What's for dinner?

I'm going to try to post our weekly dinners.  I know that planning dinner each week can be a chore, so hopefully this can help out a little bit.

In the winter I plan out two weeks of meals, do one big shopping trip the first week and a smaller one the second week to fill in the gaps.

In the summer, we are lucky enough to have a farmers market right downtown in Dearborn, so I've only been planning a week ahead seeing what is in season at the market and also what we can harvest from our garden.

From my previous post, you saw that we already have zucchini, so this week is heavy on zucchini.

Sausage Zucchini Pasta
Homemade Pizza
Roast Beef Sandwich with Sweet Potato Fries
Beef Stir Fry, recipe here.
Chicken Delight with mashed sweet potatoes.
Chicken Ciabatta Sandwiches, Romaine lettuce salad
Steak, Vegetable (depending what is at the market), and fried zucchini


Sausage Zucchini Pasta
Prep Time:  15 min.  Cook Time:  20 min.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. sausage  (I use sweet Italian sausage)
2 T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 1/2 t. minced garlic
1/2 large red onion, diced
1 Large Zucchini or 2 small, chopped
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 T. tomato paste
1 t. Italian Herb mixture
Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

Pour 1 T. of extra virgin olive oil into a saute pan.  Over med-high heat add the sausage (casing removed) and break into small bite size pieces as you are cooking. Cook until no longer pink.

Set aside to drain the grease.

In the same saute pan add  1 T. of extra virgin olive oil, diced red onion and garlic.  Saute until onion is clear (around 3-4 minutes).

At this point I remove the onions and garlic and run it through my mini food processor.  If my daughter sees an onion in her food she won't eat it.  If this doesn't apply to you, then skip this step.

Add sausage back to the pan.  Add zucchini, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste (I use the paste that comes in a tube so nothing is wasted), and Italian seasonings.

Let simmer until you pasta is done. Sprinkle with shredded Parmesan cheese and serve.

For the pasta I have used all different kinds, it really depends what I have in the pantry.  On this day, we had rotini.

And just to keep it honest, this is what happens to my house while I'm making these meals.