Premade pie crust,
pricked with fork and cooked in hot oven for 10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425°.
Combine all fruit and
honey in medium bowl and toss to combine. Pour into cooled pie crust.
In small bowl combine
flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and butter. Using pastry cutter
work the mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Add oats and stir
just to combine.
Sprinkle topping over
fruit. Bake in 425° oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown and fruit
is bubbly. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.
There are meals that feed your family… and then there are meals that bring them back to the table twice. This one? It’s the second kind.
This Taco Southwestern Mac & Cheese is comfort food with a little sass — creamy, cheesy, just the right kick of spice, and hearty enough to satisfy even the hungriest crew. It’s the kind of dish you make once and then keep tucked in your back pocket for busy nights, potlucks, or when you just need something warm and dependable.
Servings: 6
Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
12 oz. bowtie pasta
½ lb. cheddar cheese
2 cups milk
1 can cheddar soup
1 (4 oz.) can diced jalapeños
2 cups chicken thighs, cooked in taco seasoning (chopped)
1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
1 cup salsa (½ cup for topping)
Salt & pepper, to taste
Sour cream (pass for seconds)
16 tortilla scoops (more if you like on the side)
Directions
Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
In a skillet, cook chicken thighs with taco seasoning until fully done. Chop into bite-sized pieces.
In a large bowl, combine cooked pasta, chicken, cheddar cheese, cheddar soup, milk, and diced jalapeños. Mix until everything is well coated and creamy.
Pour mixture into a greased casserole dish and spread evenly.
Top with the 16 tortilla scoops.
Spoon salsa into each scoop.
Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven, sprinkle with shredded pepper jack cheese, and return to oven for an additional 5–10 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly.
Garnish with sour cream and serve warm.
Crackerberries Notes
Want more heat? Add fresh jalapeños or a dash of hot sauce.
Feeding picky eaters? Tone it down by swapping pepper jack for mozzarella.
This reheats beautifully — if there’s any left.
Some recipes are just food. Others become part of your rhythm, your table, your story.
I started collecting recipes for the
upcoming A-Z blogging challenge because I was going to
try to overachieve and do tandem like I've done in the past. I just don't
have it in me this year. But I do want to share the recipes I've made and
saved up because some of them are just too good not to share. This
one is one of Tall Cool ☺ne's favorites. Aunt Margie sent me a subscription to GRIT
magazine and I found this in this year's Jan/Feb issue. Love it!
Oh and before I forget, make sure you check out Crackerberries and click on the follow so that you
don't miss any of the upcoming A-Z posts.
Ingredients
1 lb. ground
Italian sausage
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 small shallot,
diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
6 oz. tomato paste
24 oz. marinara sauce
7 cups chicken broth
Seasoning
& Pasta
1 tsp. oregano
1 tbsp. dried basil
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
Salt & pepper, to taste
8–10 lasagna
noodles, broken
Cheese Blend
1 cup ricotta
cheese
1 cup shredded
mozzarella
½ cup grated
Parmesan
½ cup Romano cheese
Finish
1 cup fresh spinach
Fresh basil, to taste
Instructions
In a large Dutch
oven over medium-high heat, cook sausage until browned. Remove
and set aside.
Add olive oil to the pot. Sauté shallot for about 5 minutes, stirring
occasionally. Add garlic and cook for 2
minutes. Stir in tomato paste, marinara
sauce, broth, and all seasonings.
Return sausage to the pot and bring to a simmer. Add broken lasagna noodles.
Cook until tender (about 10–12 minutes). Stir in spinach and simmer another 5–8
minutes.
Cheese Topping
In a small bowl, mix: Ricotta, Mozzarella, Parmesan Romano
To Serve
Ladle soup into bowls and top with a generous scoop of the cheese mixture.
Garnish with fresh basil.
Serve with warm Italian bread and don’t rush it—this is a sit-down and enjoy
your company kinda meal.
Slice tomato and sprinkle with salt;
set aside.In small aluminum bowl, whisk
together sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, dry mustard and turmeric. Place
sliced summer sausage in cast iron skillet over medium heat to warm, flipping
one or two times.Place aluminum bowl
over the sausage, to heat faux hollandaise sauce.Top English muffin with summer sausage, tomato, poached egg and
sauce.Sprinkle with dried basil and
season with salt and pepper.Serve with
fresh fruit.
Preheat oven to 400º.Line baking sheet with parchment paper (my best
friend in baking).Stretch and roll pizza
dough into 16x8 inch rectangle. Cut into ½ inch strips and line along parchment
paper ½ inch apart.Brush with Italian
dressing and sprinkle with spices.(Feel
free to add more spice if you like).
In large bow whisk together dried
tomatoes, parmesan cheese, vinegar, garlic powder and black pepper and a little
salt if you like.Gradually whisk in
EVOO.
