Roasted Butternut Squash and Sweet Apple Sausage

I love butternut squash and this is a super easy way to serve it! The melding of all the different flavors of the fresh herbs and the sweet apple sausage is the perfect fall dish. And you will not believe the aroma from your oven as it roasts!

This can be served as a side dish or as a main dish accompanied by a fresh salad of greens topped with apples or pears, Gorgonzola, toasted pecans, a little bacon and a white balsamic or raspberry vinaigrette!

Ingredients:

1 medium size butternut squash, seeds removed and cut into bite size pieces

10 cloves of fresh garlic, sliced lengthwise

Sweet apple chicken sausage, sliced

fresh sage, chopped

fresh rosemary, chopped

EVOO

sea salt and fresh cracked pepper

Method:

Toss all ingredients together and mix well. Place in roasting pan and place in an oven heated to 350 degrees F.

 Roast for 30-40 minutes stirring every 10-15 minutes.

The "Evil" Treat

This chocolate-toffee-carmel bar is sooooo good that it's evil! This is one of my all time favorite guilty pleasures in life...trust me when I say that you will not be dissapointed!

Ingredients:

1 box butter recipe yellow cake mix

1/3 c. oil

2 eggs

1 (12-oz.) pkg semisweet chocolate chips

1 c. white chocolate chips

4-5 oz. heath chocolate toffee pieces

1/2 c. butter

32 caramels

1 (14-oz) can of sweetened condensed milk

Method:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 13x9 inch baking pan. In a large bowl, combine the first 3 ingredients until well blended. Next add all the chips and toffee pieces and again blend well...the mixture will be thick! Press 1/2 of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

In a saucepan, combine the caramels, sweetened condensed milk and the butter and cook over low heat. Stir frequently and keep an eye on the mixture because it can burn. Blend until it becomes smooth. Then when the partially baked crust is done, evenly pour the caramel mixture over the top.

 Then crumble the remaining cake mixture over the top of the caramel and place back in the oven and bake for another 25-30 minutes.

 Remove from oven and let cool for about 20 minutes. Take a knife and run it along the sides of the pan to loosen the bars. Cut and serve!!!

And enjoy this most evil of treats!!!

White Pie Topped with Arugula Salad

This is a wonderful combination of two of my absolute favorite things...white pizza pie and arugula! I made a simple white pie using frozen pizza dough (although you can make it yourself), three to four different cheeses, and a simple arugula salad. It is a new twist on an old classic!

Ingredients:

Frozen pizza dough, enough for one pie

2 T. olive oil

Shredded Italian cheese blend, as much as you want

Parmesan cheese if it's not in the Italian Blend

Several dollops of ricotta cheese

Fresh arugula

Cherry tomatoes quartered

Olive oil and vinegar to toss salad

Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Method:

Roll dough out and place in pizza pan. Spread the olive oil over the top of the pie and top with the cheeses. Place in an oven set at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Prepare salad by tossing the arugula and tomatoes with the oil, vinegar and season with salt and pepper. When pizza is done cooking, cut a slice and top with salad!

Enjoy!!!!



Remembering September 11th, 2001

Jarring Peach Jam = Simple and Delicious

What could you want more on a cold winter morning but to open up a jar of delicious peach jam which was jarred in August? Peaches have been plentiful and cheap recently, the perfect storm for making peach jam. I like to give them as Christmas presents to teachers, bus drivers, friends and family members. This is basically the Ball recipe only I substitute the 3/4 c. water with 3/4 c. brandy and cut back on the amount of sugar. The alcohol cooks off leaving a wonderful flavor to the jam.

Ingredients:

6-7 medium peaches, peeled and chopped into tiny pieces

3 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 c. brandy

1 pkg. Ball pectin (Buy 2 boxes just in case you need to add a little more.)

1 T lemon

1 T butter

Method:

Prepare canning jars and lids in water bath. I just use a large pot and lay the jars down. (I also boil the scoop portion of my ladle) Add water and bring to a boil. Then I  turn the heat off and let them sit in the hot water until I am ready to jar.

Combine all ingredients and bring to slow boil. Place a plate in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Once your jam mixture comes to a boil, turn off the heat. Take the cold plate from the freezer and spoon a small amount of the jam mixture onto the plate and wait about 1 minute. The mixture should gel so that when you tip the plate, the jam barely moves. If it is still runny you will need to add in more pectin.

