Homemade Gnocchi & Sausage in Red Sauce

I always wished I was Italian. I love the food, the language, the culture but my English/German hertiage is a far cry from Italy. I like to think I have a little italian great great great grandmother somewhere in my genes. What? A girl can dream...

Neither of my parents or grandparents really cooked and my mother hated cooking. My grandmother made some mean cornbread dressing and spaghetti but no one in my family really enjoyed cooking the way The Other Williams and I do.

We can spend a Friday night, delicious Italian wine in hand, creating Old World Italian recipes from scratch and be perfectly happy. At least The Other Williams has a little Italian genes running through her blood.

Homemade Italian Link Sausage

Recently we tried our hand at sausage making. It was very successful and a lot of fun. We did purchase a meat grinder and stuffer for this process and this is not a complete guide to sausage making. We used this post on Simply Recipes as a guide. It’s very informative and easy to follow.

Some of you might be thinking that we’re crazy but grinding your own meat and making your own sausage has two excellent benefits

1) You save money.
Pork shoulder, which is the meat we chose to use, cost around $1.50 a pound. Already made Italian Sausage was $2.50 a pound. It’s a $1 savings for each pound. We did purchase our pork at Costco and it weighted about 15lbs. You might could even find it cheaper on sale.

2) You get to customize it. 
You have control over how much of each ingredient you add and which ones you want to exclude. We added no artificial crap to ours and no preservatives outside of salt. We did a lot of experimenting this time around with just basic Italian sausage recipes. We had two batches going and added a little of this and a little of that, then we’d cook up a small patty to taste-test it.

We made roughly 5lbs of Hot Italian Sausage and 3lbs of Breakfast Sausage. The rest of the shoulder went into the freezer for another sausage making session later. We did use natural hog casings for the Italian sausage and created links. We also pulled out about a pound for bulk.

We spent a good bit of time on this project but that was because we were doing a lot of testing. I imagine we’ll probably spend a lot less time on the next batch. If it’s your first time making sausage plan at least a good half-day on just this project. We actually had a lot of fun but we’re a little strange like that.

Lessons we learned

1. The colder the meat and equipment are the better the quality stays
2. Sausage has a lot of salt but it’s important to the flavor
3. You will have some left over in the stuffing tube and grinder. Pull it out and set it aside for bulk.
4. Feeding the casings onto the feeding tube is much easier when there is a little sausage poking out of the tube. It softens the edge of the tube.
5. Work in 2-3lb batches unless you have a really giant bowl
6. Heat WILL grow, so careful with the red pepper!
7. It’s much easier with two people

If you’ve never thought about doing this or if you have, I highly recommend it. We had a blast and now have 5lbs of custom made sausage links in our freezer! See our recipe below.

Freezer Friendly: Lasagna Roll-Ups

Do you ever have those days where you just do NOT feel like cooking? Believe it or not, we do too. With a busy life of school and starting a business sometimes cooking for ourselves is just the last thing we want to do. However, eating out a lot recently has started to show its side effects on the scale. So in an effort to stay home to eat more, even when we really don’t feel like cooking, it’s time to stock the freezer. It’s the single best way we know to keep us from just going out and one we’ve been doing for years. {Check out our other Freezer Friendly Recipes}

Having food already prepared is part of our business model for Terra Cuisine. We’ve even turned our business name into a verb at our house. For example, “we’re Terra Cuisining ourselves so we can heat and eat!” We get the same benefits that our clients do!

I recently discovered this wonderful recipe! Its portion control, it’s homemade, and it is really delicious! Why go out when in 30-40 min we could be eating these Lasagna Roll-ups? I made a HUGE batch of these and put them in 3 Pyrex dishes for freezing. When we know we’re not going to feel like cooking we just take these out and either let them thaw overnight in the fridge or on the counter for an hour. Then just pop it in the oven for a bit, add a salad, and dinner is DONE!

