Italian Sausage w/ Cavatappi

This recipe came from our friends Greg & Tricia. Tricia is Italian, Greg is Polish, they are both great cooks and share our love of cooking together.

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. olive oil
¾ lb. Italian sausage
16 oz. can Italian style diced tomatoes
½ c. heavy cream
¼ c. white wine
1 lb. cavatappi (or cellentani)
Grated parmesan cheese

Warm olive oil over med-low heat in large sauté pan. Add the sausage (removed from casings) and cook slowly, breaking sausage into bits until it loses its raw color (~5 minutes). Stir in the tomatoes and raise the heat to medium and cook uncovered until the tomatoes have softened (5-10 minutes). Stir in the cream and wine and simmer briefly (~3 minutes). Season with salt & pepper and serve with cavatappi pasta (cork-screw shaped pasta). Serve with grated parmesan cheese.

Chicken in Lemon Sauce

This just had to be the first recipe posted. I have made this so many times, I no longer need to consult my recipe card. I have also found several shortcuts and will include those in the recipe. For a couple of years, this is one of the two meals that our daughter, Sophia, would eat (the other was tacos). This recipe came from a cookbook that my mother had - I can't remember which one. One time when I was home from college, I was looking for something new to make and have been making this ever since!

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
½ stick butter
2 Tbsp. dry white wine
Juice & grated rind of 1 lemon
¼ tsp. salt
pepper to taste
1 c. heavy whipping cream
grated parmesan cheese
1 pkg. sliced mushrooms

Melt butter in skillet, cut the chicken up into bite-size pieces and brown it until no longer pink (~10 minutes). Remove chicken and put it in an oven-safe dish and set aside. Pre-heat the oven to broil. Sauté the mushrooms in skillet and then put them over the chicken.  Add lemon juice, peel and white wine to skillet – cook over medium heat about 1 minute, then add salt & pepper and gradually pour in cream, stirring constantly until hot – do not boil. Put parmesan cheese over mushrooms and chicken, pour cream sauce on top, broil until slightly brown. Serve over your favorite kind of pasta or with mashed potatoes.