Apples & Sausage

Every now and then Brent comes home with an idea from work, either it's from a co-worker or it's something he found online and wants to try it.

This came from a co-worker and it's become a staple in our regular rotation of comfort foods.

1 package of Kielbasa Sausage

4-5 red apples (sweet)

1/2-3/4 cup brown sugar (depends on how sweet you like)

1/2 stick butter

Preheat the oven to 350. Slice the apples and the sausage (we cut them into bite size pieces for the kids). Melt the butter and mix in brown sugar, stir and coat the sausage. Line the apples in a casserole dish, top with sausage mixture. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve over rice. 

Makes: 4-6 servings

From: Brent's Co-Worker

*Can't remember her name to save my life!

Cheesy Enchilada Filling

Our family has been being blessed every week with the gift of free bread from a mom at school. She is a Children's pastor and also does food runs for her food pantry at the Church she goes to. A happy meeting got me on her rotation, and I get to bless my friends with all the goodies as well! This week there were organic corn tortillas among the goodies. I saved them and thought I'll make something up. It's a treat to actually roll the homemade corn tortillas because of them coming out of the hot oil, into the mole and filled, it's like rolling fire! Since these were already cooked I thought why not make a nice filling for them and pour chicken mole over them and top with cheese, and bake! Another blessing came in the form of yummy steak from the Rosemans! So I rough cut the meat and used it inside instead. You gotta be flexible in the kitchen. Next time I'll do chicken mole. Everyone even the kids enjoyed it! So it will be made again!

Filling:
1 pound cheddar cheese (shredded)
1 can (small) green chilies
1/2 brick cream cheese (softened)

Take a good hand full and a half and put it for topping. Mix all the rest together in a bowl. There was enough to fill 24ish corn tortillas. Roll and sop with Mole. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake in 350 oven for 15-20 mins, to melt the cheeses.

It makes a really nice creamy filling that's not too overpowering.

Enjoy!

Makes 24 filled rolled corn tortillas
From: Poff's Kitchen

Chicken Parmesan

This is a fun favorite that I learned from my good friend Alicia who I love dearly! She would just whip it up like it was nothing! I miss her cooking, she is a fantastic cook!

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
Italian Breadcrumbs (if you don't have any, I make some with a little garlic, oregano & onion powder)
Parsley (if you have fresh it's nice if not flakes work)
Olive Oil
Egg
Milk
Parmesan Cheese
Mozzarella Cheese

Preheat oven to 350.
Simple, split the chicken breasts, put between plastic wrap and pound the heck out of them, watching Rachel Ray the other day she said to use the bottom of a skillet, it helps for overall equal pounding
I LOVE my Pampered Chef coating trays!! Mix the egg with the milk and put in one. Mix the breadcrumbs, parsley and grated Parmesan cheese in another. Put some olive oil in an oven proof skillet and heat. Dip in the wet mixture, and press in the dry mixture. Put in a hot skillet, cook one both sides for 3 minutes each. It will be nice and crispy brown, top with cheese and put into a hot oven for 10 minutes. Serve over or with spaghetti and marinara sauce.

Makes 6 servings
From: Alicia Walker

Bacon Explosion!!!!!!!

 Do not adjust your monitor...yes it's that awesome!!

 Vern got a wild hair and decided to do a Six-o de Mayo party and I got to cater it! This was so much fun to make and we made 2 variations from the original recipe found here: http://www.bbqaddicts.com/blog/recipes/bacon-explosion/  

 Basic Recipe: 2 lbs thick cut bacon, 2 lbs Italian sausage (it can be what ever kind you like, as hot as you like or as mild), BBQ rub, and BBQ sauce (we used Brent's secret sauce!)  

 Weave a beautiful blanket with 1 pound of thick cut bacon, Cook the other pound, to your taste, this will be crumbled for a layer of goodness. Sprinkle the BBQ rub over the bacon. Make a layer of sausage the same thickness over the blanket, just shy of the edges. Take the crumbled bacon and sprinkle over the sausage layer and smother with BBQ sauce! YUM!