6 oz. marinated artichoke hearts, drained
and chopped
2 oz. pepperoni slices, halved
¼ cup sliced pickled pepperoncini
peppers
¼ cup sliced black olives
1 Tbsp. dried basil
2 Tbsp. parmesan cheese
Combine all ingredients except the
basil and parmesan cheese in large bowl and toss to mix.Fold in dressing tossing well to
combine.Sprinkle with parmesan and
basil, add bread sticks and serve.
It
is Christmas time and time to bake cookies. There was a time when I couldn’t
make a batch of cookies come out for the life of me.Until my sister shared her secret of how to
make a batch of cookies come out perfect (or almost).
This
is my babysitter, Berta’s recipe (RIP), which came from her mom, Dorothy. It is
over 150 years old.I altered it by replacing
the ¼ cup coffee or tea with 1/3 cup sourdough to the mix.I never liked molasses cookies until I made
these.
2½
cups AP flour
2
tsp. baking soda
2
tsp. ground cinnamon
1¼
tsp. ground ginger
½
tsp. salt
8
tbsp. melted butter
¼
cup dark brown sugar
1/3
cup sugar
¼
cup molasses
1
large egg
1/3
cup sourdough hooch
Combine
molasses, sugars, melted butter, egg, and hooch in large measuring cup or bowl.In another bowl stir together flour, baking
soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt.Beat
the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture until well combined.Chill dough for one hour.
Now
the recipe says to roll out to desired thickness, cut and sprinkle with
sugar.Tried that as you can see.Molasses cookies is Tall Cool ☺ne’s favorite
and he suggested just doing a spoonful, dip it in sugar and bake like a dropped
cookie.OMG, it’s like a crusty outside
and a soft inside, makes me think of the cat treats that we buy for the fur-babies.
Cooking
is all about experimenting.
Roll
or drop and sprinkle with sugar and bake in a 350º oven for 11 minutes.Cool on wire rack.
*Eat garlic at onset of cold or sore throat or when you have been around someone sick. This will boost your immune system.
The infamous "they" say it keeps blood-feeding mythical creatures away too.
My friend Nen shared it from her friend Kim. I'm very excited to try it.
I used three large heads of garlic and put them in a 6 oz. jar. Fill the jar with the garlic first (my mother tried to tell me to put the honey in first---no, no, no, Mom!) and then pour the honey over the top.
Cover and flip the jar a few times a day for a couple weeks.
I put my in a ceramic compost crock instead of the cabinet. (Just easier to remind me to flip when I'm in the kitchen. We'll check back on December 3rd (Jeff & Nen's anniversary) to see how it turns out.
Let me know if you have any home remedy ideas. I'm wondering if honey and ginger would work the same way?
Growing up we always had “Shepherd’s
Pie” that was made with ground beef, corn and sometimes if we were lucky, a can
of peas would find their way mixed in with the corn, and then it was topped
with mashed potatoes with dollops of butter melted over the top.It was an old time favorite comfort
food.
As an adult, it was still always
one of my favorites, but Tall Cool ☺ne
didn’t care for it, needless to say it has not been on the menu over the years. This weekend we watched a video on one of my favorite YouTube channels and two things
came out of it.
1. I learned something new (I think you should learn something new every day if you can): Shepherd’s Pie is actually
made with ground lamb, (which makes perfect sense seeing how shepherds tend the
sheep). 2. I’ve now found a pie that can and will be added back to my favorite meals
menu.I kind of wonder why they don’t
call it “Cattle Pie”, “Heifer’s Pie”, “Moo Pie”, or “Bull Pie”.
I took the ingredients from the
video and used my own quantities (not from his list) so if mine don’t match Kent’s,
don’t hate me.
1¼ lb. ground beef
2 stalks celery, shredded
2 carrots, shredded
1 orange pepper, shredded
1 lg. onion, shredded
2 tbsp. tomato paste
¼ cup beef broth
½ cup red wine (¼ for the pie and ¼ for the chef)
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 can white hominy, drained
1 can chili peppers, drained
4 cloves garlic, minced (I used the whole head)
2 egg yolks
3 lbs. potatoes, peeled, cooked, drained, and mashed
½ cup cream (I used half & half)
1½ cups white cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup Monterey jack cheese, shredded
¾ cup fresh parmesan, shredded
Seasonings: oregano, basil, salt, pepper, thyme (I don't have his original seasoning spice yet, but I ordered some for next time).
In cast iron Dutch oven, cook the ground beef and
drain off grease.Add celery, carrots
and onion and cook the moisture out of the veggies, but don’t let the veggies
get brown (5-6 minutes).Add the tomato
paste, Worcestershire sauce, beef broth, wine, and stir to combine and let it
get a little bubbly.Carefully stir in
garlic and hominy. Remove from heat and set aside.
Prepare potatoes.Once they are cooked and drained and all the liquid is steamed out of
them, mash, mash, mash.Add some cream
(I used half & half) and the egg yolks.Mash, mash, mash.Add the cheddar
and jack cheese, then stir in the chili peppers.
