Tag Archives: Italian sausage

Italian Inspired Recipes, Pork, Poultry, Recipes

Delicious Italian Chicken Dish

Have a craving for Italian food? This is an easy dish to make and it tastes wonderful. You can serve it over zoodles or cauliflower rice to keep the carbs low.

Italian Style Chicken and Sausage

1/2 cup Onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced Garlic
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 15-oz. can Italian-style Tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup Green Bell Pepper, sliced
1/2 cup Mushrooms, chopped
2 cups Chicken, cooked and chopped
6 oz. Italian pork sausage
1/2 teaspoon Basil
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Oregano
1 package Green Giant frozen zucchini spirals
Grated Parmesan Cheese to taste

In a large skillet, heat the oil, reduce heat to medium, then add the onions and garlic. Sauté until fragrant, then add bell pepper and cook for two minutes longer.

Separate sausage into marble-sized meat balls and add to the pan. Cook until lightly browned. Add tomatoes and seasonings and stir to mix well. Then stir in the chopped chicken and mushrooms. Simmer uncovered until the liquid is reduced, about 20 minutes.

Cook the zucchini spirals as directed on the package. Drain the excess water off in a colander and pat dry with a paper towel.

Put 1/2 of the zucchini in a bowl, add a little butter if you wish, then top with 1 cup of the chicken and sausage mixture. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the top and serve.

Carb count doesn’t include the zoodles, so add in the carbs for your zucchini.

Makes 4 servings.

Italian Inspired Recipes, Pork, Poultry, Recipes

Italian Flavors in this Chicken & Sausage Dish

Photo of Chicken & Sausage Italiano dish

I wanted to use up a little pasta sauce I’d opened for a pizza a few nights earlier, so I came up with this variation on Chicken Parmesan. I use the extra Italian sausage in it along with two cheeses. Simple to make and delicious. You can use a premade pasta sauce or your own recipe.

I had a bear of a time getting the nutrition information for this. The website with the calculator I’ve been using shut down and the others I’ve found aren’t as robust. I finally located one that calculated about what I estimated the carbs to be, but it didn’t include the fiber, cholesterol, or potassium counts in it, so I had to hunt those down individually. I believe the final result is accurate, depending on which pasta sauce you use. I used Prego’s plain sauce. If you use a dry red wine in it, the count may be about 1 net carb higher.

Chicken & Sausage Italiano

2 chicken breasts
1/2 pound Italian Sausage
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1/3 cup sliced Mushrooms
1 cup Pasta Sauce
1/4 cup Water or Red Wine
1/3 cup Parmesan Cheese
1/2 cup Mozzarella Cheese

In a medium skillet over medium-high burner, heat the olive oil. Season the chicken with salt and pepper then add to the skillet. Brown chicken on both sides. Set aside on a plate. Add sausage to the pan and use a spatula to separate the meat. Cook and stir for about three to five minutes until the sausage is browned. Push to one side.

Add mushrooms and cook about two minutes. Add pasta sauce and water or wine and stir sausage and mushrooms until mixed. Return chicken to the pan and spoon sauce over the top. Cover pan and reduce heat to simmer. Cook about 20 minutes until chicken is tender. Sprinkle Parmesan over the chicken and sauce, then cover with mozzarella cheese. Cover the pan again for about 5 minutes to melt the cheese.

Makes two servings.

Image: Nutrition Information

Short Non-Cooking Message:

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Beef, Italian Inspired Recipes, Pork, Recipes

Pizza in a Skillet

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a link to a Crock pot Pizza recipe from Your Lighter Side on my Facebook page. While I haven’t tried the crock pot version, I did go for the pan version and made adjustments for my preferences. I used a  square copper skillet that can go from stove top to oven to make mine, but you can also use a large cast iron skillet or build your pizza in any large casserole dish. Then it is baked.

Here’s a trick though. If you use a large skillet-at least 9 to 10 inch round or square skillet-to make it, you can turn the heat down on the stove to a simmer, put the top or tent with foil over the pan and cook it on the stove top for about 30 minutes. The cheese won’t brown, but the ingredients will cook and the cheese will melt into it.

Most of the ingredients in this can be swapped with other preferred items such as artichoke hearts, pepperoni, anchovies, or whatever you like on your pizza. Don’t eat meat? Simply omit and add more vegetables like cubed eggplant, zucchini, Brussels sprouts, or whatever. Pizza, even in a skillet, is versatile.

Pizza in a Skillet

1/2 pound Ground Beef
1/2 pound Italian Sausage
1/2 cup sliced Mushrooms
1/4 cup sliced Bell Peppers or Mini-Peppers
1/2 cup diced Onions
1-1/2 cups Cauliflower, riced
2 cups Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
1 teaspoon minced Garlic
1 cup Pasta Sauce of choice (look for low carb)
2 cups fresh Spinach

I used Pumpkin Chipotle Pasta Sauce from my local Raley’s brand but you can use whichever pasta sauce you prefer. The nutrition information is based on a Vodka Pasta Sauce.

Preheat oven to 30 degrees (F.).

Put the cauliflower into a food processor and process until riced. Add 1 cup of the mozzarella and pulse until it is chopped and mixed into the rice. In a large and deep ovenproof skillet, such as a copper or cast iron one, press the cauliflower and cheese mixture into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

In a large skillet, cook the ground beef and sausage until almost done. Remove to a bowl, but leave the oils. Add the onions and garlic to the pan and saute until onion is tender. Add to the ground beef and sausage and mix together.

In the deep pan with the cauliflower crust, spread 1/3 of the pasta sauce on the bottom, top with 1/2 the spinach leaves making a mostly solid layer of greens. Add 1/2 the meat mixture on top, then sprinkle 1/2 the mushrooms, peppers, and olives on top of that. Sprinkle 1/3 cup of mozzarella on top. Add another layer of spinach leaves followed by the rest of the meat mixture, mushrooms, peppers, and olives and sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the top.

Tent with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 10 minutes to lightly brown the cheese. Let sit about 10 minutes to set up, then serve.

The bottom crust will not be firm enough to lift to eat, so this will require forks.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Nutrition Information per servings (6 servings):
Calories: 394 Fat: 26.9 g Net Carbs: 9.8 g Protein: 25.2 g

Nutrition Information per servings (8 servings):
Calories: 295.5 Fat: 20.1 g Net Carbs: 7.3 g Protein: 18.9 g

Have fun making your own variation on this pizza and let me know how you like it.