Tomato Pie

 

4 large tomatoes or equivalent volume of smaller tomatoes (about 2 to 2 1/2 cups peeled and sliced)
1 sweet onion
1/8 to 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1 c grated cheddar cheese (I used Colby/Monterey Jack cheese)
1 c grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 c grated sharp cheddar, or other strongly flavored cheese
1 c mayo
salt and pepper to taste
1 pre-baked 9inch pie crust (deep dish, if available)


1) If making the crust from scratch you can bake it while you do the following 3 steps. Be sure to apply a glaze to the crust so that it doesn't get soggy during the second baking. Otherwise, preheat a store-bought crust in a 350 degree oven for around 10 min just before adding the filling.

2) Peel and slice the tomatoes. Tomatoes can be easily peeled by scoring the ends with an "x" then plunging them into boiling water (eg, with a slotted spoon) for a few seconds. The skins should then come off easily by hand.

3)Slice the onions and quarter each slice so that there are chunks of onion no longer than a couple of inches (the fastest way to do this is to quarter the onion along the root axis and then slice across the quarter cuts)

4) Stir approximately 1/2 of the grated cheeses and all of the chopped basil into the mayonnaise.  Season with salt and pepper if needed.

5) Layer the filling in two levels: cover the bottom of the warm pie crust with tomato slices and sprinkle lightly with salt, then add half of the onions and half the remaining grated cheese. Spread half of the mayonnaise mixture evenly over the top. Repeat for the second layer. If desired, reserve a few of the best looking tomato slices to decorate the top.

6) Cook at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for around 35 minutes or until the filling seems set and the top mayo/cheese layer is browning noticeably

Italian Meatloaf

Give it a chance! I generally don't like meatloaf, but I LOVE this one!!

2 lbs lean ground beef (or 1/2 ground beef/1/2 ground turkey)
1/3 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 lb sausage
2 - 3 cups FRESH whole basil leaves
2 c. breadcrumbs
1 med onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 T dried oregano
1 teas ground black pepper
3 large eggs
2 cups of your favorite Marinara sauce, divided
Garnish:
Mozzarella slices
10 small basil leaves
Optional: 1 c. chopped, drained, rinsed oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Mash all meats and shredded cheese in large bowl. Saute the onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil til the onions are translucent.  Add the remaining ingredients to the meat mixture-- mash between every few ingredient to get a thorough mix. Mix 3/4 cup of the Marinara into the meat mixture. Shape into a loaf.  Place into 3 loaf pans. Brush the tops of the loaves with remaining Marinara. Bake meatloaf until cooked through (about 160 - 170F). Check at 65 minutes.
Serve meatloaf hot, with a slice of mozzarella melted on its side. Garnish with a leaf of basil.

artichoke chicken

1 (15 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed, dried and chopped
3/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 c mayonnaise
1/2 c sour cream
1 t lemon pepper
dash garlic powder
skinless chicken breasts
2 T parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, mix together the artichoke hearts, Parmesan cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon pepper, and garlic powder. Place enough chicken to fill a greased 9 x 13 baking dish, and cover evenly with artichoke mixture.

Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until chicken is no longer pink in the center and juices run clear.

Note:  I made this for our anniversary dinner and served it with the tri-color rotini pasta.  I also made the caprese recipe available on this site with toasted french bread.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Whole Chicken

3 1/2 qts Water, or enough to cover chicken

1 Onion, peeled, quartered, and sliced

2 t. Italian seasoning

2 t garlic powder
1 1/2 t. lemon pepper seasoning
3 bouillon cubes
salt and pepper to taste



Add all ingredients to a big pot. Cook until chicken is tender. Remove chicken from pot and set aside to cool.

Remove and throw away onion. When chicken is cool, pick all chicken off the bones. Throw the bones away. Set chicken aside.

Next ingredients:

2 cups sliced carrots (about 4 regular carrots)
2 cups sliced celery with leafy tops (about 4 also)
3 cups uncooked egg noodles
salt and pepper to taste (if needed)

Bring stock back to a boil, add carrots and cook for 3 minutes.

Add celery and cook about 6 minutes.

Add egg noodles and cook according to package.

Add chicken and cook 2 more minutes.

Add salt and pepper if needed.

Note:  When I made this today, after adding the carrots and celery I added the chicken back in.  Then I took out half of the soup (about 8 cups) to cool so I can put it in jars and freeze it for future use.  When I make this soup we eat it for a few days, I give some away, and we still have a lot left over.  I've tried to freeze it with all of it put together, but the noodles don't unthaw well.  So this time I decided to freeze it before the noodle stage.  I can add those when I unthaw it later.

