Breakfast Sausage Casserole

For our second wedding reception, my parents had a brunch and this is the same dish my mom made for everyone.  We actually made it for dinner the other night. I always liked to eat breakfast for dinner growing up so I thought why not??  Its super yummy with oven roasted potatoes or hashbrowns!

You will need:

• 1 package (16 oz) regular flavor breakfast sausage, preferably Jimmy Dean
• 10 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 cups of milk
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 cups of cubed white bread
• 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 1/2 cup thin sliced green onion

Directions:

• 
  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  In a large pan, cook sausage over medium-high heat stirring until cooked through and no longer pink.  In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, mustard, and salt-stir well.

•  Spread half of the bread evenly in a buttered 9x13 baking dish.  Sprinkle with half of the pepper, half of the cheese, half of the sausage, half of the tomato and half of the green onion.  Repeat layering with the remaining ingredients.  Pour egg mixture over the top spreading evenly.

• Bake uncovered for 55-60 minutes, making sure eggs have set.

Homemade Salsa

Yummo!  For spring break we usually went to Arizona to visit Grandpa and Grandma Melling, and this visit usually consists of going to a lovely mexican restruant "La Placita"... The most authentic stuff I've ever eaten! Anyways, the salsa there is to die for! Lots of spicy, and cilantro and garlic.  Yumm!!! We always must buy some extra to bring home and snack on after our daily trips to the pool too :)  Up until now, I've always been real picky about my salsa.  Ryan likes Pace, or 505, or Salsa Lisa (not sold in CO), but when in comparison to La Placita, nothing is as good! Its that simple! Nothing! So when I stumbled upon this recipe from the Pioneer Woman, I had to try it.  If you have a good blender or food processer, making this salsa is so easy!  I guarantee that you will make it over and over and over!

Ingredients:

■1 can (28 Ounce) Whole Tomatoes With Juice

■2 cans (10 Ounce) Rotel (diced Tomatoes And Green Chilies)

■¼ cups Chopped Onion

■1 clove Garlic, Minced

■1 whole Jalapeno, Quartered And Sliced Thin

■¼ teaspoons Sugar

■¼ teaspoons Salt

■¼ teaspoons Ground Cumin

■½ cups Cilantro (more To Taste!)

■½ whole Lime Juice

Preperation:
Combine whole tomatoes, Rotel, onion, jalapeno, garlic, sugar, salt, cumin, lime juice, and cilantro in a blender or food processor. Pulse until you get the salsa to the consistency you’d like. Test seasonings with a tortilla chip and adjust as needed.



Eat.

Serve with tortilla chips, tacos, nachos...

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Happy Valentines Day!  I wanted to make a fun and simple dessert for the special occasion of Valentines Day.  I actually found a recipe from the foodnetwork.com site, but just decided to wing it on my own.  You want to buy one pound of strawberries depending on how many people you want to make them for. If its just the two of you, one box is plenty! Most people like the long stemmed ones for dipping, but let me tell you, they charge about $9 a box at the grocery stores so we went with the cheaper option.  They all taste the same anyways right? 

-1 cup of ghiradelli dark chocolate chips

-1 cup of ghiradelli white chocolate chips

-Toppings such as: mini chocolate chips, chopped nuts, sprinkles, coconut... you name it!

Ok, so you want to melt the chocolate in small glass bowls.  Maybe about a minute in the microwave, and then stir.  If its not completely melted yet, keep microwaving for 30 second increments. The white chocolate is tricky to melt.  If you over do it, it will become chunky and hard so be careful not to over heat it. Dip strawberries in chocolate, holding the stems and then roll into the different toppings as desired.  Place onto foil lined baking sheet and store in the fridge so that the chocolate will harden. Enjoy with your sweetheart :)

Mom's Valentines Sugar Cookies

Mom has made these cookies for years and passed down the recipe to me this last year.  I started at halloween, but they make cookie cutters for almost every holiday. These pink Valentines Day cookies were the original sugar cookie in our house growing up :) 

Recipe:

-1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
-1 cup butter melted

-1 egg

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-1 teaspoon almond extract

-2 1/4 cups of flour

-1 teaspoon baking soda

-1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Frosting:

-1 cup powdered sugar
-2 tablepoons milk

-2 tablespoons corn syrup

-Food coloring for desired color/s

 

Mix all of wet ingredients for cookies in bowl of mixer.  Add in powdered sugar, flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar and mix until dough forms.  Using a floured rolling pin, roll dough out onto counter and cut desired shapes into the dough.  Transfer onto baking sheets and bake for 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  Let cookies cool on cooling racks.  Once completely cool, mix ingredients for frosting in a small mixing bowl.  Frost each cookie with a spatula and sprinkle with sprinkles!

