Potatoes, Onion & Chesse Au Gratin

Taters, Onions & cheese. Fried Shrimp and Tarter Sauce

We came back from the camp and did not have a whole lot of food in the house, as usual..LOL. I found some taters in the fridge with a bunch of small pieces of different kinds of cheese.  Danny loves cheese and taters so I looked up some recipes and came up with this from a couple of them.

I took 2 1/2 lbs of red taters that I peeled and cut 1/8 inch thick. Put them in a pan with 2 cups of whipping cream and 1 cup of 1/2 and 1/2. The regular milk had gone bad..LOL Glad I had all that other milk in the fridge. I was going to use some pet milk till I dug in the fridge. I added a few bay leaves and let cook for about 15 mins on a low boil. The taters were almost cooked and the cream was good and thick..YUM
I seasoned with black, red & white pepper and some salt.



In a seperate pan, I sliced an onion into 1/4 in slices and cooked them in 2 TBS butter, seasoned with salt, black,red & white pepper. I cooked it on a low fire for about 20 mins.

In a baking pan that I sprayed with pan..LOL. I put 1/2 of the taters and then covered with all of the onions.

I put some cheddar cheese then some asiago cheese then some gruyere cheese.

Then I covered with the rest of the taters and topped with some Parma cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour till browned on top.

I really was soooo good !! Danny put 3 big spoonfulls of the 3 different cheeses and said he liked them all but could not say if one was better than the other. It was too funny cause he kept going back for more saying he was just trying to tell the difference between the cheeses...It is too much fun watching him eat when he really likes something. I can't wait to eat the left overs for supper with some pork chops. I sure it will be even better today : )
 OH...the tarter sauce is just some dill pickles, parsley,garlic in a small food processor and then add it to some mayo and horshradish. Salt and pepper to taste.

Chicken Parmesan

I think I am finally getting Danny to like Italian food !!
We are leaving tomorrow and was going thru the fridge to clean it out and saw that I had a little of the sauce's I made the other day left. I was gonna throw them away and then got busy. I went to walmart and was passing by the meat department and saw some reduced chicken thighs. Well I sure can't pass that up. I got 4 thighs for 2.23. I came home and was gonna freeze them this afternoon but when I put them in the fridge, I saw the sauce : )
I took the skin off and took the bone out and cut them in half.
I took some AP flour, beat 2 eggs with 2 TBS oil and had some panko break crumbs..I put that in the fancy Paula Deen breading set I bought reduced at walmart years ago for 5.00. I glad I got it, I use it all the time.
I added black pepper and salt to all three of them.

I put the chicken in the flour then the egg then the panko. You can use regular bread crumbs too.

I cooked them over med. heat till browned and cook thru.

I drained them on a cooling rack over paper towel, it helps them stay crispy.

I re-heated the Vodka Tomato Cream Sauce and the Roasted Bell Pepper sauce. You can just use some jar sauce if you don't have these.
Put them on a cookie sheet and top with the sauce.

Top with cheese. The round cheese is Provolone and the square is Mozzarella.

Bake at 500 degrees till the cheese is melted and browned. I would have used the broiler but I realised when I went to put it on..the boiler is at the bottom of the oven..like close to the floor..LOL. We just moved into the house so I never noticed.

I had some roasted garlic bread we got a Rouses when we went to the camp so i put on some butter and toasted it up. I DID NOT EAT IT !!!!! When I went to cut it, I saw a little mold on it and of course my Hubby said it was still good and just trimmed it off !!!!
He joked about me buying reduced meat BUT..the meat is still good....Not like moldy bread...YUK !!
Anyway... Danny loved the food. He saw it on the food channel not that long ago and said he wanted to try it.
I said I guess you like Italian food now ?? He said he likes mine...LOL

Home Made Ravioli

OK.. I will start off by saying I have never made ravioli before. I had some crab meat I picked from some crabs I boiled and wanted to try something different. I started looking for recipes and could not decide which one to use so I ended up making 4 different ones. Crazy I know, but they were not really that much work and I was kinda bored anyway. The old saying seafood and cheese don't mix is not always true but I find the raviloi with the chesse filling was not as good as the one with the bechamel sauce. Danny does not like crab too much and of course he did not really like the ones with the crab meat in them.
I used wonton wrappers for the pasta and it worked out great.
 Out of the 4..the plain cheese with the egg yolk and the crab bechamel were the best. The vodka cream sauce was so good and easy to make, I can't wait to buy some frozen raviolis from the store to try with the sauce.

