Pork
Pioneer Woman is one of my favorite Food Network personalities. Not only is she down to earth, she and her family also like a little spice in their food as much as we do. This casserole does take a bit of time but it makes a lot and is great to split it and share with a friend or neighbor! Well, unless you are feeding a group of teenagers! In this case we shared. This definitely hits all the notes of a lasagna, but takes it a little further with the spice level, but still not over the top. We all enjoyed this. A simple salad with garlic bread and dinner is done!
INGREDIENTS
12 ounces of pasta, I used a spiral pasta
1 pound hot Italian pork sausage
1 pound lean ground beef
1 large onion diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (28 ounces), diced tomatoes, drained
1 can (14.5 ounce), tomato sauce
1 can (6 ounce) tomato paste
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper
15 ounce, ricotta
1 large egg
4 cups shredded mozzarella, divided
3/4 cup grated Parmesan, divided
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 Tablespoons minced fresh parsley for garnish, optional
DIRECTIONS
Cook the pasta according to package directions, just until al Dante. Drain in colander and set aside.
While the pasta is cooking brown sausage and ground beef in a very large skillet with tall sides over medium to medium high heat. Break up the meat as it cooks. When the meat is almost cooked through, drain and discard the extra fat drippings from the skillet. Stir in onion and garlic and cook until onion is translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Stir in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste along with oregano, basil, thyme, red pepper flakes, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Let simmer over medium heat for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Fold in drained noodles and place half of the noodle mixture in a large casserole dish.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl whisk together ricotta and egg until well combined. Stir in two cups of the shredded mozzarella, 1/2 cup of Parmesan, 2 Tablespoons minced parsley. Spread ricotta mixture evenly over the pasta mixture leaving a one inch boarder around the edge, then top ricotta with the remaining noodles mixture.
Cover the hot dish with foil and bake 30 minutes or until the dish starts to bubble a bit. Remove foil and top with remaining mozzarella and cheddar cheese. Sprinkle the top with the Parmesan. Place back in oven and bake another 10-15 minutes uncovered until cheese is melted and bubbling hot. Sprinkle with fresh parsley if desired.
Serve warm.
Enjoy!
I’m always looking for a good breakfast casserole dish as it’s my favorite thing to serve for a holiday breakfast. Although I did not make this for a holiday it was certainly good enough to be served on one. I came across this recipe from the New York Times. The ingredient that stood out to me was using croissants. It also has two other of my favorite breakfast items, sausage and cheese! This is a rich buttery breakfast.
INGREDIENTS
6 croissants, split in half
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 bunch of scallions, white and light green parts, thinly sliced and set aside.
1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casing removed
2 teaspoons finely chopped sage
8 large eggs
3 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups Gruyere cheese, grated
Salt
Pepper
DIRECTIONS
Turn the oven to broil, leaving the oven door open slightly. Place croissants on a baking sheet and toast under the broiler until golden brown. Don’t look away… this takes just a very short time! Remove from oven. Let cool and tear into bite size pieces. In a medium skillet over medium high heat add the olive oil, sliced scallions and sausage meat. Cook sausage, breaking up the meat while cooking until the sausage is cooked through and browned. Stir in sage and remove from heat. In a large bowl toss together croissants and sausage mixture. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, cream and 1 1/2 cups cheese, salt and pepper. Lightly spray a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with non-stick spray. Put the croissant mixture in the pan spreading it to form an even layer. Pour the custard mixture into the pan pressing the croissants down slightly so it absorbs the liquid. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.
When you are ready to bake the casserole, remove from fridge and heat the oven to 350 degrees.scatter the remaining cheese over top. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool for a few minutes and serve warm.
Enjoy!
I have been hearing about cooking ribs in the slow cooker for a while now. A number of my fellow Volunteer Field Editors from Taste of Home magazine swear by it. I have been holding out on trying this. I really love the way my oven baked ribs come out so tender and fall off the bone. I was not convinced the ribs would come out as tender as the oven baked ribs. Well, both Jim and I really liked these ribs and agreed that they are very, very tender so no matter how you cook your ribs oven or slow cooker, they will come out tender and moist! I am a believer! The only thing I would do differently is have my butcher slice the ribs for me. It was a royal pain in the rear end slicing the ribs into individual pieces as the recipe called for. These ribs were marinated in a Chinese marinade for 24 hours but you can make your favorite ribs using this same method.
