Beer Sausages

Hello everybody!!

                                        
I think Jan already did beer brats, but I'd never tried them until a friend gave me some hard cider. If you're not familiar with hard apple cider, it's cider fermented with hops. So, beer with apple juice? It certainly doesn't taste like apple cider OR beer, but it's AMAZING for cooking!
                                                            
Here's one bottle. We were mixing varieties, and they did taste slightly different, but I don't think that was a bad thing.

                                                                
Harvest apple variety. We have quite a few nice microbreweries, and they're all of the western side of the state. I don't like beer and my husband doesn't drink, so we don't really go there... but these places have the best food around. Anyway, here's the second large bottle.  We boiled some standard fresh sausages in the beer for about 15 minutes.

Then we put them on a baking sheet and broiled for about ten minutes, or until nice and crispy. MMMMMMM, they smelled so good!
Now, the ones on the left were boiled in water. Some of my kids refused to eat anything touched by beer. Like I'm raising little Baptists! LOL. The ones on the right are the beer version. (You can tell which have been "drinking".)

 This picture really doesn't do it justice...

 So, while the sausages are broiling, add sliced sweet onions to the beer and boil until soft. These have an amazing flavor!

 We ran out of buns and that was fine with me. They were delicious just by themselves. Too bad we do a meatless Lent because I'll have to wait for Easter to have them again!

So, we also had to make some cakes for a Boy Scout troop meeting. here's Edward frosting "Pluto".

 Elias is a little too close to that cake.

 Finished product!

 And again!

 Edna had to emerge from retirement because the recipe I used was really lumpy (had softened cream cheese that would NOT mix in by hand). She did a great job! We love you Edna!

That's it for now! Be sure to stop by my facebook author pages Mary Jane Hathaway or Virginia Carmichael for all my books news. And have a wonderful Lent!

Baked Sausage Cannelloni

Missy Tippens

I saw this wonderful, ooey, gooey, cheesy recipe on Pinterest and knew I had to make it. So I pinned it to my cooking board. Then when we were discussing our menu for Christmas Day (and my traditional beef roast was axed), I decided to make pasta and went straight to Pinterest.

The recipe for Baked Cannelloni is from Johnsonville (Who else besides me can't say that name without thinking of the old TV commercial where they call all the neighbors-- "Johnsonville braaaats"?). :) You can find the recipe at Johnsonville.com by clicking here.

I'll tell you right now that the recipe was delicious. But it was very time consuming. Probably one that I won't make again for that reason. Of course, part of the reason it felt so tiring was that it was Christmas Day, and I'd been up until 3:30 am getting ready. Then had cooked breakfast, gone to church, and then cooked lunch. So maybe I should give it another chance! If you don't mind all the steps, then be sure to try it. Everyone loved it.

You can find the list of ingredients at the original link. A couple of notes:

--I used 1 package sweet Italian sausage links.

--I could NOT find cannelloni pasta at Kroger or Publix so just bought large shell pasta (I was afraid manicotti tubes would break while stuffing them with meat).
--I only baked for 30 minutes and that was plenty.

I'll share my photos...

Cooking the vegetables.

The sausage before removing from the casings (Oops. I bought store brand without thinking about where the recipe came from!)

Making the béchamel sauce. Which is basically the white gravy that I make (with sausage) for our favorite breakfast food. :) For this recipe, you add cheese. :)

Adding the egg yolks.

The baking dish with some of the béchamel sauce for the first layer.

The shells stuffed with the meat, vegetable and sauce mixture.

And, no big surprise, with the craziness of Christmas Day dinner I forgot to take a photo before we nearly ate the whole pan of pasta! Here's the last little bit with the yummy browned cheese on top.

So, if you don't mind a recipe that takes a good while to prepare, you may want to give this one a try. Enjoy!

www.missytippens.com

Pasta, Sausage, Cream Sauce Thingie

So my guys were gone this weekend, leaving me with some blessed, much-needed, uninterrupted writing time. It's always different when I'm cooking for one and, rather than running out to pick something up, I tend to work with what I have on hand.

For some reason, I've been craving this pasta, sausage, cream sauce dish. I call it that, because I don't know of any other name for it. I just know that it has pasta, sausage and cream sauce. Kind of an Italian dish. Or at least that's the way I recalled it.

