Easy Rigatoni Casserole

As adapted from the blog "It's the small things"- June 17, 2011

Cut and pasted here for convenience:
Easy Rigatoni Casserole
1 lb. Italian Sausage
1 box Rigatoni pasta (I used Penne)
1 24 oz. jar Marinara Sauce
8-10 oz. Shredded Mozzarella Cheese  (I used 6oz plus more on top)
4 cloves or garlic, minced
3 Basil leaves, torn into small pieces (I used freeze dried)
Kosher Salt to tast

1. Cook pasta until el dente. Strain then pour into a large bowl. Add cooked Italian Sausage, cheese, and as much marinara as you would like! Stir.
2. Add Basil leaves, Garlic, and a teaspoon of Kosher salt. Stir well.
3. Pour into a lightly greased 9 x 13 glass dish, then top with more cheese or marinara if you would like!
4. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. If the top starts to brown too quickly, cover with foil.

This was really good....terrible for you - but all the cheese is what makes it taste so good.  Husband of cheerios said that it was "really good!".  Miss Almost Vegetarian scarfed hers down in record time.  Mr. Picky took the time to pick out all the tomato chunks from the sauce but then said the rest was good.  I would make this again but with even less cheese than this time.  :)

Spicy Taco Pie

as adapted from the cookbook Company's Coming for Kids

500g lean ground beef
brown beans in tomato sauce 398ml
envelope taco seasoning mix 35g
cornmeal 1 tablespoon
biscuit mix 2 cups
milk 2/3 cup
grated monterey jack 1/2 cup
grated cheddar 1/2 cup
(we used 1 cup of  tex mex shredded)
crushed corn chips 1/2 cup
shredded lettuce 1 cup
1 med tomato - chopped
green onions - thinly sliced
sour cream 1/2 cup

Place oven rack in center position.  Preheat to 400F.  Grease pie plate.
Brown ground beef in frying pan over med heat. Stir in beans and taco seasoning.  Reduce heat to low. Simmer uncovered for 5 min.
Sprinkle pie plate bottom with cornmeal.
Combine biscuit mix and milk in a bowl and stir until it forms a ball.  Knead dough 7-8 times on lightly floured surface.  Roll out on waxed paper into 12" (30 cm) circle.  Turn dough over into pie plate. Press dough lightly to form a shell.  Spoon beef mixture into shell.  Bake ~12 min until crust is golden.  Remove to wire rack.  Sprinkle with cheese, corn chips, lettuce, tomato and green onion.  Place dollops of sour cream on top.  Cut into 6 wedges.

This was really easy to make and really tasty.  It may not be the healthiest dish we've ever made but when both kids eat it with such enthusiasm - we will make this again!

Pioneer Woman Lasagna

From her website here.

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 pound Ground Beef
• 1 pound Hot Breakfast Sausage
• 2 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 2 cans (14.5 Ounce) Whole Tomatoes
• 2 cans (6 Ounce) Tomato Paste
• 2 Tablespoons Dried Parsley
• 2 Tablespoons Dried Basil
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 3 cups Lowfat Cottage Cheese
• 2 whole Beaten Eggs
• 1/2 cup Grated (not Shredded) Parmesan Cheese
• 2 Tablespoons Dried Parsley
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 pound Sliced Mozzarella Cheese
• 1 package (10 Ounce) Lasagna Noodles
• (add 1/2 Teaspoon Salt And 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil To Pasta Water)

Preparation Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet or saucepan, combine ground beef, sausage, and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat until browned. Drain half the fat; less if you’re feeling naughty. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, 2 tablespoons parsley, basil and salt. After adding the tomatoes, the sauce mixture should simmer for 45 minutes while you are working on the other steps.
In a medium bowl, mix cottage cheese, beaten eggs, grated Parmesan, 2 more tablespoons parsley, and 1 more teaspoon salt. Stir together well. Set aside. Cook lasagna until “al dente” (not overly cooked).
To assemble:
Arrange 4 cooked lasagna noodles in the bottom of a baking pan, overlapping if necessary. Spoon half the cottage cheese mixture over the noodles. Spread evenly. Cover cottage cheese with a layer of mozzarella cheese. Spoon a little less than half the meat/sauce mixture over the top.
Repeat, ending with meat/sauce mixture. Sprinkle top generously with extra Parmesan.
Either freeze, refrigerate for up to two days, or bake immediately: 350-degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until top is hot and bubbly.


I should start out by saying that my husband was VERY against me trying this recipe.  He says that the lasagna I make is the very best he has ever eaten.  I'm glad HE thinks so but I've always thought there was room for improvement.  I had been drooling over the photos in her cookbook ever since I bought it so it was time to put this recipe to the test.

