Fervent Foodie

Sausage & Caramelized Onion Pita Pizza

September 25, 2010 4 Comments

Last weekend, I caught 5 minutes or so of Giada’s cooking show on the Food Network on which she made a sausage and caramelized onion calzone. Are you drooling yet? Ever since then, I’ve had this image of sausage and caramelized onions floating around in my head, beckoning to me. I just so happened to have a leftover sausage from last Sunday’s cookfest, so I decided to put it to use today:

YUMMMMM….. I haven’t made a pita pizza in AGES! Jennie O’s mom and pop would be so darn proud! 😀

First up, I cranked the heat on the oven to 350 degrees, sprayed a small skillet with cooking spray, and placed it over medium high heat. Once the skillet was hot, I added:

1/4 cup sliced white onion
1 clove garlic, minced

Onions & garlic. Anytime you start a recipe off with these two ingredients, there’s an unwritten guarantee it’s going to be delicious. Didn’t you know??

I reduced the heat slightly at this point just to make sure I didn’t burn the garlic or onion. Then I just let the onions do their thing, stirring them occasionally.

Meanwhile, I topped a Joseph’s low-carb pita with 1/4 cup Classico Fire Roasted Tomato & Garlic Sauce and a sprinkling of red pepper flakes.

Once the onions were soft and a nice light brown color, I added them on top of the pita along with 1/2 a link of pre-cooked & chopped up Jennie O’ Hot Turkey Sausage.

I cut up a light Sargento Mozzarella string cheese into small sticks and tossed those on top then seasoned with a sprinkle of dried oregano and some black pepper:

Then I popped this beauty into the oven for 10 minutes, until everything was heated through and the cheese was melty:

I also fixed up a small side salad, which consisted of romaine lettuce, 1/2 a roma tomato, some chopped red onion, and 2 tbsp Ken’s Steakhouse lite Caesar dressing:

I REALLY like Ken’s Lite Caeser by the way.

Nom nom nom!

Sometimes the simplest of ingredients combine to make the most amazing meals. It is the best of both worlds!

Ingredients List: Sausage & Caramelized Onion Pita Pizza

1/4 cup sliced white onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Joseph’s low-carb pita with flax
1/4 cup Classico Fire Roasted Tomato & Garlic Sauce
Red Pepper Flakes
1/2 link Jennie O’ Hot Turkey Sausage
1 light Sargento Mozzarella string cheese
Dried Oregano
Black Pepper

Stats on my pita pizza: 236 calories, 17g carbs, 11g fat, 22g protein, 6g fiber

Recipes

Sausage & Caramelized Onion Pita Pizza

September 25, 2010 4 Comments

YUMMMMM….. I haven’t made a pita pizza in AGES! Jennie O’s mom and pop would be so darn proud! 😀

First up, I cranked the heat on the oven to 350 degrees, sprayed a small skillet with cooking spray, and placed it over medium high heat. Once the skillet was hot, I added:

1/4 cup sliced white onion
1 clove garlic, minced

Onions & garlic. Anytime you start a recipe off with these two ingredients, there’s an unwritten guarantee it’s going to be delicious. Didn’t you know??

I reduced the heat slightly at this point just to make sure I didn’t burn the garlic or onion. Then I just let the onions do their thing, stirring them occasionally.

Meanwhile, I topped a Joseph’s low-carb pita with 1/4 cup Classico Fire Roasted Tomato & Garlic Sauce and a sprinkling of red pepper flakes.

Once the onions were soft and a nice light brown color, I added them on top of the pita along with 1/2 a link of pre-cooked & chopped up Jennie O’ Hot Turkey Sausage.

I cut up a light Sargento Mozzarella string cheese into small sticks and tossed those on top then seasoned with a sprinkle of dried oregano and some black pepper:

Then I popped this beauty into the oven for 10 minutes, until everything was heated through and the cheese was melty:

I also fixed up a small side salad, which consisted of romaine lettuce, 1/2 a roma tomato, some chopped red onion, and 2 tbsp Ken’s Steakhouse lite Caesar dressing:

I REALLY like Ken’s Lite Caeser by the way.

Nom nom nom!

Sometimes the simplest of ingredients combine to make the most amazing meals. It is the best of both worlds!

Ingredients List: Sausage & Caramelized Onion Pita Pizza

1/4 cup sliced white onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Joseph’s low-carb pita with flax
1/4 cup Classico Fire Roasted Tomato & Garlic Sauce
Red Pepper Flakes
1/2 link Jennie O’ Hot Turkey Sausage
1 light Sargento Mozzarella string cheese
Dried Oregano
Black Pepper

Stats on my pita pizza: 236 calories, 17g carbs, 11g fat, 22g protein, 6g fiber

What I ate

Back to the normal routine

September 22, 2010 3 Comments

Even with the big tax deadline behind me, my schedule is crazy hectic. What’s up with that??? Wednesday for instance is a VERY busy day for me because I go straight from the office to the university for the class I teach. This requires ample food-planning on Tuesday nights because I have to pack 6 meals. 6 meals?!? Yes 6. Take today for instance, here’s what I packed last night for the day ahead:

B#1: Scrambled eggs & roasted broccoli
B#2: Overnight oats + chopped strawberries + blueberries
Lunch: Big ole Salad + Jennie O’ Turkey Sausage
Snack: Granny smith apple
Dinner: Chicken & hummus wrap + cucumber salad
Snack: 1/2 of an 18 Rabbits granola bar

I like to travel with food apparently 🙂

One thing I’ve been craving the past few weeks is getting back to my normal foods routine!

You know what that means:

EGGS for breakfast #1!

