So my television generally ends up on one of two channels. HGTV or Food Network. Well, correction. When my husband isn't home, it ends up on these channels. I believe Sportscenter would still be voted the most watched show in our household. But I digress. I don't generally watch Giada De Laurentiis on the Food Network, and it's not that I don't like her; I guess I just always felt like her food might be more complicated than what I wanted to do. It's probably because of the way she says "spi-git-ti" all Italian-like... But I saw about twenty minutes of her the other day, and I might have to reconsider my opinion. She made things that looked really good and were also SUPER simple! The recipe I saw was something she said her husband really loves. Ok, good, guys like it, I'm listening... and here's the gist of it:
A baked potato with a sausage and arugula tomato sauce on top. The official recipe is here:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/baked-potatoes-with-sausage-and-arugula-sauce-recipe/index.html
I thought to myself "That is super easy. And sounds great!" And I don't have dinner plans, so I should do this! Well, a few dilemmas. I don't have some of these items. And when I say some, I mean, pretty much ALL of them... here's the list:
Russet potato
Italian sausage
spaghetti or marinara sauce
arugula
mascarpone cheese
parmesan cheese
I've got parmesan! Yes!
So what if I have NONE of the ingredients. I can still make it, right? hah. Well, sure, why not.
Ok, so let's think. What I DO have is ground turkey. So I browned that up. I've got plain tomato sauce, so I dump that in and add salt, pepper, basil, minced garlic, oregano, and to make up for the fact that I didn't use sausage, I added red pepper flake to spice it up a bit and keep it from being, well, spaghetti sauce... I left that to simmer for a bit while I figured out the potato situation. And to be honest, I actually DID have some potatoes but I didn't want to have something so starchy for dinner.
So... why did I choose this recipe again??? Who knows.
Well, I've got sweet potato fries! That's a LITTLE better than regular potatoes, right? YES!
So I toasted some up in the oven while my sauce is going. To the sauce, I add my substitute for the mascarpone cheese. I melt in about 2 tbsp of cream cheese and the about 1/3 cup cottage cheese. I stir it in, and it brings the red to a pinker creamier-looking sauce, just like Giada's. Good good! The fries are done, so last but not least comes the greens. She did mention on the show that if you don't use arugula, you can use spinach. I think the peppery arugula would go better, but spinach is great too! I do often use arugula, but seeing as we're closing in on grocery-shopping day, we don't have much in the fridge... so spinach it is. It wilts instantly as I fold it in and wah-lah! It's ready! In my bowl goes a handful of sweet potato fries, a scoop of sauce and a little parmesan over the top.
Drumroll please.....
SO good! My 2-year-old, G, and I were both big fans of this dish, and although it may not be quite as fancy or exactly what Giada was going for, I think "poor-mans" version served as a great substitute! I think I'll buy all the actual ingredients some time and then decide which one we actually preferred!
Does anybody else have something similar? Any other ideas for substitutions?? Share! Share!
A baked potato with a sausage and arugula tomato sauce on top. The official recipe is here:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/baked-potatoes-with-sausage-and-arugula-sauce-recipe/index.html
I thought to myself "That is super easy. And sounds great!" And I don't have dinner plans, so I should do this! Well, a few dilemmas. I don't have some of these items. And when I say some, I mean, pretty much ALL of them... here's the list:
Russet potato
Italian sausage
spaghetti or marinara sauce
arugula
mascarpone cheese
parmesan cheese
I've got parmesan! Yes!
So what if I have NONE of the ingredients. I can still make it, right? hah. Well, sure, why not.
Ok, so let's think. What I DO have is ground turkey. So I browned that up. I've got plain tomato sauce, so I dump that in and add salt, pepper, basil, minced garlic, oregano, and to make up for the fact that I didn't use sausage, I added red pepper flake to spice it up a bit and keep it from being, well, spaghetti sauce... I left that to simmer for a bit while I figured out the potato situation. And to be honest, I actually DID have some potatoes but I didn't want to have something so starchy for dinner.
So... why did I choose this recipe again??? Who knows.
Well, I've got sweet potato fries! That's a LITTLE better than regular potatoes, right? YES!
So I toasted some up in the oven while my sauce is going. To the sauce, I add my substitute for the mascarpone cheese. I melt in about 2 tbsp of cream cheese and the about 1/3 cup cottage cheese. I stir it in, and it brings the red to a pinker creamier-looking sauce, just like Giada's. Good good! The fries are done, so last but not least comes the greens. She did mention on the show that if you don't use arugula, you can use spinach. I think the peppery arugula would go better, but spinach is great too! I do often use arugula, but seeing as we're closing in on grocery-shopping day, we don't have much in the fridge... so spinach it is. It wilts instantly as I fold it in and wah-lah! It's ready! In my bowl goes a handful of sweet potato fries, a scoop of sauce and a little parmesan over the top.
Drumroll please.....
SO good! My 2-year-old, G, and I were both big fans of this dish, and although it may not be quite as fancy or exactly what Giada was going for, I think "poor-mans" version served as a great substitute! I think I'll buy all the actual ingredients some time and then decide which one we actually preferred!
Does anybody else have something similar? Any other ideas for substitutions?? Share! Share!
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