It came together nicely just as written.   I got caught up in the excitement and forgot to take a picture of it until it was leftovers the next day.

We all loved this...even the kids.  Husband of Cheerios still maintains that my recipe tastes better than this one but says this is a close second.  I disagree and think this IS the best lasagna that I have ever made.  I didn't use slices of mozza - but used shreds instead.  I also sprinkled some of the mozza on the top - it seems wrong not to.  :)   I will make this again!

Chicago Deep-Dish Sausage Pie

From Kraft Canada

http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/recipes/chicago-deep-dish-sausage-pizza-125522.aspx

what you need

1/2 lb. (225 g) Italian sausage

1/2 cup chopped onions

1/2 cup chopped green peppers

1/2 cup pizza sauce

1 can (391 g) refrigerated pizza dough

2 cups Kraft 4 Cheese Italiano Shredded Cheese, divided

make it

HEAT oven to 350ºF.

BROWN sausage with vegetables in skillet. Stir in pizza sauce. Remove from heat.

UNROLL pizza dough; press onto bottom and up side of 9-inch deep-dish pie plate sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle 1/2 cup cheese onto bottom of crust; cover with sausage mixture and remaining cheese.

BAKE 35 min. or until crust is deep golden brown. Let stand 10 min. before cutting to serve.

kraft kitchens tips

SUBSTITUTE

Substitute an 8- or 9-inch square baking dish for the pie plate.

SERVING SUGGESTION

Serve with a crisp mixed green salad tossed with your favourite Kraft Calorie-Wise Dressing.

 

 First of all - this was an incredibly easy to recipe to make - and FAST!  Rather than a salad - we served this with corn on the cob.  EVERYONE loved this recipe!  Just the same I would change it a bit before having it again.  I would cut back on the amount of cheese.  Don't get me wrong - it was great with that much cheese.  I just don't need that amount of cheese on my thighs.  :)   I also would consider experimenting cutting half the sausage with turkey sausage or something a little lighter.  All in all though -  this was an easy recipe to make that everyone loved - we WILL make it again.

Italian Sausage Lasagna

I just realized that I have over 500 photos on my camera dating back to Mid-April!!  Over the next few days? hours? weeks? I will be working to pull these photos off and will likely find a ton of recipes to try.

It's not like I have an excuse for not blogging...

Cousin Tamara's cake business is really picking up - see her stuff here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sugar-Sugar-Cakes-by-Tamara/102285353219899

Cousin Tess' business is really taking off too - see her here:
http://www.facebook.com/CreativeXpressions247

Cousin Heather has her hands full with a beautiful brand new baby.  Yet, when I stopped by to visit - she had already baked a rhubarb crisp!!  Who has time to bake with  a newborn?  If anyone would make the time - it would be Heather!!

Anyway - without further delay lets talk Lasagna.  This recipe was an ad in a magazine that I was reading.  You can see the recipe posted on the Johnsonville website here:
http://www.johnsonville.com/recipe/italian-sausage-lasagna.html

This was an easy recipe to make with clear instructions.  It smelled delicious and looked great!

Mr. Picky declared it to be the best lasagna he had ever had.

Miss Almost-Vegetarian, in a constant bid to prove herself Mr Picky's best friend, quickly agreed.

DH and I thought it was quick tasty too but quite greasy.  We would make this again but would likely cut half the meat with some ground turkey and cut down on some of the cheese.

Yummy Potato Bacon casserole...

Today I wanted to share with you this YUMMY casserole that I made, for my dayhome kids for lunch! It was pretty easy to make, had it prepped and in the oven during nap time and by noon it was ready to be devoured!

Here is what you will need to whip this up:

4 Cups of frozen hashbrowns
1/2 cup of finely chopped onion
8 strips of cooked bacon, crumbled
1 cup of shredded cheese (use your fave! I used marble in mine!)
1 370ml can of evaporated milk
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons of seasoning salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Start by cooking up your bacon and while it is frying (or baking, as I did mine!) grease your pan. I used a metal baking pan that measures aprox. 6 x 8 so this recipe makes a fairly large casserole!

Line the bottom of the pan with 1/2 the hashbrowns, 1/2 the onion, 1/2 the bacon & half the cheese. Repeat layers. Combine evaporated milk, egg and seasoning salt and dump over top. Cover with tin foil. Bake at 325 for 55 - 60 mins and uncover, baking for 5 more mins to crisp up the top. Let stand for 10 minutes and DIVE IN!!

