Some for Now and Some for Later

Here we are with a brand New Year. May I wish you all a year filled with much love, good health and happiness. I have a delicious meal for you to make with extras for the freezer. I think that I could have been hired by the Canadian army to cook as I seem to make huge amounts of food when it is just Gary and me and of course our  Maggie. No matter, our freezer always has extra meals just waiting to heat up and no work to speak of doing it. You can use any veg that you have in your fridge. This meal used up what I had in my fridge. I had no recipe, just years of experience, haha!

ITALIAN SAUSAGE AND PASTA SUPPER

INGREDIENTS:

• 10 mild Italian sausages
• 2 hot Italian sausages
• 1 each sweet red, yellow and orange pepper, seeded, cored and diced
• 1 large broccoli using the stems as well as the florets
• 1/2 a large cauliflower, florets broken up into bite-sized pieces
• 3 celery ribs, sliced
• 1 large carrot, peeled and sliced on the diagonal
• 1 pkg. of cremini mushrooms, brushed well and sliced
• dry shell pasta, about 1/2 a 900 gm. bag – cooked (Retain a couple of cups of the pasta cooking water.)
• Parmesan cheese to taste

METHOD:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta shells. I cooked more than I needed for this meal, so I used the remaining pasta for a salad. Just drain it (but retain a couple of cups of the pasta cooking water) and wait to see how much you will need for your supper to-day. It will depend on the amount of veg you choose to cook.
• Find your largest pan to cook in. I used my trusty electric Wok which I have had for decades. A Dutch oven will work well here as well.
• With a sharp knife, slit down the sausages from top to bottom and remove the meat from the casings. Slice the meat into bite-sized pieces. Discard the casings.
• Place 1 tbsp. of oil into your cooking pan, heat and add the sausage slices. Cook them until they are completely cooked. Lift them out of the pan into a large bowl. Set them aside.
• Prepare the veg. Seed, core and dice up the peppers. Then the broccoli, cut into bite-sized florets. Slice the stem thinly. Do the same with the cauliflower.
• Slice the celery on the diagonal, peel the carrot and slice as well. Brush off the mushrooms and slice them.
• Now add a bit of oil into your deep Dutch oven or wok. Heat this and add in your vegetables. Stir them around and cook until the veg are tender.
• Add back the cooked Italian sausage slices, add enough cooked pasta shells to balance up everything. Loosen up this with some of the pasta cooking water.
• Season with lots of freshly grated Parmesan cheese to your taste.
• Serve your supper with crusty rolls, hopefully homemade. Your family will just love this supper.
• Place extras in foil containers and then freeze them in ziploc bags. Just label and date them. ENJOY!!!