Baked Sausage Casserole

Here is one a friend of mine sent and living out here, of course we had to switch some of the ingredients around. I am only able to find zucchini from time to time and most of the time its not of a quality I would purchase, much less try to eat. So, instead of zucchini I would use the large portebellas. They flavor up well and soak up all the flavors of the sauce and meat. This recipe will serve between 6-8 folks.

1lb bulk Sausage (any variety)

1/2lb ground Beef

1 Zucchini, thin sliced

1 cup sliced Mushrooms

1 tbsp Flour

4 8oz can Tomato Sauce

1 tsp Garlic Powder

1 tsp Garlic Salt

1 tbsp dried Oregano

1 tbsp fresh Basil, chopped fine

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 cup Milk

1lb Pasta, cooked, drained (any variety will do, but the mini bow ties just look so cute in this dish)

2 1/2 cup Mozzarella, shredded

1/4 cup Parmesan

1 cup Colby, shredded

1) Preheat oven to 350. Line 13x9x2" pan in *foil or spray it with pam.

2) In large skillet, crumble and brown all meat, remove meat from pan to paper towels. In pan drippings add flour and stir to combine. Add tomato sauce, spices and milk. Stir well and bring to boil. Remove from heat and add pasta, and stir.

3) In pan, layer zucchini to cover bottom. Layer in meat.  Layer in mushrooms. Sprinkle 2 cups of the mozzarella, 1/2 cup of the colby and parmesan. Add pasta mixture. On top sprinkle remaining cheese. Place in hot oven and bake 25 minutes until bubbly.

4) To serve, garnish with fresh basil and Parmesan!

* Lining your pans in foil help to keep the clean up super simple.

Triple Chocolate Cookies

Oh yeah... doing the happy white girl dance (its not a pretty thing)... I baked edible cookies! More than edible... these are the bomb! I might turn out to be a baker after all!

It all started on a search for some good ole chocolate chocolate chip cookies. It's one of those recipes that you just can't find anywhere... so I made my own. And it worked! Can you tell how excited I am yet? This recipe will make between 12 and 24 cookies... depending on how big your spoon is.

2 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour

3 tbsp Cocoa Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 Tsp Salt

1 cup (2 sticks) Butter, softened

3/4 cup Sugar

3/4 cup Light Brown Sugar, packed

2 tsp Vanilla

2 Eggs

1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1 cup White Chocolate Chips

1 cup Walnuts, chopped *(optional)

1) Heat oven to 350 (325 for a toaster oven).

2) Whisk together flour, cocoa, soda, and salt until incorporated.

3) In large bowl beat butter and sugars until creamy. Add vanilla and eggs and beat until smooth. Slowly add in the flour mixture until all is blended. Stir in chips and nuts.

4) Drop mixture by the spoonful onto a lightly greased cookie sheet, sides not touching. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Let cool 5-10 minutes before removing from pan.

*Since I am allergic to nuts, I put them all on individually. 

Flounder Florentine

Here is something that my own hunny gobbled up. I had to integrate about four different recipes to get this to come out right with the ingredients I was able to get my hands on. Living so far out west makes it extremely hard to find decent seafood. We seem to be on the tail end of all shipping lines. This means that most things are a few days to a week over the due date. I was really lucky to come across flounder fillets that hadn't expired yet. This recipe serves 1-2 depending on the appetite. You can easily double it though.

2 Flounder Filets

4 cup Chicken or Vegetable Broth

Salt

Spinach, fresh, chopped

3 tbs Butter

2 tbs Flour

1/2 tsp Cayanne

1/2 cup Milk

Parmesan

1) Preheat broiler to 450. Grease glass baking pan (glass pie plate works well)

2) In medium saucepan bring broth to boil. Add flounder and return to boil. Reduce heat and let simmer about 10 minutes until fish flakes with fork. Remove fish to plate and keep warm. Add spinach and salt to broth and simmer about 4-5 minutes until spinach wilts. Pour all into strainer and return pan to heat.

3) Place spinach in bottom of baking pan and then place fish on top.