This is a very yummy "comfort food" kind of dish. The kids loved it. I loved it. Mister D said it made him giddy. Definately a hit that I will make again!

Ham, Macaroni & Broccoli Bake...I think

I have this picture on my camera card

I remember our whole family including both kids really liking this.  We liked it so much that I have it on our menu plan for next weekend and I put there right after we finished eating this last month.  I went to make my weekly grocery list today and can't find the recipe anywhere.  It figures right?

Loving Google as I do I searched for the term listed on my weekly menu plan: Ham, Macaroni and Broccoli Bake.  The first hit was this one.  Yay google!!  Something in my memory clicked - the recipe WAS from the Southern Food website.  Pretty sure this is it.  We'll be trying it out again next weekend to be sure.  :)

Sausage Brunch Dish

 As adapted from Company's Coming Rookies

375g sausage meat - we used bacon & sausage
500ml/2 cups mozza cheese grated - we used cheddar
3/4 cup milk
onion salt 1/4 tsp
235g (8 rolls/tube) crescent rolls
4 large eggs
1 sm. red or green pepper, diced
1/8 tsp pepper

scramble fry sausage meat in fry pan on med high 5-7 min until no longer pink. Drain. Unroll & press crescent rolls together to form crust in greased 9x13" pan. Sprinkle sausage meat on top. Scatter cheese over meat. Beat eggs in bowl til frothy. Add milk, green pepper & spices. Mix. Pour over cheese. Bake, uncovered in 425F for 15-20 min until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Serves 6

This WAS tasty but both DH and I agreed that it wasn't as tasty as some other breakfast casseroles that we've tried.  Mr Picky was quite glad that we did not plan on keeping this recipe.  Miss Almost Vegetarian was too busy eating it to give a review.

Just before Christmas I bought a new recipe box which is bigger than my old box.  Over the next few months I will be trying out a number of old recipes to see if we still like them before deciding if they get to graduate to the new recipe box.  Unfortunately while this recipe was good - it wasn't awesome so it will not get made again.

Baked Spaghetti and Meatballs

So I was going to blog about this new recipe we tried and I even took a picture:

I then logged into Blogger and started to type Baked Spaghetti into the title.  Up came a pop up window filling in the rest of the title for me. 

Sigh.

Sure enough, I made this back in Feb as seen here.  Strangely (or not) both kids felt the same way they did when I made this back in Feb.  So much for being unique!

Mexican Lasagna

Bought one of these http://www.clubhouse.ca/en/products/detail.aspx?Mexican_Lasagna&id=7e8d1a05-d4d6-444d-8910-317f45593ce8&category_id=1047e90d-d3f4-4b27-a232-7b2382e9d2c8

and made this:

 

 

 

Mexican Lasagna

While I won't buy the clubhouse mix again because I have all the spices already - we WILL be making this one again.  The tortillas softened to a close-to-pasta texture.  The kids were not home when we made this one but Mr Cheerios and I liked it!

Sausage Pie

This is from one of the Best of Bridge cookbooks.  We had it at a family function on Boxing Day years and years ago.  Going through some old recipes I found the written copy of this one and decided to make it.

1-28oz can tomato - well drained (796ml)
1/2 tsp (2ml) basil
1/4 tsp (1 ml) pepper
1 lb (500g) sausage meat
1/2 tsp (2ml) chili powder
1/2 tsp (2ml) oregano
1/2 tsp (2 ml) basil
1 1/2 cup (375 ml ) mozza cheese grated
3 green onions - thinly sliced
1/2 cup (125ml) red pepper - finely chopped
2 pkgs (2-235g) refrig crescent dinner rolls

Preheat oven to 350.  In a bowl combine tomatoes, basil and black pepper. Set aside.  Brown sausage meat, stirring with a fork to keep separated. Drain off fat. Add chili powder, oregano, basil, 1/2 cup cheese, green onion and red pepper.  Stir and set aside.

Open one package of dinner rolls and unroll. Cut rectangles of dough in half along the perforated line. Mold half in the bottom of a 9" spring form pan, covering base completely. Pinch together any sections that have been separated.  Divide the remaining squares of dough along the perforated lines and it these around the sides of pan trimming off any edges that project above the top of the pan. Pinch all seams together.  Spoon sauce over dough and press down firmly. Add tomato mixture, meat and sprinkle with remaining cup of mozza cheese.  Using 2nd package of rolls, separate dough into triangles and cut into half inch strips.  Form these into a lattice pattern over top of the filling Don't worry about "joins", it all bakes together. Gently roll the dough along the rim down to cover the edges of the lattice strips. Bake 35-45 min or until golden brown. Remove. Cool 5 min. Run a knife around the edge to loosen crust. Remove from pan. Cut into wedges.

