Really need to update!

Since my last post, I made Thai Basil chicken, Duff Goldman's French Buttercream, an amazing Coffee cake, Homemade Strawberry sauce and, hands down, the best cheesecake I've ever made. I promise to blog about them soon.

Basil, Gorganzola Cream Sauce

The other night I had a bunch of fresh basil in the fridge and it was "burning a whole in my pocket".  I also had sausage and hamburger thawed out.  So I decided to see if I could make a passable cream sauce with the basil and some gorgonzola cheese.  (A few weeks ago, Doug and I ate at a restaurant here in Salt Lake City called Confetti's.  We had two dishes with their gorgonzola cream sauce and it was to die for!)

Here's what I used (measurements are approximate.  I don't really measure anything):

2 lbs ground meat (I used 1/2 sausage and 1/2 hamburger)
4 - 6 c cooked pasta
1 c cream
1/2 c gorgonzola cheese
1/2 c shredded parmesan cheese (or whatever you like)
1/2 c fresh basil
salt and pepper
1/2 - 1 c chicken stock
1 onion, diced
olive oil


Brown meat and cook pasta as set aside.
Saute' onion in olive oil until soft.  Add chicken stock and cream and simmer about 3-5 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper at any point.  Add cheeses.  Stir and simmer until melted.  Add basil and simmer 2 minutes.
Mix sauce with meat and pasta.  Heat thoroughly

Rene's Cinnamon Rolls

For quite some time now, I've wanted to tackle cinnamon rolls.  Doug loves them.  His Grandma used to make them all the time.  So, I've been searching for a recipe.  I've found lots, as you can imagine.  I finally settled on two and decided to take what I liked from each.  Therefore, this is really my recipe.  (I've tried them twice.  Today was the second attempt.  They were very successful so I'm ready to tell you about them.

Ingredients

For the buns:
2 c milk
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c butter, melted
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 egg, beaten
For the filling:
1/2 c butter, softened
1 c sugar
cinnamon
For the icing:
1/4 c butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, soften
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
1 T milk
1/4 t vanilla

1. Combine milk, sugar and butter.  Warm over medium heat (or in microwave) until hot but not boiling.  Let cool until lukewarm.
2. Sprinkle yeast on top of milk mixture and let it sit for one minute.
3. Stir in egg.
4. Add 4 to 5 cups of flour.  Dough should be very moist but not too moist to work with. (I start with 4 cups and add a little at a time.)
5. Knead dough into large ball, using your hands that have been lightly dusted with flour.
6. Put in a bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until dough has doubled in size.
7. Take dough out of bowl and knead for about 1 minute
8. Roll out on lightly floured surface until about 1/4 inch thick.
9. Spread softened butter over dough.
10. Sprinkle sugar over butter.
11. Sprinkle cinnamon over sugar.  I use quite a bit but you can adjust to taste.
12. Starting from the edge closest to you, roll dough.  The roll needs to be fairly tight.
13. Cut the rolled dough into 1 to 1 1/2 inch slices.
14. Place rolls into buttered baking dish, about 1 to 2 inches apart.
15. Brush top of rolls with softened butter.
16. Let rolls rise until doubled in size.
17. Bake in 375 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes.
18. While rolls are cooking, cream butter and cream cheese together.  Add powdered sugar, milk and vanilla.
19. Let rolls cool for 10 minutes before icing.

Sausage roll

Last night's dinner was one of those things that my husband raved about. Of course, I was pretty sure he'd like it because it had many of his favorite ingredients.  I started out with "Mom's Sausage Roll" from allrecipes.com.  But I knew it needed modification -- primarily because my husband does not eat anything egg related.  So, I didn't use egg at all except to brush on the outside of the loaves.

First, I scaled the recipe. It says that it's 18 servings for the allrecipes.com version.

Ingredients

2 1-lb loaves frozen bread dough
2 pounds Italian pork sausage
1/2 pound sliced pepperoni
5 green onions
2 1/2 c shredded italian blend cheese  (any type would work)
1/2 c shredded parmesan
2 eggs, well beaten

1. Thaw frozen bread dough.  (I took mine out of the freezer before work and let it thaw in the refrigerator during the day.  It was perfect)
2. Place sausage in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown.  Add chopped green onions. Drain and set aside.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a medium baking dish. (I cooked my two loaves together and they kind of morphed into one big loaf.  Next time, I will use separate baking dishes for each loaf or a cooking sheet.)
4. One loaf at a time on a lightly floured surface, roll the bread dough into a sheet approximately 1/4 inch or less thick. Spread 1/2 of the sausage,1/2 of the pepperoni and 1/2 of the cheese evenly over each dough sheet. Roll into a loaf.
5. One at a time, place rolled loaves into the prepared baking dish, brush with 1/2 of the beaten egg mixture and bake in the preheated oven 30 to 45 minutes, until golden brown.