I knew what I wanted to have in the dish, but I wasn't sure about the sauce. So, in my infinite wisdom, I went to the Food Network and did a search for--you guessed it--pasta, sausage, cream sauce. And it worked!

Turned out I wasn't that clueless, because all the sauce consisted of was cream and Parmesan. 

I was ready to roll.

First, I had to cook my pasta.

I used Penne, but you can use whatever type of pasta you prefer. Simply cook according to package directions for al dente.

Did you notice their was something missing from the ingredients? 

Yes, this Texas girl has to have some meat.

In this case, sweet Italian turkey sausage. I cooked up two links, let them cool a bit, then sliced.

And since I was going for an Italian flare, I decided I would add some of my homemade pesto, too. You can find that recipe here. 

Okay, so I melted a couple tablespoons of butter in a skillet, then added some diced onion and bell pepper. Stir that around for a few minutes.

Then throw in some garlic and you've got what's known in Cajun world as the holy trinity of cooking.

You know, even if you're not a cook, you could toss this trio on your stove for a bit and everyone would think you're cooking a feast. It smells that good.

Next, I added some sliced mushrooms and let those cook down a bit. 

Oh, and don't forget to add a sprinkle or two of salt and, maybe, the tiniest shake of crushed red pepper flakes to bring things to life.

Stir in your sausage slices.

Add a nice spoonful of pesto.

Give that a stir before adding about a half a cup of cream.

And approximately 1/4 to 1/3 cup of finely grated Parmesan. 

Mix everything together until the sauce begins to thicken, then add your cooked pasta.

Stir again.

And it's time to eat.

This dish may look a little on the bland side, but it is chock full of flavor. (Next time I might add red bell pepper instead of green, just for the color)

Not only did this dish satisfy my craving, I made extra so I'd have enough for lunch the next day.

Good writing time, good food... What more could this mama ask for?

Okay, maybe a longer weekend. :D

If you're used to cooking for others, how do you tend to eat/cook when you're alone?

If cooking for one is your norm, what are some of your favorite dishes?

Mindy Obenhaus lives in Texas with her husband and kids. She's passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner.

When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more at www.MindyObenhaus.com.

Chicken and Sausage Pie..and a Cover Reveal!!!

Think back a couple weeks ago. Do you remember my post for Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pie?

In step one of that recipe, I put in this suggestion:

"While you're at it, roll out the rest of the dough, too. Make a second pie crust shell and roll out the rest of the crust to use for the top of a double crust pie. Put plastic wrap between the layers, cover (I put mine in my Tupperware pie keeper), and freeze. We'll use this crust in a couple weeks. ;)"

Guess what? It's time to use that crust!

Chicken and Sausage Pie

ingredients:

Filling:

1 pound sausage (the bulk breakfast sausage), browned and drained

2 cups cooked and diced chicken

1/4 cup butter

1/2 medium head cabbage, sliced thin (or you can use a packge of cole slaw mix from the grocery store)

1/4 c. onion, sliced

Sauce:

2 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons flour

1 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
salt and pepper to taste

Egg wash:

1 egg, beaten
1-2 Tablespoons water

Did you notice the cabbage is part of this recipe? Yes, I'm on a cabbage kick.

First of all, make sure your pie crust is ready. Take it out of the freezer and let it thaw, or make one from scratch. What you need is an empty 9" or 10" double-crust pie shell ready to go. :)

Now on to the filling. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, for a few minutes or until the onion is soft.

Add the sliced cabbage, a handful at a time, and stir until everything is coated in the melted butter. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the cabbage is soft.

Mix the cabbage, sausage and chicken together in a bowl.

Now make the sauce:

Make a roux out of the butter and flour - i.e., melt the butter in a pan on medium-low heat (I use my 10" non-stick frying pan). Once it is bubbly, gradually whisk in the flour. (I have a silicone whisk that I use just for this job). Let the butter/flour mixture cook for about a minute, without stirring. If it begins to turn brown, turn down the heat!

Gradually add the chicken broth to the roux, whisking as you go. Once the chicken broth is all smooth, add the cream. Now you can turn the heat up to medium and slowly stir the sauce until it starts to thicken. This will take about 5 minutes.

