :) Easy yum.