Sheet Pan Veggies and Sausage

This is very simple and you can add and take away whatever you want really.

10-12 Baby Carrots
2 Red Potatoes
1 Zucchini
1 Yellow Squash
2 Bell Pepper, any color
1 Head of Broccoli
1/2 Onion
16 oz Smoked Sausage (I always use Eckrich) precooked

1/2 Tbs Dried Basil
1/2 Tbs Dried Oregano
1/2 Tbs Dried Parsley
1/2 Tbs Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp Paprika
Salt & Pepper
1/3 C Parmesan
3-4 Tbs Olive Oil


Preheat oven to 400. Line sheet pan with tin foil.
Prep the veggies by cutting them into small pieces so they all cook evenly. Slice the carrots in half. Chop the potato into bite size pieces. Chop zucchini and squash into bite pieces or slice thinly. Slice pepper and onion into medium pieces. Separate broccoli into small pieces, Place all veggies on pan.
Slice sausage into thick coins. Add them to the pan.
In a small bowl combine all spices and the oil. Amount of oil depends on how many veggies you have. Add salt and pepper. Stir it all together. Pour oil mixture over veggies and sausage. Mix it so it evenly coats everything on the pan. Put in oven for 15 minutes. Remove and toss veggie mixture. Put back in the oven for 10 more minutes or until all veggies are tender. Top with parmesan cheese.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

10-16 oz Spinach
3/4-1 lb Fried bacon crumbled
1 C roasted slivered almonds
1 C Strawberries cubed

Dressing
1 Tbs Cider Vinegar
1/4 C Sugar
1/3 C Oil
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbs red onion

Cook your bacon and crumble. I like my almonds candied so I will do that next. I just look up a simple recipe on the internet. If not, regular slivered almonds are fine. Put spinach in a salad bowl. Add bacon crumbles, almonds, and cubed strawberries.

For the dressing, put all ingredients into a food processor and chop until the onion is completely incorporated.

Dutch Oven Molten Lava Cake

Just make sure the cake is cooked through, then it is done. It is not as thick as a molten lava cake you make in your oven.

1 Chocolate cake mix prepared to package

2 1/4 C Hot coffee or water

2/3 C Coco Powder

1 C Brown Sugar

1 C Sugar

Prepare charcoal briquettes so they are ready when you are done preparing. You will need roughly 25-30. I personally covered my dutch oven in tin foil so it was easy clean up. Prepare the cake mix as instructed on the box. Pour cake mix into the dutch oven. Combine coco powder, brown sugar, and sugar together. Pour this dry mixture over your cake. There will be a lot of it.  Then pour the hot water or coffee over the sugar mixture. Put the lid on your dutch oven. Put 8-10 briquettes on the bottom of your dutch oven. Then place 16-20 briquettes on the top of your dutch oven. (We did a 12 inch and a 10 inch dutch oven. Use more briquettes for the larger dutch oven.) Cook the cake for 55 minutes. Remove from heat if completely cooked and let cool for 10 minutes. Serve.

Italian Sausage Tortellini Pasta

I know Amy has a pasta up here that is very similar to this one, and I have tried it and liked it. This is the one that we really love so I am putting it here so I can always find it. They are very similar recipes.

1 Tbs oil
2 C diced onions
1 lb mild Italian Sausage (I use Johnsonville the sausage links)
3 cloves garlic minced
3/4 C chicken broth
14.5 oz diced tomatoes
1/2 C heavy cream
9 oz tortellini
salt and pepper
2 C spinach

Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Squeeze the sausage from the casing. All you do is squish at one end and it will come out. You can make them into small meatballs or I just chop them up into small pieces. Cook the sausage until it is browned. Reduce to low heat and add the garlic. Then add the broth, tomatoes, cream and tortellini to the pan. Stir in to combine. Increase heat and bring to a boil. Cover pan and reduce heat. Let it simmer for 15 minutes or until the tortellini are cooked through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the spinach and stir until wilted. Remove from heat and eat.

