Chicken Sausage With Escarole & Beans

The warm weather was back at it today. Although the sun barely showed its face it was still super warm and in the 60s. I figured it'd be a the perfect day to start my summertime tradition of iced green tea so I headed to Starbucks and got in my fix. I always order a grande in a venti cup with extra ice so it stays extra cold :) And look at that, they got my name correct too!

 

For dinner I had planned to make a recipe I recently found for eggplant lasagna, but we waited too long to use our eggplant we bought last week and it went bad. Poor eggplant. I ended up picking up another one and will probably make that for tomorrow's dinner instead. We decided to take out some chicken sausage that we bought this past weekend from our butcher. One ring was stuffed with parsley and cheese and the other he gave us a small portion to try was infused with Merlot. Holy yum. I started cooking some escarole and beans to add to our sausage which we had planned to toss on the grill since it was nice out this evening. I love escarole and beans with just about anything. Its a great way to get in your leafy greens and lots of fiber. I boiled some salted water and threw in my escarole leaves and blanched for about six minutes. Once done, I removed from the pot and strained in my colander. In the meantime, I sauteed about three cloves of minced garlic in a pan on low, nice and slowly. Once my garlic was perfectly browned I tossed in my chopped escarole and mixed together with the garlic. I then added one whole can of cannellini beans. I seasoned it all with salt, pepper and a ton of crushed red pepper flakes. Some like it hot ;) I covered and let simmer for a good 30 minutes. Also, make sure to add some water to your pan so the escarole does not dry out. I like mine pretty soft and somewhat moist.

We ended up going for a peaceful 3+ mile walk this evening, which was definitely needed. We caught up on each others day and chatted about work and such. I used my Runkeeper app to figure out how far our typical walk is and I was happy to see it recorded over 3 miles. I can't wait for the weather to be consistent so we can make our walks outside an everyday thing. Once we got back to the house, John heated up the grill and threw on the sausage. He grilled the links for about 20 minutes until it was all the way cooked through. I then sliced up the sausage and tossed it in with my escarole and beans. 

I added a little bit more red pepper flakes and a teaspoon of grated cheese to mine. It came out really good and I ended up actually just wanting the escarole and beans. It was a hardy meal after a nice long walk. I picked up some more groceries at our local meat market today and was craving grapes. I was excited to see they had them on sale so I picked up a bag of these beauties, washed them and popped them in the fridge to get nice and cold. They will be my after dinner treat for tonight's TV watching.

So I got this fun stuff in my Birchbox today. Anti Wrinkle Bee Venom. I chuckled when I saw the disclaimer that anyone allergic to bees should not attempt to use. Um, sounds kinda serious to me, right? Although I will still be trying it. I'm pretty obsessed with makeup and beauty products so anything new that comes my way will most likely be tested out. I thought the packing was pretty adorable too since it was similar to the tiny honey packets you find at your local coffee shop. I'll let you all know how it goes! I will be sure to post my recipe tomorrow for my eggplant lasagna. Here's a sneak peek for you all. Until then, have a great night readers.