I took 1 cup of ricotta cheese and 1 cup of goat cheese and mixed it with a lil salt, pepper and chopeed parsley.

I divided it in 1/2 and added 1 egg yolk to one bowl. Mario Batali had that in one of his recipes. I find the one with the egg yolk was better than the one with out, it made it creamier.

I added the about 1/2 cup of the crab meat to the one with out the egg yold. After it was cooked, it tasted OK but not as good as the one with the egg yolk and no crab meat.

The next one is kinda from a recipe from Gumbo Pages.com. They have some really good recipes on that web site. That's how we started doing out New Orleans BBQ Shrimp. We tried a few of the recipes from that site and have changed it over the years but it was a great way to learn to cook them.

In a pan, I added 1 TBS butter and 1 TBS of AP flour.

Let cook for a min but do not brown.

I then added about 3/4 cup of heavy cream and let cook for several mins over low fire.

Keep stiring till it gets very thick. I added a little salt and pepper.

In another pan, melt 1 TBS butter and add 2 chopped green onions and let cook.

I was busy and not watching it too good and burned it...LOL !! I had to do it again. I kept a closer eye on it this time.

I crushed up some town house crackers in a zip lock bag and added about 1/4 cup of them to the pan. Don't cook it, just mix it real good.

Mix the butter cracker and crab meat to the cream sauce and mix together.
To me....this one was the best ravioli. It was YUM !! When you broke into the ravioli, the creamy crab oozed out and mixed with the vodka sauce...OMG !! I will be making this again !!

I lined up some wonton sheets and put a lil filling in each one. Then I kinda mashed the filling down with my finger. I brushed with a lil beaten egg and put another wonton sheet on top. They say to make sure you get all the air out cause it will make the ravioli bust open when you boil them.
Because I had 4 different kinds. My Mom gave me a great idea on how to tell the differnce between all of them after they were cooke.
The 1 st batch of ravioli, I just made them and left them that way.
The 2 nd batch I made with a different filling,.I cut off one corner ot the ravioli.
The 3 rd batch with a differnt filling, I cut off 2 corners of the finished ravioli.
The 4 th batch with a different filling, I cut off 3 corners.
I worked out great until I forgot which order I made them..LOL
Glad I took a ton of photos so I could go back and remember which corner missing was from which filling.

I add them to salty boiling water. Everything in the ravioli was cooked so it just had to heat the filling up. Except the one with the egg yolk. When they floated to the top, they were ready. I was lucky cause none of them busted open. I was kinda proud of that...LOL.

Danny laughed cause I had so many different plates for him to taste. He liked the plain cheese and the cheese with the egg yolk the best. I loved the crab bechamel one the best. We both loved the vodka sauce too. The roasted pepper sauce was yummy too !!

It was fun making them. Now he wants me to get a pasta maker to try and make the home made pasta since he loved the sauce so much. At least he is trying new things to eat !!

Vodka Tomato Cream Sauce

I am trying to get Danny to like Italian food so I made this sauce for ravioli and he LOVED it !! I have never cooked with vodka before. It was so easy and really good. It is a recipe is one I kinda changed from Cooks Illustrated, they always have the best recipes.

I took a 28 oz can of whole tomatoes and used a hand blender and made sure it was really smooth. I think next time, I would drain some of the juice out before cause it took longer for the sauce to cook down. The recipe called for diced tomatoes but I only had whole.

In a pot I added 2 TBS of olive oil and 1 TBS chopped garlic. Let cook for a min but don't let the garlic burn.

Add about 1 TBS of chopped sun-dried tomatoes. The recipe did not call for it but I love the lil chewy bits in the sauce, they are so sweet. Let cook for a few mins.

Add 1 TBS of red pepper flakes.1/2 TBS sugar, 1/2 cup of vodka and 1 cup of heavy cream. Cook over low heat till its thick and creamy. It took about 1/2 hour. Next time, if I drain some of the juice from the can tomatoes, it won't take as long.

