Pasta Mama

My sister is a little OBSESSED with what she calls "Breakfast Pasta"(pasta and eggs, sometimes bacon). She came over Sunday and wanted to make Pasta Mama with the leftover spaghetti from Saturday. We had seen a show on Food Network, I think is was one of the Best Thing I Ever Ate shows. They showed Pasta Mama from Hugo's Restaurant. My sister has been talking about this since that episode. It looked delicious, but I was not excited at all to try making it at home. I can't tell you how many times I have made "Breakfast Pasta" with my sister and it is just okay. We have made Pasta Carbonara at least three times. Now we have tried Pasta Mama. This recipe grew on me. When I took a taste from the pot I thought this is not worth sharing. But with the addition of a little salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes I think we have something. I will try it again sometime. I suggest tempering the eggs with a little drizzle of hot water before adding it to the pasta. I think the sauce will be smoother. My sister wants to try it again with bacon too. Below is a last minute photo.

Pasta Mama

Source: Hugo’s Restaurant

Ingredients

For Dry Seasonings:

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp seasoning salt

1/4 tsp onion powder

For Pasta:

5 oz. of pasta (about 1/3 lb. fresh or dry)

2 eggs, beaten

2 cloves minced garlic

2 TBS. chopped parsley

1 TBS. olive oil (or butter)

1 TBS. water

1 TBS. of fresh grated Parmesan

1 TSP. dry seasonings
salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes to taste

Directions

Prepare all ingredients and have ready for use. Combine ingredients for dry seasoning and set aside. Chop garlic and parsley. Beat eggs and measure parmesan.

Prepare the pasta. If using fresh it takes 2-3 minutes. Follow directions on package of dry pasta. Leftover pasta can also be used. Add it at the same time as below and warm in pan with 1 TBS hot water before adding eggs and parsley.

Turn on medium flame. Pour oil (or melt butter) in 10 inch sauté pan.

Add minced garlic and 1 tsp mixed seasoning; sauté together 1- 2 min.

Add parsley; add pasta with 1 TBS hot water (Make sure leftover pasta or cold pasta is hot before adding parsley or eggs).

Temper the eggs with a little hot water, drizzle in the hot water while whisking the eggs. Add beaten eggs. Mix thoroughly.

Add Parmesan, and season to taste cook through and serve.

Linking to:
Carole's Chatter Food on Friday's Pasta and Noodle

Spaghetti

Today we(my sister, the grand-dog and I) went to Mom and Dad’s and cooked Spaghetti for them. My sister really did a lot of the cooking this time. We talked about how this recipe may just be the first recipe each of us learned to cook. I really can’t remember cooking anything else before this recipe. This is a recipe my parents would let us start cooking after school and before they got home from work. I even prepared it for a 4-H cooking contest. The contest was favorite meals and you had to display a table setting too. Maybe that is part of the reason I love dishes and setting the table. This sauce is from a very old Betty Crocker cookbook. In fact the book naturally opens to this page and it is stained with sauce. It is a thick, very red, tomato sauce. I have never had anything else like it. This is what defined spaghetti to me as a child.

Shown with Garlic Texas Toast
sister's idea and Dad approved

Spaghetti

Adapted from: Betty Crocker

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients

2 lbs lean ground beef

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 green pepper, finely chopped

2 - 15 oz cans tomato sauce

2 – 12 oz cans tomato paste

15 oz can large black olives, undrained

2 envelopes of spaghetti sauce mix with mushrooms

3 cups water

1 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp oregano

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 bay leaf

Salt and black pepper to taste

16 oz dry spaghetti

Grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Cook and stir ground beef, onion and green pepper until meat is brown and onion is tender. Stir in remaining ingredients except spaghetti and cheese. Cover; simmer 1-1/2 hours, stirring sauce occasionally.

Cook spaghetti as directed on package. Serve meat sauce over hot spaghetti; pass Parmesan cheese.

Cookbook page

Linking to:
Carole's Chatter: Food on Friday - Childhood Favourites (or favorites)

Lentil and Sausage Soup

Today on a whim I stopped at Bergeron's Boudin and Cajun Meats. My Mom and sister have stopped there a few times and brought different things home to try. I was looking for smoked sausage for white beans I had at home. I decided on a pound of chicken smoked sausage. When I got home the white beans I thought I had turned out to be butter beans. So I decided to make a Lentil and Sausage Soup recipe I have made many times. The sausage really adds smokeness to the soup. I recommend the sausage and the soup. The sausage has large pieces of meat and is nicely seasoned with green onions. The soup is great with turkey sausage from the grocery store too.

