Baked Spaghetti Casserole

This spaghetti casserole is simply delicious!! It is just darn good comfort food. It's like a lasagna, but with spaghetti noodles and it's a kid pleaser. All my kids raved about this one and my littlest, who's 2, had seconds, which speaks highly of it's kid-appeal. Not to say adults won't like this, because I love it, but spaghetti is always a great family meal. This will also feed a crowd, or you can have it 2 days in a row like we did. I got the recipe from the blog Your Home Based Mom, which I get so many good recipes from.

Baked Spaghetti Casserole

1 lb spaghetti noodles
1 lb bulk Italian sausage
1 cup chopped onion
1, 32 oz jar of your favorite meatless spaghetti sauce (I used Prego traditional)
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
2 eggs
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup small curd cottage cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2 cups shredded Italian blend cheese


Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 pan.

Cook spaghetti in boiling water until al dente.

In a large pan brown sausage and onion until cooked through and onion is soft. Drain off fat. Add spaghetti sauce and seasoned salt. Add in basil, oregano, and parsley.

In a large bowl mix together eggs, Parmesan cheese, and melted butter. Mix in cooked spaghetti noodles and stir to coat.

Place half of the noodles in the bottom of baking dish. Top with all of the cottage cheese and half of the other 2 cheeses. Top that with half of the meat sauce. Place remaining noodles on top. Top with remaining meat sauce. Top meat sauce with remaining cheeses. Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake until cheese is melted and golden brown, about 20 more minutes.

Raspberry (or Whatever) Pie with All-Butter Double Crust

This recipe is really all about the crust. You can use any pie filling you like, but what makes this pie crust so decadent, tender, and flaky is the butter. And only butter. Well and a little bit of sour cream too. It is just a great crust. So I totally made this pie with canned pie filling (gasp!), but it was what I had on hand one Sunday afternoon when I felt like making some pie. My family was very grateful for this whim and fought over who got the last piece (I think it was my husband that claimed it). This recipe is from the America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Cookbook - a simply wonderful cookbook with outstanding recipes that always turn out.

Also this recipe is perfect for Valentine's Day!! Nothing says "I love you" like a homemade pie. Your sweetheart will thank me.:)

Raspberry (or Whatever) Pie with All-Butter Double Crust

1/3 cup ice water, + more as needed
3 tablespoons sour cream
2 1/2 cups (12.5 oz) all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar (leave out for savory pies)
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks or 16 tablespoons butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces and frozen for 15 minutes
2 cans raspberry (or any flavor) pie filling, or homemade pie filling

1 egg white
1 tablespoon water
sugar for sprinkling on top

For Pie Crust:
In a food processor, process flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor until combined. Mix together 1/3 cup ice water and sour cream in a small bowl; set aside. Scatter butter pieces over the top of the flour mixture and pulse about 10 times until mixture resembles small peas. Pour half of the sour cream/water mixture over the flour mixture and pulse 3 times. Add remaining sour cream/water mixture and pulse 3 times. Pinch dough together with your fingers; if it feels too loose and dry add another 1-2 tablespoons of ice water. Pulse until the dough forms large clumps - about 3-5 pulses.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and divide into 2 equal pieces. Flatten each piece into a 4-6 inch disk. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for half an hour. (Tightly wrapped dough can be frozen for up to 3 months, just thaw completely before rolling out.)

Pie Assembly:
Preheat oven to 375.

After dough has chilled for 1/2 hour, lay dough on a floured surface and roll dough outward from center into a 12 inch circle, flip dough over and reflour surface one time during rolling and turn dough frequently to avoid sticking. Loosely roll dough over rolling pin, then gently unroll over pie plate. Lift dough and gently press into pie plate, letting excess hang over the pie plate.

Fill dough with filling (2 cans of pie filling is usually the right amount). Repeat rolling out process with other half of the pie dough. If desired, and I always do this, use a small cookie cutter to cut out vents - using a small star cutter I cut out 5 stars in the dough. Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and place on top of filling, letting excess dough hand off pie plate. Use scissors and trim all but 1/2 inch of dough over the hanging edge of the pie plate. Press top and bottom crusts together, then tuck edges underneath and around inside edge of pie plate. Crimp dough evenly around the edge of pie, using you fingers to form a zig-zagging crimp. If you did not cut vents with a cookie cutter, cut vents now with a paring knife - about 8 vents since raspberry pies are juicier, use 4 vents if you're making a drier pie like apple.