***Cheaters shortcut!!!***

You can also use pre-made chicken gravy in a jar! You'll need enough to equal about 1 to 1 1/2 cups.


Now it's time to make the pie!

Preheat your oven to 425°.

Mix the sauce and cabbage/chicken/sausage mixture together in your bowl, and then pour the filling into your pie shell.

Do you notice that the edges of this pie shell aren't fluted? They will be!

Now lay the top over the filling, centering it as well as you can.

Trim the top crust, and then flute the two crusts together.

Pierce the top crust with the point of a sharp knife in several places. It's fun to see what kind of design you can make!

Brush the egg wash onto the top of the pie using a pastry brush.

Bake in a 425° oven for 25 minutes, or until golden.

See how my egg wash wasn't even? I was in a hurry!

Cool for a few minutes, then cut into eight slices to serve.

Here is my piece, all alone on the plate. Fruit makes a great accompaniment to this meal - you certainly don't want to add anything heavy!

Okay, I promised a cover reveal, and here it is!

This is my September release, the second book in the Journey to Pleasant Prairie series.

It's available for pre-order NOW from Barnes&Noble and Amazon.

And yes, I'm pinching myself! This really is living the dream. :)

Jan Drexler loves her family, her home, cooking and just about anything made by hand. But she loves her Lord most of all.

Stop by Jan's website to learn more about her books: www.JanDrexler.com.

Manly Breakfast Casserole

Today we're talking breakfast. But before we do that, I thought I'd share a couple of gratuitous puppy pictures.
I'm sure you remember Maddie, the puppy we adopted a year ago last Valentine's Day. Well, turns out Maddie is quite the ball player.

I mean this dog loves/lives to play ball.

Ever hear of Air Bud?

Meet Air Maddie.

This is one focused puppy. Pro ballplayers could learn a thing or two from her about keeping their eye on the ball. I've seen her leap four feet off of the ground, twist around and catch the ball.

Uh-mazing.

So last weekend we were at the ranch and, aside from playing ball, I found myself needing to prepare breakfast for 15 hungry men. Since it needed to be ready by 6AM, I immediately thought of breakfast casserole, my go-to dish for holidays and those  mornings when I don't have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen, but still want a stick-to-your-ribs, eggs-and-bacon kind of start to my day.
However, I feared my usual breakfast casserole wasn't going to be enough for these hard working fellows. I needed to take things up a notch. 

As you will see, I made two extra large batches, but I'm giving you the ingredients for a single, regular batch.

Here's what you'll need:

6 slices of bread, cubed

6 eggs

1 lb. of your favorite breakfast sausage

Half a pound of bacon, cooked and coarsely chopped

2 cups whole milk

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 tsp. salt

Pepper to taste

1/2 tsp. ground mustard 

First, you'll need to brown your sausage and cook your bacon. I've found the easiest way to cook up a lot of bacon is to do it in the oven. Place the slices in a single layer on a large foil-covered baking sheet (the foil makes for easy cleanup) and bake in a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. Then I simply drain and chop the bacon before stirring it into the drained sausage.

Next, I mix together my milk, eggs and seasonings.

Sometimes I'll add a dash or two of cayenne for nice little kick. 

Then it's on to the assembly.

Place your cubed bread into a greased pan.

Top with your meat mixture.

And pour the egg mixture over that, making sure to wet everything.

Finally, top it all with cheese.

Cover and place in refrigerator overnight.

When you're ready to bake it, place in a preheated 375 degree oven for 40-45 minutes, or until set. The cheese will be slightly golden and the edges bubbly, even a bit crisp.

But, of course, I forgot to take a pic of the finished product. I just hurriedly covered them with foil and was on my merry way out to the pasture. Because when one has hungry men waiting, there's no time to waste.

Adding bacon to the classic breakfast casserole really ramped up the flavor. Of course, as we all know, everything's better with bacon (sorry, Kav, but it's true), so I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. 

The guys loved it and I was happy to fill their tummies. And on the way back to the camp house, I was treated to a beautiful sunrise.

An experience that was far more pleasant than what happened later in the day. I was picking dewberries, minding my own business, when a red wasp decided to take aim at me.

Stupid little critter nailed me right between the thumb and index finger. Two days later, my hand still looked like this. Next time, I'm taking bug spray.

What's your go-to when making breakfast for a crowd?