Roll the sausage layer into a tight roll working towards the top of the blanket, leaving the blanket and press the seams closed. Take the blanket from the bottom up and roll over tucking it underneath. I had 2 extra pieces from the 1st pound that I found was good to fold in half and use on the ends as I rolled I tucked them in. It worked very nice. And Smoke that BABY! We also BBQ Grilled it! Both ways turned out wonderful!

Slice and enjoy! There will be a beautiful pinwheel swirl of YUM!!

Variations we came up with:

-2 pounds of 80% hamburger mixed with shredded cheddar cheese! 

Makes almost a bacon cheeseburger!

-Breakfast Explosion!

Use 1 pound of regular breakfast sausage, don't worry about making the layer just make it just short of the width of the blanket. Make a well in the center of the sausage and fill with maple syrup! Yes, syrup, seal and roll. Bake in the oven 350 for 45 mins or till done. Slice and serve!

Makes: lots of people happy! If you slice in 1/2 inch rounds it's about 10-12 slices

From: BBQ Addicts modified by Poff's Kitchen!

Juicy Lucys!

One of our favorite things to do is watch Man Vs Food...yes..I know. I blame Brent. One episode they made these hamburgers with cheese in the middle. I take it one more step...

Start with a slightly higher fat content ground beef It makes the "Juicy". Season to taste, I make my traditional Mo Burgers (another post). So divide the meat into 6 equal patties, try to make them as thin as possible we are not trying to make heart attack burgers...

 Now comes the fun, the traditional Juicy Lucy just has cheddar cheese in the middle. I have been known to add sauteed mushrooms and crumbled bacon. I still want to grill some jalapenos and put them in with a pepper jack cheese. Get creative!!  Top one side with your choice of toppings and take the other burger and press to seal. Add a little salt and pepper on top! Now take those bad boys out and grill em! This is where Brent steps in, we have an understanding...the kitchen is mine, the BBQ is his.

Top with your favorite things, on a toasted bun. Be careful on the 1st bite the inside will be hot!!

Makes: 3 burgers

From: Man V. Food modified by Poff's Kitchen



Macaroni & Cheese

After a few years of eating the boxed blue stuff...I thought there has to be a better way to eat this...

*disclaimer-I am not knocking the blue box, I know of many people who are very loyal to this product, I never really liked it.

And this method is just as fast as the box!

4 tablespoons butter (nothing else)

4 tablespoons flour

24 ounces milk

cheese (lots of cheese shredded)

*can use 1 or a few...I like good ole cheddar

1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni+a little more (I don't measure, I just pour)

1/2 sleeve ritz crackers, crushed

Start the water to boil. Add the noodles, while that is going...

Melt butter in a pan, slowly whisk in the flour. Once it's all incorporated, slowly whisk in the milk. Stirring constantly let the mixture get to a slow boil. Be careful to not let it get too hot. Once it boils for about a minute. Take it off the heat and stir in the cheese.

Around this time, the noodles will be cooked. Drain the noodles, put them into a casserole dish and pour the cheese sauce over the top, stir together. Top with crushed Ritz a little melted butter and some more shredded cheese. Put into the oven 350F for about 5-10 mins just to melt the cheese and get the top crisp.

Serve!! Yummy!

Makes: 1 medium casserole dish

From: Poff's Kitchen and a good old book I don't have to look at anymore.

(I wonder when does it become your recipe? When you don't have to look at the directions anymore?)

Baked Potato Soup

One wonderful fall evening while we were in England, not being able to go to our favorite place for potato soup...St. Louis Bread Company (or for those not from the Lou...Panera Bread) I started pouring over my cookbooks and found a lovely recipie for Brent's favorite soup. Good ole Taste of Home to the rescue! This one is dog eared for sure! It's easily doubled for a larger crowd.

4 Large baking potatoes (since we have a white potato allergy, we use red) (2 3/4 lbs)

2/3 cup butter

2/3 cup flour

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp white pepper

6 cups of milk

1 (8oz) sour cream

1 bunch green onions, sliced

10 strips of bacon cooked

Cheddar cheese, shredded (not going to say how much...use as much as you want!)