The recipe is so simple to make and doesn’t take too much time. I did cut the cheese back on ours a little and they still tasted so delicious! I also substituted Italian sausage (one link of hot and 1 link of mild) in place of the hamburger that the original recipe called for to add more flavor. I forgot to take a picture of the roll ups with sauce and cheese on the top but I did add that before they went into the freezer. Kids would love these and they would even be great for entertaining with. They are like personal little lasagnas! Enjoy!

Cocktail Hour - Candied Bacon Martini

I figure we should start this new segment off with a bang. Blending cocktails into a food blog is not too difficult a task but when you add bacon to it, it really makes it simple.

This Candied Bacon Martini is going to take a little time, but it would be a great WOW-factor at your next party and the time-consuming part (baking the bacon) can be done ahead of time.

I will warn you, this is a very sweet cocktail without the bacon but when you add the bacon...whoa mama! The salty and smokiness of the bacon totally off-sets the sweetness from the maple syrup in the cocktail. If you're really not into sweet cocktails (we'll be added some for you soon), just add a little more apple brandy to the shaker.

The bacon is candied by coating it in brown sugar and baking it. The recipe calls for 2 strips of bacon per cocktail and I totally shorted us and only gave us 1/2 a strip each. We both wished we'd had at least a whole strip a piece, so don't skimp on the bacon.

We baked our sugar-coated bacon for about 15-17 minutes. It did get a shiny hard-candied shell on the bacon but the pictures didn't really pick that up. Make sure you coat it good in the sugar because a lot doesn't melt off. You should also be sure to cover your pan in foil because burnt sugar will ruin your pan.

The flavor of this cocktail was amazing and it was really a lot of fun to make and drink! I'd even serve it with a meal that had smoked bacon in it or any sort of smoked food. Hope you'll give this a try and let me know what you think!

Picnic Menu - Italian Compressed Sandwich

For The Other Williams' birthday she requested a trip to Atlanta to visit the High Museum of Art's current exhibit "Picaso to Warhol". The weather couldn't have been more lovely for a picnic so I decided to surprise her with one. We were traveling a bit to get there so I needed something pretty sturdy and this menu did the trick!

I love fun food on picnic's and anything on a stick is fun! I skewered organic grapes onto a bamboo skewer. I also did a caprese salad on a stick by layering small mozzarella balls, grape tomatoes, and basil leaves onto a skewer. I brought along a small container of balsamic vinegar for our dipping pleasure.

The Italian compressed sandwich was amazing and burst with flavor from the pesto, meats, and smoky cheese! This sandwich should be made a day a head but 6-8 hours ahead would be fine also.

The picnic was a hit and the weather was gorgeous as we relaxed in Centennial Park while people watching. We hit the art museum will tummies filled with love! The exhibit was awesome and we made plans to return before summer's heat turned Atlanta into Hotlanta!

White Bean Huevos Rancheros

 A few weeks ago I charged The Other Williams with a challenge, to come up with some yummy dinner dishes with eggs as the main ingredient. This is the first answer to that challenge and boy it doesn't disappoint.

The Other Williams made homemade tortilla's, which I highly recommend, but you can also buy corn tortilla's. We also didn't use the chipotle sauce but feel free to add it to yours if you like some serious heat!

This is a lighter version to the traditional Huevos Rancheros because instead of refried beans it uses white beans. However, don't let that fool you into thinking this isn't amazing! The beans really give this one LOTS of flavor and an excellent creamy texture.

You can also make this vegetarian by not using ham or substituting vegetarian refried beans for the beans in the recipe.

Fall Picnic - BBLT

 For our fall trip recently I packed a delicious Italian Sausage Soup and this fabulous BBLT panini! What's BBLT?

Brie, Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato!

I used a ciabatta roll for the bread and my trusty grill pan to press the sandwich before we left. I wrapped it in some wax paper and it was good to go by the time we had our picnic!

The combination of this panini is just delicious. All my favorites are in play! Really smooth-earthy brie cheese, smoky bacon, peppery arugula, spicy Dijon, and sweet tomato. Yea, it's going to blow your socks off!

Fall Pinic - Italian Sausage Soup

 We recently took a picnic to a local apple farm/pumpkin patch. It was a gorgeous day and just perfect for this delicious soup. We also brought a BBLT panini, but you'll have to wait for that recipe in a few days.

