I just had around 30 people for a breakfast brunch and decided to make egg bakes or stratas since I knew that I could prepare them the night before and bake them 2 hours before company came. They are the easiest and most reasonable form of entertaining since you make them ahead and pop them into a 350 degree oven for about l and l half hours. They are really great served with monkey or pull apart bread. For the Pizza one, I served a Parmesan herb pull apart bread, along with a salad and fruit. Here is one of my 3 favorites. I also made a vegetable ham and swiss cheese one with portabella mushrooms and a Jimmy Dean Sausage one with a mushroom cream topping. If you google search recipes you can find hundreds of varieties. In many ways they are another version of Impossible Pies that were once so popular.
Pizza Strata
l smaller loaf of Italian bread crumbled. (I used harder rolls and mixed them in until it was no longer soupy ), l ten ounce box of frozen spinach thawed and squeezed to get all moisture out, 4 ounces or more of pepperoni, cut up. ( I also added some cooked Jimmy Dean sausage because I had it, and I like it better than all pepperoni.) l or two large tomatoes cut up--try not to add a lot of juice ( now you know why I was not specific on the amount of bread.) l cup of Mozzarella cheese--save another cup for later. ( I actually added 8 ounces of cream cheese as well but you probably do not need it) l tsp of Italian seasoning. 4 eggs, l cup of half and half or use condensed milk, salt and pepper.--small amount of tomato sauce or pizza sauce for garnishing to use at end of cooking
Mix all of this together except the extra cup of cheese, and the garnishing tomato sauce. Spray a 9x13 pan with Pam and pour mixture into pan. I try to save out about 8 pieces of pepperoni just so I can put them on top of the mixture. I cook this for an hour tented with aluminum foil, then remove the foil, add a bit of tomato sauce on top, top with additional cheese and some pepperoni and put back in the oven for half an hour. Let it rest about l0 minutes before serving. It's good. When I made it without the additional tomato sauce it was too bland. I also upped the Italian seasoning at the original recipe called for l/2 tsp.
i was looking for a cookie recipe today and with a bit of substitution came up with this. They are pretty good and not the typical oatmeal cookie. They are not too sweet and taste healthy.
l cup of brown sugar, creamed with l cup Crisco, 2 eggs and l/2 cup white sugar plus 2 tsp of orange flavoring. Now mix in, l cup of white flour and mix thoroughly, along with l tsp of cinnamon, l/2 tsp baking soda and l/2 tsp salt and l/2 tsp baking powder. Add 3/4 cup of chunky applesauce. I used the peach flavored apple sauce and I liked it. Mix in 4 cups of QUICK oatmeal and 8 ounces of craisins. I also added the frated peel of one orange.Drop on cookie sheets and bake for l2-14 minutes at 400.
If you want to make it the original way, use regular apple sauce, vanilla for the orange flavoring and raisins instead of craisins. If you like them sweeter, drizzle them with a bit of warmed up white chocolate. It made about 72 cookies, so you can see that they are not overly sweet.
l pound of lean ground beef.( I double it), l medium chopped onion, 2 cloves of garlic minced. Cook this and drain. Mix up 29 ounces of tomato sauce, l cup water, and l 6 ounce can of tomatoe paste with salt and Italian seasonings. Mix into the meat. Spread l/4 of the cooked meat sauce in your crock pot. Arange l/3 of an 8 ounce , uncooked PKg of Lasagna noodles on top of the meat. Now combine 4 cups of Moxxarella, and l and l/2 cups of small curd cottage cheese with l/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Put l/3 of this mixture over the noodles. Repeat with meat, noodles and cheese mixtures , top off everything with extra meat sauce. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours. Serve with a Romaine salad ( buy the dressing at Olive garden), breadsticks and a glass of good red wine. Enjoy.
I made this and it was a super hit however, I never make things like the recipe. Instead of the 29 ounces of tomatoe sauce, and tomato paste, and l small can of tomato pieces, called for in the recipe, I used a 29 ounce jar of Emeril's Italian Gravy and a can of tomato soup. along with a tsp of Italian seasoning. I also substituted ricotta for the cottage cheese. I cooked it on high to start with because it filled my crock pot and I didn't think 4 hours on low would do it. I switched to low after two hours and it worked out perfect. Everyone asked for take out bags to bring home. The Emeril Italian Gravy is similar to the tomato mixture called for in the recipe but I had to add a can of tomatoes since it became a bit dry towards the end of the cooking but I added a few more noodles than needed.
This recipe just in from my friend Sharon. I gave it a test run and it was good. Grease a 9x13 pan and fill with tart pie apples. Add l cup or less of sugar along with cinnamon and a hint of nutmeg. In another bowl mix l 1/2 cups of flour, l and l/2 cups of sugar, l and l/2 tsp baking powder and l/2 cup soft butter till crumbly. Add 2 beaten eggs and mix up like pie crust. Pat the crust on top of the apples and bake for an hour at 350. Drizzle with a bit of caramel topping and serve warm with ice cream.
