Smoked Sausage Pasta

I came across this recipe on Pinterest and I ALMOST didn't pin it. Actually, I didn't at first and when I was at the store I thought to myself that I would try it out anyway. I bought some stuff I remember it needed and when I came back home I went back to find it so I could pin it. It was a bit spicy for our taste so I changed it up with normal diced tomatoes instead of the Ro-tel diced tomatoes. Curtis always says how awesome this is at least 3-4 times each time he eats it. Then when there's left overs he asks if it's ok if he finishes it followed by how awesome this is. So, it's pretty awesome guys.

The original recipe called for turkey smoked sausage, but since Curtis is allergic to chicken and we don't know if turkey is the same or not we stay away from it too. Plus I think that a smoked beef sausage tastes much much better. It also called for chicken broth so I subbed it with vegetable broth. I was afraid that it wasn't going to work, but it did!  I never was one of those that kept heavy whipping cream in the fridge, but since this recipe calls for it, I now keep it in stock.

I make this approximately once a week. If my man loves it, I'm gonna make it. It reminds me of a fancy macaroni and cheese with cut up hot dogs in it.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
~1 lb. Smoked Sausage, cut
1 Onion, diced
2 Cloves of Garlic, minced
2 Cups Chicken Broth or Vegetable Broth
1 (10 oz) can of diced tomatoes
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
8 oz. Penne Pasta,, uncooked
1/2 tsp. Salt and Pepper, each
1 Cup Colby/Monterrey Jack Cheese blend

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add cut up sausage and onions and cook a few minutes until slightly browned. Add garlic and cook for a few seconds.
Add the broth, tomatoes, cream, pasta, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to medium low. Simmer for 15 minutes or until the pasta is tender. Stir occasionally.
Turn off the heat and add 1/2 cup of cheese and stir until all melted and well blended. Top with the rest of the cheese (or maybe a little bit more). You can put it in your oven broiler if your skillet is oven safe until it is bubbly and spotted brown. Mine isn't so I just wait until the warmth of the dish melts the cheese on top.

I know this doesn't look too good, but it is.

This was hot out of the skillet so it's a bit runny. If you let it stand and cool just a bit, it will thicken up.

Three Cheese Pizza Pasta Bake

I am giving 100% credit and props to my husband for this recipe. His taste buds gave him a revelation that even I was surprised by. Like most everybody now, I find most of my recipes on Pinterest. Greatest invention ever. But, sometimes you strike out on recipes that you find. You think to yourself "Ooooo! This looks and sounds tasty." Then you try it and... not so much. Well this is what happened here. I found this recipe for a pasta bake and it was with cheese. I thought to myself "pasta- good, cheese- good!" Well, it's not that it was bad, but it was just way, way, way bland. Curtis told me not to make that again. So I shrugged and put the left overs in a container and put it in the fridge.

One day, as Curtis likes to do, he reached in the fridge for a little snack while he was holding our baby, and pulled out the pasta bake instead of mashed potatoes. Who just wants to eat mashed potatoes, by the way? He decided to eat it anyways, even though it wasn't what he was looking for. He said "You know, this would be a lot better with some garlic in it, and some sort of tomato sauce. Do we have any?" All we had was pizza sauce, so he went for it. He sprinkled some garlic powder, a little pizza sauce, and then he topped it off with some crumbled crackers. I gave him a weird look that said there is no way this is going to be any good. He nukes it in the microwave for a few seconds and takes a bit. He didn't say anything other than asking me to taste it. I did and I was shocked. It was SO much better!

I told him I would try to make it as a full recipe and if it turned out good I would include it in my blog. I did, and it was pretty good! So here you have it, a recipe for a pasta bake a la Curt.

Ingredients:
1 package of Ziti Pasta
1 Jar of Alfredo Sauce (16-20 oz)
1 container of Sour Cream (8 oz)
1 container of Ricotta or Cottage Cheese (15 oz) I used Ricotta
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese
1 Jar of Pizza Sauce
2 Cups Mozzarella Cheese
About 20 Multi-Grain Crackers, crushed Or any other crackers you want, or you can omit

Preheat oven to 350.

Cook Ziti according to the package. In another large bowl, mix together the Alfredo sauce and sour cream. Once Ziti is cooked, drain and add to the Alfredo sauce mixture. In a smaller bowl combine Ricotta or cottage cheese, eggs, garlic powder, and Parmesan Cheese. In a 9 X 13 baking dish, layer half of the pasta, then your Ricotta cheese mixture, then the jar of pizza sauce, then the remainder of your pasta. Top with the Mozzarella cheese and cracker crumbles.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese and nice and melted.