Lentil and Sausage Soup

Adapted from: Albertsons Recipes

Serves: 6

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 onions, chopped

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 1/2 cups chopped carrots

1 1/2 cups chopped celery

6 cups chicken broth

1/2 (16 ounce) package lentils, rinsed and drained

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 pound chicken smoked sausage, cut in half lengthwise, sliced

Directions

In large stock pot or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Sauté onions, garlic, salt, thyme, black pepper and cumin until onions are softened.

Stir in carrots and celery; sauté 5 minutes. Add in chicken broth, lentils and tomato paste. Cover and simmer 50 minutes.

Stir in sausage, simmer 10 minutes. Serve with Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Linking to:
Carole's Chatter: Food on Fridays: Lentils & Dried Pulses

Stacked Ranchero Enchiladas

I was inspired today to make stacked enchiladas by a recent post by The Pioneer Woman. She shared a recipe for an Easy Green Chile Enchiladas. I thought long and hard about what kind of enchilada I would like to try stacked. But the one enchilada that kept coming to mind was the Superior Enchiladas at Superior Grill. They are filled with grilled steak, cheese and a chunky tomato based sauce that actually has celery in it. They are delicious and smokey. My version will feature grilled marinated flank steak, cheese and ranchero sauce. I decided to use some of the leftover chimichurri and add a little chipotle to marinate my steak. As far as a sauce, I like a Ranchero Sauce from Chef Aaron McCargo Jr. I decided to add some celery to his recipe and keep the veggies chunky. Here is how it stacked up.

Stacked Ranchero Enchiladas

Serves 3

Ingredients

3/4 lb flank steak

1/2 cup chimichurri sauce[click here for recipe]

1 Tbsp chipotle pepper and adobe, minced

9 small corn tortillas

1 cup 2 % Mexican blend cheese, shredded

1-1/2 cups Ranchero Sauce [recipe follows]

Cilantro for garnish

Directions

Combine chimichurri sauce and chipotle pepper. Place in a plastic bag, add flank steak and marinate in the refrigerator for 4 hours. Remove steak from refrigerator and bring to room temperature.

Meanwhile prepare Ranchero Sauce. When sauce is prepared preheat grill on high for 10 minutes. Grill steak 5 minutes on each side for medium rare. Remove from the grill cover with foil and let the steak rest.

Meanwhile in the oven (on a baking sheet) or microwave, melt cheese all over the top of each tortilla so that it covers most of the surface area.

To serve, stack three cheesy tortillas on top of one another. Add 1/3 of the steak. Spoon 1/3 of the sauce over the top and garnish with cilantro.

Ranchero Sauce

Adapted from: Chef Aaron McCargo Jr.

Ingredients

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 onion, diced

1 rib celery, sliced

2 Tbsp minced garlic

1 (15-ounce) can diced fire roasted tomatoes

1 (4-ounce) can diced green chiles

1 chipotle in adobo sauce, minced*

1 tsp adobo sauce*

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper to taste*

Directions

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, add the oil. Stir in the onion, garlic and celery and cook until softened. Add tomatoes, chiles, chipotle and adobe sauce and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the spices and cook until well incorporated and slightly reduced, about 3 to 4 minutes.

*Note: Chipotle peppers can be very, very hot. I have made this sauce several times. One out of the three times I made it, it was almost too hot. I suggest adding half of the chipotle, adobo and black pepper then tasting the sauce before adding more. If you do not like spicy foods be sure to remove the seeds from the chipotle pepper or just use the adobo sauce instead.

Blue Cheese Chips

Again I have my dear sister to thank for introducing me to Bistro Byronz. She kept raving about a Hors d’ Oeuvre there called Bleu Cheese Chips. This dish is a plate full of homestyle potato chips covered in a wonderful blue cheese sauce and garnished with green onions. She was convinced the sauce was similar to alfredo sauce. Not long after this conversation I saw Bobby Flay make something similar on the grill. So we decide to try alfredo sauce drizzled over Zapp's potato chips and garnished with blue cheese and green onions. It was a big hit with the family. She then brought the dish to a party where her friends were amazed that she re-created the recipe. This dish can easily be served buffet style. Just warm the alfredo sauce in a small crock pot made for dips. Set out other ingredients and let guest make their own plates.