In a small bowl mix egg white and 1 tablespoon water. Brush on top of pie and sprinkle with about 2 teaspoons of sugar. Place pie on a foil lined baking sheet and bake at 375 fro about 1 hour or until shiny and golden brown on top and golden on bottom (you'll only be about to see this if you use a glass pie plate). Place on a wire rack and cool for 2 hours. Whew, you're done, but wasn't it worth it!!

Crock Pot Potato Soup

This Crock Pot soup is rich, creamy, and silky smooth. SO good. My family really loved this one and my kids especially appreciated how smooth and creamy it was. This is super fast to throw into the crock pot and then around dinner time you have a rich warm soup for a cold winter night. And it's a cheap dinner too. Pluses all around. Oh and by the way, don't use fat free cream cheese. It just doesn't melt like full fat cream cheese. I got this recipe from somewhere on Pinterest and adapted it to my family's tastes.

Easy Crock Pot Potato Soup

1, 30 oz bag frozen shredded hash browns
3, 14 oz cans of low sodium chicken broth
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1, 8 oz package of cream cheese
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, plus more for topping
1/2 cup cooked and crumbled bacon, plus more for topping

In the crock pot combine hash browns, chicken broth, cream of chicken soups, chopped onion, and pepper. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. About 1 hour before serving add cream cheese and heat until it is fully melted. With an immersion blender, blend until smooth (or you can blend in batches in a blender). Add shredded sharp cheddar and crumbled bacon. Serve individual servings with cheese and bacon on top.

Pumpkin Gingerbread

This is a fun twist to pumpkin bread. It has a little stronger spice taste, like ginger bread, but is still oh so yummy and pumpkiny. I think pumpkin bread is a wonderful treat all winter long, not just during the Fall and holiday season. I got this wonderful recipe from my friend Lynette. Lynette is a wonderful baker who loves to use healthy ingredients when she can. I've included some of her notes if you want to make this bread a little healthier or you can go for the delicious original recipe.

Pumpkin Gingerbread

3 cups sugar (or 1 cup coconut sugar and 2 cups regular sugar)
1 cup vegetable oil (or 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup coconut oil)
4 eggs
2/3 cup water
15 oz can pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons allspice
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (or 2 cups whole white wheat flour, 1 1/2 cup reg flour)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup ground pecans (optional and I left this out, but I'm told this gives the bread wonderful flavor)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans.

In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, oil. and eggs; beat until smooth. Add water and beat until well blended. Beat in pumpkin, ginger, allspice, and cinnamon.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and blend until just all ingredients are mixed. Divide batter between the two loaf pans.

Bake at 350 for about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Crock Pot Swedish Meatballs

One of my family's favorite meals is Swedish Meatballs, aka IKEA dinner. This is a great slow cooker Swedish meatballs recipe and it turned out great! I like to use Armor brand meatballs, but feel free to use whatever frozen meatballs you like the best, even frozen turkey meatballs would be great. I love throwing a meal together in the morning and letting the slow cooker do all the work. I served this over egg noodles with lingonberry preserves on the side.

Crock Pot Swedish Meatballs

2 1/2 lbs frozen meatballs
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can golden mushroom soup
1 can beef broth
1 packet dry brown gravy mix
1/2 cup water

Place meatballs in crock pot. In a bowl, whisk together soups, broth, brown gravy, and water. Pour mixture over meatballs. Cook on low for 6 hours. Serve meatballs and sauce over egg noodles or rice.

One Pan Chicken, Green Beans, and Potatoes

First, I want to start off by saying, wow it's been a long time!! I'm still cooking and trying out new recipes, but during the craziness of Fall and the holidays last year I never got around to posting the new recipes I've been trying out. Stay tuned over the next few weeks as I catch up. We've eaten some yummy stuff lately.:)

So now for this recipe! One Pan Chicken, Green Beans, and Potatoes. I was so surprised by how much my family loved this dinner. I had been seeing this recipe all over Pinterest so I thought I should try it. My family of 6 gobbled this right up; so much so that I think I'm going to have to either double or at least 1 1/2 times this recipe in the future. It is the easiest casserole to throw together and it turns out delicious.

One Pan Chicken, Green Beans, and Potatoes

12 oz green beans (I used frozen whole green beans)
5 chicken breasts, cut into cubes
2 lbs red potatoes, cubed
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 packet zesty Italian dressing mix (the dry mix)
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Layer green beans, chicken, and potatoes side ways in a 9x13 (or the next size larger baking dish). Pour butter evenly over all. Sprinkle with Italian dressing mix. Bake, uncovered, for 1 hour. Sprinkle finished dish with more salt and pepper to taste.