Alfredo sauce and sour cream

Add pasta

Ricotta, eggs, Parmesan, and garlic powder

Pasta, Ricotta mixture, and pizza sauce. Make sure you spread it evenly.

More pasta, Mozzarella, and crackers

Surprisingly good! You know, for the hubs coming up with it. :)

Crockpot Steak n' Gravy

I hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving! As a tradition in our house, instead of turkey, we have steak n' gravy. As I mentioned before, my husband is allergic to chicken, and since turkey is a close relative to the chicken, we stay away from it too. We're not sure if he's allergic to turkey too, but we rather would be stay safe than sorry.

Grandma, who was the one who provided me with the awesome mac and cheese recipe, used to cook this AMAZING steak n' gravy. Curtis and I used to make it when she became unable to cook before we had kids. It is very time consuming but it's like heaven in your mouth. Since we are short on time to devote to cooking, I came up with a crockpot version that is, to be honest, not AS good as grandma's recipe, but very delicious. So now, we make this recipe for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Besides, Curtis told me that I wasn't allowed to share grandma's recipe. It's top secret apparently... If you ever had it, you would understand. :)

I stumbled across this recipe on Pinterest for Crockpot Cube Steak and Gravy and when I fist made it, it kind of reminded me of Grandma's Steak n' Gravy. I just had to make a few modifications and it was so much better. It's easy peasy and the smell!! UGH! It's heavenly.

Here is what you will need:

Family size pack of Cubed Steak
1 can of Cream of Mushroom
1 can of Golden Mushroom Soup
1 envelope of Onion Soup Mix
3/4 C. Water
2 Stalks of Celery, chopped
1/2 Green Pepper, chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix in your crockpot the cream of mushroom, golden mushroom soup, onion soup mix, and water. Wisk together until all blended. Add the celery and pepper and mix well. Finally add your cubed steak and mix a little so that all the steak is wet with your gravy mixture. Cook on low for 8 hours.
You can serve with mashed potatoes, rice, noodles, or whatever else you want. The steak falls apart, you don't even need a knife to eat it with.

Here is the soups and water whisked together and the onion soup mix

Onion soup mixed in, then there is the celery and pepper

Cubed steak is added in and mixed around some.

After 8 hours of slow and gentle cooking

And here is my Thanksgiving plate. It was so good it was ridiculous. My mouth is literally watering looking at this picture.

Cheeseburger Wraps

I have gone MIA for a while. I had our new baby a month ago and before then I was so tired from being pregnant that I didn't want to do anything. But now I'm back with a super awesome and delicious meal. Plus it's low on carbs, so that's always a plus. When I first made this, I didn't think my husband would like it because if there's the slightest hint of healthiness, he's usually not interested. He did say that he was skeptical when I first made it, but it's one of his favorite meals now. I guess the greasiness of the meat and cheese made up for the low carb count. So, no, it's not a super healthy meal, but it is low on carbs...

I got this recipe from possibly the best food blog there is out there, Six Sisters' Stuff. Anything I have ever tried from their web site has been absolutely delicious. And this cheeseburger wrap is just that. It's very easy and it doesn't take long to put together. You do need some sort of George Foreman Grill to press the wrap together, and if you don't own one, I strongly suggest that you get one. They are wonderful for so many things. I especially like to warm up my BBQ Taquitos in them. It gives back that crunch you had when you first pulled them out of the oven. They get soggy if you try to warm them in the microwave.

Here's what you need:

1 lb Ground beef
2 Tbsp Ketchup
1 Tbsp Mustard
1 tsp Dried minced onions
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Flour tortillas (Large burrito size)
Shredded cheddar cheese
Any hamburger toppings you like (lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, etc...)

Brown your ground beef until all the pink is gone. Drain extra fat and return to the pan (I usually wipe down my skillet with a paper towel to get the grease off). Add in your ketchup, mustard, minced onions, Worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper. Mix well until it's all incorporated good.
Take a flour tortilla and line it with some cheddar cheese (I like quite a bit of cheese on mine), put some meat mixture on top, and top with any additional toppings you might like on your cheeseburger. Fold it up like a burrito and press it in on your George Foreman Grill for a couple minutes, or until crispy brown.

It's that easy. Don't get overly excited with how much stuff you put in there because it will be hard to fold.

My husband likes pickles only on his.

Sometimes I like to add some more stuff on mine, but I do tend to stick to pickles only.

DELICIOUSNESS!

