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vegetables

Sheet Pan Italian Sausage and Roasted Vegetables

September 11, 2017 by Vanessa Leave a Comment

Sometimes the last thing you want to do is make dinner when you get home from work. Yet, the thought of another frozen pizza or takeout meal makes your head spin. The solution to an easy, home cooked meal is a sheet pan dinner that is as easy to prepare as chopping a ingredients.

My recipe for Sheet Pan Italian sausage and Roasted Vegetables is incredibly simple and uses up many of the vegetables in your refrigerator. Start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees.

While your oven is heating up, clean and cut vegetables of your choice into chunks and add them to a large mixing bowl. Then, do the same to a package of link Sweet Italian sausage. Next, drizzle the vegetables and sausage lightly with olive oil, add a pinch of red pepper flake, paprika, Italian seasoning, and then salt and pepper. Finally, toss the bowl’s contents with a large spoon (or use your hands).

Transfer the contents of the bowl to a parchment lined large sheet pan. Spread the sausage and vegetables evenly across the surface of the sheet pan so they roast evenly during cooking time. Bake 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from the sheet pan from the oven and move around the sausage and vegetables with a spoon. Bake an additional 15-20 minutes until the sausage no longer looks pink and the vegetables have softened and browned.

Warning: You’ll be tempted to grab chunks of cooked yumminess from the pan after removing it from the oven and pop them in your mouth. Don’t make this rookie mistake. It’s hot, folks. Super hot.

Want more easy to prepare dinner recipes for the week? Try Lone Star Turkey Chili with Sour Cream and Chives or Thin Crust Alfredo Pizza with Bacon and Kale. 

Let me know about your go-to favorite dinner recipe in the comments section below. Share it!

One Delightful Life

Sheet Pan Italian Sausage and Roasted Vegetables

Incredibly easy to prepare for a weeknight dinner, this sheet pan dinner was having you craving leftovers.

15 minPrep Time

40 minCook Time

55 minTotal Time

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Ingredients

  • 1 package Sweet Italian sausage links (5-6) large diced
  • 3-4 large diced red potatoes
  • 1 large diced russet potato
  • 1 small, large diced red onion
  • 1 small, large diced yellow onion
  • 1 large diced green pepper
  • 2 whole garlic cloves
  • Handful of asparagus (de-stemmed of tough stalks)
  • 1 T. olive oil
  • 1/2 T. Italian seasoning
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp cracked black pepper
  • 1 tsp Kosher salt
  • pinch red pepper flakes

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Dice all vegetables, garlic, and sausage into large chunks and place in a large bowl.
  3. Add olive oil, seasoning, red pepper flake, salt and pepper.
  4. Toss contents of bowl with a spoon our your hands until evenly coated.
  5. Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet.
  6. Bake for 20 minutes.
  7. Remove pan from oven and use spoon to move around the vegetables and sausage to help it cook thoroughly.
  8. Bake for 15-20 minutes more until sausage is no longer pink and vegetables have softened to your liking.

Notes

Garnish with fresh herbs such as parsley or basil before serving (optional).

7.8.1.2
80
https://onedelightfullife.com/sheet-pan-italian-sausage-roasted-vegetables/
onedelightfullife.com

Nutrition

Calories

128 cal

Fat

11 g

Carbs

7 g

Protein

2 g
Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info
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Filed Under: Dinner, Taste Tagged With: asparagus, Carrabba's, Cora, dinner, garlic, Italian, Italian seasoning, Kroger, olive oil, onions, oven, paprika, parchment paper, peppers, pork, potato, red pepper flake, roasted, sausage, seasoning, sheet pan, Tone's, vegetables

Tequila Lime Chicken with Pico de Gallo and Fresh Guacamole

May 20, 2017 by Vanessa Leave a Comment

I have no problem pretending that some days of the week are food holidays as an excuse to make celebratory food. Life is short. I don’t need rules that say it can’t be just like Super Bowl Sunday or St. Patrick’s Day.

In fact, I declare today a Cinco de Mayo again just so you can make an excuse to prepare Tequila Lime Chicken with Homemade Pico de Gallo and Fresh Guacamole. Grab a cold Tecate and your sombrero because you’ve got some serious kitchen cooking to do!