4) Melt butter in pan. Add flour and cayanne and stir until flour thickens and turns a light brown.  Slowly add in the milk and stir utnil it thickens again. Pour white sauce over fish and sprinkle with parmesan. Broil at 450 just until fish is browned, about 10 minutes or so. Keep an eye on it as oven heat varies.

Chicken and Portabella Mushroom

Unlike in the big city, finding pre-made items at the local grocery store is almost impossible. Take ravioli for instance... if I like Chef Boy Ar Dee, I wouldn't have a problem. Unfortunately, my taste buds would go on strike for eating something like that out of a can. So what's a girl to do??? Hunt down some great recipes and twist them up to make her own dish that screams West Texas!

This turned out so well that one of our birds, Greedy Gut (yes, that really is what I call him), had to have some too. He paced on the bottom of his cage, squeaking to get our attention. When that didn't work, he climbed to his perch and began pacing again. I felt so bad for him I finally brought him a part of the dough. Want to see what a bird looks like after eating this? Just scroll on down to the bottom.

For the Dough:


2 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Salt
1 cup Hot Water


For the Filling:


1/2 large Portabella, diced small
1/2 cup Mozzerella, shredded
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
1/2 tsp Basil, dried
1/2 tsp Oregano, dried
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper
1/2 cup Chicken, cook (such as Rotisseri)
2 Eggs, seperated

1) In large bowl mix flour, salt and water with a spoon. The batter will be crumbly. Transfer to a floured surface and knead with your hands until it begins to form a ball. Wrap in plastic and let rest in fridge for about 20-30 minutes.

2) While dough rests, shred chicken and place in large bowl with remaining ingredients, except one egg. Mix thoroughly.

3) In small bowl, beat remaining egg and 1 tbs of water to make a wash.

4) When dough is ready, Pull off a small amount and roll out flat until it is about 1/16th" thick, and in a rectangle about 12x4". Brush with egg wash.

5)  Place a spoonful of mixture in three seperate heaps, gently pull dough to cover them, and press down around mounds to seal. Trim off excess dough and set aside. Finish with the dough and mixture.

6) In a large pot of boiling salted water drop the ravioli in a few pieces at a time and boil about 5 minutes. I like to let mine float to the top and leave them about another minute, just to make sure the inside is heated through. Remove ravioli to plate and keep warm.

7) Now all you have to do it smother it in your favorite sauce or eat it plain!

Stuffed French Toast

For years now I have not liked syrup on any of my breakfast foods. The smell of it alone can turn me away from the table. But eating pancakes dry isn't an option either. So, in my quest for something different, something sweet without the syrupy smell, I created a sauce that works great. Now it seems I-HOP has the same idea... or at least part of it at any rate. But I'm biased... I prefer my own method since it's made by scratch in a kitchen I can be in.

1 egg per serving, beaten
1 tsp Half & Half per serving
Cinnamon
Jiffy/Bisquick Baking Mix, amount really depends on amount of people serving
2 pieces Honey Bread per person (or any thick cut bread)
1 tbs Cream Cheese per person
1 tbs jelly, jam or preserves per person (I used Blue Berry Preserves in this one)

1) Heat griddle or skillet to medium. Either spray pan with butter flavored spray or use butter/margarine in pan... even if it's a "non-stick". Honey bread tends to stick otherwise.

2) In bowl big enough to lay out bread, beat egg, cream and cinnamon (to taste) together. Add about 1 tsp of the baking mix at a time, blending well, until a pancake batter consistency forms.

3) Dip bread in batter and coat well. I like to let mine soak about a minute to absorb the liquid. Then place in skillet. Keep a close eye on it so it doesn't burn and flip when its golden brown. Repeat for the other side.

4) Meanwhile, In a small bowl, stir together the cream cheese and preserves until blended well.

5) Once the bread is golden brown on both sides, remove to plate. Spread cream cheese mixture on one side of both pieces of bread, and put them together to form a sandwich.

6) Sprinkle with powdered sugar and more cinnamon if you want.