 There are a couple things that I may try differently next time.  First, any combination of meats and cheeses would be great.  I may add sauteed onions and mushrooms.  I also might do something different with the pepperoni, like brown it first.  Also, I may try smoked sausage in place of pepperoni (because I like it better).
There would be lots of ways to change this.

I may try making smaller loaves -- individual size.


It's definitely a keeper.

Sliced Pork Tenderloin and Onions

The other day I was on the internet searching for a recipe for Caramelized Onions and Pork.  There are lots of recipes out there for pork chops but that wasn't really what I wanted.  I wanted something made with sliced pork tenderloin.  I ended up finding two candidates.  One of them was called Pork Chops (i know, i know) Smothered in Caramelized Onions.  (I decided that it would work fine with sliced pork tenderloin.  And it got great reviews).  The other was called Pork Tenderloin with Caramelized Onions from Saveur.com.  Sounded perfect -- but the onions weren't really caramelized.  Anyway, I decided to use these recipes as guidance and create my own.  So, here's what I did.

Ingredients:

3/4 c butter
2 T vegetable oil
4 onions, peeled and sliced
1 cup plus 1 T flour
1 T garlic powder
1 t ground sage
1 t ground thyme
1 t salt
1 t black pepper
3 lbs pork tenderloin, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices
1 c half and half (or cream)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Melt 8 T butter and 1 T oil in large skillet. Add onions and cook, stirring often until deep golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.  Season to taste with salt.  Transfer half of the onions to a large baking dish and the remaining half to a small bowl.

Melt remaining butter and oil together in the same skillet.  Season 1 c flour with sage, thyme, salt and pepper.  Lightly dredge pork slices and brown in skillet, 2-3 minutes per side (or until no longer pink).  Put pork on top of onions in dish and top with reserved onions.  Cover dish and keep warm in oven.

Pour off fat from skillet then heat skillet over mediem-high heat.  Whisk the remaining flour and 1 1/2 c water together in a bowl until smooth. Add to skillet and cook, scraping brown bits from bottom of skillet, until slightly thickened, 4 to 5 minutes.

Add half and half, season with salt and pepper to taste, and boil for one minute.  Pour sauce over pork and onions and serve.


This dish was yummy.  My family loved it.

Pasta, Cream, Sausage and Tomatoes

First, I'd like to thank Michelle of http://www.bigblackdogs.net/ (Twitter @BigBlackDogs).  This is her recipe.  I saw it on Twitter yesterday and realized that it was a perfect way to use the italian sausage that I had thawed in the refrigerator for dinner last night!

Pasta with Sausage, Tomatoes and Cream

2 TBL Olive Oil
1 LB Sweet Italian Sausage sweet
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (I use 1/4 tsp Hot Hungarian Paprika)
4-5 Green Onions, diced
3 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 28-ounce can Italian diced tomatoes
1 1/2 c whipping cream (I use light cream)
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 lb shaped pasta
3 TBL fresh minced Basil

Heat oil in large heavy skillet over medium heat. Remove casings from sausage, crumble and cook in oil with crushed pepper until sausage is no longer pink, about 7 minutes.

Add onion and garlic and cook another 5-7 minutes until tender. Drain tomatoes, chop coarsely and stir into sausage along with cream, salt and basil. Simmer until mixture thickens slightly, about 4 minutes.

In a separate pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta al dente. Drain pasta and add to simmering sauce. Garnish with Parmesan and parsley.


My changes were minimal.  I had hot italian sausage, so I didn't add the crushed red pepper.  (Besides, 17-year-old C really doesn't like spicy food.  I'm not sure how ended up as a member of our family!)   And I cut the amount of tomatoes in half so that my family wouldn't protest their presence.  That's really all I did differently. (Oh, I didn't have cavatappi pasta, so I used some other cool shape!)  It was awesome.  It was easy.  Family loved it.  And, I usually have most of these ingredients.  This is definitely in the rotation for weeknight dinners!!

The only changes I'll make from now on is to add black pepper and increase the amount of green onions and skip the parsley.

Thanks again, Michelle!

Tater Tot Casserole

Based on Tater Tot Casserole recipe from MaryBeth, http://dunkincookingthesemi-homemadeway.blogspot.com/


1 2-lb package tater tots
1 Lb. hamburger
1 lb hot italian ground sausage
1 large onion, chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2/3 Cup Milk
2 c grated cheese
2 1/2 Tbs. chopped garlic
1 Cup French fried onions

Salt & Pepper to taste

1. Place the tater tots in a single layer on the bottom of a 13x9 pan, bake at 400 for 25 min.
2. Fry the hamburger, sausage, onion & garlic until the meat is fully cooked then season to taste and drain the fat.
3. Place hamburger mix over the top of the tater tots.
4. In a small bowl mix the soup and milk then pour over the meat layer.
5. Cover with foil and bake at 400 for 20 min.
6. Uncover and top with the grated cheese then back for another 10 min to melt the cheese.
7. Sprinkle French Onions over top and bake for another 5 minutes.