The soup was so simple to make that I, as in, the non-cook, made it the day before. The morning of our picnic I just took it out of the fridge and reheated it.

The farm was packed but we managed to find a shade tree off by ourselves. We brought out the blankets, pillows, and wine. We breathed in the fresh air, shared a delicious lunch, and just enjoyed each others company. I don't think it could have been more awesome. We watched families hunting for that perfect pumpkin and listened to Ole McDonald way too many times as the hayride passed us.

We made a full batch of this soup and ate it for lunches the following week. It's really so good. I can't wait to make it again! Try it, it's amazing!

Italian Sausage Hamburger with Garlicky Spinach

We've started doing Hamburger Fridays at our house when ever possible and we're trying out all kinds of burger recipes.

This burger is so delicious on so many levels. The sausage, the garlicky spinach and the sun-dried tomato pesto spread all add something spectacular to this burger. We're talking restaurant-style gourmet burger here!

We used 1/4 pound of local Italian-style sausage, which was about 1 link a piece. Don't skimp on the sausage, get the best you can find. So far this is my favorite burger yet!

Stuffed Zucchini with Sausage

Got zucchini growing like crazy in your garden and you're looking for some different zucchini recipes? This is your answer! If your growing season hasn't started yet, go ahead and print this one out. Believe me, you'll thank me later.

This quick and kid-friendly healthy meal is super delicious! The Other Williams will throw this on the grill and I'm not sure what she does with it but magic happens some how. However you can put these in the oven also.

I never use to be a big sausage lover but boy have times of changed. The tomatoes and sausage together with the zucchini are just stellar!

So hang on to those zucchini coming in and give this one a go!

Smoky Hawian Pork Slider

As part of our New Years Eve sliders we came up with our own recipe for the pork slider. Burgers are such a great canvas to experiment with flavor combination so allow yourself some room in all these recipes to play around with what sounds good to you.

We wanted to try to get sweet, spicy, and salty in this burger and it worked out pretty fabulously. This recipe is for the sliders which were 1/8 of a pound each of meat, adjust the recipe up as needed.

Holiday Party Series: Swiss and Ham Bites

We've done this recipe several times and it's always a hit! Kids, adults, picky eaters all will love this one. We always come home with an empty tray.

Pastry Ingredients:

• 1 (17 1/4-oz) package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 tbsp water

Filling Ingredients:

• 1 cup (4oz) Swiss Cheese, shredded
• 1 cup deli ham (Black Forest) finely chopped
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 2 tsp dijon-style mustard
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions.

1. Heat oven 400 F. Unfold pastry sheets. Using a pastry cutter or knife, cut each sheet into 1 1/2-inch squares. Place on baking sheets.
2. In small bowl combine egg and water. Brush tops of pastry squares. Bake for 9-13 minutes or until pastry is golden brown. Cool Completely.
3. In medium bowl combine all filling ingredients. With a small serrated knife, split each square horizontally. Fill with about 1 tsp of filling mixture.

Makes 72 appetizers.

Homemade Pasta Bolognese

A few weeks ago we went to one of our favorite Italian places downtown, Trattoria Giorgio. The Other Williams got an amazing pasta bolognese and just had to give her old recipe a make over. This was the yummy result. The blend of veal, beef, and pork really put this recipe over the edge. We called ahead to our meat department and asked them to ground and mix the meat mixture for us.

The pasta is also homemade and a the recipe for that will be posted soon. If your craving some good Italian this is your recipe!

Pasta e Fagioli with Sausage

We have another Pasta Fagioli on our blog but this one takes the prize, in my opinion. The taste and texture of this one was just outstanding. I really enjoyed the tiny pasta in this, but The Other Williams preferred larger pasta for next time. And the sausage really added a new element to the dish. Very good!

We made a full batch and froze the rest for another quick dinner and I'm certain it will turn our just as wonderful from the freezer. Making your own broth for things like this, really does make all the difference in the world in the taste category. I think this would also be kid friendly if they like beans. Cheap and easy to make, this was a great tasting meal!