Remove one jar from hot water and place on a folded paper towel. Carefully pick up your ladle and begin to spoon the jam mixture into the jar. Fill until the jar is almost full leaving a 1/4 to an 1/8 inch gap from the top. Clean the threads of any drips. Remove a lid from the hot water and place on top. Screw on the ring and make sure it is tight. (Ring does not need to be boiled.) Wipe down the jar and let sit until you hear a "ping" and the circle on the top is sucked in, concave, this means you have a seal and you can store the jars on the shelf.

This recipe yields 6 half pint jars.

Piroshki - A Russian/Kazakh Dish

This is my daughter's absolute favorite dish! So here she demonstrates how to make these delicious little pockets. They are a simple dough filled with ground meat and several different herbs. This is actually a Kazakh peasant food made with lots of love, and I have to say that Gracie is a natural at putting these little pockets together!!!

Ingredients:

For Meat Filling

1 lb of ground meat, any kind

2-3 cloves of garlic minced

1 medium onion, chopped

Fresh dill chopped, or 1 T dried

1 T dried marjoram

1 T dried mint

1 T dried Thyme

Salt and pepper

1 T butter for sauteing

For Dough

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 egg

Approximately1/2-3/4 cup milk

salt

2-3 more T. butter for sauteing

Method:
Melt butter in a frying pan and then add the garlic and onion, sauteing until onion is transparent, be careful not to burn the garlic. Add the ground meat and brown. Add the next 4 ingredients plus the salt and pepper. Let the meat mixture cool completely before assembling the piroshki.

Next, in a large bowl, add the flour, egg, milk and salt and mix together. You may need to add more flour to the dough to prevent it from becoming too sticky. You don't want the dough sticky or you will not be able to work with it properly.

Roll out the dough on a clean floured surface, again you may want to add more flour to prevent dough from sticking. Your dough should be about 1/4 of an inch thick. Then using a round cutter or a glass, press into the dough and pull out the circular shapes. Cover them with more flour and roll them out into and oblong shape.

Then add 2-3 tsp. of the meat mixture to the center of your dough.

Now using your finger with a little bit of water, trace the outer perimeter of the dough with the water. This is to ensure a good seal on the pocket.

Then carefully fold the dough in half, pulling one side over the meat, and press edges to seal. Place on a well floured surface and repeat the process until all the meat is used.

Melt butter in frying pan and add the doughy pockets to the pan.

Fry in pan until the dough becomes golden in color. Carefully remove and serve or keep in a warm oven until ready to serve.

These are great alone or served with a dollop of sour cream. The dough recipe here can also be used to make the Eastern European pirogi.

Enjoy!!!

Restaraunt Review

Calhoun's Restaurant
1004 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738-3102
(865) 436-4100

While on vacation in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, my family dined at a local restaurant by the name of Calhoun's. Calhoun's was a recommendation by one of the locals and how could we possibly go wrong with that?

The restaurant is a large establishment and upon first entering the atmosphere resembles that of an upscale diner, complete with booth seating. Our waitress was very pleasant and took our drink orders along with an order of fried green tomatoes. I was a little skeptical of the tomatoes but when they hit the table they were gone in a flash. They were served with the most amazing mustard sauce, delicious. When my drink came it was brought over by the bartender himself. He wanted to make sure the cucumber martini I ordered was to my liking…and wow was it!! I have to say that it was the best martini I had ever tasted.

My husband and I ordered the House Ale steak which is a 10 oz sirloin steak marinated in olive oil, mustard, garlic, Calhoun's own Cherokee Red Ale and topped with Worcestershire butter. When it was brought to the table our waitress waited until we cut into our meat to make sure the meat was cooked properly and again to our liking. Both of our steaks were grilled to perfection.  The meat melted in our mouths and the flavor was unbelievable. One of my side orders was Spinach Maria which is creamed spinach made with 5 different cheeses, again another triumph for Calhoun's.

As for the kids’ meals, Michael’s macaroni and cheese was devoured by the old king of mac and cheese and Grace had the kid’s meal of ribs which was a very generous portion.