Spinach Dip

The best spinach dip I ever had was at Applebee's. It's our favorite appetizer to get when the hubby and I get to go out. When we had it we just had to find out how it was made, so my husband looked it up on the inter-web and found a recipe called Applebee's Spinach Dip Copycat. We copied and pasted that bad boy in our documents on the computer and I've been making it ever since. It is sooo good! And pretty darn close to the real thing.

Ingredients:
1 10 oz. box Frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 14 oz. can Artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped
1 cup Shredded parmesan-romano cheese
1/2 cup Shredded mozzarella cheese
10 oz. Alfredo sauce
1 tsp. Garlic, minced
4 oz. Cream cheese, softened
pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350

Combine all the ingredients thoroughly in a bowl then spread in an 8X8 baking dish. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cheeses are bubbling and melted. Serve warm with chips or bread.

It is that simple!

I used an aluminum round pan because I was taking it to a get together at church.

I had to taste to see if it was ok, of course. ;)

No Peek Pork Chops

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but my husband is allergic to chicken. No, I'm not joking. Go ahead and gasp and say that I'm lying. I'll wait... Ok, for real he is allergic to chicken. Yes I know, it's very unusual, and "who in the world is allergic to chicken?!" He gets the same reaction that people get who are allergic to shell fish. He swells up and can't breath. So I tend to stay away from it and not cook it for our family. He's not so allergic that he can't touch it or even smell it, it's just when he actually eats it. He gets the itching and prickling in the back of his throat and if he doesn't stop then it would result to a trip to the ER.

So with that said, this recipe that I would like to share with you was originally for a No Peek Chicken recipe that my husband and I modified to fit our need and taste. It's actually him that came up with 99% of it. So I'll go ahead give props to him on that one because it is sooooo delicious! The obvious meat to substitute for a chicken recipe is pork. Then we decided to use yellow rice with the mix and oh my goodness it knocked our socks off. Now, we have to be careful which brand of yellow rice we buy because some brands have chicken bouillon and skins in it and it makes him itch some. So I use Zatarain's because they don't use any chicken products in their mix. Plus, it gives it that extra umph of spice and deliciousness that the other yellow rice mixes don't have.

Ingredients:
10-12 Pork chops
1 6.9 oz. box of Zatarain's yellow rice (or any other yellow rice mix you like)
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
1 can Cream of Celery soup
2 cans of water

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a 9x13 dish mix the cream soups, water, and rice. Brown your pork chops quickly. Maybe 2-3 minutes of each side. I tried not browning them before and I felt like the pork chops didn't come out as tender at the end. It's worth it to me, so take the extra step to brown those babies! Lay the pork chops in your dish, cover with foil and bake for 2 1/2 hours. DO NOT PEEK! I know it sounds like a high temp to bake something this long, but it works and it's oh so good! It's really important you don't open the oven or lift the foil to make sure it's not burning. Trust me, it's not. Don't let the steam escape because of your curiosity.  It'll be ok just let it cook and do its magic.
After it's done cooking, remove the foil carefully as to not burn yourself with the steam.

I use a whisk to blend everything together, it works much better than a spoon.

Add the rice. Look at all that extra yummy stuff Zatarain's put in their rice. MMMMM!

Browning on both sides.

Line up the chops in your dish.

Cover it.

Bake it. It's that easy.

It's creamy and the chops fall apart with just your fork. So good!!!

Smothered Burritos

This is a favorite of the hubby's and it's soooo incredibly easy, it's ridiculous. I like these because they are so easy to make, but my husband has a profound relationship with them. When he asks what's for dinner and I say Smothered Burritos his face lights up and says "Really? Good! Good!" I keep this recipe in a regular rotation to make my man happy. Isn't that the way to a man's heart? Through his stomach? Like I said before, he says he married me because of my chocolate chip cookies. So apparently, if you're lonely, just make a batch of those cookies and give them to every guy you know and you're bound to hook one. ;)
I found this recipe on Pinterest, and it led me to this blog Food Pusher and to the burrito recipe. She calls hers Chile Colorado Burritos and it's so easy, I just had to share with everyone. I call them Smothered Burritos because, well, that's exactly what they are. Lots of juice and cheese! You only need 3 ingredients in the crock pot and 2 more to assemble.

