Memorial Day

In what should be for all Americans, a reverent day, I celebrated a blessed day free from work. My offering to the family on this day was my semi-famous Italian sausage, an example of humble ingredients transformed by skill, nay artistry into a culinary delight. Okay, never mind that BS, this is a really easy, albeit time consuming way to wow your holiday guests.
Start out by dusting off your crock pot, and throw 2 huge sliced onions into it. Then add 2 green and 2 red peppers, sliced nicely, and a bit of garlic. For moisture you should put in a big can of crushed tomatoes, and some diced ones as well. What really amps this up is about a half a jar of salsa of your choice. Put in some pepper, a bit of Italian seasoning if available, toss in a three pound box of Italian sausage and cook on low for 4 or 5 hours. This is a summer dish, and you still need to use your grill. Slip the babies out of the sauce, and grill them until they are golden brown and bubbly inside, then put them back into the pot. After a half hour or so they will be done, leaving the grill open for burgers or whatever. Service is easy, just drop into a bun, and ladle the peppers and onions on top. These babies will melt in your mouth!

Spring enough for burgers

I pulled the grill out of the garage today, and burned out the cobwebs with a big dose of hickory chips. Hope the neighbors enjoyed the spicy wood smell. Then we made our first cheeseburgers of the year. YAY!

Chili

We did our shopping on Saturday, and some hamburger we bought needed to be cooked before it turned into another life-form. I thought chili would be an easy way to use it up, and give me an excuse to open a bottle of beer. First I browned a pound of meat with some onion and added the ingredients shown in the picture.

Just not all of the liquid right away, some of that was for me! Now all that was starting to bubble and it was time to put in some seasoning. The only measurement I'll give you is to start with about 2 tablespoons of chili powder, everything else is to taste.

That's pretty much it, I didn't need salt because of the chicken broth and the only other thing in there is a little bit of corn flour for thickening. We had it with some cheese and skillet cornbread on the side.

Bagel french toast

We didn't have any regular bread in the house. There's always Hunger Filler in the freezer, but no soft squishy stuff. I found a package of big soft wheat bagels though, and after an extra long soak in the milky egg mixture we browned them in a frypan before baking them in the oven for 20 minutes. The thing that made them jump from tasty to incredible was a little spoonful of cream cheese in the center of each puffy treat.

Three Mile Island Dressing

The first post here with absolutely no measuring! This saves our salads when we run out of Newman's ranch. It is also great on cheeseburgers.

Put some mayonaise in a bowl.
Add some relish, sweet or dill, we use our homemade pepper relish!
Wisk in chili sauce (ketchup will do) until it looks like thous.. wait, Meeelion island dressing, or you could go by taste.
That's it, and you'll find it to be much better than the bottled kind.

Goldie's Lasagna

This is Mom's recipe, and there's nothing more satisfying than an oozing cube of steaming, cheesy lasagna. Even though there's a bit of work involved, anyone can produce a delicious italian feast.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
1 large can tomatos
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 envelope spagetti sauce mix
2 eggs beaten together with 2 cups cottage cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons basil
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon oregano
8 ounces lasagna noodles
1 pound sliced mozzarella cheese
parmesan cheese
Spinach option, see below...

Preheat the oven to 350. Brown and drain the meat, then add the tomatos, sauce, sauce mix, garlic and spices. Bring this to a boil, and then simmer for 45 minutes. Now boil the noodles, rinse and cool them in the pan in which they were cooked. They can sit for a while in cold water. Assemble your masterpiece in a 9x13 inch pan. First coat the bottom of the pan with a bit of the sauce, then in order, layer noodles, sauce, cottage cheese mixture, parmesan, and mozzarella. You should get 2 or 3 layers, depending on the pan. Top with parmesan cheese. Bake this for 30 minutes or so, then take out and let sit for 15 minutes before serving.

If you would rather not use ground beef there is an option as well. Thaw a package of frozen spinach, place in a clean old cloth and squeeze out as much moisture as you can, then chop into little bits. Mix the spinach in with the cottage cheese mixture and assemble as before.

Tater Tot Rot

This dish is tres easy but does need to bake for a longish time, underdone tots are not very tasty.

Ingredients:
1 pound hamburger
1 onion, chopped
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 bag of tater tots
1/3 cup milk

Brown the burger with the chopped onion, when it's cooked through, drain and put into a glass or metal dish that's big enough to hold the meat plus a layer of tasty tots.
Press the meat down in the dish to make a smooth surface, and cover with an even layer of tater tots. Just one tot deep is perfect, make a design if you're nuts.
Mix the soup and the milk in a small bowl, this is just to make the soup thin enough to soak in between the taters and form a layer over the meat. Pour the soup mix over the tots, and spread it out like frosting on a cake.
Put in the oven at 350 degrees for about an hour, when the top should be brown and bubblicious.
Some folks like to put a layer of green beans in their rot, but that's just wrong. Beans are for the side.