Mix together 30 ounces of hashbrowns or of country style potato chunks, with l can of either mushroom soup or cream of chicken soup and l smaller carton of sour cream. Add l to land l/2 cups of velveeta and put in your crockpot. Since I like to doctor up anything I make, I added some saute'd onions and green peppers plus garlic powder, onion powder and a bit of Ceyenne pepper. I cooked it in the crockpot on low for 4-5 hours only adding the Velveeta the last half hour. I also ended up adding a bit more milk because it was a little dry for my taste. Just before serving, to make it look better, I threw some cojack cheese on the top and 5 pieces of crumbled up bacon. Enjoy! It is a good one to go with hamburgers at the lake or as a main course for a breakfast brunch. I make my bacon crumbles in the Microwave. My husband sometimes adds pepperoni instead of bacon and drizzles a little pizza sauce on top.
This came from my friend Ceil Johnson in water aerobics. This is good. I had it at a potluck last week. It is made with applesauce, but you do not taste it. It has a nice texture, more like a pudding and it has a very raspberry taste. It is super fast to make and works as a fruit dessert or as a salad. You can also make a low cal version by using no sugar jello. I think you could do an orange jello mango version, stawberry or cherry and they would be good.
2 small pkgs of raspberry jello, l and l/2 cups of boiling water to dissolve jello in.
l5 ounces of no added sugar apple sauce and l larger pkg of frozen raspberries. Just dissolve jello in water, add apple sauce and stir in raspberries. Check it in about half an hour and give it another stir so it does not separate. Serve with dream whip or as a salad on lettuce.
Jeff told me how to cook a Canad Goose at the last meeting and since my early attempts were disasterous, his way sounded much better. Here is what he does. He uses the breast, legs and wings only, skinning them and cutting them up in serving sized pieces. He soaks them in milk overnight to get rid of the gaminess, pouring off the milk in the morning.He browns them in a pan with bacon. Then takes them out and puts them in a crock pot with a bit of Lawry's seasoning, milk and mushroom soup and cooks the meat for about 4-6 hours. He also says he sometimes uses a tomato based sauce instead of the mushroom soup. He uses homemade tomato sauce, but I think you could use any good Ragu or Emiril's baking sauce. Pace now makes great cilantro Lime tomato Mexican cooking sauces. Good Luck with the hunting!
This was from the MN bound website and was made by a chef for MN bound.
l cup of salt pork diced l/4 inch...(Important)2 cups onions diced l/4 inch , l cup celery, diced to l/4 inch, l cup of carrots diced to l/4 inch, 2 cloves of garlic minced fine, l TSP fresh Thyme or dried (use less dried), pepper, l qt of clam broth, 2 cans of Campbell's tomato soup ( impt) 3 cups of red potatoes skin on and cubed, 4 cups of boneless fish fillets, cut into 2 inch pieces.
Directions: Render your pork in a large stockpot. Add vegetables and garlic. Cook. Add thym, pepper and clam juice. Simmer 30 min. Add tomatoe soup and potatoes and simmer about 20 more minutes. Add the fish last and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Cover and let steep for l0 minutes. Check your seasoning. You might want to add a little lemon pepper.
Neice Kari, shared this recently and I liked it.
I found a great new salad to take to the lake or to potlucks. Buy one pkg of Israli Pearl Couscous. Brown it lightly in l TBSP of olive oil. Add l qt chicken broth and simmer l5 minutes until almost dry. Cool. Add about 2 cups of craisins. Add the rind of one lemon, finely diced as well as the juice. (to taste) Add about 4-5 TBSP of good quality Olive oil. Add diced green onions to taste as well as a bit of lemon pepper. Just before serving mix in a cup or two of chopped almonds. This keeps well and you could even use vegetable broth for a vegetarian. I have only used almonds but friends said they tried it with other nuts as well as sunflower seeds and it was good. It's pretty and you can make it ahead and it keeps well. Shiny red craisons, with green flecks from the onions. Great for Christmas. Serve at the cabin with a pre-bought broasted chicken and corn on the cob. Ice cream for dessert.
An Old recipe from Swedmark's resort in Bemidji MN.
l cup of evaporated milk
2 TBSP butter
6-8 walleye fillets
salt to taste depending on crumb topping
Crumb topping of your choice can be made from corn flakes, soda crackers, butter crackers, flavored crackers of your choice, or potato chips. I like sour cream and onion.
Soak the fish for l hour in the milk. Line a large cookie sheet with foil and butter the top of the foil. Roll the fish in the crackers of your choice. Place the fish on the cookie sheet and drizzle melted butter on the top. Bake l2-20 minutes at 500 degrees depending on the thickness of your fish. Serve with Crockpot mashed ranch potatoes and bread of choice.