Pork Carnitas

The longer this cooks the more tender the meat gets. It is delicious! We love eating street taco pork carnitas.


2 1/2 lbs pork shoulder (or pork butt)
1 Tbs lime juice
2 tsp coarse sea salt
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
garlic salt

Cut the pork into smaller chunks and remove any excess fat. Place pork in the crock pot. Add the rest of the ingredients minus garlic salt together in a bowl then coat the meat with the spices. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours. When tender, shred the meat. Salt the pork with garlic salt as desired. Serve pork carnitas on corn tortillas with any toppings. We eat it with onions, cilantro, lime juice, and guacamole.

Tomato, Cucumber, Avocado Salad

Such a good, refreshing, fresh salad.

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 C chopped tomatoes
1 Cucumber
2 Avocados
4 oz feta cheese - cubed
2 Tbs minced red onion
1 handful parsley or cilantro depending on preference - minced about 2 Tbsp
2 Tbsp olive oil (I only had avocado oil and it worked great)
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar and it was delicious)
8 twists of black pepper
a dash of lemon juice

INSTRUCTIONS

Chop tomatoes into medium dice. Peel and dice cucumbers. Scoop out avocado and dice. Add tomato, avocado, onion, cucumber and minced parsley or cilantro to a bowl. Whisk together oil, vinegar, black pepper and dash of lemon juice. Pour over salad and gently toss.

Original recipe HERE.

King Cake

King Cake

(as given to Kathleen Stancliffe from Althea Marino)

3 packs yeast                                                                                                 350° - 20 minutes

2 cups very warm water

1 cup butter (2 sticks) – I use real butter – almost melted

½ cup sugar

1 ½ teaspoons salt

4 eggs

7 – 8 cups flour (divided)

Combine 2 cups of the flour, sugar and salt in LARGE mixing bowl.  Soften butter in microwave to ALMOST melted stage and add VERY warm water and butter to the flour/sugar/salt mixture.  Stir with wire whisk.  Add 3 packs yeast (add it dry) and stir until dissolved.  Add 1 egg at a time, mixing well after each one.  Add 2 more cups of flour.  Exchange wire whisk for spoon here (and rinse off whisk immediately to avoid hard, dried-on flour junk!).  Add enough more flour to make dough easy to handle (I usually add about 2 ½ more cups), and then dump out onto floured counter and knead until flexible, but not hard.  Rinse out bowl, dry, and then oil it lightly with vegetable oil.  Put dough in bowl, cover with towel and let rise until it reaches the top of the bowl (sometimes this takes an hour; sometimes it takes 2 or 3 depending on how warm your house is!).  Punch down dough (kids love to help with this part!), and let rest for about 10 minutes. 

Brown sugar/cinnamon filling:

Mix brown sugar and cinnamon to your taste (should taste more like cinnamon than brown sugar).  Store in zip lock bag to keep from getting hard. 

Cherry/Apple/Strawberry/Blueberry/Raspberry/Blackberry filling

1 can cherry pie filling (blended for 2 seconds in food processor) – not too long because you still want pieces of the fruit – my daughter tried blackberry and said it was delicious, but didn’t enjoy the seeds!  I have recently (08) tried freezer jam (needs to be frozen when used) instead of canned pie filling, and have enjoyed the fresher taste that brings (especially the strawberry).  I have a friend who uses lemon pie filling and it’s their favorite.  I’ve not tried it yet. 

Continuing . . . . .

Melt another stick of butter completely and stir well.  Divide dough into 2 equal amounts.  Roll out dough (this is tricky – use your sixth sense!  - if it’s too thin it will tear; if it’s too thick, it won’t cook thoroughly).  Using a knife or pizza cutter, cut the rolled out dough into 3 pieces lengthwise.  Using a pastry brush, “paint” melted butter on the 3 cut pieces. 

