Lasagna

Lasagna is my favorite food.  However, I am a lasagna snob.  I have tried dozens of different kinds of lasagna and I don't like them.  Few have even come close to being as good as my favorite recipe.  My mother used to slave over this for my birthday every year.  The smell of lasagna makes my birthday complete.  This recipe came from an old family friend, Eileen Day.  It's the lasagna that I compare all other lasagnas to.  This is what lasagna is supposed to taste like.  You don't have to like it as much as I do, still I hope you like it.
 
Lasagna
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes + 10 minutes standing time
Yield: 8-10 servings
Family Friendliness: My oldest daughter eats just about as much as I do, and even the boy who doesn't like cheese eats it without complaint. 

Ingredients:

½ c. diced onion
2 med. cloves of garlic
1 lb. ground beef
3 T. minced parsley (I use dried and always put in 3 T.)
1 T. dried basil leaves
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper
1 qt. Tomatoes, you can blend these, or mash them up a bit
1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste
1 pkg. lasagna noodles
1 lb. Cheddar cheese, shredded
12 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
Directions: Cook noodles in boiling water with a little oil in it.  While the noodles are cooking saute onion, garlic, and meat until brown.  Add parsley, basil, salt, pepper, tomatoes, and tomato paste and simmer for 40 minutes.  When noodles are done, drain and rinse in cold water.  Mix cheddar cheese and Monterey Jack cheese in a large bowl.  Arrange in greased 9x13 pan in layers, - noodles, meat sauce, cheese.  Repeat layers to fill baking pan.  Top with grated Parmesan cheese.  Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes at 350°.  Let stand 10-15 minutes before serving. 

Blueberry Cheesecake

Cheesecake makes me happy.  All kinds of cheesecake.  But the one that makes me the happiest is the one I grew up with.  I wasn't introduced to New York style cheesecake until I was in high school and while I love that, I sometimes just want the light creamy texture of this cheesecake.  My mom would make this for my Dad's birthday and it was my favorite to dessert to make for a Sunday evening.  I remember asking for it for my birthday, but since I also wanted lasagna my Mom said that would be too much cheese.  Some years I got my wish, others I didn't.  But I don't think I ever stopped trying.  Now that I am in charge of my birthday dinners, we eat both.  You only get one birthday once a year after all.    This cheesecake is refreshing.  It's not as rich as New York style cheesecake so you have to be careful that you don't eat the whole pan.  You obviously don't have to use blueberry pie filling, you can use whatever you prefer.  I go back and forth between blueberry and cherry.  I hope you love it as much as my family does.  A word of advice – do not use Imperial margarine in your crust.  It has too much water in it so it makes your crust soggy...ick.  You can find Dream Whip in the cooking aisle usually on the top shelf above the jell-o.

Blueberry Cheesecake

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 3 minutes
Chilling Time: 2-4 hours
 

Ingredients:

CRUST:
1¼ c. graham cracker crumbs
¼ c. sugar
¼ c. softened margarine
 

FILLING:
2 (8 oz. Each) packages cream cheese, softened

1 c. sugar
2 envelopes Dream Whip
¾ c. milk
2 t. vanilla
Directions: For crust: Mix together the crumbs, ¼ c. sugar and margarine and press in a 9x13 pan.  Bake at 375° for 3 minutes.  Cool.  For filling: Whip the cream cheese with the 1 cup sugar in a large bowl.  In a medium bowl whip the Dream Whip with the ¾ c. milk and vanilla until mixture is stiff.  Mix the Dream Whip with the other mixture and spread over cooled crust.  Refrigerate until set.  Serve with pie filling of your choice. 

Cat Head Biscuits

I know they don't sound very appetizing but believe me they are tender and flaky and huge.  They get their name from the south because someone decided that instead of making a bunch of small biscuits it would be faster to make much larger biscuits, as big as a cat's head.  They only make six but we couldn't eat them   all.  Let them cool a little longer after you take them out of the pan otherwise they'll fall apart all over your plate, which isn't so bad.  I think that I would cook them a little less because I have dark cake pans.  When you're cutting in the butter, use your fingers.  I think the cake flour is a must in order to make these as flaky as possible.

