Starving Artist

The day after Thanksgiving – a day filled with leftovers and probably almost as much eating as the day before (in our house at least!). My mom cooked up her famous homemade raviolis, sauce and meatballs which is a Thanksgiving tradition in my family. And here I am, once again stuffed with delicious food :)

I wanted to share with you the stuffing recipe that I came up with yesterday. In my opinion, stuffing is the king of the side dishes, and I’m loving this flavor combination. The earthy flavors of the sausage, pears and chestnuts paired very well together, and were really balanced. To go vegetarian, just swap the sausage for Morningstar Veggie links, and chicken broth for veggie broth :)

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Sausage, Pear and Chestnut Stuffing

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Ingredients:

• 1 bag of whole wheat stuffing mix
• 6 sweet Italian sausages
• 1 pear
• 1 large white onion
• 3 celery stalks
• 5 chestnuts (shelled and chopped)
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 18 oz chicken stock
• 6 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp parsley
• 1 tbsp poultry seasoning
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

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Directions:

1. Cook the sausages on the stove in a large frying pan until cooked through.
2. Meanwhile, chop up the onion, celery, pear and chestnuts into small pieces.
3. Remove the sausages from the pan (let cool, and then cut into small pieces). Add 2 tbsp of the butter to the pan. Once melted, add in all of the chopped ingredients, garlic, and poultry seasoning. Cook until the veggies are soft.
4. In a large bowl, combine the stuffing mix, sauteed veggies, chicken stock, parsley, salt and pepper. Melt the remaining butter and add as well. Stit until all ingredients are combined.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9″x9″ baking dish. Fill the dish with the stuffing mixture. Cook for about 30 minutes, until the top is golden brown and crunchy.

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I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, filled with family, friends, and of course lots of delicious food! I’m writing this post in the midst of a massive food coma, lounging on the couch (not 100% by choice, I really don’t think I could move if I wanted to). I leave you with a photo snapshot of my family’s Thanksgiving spread (recipes to follow tomorrow, when I can bring myself to actually think about food again). Enjoy the rest of your holiday! :)

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Brie with cranberries, walnuts, and an apple cider brown sugar glaze

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The anticipation was brutal

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Our Thanksgiving table

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Cranberry Sauce

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Sausage, Chestnut and Pear Stuffing (recipe to come tomorrow!)

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Whipped Ranch Mashed Potatoes with Chives

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Maple Roasted Yams and Carrots

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The Star of the Show

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My heaping plate… Round 1

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Thanksgiving is almost here! Do you have your menu figured out yet? With the holiday season upon us, it’s always nice to destress your planning by simplifying your cooking and menu planning.

Mary Ann Esposito, host of the long-running PBS series Ciao Italia, has offered up her tips and advice for keeping sane and enjoying your holiday preparations. Here is an excerpt from her new book, Ciao Italia Five-Ingredient Favorites: Quick and Delicious Recipes from an Italian Kitchen, that I think you might enjoy!

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Holiday Cooking, Simplified
By Mary Ann Esposito

Not to appear to be a Scrooge, but the holidays are coming faster than the next app for the iPhone and for many, the nemesis of the holidays is simply procrastination. There is just so much to juggle to make the merriest time of the year . . . merry. Gifts to buy and wrap, cards to write or email, cocktail parties to attend, trees to buy and decorate, cookies to bake, and . . .  and . . . and.

But that’s just the icicle on the tree; what about the big feast? This is where a lot of people have their greatest stress for the holidays; there is just no time to cook. But wait a minute. I have a plan for you; think of it as a personal gift — below are four tips on how to simplify your holiday feast.

1. Take Survey of The Pantry: One of the first things I do, right after Thanksgiving, is take survey of the staples in my pantry and make a list of things to stock up on now for the holidays. You can lay in healthy snacks like dried fruits, drinks, wines, nuts, flour and sugar for cooking, and all the other dry staples you need.

2. Decide on a Menu: Next, I make a menu by deciding now if I want to do an easy buffet of hot and cold foods that everyone can help themselves to or do I want a sit down meal that will be served. Make a decision and then make a plan on the food items to be cooked, and keep it simple.