Last night, I cooked up a batch of my scrambled eggs:

I also roasted up some broccoli which I enjoyed at 8am at my desk with a dollop o’ heaven Ketchup:

Of course, this was followed up 2 hours later by none other than my overnight oats for B#2:

Yesssssssss.

My lunch salad consisted of romaine lettuce, 1/2 a large cucumber, 1 baby roma tomato, some red onion, banana pepper and Ken’s steakhouse Lite Italian Romano dressing:

I also had a Jennie O’ turkey sausage on the side…

Is it just me, or does that sausage look really sad?! … A sausage with no bun is like a bird with no wings eggs with no ketchup! Luckily I had a monster Italian sausage sandwich over the weekend 😀

After the 2PM doldrums pass, it’s time for a snack! My usual afternoon snack is a granny smith apple:

Usually my snacks go unpictured. But today, I’m snapping everything that goes into my mouth 🙂 Uh oh.

Fun fact about me and apples: I REFUSE to buy an apple unless the stem is still attached. An apple sans stem is a clear indicator that a worm has crawled inside…. I’m pretty sure my sister told me that as a child, and it has stuck with me through the years. I may look funny in the produce aisle as I pick up one apple after another to find one that still has the stem attached, but guess who WON’T be looking funny when they bite into a worm? It won’t be me, that’s for darn sure! 😉

For dinner, I packed some cucumber salad:

And also a La Tortilla low-carb wrap consisting of 2 ounces grilled chicken, onion, and 1 tbsp Trader Joe’s original hummus:

Come to think of it, I probably should have avoided so many onions right before class… Oh well, they don’t call me the Onion Lady for nothin’.

Last my not least, I packed 1/2 of an 18 Rabbits granola bar (thanks Dorry!) for my late-night snack:

Whew! That’s a lot of food!

Happy Eating and Happy Hump Day!

Recipes

Stuffed Cabbage (hold the red sauce)

September 20, 2010 No Comments

When you think of stuffed cabbage, what comes to mind? I’m guessing you think of ground beef and rice rolled up in cabbage and smothered in red sauce, right? You probably also think of excessive gas. Let’s try and relieve ourselves of that thought for now 😉

I’m not entirely sure why, but my mom has always made stuffed cabbage without red sauce. I can remember going to friend’s houses as a child and getting super excited when I heard we were having stuffed cabbage for dinner. This ALWAYS ended in disappointment because everyone (other than my mom… and my sister) makes stuffed cabbage with red sauce… and I’m not really a fan. In my family, we like our stuffed cabbage with a side of cabbage. And some cabbage broth. And excessive amounts of sour cream and salt and pepper.

Stuffed cabbages has been one of my all-time favorite home cooked meals for as far back as I can remember, yet I’ve never tried to make them myself. So what the heck, I decided to give it a shot. My mom uses ground beef in her stuffed cabbages, but I decided to further health-it-up with 99% fat-free ground turkey and brown rice.

First up, the cabbage:

I can honestly say this is the first time I have ever purchased cabbage. I have a feeling we are going to be GREAT friends 🙂

(Guess who left her camera at work??? Yes, all photos were taken with the lovely iPhone tonight)

I cut the core out of the cabbage:

And dropped it hole-side down in a big ole pot of bowling water.

While the leaves softened in the boiling water, I combined the following in a bowl:

8 ounces 99% fat free ground turkey
1/2 a chopped white onion
1 glove garlic, minced
1 cup brown rice, rinsed and drained
1/4 tsp each salt and pepper

As the leaves began to soften, I pulled off the outer cabbage leaves with a pair of tongs and laid them out while the remaining cabbage kept softening in the pot:

I used an ice cream scooper to evenly distribute the meat and rice mix among 9 cabbage leaves:

Then gave them a roll and lined them up in a baking dish.

Then I gave the remaining cabbage a rough chop and tucked it in between the rolls and threw the rest on top. I used a ladle to spoon some of the hot cabbage broth onto the rolls until the water level was about half way up the dish. Then I covered with foil and baked in a 400 degree oven for 1 hour.

When the rolls were done, I topped two of them off with a dollop of sour cream and some black pepper:

Andd……. whelp… it’s wasn’t mom’s. And it wasn’t my sister’s either. Have you ever tried to recreate one of your mom’s famous dishes? If you’re like me, it probably didn’t go so well. That’s ok, nothing a little hot sauce can’t cure!

All-in-all these were OK– but I think using the ground turkey instead of the ground beef made a HUGE difference (and not for the better). I think ground beef is the way to go. That’s what I’ll use next time for sure!

Stuffed Cabbage Ingredients List (serves 4)

8 ounces 99% fat free ground turkey
1/2 a chopped white onion
1 glove garlic, minced
1 cup brown rice, rinsed and drained
1 head cabbage (about 2 lbs)
Salt and pepper
Fat-free Sour cream (optional in your book, NOT optional in mine)

Stats on 1 serving: 237 calories, 39g carbs, 2g fat, 19g protein, 7g fiber

Recipes, Slow Cookin

Game Day Foods

September 19, 2010 9 Comments

Sunday, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!!!

I survived the 9/15 deadline! Hallelujah! Now it’s football day, and we decided to cook up a full-out game-day spread. On the menu:

Italian sausage sandwiches with green peppers and onions
Outrageous Chicken Dip
Chocolate Chip Cookies

For the Italian Sausages, I pan-cooked some hot Italian sausages until they were nearly cooked through.

Then I put them in a crockpot with a large jar of spaghetti sauce and one white onion and two green peppers.

I left the crockpot on high, and these guys just hung out all day getting tastier and tastier with each minute.

Oh yes….

Jarrod and I are always looking for new dip recipes to try out. So when I stumbled across this recipe for Outrageous Chicken Nacho Dip, we HAD to try it.

Here’s what went in to the dip: