A Little Italian Cuisine...

Lately, I've been incorporating a lot of tomatoes into my dinner recipes. It's that time of year again, when all of my tomatoes start ripening at the same time, leaving me with an abundance. I've been handing them out to family, friends and neighbors.

The other night I made a fresh mozzerella and tomato salad, and as I was cooking, I once again yearned for my own restaurant. Maybe one day I can share my love for cooking and Italian cuisine with the world...

Summer Pasta Recipe

My Grandma tells me this recipe has been in my family forever. I love to make it in the summer because all of the vegetables are in season, and I use the ones from my garden.

Ingredients:
3 large tomatoes
3 small zucchinis
1 small eggplant
1 large red/white onion
2 cloves garlic
1 box/1 pound of pasta (any type will work)
Italian seasoning
Extra virgin olive oil
Red wine
Salt and pepper

1. Cut zucchini into bite-size pieces and set aside in a saute pan. Slice the tomatoes and add them to zucchini. Cut the skin off of the eggplant and cut into bite-size pieces, and then add them to tomatoes and zucchini in the pan. Cut the onions into slices or dice them, depending on which you prefer.

2. Mince the garlic and add it to the pan with the veggies. Add 2 tablespoons of Italian seasoning, 3 tablespoons of red wine and 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil to the pan. Add a dash of salt and pepper, and toss all of the ingredients together.

3. Cook the vegetables on high heat. They will shrink down, and the zucchini and eggplant will absorb the oil, so you might need to add more. Stir constantly.

4. Begin boiling salted water for the pasta. When water is boiling, cook the pasta, stirring constantly. Cook to your desire.

5. When the vegetables have cooked down considerably and have released a lot of water, they will begin to cook well. Keep stirring them constantly, but eventually reduce heat to low.

6. When the pasta is all cooked, add it to the veggies and serve pasta with pecorino romano cheese. Enjoy!

Picnic

It's hard for William and I to get a day off together. I work two jobs and even though I work one job at the same store as him, we don't get the same days off. This past week we had a few days off together, and we chose Monday to have a picnic.

We went to a park in Massapequa and packed a lunch. The weather couldn't have been more cooperative. It was sunny, a nice breeze was blowing, and it wasn't too hot.

I made creamy lemon chicken salad on pita, (I'll post the recipe at the end of the post), and dark chocolate brownies for dessert. After we ate lunch, we found a little nook along the lake to eat our brownies. Then we spent a good hour and a half walking around the lake, soaking in the sunshine, and observing all of the nature around us. I took loads of pictures, too!

Creamy Lemon Chicken Salad

Ingredients:
4 cups cooked chicken, diced
I cup lemon flavored yogurt
1/2 cup mayonnaise
Juice from 1 lemon
1 stalk diced celery
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine the yogurt, mayonnaise and lemon juice in a large bowl. Mix well.
2. Add the diced chicken and celery to the mixture. Flavor with salt and pepper as desired.
3. Serve the chicken salad on pita or your favorite bread. Enjoy!

A recipe post

Due to finals, papers, work and school winding down, my posting has been very irregular. But that will all change after Tuesday, when I'm finally done with the semester.

For now, enjoy this recipe post. It's for a sausage bread, a family favorite in my house. I have no idea who was the first to make it, or where the recipe came from, but whenever I make it, William has seconds and requests leftovers. It's a simple recipe, and takes about 30 minutes to cook.

Italian Sausage Bread:

Ingredients:
- Six links of sweet/hot Italian sausage (whatever you desire)
- 3 larger green bell peppers
- 1 large onion
- 1 pizza dough (you can use frozen, make your own, or buy a dough from a pizzeria like I did)
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
- Italian seasoning
- shredded mozzarella

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

 Cut the sausage links into little chunks. On high heat, cook the sausage in a pan with olive oil. You can add salt and pepper as you desire.

 Cut the peppers and onions however you like (cube, dice, strips, etc) and add them to a separate pan. Cook on high heat with olive oil, salt/pepper as your desire and about 1 tbs. of Italian seasoning.

 Have your hot boyfriend man these ingredients at the stove. Or you can man (or woman) them yourself, stirring occasionally to avoid burning.

 Roll out your dough into a circle. It doesn't have to be perfect, just circular. I don't see why it can't be rectangular either, so you can shape it however you want. Once your dough is rolled out, place it on a greased cooking sheet.

 Once the sausage is cooked (I usually check it to make sure, but it's okay if it's not cooked all the way because it will cook a bit more in the oven), drain the meat from the oil and place it on the dough.

 Add the peppers on top of the meat once they're done cooking.

 Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella on top of the sausage and peppers. You can add as much/little as you'd like.

 Wrap it all up. Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes. The time may vary depending on your oven, but I take it out once the bottom of the bread is golden brown.

 Cut it into pieces and enjoy! (Behold the ooey gooey goodness of this meal above).

A fast and easy meal to feed the family. This bread serves about 6-8 people, depending on how big of a slice everyone wants. It's a flexible dish that you can change up to however you like!