Every l0 years or so I get the idea to start my own sour dough and I make sour dough everything until I am all burped out. By then I have eaten all the sour dough waffles, pancakes and biscuits I can stomach, and I finally let the old dough die down. Then another spring comes along and I am ready to start again. Over the years, I have bought starters such as San Francisco Sour dough starter, Russian starters etc, but I can't really tell the difference. The only thing I know is that they all can be pretty potent. When I was teaching in Pierz, I made up a batch of San Francisco Sour dough starter to share with all my friends at work. The starter was carefully measured into glass canning jars and divided among a number of women teachers. My noon the school smelled a bit like a brewery. The English teacher had starter bubbling and running down her filing cabinet. The librarian had it pooling up on her floor, so whatever you do, "Watch the starter." It has a life of its own and it seems to enjoy spreading into many areas of your house. It's also miserable to clean up since it sticks like cement. Here is an easy starter made from potato water and yeast. I call the old girl, "Calamity Jane." As I write this I now have 3 loaves of Sour dough cooking in my oven. I don't know exactly what they will taste like, but they look good and smell great. I'm also making a dark chocolate rye with orange peel that I think will be good. It's a combination of a Scandinavian bread I had growing up mixed with a recipe for traditional Dark German Rye. I'll see how that one goes. It will be in my Minnesota Keeper's cookbook when I finish it.
Patty's Calamity Jane Sour Dough Starter
Boil up potatoes for dinner or potato salad, being sure you have at least 3 cups of water. Keep your potato water and when it is cool, Add 2 cups of flour to 2 cups of potato water. Mix in one package of yeast and l TBSP of sugar. This now has to work for 3 days before you can use it. Be sure you put it in glass, not plastic or metal. Stir it down a few times the first day because it will more than double in size. You can make more if you like and save it for a friend, freeze it or even dehydrate it so that you always have a bit of Calamity on hand.
After 3 days, Calamity Jane, is your girl and you can use her to pistol start a fabulous Sour Dough bread, muffins, waffles, bagels, or even sour dough banana cake. Calamity has to be used or restarted every two weeks. To reactivate Calamity, simply add l cup of flour, and l cup of water to the batter, plus sprinkle about a TBSP of sugar on top. Let her sit on the counter for a half a day while she burbles and gurgles and then put in the refrigerator. Since Calamity is a live being, she needs air. She dies if you give her salt so, No salt for the old girl. Do not cover her as she likes to sleep in the open and breathe fresh refrigerator air. Should Calamity turn a bit green and crusty, remember she was a legend in the Old West. What would you expect from a great Old Gal. Simply stir her up and she will return to a more normal shade of pale. Do not pour off the alcohol that settles on the top. The bread needs it, and Calamity likes it.
For those of you who have made bread before, Sour dough bread is a bit stickier, but not necessarily trickier. The first time I made it, I included another package of yeast because I didn't know how yeasty old Calamity would be and the recipe said if you want a lot of air pockets in your dough, add a package of yeast. I also found out that the old time recipe I had, must have used larger bread pans, since it made more than I expected. I went by the feeling of the dough rather than the amount of flour needed since weather temperatures, the amount of liquid etc really influence dough. I think I used about 3 and l/2 cups although the recipe below says up to 5.
French Sour Dough Bread
The night before making bread, Take Calamity out of the refrigerator and add 2 cups of water and 2 cups of flour to her, mixing well. She will immediately become happy sitting on your counter and you smell booze on her breath as she gurgles and burbles. In the morning you will divide her in half. She should have had about 2 cups left over of the Old Calamity mixed with 2 cups of the new mixed Jane, so what you want to do is simply save back 2 cups of Calamity to be used with your next bread. Add l TBSP of sugar to the two cups of Calamity Jane and put her back in the refrigerator. The rest of the Calamity Jane goes in a big bowl on your counter. Add a TBSP of sugar to Calamity jane and this is what is known as a sponge. In the starter sponge that is left in the bowl, mix 3 TBSP of warm melted butter, l and l/2 tsp of salt and anywhere between 3 and 5 cups of flour. Just remember it is supposed to be sticky so go easy on dumping all the flour in at once. Mix until it is hard to work on in a bowl and then add a bit more flour and knead on your bread board. Knead it until you have all your frustrations out and the bread is smooth and elastic. Put into a well greased bowl and cover with a damp cloth and let rise until double in size. Punch down and make into loaves. Let rise until double in size. Brush the tops with cold water. Cook at 375 for about 50 minutes. This is the basic recipe and if you want more loaves, just add equal flour and water along with the TBSP of sugar. I did add an extra package of yeast the first time I made it...and it rose really fast. The last time I made it, I added about 2 TBSP of honey and I really liked the flavor. Since I have been now making this for about 5 months, the flavor has greatly improved. It is so easy. Now all I do is add about 2 cups of the starter that I have proofed on the counter overnight, to 2 cups of flour, and a bit of salt and sugar. I no longer have to measure. PJ