Cat Head Biscuits

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20-25 minutes plus cooling
Yield: 6 biscuits
 

Ingredients:

1½ c. all-purpose flour
1½ c. cake flour
1 T. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
1 t. salt
8 T. (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into ½ -inch pieces and softened
4 T. vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1¼ c. buttermilk (or sour milk)
Directions: Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425°.  Grease 9-inch cake pan.  Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl.  Rub butter and shortening into flour mixture with your fingers until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Stir in buttermilk until combined.  Following the instructions at left, use greased ½-cup measure or large spring-loaded ice cream scoop to transfer 6 heaping portions of dough into prepared pan, placing 5 around pan's perimeter and 1 in center.  Bake until puffed and golden brown, 20-25 minutes.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack.  Serve.  (Biscuits can be stored in airtight container at room temperature for 2 days.)  

This recipe was originally found at www.cookscountry.com 

Fried Green Tomatoes

Confession:  I do not like tomatoes.  Clarification: I do not like fresh tomatoes.  I like pretty much anything made out of  tomatoes however.  So when Greg picked the last of our tomatoes off the vines before the hard freeze he challenged me to find a recipe and make fried green tomatoes.  I wasn't really excited to try them because I have a tiny bit of prejudice towards them.  I don't really like red tomatoes and I thought green ones would be worse.  But I tried them and guess what, I loved them.  They were a little sweet, a little spicy, a little crunchy, a little not.  I had no idea that they would be that tasty but all those Southerners can't be wrong.  The stuff you use to coat the tomatoes with makes a lot and so I dipped my chicken in it and fried that too.  Delicious.  I was also a bit worried about the remoulade sauce that was recommended as a dipping sauce, but it was also very tasty.  I didn't put in the entire ½ teaspoon hot sauce since I wanted it to still be kid friendly.  Think a slightly spicy fry sauce. I hope you like them too.

 

Fried Green Tomatoes

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes for each batch
Yield: 4 servings as a side dish
Family Friendliness: Those that tried it, liked it.
 

Ingredients:

3 medium, firm green tomatoes
Salt
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 T. Cajun seasoning – optional
½ c. milk or buttermilk
1 egg
1/3 c. cornmeal (it was recommended to me to use white cornmeal, which I found at Wal-mart.)
½ c. fine dry bread crumbs
¼ c. peanut oil or other vegetable oil
Directions: Cut unpeeled tomatoes into ½ inch slices.  Sprinkle slices with salt.  Let tomato slices stand for 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, mix the flour and Cajun seasoning in a shallow bowl.  Mix buttermilk and egg in another shallow bowl.  Mix bread crumbs and cornmeal in another shallow bowl.  Heat oil in a skillet on medium heat.  Dip tomato slices in the flour-seasoning mix, then buttermilk-egg mixture, then the cornmeal-bread crumb mix.  In the skillet, fry half of the coated tomato slices at a time, for 3-5 minutes on each side or until brown.  Set the cooked tomatoes on the paper towels to drain.  Serve with remoulade sauce.

Remoulade Sauce

Yield: ¾ cup

¾ c. mayonnaise

1/8 c. mustard (Creole mustard if possible)
½ T. sweet paprika (I used regular paprika)
½ t. to 1 t. Cajun or Creole seasoning
1 t. prepared horseradish
½ t. pickle juice (dill or sweet)
½ t. hot sauce
1 clove of garlic, minced and smashed
Directions: Mix all the ingredients together in a medium bowl.  The remoulade is better if left for a few hours to let the flavors meld.  Keep refrigerated.

This recipe was originally found at www.simplyrecipes.com

French Apple Cake

I really didn't know what to expect when I found this recipe.  It caught my eye because first it would utilize the apples I have on hand.  Second, it has cream cheese in it.  Third, it has a caramel layer.  This came out a little like a pineapple upside down cake, but much better.  It was moist and flavorful and the  optional topping was amazing.  I think you could half the recipe for the topping, but I am going to use the leftovers as a fruit dip.  My husband says to put the topping on the side so you just dip your cake into it.  Ah, a little tip; the recipe says that the sugar and water takes 25 minutes to turn amber.  I burnt the first batch because I cooked it on high and it was done in about 5 minutes and I wasn't watching it.  The second batch I cooked on medium and it still only took a little more than 10 minutes.  Keep an eye on it and don't let it get beyond amber color.  It's not fun to clean up.  Also make sure your cream cheese is truly softened.  Confession:  I usually don't soften my cream cheese.  But for this recipe if it's not soft it won't blend in with the eggs.  Bon Appetit!

