Italian sausage, sweet peppers and onions, slow baked with crushed and diced tomatoes, olive oil and seasonings, served here on buttered and toasted rolls.

Baked Italian Sausage and Peppers

I love Italian sausage and peppers, but it never occurred to me to cook it in the oven.

While I think that this dish is not really authentic Italian, but more of a fusion of Italian with American, Italians do cook a lot of sausages, though the kinds do vary by region. Typically when authentic Italian sausages are referenced, it means salamina or salame da sugo, cotechino, zampone, or capello del prete and not the typical sweet or hot Italian sausages in our markets here in the U.S.

I love eating this dish, especially on a good sturdy bun, but mostly prepared it in what I thought was the more traditional manner - whole sausages, browned off in a skillet of oil, set aside while sliced peppers and onions are sauteed in that same skillet, then everything combined together.

An American-style Bolognese meat sauce, seasoned with a mirepoix of vegetables, beef and pork, tomatoes and wine, made in the Instant Pot!

Instant Pot American-Style Bolognese Sauce (Spaghetti Meat Sauce)

So, the other day I had a craving for spaghetti.

I know, crazy, right? Mostly folks have "cravings" for sweet things, but me, I'm more of a savory kind of gal, so when I get a craving it's more likely it's for some kind of savory comfort food.

Maybe chicken and dumplings. Or tacos. Lasagna. Or those little burgers like Krystal's. Roast Chicken. Chicken Pot Pie. Homemade Mashed Potatoes. That sort of stuff.

Anyway, this specific time after our recent carb-heavy holiday meal, I was craving meat and more specifically meat sauce. I started to just make my normal semi-homemade spaghetti sauce, but then, I thought...

The flavors you love in a saucy and cheesy baked ziti, made one pot easy using uncooked pasta in an Instant Pot! Round out the meal with sweet tea, a mixed garden salad and some hot garlic bread.

Instant Pot Ziti

To say that I love pasta would be an understatement.

Thankfully so does my hubby, aka The Cajun, so we eat some sort of pasta dish regularly and one of my favorite ways to make pasta is in the Instant Pot!

Now, to clarify, just in case you're happening on my website for the first time, first, welcome! Second, come join us over on our Facebook page because I feature a lot of my past recipes there every day, and third, when I speak of the "Instant Pot," it is often in the context of using it as an electronic pressure cooker, though technically speaking it is a multi-function pot, and it is only one brand of said families of multi-pots. There are many others out there, all of which work with the recipes here designated as "Instant Pot," when used with the pressure cook function.

A quick skillet meal of sweet or hot Italian sausage with seasoning vegetables, pasta noodles and a southwestern-seasoned tomato and sour cream sauce.

Italian Sausage and Pasta Skillet

Oh my goodness y'all... is this summer heat ever gonna end?? And it's not even August yet.

I know that I whine about it every summer but it's not getting any easier as the birthdays come on, that's for sure! The boys came by with their Dad for a swim and while PawPaw hung out in the pool with them, I had to go in and out of the house, alternating between visiting and cooling off. It was awful.

It's really been hard to get motivated to cook too.

Classic American-style stuffed cabbage leaves.

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

I don't really know when it was that I fell in love with cabbage, but I do love it. I can't recall one single instance where my Mama ever even fixed it, but I've certainly made it plenty myself!

My favorite way to eat it is what we in the south call fried cabbage, though it's not really "fried," at least not in the sense of the word that folks automatically think of as fried in the south. It's more of a sauté and braise, or even smothered really. I love it!

Cabbage rolls though?

A casserole layered in with pasta, pasta sauce, cheese, sausage and pepperoni. All the flavors of a great pizza, in a casserole! Half recipe pictured.

Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza Pasta Casserole

I mean, how can you not love something that has a stack of pepperoni on top, and while it may look like a pizza, there's pasta under there, another favorite of mine.

Yum, yum y'all!

I've been trying to get a new post up forever, so not a lot of chat today... some of you who are happening across this blog will be happy about that I'm sure! {I've seen those memes!}

The classic Rotel Queso Dip, but made with sausage and shrimp!

Shrimp Rotel Dip

This is a variation of the classic and ever-popular Rotel Queso Dip, with the addition of shrimp and often ground beef, though ground turkey, pork or sausage or even a combination works well too. I personally love it with breakfast sausage the most, over them all!

Most recipes use a larger shrimp, sometimes whole, sometimes chopped up, but I find the small salad sized shrimp to be a perfect choice. There are lots of them in a pound and they're just the right chip size.