Topped with homemade pico de gallo, guacamole, and crushed tortilla chips for crunch, Pioneer Woman’s Tequila Lime Chicken goes well with a chilled Mexican beer or my Grilled Pineapple Peach Margarita made with silver tequila.

This grilled chicken dinner is multi-step but worth every moment. Seriously, have you ever purchased store bought guacamole or tried to find pico de gallo on a grocery store’s salad bar? The guacamole tastes artificial and tends to have a mouse-like texture and salad bar pico de gallo is incredibly watery. Fresh is best so don’t hesitate from making homemade guacamole and pico de gallo because the freshness of each one elevates the flavor of this dish.

First, prepare the pico de gallo in advance. Combine equal amounts of diced tomato, white onion, cilantro, and one seeded jalapeno. (Leave the seeds and pulp inside the jalapeno if you prefer more heat.) Once mixed, squeeze a half of a lime into the bowl and mix again to incorporate the juice well.

Now, let’s make the fresh guacamole. Learn how to pick out the perfect avocado here. Take your knife around the outside of each avocado and carefully remove the pit of each one. There’s a new trend called Avocado Hand. Don’t let it happen to you. Be careful! Use a knife to carefully a circle around the outside of the avocado and then cut each half into diced squares so you can scoop the avocado meat out with a spoon into the bowl. Once you’ve added the avocado to the a large bowl, add enough of the pico de gallo to the bowl and mix it gently so you leave it chunky.

Cover the guacamole bowl with plastic wrap and make sure to press the plastic against the guacamole to form a tight seal. This method, and the lime juice in the guacamole, will keep it from browning too dark and it will keep for 24 hours in the refrigerator.

Extra guacamole is a good thing. Serve with tortilla scoops chips and a fresh lime wedge.

Finally, let’s tackle the main entree Tequila Lime Chicken. Full disclosure here: this is not my recipe but instead Ree Drummond’s (Pioneer Woman’s) recipe. Her recipe requires you to use a food processor to prepare a creamy tequila based marinade and pour it into a Ziplock bag and then refrigerating it for several hours. You could also use a blender in a pinch.

While you could certainly use a mesquite flavored tequila like Jose Cuervo, I prefer a lighter silver tequila. I can thank college for that preference.
Add all marinade ingredients into a food processor.
Combine marinade ingredients in a food processor and blend well. You don’t want garlic chunks.
Add chicken breasts to marinade.

The alcohol will cook out of the marinade once the chicken is grilled but the flavor will linger. Later, you’ll remove the chicken from the bag and and grill it over medium high heat 4-5 minutes per side until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Remove the chicken from the grill and allow it to rest a couple of minutes before serving it topped with sprinkled taco cheese, guacamole, pico de gallo and a sprig of fresh cilantro. Crumble tortilla chips in your hand add sprinkle them on top for added crunch. Don’t forget a wedge of lime on the side to squeeze on top of the entire plate!

Optional sides could include warmed black beans and Mexican rice with folded flour tortillas. Use some of that extra tequila to make my recipe for Grilled Pineapple and Peach Tequila Cocktail.

Mexican food is one of the best culinary experiences that people can have. -Karla Souza

Let me know what you think of these recipes in the comments section below. Happy Cinco de Mayo. Again.

 

Filed Under: Dinner, Taste Tagged With: alcohol, avocado, blender, cheese, chicken breasts, cilantro, Cinco de Mayo, cocktail, condiments, corn tortilla, Cuervo, Cuisinart, fiesta, food processor, garlic, grill, grilled, grilling, guacamole, herbs, hispanic, holiday, jalapeno, lime, lime juice, lime wedge, margarita, marinade, mexican, olive oil, onion, peach, pepper, pico de gallo, pineapple, pioneer woman, plastic wrap, salt and pepper, tequila, tomato, vegetables

Garden House Showcase: A Special Place for Mom

April 18, 2017 by Vanessa Leave a Comment

My mom is quite talented at a lot of things. When guests come over she rolls out the red carpet with the some of the most delicious meals. Even if you’ve dropped by the house mid-day, she’ll serve you a delicious cheese and fruit platter and pour you a glass of Chardonnay. Yea, she’s that kind of hostess.