We all left very pleased with our meals and very full. And the best part was that our bill came to a grand total of $86.53. That also included the kids’ drinks and my husband’s handcrafted brew of Cherokee Red Ale.

It was a very family friendly dining experience and I would strongly recommend Calhoun's if you are in Gatlinburg Tennessee. The service, price and food are all worthy of all 5 stars from me, and I am not very easily impressed!

My Rating ***** out of 5

Fresh Cucumber Martini

I tried this for the first time while on vacation last week and fell in love with the flavor of this martini. It is very light and refreshing and much to my surprise, I was able to find the Cucumber Lime vodka at my local liquor store!

Ingredients:

1/3 cucumber peeled and with seeds removed

3 T Sugar syrup*

2 shots of Rain's Organic Cucumber Lime Vodka

The Juice of one lime

2 basil leaves, chopped

3 - 4 mint leaves, chopped

Method:

In blender combine all ingredients. Pour liquid through strainer into cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously and pour into martini glass. Garnish with cucumber slices and a little of the chopped mint and basil.

* Sugar syrup is simply granulated sugar mixed with a small amount of water and then heated through. This is so the sugar is already dissolved and in a liquid form.

XO 

Low - Carb Vegetable Lasagna

This recipe is the low-carb version of lasagna because I used baked eggplant as my noodles. Actually it was so good that both my 8 and 6 year olds had no problems eating all of their vegetables!

 

 

  

Servings Size

• 
  

Ingredients:

Noodles
2 large eggplants, peeled, sliced lengthwise into 1/4 inch noodle-like strips
cooking spray (olive oil spray is best)
salt and pepper

 

Meat Sauce
2 lbs of ground turkey, chicken or turkey sausage
2 T olive oil
2 onions, chopped

3 garlic cloves chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

1 (16 ounce) package sliced mushrooms

2 tablespoons Italian seasoning (or mix of oregano, basil and thyme)

salt and pepper

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach

1 (28 ounce) can tomato puree

1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes

Cheese Mixture:

2 eggs

2 c. part-skim ricotta cheese

6 scallions chopped

3 c. mozzarella cheese

1/2 c.Parmesan cheese

Method:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray cookie sheet, arrange eggplant slices and season with salt and pepper and cook slices 5 minutes on each side. Reduce oven heat to 375 degrees.

Brown meat, onion and garlic in olive oil for 5 minutes. Then add red pepper and mushrooms, and cook 5 more minutes. Add spinach, tomatoes, spices and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

In the meantime blend ricotta, egg and onion mixture.

Assembly:

Spread 1/3 of meat sauce in bottom of 9? x 13? glass pan.

Layer ½ eggplant slices, ½ ricotta, 1/3 mozzarella and parmesan.

Repeat.

Add last layer of sauce, then mozzarella and parmesan on top.

Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour.

Remove foil and bake or broil another 5-10 minutes until cheese is browned.

 Let it rest 10 minutes before slicing, if you can wait that long!

Peach Cobbler

Nothing says summer more to me than peaches. Peach jams, pies, peaches with cream and sugar, and of course peach cobbler. I think cobbler is one of the simplest was to enjoy this wonderful fruit. I like my cobbler warm with either vanilla or butter pecan ice cream…delicious!!!

Ingredients:

6 peaches pealed and sliced

4 T superfine sugar

1/2 T lemon juice

1 1/2 T cornstarch

1/2 tsp. almond or vanilla extract

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. superfine sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

6 T of buter, diced

5 T milk

Method:

Mix sliced peaches with the next four ingredients and then place in a 9 inch square baking dish and bake in the oven set at 425 degrees F. Bake for 20 minutes.

In the meantime sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and all but 2 T of the sugar. The add the butter pieces and with either a pastry blender or 2 forks, cut the butter into the flour and keep doing so until the mixture looks like small peas. Then in a separate small bowl, whisk together the egg and milk. Pour this mixture into the flour mixture and with a fork stir until a soft sticky dough forms.

Remove the peaches from the oven when they are done baking and then from a tablespoon, drop spoonfuls of dough onto the top of the peaches. Sprinkle the rest of the sugar over the top of the cobbler. Return to oven and bake another 15-20 minutes or until the topping is firm and golden in color.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Serves 6-8