Honey Bread

In my search for some good breads out here, I came up empty. I realized that we have no bakery here. Well, there is one in alpine that makes cinnamon rolls and such, but if you want home baked breads, you better learn how to do it yourself. Which is what I've been attempting for years.

Most of the time I end up with hollow bread. Or flat bread... that weighs a ton. Until recently I just couldn't get the hang of making bread. Now that I'm older the good Lord has blessed me with the secret know-how of how to end this long time curse. And since I'm a nice person (OK, ya'll can stop laughing now) I thought I would pass it on to my internet friends and family.

The recipe below will make up to 4 loaves. You can leave it in the fridge for 3-4 days even and make a loaf per day! I like changing it up and in later issues, I'll give you some hints on bread mixtures that start with this one recipe. There is no picture today since I am unable to get to my camera without someone tearing into it. I guess I'm going to have to make this when one of my friends comes to visit.

3 cups warm water
1 1/2 tbs (or 2 packets) Dry Active Yeast
2 tbs Course Salt (I prefer Sea Salt but Kosher works too)
6 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
Honey

1) In large bowl ( I used my crock pot for this), mix water, yeast and salt until yeast dissolves. Mix in flour. Batter will be wet and loose. Transfer to a bowl that has a lid or cover tightly with plastic wrap and poke a small hole in it. You want the gasses to escape.

2) Now set it on top of your refrigerator for about 2 hours to let it rise.

3) Place bowl in refrigerator for at least 3 hours. Dough works best after it's been chilled.

4) When ready to make bread, pull out 1/4 of dough and place on a flat, floured surface and shape your loaf, pulling across the top to make it tight. Set on a lightly greased baking sheet and let rise, uncovered, about 30-40 minutes (this is where you put it back on top of your refrigerator again. Its OK if it doesn't rise too much, it will rise in the oven.

5) Preheat oven to 450. If using a toaster oven drop the temp to 400 and do not use the fan. This will burn it. Place a separate pan filled with water on the bottom rack of oven.

6) Just before baking, cut a long slit in top of loaf, down the length. Gently separate it and fill it with honey. Drizzle honey all over it top if you want it extra sweet like I do. Pour water in heated pan (the steam will help to brown the loaf) to fill it and place bread on rack over it. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, turning loaf pan half way through.

7) Now, let this cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before you tear into it. I have to stand over it with a butcher knife in each hand to keep my hunny from getting at it.

Pomegranate, Apple & Bourbon Muffins

I was on a search of a different recipe using up the remaining apples I had sitting on my counter. I hate to waste anything, but one person can only eat so many apples in their salads before they explode. On top of that, my partner isn't too keen on apples, so hiding them in food for him has become a challenge. What I ended up with worked out pretty well. The flavors complement each other without anything being over powering.

I used Red Stagg Black Cherry Bourbon for this. The fruity flavors blended nicely with the apples. This makes about 12 muffins.

1 cup Pomegranate, dried
1/3 cup Bourbon 
1 3/4 cup Flour
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ginger, fresh grated
1/4 tsp All Spice
1/4 tsp Nutmeg, fresh grated
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 1/2 cup Splenda (real sugar works as well)
2/3 cup Oil
2 Large Eggs
1 tsp Lemon Juice
1 Medium-Large Apple, peeled, cored and diced small

1) Soak Pomegranates in bourbon no more than 30 minutes, strain, reserving liquid and bring liquid back to 1/3 cup.

2) Preheat oven to 375. Grease muffin tins.

3) In medium bowl combine flour, spices, baking powder and baking soda.

4) In large bowl beat the sugar, oil, eggs and lemon until smooth.

5) In portions, add in the flour mixture and stir until semi smooth. Then add in the fruits and bourbon. Mix with spoon until all is well blended.

6) Using spoon, place mixture into muffin tins to fill up to the top rim. Bake about 20 minutes. The top will brown nicely and you should be able to insert a toothpick in the center of a muffin and remove it cleanly.

Now, this recipe doesnt call for a frosting, but I found that adding a light drizzle of sugar glaze to them makes them outstanding!