Preheat oven to 400º
Transfer the beef mixture to a casserole dish.(I almost missed this tidbit of information.
Tall Cool ☺ne pointed it out to me). Can’t cook
this in the cast iron in a 400º oven or it would burn to a crisp.
Trowel the potatoes over the beef mixture.Make little plops with a spoon for aesthetics,
sprinkle with parmesan cheese.Bake for
45 minutes.Let cool 10-15 before
serving.
Tall Cool ☺ne brought home a half dozen or more summer squash. It wasn't enough to make squickles so I had to come up with something else. I borrowed this recipe that I found
in the Southern Living Magazine last month.
OMG, usually when I’m making recipes I find in magazines I have to tweak
them to please me or Tall Cool ☺ne (there
was no tweaking on this one that he would like….so forget about that). I really liked this recipe and enjoyed it
better cold. In fact two days after I made it I filled Romaine lettuce with and
called it Succotash Boats.
1 (3/4-oz.) habanero
chile, pricked all over with a fork
1
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. black
pepper, plus more for garnish
1 cup halved cherry
tomatoes
1 tsp. coarsely
chopped fresh thyme leaves, plus more for garnish
Directions
Place bacon in
a 12-inch cast-iron skillet. Cook over medium-high, stirring occasionally,
until crispy, 12 to 15 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a
paper towel-lined plate to drain, reserving 2 tablespoons drippings in
skillet. Save remaining drippings for another use.
Add onion to
reserved drippings in skillet; cook over medium, stirring often, until
softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic; cook, stirring constantly,
until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Increase heat
to high; stir in green beans, squash, corn, habanero chile, salt, and
black pepper. Cook, stirring mixture occasionally, until vegetables are
slightly charred, about 8 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-high, and stir in
1/4 cup water; cover and cook, undisturbed, until vegetables are tender,
about 4 minutes. Remove and discard habanero. Stir in halved cherry
tomatoes, fresh thyme, and cooked bacon. Garnish with additional thyme and
black pepper.
Grease
or spray inside edges if cast iron bread pan.
In
large bowl combine dry ingredients and whisk to combine. In large measuring cup, combine sourdough
starter and beer, then pour into flour mixture.
Stir until moistened. Spoon or
scrape into cast iron bread pan. Pour melted butter over the top.
Cook uncovered on back rack of grill for about an hour (depending on how many time your
husband opens the grill to check the meat he’s cooking) this will determine how
long it takes for the bread to cook.
He
likes to have a pan of water on the grill to keep things moist. I love this bread. It’s crunchy on the outside and moist on the
inside. I’ve been eating it for
breakfast with fig preserves. I even
tried making bruschetta with it and it was outstanding. A definite keeper.
This
weekend Tall Cool ☺ne is
smoking some baby back ribs, so I’m planning to do a smoked version of the
sourdough. Stay tuned for more recipes.
So
I have this really cool donut tin but I never use it because I every time I try
to make baked donuts they disappoint me.
But the tin is so cool I wanted to use it for something. So I decided to make Donno-muffins. We found
some blackberry vines in the back yard (never saw them in the almost 9 years we’ve
lived in this house. I had about a cup
of them and figured what the heck, let’s have some Donno-muffins.
2
cups all-purpose flour
½
cup sugar
2
tsps. baking powder
¼
tsp. salt
1
egg, slightly beaten
½
cup sour dough starter “hooch” (not fed, aka: the throw away stuff)
¼
cup vegetable oil
¼
cup almond milk or non-fat milk
1
cup blackberries
Preheat
oven 400º. Spray muffin or donut tin
with cooking spray. (6 large or 12 small)
In
medium bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in center of flour.
In
another bowl, combine, egg, milk, hooch, and vegetable oil. Stir to combine and
then pour into the well in the flour mixture.
Stir just to combine, it will be lumpy.
Fold in berries.
Spoon
into muffin/donut tins. Bake 18-20 for
12 tins, 23-25 for 6 tins.
Roll
out pizza dough to desired thickness.Spread with BBQ sauce. Sprinkle with cheese blend.Layer with chicken, spinach and fresh
herbs.Toss on the bacon and red
onion.Shake some parmesan cheese on and
drizzle the chipotle sauce over the top.
Bake
at 425º for 21-23 minutes.
** I thought I had a recipe for the BEST PIZZA CRUST EVER but apparently I was keeping it a secret. I will share here now. It is made in the bread machine, so it is super easy!
Ingredients:
1 12 bottle beer
½ cup sourdough starter (hooch)
1 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1½ tsp. salt
4¼ cups bread flour
2 tsp. bread machine yeast
Select dough setting, wait 1½ hours, remove from pan and proceed. This makes two normal size pizza crusts. This recipe works wonderfully for freezing. The above pizza was made from a frozen dough.