3. Involve Your Family and Guests in Preparations: Maybe it’s time for new traditions like inviting your guests to participate in the preparation by bringing a neighborly dish to share. You might ask for sides, salads and desserts while you provide the main course like a baked ham studded with cloves and surrounded with sautéed apple rings. So doable, and the ham and apples will require minimum effort on your part.

4. Keep Things Simple: If that has no appeal, consider going the route of doing a number of make-ahead casseroles that can be prepared now and frozen, or made several days before and held in the refrigerator. Casseroles have the advantage of serving a lot of people inexpensively. Tried and true items like lasagna, shephard’s pie and chicken tetrazzini are perfect foods to serve. Add a couple of interesting salads, platters of fresh fruit and cheese and a little bubbly, and you have a party!

Just recently my latest book, Ciao Italia Five-Ingredient Favorites, hit the bookstores and the premise of less is more is perfect for the holidays as well as any day of the week. I show you how with only five ingredients you can turn out some pretty nifty gourmet looking dishes without worrying if the stock market is going to crash. For instance, how about serving a sausage and lentil soup from the book and make it in a crock pot. Use the crock pot as your serving piece and let everyone ladle out their own. Or make the pork roast in Barolo wine in a slow cooker. The best part is that these recipes, and more like them in the book, can be made ahead, refrigerated and reheated. They will taste even better.

So simplify the holidays by starting early to make a plan, stock your pantry, decide on a menu, involve your family and guests in the preparations and above all, keep things simple. After all, this is meant to be the merriest time of the year and even Scrooge finally saw the bigger picture of what “merry” really means.

©2009 Mary Ann Esposito, author of Ciao Italia Five-Ingredient Favorites: Quick and Delicious Recipes from an Italian Kitchen

For more information, please visit www.CiaoItalia.com.

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Sometimes you just need a little comfort, whether it’s a long phone conversation with your mom, a hug from a best friend,  or a warm dinner to cozy up to. I was in need of a little bit of home tonight, and thought I would cook up a version of one of my favorite childhood dishes, macaroni and cheese.

With shrimp and homemade pesto sitting in my freezer, I decided to combine them with a beautiful squash and some of the turkey bacon that I had left over from the other day. The result was a hearty, cheesy, kicked up version of my favorite treat :)

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Pesto Shrimp and Bacon Mac & Cheese

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Ingredients:

• 2 cups of whole wheat pasta (I used rotini)
• 1 summer squash (can substitute zucchini)
• 1 cup of small frozen shrimp (thawed)
• 2 slices of turkey bacon
• 3 tbsp pesto
• 2 cups of shredded fat free cheese (I used a mozzarella and cheddar combo, 45 cal per 1/4 cup)
• 4 tbsp fat free cream cheese
• 1 1/2 cup fat free milk
• 4 tbsp whole wheat flour
• 4 tbsp whole wheat bread crumbs
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

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Directions:

1. Cook the pasta until it still has a slight bite to it.
2. Cut the squash into bite-sized pieces. Put the squash and frozen shrimp in a small bowl with a splash of water, salt and pepper. Microwave for 2 minutes, drain any access fluid, and then add to a large bowl with the pasta.
3. Cut the bacon into small pieces and add to the bowl with the pasta mixture.
4. In a saucepan, combine the flour with 1/2 cup of milk over medium heat. Gradually add in 1 cup of milk, and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and mix in the pesto, salt and pepper.
5. Add in 1 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese, and the cream cheese to the saucepan. Mix well.
6. Add the cheese mixture to the bowl that contains the pasta and stir well.
7. Grease a small baking pan (I used 8″x8″), and add in the mixture.
8. Top with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese, and then the breadcrumbs.
9. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes.
10. Enjoy! :)

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1 serving = 1/6 of dish

Calories: 340  Carbs: 40g  Fat: 5g Protein: 33g

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For easier access to the recipes that I’ve written on Starving Artist, I’ve added a new “Recipes” page that you can access from the top navigation.

It was interesting to go back through the blog and see just how much cooking I’ve done over the past 2 months! I hope this easier organization might be of use :)

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