Sundried Tomato Stuffed Mushroom & Black Olive Chicken Sausage Pasta

Photo taken by Natalie Shabtai

Three day weekends are just perfect. That third day really comes in handy when all you want to do it blog, catch up on your dvr recorded programs and pretty much not have too much planned. Some like to call it a lazy, I like to say relaxation.

What's even better is when it's 80 degrees out, in the middle of January. For some reason this immediately puts everyone in a great mood--but hey, I'm not complaining.

Since there have been no recent events to give me an excuse to whip up something delicious, I decided to make dinner composed of dishes I've never made before. With help from my sous chef a.k.a my sister Leemore, we made a two part meal: Sundried Tomato Stuffed Mushrooms & Black Olive Chicken Sausage Pasta. Our only mistake--we cooked enough food to feed an entire army when we were the only mouths eating. Oops. Good thing I like leftovers.

Thank you Smitten Kitchen for this stuffed mushroom recipe:

Sundried Tomato Stuffed Mushrooms
Ingredients:

1/2 ounce sundried dried tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
12 portabello mushrooms
1/2 cup finely chopped shallots
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1 large egg yolk, beaten lightly
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, washed well and minced
1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crumbled
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400°F

Step #1 - Cut out mushroom stems and set aside. Chop stems into fine pieces and keep aside in a small bowl. Lay mushroom caps, stems removed, face down on baking sheet (lightly sprayed with cooking spray).

 Step #2 - Bake mushrooms for approximately 10 minutes, or until there are liquid puddles underneath. Remove from the oven. Pour out the liquid that has gathered in the pan and then turn mushroom caps over, ready to be filled.

Step #3 - Heat oil over moderate heat in a small skillet and cook chopped mushrooms stems, shallots and garlic. Stir until softened.

 Step #4 - Stir together mushroom mixture, bread crumbs, tomatoes, yolk, parsley, basil and salt/pepper.

Step #5 - Mound stuffing in mushroom caps and arrange caps in a lightly greased shallow baking dish. Sprinkle mushrooms with Parmesan and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

Black Olive Chicken Sausage Pasta 
Recipe by Me

Ingredients

1 package of whole wheat penne pasta
3/4 bottle of Vodka Sauce
1 small can of sliced black olives
2-3 chicken sausage links
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan

Step #1 - In a large pot, boil about 8 cups of water. Once boiled, add pasta and cook until pasta is soft and ready. Stir occasionally so the pasta doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

Step #2 - While the pasta is cooking, chop sausage into small pieces. In a small skillet, lightly heat sausage and olives.

Step #3 - Once the pasta is ready, drain out the water & put in a large bowl. Lightly heat up the vodka sauce and then add to the pasta bowl. Finally, add in sausage and olives. Mix together and add Parmesan.

Eat & Enjoy!