But don’t be surprised if you knock on the door and she doesn’t answer. She’s most likely outside in her custom built garden house doing what she does best…gardening. Make no mistake. This is no She Shed. She refuses to let people label it as such. This is a real-deal garden house where she spends time cultivating her craft – making her gardens flourish. Whether she is sitting in the screened in porch chair reading about rose bushes or potting plants in the stainless steel sink, her green thumb is at work.

Located behind my parent’s home, mom’s garden house often entices strangers driving by to stop and ask to see it.

It seems only fair that my step-dad, who has his own woodworking shop, would build a garden house for her, right? The 8’x12′ house (not including the 5’x12′ screened in porch) includes the same amenities that any home would have including running water and electricity. During the winter it houses plants she wants to keep alive from the outdoor elements and during the summer the sun beams in on oversized house plants.

I recognize quite a bit of my mom’s style in her garden house’s design from the upcycled screen door to the ceiling light fixture that she held on to for years until this house was built.

Mom’s garden house is an extension of her own home. The interior’s neutral colors, off-set by the bright white counter tops and trimmed windows, includes various green hues from decorative additions and dark black metal pieces. Having collected many of the sitabouts over time, she decorates in a style more sophisticated than rustic farmhouse but less stuffy than classic traditional. She has an eclectic sense of design style that is uniquely her own.

Once inside the screened in porch, glass French doors remain welcome you into a spacious window lit space.
Muted green wicker chairs flank both sides of the screened in porch to the east and the west.

When not busy nurturing plants, she uses the garden house as a quiet refuge to read or just watch her many bird feeders in the yard over a glass of wine. When friends visit on occasion, like her Bunco gal pals, it serves as a getaway space to venture to between games for a quick tour. You can hear the women audibly dote over each detail of the garden house. They want one too. Who wouldn’t?

A serious gardner needs a space to pour over the details found in gardening books. Always the humble student, my mom enjoys learning why some plants and flowers flourish and how she can attract or eliminate insects.

Mom’s appreciation of nature goes back as far as I can remember.

“It (gardening) feeds my soul in a way nothing else does. I’m connected to plants in new says every year,” she said recently.

My childhood was spent watching her in the yard with her hands in the dirt on weekends. After coming home from school we would drag around the hose to water thick, layered flower beds of all colors and varieties. Sunflowers towered over our heads and wildflowers nestled at our feet. She would tell me about butterflies that she adored and the grasshoppers that broke her heart.

Today, she still sees beauty in the colors of delicate flowers and enjoys the harvest of a vegetable or herb garden. Her accepted challenge each year is to learn about the needs of plant placement in her landscape while always attempting to attract birds, bees, and insects.

Antique pottery and her favorite pieces adorn a shelf above the door inside the garden house.
The east side of the garden house exposes an area behind it where she also pots plants and flowers.
The wooden table on the right was her only potting station at our old house.

Gardening is not easy. She admits that the challenge is to find the balance between what she wants to plant and what nature will allow. Admittedly, she says there are more failures to learn every season and enough small successes to keep her happy.

I love spring and wish it lasted longer, she says.

It’s true. She smiles the most in the spring (with college basketball season in a close second place). When the weather begins to warm up and the days spring forward, she is more outdoors than she is indoors. I often call her to wish her a “Happy Spring” only for it to go to voicemail because she’s outside playing in the yard.

While I love the outdoors, I’m not a natural gardener. I struggle to keep plants alive. I either over or under water them. Completely forget about them. I never installed the proper drip system. Can a person’s “green thumb” be learned? Maybe I just wrote it off as “mom’s hobby.” I should have really paid more attention when helping her in the yard as a teen. Just last week I called her seeking advice about our sad rose bushes. Before I knew it, I was at her house on my hands and knees pruning her rose bushes while she used wood glue on the stem ends to prevent bores for invading them again. Glue? Who knew!

A rusty garden tool serves as a door knocker on the exterior of the garden house.