Ingredients

1. 2 tablespoons olive oil
2. 1 pound mild Italian sausages
3. 1 carrot, chopped fine
4. 1 onion, chopped fine
5. 1 rib celery, chopped fine
6. 4 cloves garlic, minced
7. 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
8. 6 cups drained and rinsed canned kidney beans (three 19-ounce cans)
9. 2 3/4 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
10. 1 bay leaf
11. 1 teaspoon salt
12. 1/2 cup tubetti or other small macaroni
13. 1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper

Directions

1. In a large pot, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over moderate heat. Add the sausages and cook, turning, until browned and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove. When cool enough to handle, halve the sausages lengthwise and then cut crosswise into slices.
   
   
2. Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in the pot over moderately low heat. Add the carrot, onion, celery, garlic, and rosemary. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables start to soften, about 10 minutes.
   
   
3. Puree 4 cups of the beans with 1 1/4 cups of the broth in a blender or food processor. Add the puree to the pot along with the remaining 1 1/2 cups broth, the whole beans, bay leaf, and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, for 15 minutes.
   
   
4. Stir in the pasta. Cook the soup over moderate heat, partially covered, stirring frequently, until the pasta is done, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the bay leaf. Stir in the sausage and the pepper. Cook until the sausage is warmed through, about 1 minute.

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Mountain Woman Breakfast - Version 2.0

We've posted before about one of our favorite camping breakfast's, the Mountain Woman's Breakfast. Today's recipe is very similar so we're calling it Version 2.0. What makes it different from our original is the replacement of hash browns instead of cut potatoes. Also cooked in our dutch oven this breakfast is great before a big hike and very filling. Loaded with yummy goodness everything together is just delicious. This isn't an easy recipe but it's not far from it. If you have the time to sit around the fire in the morning cooking this is an excellent camping breakfast!


Servings: 2 mountain woman sized portions and a little Rascal portion

Two servings of frozen hash browns, cooked
1.5 large links of pork sausage, diced
1/2 can whole, peeled tomatoes, diced
1 small can of mushrooms
3 large eggs
Handful of cheese to top

Over charcoal bricks, cook sausage in dutch oven until cooked through. Add tomatoes, hash browns, and mushrooms. Heat through.

Pour eggs over everything and cook with the lid on until eggs are almost firm and everything is warmed through. Top with cheese and cook till cheese has melted

Pork Chops with Quinoa Pilaf and Dried Fruit

This dish recently hit our table and it was delicious! The quinoa was definitely the highlight with a yummy dried fruit port sauce. Remember all that dried fruit from the trail mix? Well, it pulled double duty between that and this dish. We didn't add the wheat berries and substituted the dried fruit with what we had on hand- apple instead of pears, cranberries instead of cherries - and it didn't disappoint us.

The only thing we'll do different next time, because this is definitely a do-over, is to grill the pork chop. The chop was great but it didn't really get much flavor from the sauce. Maybe if we had poured it over the pork chop instead of the quinoa it would have been better but the sauce really does belong with the quinoa and it didn't seem to produce enough sauce for both.

ACTIVE: 20 MIN
TOTAL TIME: 35 MIN
SERVINGS: 4

Ingredients

1. 2 1/4 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth
2. 1 small shallot, minced
3. 1 garlic clove, minced
4. 2/3 cup quinoa
5. 2 tablespoons wheat berries
6. 1 thyme sprig
7. 1 bay leaf
8. 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
9. Four 5-ounce boneless pork loin chops, trimmed of fat
10. Salt and freshly ground pepper
11. 2 dried pear halves, diced
12. 4 dried apricot halves, sliced
13. 1/4 cup dried sour cherries (1 ounce)
14. 2 tablespoons ruby port

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. In a small skillet, combine 1/4 cup of the stock with the shallot and garlic and cook over moderate heat for 2 minutes. Add the quinoa, wheat berries, thyme and bay leaf. Add 1 cup of the stock and bring to a simmer. Scrape the mixture into a 9-inch square baking dish, cover with foil and bake for about 15 minutes, or until the quinoa and wheat berries are tender. Remove the pilaf from the oven and keep covered.
   