French Apple Cake

Prep: 45 minutes
Bake: 35 minutes
Yield: 8 slices

Ingredients:

1½ c. sugar, divided
4 t. water
4 t. lemon juice
3 c. sliced apples (or pears, or peaches)
3 eggs
1 c. butter, melted
4 oz. package cream cheese, cubed and softened
1 c. all-purpose flour
OPTIONAL TOPPING:
1 c. heavy whipping cream
1 tub (8 oz.) Honey Nut Flavor cream cheese spread
¼ c. confectioners' sugar
Directions: In a small heavy skillet, combine ¾ c. sugar and water.  Cook, without stirring, until amber, about 25 minutes.  Stir in lemon juice and quickly pour into 10-inch springform pan, coating bottom.  Arrange apple slices on caramel in circular overlapping pattern.  In a bowl, beat eggs and remaining sugar until blended.  Beat in butter then cream cheese until smooth.  Stir in flour.  Spread over apples.  Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.  Cool 5 minutes.  Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; remove sides of pan.  Invert onto a serving plate.  If topping is desired, beat cream until soft peaks form.  Separately, beat cream cheese spread and confectioners' sugar until smooth.  Gradually fold in whipped cream.  Serve with warm cake.

 (This recipe originally came from a Taste of Home magazine)

Chicken Caesar Wraps

Looking to make dinner in 10 minutes or less?  I have had those days.  So I found this recipe that both my husband and I like.  My kids...not so much but they like the tortillas.  My mother will cook an entire chicken or a bunch of boneless skinless chicken breasts and then shred them and put them in the freezer for future use.  Also you can use precooked bacon.  If you do those two things this recipe is super easy and fast.  Sometimes I leave the croutons out because they are little hard to bite into.  I serve it with a very quick fruit salad (apples, grapes, bananas, strawberry yogurt, honey, and a little dash of cinnamon).  Dinner is done.

Chicken Caesar Wraps

Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: None
Yield: 4 wraps
 

Ingredients:

3 c. shredded romaine lettuce
2 c. chopped cooked chicken
4 slices bacon, cooked, crumbled
¼ c. grated Parmesan cheese
¼ c. croutons
½ c. Caesar dressing
4 flour tortillas (8 inch)
Directions: Place first 5 ingredients in large bowl.  Add dressing; toss lightly.  Spoon onto tortillas; roll up. 

(This originally came from Kraft Food Magazine and the photo is from kraftfoods.com)

Chocolate Toffee Cake

I made this about a month ago and we all really liked it.  Did I mention that I love toffee?  So this cake seemed right up my alley.  There are a few things that I think I will do a little differently when I make this again.  I didn't get the toffee bits and chocolate chips spread through the whole cake it was all at the top, it would be even better if it had, so I am wondering if coating them in flour first might help.  Also I think I cooked it a little too long (I have a dark bundt pan), so watch out for that.  And if I remember right the frosting took a bit longer to cook than the recipe says.  Make sure you let the frosting cool long enough or else all your frosting will be down around the base of your cake.  Otherwise, the flavor of the cake is great and I think it was even better the day after.  A little vanilla ice cream scooped on the side is optional.

Chocolate Toffee Cake

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Bake Time: 55 minutes + cooling
Yield: 12 servings
 

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (8 oz.) milk chocolate English toffee bits
1 c. (6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips
2 T. brown sugar

CAKE:

1 c. butter, softened
1¼ c. packed brown sugar
4 eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
3 c. all-purpose flour
1½ t. baking powder
½ t. salt
½ t. baking soda
1¼ c. buttermilk
 

CARAMEL ICING:
¼ c. butter, cubed

2 t. all-purpose flour
1 can (5 oz.) evaporated milk
1 c. packed brown sugar
Directions: Combine the toffee bits, chips and brown sugar; set aside.  In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition (mixture will appear curdled).  Beat in vanilla.  Combine the flour, baking powder; salt and baking soda; add to the creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition.  Pour a third of the batter into a greased and floured 10-in fluted tube pan.  Sprinkle with a third of toffee mixture.  Repeat layers twice.  Bake at 350° for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack to cool completely.  For icing, in a small saucepan, melt butter.  Stir in flour until smooth; gradually add evaporated milk and brown sugar.  Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 4-5 minutes or until thickened.  Cool.  Drizzle over cake. 

(The recipe and photo came from tasteofhome.com)