one of many versions of "dirty rice"

I made dirty rice to go with baked fish a la New Orleans. The dirty rice is #39 (the fish was #6). Be aware that with adding all the extras to the rice, it makes quite a lot. If you're making this for just a couple of people, cut the recipe at least in half, if not more.

Greek style shrimp

Number 38 of my 50 was Greek style shrimp found here.

We skipped the suggested salad and served it with rice. We also substituted the white wine with white grape juice.

pork and mushroom ragout

Number 27, from my book called Secrets of Slow Cooking.

a boneless pork loin roast - about 1 1/2 pounds

1 1/2 cups canned crushed tomatoes, divided
2 tbl cornstarch
2 tsp. savory
sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
8 oz. package sliced mushrooms
1 large onion, sliced
black pepper

cooked egg noodles or some other pasta.

Brown pork roast on all sides in a skillet with cooking spray or a little bit of oil.

Put half of tomatoes in crockpot with cornstarch, savory, and sun-dried tomatoes. Mix it up.

Put mushrooms, onion, and roast in crockpot. Pour the rest of the tomatoes over the roast and sprinkle with pepper.

Cook on low 4-6 hours until roast reaches internal temp of 165.

Put the roast on a cutting board and cover with foil. Let stand 10-15 minutes, then slice and serve with noodles. Pour sauce from crockpot over the plated food.

pasta with chicken and sun-dried tomato

This is #36 - I have no idea where it came from. I just had this list of ingredients stashed in a note on my other blog.

bowtie pasta cooked like usual

chicken breast cut into bite-size pieces and cooked in a skillet, then set aside while the vegetables are being cooked

2 tbl. olive oil to cook the following:
1/2 cup sun-dried tomato
1 zucchini, diced
1 summer squash, diced (not sliced)
1-2 garlic cloves minced or crushed
1-2 tsp rosemary
1-2 tsp basil

Toss all together with pasta and chicken. Add a little more olive oil if it's too dry for you until it's how you like it. There's not a sauce with this.

pasta with sausage and fennel

Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm REALLY behind on this blog ... I'm going to blame my lack of posting on pregnancy exhaustion. I'm finally coming out of it - hooray! I have 5 recipes to post for my 50-challenge, including a couple I did all the way back in July, bringing me up to 40. So I have 10 more to do in the next 6 weeks to get all the way to 50 within the calendar year.

Anyway, so here's #35 - pasta with sausage and fennel. It's from a book we have called "The Working Stiff Cookbook" by Bob Sloan.

1 tbl. olive oil
1/2 pound sweet Italian sausage, casing removed
1/2 pound hamburger
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 medium bulb fennel, peeled and diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup red wine or beef broth (our substitute for red wine is apple juice - we've never had a problem with it)
1 28-0z. can of crushed tomatoes
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp basil
salt and pepper

Heat the oil first, and cook the sausage and hamburger in it. Break up the meat as it cooks so it's in small pieces. When it's done, use a slotted spoon to remove it from the pan, then pour out the excess grease from the pan.

Put skillet on medium heat and cook onion, fennel, and garlic until softened.

Add meat to pan with vegetables, pour in wine/broth, and cook for about a minute until the liquid reduces.

Add tomatoes and herbs, bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until sauce is the thickness you like.

Serve with cooked pasta - regular thickness spaghetti or linguini are best. It's a pretty hearty sauce, so you don't want to use a delicate pasta.