Pasta, Tuscan Style!

Ahhh... tis good to be back in the blogosphere, and it's VERY good to have my computer back! I actually made this dish a few weeks ago, and the photos were stuck on my camera until tonight! I rarely make pasta at home, but for some reason, I was crrrraaving it! But, I did try to make it healthi-ER than regular pasta, so I used whole-wheat penne in lieu of plain old pasta. The only not-quite-healthy part is the turkey sausage, but hey, a little dark meat ain't gonna kill you!


I started with one Italian turkey sausage and took the meat out of the casing, and crumbled it up into a pan, along with several minced cloves of garlic.


I added some chopped fresh kale (superfood!)...


...and let it cook down. I am always surprised how much kale cooks down! It always looks like it's going to be too much, but boy, it wilts like crazy.


I added about 1 cup of chopped San Marzano tomatoes...


...as well as about 1 cup of canned cannellini beans.


In the meantime, I cooked up about 6 dry ounces of whole-wheat penne pasta, and added it to the pan when it was cooked and drained. Of course, I had to shower the pasta in freshly grated parm-reg cheese (MY FAAVE), and let it melt all over the pasta.

Oooh it was so simple, yet so tasty! The sausage added just the right amount of fat (i.e. flavaaah!), the white beans added lovely texture (and extra protein/fiber), and the kale provided a nutritional component and color. A perfect weeknight meal that takes just moments to come together!



Tuscan-style Pasta

Ingredients:
3-4 cloves minced garlic
1 fresh Italian turkey sausage, casing removed
1/2 to 3/4 bunch kale, trimmed and chopped
1 cup canned San Marzano diced tomatoes
1 cup canned cannellini beans
S&P
6oz whole-wheat penne pasta, cooked and drained
freshly grated parm-reg cheese

Directions:
1. Heat olive oil in a pan, and add the garlic. Cook until the garlic becomes aromatic.
2. Add the de-cased sausage, break into pieces with wooden spoon, and cook until cooked through.
3. Add the kale, let it cook down.
4. Add tomatoes and beans, stir stir stir.
5. Add cooked pasta, season with S&P, stir stir stir.
6. Grate fresh cheese on top, stir stir stir, ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!

Thumbs-down to computer viruses.

I have fallen victim to the dreaded virus. How? Why? This I will never know for sure. What I do know is I was able to salvage the most important things on my hard drive before it was re-formatted. But, my computer is only half-way saved... for some reason, I am unable to use the USB drives (hence, no photo uploads from my camera), nor am I able to transfer the files from my external HD onto my newly formatted computer. Not to mention, I lost ALL my bookmarked recipes from all of you awesome bloggers. Looks like I'll be starting from scratch.

I hate technology.

Bananananana Bread

Life is busy. Busy, I tell you! I'm working and going to school... so far at work, I havn't killed anyone. Yet. But I have successfully started a few IV's! I'm feeling more and more like a nurse everyday.

I had a few bananas lying around, that I decided to allow to ripen fully. I put them in the freezer until I used them today so they wouldn't get moldy. Then I just defrosted them in the fridge before I used them. Then I thought, "What delicious baked good can I make with these lovely ripened bananas?" Banananana bread!


I used a fantastic banana bread recipe from Kristin at The Kitchen Sink Recipes, which I particularly appreciate because it uses egg whites, sour cream, and not a whole lot of butter. I didn't have sour cream, so I decided to use an equivalent amount of greek yogurt; I didn't have buttermilk, so I used regular 1% milk. Other than those changes, everything else is the same as her original recipe.


I also used whole-wheat flour, so it makes me feel like this banana bread is kind of somewhat healthier than regular banana bread. Am I fooling myself? Maybe....


Anyway, this banana bread turned out just lovely and delicious! I expected it to come out somewhat dense and chewy, with the whole-wheat flour, but it really came out light and fluffy and cakey and delicious! I am so very pleased with this recipe and how it came out. If you're looking for a healthiER banana bread recipe, this one is it!! Give it a try. You won't regret it.




Banana Bread
from The Kitchen Sink Recipes

Ingredients:
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temp (1/2 stick)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 ripe bananas, mashed
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1/4 cup milk
heaping 1/4 cup greek yogurt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinammon


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease your loaf pan.
2. Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the mashed bananas, egg whites, milk, yogurt, and vanilla.
4. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinammon.
5. Add the banana mixture to the butter/sugar mixture, combine well.
6. Add the dry ingredients to this mixture, and combine well, but don't overmix.
7. Pour into greased loaf pan.
8. Bake for 1 hour. Let cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes. Turn out onto cooling rack.
9. Slice, and enjoy!