Damn you, Safeway Organic Tomato Sauce

Sausage and Oyster Mushroom Tomato Sauce

• 3 links Italian sausage (one hot, two sweet)
• Oyster mushrooms
• One onion
• Tomato product (sauce, crushed, etc.) from hell: a salty, salty hell (15% Daily Recommended Value of sodium)
• dried basil and oregano
• Grateful feelings because you forgot to salt the sauce as you were making it
• Wine and Sugar to counteract the terrible salt bomb that is Safeway Organic Tomato Sauce
• Frowns and frustrated sighs
• Wine to drink

I will make polenta as soon as I get over my salt frustration.  

In other news: we planted beets and lettuce today.

And we found a millipede in our apartment.  

It’s been an eventful day.  

Roasted tomato, oyster mushroom, and garlic pasta (with mizithra)

Ingredients:

• Tomatoes (some.  I think I used five or six)
• Oyster mushrooms (some?)
• 1 onion (finally, something quantifiable!)
• 1 head of garlic
• s&p
• basil, oregano, cayenne pepper
• splash of balsamic vinegar
• linguine
• mizithra cheese

Method:

In a 450 degree oven, roast tomatoes (tomatoes [chopped], seasoned with s & p, doused with balsamic vinegar and olive oil) and whole head of garlic (wrapped in tin foil, doused in oil and salt and pepper), until desired doneness.

While tomatoes and garlic are roasting, saute mushrooms and onions until caramelized.  Add s & p, basil and oregano–cayenne, also.

Add tomatoes and their juices to sauteed mushrooms and onions.

Mash your roasted garlic and add that to the tomatoes, mushrooms, and onions.

Simmer ingredients together for awhile.  Realize that you are getting tired and the wine you bought from Trader Joe’s is making you drowsy.  Also realize that two dishes in one night is quite ambitious.  You decide to finish your sauce and put it in the fridge.  Pasta can be made tomorrow.

The Best Chicken and Rice Recipe

I found this recipe on Epicurious a couple of months ago.  I made it, don’t really recall blogging about it, but have been having embarrassingly frequent thoughts about this rice and chicken dish (who thinks about chicken and rice? Really?).

Changes I’ve made in the recipe?  Added a splash of white wine, dried cherries instead of currants, and bone-in and skin intact, present, and accounted for chicken thighs.

Be adventurous with this recipe–even if you scrunch your nose at the concept of dried cherries and cinnamon sticks swimming around with chicken thighs and rice.  I cannot tell you how much I’d love to swim around in the pan with those ingredients as they simmer on my stove right now.

So, as that is simmering away, I am already planning a second dish for tonight: roasted tomato, oyster mushroom, and garlic pasta with mizithra.  No recipe for this one; I’m just going to wing it.

Chicken Sausages and Bacon…

It is so strange to be eating meat again.  I don’t find myself craving it or even particularly liking it when I eat it or cook it these days–but I do find the familiarity comforting.  And I really need the comfort.

(My husband is making me add this caveat: I really do like bacon.  It cannot be defamed.)

So, with wine in hand and indie singer-songwriter stuff that makes my husband groan playing on my laptop, I set out to make some comfort food on this peaceful Sunday evening.

On the menu tonight:

Potato soup (red potatoes, milk, flour, bacon and its grease, celery, old bay seasoning, s and p, onion, garlic, vegetable stock)

Tomato sauce with chicken sausage and oyster mushrooms

(crushed and diced tomatoes, red wine, chicken sausage, basil, s and p, oyster mushrooms)

Roasted acorn squash with brown sugar and chili powder

The squash will be for dinner tonight–along with a salad and porkchops.

The sauce will go with either polenta or noodles during the week for dinner or lunches.  The potato soup will reheat nicely for the same purposes.

Sunday Morning Menu Planning

I have really been slacking lately on the weekend cooking and blogging.   I’ve just been too tired and pressed for time to take extra time to plan meals.  But today, from the comfort of my bed, with Hector curled up at my feet, I’ve had the pleasure to search for recipes.

Yesterday, we went to Winco and bought a few items.  I got some peppered bacon, garlic chicken sausage, oyster mushrooms, and a few other things.  I really haven’t found any recipes online that I want to make, but I do have some ideas of my own.

It’s been a long time since I’ve made a pot of potato soup.  Potato soup is one of those dishes that reminds me of my childhood.  Everyone in my family had their own version of this cheap, stretch your dollars sort of meal.  Potatoes, a piece or two of cured or smoked pig product, an onion, celery, a bit of milk, flour.  Simple and uninteresting ingredients that, once combined, turn into something comforting and rather rich and hearty—robust, even.

So, with my bacon and a handful of potatoes, I’ll make some soup today.

With the sausage and mushrooms, I’ve been thinking about some sort of pasta dish.   Maybe pasta with a spicy, chunky sauce.  Or perhaps the sauce could go over polenta.

I also have some tempeh and bell peppers in the fridge that have been patiently waiting in the fridge for me to use. I had intended to make stuffed peppers–but throwing the tempeh and peppers into a pot of chili sounds even better.

Going into this post, I thought I had a stronger plan.  Hmm.  I may end up making nothing I blogged about.  I think I need another cup of coffee and some time in the kitchen.