   
2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper and brown them in the skillet over moderately high heat, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate. Add the dried pears, apricots and cherries to the skillet and cook for 1 minute. Add the port and cook for 1 minute. Add the remaining 1 cup of stock and simmer over moderately high heat until reduced to 1/3 cup, about 5 minutes. Add the pork chops and any accumulated juices and cook over moderate heat, turning the pork a few times, until it is hot and just cooked, about 2 minutes
   
   
3. Uncover the pilaf and fluff it with a fork; season with salt and pepper. Mound the pilaf on plates. Set the pork chops on the pilaf, top with the fruit sauce and serve.
   

One Serving 454 cal, 15 gm fat, 3.3 gm saturated fat, 40 gm carb, 4 gm fiber.

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Pasta with Hot Sausage Sauce

This little quick fixer was just delicious. The Other Williams said it even reminded her of her grandfather's red sauce. The sauce was awesome. Thick, a little chunky, and delicious. Skip the sausage for a veg dinner. This sauce would also be great frozen. Make it ahead and pull it out for a quick dinner. Enjoy.

INGREDIENTS
* 1 pound hot Italian sausage, casings removed
* 2/3 cup red onion, diced
* 3 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 tablespoon minced capers
* 1 (28 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed, liquid reserved
* 1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
* 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
* 1/2 cup red wine
* 1 teaspoon dried basil
* 1 teaspoon dried parsley
* 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
* 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
* salt to taste
* 1 (16 ounce) package dry ziti pasta
* 1/2 cup grated Romano cheese

DIRECTIONS
1. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the sausage until evenly brown.
2. Mix the red onion, garlic, and capers into the skillet, and cook until onion is tender. Mix in the mashed whole tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and red wine. Season with basil, parsley, oregano, red pepper, black pepper, and salt. Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to low. Simmer 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened.
3. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place the ziti in the pot, cook 10 minutes, until al dente, and drain.
4. Serve the sauce mixture over the cooked pasta. Top with Romano cheese.

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Grilled Pork Loin with Milk Sauce

It doesn't sound appetizing, does it? You're probably sitting there saying, "WHAT? EW!" Well that's what I said when T told me we were having pork with milk sauce. But being the brave one I am (and knowing there's always the family restaurant down the street) I sat down to give it a shot.

I was really surprised. The sauce wasn't as bland as I was assuming a milk sauce would be, it was actually quite delicious! And paired with the pork it was just fabulous. T hunted out the recipe from Mario Batali's new book Italian Grill which features one of our favorite chef's grillin for NASCAR. There are some great recipes in this one and this Grilled Pork Loin with Milk Sauce is one of them!

Serving: 6

Ingredients:
3 tbsp kosher salt
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp ground fennel seeds
1 -4lb pork loin roast
8 garlic cloves, smashed
2 tbsp olive oil

Milk Sauce
3/4 Extra virgin olive oil
12 garlic cloves
2 spanish (red) onion
1 fennel bulb
2 cups whole milk
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp hot red pepper flakes (optional)

Directions:
Combine salt, sugar, pepper, and ground fennel in small bowl and mix. Season pork all over with spice rub. Make deep incisions in meat, stuff garlic cloves in incisions. Place roast on platter. Let stand at room temp for 30 mins or let marinade overnight in the fridge.

Coat roast with olive oil. Set grill for indirect heat. Cook roast on cooler part of grill for 1.5 hours or until internal temp reaches 145-150 degrees. Remove roast from grill and allow to rest for 20 minutes.

Milk Sauce
Combine 1/4 cup of olive oil and garlic in pot set over low heat. Half onions length-wise then cut into 1/2 inch slices and add to pot. Cut fennel into half inch slices and add to pot. Increase heat to med-low, stirring frequently until onions and fennel are very soft, about 15 minutes.