Today I decided to make a healthy version by making homemade baked potato chips and low fat ingredients. The challenge was baking the potato chips. My first attempt was a fail. I used a mandoline to slice the potato to 1/8" thick, but one side of the chip was thick, one side thin. This produced a finished chip that was dark brown on one end and soggy on the other. I find that hand slicing the potato produced a more even thickness. SUCCESS! I guess I need practice on the mandoline.

Blue Cheese Chips

Serves 1 or 2

1 medium russet potato, sliced 1/8" thick

Olive oil cooking spray

Salt and black pepper

2 Tbsp. light Alfredo sauce

2 tsp. reduced fat Blue Cheese, crumbles

1 green onions, sliced

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Slice the potato in 1/8" thick slices as even in thickness as possible. Arrange on a baking cooling rack sprayed with cooking spray on top of a cookie sheet. Spray the potato with cooking spray and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 10 minutes and then rotate the pan and bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool a bit. The chips will crisp a little more as they cool.

Warm alfredo sauce in the microwave for 30 seconds. Arrange half the chips on a plate or bowl. Drizzle with 1 Tbsp warm alfredo sauce and top with 1 tsp blue cheese. Repeat with the rest of the ingredients and garnish with green onions.

Turnip Stew

Yesterday Mom walked me through a family recipe for Turnip Stew. We wanted to have a hot meal for when Dad returned from deer hunting. This was something that his mom, my Maw Maw would serve. Mom said her family used this technique for potato, carrot and vegetable stews. But she didn't remember her mom, my Ma Ma ever making turnip stew. This stew begins with a dark roux, then the addition of onions, bell pepper and celery(the Trinity of Cajun cooking). Once the veggies are cooked down you add the beef and cook until almost tender before adding the turnips. This recipe is a long cooking one but well worth the time. I look forward to using this method to make a vegetable stew this winter.

Turnip Stew

Serves 10

1 cup flour

1 cup vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped

1/2 large green bell pepper

3 ribs of celery

3 lbs lean stew beef

5 lbs turnips, peeled and diced into 1 to 1-1/2” cubes

1 bunch green onions, sliced

1/2 bunch of parsley, chopped
salt and black pepper
red pepper flakes
cajun seasoning
prepared white rice

Heat flour and oil on medium-low heat until milk chocolate or dark caramel color.

           

Add pepper, celery, and onion cook until softened. About 30 minutes.  Season the beef with salt, black pepper, red pepper and cajun seasoning. Add beef to roux cook another 1-1/2 hours. Add turnips and cook another 1-1/2 hours or until beef and turnips are tender. Add green onions and cook a few minutes. Taste for seasoning, adjust if necessary. Add the parsley just before serving. Serve over warm rice.

Cheese and Sausage Breakfast Muffins

Yesterday I Momma sat. She is off her feet for four more weeks and Dad went deer hunting. We had a nice day. I brought the ingredients to make Cheese and Sausage Breakfast Muffins. This is a recipe I found on the Weight Watchers Recipe Review Board. It is very good. It freezes and reheats well. I used light ingredients to make them a little better for us. We sat and drank coffee while they baked. We also made a shopping list so I could go to the store and pick up the ingredients to make a hot meal for when the hunter returned.

 

Cheese and Sausage Breakfast Muffins

Source: WW pal QuiltingBarbie

1 tube (16 oz) reduced fat breakfast sausage

3/4 cup eggbeaters

1-1/2 cups water

3 cups reduced fat Bisquick biscuit mix

1 cup 2% cheddar cheese, shredded

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place foil muffin liners in 12 muffin - baking pan and spray with non-stick cooking spray, set aside. Crumble sausage and cook through, place on paper towels to drain. Combine eggbeaters, 1-1/2 cups water, biscuit mix and shredded cheese in mixing bowl and stir. Stir in crumbled sausage and spoon 1/2 cup batter in each muffin cup. Bake muffins for 15 min. or until they are golden brown. Cool for 5 min.