Creme Brulee ... Pear, too.

My all time favorite dessert...

1 vanilla bean
4 c. heavy cream
6 egg yolks
1/2 c. superfine sugar
3 T. almond extract
1/3 c. brown sugar (not shown in pictures)

Preheat the oven to 350. Place 6 (1/2 c.) ramekins in a roasting pan and set aside. With a small, sharp knife, split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the black seeds into a medium saucepan (put the remainder of the whole bean in as well). Add the cream and bring just to a boil over medium heat, stirring. Remove from heat and cover with plastic wrap. Set aside for 15-20 minutes. Remove the bean.
In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks, superfine sugar and liqueur, if using, until well blended. Whisk in the hot cream. Pour into the ramekins.
Pour enough boiling water into the roasting pan (to make a water bath for the ramekins) to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover the pan with foil and bake for about 30 minutes, until the custards are just set. Remove ramekins from the pan and let cool. Drain pan. Return to the dry roasting pan and chill.
Sprinkle the brown sugar on top of each of the brulees. Using a propane kitchen torch, caramelize the sugar. (Careful not to burn yourself or the sugar!) Let sit for a few minutes to harden.

Options:
Don't run to the store option: Use 3T of vanilla extract. The better quality vanilla extract, the better it will taste.... Superfine sugar isn't a necessity--just make sure you whisk the egg/sugar mixture very, very well! Don't have a torch? Just preheat the broiler. Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the custard and broil for 30-60 seconds until the sugar melts and caramelizes. (Do not let the sugar burn or the custard curdle) Place in fridge to set the crust and chill completely.

Pear Brulee:
10 pieces of dried pear
Tear 7 of the pieces of pear into small pieces. Tear the remaining 3 pieces in half to get 6 halves. Set the halves in the bottom of the ramekins. Set aside. After bringing the creme to a boil, add these small pieces. Cover and set aside for 20 minutes. Remove vanilla bean, but leave the pieces of pear. Follow the above directions, but the almond extract is left out or reduced to 1 T. Pour the finished mixture over the pear halves and follow the rest of the above directions. Very yummy.

Slow cook: My recipe book calls for 300 degrees, but we have to cook it for about 50 minutes. We tried the 350 last time and it turned out great...

Kids snack mix

Around Christmas time, my aunt makes Chex Mix (with Crispex now though).  She does a regular flavor and a spicy flavor.  I always love it, but never make it for myself.  My daughter was looking through a cookbook we got from the library and she pointed to a recipe and said, "Can we have chex mix?"  It is a great recipe that doesn't involve the oven, so my 4 year old did the whole recipe by herself.

6 cups rice/corn cereal (we used the Walmart brand and it tasted just the same as the brand name)
3 cups pretzles
1 10 oz package oyster/soup crackers
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 package dry Ranch seasoning mix

When we made it, I halved the recipe thinking that it would be too much, but after putting it in our container it wasn't that much.  So next time I'm going to make the full amount.  Also, I added some of my dry Italian seasoning mix to it to give it extra flavor and it was tasty.  It'd been a hit all week.  The great part is that it's a basic recipe that you can change for your family.  I'm going to put some slivered almonds in next time because we like those.

Hawaiin Haystacks

This is a tasty dish that I learned during my college years.  We had a social get together on Friday called Friday Forum where we had a nice lunch  for $1 (very in a college student budget).  I thought it was a little weird the first time I heard about it, but it was tasted great.  I didn't have it again for years.  My husband loves it (just this week asked for it for his birthday lunch) and its good because you can adapt the toppings to fit different 'tastebuds'.  You can put basically whatever you like on top.  It's also a nice meal to make if you are having company because you can feed lots of people for not much money.

Recipe for 2 adults and 2 children.  You can double or triple the sauce and rice for more.

1 1/2 cups uncooked rice
3 c water
6 chicken tenders, cooked then shredded or cubed.
1 can cream of chicken soup
chicken broth
pepper to taste

Cook the rice in water for amount of time on bag of rice.
For the sauce, mix the soup and half of a can of broth (or water when you are done with cooking chicken). Heat and add as much pepper as desired.  Add chicken.

Serve rice onto plate, top with sauce/chicken mixture.  Then add the toppings of your choice.

When I have all day, I will put the raw chicken into the crockpot and top with soup and broth. Cook on low for 4-6 hours (longer if you will be using breasts instead of tenders). The chicken is so tender it just falls apart when you go to shred it.


topping ideas:
pineapple tidbits
green onions, sliced
grated cheese
crunchy chow mein noodles
chopped tomatoes
chopped mushrooms
black olives, sliced
slivered almonds