Wash the potatoes and bake them at 350F for 60-75 minutes or until tender. I don't bother peeling them, it's where all the goodness is and I like peel. Plus they are hot! Slice and cube them.

In a large saucepan melt butter, now I don't know about you...but anthing that starts out like this...has to be good! Stir in flour, salt & pepper until smooth. You are making a roux. Whisk to get all the lumps out.

Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

While this is going on I cook & chop the bacon, slice the onions and grate cheese.

Remove from heat whisk in sour cream.

Add in potatoes, half of the bacon & cheese. I leave the green onions out because Brent doesn't like them, but you can put them in. Serve & garnish! YUM!

From: Taste of Home magazine

Makes: 10 servings

Aloha Lost- A Food Tribute!

Yes, we watched, we loved, we got headaches, we didn't get all of the question anwsered, we were lost, but it's time to say goodbye. After 6 years and a great show, it's time for the last show, and what better way to send off a great show than with a proper buffet tribute! Lots of thought and love went into this, some may laugh, some may think it's pretty cool. I had a blast! Enjoy and Namaste

Menu:

Pineapple/Apricot punch: This is a punch that Grandma got from Hawaii and brought back, she would always make up some for a hot summer day. It's very simple, 1 part Sprite/lemon-lime, 2 parts pineapple juice & 2 part apricot nectar. It's very nice without the Sprite in a blender with some ice for Breakfast drinks.

Hawaiian Sweet Bread: A nod to the lovely island that they filmed at! And we needed bread!

Peanut Butter: When the airplane crashed a few days later we were introduced to one of the best couples, Claire & Charlie. Claire was pregnant and all she wanted was peanut butter, Charlie produces an empty jar and they pretend that it's wonderful. Later on, they do get ahold of peanut butter. I added some pretzel sticks, makes it easier to dip!

Orange Smiles: Who could forget Locke smiling with an orange smile?

Ranch Dressing: After they found the hatch full of food, Hurley found a vat of ranch, and ate it! Notice it took every bit of me to not arrange the veggies. I made it look like it was 'thrown together' A'la Hurley food binge!

Light & Dark Kebabs: There was a constant theme of good and bad, light and dark. Hence Chicken & Steak! The steak is marinated in a mixture of  2 parts honey & 1 part soy sauce with grape tomatoes. The chicken plain with pineapple niblets. Both are very yummy and toddler friendly. The boys love them!

Light & Dark Cupcakes: Again with the constant theme. Lots of fun!

Dharma Fish Biscuts: Kate & Sawyer spent some time in animal cages, and enjoyed these treats! Mine are a little more tasty. Easy peasy, take refrigerated sugar cookie dough, mix in orange food dye by hand. If you have a fish cookie cutter this will work, if not, hand shape the cookies. With a toothpick write 'DHARMA' in the cookie. Bake according to package directions. They do get puffy so we iced them to show the fish outline. They were very large but enjoyed by all!

Papaya: It was all over the island we had to have it on the table!

Little Airline Bottles of random drinks: They were on a plane! Sawyer hid them for a while.

Fried Rice: A nod to Jin & Sun another one of the best couples in the show.

I did a search for the best fried rice...of course it's Benihana's! I love that stuff! It's fun to watch them make it and oh so yummy!

4 cups cooked rice

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

2 Tblsp finely grated carrot (I just chopped baby carrots very fine, but rough cut)

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup diced onion (1 small onion)

1 1/2 Tblsp butter

2 Tblsp soy sauce

salt & pepper

Once the rice is cooked, cool competely in the fridge. Scramble egg in a small pan over medium heat. Seperate eggs into small pieces. Add peas, carrot, egg and onion to the bowl of rice. Toss all of the ingredients together. Melt butter in a large frying pan over medium/high heat. Dump the bowl of rice mixture into the pan and add soy sauce plus a dash of salt and pepper. Cook for 6-8 minutes over heat, stirring often. 