An easy and flavorful skillet ragu made with sweet or hot Italian sausage, a mirepoix of veggies in a light broth and tomato base with pasta.

Sweet Sausage Ragu - Ragù Di Carne

I have been cutting back on expenses this past year. We rarely go out or do social events outside of family events anymore - been there, done that, bought the t-shirt. We don't even eat out much, so home entertainment and wireless services were the first two to get trimmed back.

Since ditching expensive satellite television, I've been watching a lot of antenna TV. It's not completely reliable though, so I did eventually enroll in a streaming service, of which there are many to choose from these days. Far less expensive, I have found that I actually like that far better than cable or satellite. Unfortunately though, when we ditched our expensive cell service, we also lost our unlimited internet, so I had to start budgeting the streaming time.

A tomato-based ground beef and sausage meat sauce, baked with rotini pasta and a mix of Cheddar and Parmesan cheeses.

Baked Rotini in Meat Sauce

Wow, has this cold and flu season been a challenge for me this year. You hear about how frightening it is around the country, but when it hits home and you experience it in your family multiple times, it's exhausting. Course, The Cajun, who is exposed to those pesky little germs much more often than me, and has such a strong constitution and rock solid immune system, he's done well fighting it, unlike me. I'm feeling okay today, but that seems subject to change at any time this winter. Hope y'all are faring better than I have, whew!

Even though my taste buds have yet to recover, still gotta feed the man, so here's another quick and easy dish and I'm sure all for that here lately! It's a mix of ground beef and sausage baked in a tomato-based sauce and layers of cheese. Be sure to undercook the pasta a tad so it stays more firm in the baking process. Instead of making a white sauce, I went with our southern béchamel, aka cream of mushroom soup, although if you're opposed to using that, I've included a homemade béchamel sauce down in the cook's notes in the recipe.

Sausage and Garlic Potatoes - skillet fried potatoes, cooked with Italian, breakfast or turkey sausage, plenty of garlic and fresh or canned tomatoes.

Sausage and Garlic Potatoes

Okay, right up front, I reckon this isn't the prettiest picture, and I'm sure, due to the nature of the internet, somebody is gonna feel free to let me know that.

Truth is though, you and I know that a lot of the best tasting foods aren't necessarily the most photogenic. As a person with a blog of recipes, some are a little difficult to "style." Have you seen my mandarin orange fruit salad, aka to many of you as ambrosia salad? There is no way to make that dish look good, but man is it delicious! I've already told y'all what I think about all that photography business anyway. I'm just more about the food around here! Heck, I didn't even take this one out of the skillet I cooked it in.

An Italian-American pasta dish, this southernized version of ziti comes together fairly quickly in a skillet on top of the stove, but with no sacrifice of the classic flavor.

Skillet Ziti

Although my ancestors come from the same area of Europe, it wasn't until recently that I learned that there actually is Italian lineage in my family tree. Seems that at least one of my great times I don't know how many grandparents was actually 100% Italian! I sure do seem to gravitate toward good Italian food. And good French food too for that matter. Aw heck, just good food I reckon!

I can tell you for certain that I sure do love my homemade baked ziti. Love, love, love it! But... like a good lasagna, homemade baked ziti takes a little bit of work and a whole lotta love to come together. It's a process, usually involving the entire family, to help make the sauce, the meatballs and all of the stuff that goes into making a good homemade meal, full of love.

That makes it a mostly weekend, and usually Sunday meal too, and as Rachael Ray has proclaimed in her newest book, Everyone is Italian on Sunday {affil link}. Ah, finally some validation for this southerner's love of Italian food... thanks Rach!

Hanky Pankies Appetizers - an old school party food, made with a mixture of sausage and beef, seasonings and cheese on tiny party bread.

Hanky Pankies Appetizers

In the world of my favorite old school appetizers, these Hankie Pankies are right up there in the category some folks call "trash" food as 7-Layer Mexican Dip, Sausage Balls, Chex Mix and Rumaki. I made these for our Super Bowl party and oh my goodness they are soooo good y'all!

I actually drafted the recipe to the blog years ago and have made them several times, but just never got around to publishing them for some reason. One thing is for sure - there are just not a lot of ways to photograph these little bites of deliciousness to make them look pretty, but heck... the taste sure makes up for it.

Sausage and Peppers Stew with Onions with Beans

A quick skillet stew of sausage with peppers and onions, tomatoes, barbecue sauce, and beans.

