The Holiday Season is here, with all of it’s crazy, busy, hustle and bustle. So, why not make dinner a snap? Chicken Enchilada Skillet is just that dinner.
Tim and I love enchiladas, but lets face it, they are kinda a pain to make……all that dipping, stuffing, and rolling……..not to mention the baking time.
So, lets deconstruct them and make it easy on ourselves, but still have the same great taste.
By Sunday we will all be screaming NO MORE TURKEY!!! How about Grilled Sriracha Sloppy Joe’s ?
Don’t get me wrong, I love turkey, but after a few days of anything left over…..I am done! I want something the polar opposite of what ever that left over was.Grilled Sriracha Sloppy Joe’s are just that!
For some crazy reason I have been craving a Sloppy Joe. I haven’t had one in years. We used to have them all the time when I was a kid.
I seem to remember a recipe that called for a can of soup, but for the life of me I can’t remember what the soup was, but it was one of those recipes that women passed around until everyone had it.
You know on the recipe cards that all women……of a certain age will remember…..from the kitchen of……..’sigh’ but that was before the digital revolution!
As you who are familiar with my blog know, Tim likes things spicy and he thinks Sriracha is ketchup. Well ketchup goes in Sloppy Joe’s …so why not srirachia?
The recipe is a basic Sloppy Joe recipe with ketchup, onion, green pepper, and brown sugar.
I added a touch of sriracha, a little soy and teriyaki, garlic, and rice wine vinegar. The combo was awesome!!!
A little spicy, a little sweet , and a little asian.Grilled Sriracha Sloppy Joe’s.
Normally a nice bun is what you want, but I wanted to grill mine and needed a bread to withstand the grilling pressure…..enter the ciabatta loaf. Ok, so it seems to be my bread of choice for a lot of sandwiches.
But it’s perfect to grill and toast. Crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. I sliced the loaf in half lengthwise, then cut it into four sandwiches. I scopped out a little of the inside of the bottom halves to make a little well for the Grilled Sriracha Sloppy Joe’s mix.
Back in the day a slice of single wrapped cheese would have went on top, but I picked cheddar for more flavor. Besides, I am not sure those wrapped slices are real cheese????
Once assembled I grilled those babies up………Tim and I both thought they were the best Sloppy Joe’s we had ever tasted.
So now that you are over the turkey, try the Grilled Sriracha Sloppy Joe’s !!
Sunday was soup day…..White Bean Sausage Tortellini Soup!
Tim and I are of the Mexican or Italian taste palette. This time it’s Italian……Molto bene (very good)……ok, I don’t know Italian, so I looked it up!
Funny how something with simple ingredients can come together and be awesome. Precooked sausage…….Oscar Meyer has an Italian Herb flavor that I really think made this soup. Any precooked sausage or Polska Kielbasa will do.
Onions are a base for almost all soups, but for this dish I added some fennel …….lesson time……. Fennel plants have leaves that remind me of dill and you can eat the “fronds”…..thats what the dill looking part is called. Not only can you eat the leaves, but the seeds and bulbs as well. Fennel looks kind of like a cross between an onion and the base of a bunch of celery and has a sweet anise-like flavor. But it doesn’t taste like licorice… it is a light, bright spring-like flavor. Plus, fennel is good for you, it contains Vitamins A and C, as well as potassium and calcium.
Garlic, which no respectable Italian dish is without….just saying, a pinch of red pepper, gotta have a touch of heat….some chicken stock……please use stock, you will get a much better flavor.
I added a can of white kidney beans….a.k.a. Cannellini beans and spinach for greens.
OMG….I almost forgot the tortellini……hard to make White Bean Sausage Tortellini Soup without it. Silly me….
The whole thing takes all of 30 minutes……who doesn’t have 30 minutes??????
30 minutes to an incredible, warm , hearty soup…….White Bean Sausage Tortellini Soup. Serve it with asiago or parmesan cheese and some crusty bread….delicious!!!!!!!!!
13 ounces package Italian Herb cooked sausage, sliced thin
1 onion, chopped
1 cup fresh fennel bulb, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon fennel seed, crushed
2- 32 ounce cartons chicken stock
4 cups baby spinach
1 15-ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed, drained
1 9-ounce package cheese tortellini
1 cup grated Asiago cheese
Instructions
Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add next 7 ingredients. Sauté until vegetables are soft and kielbasa is brown, about 12 minutes. Add stock and bring to boil. Stir in spinach and beans. Reduce heat and simmer until spinach is wilted, about 4 minutes. Add tortellini to soup. Simmer until pasta is al dente, about 5-7 minutes.
Ladle soup into bowls. Sprinkle with asiago cheese.