 This can be made ahead of time by cooking the rice, then adding the peas, carrots, egg & half of the soy sauce. Keep chilled until you are ready to fry it in the butter. Add the rest of soy sauce and salt & pepper.

I doubled the recipie, it made a TON of fried rice, would be nice with added chicken!

 Makes: 4 servings

From: a combination of many recipies from online Google search

Well there it is! Hope you enjoy. There are lots of fun foods to make and try

Poppy Seed Chicken

Now, this is an oldie but goodie...I don't know where I got it from...It has many names...one of my favorite is 'Church of Christ Chicken' I tend to dissagree...the CofC wouldn't endorse such sinfulness! ;0) But what I do know is that it got the 'Mmmm nom nom mmmmmm' award from Aunt Donna B and the 'This is the best thing I've ever flopped my lip over' award from the Lady herself!

*This was made at the great gathering last July in Branson. It is super easy to double or triple. It's nice and light for a summer meal but can hold it's own for a fall meal. It's a good comfort food.

1 package of chicken breasts (3-4)

1 can cream of chicken soup (we use the low fat version)

8oz sour cream

1 sleeve of Ritz crackers

1/2 stick of butter

poppy seeds

Cook the chicken, and cube it. Mix the soup & sour cream in a bowl, mix in chicken. Pour into a casserole dish. Sprinkle lightly with poppy seeds. Melt the butter and crush the crackers. Spread the crumbs over the top and pour the butter on top. I like to sprinkle more poppy seeds on top. Bake 350 for 30 minutes.

While that is cooking make some egg noodles or rice to serve with.

Makes: 4-6 servings

From: Poff's Kitchen and many other kitchens

My Chicken Salad

There is something magical about a good chicken salad! Mine is a sweet one full of all kinds of flavor great for parties or just lunch. I have been tweaking my recipie for a few years, this one is one my sister and I created for our family when we were all gathered last summer. After not having much of an appetite Grandma put away 2 chicken salad sandwiches! I say this has the stamp of approval.

*This is not an exact science, it all matters on your taste. I like a wetter salad, you may like a drier salad. I like lots of crunch and my chicken chunked up. Play with it, find what suits you best. If like mine here's what I do!

• 
  
  3-4 chicken breasts cooked, I boil mine, and chunked up into 1 inch cubes or to stretch it you can use a food chopper.
• 
  
  2-3 celery stalks, cut into 2-3 strips and cut to make smaller pieces
• 
  
  1/2 small red onion minced (it makes a nice color)
• 
  
  2 red delicious apples, cored and diced
• 
  
  a small -medium bunch of black grapes, quartered (this makes it toddler friendly)
• 
  
  1/2 cup pecans chopped
• 
  
  Miracle Whip (I only use this, it makes it sweeter, and I really don't care for mayo)

In a large bowl mix everything together, I like to chop everything up while the chicken is cooking and have it marinate while I'm wating for the chicken to cool. Once you have everything mixed up, start to add the miracle whip, stir, and add more as needed, taste test it for your needs. You can always add more in, it's hard to take it out, but really it's fool proof! Once you have it the way you want, salt and pepper to taste.

Chill in the fridge in Tupperware.

From: Poff's Kitchen

Makes: a good sized bowl of goodness! Plenty for a large lunch or served on mini crossants for a party.

This is very easy to double or triple for large scale servings, and always enjoyed by all!

Steak & Guinness Pie

After spending 3 years in the UK we got addicted to the meat pies!! Our favorite place to pick up a great pie was the Brampton Pie Company just off High Street in Hutingdon. To my knowledge we never had this particular pie while we lived there, but one day Brent was wanting a pie for dinner and I went on a search for his 2 favorite things...Steak & Guinness!! I can't remember the site that I found this on, but it was a google search and I have modified it to suit our tastes. It is a staple at our table on November 5th and Boxing Day as well as when ever it's requested which is often!