Ingredients:

2 lbs of stew beef (or as close to 2 lbs as you can find)
1 19 oz. can of mild enchilada sauce (I use Old El Paso because it's the best. Not too spicy)
2 beef bouillon cubes
Flour tortillas
Shredded cheddar cheese

Combine your beef cubes, red enchilada sauce, and 2 bouillon cubes (whole, just unwrap and throw those puppies in there) and stir together. Cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 3-4 (I always do the low setting). Sometimes the edges tend to burn, so be sure to look at it at around the 7 hour mark, if not, it's no big deal just discard the few pieces that got a little burned.
When the beef is done, lay out a tortilla and spoon in some of the beef (without the juice if you can) and I try to smash it down a little to spread it. If you're a fan of refried beans (which we're not) you can include some in the burrito. Fold the tortilla and spoon some juice on top of the burrito then cover it in cheddar cheese. I usually spoon more juice on top after the cheese to help the cheese melt some. You can also stick it under the broiler for a minute or so, but personally, I don't have time for that. The juice is so hot that it melts the cheese for me. Serve warm!

You can visit the original blog for other ways to cook the meat, like in your oven if for some reason you still do not have a crock pot. Best investment ever, by the way. Just sayin'. :)

Stew beef and bouillon cubes.

 

Add in the enchilada sauce.

 

Cook on low!

This is what I mean by smash it down.

\

Roll it up and smother it until it can't breath!

Pancakes

When I still lived at home and my older siblings visited I was always the one in charge of making the pancakes in the morning. These pancakes are oh so good. They are very satisfying where you could easily be full on 1 or 2 pancakes, depending on how big you make them. Now, don't get me wrong, I love the IHOP light and fluffy pancakes, but these... They just hold a special place in my heart, or stomach, or whatever. They are the true meaning of panCAKE. More cakey and dense than your typical pancake. Which is what makes them so awesome and filling.

If you keep powdered milk on hand, this is the perfect recipe to use it in. My mom always kept powdered milk on hand and that's what I usually used. They actually taste a little better with the powdered milk, believe it or not. I don't keep it on hand, so I just use regular milk. I also add a dash of vanilla extract to give it more flavor. If you wanted, I'm sure you could add any flavor extract, or just omit it all together. This was my addition to the recipe that I did years ago.

The original recipe calls for oatmeal, but you can easily skip it and just add more flour. That's what I've always done. I think I only made these with oatmeal once or twice. They are good with the oatmeal, but I like my pancakes with less lumps. It's a texture thing.

I actually halved the recipe for my little family because the full recipe makes too many for just the three [soon to be four :)] of us. But when my whole family gets together I have to double the recipe so that everyone can have some, and even then I might go back and make another batch just so I can have breakfast too when I'm done cooking. So here's what you're going to need.

2 Cups Flour
2 Cups Oatmeal (or 2 more of flour)
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 Tbsp. Baking Powder
1 Tsp. Salt
3 Cups Milk (or 1 cup of powdered milk and 3 cups of water)
2 Eggs
1/3 Cup Oil (vegetable or canola)
Dash of vanilla extract (optional)

Mix your dry ingredients, add milk and eggs, then add the oil and add the dash of vanilla if desired. It's as easy as that! The batter will be thicker than your average pancake batter. But if you feel like the batter is too thick, you can always add a little more milk or water. A little at a time though, you don't want the batter to be runny.
Heat a skillet (or 2 if you want to double task) over medium heat. You don't want it too hot or the pancakes will burn and be raw on the inside. I sprinkle a little water on my skillets to test them and if they don't sizzle and evaporate right away, they are not hot enough. Once you get that quick sizzle and gone effect, ladle some batter on your skillet and since the batter is thick, I dip my pan around in every direction slowly to spread it around. Non-stick skillets would be best, if you don't have those, make sure you put some oil at the bottom while heating so they don't burn and stick.
Wait for your pancake to have lots of bubbles and craters, like your very worse acne you had as a teenager. Now unless you were one of the lucky ones and only had 3 zits at the same time, don't use the reference. It needs to be very bubbly. Flip and cook on the other side.
Top with anything you like on pancakes, fruits and whipped cream, peanut butter, nutella, butter and syrup, jelly or jam... Whatever! It's delicious with whatever you choose.

Mix the dry ingredients

Add the wet

Mix well until there are no more lumps. You can always use an electric mixer.

My batter was a little thicker than I liked so I added just a little bit more milk. This is what a round about look at what it should look like. Runny, but thicker too... makes no sense, I know.

Ladle and spread batter. Not a perfect circle, but it doesn't really matter.

Bubbles and craters.

Flip! OOOOO, AAAAAH! Golden brown

The other side doesn't cook as pretty, but that's ok, just keep it on the golden side and no one will ever know.

The perfect stack of pancakes!