Disneyland Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

We recently got back from a family vacation to Southern California. It was amazing. We had great times with extended family, beach times, and of course Disneyland times. When I was little I lived close enough to Disneyland to see the fireworks at night. Great childhood memories. So I absolutely love Disneyland and think it really is the happiest place on earth - at least to me - and also one of the best places to eat on earth. Oh Disneyland eats!! One of my very favorite things to eat is gumbo in New Orleans Square. There are a few different places to get gumbo and on this last trip we fulfilled one of my childhood dreams and ate at the Blue Bayou - the restaurant inside Pirates of the Caribbean - and got gumbo. Heavenly gumbo. I don't know what it is, but that gumbo was so good that as soon as we were leaving I wrote a note to myself on my phone to try and recreate it as soon as we got home. 

So here it is. I looked all over the internet for a good copy cat recipe and in the end put together a couple of recipes and adapted them to make it as much like Disneyland gumbo as possible. I think it really turned out. My whole family loved it and oohed and aahed over how much it tasted like the gumbo we all had at the Blue Bayou. Well here is the recipe and I hope you love it as much as I do. BTW, this makes a big pot of gumbo. Enough for my family of 6 to freeze half for another dinner. If you have a smaller family or do not have a big stock pot to make it in, cut it in half. And don't let making the dark roux scare you, it is what makes this recipe authentic, thick, and flavorful.

Disneyland Chicken and Sausage Gumbo (Copy Cat Recipe)

Dark Roux:

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup flour

10 cups chicken stock

Other Ingredients:

3 tablespoons canola oil

2 large yellow onions, chopped

12 oz package frozen okra (find in frozen section of most grocery stores)

1 complete bunch of celery, including leaves in center, chopped

10 oz package frozen chopped green peppers

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons butter

1 lb andouille sausage (I used Johnsonville), cut into quarters lengthwise, then sliced

5-6 cups cooked chicken, cut into large cubes (I used rotisserie chicken)

6 oz can tomato paste

28 oz can petite diced tomatoes

28 oz can regular diced tomatoes

1 1/2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning

1 tablespoon Creole seasoning

1/2 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon Gumbo File seasoning (I found this near the seafood counter - it's used in crab boils as well as gumbo)

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1/2 cup Ultra Gel (I used this to thicken it up even more, but you don't have to use this)

For Serving:

1 package Zataran's Dirty Rice mix, prepared with just water and oil (not ground beef)

Directions:

Lets start out by making the roux. Now don't be afraid, but we are going to let this roux get pretty dark. In a large saucepan melt the butter. Add the flour and whisk. Cook on medium high heat, whisking, until the mixture begins to brown. Continue cooking and whisking until the roux becomes the color of dark caramel - you want it to look somewhere between dark caramel and chocolate. Once the roux is done add the 10 cups of chicken stock and whisk well until combined. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large stock pot add about 2 tablespoons of canola oil. Add the onions and saute until onions are soft. Add frozen okra and cook until okra begins to break down and is soft. Add celery, frozen green peppers, and garlic and cook until all the vegetables are soft. You may need to add another tablespoon of oil to keep the vegetables from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Once tender add the roux/chicken stock mixture to the stock pot with vegetables. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer while you do the next step.

In a skillet (or you could clean out the saucepan you used for the roux) melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add your sliced andouille sausage and cook until just browned. Add to the stock pot. 

Add chicken, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, and all of the seasonings to the stock pot. Bring to a boil. Add the Ultra Gel if you are using it (if not leave it out and it will be fine). Turn down the heat and let the soup simmer for about 30 minutes. You need to babysit the gumbo and stir it around to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom. When ready to serve, place soup in a bowl and top with about 1/4 cup prepared dirty rice. Enjoy!

Here's a picture of the heavenly gumbo I was trying to recreate. This is from the Royal Street Veranda counter service restaurant in a little corner of New Orleans Square (it has a big banner that says "Try Our Gumbo"). I might just get some sourdough bread bowls from Panera next time I make this gumbo to serve it like this. Doesn't it look good?! 

At the Blue Bayou it's served as an appetizer in a bowl with rice on top like this:

And yes we did try the non-alcoholic mint juleps as well, but most of my kids thought it tasted like cough syrup and went for lemonade instead. If you ever get the chance, eating at the Blue Bayou is a neat experience. No matter what though, if you go to Disneyland try some gumbo from somewhere!