a zucchini one-dish meal

                                                   look out...here comes the zucchini!

 it is zucchini season and i picked an arm load this morning! i planted a row of them because my family is here and everyone loves them. for years i have sliced them and sauteed them in a bit of olive oil with onion and garlic as a side dish. it is still an easy way to serve zucchini but i wanted to make it a one dish meal but we will get to that in a minute.


the happiest plants i have ever grown!those tomato stakes are 6 feet

our share of today's harvest

yesterday i cooked italian sausage from a butcher shop in auburn called indelicato's. it is the best. i sliced 2 of the cooked links, added 1 vidalia onion sliced thin. put both ingredients in my skillet with a tablespoon of olive oil. i cooked them over medium heat until the onion was soft.

 

 then i fired up the heat and added the sliced zucchini. keep turning until the zucchini is cooked to your liking. the higher heat will keep it from getting watery and allow it to brown slightly. when it is done cooking, season to taste. only then add salt  and freshly ground pepper.



1 cup of shredded parmesan cheese

add the cup of shredded cheese and it is ready to serve. the cheese will melt by the time you have finished the blessing.

                                     served with zucchini corn bread that i made a few days ago


                                                                             ENJOY  !                                                                            

italian sausage sandwiches for after the ?

we are lucky enough to have our family all in the same community. there are many events that occur around dinner time. so, out comes the slow cooker again! this recipe is more about technique and advance preparation. the amount of the ingredients is not critical.  we were serving our usual dozen.

ingredients: italian sausage, sauce, onions and peppers, olive oil,and rolls...i also used some fresh garlic, fresh tomatoes and some red wine
this time i used 48 ounces of  commercial sauce that we doctored with 8 fresh cloves of garlic, some fresh tomatoes, and 1 cup of red wine. my helper granddaughter is sauteing the garlic and tomatoes in a touch of olive oil. the hot pan will be cleansed with the red wine and all will go in the pot with the sauce

the sausage is a combination of regular italian and 4 long links of hot sausage. i line a large roasting pan with foil. spray it lightly and place the sausages in the pan. i put the sausages in a preheated 500 degree oven for 20 minutes. this browns the sausages and releases most of the fat. the sausages are then placed on paper towels to  get rid of any fat that is lingering on them.

 what a job my 'prep chef' husband did on the onions and peppers. he does not cook but he is a great help with the chopping. for this amount of sausages we used 2 very large onions, 2 each of red, yellow, orange and poblano chili peppers. after the peppers and onions were prepped, they were placed in a plastic bag and refrigerated till after the game.

 we were going to be gone for 4 or 5 hours so shortly before we left the house we turned the slow cooker on low

when we returned , all we needed to do was saute the peppers and onions in a small amount of olive oil

                                        make yourself a sausage sandwich and enjoy!