Red Velvet Wisdom

Today’s Thanksgiving is both good and bad. The good can’t wait til the end….Mom is here and cooking! This is awesome because just a scant few months ago she was told some terrible test results, only to fall and break her shoulder, then to develop an ulcer, then to find out the test results were pretty much wrong.

So, she is here and going not so strong, but cracking the whip on the Thanksgiving menu. My plan was a simple dinner with three sides. Hers:
Turkey (drenched in butter)
Ham
Dressing
Greens
Turnips
Sweet potatoes
Relish Tray
Baked Beans
Sweet Potato Pies
BRead Pudding (from Baby Granny)
Grape Salad
Rolls
Cornbread

It’s a down home soul food Thanksgiving. All items pretty much include bacon in some form or fashion.

Now the bad news.
Boo has been sick. FOUR dr. visits later confirm mono. Again.

Also, Joy and Gavin aren’t able to make it this year. We MISS THEM and their new baby, Ewok. Our brother, Chad, and his wife and family are traveling as well. We are a small but hungry group this year!

But, we are thankful and happy to be eating the best dressing known to this area. None beat it.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

I have recently become an advid pinner on Pinterest, and as such I come across a variety of recipes.  This is one I came across, but I’m changing the ingredients just a tad, plus adding some real life advice.  Some of these chicks who blog at home think they need to be Martha and have everything be perfect, and well that’s just not the case here.  You will need:

• Pancake mix
• at least two eggs–for the pancake mix
• milk–1 Tbsp for the cinnamon sauce and as much as you need for your pancake mixture
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon (the original recipe didn’t use this much, and she’s wrong
• 1 Tbsp melted butter

For the frosting:

• 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 1 Tbsp melted butter
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp milk

Mix your pancake mix according to the directions on the box or according to however you like it.  In a squeeze bottle, mix cinnamon, brown sugar, melted butter, and 1 Tbsp of milk.  Shake it together well.  If it’s too thick, add a little more milk.  I used one of those cheap squeeze bottles from the grocery store.

Pour your batter onto your pan or skillet, and immediately swirl on the cinnamon sauce.

smiley face was not intentional

Now every instruction you will ever see will say wait until it’s bubbly to flip it.  I use my spatula to peek under and as soon as it’s brown I flip it.  And when it’s cooked it will look like this:

Then once you’ve stacked at many as you want (you can’t eat more than two big ones so don’t even try) pour the glaze on it.     The glaze firms up very quickly so use it right when it’s nice and able to be poured out over your pancakes.  However if it gets too cold to pour for some reason just nuke it for 10 seconds and you should be good to go.Then enjoy the meal and the sugar coma to follow.

Well, fall means lots of things, and for me, it means good desserts with tons of cinnamon.  So I decided to make a dessert that tasted like fall, and I think I accomplished it with this. It also combines an easy crust trick that I got from my mom a million years ago that is fool proof.   This may be my most favorite thing I have made in a long time.   My husband says it’s not as good as caramel pie but what does he know.  For this delicious dish full of fall, you will need:

• 6-7 granny smith apples, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2/3 cup of sugar
• 1/3 cup of brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1  1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup of water
• 1 can of 8 flaky layer biscuits, NOT the grand size
• 2 tablespoons of room temperature butter
• lemon juice

ok you don't have to use this brand but use the small size.

Slice your apples, adding dashes of lemon juice as you slice so they don’t get brown.  Then in a large bowl, mix everything but the biscuits and butter.  I just go ahead and use my hands to mix it all together well.  Place the apple mixture in a 13×9 inch baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.  Then slice the butter into several  pats and place them on top of the apple mixture.

Ok, now you’re going to take the biscuits and pull them apart.  Each biscuit pulls into about three layers but if some just do two that’s ok.  Layer them over the top of the apple mixture, and then sprinkle a little more sugar and cinnamon on top. 

Then place it in a 375 degree oven and bake for 30-35 minutes until it is golden brown.  If you can wait about 10 minutes before serving.  The apple mixture will create a delicious carmel-like sauce in the bottom of the pan that can be poured over the cobbler when served.  My only regret is that I didn’t have the brains to stop and get some vanilla ice cream to serve it with.

Try not to eat the whole thing by yourself. But if you do I won't judge.

Some time last week, I must have seen lasagna or something on tv, because out of nowhere I decided I needed to make one.  It’s been a while since I made one, and as I always I decided to peruse the interwebs and see what was out there.  Pretty much all of them had looooooooooooooong lists of ingredients and instructions.  It basically made me tired to read them, because as I have previously mentioned I am pretty lazy when it comes to making big giant recipes.  I quickly realized that the vast majority of the ingredients in these recipes were for the sauce.  They mostly required multiple cans of tomato paste and sauce and canned tomatoes and then 87 different spices then simmering all night and so on and so forth.