2 pie crusts (you can make homemade or store bought, a Grandma secret)

1 1/2 pounds round steak

1 Tablespoon flour

1 Tablespoon brown sugar
4 medium sized onions
1 1/2 bottles Guinness stout (about a British pint)
10 slices bacon
3 Tablespoons butter

Dice the steak, cover with flour and brown, with bacon on a medium heat using the butter. Peel and chop the onions (to avoid the tears...I either have Brent do this or use my food chopper). Put the meat into a bowl and cover to keep warm. Add the onions and cook over medium heat. Dump meat back in with onions and add brown sugar and Guinness. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for an hour or so, stirring every now and then. Adding a little bit of water if it gets to thick.

Coat the pie dish with the crust and bake 425F for 9-11 minutes. Add the meat mixture to the baked pie crust. Top with other pie crust, make a few slits in the top to allow steam to escape. Bake 10 minutes until top is nice and golden. Serve hot with 2 veg and some chips! And a perfectly poured pint!! Enjoy!

Makes: 1 deep dish pie
From: somewhere on the internet...modified by Miranda

A 6th & 1st Birthday Dinner

We decided a few years ago that we would let the children pick what they get for their birthday dinner, this year since we were 35 inches of snow deep that we would cook dinner. Here's what the savy 6 year old picked for dinner:

Birthday Menu

• Terrakyi Chicken
• Sweet Potato Fries
• Green Beans
• Tropical Fruit Salad

Terrakyi Chicken: A package of chicken thighs, and terrakyi marinade plus the juice from the pineapple. Put all of it in a large ziplock bag and marinate for 30 minutes. Since it was really cold and had no intentions to BBQ, we made it in the Grill Pan. It didn't take too long and was really good! Cook evenly on both sides.

Sweet Potato Fries: I don't bother peeling the potatoes. Just free cut into fries, very quick like! Once they are all cut up, place in a large ziplock bag, sprinkle with extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper at will. SHAKE!!! Lay out on to a cookie sheet (I use the PC bar pan) Bake 450 for 30 minutes or until crispy. Enjoy!

Tropical Fruit Salad: (or what's in the pantry, because there's a blizzard outside and we need fruit!) 1 can pineapple chunks, 1 can mandrain oranges, 2 sliced bananas (Cooks tip: Cut bananas with plastic knife it won't brown as fast!), a sprinkle of crasins, and a handful of sweetened coconut flakes. Stir and chill.

Green Beans: Yes, it's that easy...Open can...drain, put into microwave safe bowl, add butter and salt & pepper. Heat in microwave. This is the quick & dirty way...hey don't judge...there was a blizzard!

The boys loved the special meal. As well as everyone who was over! Happy Birthday Philip & Anthony!

Makes: 1 meal for 11 people!

From: Poff's Kitchen

Crab Cakes

After you have lived in Maryland for awhile you start to wonder what all the buzz is about these things...so I went to the source Phillip's Seafood and found this! It's the original recipe from the company. And they are good! So even if you haven't  visited Maryland, you can get Phillip's crab meat all over the country in cans at the grocery store...so enjoy! And learn what the buzz is all about!


1 lb (16 ounces) crabmeat we can get fresh here, if you can get fresh get it
2 eggs
2 teaspoons worchestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
2 Tablespoons mayo if making lots have been known to make this from scratch...fresh mayo is always a nice treat
1 teaspoon lemon juice normally just squeeze an entire lemon, we like lemon
3 teaspoons mustard
3 teaspoons melted butter
1 teaspoon parsley flakes if I add this it's always fresh and closer to 1/4 cup...tore up or chopped fine.
1 teaspoon Old Bay
1/2 cup bread crumbs I have used Ritz crackers, or have made homemade breadcrumbs but store bought bread crumbs work great!

In a medium mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients except the crab meat. After mixing the ingredients, add crab meat and mix well with a spatula, be careful to not break apart the meat.

Form into cakes, pan fry in butter on each side about 6-8 minutes over medium heat until golden brown. Serve with favorite sauce or lemon wedges.

Makes: 6-8 normal cakes

From: Phillip's Seafood