Add milk, fennel seeds, red pepper flakes to the pot and bring to boil. Low heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat. After cooled, puree mixture in blender or food processor until smooth.

Slice pork and serve with milk sauce.

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Kelibasa 'n' Beans

OK, people, listen up! This dish is in the running for one of my favorites! Do you see all the exclamation marks? We've dubbed this dish Adult Beanie Weanies! It tastes just like beanie weanies and although I won't go so far as to say it's healthy, it is healthiER than traditional beanie weanies because of the added grean beans and veggies.

But don't get me wrong, it's totally the Kelibasa that's the star here. I mean, come on, it's Kelibasa!

This was a super quick fix meal that can be done in a slow cooker and it could be frozen for a quick re-heat, which we have done.

We also felt like this would make a great camping dinner and work beautifully in the dutch oven over some coals. We're hoping to test that theory soon. So, basically this might be the best dish ever!

Oh and kids, they might just love you for this one!

INGREDIENTS

* 1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots
* 1/2 cup chopped onion
* 2 cups frozen lima beans, thawed
* 2 cups frozen cut green beans
* 1 pound Kelibasa or other smoked sausage, cut into 1/4 inch slices
* 1 (16 ounce) can baked beans
* 1/2 cup ketchup
* 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
* 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
* 1 teaspoon prepared mustard

DIRECTIONS
1. In a slow cooker, layer carrots, onion, lima beans, green beans, sausage and baked beans. Combine ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar and mustard; pour over beans. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or until vegetables are tender. Stir before serving.

2. For the stove top just throw everyone in a pot on med-high heat until everything is warmed through. Everything in this recipe is already cooked so your just warming them together.

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Guest Post: Shredded Venison Burrito with Williams' Mole Mex Sauce

Today you are lucky little blog readers! The cook of most of these meals is going to do a guest post for this amazing original recipe she created. The Other Williams has been cooking for 17 years. She stumbled upon her love for cooking after moving to the South and watching her stepmother prepare southern cuisine. Today The Other Williams' favorite food preparations involve smoked and grilled foods. She loves to cook and we both enjoy her amazing talent.
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Tonight we had a crock pot cooked shredded venison type burrito. I came up with this because we had a venison roast in the freezer that a friend had given us and i needed to come up with something to do with it. I knew that this roast would have little to no fat so that is why I decided to use the crockpot, to avoid a dry roast. You could also substitute pork for the venison. The Mexican flair came from my love of the shredded pork at Salsarita's. I hope this recipe peeks your interest and your taste buds.

Shredded Meat

• 1 1/2lbs. venison roast or pork roast
• 1c. water
• 5 smashed garlic cloves
• 1/2 med. onion diced
  
• 1 tbs. oregano
• 2 canned green chillies, diced
• 2tsp. chili powder
• 1tbs. onion powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
• 2tsp. coriander
• 2tsp. cumin
• 1tbs. kosher salt
• 1tsp. ground pepper

Sauce

• 1 large can whole peeled tomatos
• 1/3c. water
• 1tbs. cocoa powder
• 1tsp. kosher salt
• 1/8c. cilantro
  

Combine all ingredients for shredded meat in slow cooker. Cook for 8-10 hours.
after cooking remove meat and solids. Shred meat with the tines of a fork. Put meat back
in slow cooker with juices. Either discard solids, add to meat, or puree and add back to meat. Adjust seasonings to taste. Cook on high until ready to eat.

For sauce, add tomatoes and juice to saucepan. Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes while breaking up tomatoes with spoon. Add cocoa to water and disolve. After 20min. or until most liquid is absorbed add cocoa and water and salt. Cook for another 10min. Turn off heat and add cilantro.

Add meat to warm tortillas. Roll up and top with sauce.
Additional condiments could be sour cream, salsa verde, or other mexican topping favorites.

Serving: 5-6

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Let me just say it's all in the sauce. The sauce The Other Williams came up with is really great. It's very similar to a mole sauce but it's a little simpler to make. This sauce would be great on just about any tex-mex or mexican-inspired dish. I could see it over rice, noodles, on tacos or taco salads, YUM!