For the brown sugar-cinnamon variety, generously sprinkle the brown-sugar mixture down the middle of each cut piece and spread just a little, then pat down and sprinkle a little bit of flour over the top.  For the cherry or other fruit variety, spoon the briefly blended pie filling down the middle of each of the 3 cut strips.  Spread slightly, but not too close to the edge.  Be careful not to overfill because it tends to leak out when rising/baking.  With the cherry and apple filling, I sprinkle some of the brown sugar-cinnamon mixture on top of the filling and then sprinkle a little flour on the top of that as well.  Fold the short ends over just slightly and then fold the long ends in a tri-fold (like folding a letter) from the top down to the middle and then the bottom up and over the top.  Bring the 3 pieces close together (don’t be afraid of the dough!).  Pick it up and gently swing it back down to the counter, giving it a little bit of a stretching as you do.  Begin braiding in the middle; work to one end then go back to the middle and braid to the other end.  Carefully place on huge cookie sheet, shape into oval or circle and pinch the ends together where they meet.  Cover and let rise again.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes (I always set the timer for 12 minutes and monitor until it’s done).  When cool, tuck small plastic baby wherever you want!  Cool completely before frosting.  I frost a small section at a time so the frosting won’t dry out before sprinkling the sugar on top.  Alternate the colored sugar (purple, green, yellow).  I usually get each color on twice per cake.  Enjoy! 

Frosting:

Soften 1 stick of butter.  Add powdered sugar and milk alternately. Add about a teaspoon or two of vanilla (to taste) and a pinch of salt. It usually takes ½ - ¾ of a 2-lb bag of powdered sugar.  Stir to desired consistency.

Variation:

I use a cream cheese frosting for the cherry-filled and blueberry-filled (or any kind you choose) king cake.  Blend a package of room-temperature cream cheese with a half stick of butter, softened.  Add powdered sugar a little bit at a time until the right consistency.  I do not use vanilla or milk for this frosting unless it becomes a little too thick.

Colored Sugars:

Pour 1 cup of granulated sugar each into 3 ziplock bags. Add several drops of food coloring to get the desired color of sugar (the traditional Mardi Gras colors are purple/yellow/green); squeeze out air, zip bag and squish sugar until drops are mixed in with the sugar. Add more as needed.

Chicken Noodle Soup

INGREDIENTS

1 Tbsp butter

1/2 C Chopped onion

1/2/ C chopped celery
1 C sliced carrots

4 (14.5 oz) cans chicken broth

1 (14.5 oz) can veggie broth (I did without this and added this much more chicken broth)

1/2 lb chopped cooked chicken breast (I doubled this once and added a whole rotisserie chicken, so I think half of one would suffice)

1 1/2 C egg noodles (I added about 2 C, I like more noodles in mine)

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp Montreal chicken

2 bay leafs

salt and pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

At the bottom of a large pot, melt butter. Cook onion, celery, and carrots in butter until just tender, about 5 minutes. Pour in broths, chicken, noodles, basil, oregano, thyme, Montreal chicken, bay leafs, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes before serving. 

I tweaked this a bit, but all the changes are listed above. For the original recipe, go HERE.

Country Style Pork Ribs

4 pounds boneless country-style pork ribs
1 Tbs Steak Seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp Seasoned salt
1/2 tsp Chili powder
1 1/2 C BBQ Sauce
1/4 C Water

Combine the steak seasoning, garlic salt,  and chili powder together. Spray the bottom of the crock pot and put half of the ribs in. Rub the ribs with half of the seasoning mixture. Then lay the rest of the ribs on top of the other ribs. Rub the top layer with seasoning mixture. Pour the water into the side of the crock pot so you do not wash off any of the seasoning. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours.
When the ribs are done, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet and put the ribs on the sheet. Drizzle the BBQ sauce over the ribs. Put pan into oven for 10 minutes or until the sauce is hot and sticky.