Tortellini with Sausage and Peppers in a White Wine Cream Sauce

This pasta dish is rich and delicious and perfect for a cold, rainy night inside with a glass of wine. 

I am still working on my organization in the kitchen and this recipe certainly tested my skills. At one point, I had something on each of the four elements on the stove. But everything came together (after some tense moments!) and it was a great dinner. The clean up? Not as great...

Ingredients

• One package of fresh tortellini (or another cheese-stuffed pasta)
• 2 mild italian sausages
• 1 red pepper
• 1 yellow pepper
• 1 medium onion
• 3/4 cup cream (10% is best, but if you have higher, you might want to dilute with milk)
• 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/3 cup white wine (optional)

Directions

Remove the casing from the sausages by slicing it down the centre and peeling it off. 

(yes, the recipe says two sausages, but I cooked five to have them on hand, but didn't think about the pics!)

Break into pieces and put into frying pan and cook for about 15 minutes, until cooked through.

Julienne the peppers and roughly chop the onion so the pieces are bite sized.

Heat the 2 tsp of oil in another frying pan and sautee the peppers and onion.

In a large pot, boil salted water and cook the pasta.

In another pot (whew!), mix the cream and the parmesan cheese and heat until it thickens up. Add the garlic and white wine and stir.

Drain the pasta and return to pot. Pour cream sauce over the pasta.

Serve the pasta and top with some of the peppers, onion and sausage.

Download a printable version of Tortellini with Sausage and Peppers

Brunch Strata

Brunch is a really challenging meal to host because so many things you serve have to be done at the very last minute -- eggs, pancakes, french toast.

I was hosting a small brunch party today and went in search of something I could prepare in advance and leave to bake while I was entertaining. Enter the brunch strata.

Strata is like a breakfast casserole. It's wholesome and hearty, healthy and delicious. And you can prepare it in advance and watch it bake while you're enjoying a mimosa. What could be better?

Here's the recipe I used this morning and it was a hit!

Ingredients

• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 cup chopped zucchini
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1 cup chopped red pepper
• 1 cup bacon/ham/sausage -- whatever you have on hand
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 pkg cream cheese (softened)
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup cream
• 2 cups day-old cubed bread
• 6 eggs

Directions

• Cube bread about the size of large croutons and leave out overnight
• Prepare veggies

• Cook the meat, drain and set aside

• Sautee veggies in oil and garlic, drain and set aside

• In a mixer, combine cream cheese with cream until smooth
• Add eggs and mix
• Add bread crumbs, veggies, meat and cheddar cheese and mix
• Pour into greased 11 x 7 pan

• Bake in oven at 350 degrees for about an hour
• Let cool for about 10 minutes
• Serve!

(this is it baked, but I couldn't take a picture before the vultures got at it!)