I’m “foodie” thanks to my mom’s love of cooking. In fact, many of her garden harvests end up in her recipes. Ripe tomatoes are the star ingredient in her homemade gazpacho, a cool treat during a blazing hot summer day. Fresh herbs like rosemary and thyme find their way into many of her savory recipes. This year she has decided to trade her tomato plants for perennials because it’s just less to have to worry about and each year perennials come back stronger when given the space to spread out.

I’ve have so much to learn from her wisdom about nature, about plants and birds. As I mentioned before, I’m at best a wannabe gardener. In fact, I’ve killed so many house plants over the years that if there is every going to be any hope for me, I’m going to have to spend more time with mom in the garden house. If you’re more like me, you’ll appreciate a post she helped me write last summer 10 Hard to Kill Houseplants You Can Leave While on Vacation.

But not every day can be spent gardening. Sometimes the body needs a day of rest between the hours spent digging in unforgiving soil and pulling weeds away from flowers. On these days, she takes time to let her body relax but we all know she is still thinking about her next outdoor project.

A water drip system was installed for her window boxes, which extends to the container pots near the garden house entrance.

What can we learn from mom’s garden house? Every woman, every person, needs a space to call their own. Where they can go to escape the chaos of the day and appreciate some quiet time or just enjoy their hobby.

Looking west from inside.

What is it that brings you peace? What do you enjoy learning about most? Tell me in the comments section how you pursue your hobby or where you like to spend quiet time.

Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged With: antiques, backyard, bird feeders, bird watching, birds, books, botanical garden, break, bugs, Bunco, ceiling fan, chalkboard, chickens, cigar box, decor, design, desk, dirt, DIY, do it yourself, door knocker, earth, farmhouse, flower frog, flowers, framed art, French doors, garden, gardening hat, gardens, gazpacho, grasshoppers, green thumb, greenhouse, harvest, herbs, hobby, homegrown, horticulture, hose, house, houseplants, insects, interior, ivy, landscape, landscape lighting, lawn, mom, mother, nature, outdoors, patio, place, plant stand, plantings, plants, porch, pottery, potting, potting station, quiet, read, reading, reading nook, refuge, rest, roses, rustic, sconce, screen, seasonal, seed packets, seeds, shade, She shed, showcase, shutters, sink, sitabouts, soil, space, special, spring, sunshine, tile, trees, upcycled, urban garden, vacation, vegetables, vintage, weeds, wicker chair, window, window box, wine, work, yard

Thin Crust Alfredo Pizza with Bacon and Kale

January 8, 2017 by Vanessa Leave a Comment

Restaurant pizza is yummy. But homemade just-the-way-you-like-it pizza is far more delicious even decadent especially when it’s topped with bacon.

I live with a native New Yorker so you can bet we eat a lot of pizza. We’ve made homemade crust and purchased a case of Sam’s frozen pizza crust. No matter how you slice it, preparing homemade pizza crust is labor intensive and messy. By the time the pizza was on the plate, we were exhausted and the kitchen was a flour-covered mess that we didn’t want to clean. Then, I discovered Mama Mary’s oven-ready crust! My Thin Crust Alfredo Pizza with Bacon and Kale doesn’t take more than 30 minutes to prepare.

You can find oven-ready pizza crust in medium to large sizes in your grocery store next to store bought sauces and near ethnic foods. A lover of white garlic pizza, I created my version of Granite City’s bacon flatbread pizza. Topped with Alfredo sauce, crumbled pork-bacon sausage, thinly sliced red onion, finely chopped kale, sliced mushrooms, shredded mozzarella, and crumbled blue cheese, my homemade pizza took minutes to prepare and less than 10 minutes to bake. Now that’s decadent!

Since the New Year, I’ve taken the time to prep my vegetables and recipes starters during the weekend so I’m ready for the work week. This dedicated time in the kitchen has helped me so much! I don’t throw out half-rotten produce and I’m preparing more flavorful, healthier meals. My energy level during the day has improved because my intake of nutrients and fiber comes from prepared lunches stocked with fruits and vegetables. So, this pizza was easy to get on the table because I already washed and sliced my produce.

Tip: After slicing the red onions, place them in a bowl with water for at least 30 minutes and then drain. This reduces the robust raw onion taste that can overpower other pizza flavors. I do this in advance and store my onions in the refrigerator for later use.