INGREDIENTS
2 racks of baby back ribs, trimmed and sliced into individual ribs.
1/4 cup chopped, peeled ginger
6 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 Tablespoon molasses
1 Tablespoon Chinese chile garlic sauce. (Sambal Oelek)
1/2 cup water
DIRECTIONS
In a blender combine the ginger, garlic, hoisin, honey, soy sauce, molasses, chinese garlic sauce and water in a blender and process until smooth. Pour the mixture over the ribs and toss evenly to coat. Allow to marinate for at least one hour,but up to 24 hours. When you are ready to cook place the ribs and marinade into your slow cooker, cover and cook on high for four hours or low for 8 hours. The meat will be tender but not fall off the bone.
Transfer the ribs to a foil lined baking sheet and strain the juices into a medium size saucepan spooning off as much fat as possible. Boil the pan juices until it is thickened and reduced to about 3/4 of a cup, five to ten minutes.
Preheat the broiler and position the rack about 8 inches from the heat. Brush the ribs with some of the sauce and broil until caramelized, about 5-10 minutes turning the ribs once or twice. Transfer ribs to a platter and drizzle with remaining sauce.
Serve warm.
Enjoy!
I found this recipe at www.today.com
This is a copy cat soup from Olive Garden and it is delicious!
We have hit the winter months in New Hampshire and although we have not had much snow we have had some cold days and nights and this hits the spot perfectly on those days! This soup comes together quick and would be great with some crusty bread! So next time the weather is cold go ahead and make this and curl up with your favorite someone and enjoy the afternoon!!
INGREDIENTS
4 slices of bacon, diced
1 pound spicy sausage sliced into bite size pieces
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
4 cups chicken broth
3 russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
3 cups baby spinach
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add bacon and cook until browned and crisp. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate and set aside. Add diced sausage to skillet and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes being sure to stir the sausage as it cooks, drain excess fat and set aside. Heat olive oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. add garlic and onion cook stirring frequently until onions are translucent.
Stir in chicken broth and bring to a boil, add potatoes and cook until tender about ten minutes. Stir in sausage and spinach until spinach starts to wilt, just a couple minutes. Stir in heavy cream and cook until heated through. Season with salt and pepper, top with bacon and serve warm!
Enjoy!
This recipe can be found at www.damndelicious.com
Food Network…need I say more? We all know their recipes are tried and true. This recipe is no different and absolutely delicious! My entire family loves this. It was so different, so full of flavor, sweet, savory and a little salty with the added pinch of salt at the end. I highly recommend using a disposable pan to bake these in. I used a baking pan covered in foil and well…not a good outcome at the end. I would have spent three days trying to clean the sauce off of this pan so the pan is no more. To sacrifice one pan for those tasty ribs was okay with me!!!
NOTE: The original recipe calls for them to be grilled, but I baked them in the oven. For grilling recipes check the recipe out at Food Network.
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup of hoisin sauce
1/4 cup of soy sauce
3 Tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 Tablespoons of honey, plus extra to finish
1 Tablespoon five spice powder
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
2 racks of spare ribs (St. Louis style) sliced individually into single ribs
Sprinkle of salt at the end of cooking
DIRECTIONS
Mix together the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, honey, five spice powder, garlic and ginger. Take out 1/2 cup of sauce to use while cooking. Place the rest of the sauce in a Ziploc bag and add your sliced ribs. Refrigerate at least three hours, but overnight is best.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place the ribs on cooling rack and then into a large baking sheet (disposable is best). Discard marinade. Cover the ribs and bake for two hours. Remove the tin foil and baste with the reserved marinade. Bake for ten minutes turn ribs and baste ribs, and continue turning and basting one or two more times until all of the marinade is used.and the total cooking time at this point is 2 1/2 hours. At the 2 1/2 time, drizzle the ribs with honey being sure to coat all of the ribs and sprinkle lightly with salt. Turn the oven to broil and let the ribs broil without burning. Your oven door should be left open during the broil time and watch closely as the honey can burn easily at this point. This should only take just a couple of minutes. Remove from oven and serve warm.
Enjoy!
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