After it was cooked down, I added some salt.
I put it over some ravioli. YUM !!!
It was fun cooking with vodka. The taste was strong at first but after it cooked down, it was very mellow. I still can't believe Danny loved it so much !! It's cool getting him to try new things. !!

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

I cooked a roasted bell pepper sauce to go on some ravioli. It's from Emeril's recipe but he did not roast the pepper, I thought it would make it taste better. It came out really good. I was suprised how easy it was and how just a few things could make such a good sauce.

I took 1/2 of a pepper and roasted it over the fire on the stove. I used 1/2 cause I did not want to make too much sauce.

You have to keep turning it to make sure its good and black all over.

 Cover with plastic wrap and let steam for about 5 mins to loosen the black skin.

When th skin is loose, peel it off, I find a paper towel helps. They say don't rince it under water cause it takes the taste out of it. I don't know but I don't rince it. LOL

I chopped it up and added it to the pan with 1 cup of 1/2 and 1/2. The recipe said heavy cream but I was out. Let it cook over low fire till it reduces by about 1/2. Just keep stiring so it does not burn.

I put it in a bowl and used a hand blender and it came out really good. I added it back to the pot and added some white & red pepper and salt.

 So simple but so good !!

Spaghetti for Rebekah

 Rebekah has been fussing me for not putting recipes on this blog she set up for me..well, I could not remember how to get on it. I finally called her today and it too almost 20 mins of her walking me thru it over the phone before I finally "got it". I'm so glad she has a baby cause it has taught her patience, that she can now use with me.

Anyway, I was going thru my freezer and saw I had everything to make a speghetti.I don't make a spaghetti too often cause Danny says he does not like it too much. Of course he always eats it..LOL Rebekah's hubby is kinda like Danny, so I was going to make one so I could eat some and give her some for her frezer so when she wants some, it's already made.

Of course it started off small and ended up a huge pot full. It came out really good and Danny ate 2 plates of it !! I teased him about eating so much of something he does not like too much..I told him I think he even go a little sauce on the ceiling from eating it so fast !!

I took some beef short ribs and seasoned them with black,red & white pepper, garlic powder.

  I browned them in some oil over a med. fire.

 When they were browned real good, I took them out and added some onions to the pot with a little water and scrap up all the good stuff at the bottom of the pot. Let the water cook out and let the onions brown real good.

 When the onions are cooked, add the beef ribs back to the pot and almost cover with water and bake in over at 350 for about 1 1/12 hours.

 When they are falling off the bones, take them out of the oven and let cool and take meat off the bones. Save the smothered onions for the spaghette sauce.

 Take some cut up pork (boston butt works the best) and some chicken ( I like dark meat ) and season with black,red & white pepper and garlic powder.

 Brown the pork first in some oil and them add the chicken.

 Let it all brown real good.

 When browned, add some onions and let cook for a few mins.

 Add some bell peppers

 I had some muchrooms so I threw them in too.

 Add one can of tomato paste stir it in reall good

 You can tell its ready when the tomato paste is sticking real good to the bottom of the pot BUT don't do it on too high of a fire cause it burns real easy.

 I added 2 huge jugs of pasta sauce. I usually use one of ragu and one of prego. I don't use the ones with meat.Add a couple of bay leaves and let cook a few mins.

 While the sauce is cooking, start on the meatballs. Mix a few pieces of bread, crust removed and tear it up. Mix with yogurt and let sit a few mins. OR us a little milk or butter milk.

 In a small food processor or hand chop.Onions,garlic and parsley and parma chesse.

 Mix it with some ground beef, eggs,bread crumbs,mashed up bread that was soaked, salt, black,red & white peppers.

 Add the cooked beef to the pot and them add the meatballs. Be very careful cause they fall apart very easy. Use a wooden spoon and kinda push them into the sauce.

Cover pot and bake in the oven at 350 for about 1 hour. Use a wooden spoon and stir it very easy. Put back in the oven and cook for about another hour. You can tell when it really cook, the oil will rise to the top.

Use paper towells to take the grease off. It takes several times to do this but its the best way to get the oil off.

It came out realy good. We ate off of it for a few days and I packed the rest to bring to Rebekah this weekend. Phillip said he wanted some too...I guess thats why I cook TOO much at one time, I know somebody is always hungry !!
 Well Rebekah, if you like it, now you can cook it yourself !!!
LOVE YA !!!!