Calamity in the Kitchen

Today was a good news/bad news day in the kitchen. Maybe "calamity" isn't quite the right word, but it would probably at least qualify for "misadventure".

I had this great plan for the afternoon, which included whipping up a new casserole recipe, sticking it in the oven, and then running out to mail a package. My plan would put me back home just in time to hear the timer go "ding", pull my beautiful dish out of the oven, and have a fabulous supper ready for The Drummer Guy when he walked in the door. Well, I did have supper ready when he got home, but it wasn't quite the way I had it planned.

I was making this sausage & egg dish and had all of the ingredients ready to layer in the casserole dish. I was checking out the recipe one more time to make sure I had everything and that's when I saw it. "Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight." Oh, no!!! I don't remember seeing that before. Now what?!?!?

Instead of mailing my package, now I needed to come up with "plan B" for supper. I had 1/2 pound of sausage left over from my original supper plan and thought I might as well use it. After a quick online recipe search, here's what I came up with:

CHEESY SAUSAGE & RICE SKILLET

Table of Contents:
-1 lb. sausage, cooked and drained (I used 1/2 lb - I rarely put in all of the meat that recipes call for. The sausage I used was Jimmy Dean - maple flavored)
-1 can (14.5 oz.) ready-to-serve chicken broth
-2 cups Minute Rice, uncooked (I used Minute Brown Rice)
-1 pkg (16 oz.) frozen broccoli cuts, thawed and drained
-12 oz. Velveeta (Same as meat - I usually don't use all of the cheese called for - I only used maybe 2-3 oz.)

How To:
Bring broth to a boil in a large nonstick skillet. Stir in rice and broccoli. Top with sausage and Velveeta. Cover and cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Stir and serve.

The Outcome:
Mark said, "I like it! You could make this again." It really was pretty good, especially for something I came up with at the last minute. The only thing I would do differently is cut the rice by about 1/2 cup.

(I was in such a hurry, forgot to take any pictures of this dish.)

So here's the good news/bad news tally for this little spin in the kitchen:

-Bad news: Not the meal I was planning and was kind of looking forward to.
-Good news: Found another new recipe that was quick and easy to make, and was really quite tasty.
-Bad news: Didn't get my package mailed.
-Good news: Supper for tomorrow is made and ready to pop in the oven after a day at work.
-Good news: Instead of making 2 new recipes this week, I ended up with 3 new recipes!

I guess overall, it turned out to be a pretty good day in the kitchen!

Recipe #4 - Red Beans with Andouille Sausage

I haven't had much time to cook lately, at least not new stuff. It seems like we have been gone a lot over the past few weeks. But I have been diligently searching for new recipes. I have several picked out to try and Mark thought this one sounded good for a cold, snowy, wintery day (which, by the way, is the first day of Spring!)

You may recall in my list of criteria for recipes, I have to be able to pronounce the ingredients. Believe it or not, I actually can pronounce Andouille! Finding it was harder. I had almost decided that I would have to figure out some different type of sausage, when I spotted a man working in the meat department at the grocery store. So I asked him and he said that they had just started carrying it. He found it for me, and I was on my way! So here it is:

RED BEANS WITH ANDOUILLE SAUSAGE

Table of Contents:
-2 tsp. EVOO
-1 pound Andouille sausage, halved lengthwise and cut into 1-inch pieces
-1 medium onion, diced
-2 garlic cloves, finely chopped (I used the minced stuff in a jar!)
-1 pound dried, small red beans, soaked per pkg instructions and drained
-Salt, pepper

How To:
In large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add sausage; cook until fat is released and sausage is slightly golden in spots, approx 10 minutes. (This sausage smells fantastic cooking!)

Remove sausage from pan. Add onion and garlic to pan; cook until softened, 3-5 minutes. Add beans and 4 ½ cups water; bring to boil. Reduce to a simmer, partially cover, and cook until beans are tender; 1-1 ½ hours, adding more water if necessary. Stir in sausage and heat through. Season to taste.

The Result:
Yum!!! This was spicy and fantastic. It was sooooo good served up with a little cornbread on the side. This recipe is a keeper. Or, if nothing else, the sausage will make another appearance. But we can't eat it too often - 19 gms of fat in a serving of Andouille sausage. Ouch!!

(I just noticed as I was posting this - all of my new recipes that I have made so far have been served up in a bowl!)