Ryan's Cheescake

My favorite dessert that my hubby makes is definetly this cheescake! Serve it up with some cherries on top and you have yourself the best cheesecake ever!! (Well, in my opinion, but everyone else seems to appreciate it too!)

Ingredients:

Prep time: 15 minutes.  Bake time:  1 hour 10 minutes

*Makes about 16 servings, so make sure you invite people over :)

• 2 pre-made graham cracker crusts (large size-->this makes a lot!)
• 2 1/2 lbs of cream cheese (5 regular size packages)
• 1 cup of sugar
• 3 tablespoon flour
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 cup sour cream
• 4 extra large eggs
• 1 can of cherry pie filling for the yummy topping :)

PREHEAT oven to 325 degrees. 

BEAT cream cheese, sugar, flour and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.  Add sour cream, mixing well.  Add eggs, only one at a time mixing just until blended.  Pour into graham cracker crusts, evenly slitting up filling.

BAKE  1 hour and 10 minutes or until center is almost set.  (It usually takes the whole time).  Refridgerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.  Top with cherries before serving.

Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Pineapple

This recipe calls for a broiler..I dont have one, so I just used the regular oven.  It cooks just as well, so I would just say to use the oven. To get the blackness on the pineapple takes just a few minutes extra so when the pork is finished place foil over meat to keep warm.  We served a rice pilaf with this meal.

4 Slices (about 1/2 inch thick) of fresh pineapple.
3 tablespoons dark hoisin sauce
2 teaspoons grated peeled ginger (the microplane tool works best for this!)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1 1/2 lbs pork tenderloin

Salt and pepper

Ginger sauce (Recipe Below)

Glazed Pork Tenderloin and Pineapple

First: Pre-heat oven to 400 (this is just a general temp. make sure you check the cooking directions on the tenderloin packaging.  Place the pineapple on a foil lined baking sheet.

Second: In a small bowl, combine the hoisin sauce, ginger, garlic, and mustard.

Third:  Place the pork on a rimmed baking sheet.  Brush with the hoisin mixture;season generously with salt and pepper.

Fourth:  Place the pork and pineapple into the oven.  Cooking until pork reaches 155 degrees on a meat thermometer- or 15-20 minutes. ( We don't have a thermometer either so we just follow the package and make sure that there is no pink when done cooking).

Fifth:  Remove pork from oven after it is fully cooked.  Turn the pineapple slices, cooking until brown in spots, about 10 more minutes.

Sixth: Slice pork into 1/4" or 1/2" pieces.  Halve the pineapple slices and arrange with the sliced pork.  Drizzle all of the pan juices onto the pork.  Serve with the ginger sauce.


Ginger Sauce

2 tablespoons dark hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons pineapple juice
2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon soy sauce
Fresh ground pepper

In a small bowl, stir together all ingredients and season with the pepper.

Hot Dagos

This one's Mom's recipe.  I have no idea where the name for this came from, but its so delicious! Its basically a hamburger, smothered in tomato sauce and served with gooey mozzarella cheese and hot banana peppers (or medium if you prefer). I guess its just another form of a meatball sandwhich. Haha! But you wont regret it if you try these!!! :)

• 1 1/2 lbs hamburger
• 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• A pinch of sweet basil
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 small onion chopped finely
• 1 tbsp flour
• A pinch of garlic powder
• 1 Large can of tomato sauce

Mix all of the above ingredients (excluding the tomato sauce) and form into about 6 patties.  Fry until well done, and then simmer in the tomato saice for about 20 minutes.  Serve on italian bread or roll and serve with hot banana peppers.

Pizza Dip

I guess this could be a simpler take on pizza, however, I think its just a different way to eat it. It is pretty simple, let me tell you how to make it!

For it you will need...

8 oz Cream Cheese

1 tsp Italian Seasoning

1 cup Mozzarella Cheese

3/4 cup grated Parmesan

1 8oz can Pizza Sauce

1/4 cup chopped green onions, peppers, black olives, or pepperoni (optional)

Mix cream cheese and italian seasoning. Spread in shallow casserole dish. Mix mozzarella and parmesan. Spread 1/2 over cream cheese. Top with pizza sauce. Spread rest of cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, slice a good baguette into thin slices and brush with olive oil.  Bake the bread at 375 for about 5 minutes and serve with dip.  We usually make pasta as an extra side to this dish. Just add a little butter, sprinkle some parmesan and fresh ground pepper.