Baked Sausage Cannelloni (Revisited)

Missy Tippens

This is a repeat from 2016. I wanted to make it again, so thought I'd share it with y'all at the same time (plus it'll make it easier to find the recipe!). :) So, enjoy again!

I saw this wonderful, ooey, gooey, cheesy recipe on Pinterest and knew I had to make it. So I pinned it to my cooking board. Then when we were discussing our menu for Christmas Day (and my traditional beef roast was axed), I decided to make pasta and went straight to Pinterest.

The recipe for Baked Cannelloni is from Johnsonville (Who else besides me can't say that name without thinking of the old TV commercial where they call all the neighbors-- "Johnsonville braaaats"?). :) You can find the recipe at Johnsonville.com by clicking here.

I'll tell you right now that the recipe was delicious. But it was very time consuming. Probably one that I won't make again for that reason. Of course, part of the reason it felt so tiring was that it was Christmas Day, and I'd been up until 3:30 am getting ready. Then had cooked breakfast, gone to church, and then cooked lunch. So maybe I should give it another chance! If you don't mind all the steps, then be sure to try it. Everyone loved it.

You can find the list of ingredients at the original link. A couple of notes:

--I used 1 package sweet Italian sausage links.

--I could NOT find cannelloni pasta at Kroger or Publix so just bought large shell pasta (I was afraid manicotti tubes would break while stuffing them with meat).
--I only baked for 30 minutes and that was plenty.

I'll share my photos...

Cooking the vegetables.

The sausage before removing from the casings (Oops. I bought store brand without thinking about where the recipe came from!)

Making the béchamel sauce. Which is basically the white gravy that I make (with sausage) for our favorite breakfast food. :) For this recipe, you add cheese. :)

Adding the egg yolks.

The baking dish with some of the béchamel sauce for the first layer.

The shells stuffed with the meat, vegetable and sauce mixture.

And, no big surprise, with the craziness of Christmas Day dinner I forgot to take a photo before we nearly ate the whole pan of pasta! Here's the last little bit with the yummy browned cheese on top.

So, if you don't mind a recipe that takes a good while to prepare, you may want to give this one a try. Enjoy!

www.missytippens.com

Fresh Tomato Sauce with Capers

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back! I found this cookbook at the library and thought it might have a great way to use up some of our fresh tomatoes.

It's called (sideways) The Southern Italian Table. I looooooove Italian food. GIMME, GIMME.

 The recipe is really simple. Fresh tomatoes, a few teaspoons of fresh basil, 2 tsp of capers, two cloves of garlic.

I sent some kids out into the garden to get tomatoes. (It occur to me that by the time you read this, it will be October. So, imagine it's summer time.)

                                     
Chop the tomatoes, and throw in a pan with the basil. Add two teaspoons of olive oil.

 Here are the capers. Funny how a little jar lasts forever. Because recipes hardly ever need capers...

Mmmm. I love the way they smell. Mix everything together and mash well. Let it boil for about 20 minutes so the water is mostly reduced. Some people add a little salt or brown sugar, but this was a pretty simple sauce. 

                                           
I decided to make some stuffed pasta shells to put the sauce on, so mix two eggs, a carton of ricotta cheese, a cup of parmesan shredded cheese, 2 tsp salt and 2 tsp crushed garlic. Boil the shells, rinse in cold water, stuff, pour on the sauce and bake in the oven.

 Hubby's plate. Man, I wish I could eat like he does and not gain weight. YUMMY.

 I threw in some frozen meatballs because it sounded good.

Have a great weekend and see you all soon!