If you want another pizza recipe, you’ll also enjoy my semi-homemade Grilled Greek Pizza!

onedelightfullife.com

5-6 pizza slices

Thin Crust Alfredo Pizza with Bacon and Kale

This thin crispy crust is the platform for delicious white pizza flavor you won't be able to resist.

15 minPrep Time

10 minCook Time

25 minTotal Time

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Ingredients

  • 1 Mama Mary's thin crust
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • Toppings:
  • 1/4 c. Barilla Creamy Alfredo pasta sauce
  • 1 c crumbled Farmland pork bacon
  • 1 c sliced mushrooms
  • 1/8 c. diced kale
  • 1/8 c. sliced red onion
  • 1 diced garlic clove
  • 1/2 c mozzarella
  • 1 T crumbled blue cheese
  • shredded parmesan (optional)
  • salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Brush crust with olive oil.
  2. Add half the mozzarella.
  3. Add the remaining toppings.
  4. Add the other half of the mozzarella.
  5. Sprinkle with light coating of parmesan.
  6. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper.
  7. Bake for 71/2-10 minutes until the crust edges are golden brown. (Bottom of crust will not brown but will be crispy.)
  8. Allow to cool a few minutes before slicing to serve.
7.8.1.2
64
https://onedelightfullife.com/thin-crust-alfredo-pizza-with-bacon-and-kale/
onedelightfullife.com

Nutrition

Calories

277 cal

Fat

8 g

Carbs

32 g

Protein

3 g
Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info
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Filed Under: Dinner, Taste Tagged With: alfredo, bacon, blue cheese, Greek, homemade pizza, kale, mama mary's, mozzarella, mushrooms, New York, oven baked, oven-ready, pepper, pie, pizza, pizza crust, pork, prep, red onion, sausage, semi-homemade, slice, thin crust pizza, vegetables

Cucumber Mint Raspberry Detox Water

June 24, 2016 by Vanessa Leave a Comment

It’s water. Unless I’m parched from a morning dog walk or at the gym, I don’t drink the doctor recommended daily amount of the water.

I may now. This tall glass of H20 is delicious and refreshing!

Add freshly sliced cucumber, sprigs of mint, drop in a few raspberries and you’re on the way to Water Flavortown.

cucumber-mint-raspberry-detox-water2

Every spa you go to serves cucumber water in the relaxation lounge, but why? It’s incredibly detoxifying.

Water detoxes your system while the cucumbers add Vitamin B and potassium. An anti-cancer herb, peppermint is know for soothing your stomach. Lemon contains citric acid that aides in digestion as well. Also, the ripened raspberries contain flavonoids that increase brain power.

It’s incredibly refreshing and much better for you than artificially sweetened water. Try it today!


onedelightfullife.com

Cucumber Mint Raspberry Detox Water

Try a refreshing glass of this detoxifying water and get the benefits of adding healthy nutrients to your system.

5 minPrep Time

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Ingredients

  • 1 c. club soda
  • 1 c. water
  • 1/4 of a sliced cucumber
  • 1/3 of a sliced lemon (remove seeds)
  • few springs peppermint
  • ice cubes

Instructions

  1. Add all fruit and mint to bottom of an empty, tall glass.
  2. Fill with ice cubes.
  3. Fill half of glass with club soda.
  4. Fill rest of glass with water.
  5. Drop in a few raspberries.
  6. Garnish glass with a slice of lemon and a peppermint leaf.
7.8.1.2
21

https://onedelightfullife.com/cucumber-mint-raspberry-detox-water/

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Nutrition

Calories

12 cal

Carbs

3 g

Protein

1 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info


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Filed Under: Drinks, Non-Alcoholic Tagged With: club soda, cucumber, detox, detox drink, herbs, infused water, lemon, mint, non-alcoholic drink, peppermint, raspberry, refreshing drink, vegetables, water

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Hello! I'm Vanessa. Welcome to One Delightful Life, a blog created to add more delight to your life with delicious recipes, travel destinations, and lifestyle improvement ideas. Thanks for exploring my blog!

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