So that is how I came to make a really good lasagna using GASP! a jar of spaghetti sauce.  You will need:

• 1 lb of ground beef, 80/20 works really well or you can go leaner if you like
• 1 lb of Italian sausage (Jimmy Dean makes a GREAT Italian sausage and you can find it next to the breakfast stuff)
• 1 large onion chopped
• 12 oz of lasagna noodles, regular or oven ready
• 46 oz jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
• 32 oz ricotta cheese
• 16 oz of mozarella
• 5 oz of grated parmesan
• 2 1/2 cups of shredded Italian cheese mix
• salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder
• hot sauce

In a Dutch oven, brown beef and sausage.  Add 1/2 cup of water to make it easier to ensure that the meats break up nicely.  I despise meat sauce that has random giant hunks of meat so I obsessively mash the meats so they are consistently broken up.  Drain if needed once it’s browned, and then add the onions and let the onions cook with the meat on medium for about 10 minutes on medium.  Then add your sauce, I used this and it was perfect:

don't be a snob, this worked really well.

After you add it, you can let it simmer on low while you boil your noodles if you choose to use regular noodles.  The oven ready noodles work just fine, I just happened to get the regular ones this time.  While you are simmering, add salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and hot sauce to suit your taste.  Remember this is your lasagna.  I love a ton of hot sauce so I put a ton, but you may not want any.  But after a few minutes of simmering and tasting to make sure it’s just how you like it, it should be ready.

At this point you can mix all of your ricotta, half of your shredded Italian cheese, and half of your parmesan (taste the mixture and see if it needs some salt, mine did).  The other halves of the Italian and parmesan will go on the top of the lasagna.  I used an extra deep disposable lasagna pan and I’m glad I did since I don’t think my regular 9×13 could have handled it.  Spray the pan, and layer starting with a layer of meat sauce, cheese mixture, mozarella slices, then noodles and keep going until you have the last of the parmesan and Italian cheeses to layer on the very top.  Spray some foil and make a tent over the lasagna, bakee at 375 for 35 minutes and then remove the foil and bake another ten minutes uncovered.  Remove and try to let it sit for about 15 minutes before serving.  This wasn’t possible with my husband but I did manage to snap a pic before he dug in.

This makes great left overs and since it’s just the two of us I froze a big chunk of it for later.  So even though it has a few steps, it’s still easier than some of the more complicated recipes and it still tastes really good.

At some point last week, my husband overheard somebody say the words “butterscotch pie” on tv.  Well of course this prompted him to ask if I could make one.  Well of course I can, was my response.  Then I started to scour the internet for recipes, and even asked my friend Cathy who is a fantastic baker if she knew any good recipes.  She sent me one that sounded delicious, and all the other ones I found looked delicious, but they had one thing in common………….lots and lots of work.  So I formulated a plan of action to make a no bake one, and crossed my fingers on it not being a total disaster.  First I gathered a few ingredients that I knew would work together.

If you whip together room temperature cream cheese, a can of condensed milk, and 8 oz. of whipped cream, you will get a very good basic pie filling that is pretty much a blank slate and can be made to taste any way you want.  I mixed those ingredients, two small boxes of butterscotch instant pudding powder.  Blended it well, put it into a graham cracker crust, and then I topped it with the other 8 oz of whipped cream that were left after I whipped an entire 16 oz carton. 

Now let me say this….you don’t HAVE to use whipped cream.  You can totally use non-dairy whipped topping.  Just use a small container, and use half for the filling and the other half as the topping.  It really just depends on your preference.   I like both, but I know some people hate the non-dairy topping with a fervent passion. 

Here is the tasty result:

my slicing skills are not spectacular just yet

So to recap ingredients:

• 1 brick of room temperature cream cheese
• 1 can of condensed milk
• 2 small boxes of instant butterscotch pudding powder
• 16 oz of whipped cream, divided in half.

Combine the first three ingredients with half of the cream, then top with the rest when it’s in the pie crust.  I usually put something like this in the fridge for an hour or two just to make sure it sets up well.  This particular pie actually has a pretty firm filling so if you can’t refrigerate it, you would still survive.  I’m sure the other recipes out there are delicious, but here is a quick and easy way to make butterscotch pie that require infinitely less work, which is great for me.