Sausage and Peppers Stew

I love this quick take on classic sausage and peppers with onions, adding in beans, making it much more filling and satisfying. It's kinda like if you took beanie weenies and sausage and peppers and married them.

I've used Italian sausage here, but you can use any kind of Italian-style sausage like chicken or turkey, or even a good andouille sausage, and I've also used those gourmet hot dogs that come with the steak packages you get as a gift at Christmas.

Nutritional Factoid: Did you know that while most canned beans are very high in sodium, draining and rinsing them gets rid of nearly half of the sodium level? And, just so you know, it also helps to reduce some of those gas-causing sugars too.

Mini meatloaves, made in a jumbo, Texas style muffin pan, with lean ground beef, the Trinity of veggies, barbecue sauce, topped with a brown sugar, Creole mustard barbecue glaze and finished with cheese.

BBQ Cheeseburger Meatloaf Minis

It's Fall y'all!! Well, so says the calendar at least finally, and while we've only "cooled" down a bit here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast - mid to high 80s and some cooler nighttime temperatures - I'll take it!! This weekend was absolutely beautiful and I enjoyed it in its entirety.

An unstuffed casserole form of all the ingredients you love in stuffed cabbage, Cabbage Patch is made with a layer of cabbage, topped with a blend of veggies, tomato, rice and sausage or beef, finished, if you like, with a layer of shredded cheese. Perfect for cabbage lovers!

Cabbage Patch Casserole

Wow. Has it been cold enough for y'all? Good grief.

I know it's been pretty cold all across the nation with this recent Polar Vortex, but as I write this in January of 2014, we've had some record breaking temps in the teens even down here in the Deep South along the Gulf Coast.

I'm sure if some of you are coming across this recipe at some point in the future, you're probably facing cold weather yourself right now.

I'm so glad that this frigid weather is finally gonna be moving along though, because I don't think I could have taken it too much longer. We just don't get along with that here in the Deep South. Thank goodness relief is on the way!

A southernized version of classic Italian Wedding Soup, made with spicy sausage and beef meatballs, collards and black-eyed peas.

Southernized Italian Wedding Soup

Italian Wedding Soup has long been a southern favorite, but this version inspired by John Besh, {affil link} makes it even more regional for us, and, it's a great way to use up some of those leftover black-eyed peas and collard greens you made for your New Year's Day meal. Don't fret if you don't have any leftovers on hand though, because you can certainly used canned products very successfully here, or fresh, quick cooking greens such as turnip, mustard or even baby spinach.

Sweet bell peppers stuffed with a mixture of ground beef, Italian sausage, rice & a Creole tomato sauce, topped with cheddar cheese, slices of Velveeta or your favorite.

Creole Stuffed Bell Peppers

I absolutely adore stuffed bell peppers. The Cajun? Not so much.

Remember his aversion to veggies?

Well, the poor bell pepper falls right into that category of any other whole veggie that is stuffed - even though most often the very veggie he is rejecting whole, is mixed in the stuffing anyway! So, as with any stuffed vegetable, he will just eat the stuffing from a stuffed bell pepper, and throw away the pepper.

Silly man. I mean, he eats green bell pepper a lot. How many recipes do y'all see here that contain The Trinity - onion, celery, and ... hello ... green bell pepper? Lots. Sigh.

A slightly southernized version of baked ziti, made with the Trinity of southern vegetables, tiny beef and sausage meatballs, a tomato-based sauce with Italian sausage and mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.

Southernized Baked Ziti

While baked ziti may not be traditional southern fare, it's a popular dish that goes a long way to feeding a crowd of folks and y'all know I'm gonna have to southernize it just a little bit!

Actually, where I grew up here along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, not only do we have amazing access to fresh seafood, but because of our history and our military bases, bringing people here from literally all over the world, we are so fortunate to also have a large influx of a variety of cuisines in our area.

Lightly caramelized onions are sauteed with Italian sausage, a little chicken broth, tomatoes, cream and seasonings and tossed with rigatoni pasta for a quick skillet meal.

Italian Sausage Rigatoni with Spicy Tomato Cream Sauce

This is another one of those quick pantry meals because it uses ingredients I almost always just have on hand. The sauce is a great accent to the Italian sausage and truly nothing could be easier. I used rigatoni, which works perfect with the sausage and cream sauce, but the recipe works well with many other pasta shapes as well. Try it with bow ties or rotini - here's how to make it!