Sausage Tomato Pasta and Bruschetta

Ok so I'm pretty pumped about tonights dinner. Mostly because it contains bruschetta, which is on my top favorite food list.  The menu consisted of italian sausage pasta and bruschetta (peach lemonade to drink, but I didn't make that).  I also thought about making some homemade ice cream as well, but it takes a long time and I didn't think about it until I got done eating about 1/2 hour ago, so that will be for another time.  Let me start first with the lunch I had today...

I believe this came from a food network magazine?  A watermelon salad.  Since I had half a watermelon sitting the fridge from last week, I thought this would be a good use for it (along with the slices that I ate this morning).  This is what the end result looked like:

It was so good!  The sweet, juicy watermelon, crisp, fresh cucumbers, zesty, crunchy red onions all pair well together with creamy goat cheese and cool mint.  Dressed in lemon juice and olive oil tops it off!
So I don't really know exact measurements on this...doesn't really matter too much I don't think.

Watermelon, cubed
cucumber, chopped (about 1/2 as much as the watermelon amount)
red onion, thinly sliced (also about 1/2 as much as the watermelon amount)
handful of chopped fresh mint
crumbled goat cheese
olive oil
lemon juice
salt
pepper

Pretty much just chop up and combine everything!  and then drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil, and add salt and pepper to your taste.

Ok. now to the delicious dinner.

I made spaghetti with spicy sausage and smoked mozzarella.  I made some meatballs the other day that consisted of sausage and beef, filled with smoked mozzarella.  So since I had some leftover sausage, I used it for this.  Smoked Mozzarella.

   It tastes kind of like Gouda? but not really.  I dunno.  But's its good.  Not as mild as regular mozzarella, for sure.

mmm...this pasta is so good!  I'm extremely picky with marinara sauces (picky as in...I have only found 1 that I actually like.)  So when I make pasta I don't really make a marinara sauce.  I just saute onions and garlic in olive oil and then add some chopped up tomatoes and white wine.  That's my "marinara".
Ok so I kinda just threw this one together so the recipe is not exact either.

1/2 lb pasta, cooked al dente
Spicy sausage (or the sausage of your choice, spicy or not, I like Whole Foods deli spicy italian kind)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 onion, chopped
2-3 tomatoes, chopped
red pepper flakes (I used Anaheim peppers, which are more spicy than regular red pepper)
few ounces smoked mozzarella, shredded (the fresh cheese tastes sooo much better than the pre-shredded stuff)
fresh basil, chopped

Cook sausage in a skillet/pan.  set aside and drain, but leave the grease to then saute the onion and garlic.  (You could also use olive oil in a different pan, but I just used the grease from the sausage, cause it was already there).  After the onions and garlic are sauteed for a few minutes, add the tomatoes until they are warmed through.  Add the pasta and sausage to the pan, add pepper flakes, smoked mozzarella and mix thoroughly until cheese is melted in.  Top with basil, and add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!
Now. for this bruschetta.

So Jeremy is in Utah for this week, so I have been cooking for myself.  As you can see, I'm pretty awful with portion sizes and have cooked more food than I can eat.  BUT  those 7 pieces of bruschetta are now in my stomach.  yup.  I ate them all.  all by myself.  Now I know that they may not look as good as Julie Powell's in this movie...

But hers was on sandwich bread that was fried in oil and looked like this...

And I didn't feel like frying.  So I just sliced up some french bread.  But anywho, it was still delicious!  Here is my (and very traditional/expected) bruschetta recipe.

French bread loaf, diagonally sliced, as thick/thin as you would like.
olive oil
butter. softened
1-2 cloves garlic, minced, (depending on how many toasts you are making.  I used 1 clove for 7 pieces.)
2-3 tomatoes, seeded and chopped (again, depending on how many you are making, I used 2 small tomatoes)
fresh basil, chopped

Drizzle bread slices with olive oil, and spread a thin layer of butter.  sprinkle with pieces of garlic and bake 5-6 minutes in the oven at 350.  Add tomatoes, salt and pepper and put back in the oven and broil for a few minutes, until tomatoes are warm and bread edges are golden brown.  Top with basil.

That's all!  So about that ice cream...this will do for now : )