The only comments we have is to DRAIN THE TOMATOES WELL!!!

We both enjoyed it but I found that it wasn't as tasty as my mind remembered it to be.  :)

Miss Almost - Vegetarian loved it but Mr. Picky just poked at his.  My husband liked it but thinks it could be cooked longer...the runny tomatoes made the bottom a little soggy.

We will likely make this again, but not for a few more years. 

Beef Taco Ring by Melanie

As adapted from the Pampered Chef cookbook "All the Best"

Brown some hamburger with some onion.

Stir in a package of taco seasoning mix (we like Taco Time), 2 Tablespoons of water and 1.5 cups of shredded cheddar cheese.  Mix well.

Using a large baking stone, open 2 packages of Pilsbury Crescent Rolls - arrange the triangles in a circle (or in another shape like the Chicken Club ring I made a couple of months ago).  Press down on the middle seams.

Using a large scoop, scoop the filling evenly over the ring.

Bring the triangles over the meat and tuck underneath.  Brush the top with egg white and sprinkle with 1/4 cup of grated cheddar.  Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown (Just over 20 minutes in my oven).

You can serve as is, or put fillings in the center.

I thought this tasted GREAT.  I liked it better than the chicken club but not as much as the chicken and broccoli ring.  My husband thought this was really tasty as well.  The 2 shockers were the kids.  Miss Almost Vegetarian scarfed up her piece in record time and asked for "mo".  Mr Picky declared that this was better than "real tacos" which is a huge compliment coming from him.

All in all, it's not the healthiest recipe but we will make it again sparingly because it is delicious!!

Comfort Food

I am having a lot of fun with this blog and Brad is definitely enjoying the end result of my experiments, although he is not liking the amount of dishes I have been creating (we don't have a dishwasher).

My newest recipe comes from Anthony Sedlak's show on Food Network, The Main. While watching this episode I learned something new. What most of us think of when we think of Shepard's Pie is in fact Cottage Pie! A traditional Shepard's Pie is made with ground lamb (makes sense when I think about what a shepard does) and a Cottage Pie is made with ground beef. I made the whole meal as he did on the show, Cottage Pie with Irish Peas and Cabbage.

It is a long recipe so I have included a link to it for you.

http://www.foodnetwork.ca/ontv/shows/The-Main/recipe.html?dishID=8510&titleid=108594

Ratings:
Brad - 10 - "Every bite is a happy place"
Heather - 10 - "Worth all of the effort and then some"

There are much easier recipes to be found for this type of meal but I have never tasted one as good. The mashed potatoes for the topping are absolutely delicious and would be great on their own as would the Irish Peas and Cabbage.

Pork Chops and Rice

As adapted from Grandma's Touch -by Irene Hrechuk and Verna Zasada

1T vegetable oil
6 pork chops
1 med onion, chopped
1/2 chopped green pepper
1 cup raw rice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 pepper
2 cups beef broth
1T worcestershire sauce
2 tomatoes, sliced

In a skillet, heat oil, brown pork chops.  Place 3 in the bottom of a 2L overproof casserole. Set the other 3 pork chops aside.  Saute inion and peppers in pork chop drippings.  Place raw rice on top of pork chops in casserole.  Place onion and pepper on top of the rice.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover with the remaining 3 chops.  Combine broth and worcestershire.  Pour over chops and rice in casserole. Place tomato slices on top. Bake covered at 350F for 1 hour or until rice is tender.

My husband thought this dish wasn't too bad - although a bit bland. Miss Almost-Vegetarian devoured the rice without touching the meat.  I thought the pork chop was good but wasn't a fan of the beef flavored rice.  Mr Picky loved the "chicken" as he called it but wanted to add soy sauce to the rice since he was "not a fan" of the original taste.  I'd try this again with chicken broth for a tastier rice and maybe add a few spices for kick.

Lazy Perogy Casserole

Saturday night we made a recipe from Company's Coming called Lazy Perogy Casserole. It is layers of lasagna noodles with mashed potatoes, cheddar cheese and cottage cheese topped with onions and butter.  Mr Picky loved it and Miss Almost -Vegetarian also liked it.  My husband and I both enjoyed it as well.

But...did I mention the butter?  There is ONE CUP of butter in this recipe!  The kid's digestive systems weren't bothered at all by it but our aged systems were taken for a loop by this recipe. It was tasty once, but it will be the las time we try this one.