Sausage Cheese Grits

This recipe is a real winner. My husband actually makes it better than I do. He prepares it for the monthly breakfasts we have in our Sunday School department. I prepare it for dinner…..there are never any leftovers that last until the next day.

1 pound ground pork sausage
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup uncooked quick-cooking grits
1 stick butter/margarine
1 ½ cups (6 ounces) shredded, sharp cheddar cheese
¼ cup milk
1 clove garlic, pressed (I use 1 teaspoon minced garlic)
3 large eggs, lightly beaten

Cook sausage in skillet over medium heat…stir until it crumbles and is no longer pink. Drain. Bring broth to a boil in a 3-quart pan. Stir in grits, cook according to package directions. Remove from heat, add butter and cheddar cheese. Stir in sausage, milk and garlic. Stir in a small amount of grits into the egg mixture then pour the egg mixture into the grits. Pour grits into a lightly greased 11 x 7-inch baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Cool 5 minutes.

This recipe serves 8-12 people

Valentine's Day 2009

This past Friday night we had our usual end-of-the-week fare.....steak, baked sweet potatos, and salad. Since it was the day before Valentine's and since my daughter was having a friend spend the night we decided to go ahead and call this our Valentine's dinner.

My sweet husband had cards and candy for my daughter and myself. When I saw he had put them at our places I hurried and got his card ready as well.

Earlier in the week I had changed out my table decorations and setting. I wanted to try out something a little masculine because we are giving a dinner party next month. The men will sit at a table in the great room while the women will be in the dining room. The setting you see below is what I'm trying out for the men's table. It's nice, but not too fru-fru.

The picture below shows the cute little dessert plates I found at TJ Maxx. They sit in a little metal caddy. I got one set of six in cream and then the set of six you see here in green, mustard, and cream.

Here is another view of the dessert plates.

Of course since it was a special Valentine's dinner I purchased some cute cookies, petit fours, and strawberries dipped in chocolate. The plate our dessert is on comes from A Taste of Home. They refer to it as a ribbon plate because you can thread a ribbon through the holes.

The stand the plate rests on is all metal and also comes from A Taste of Home. It can serve as a cake stand or if you turn it over the piece also comes with a bowl and nesting dishes that form an interesting presentation for appetizers or fruit and dip.

Rachel's friend, Katie about to enjoy her Valentine treat.

Rachel with her plate......

and, finally.....David with his plate.

The next night for our REAL Valentine meal it was just David and I. We had chicken kiev, asparagus with hollandaise, and croissants....a little Kendall Jackson Merlot rounded out the meal.

Yes, I know.....it was a very rich, fat laden meal, but Valentine's Day only comes once a year. :)

Makin' Waffles...Belgian Style

So on the Monday before Christmas the male cook in the household declared he wanted to make Belgian Waffles. It was an interesting change to our dinner menu.

I picked up some whipped cream and sliced strawberries to decorate our waffles, and, of course, what's a waffle without a little syrup and some sausage.

It was interesting to see how everyone presented their waffles.

Here is the Dad's plate:


Here is Dear Daughter enjoying her waffles...

Her plate....it was quite apalling:

Another shot:


and finally.....my plate:

Macaroni and Cheese

1 (8 oz) package elbow macaroni (sometimes I use Penne)
This measures out to be about 2 cups
2 cups milk
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 t. onion salt
2 (10 oz) blocks shredded Cheddar cheese (4 ½ cups, divided)
1 cup soft bread crumbs
¼ cup butter/margine, melted

Cook macaroni according to package directions. Set aside.

Place milk, flour, and onion salt in a jar. Cover tightly and shake vigorously one minute.

Stir together flour mixture, 3 ½ cups cheese, and macaroni.

Pour macaroni mixture into lightly greased 13 x 9 inch dish. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and remaining 1 cup cheese. Drizzle with melted butter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until brown.

8 servings

Hash Brown Casserole

What great comfort food this casserole can be! It’s great for a holiday meal with family or it’s rather good for breakfast too.

Recently I made this dish for my family’s Easter Dinner.

1 cup onion, chopped
¼ lb. (1 stick) butter, melted
1 (8 oz.) sour cream
1 (8 oz.) sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 can Cream of Chicken soup, undiluted
1 (2 lb.) bag frozen hash brown potatos, thawed
½-1 cup Corn Flakes

Stir together onion, sour cream, cheese, butter, Cream of Chicken soup, Add hash browns. Mix well.

Top with Corn Flakes. I usually melt another two T. butter and drizzle over the Corn Flakes.

Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly around the edges and topping is brown.

8-12 servings

Dump Cake

This recipe brings back fond memories of my mother and some of the interesting things she would cook for us back in the 1970s. This was a popular recipe in my mother’s circle of friends, and it’s one of the first things she allowed me to try by myself.

I’m one of those cooks that always has to leave a little raw cake batter aside to savor later. While you don’t mix up the cake mix in this recipe I was in love with the taste of the butter as it mixed with the cake mix. Mother’s Dump Cake always ended up with holes in it because I would look for the sections that had the highest content of butter and cake mix.

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Use an oblong cake pan (13 x 9 x 2)---Do not grease. Each of the ingredients should be distributed evenly one on top of the other.

DO NOT MIX.

Pour 1 can crushed pineapple with juice into the pan. You can also use a can of cherry pie filling as seen in the image.

Sprinkle with 1 box dry yellow cake mix.

Slice 1 ½ sticks margarine and arrange evenly on top of cake mix.

Push 1 cup pecan pieces into mix almost covering nuts.

Bake 45 minutes or till golden brown.

Dump Cake is best served warm and is great served with ice cream!

Ham and Tomato Pie

I took this recipe from Southern Living (April, 2007). It really is a great way to use leftover ham after Easter, or any other time you have ham. While it would be real easy to use deli ham to make this dish the magazine states that since the moisture content is very high in deli ham it won’t work out right.

This is always a hit around here. I serve with a salad as you can see in the picture.

Unfortunately the salad overpowers the quiche in this picture. You can see it a little better below.

1 (8 oz.) pkg. sliced cooked ham
½ cup sliced green onions (about 4 onions)
1 (9-inch) frozen unbaked pie shell (you don’t have to thaw it beforehand)
1 T. Dijon mustard
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded Mozzerella cheese, divided
2 medium plum tomatoes, sliced
1 large egg
1/3 cup half-and-half
1 T. chopped fresh basil
1/8 t. pepper
Garnish with basil sprigs and tomato slices

Saute ham and green onion in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat for five minutes or until ham is brown and any liquid evaporates.

Brush bottom of pie shell evenly with mustard; spring with ½ cup mozzerella cheese. Spoon ham mixture evenly over the cheese, and top with single layer of sliced tomatoes.

Beat egg and half-and-half with a fork until blended; pour over tomatoes. Sprinkle evenly with basil, pepper, and remaining ½ cup cheese.

Bake on lowest oven rack at 425 degrees for 20-23 minutes or until lightly browned and set. Cool on a wire rack 20 minutes. Cut into wedges to serve; garnish, if desired.