Happy Lasagna

For Christmas the wifey asked for The Happy Cookbook by Steve and Kathy Doocy. We really hadn't been cooking that many new things lately so that's part of the reason I haven't been posting, but with the new cookbook I thought it was time to get back to both. First up is what's called "Engagement Lasagna".

I'm obviously out of practice of taking pictures for posts since I didn't do a full ingredients picture, but we'll just have to explain on the way through.

Preheat the oven to 350.

In a skillet add EVOO, garlic, and diced onion. The recipe calls for an entire onion I believe, but I only went with half. I may have also intentionally not cleaned out all of the bacon fat from breakfast. Cook on medium-high head until the onions are cooked (translucent).

Once the onions are done they go into a stockpot (see below), and the sausage and beef goes into the skillet to cook.

In the stockpot add 4 more cloves of garlic, tomato paste, red wine, basil, can of crushed tomatoes, tablespoon of sugar and Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper.

Add the yummy delicious meat, stir, bring to a boil, and then reduce heat and let simmer for 30 minutes.

In a separate bowl combine ricotta, Parmesan, parsley, mozzarella, salt, and a quarter of the meat sauce.

Start with a light base layer of sauce on the bottom before adding a layer of noodles. Then spread meat sauce and top with ricotta mixture before adding another layer of noodle. Repeat and top the final layer of noodles with mozzarella.

Cover with a sheet of tin foil and bake for 45 minutes.

Let it sit for 10 minutes, and then chow down.

We made our Mexican Lasagna for years now, but I believe this is the first time I've ever made real lasagna. Heck, it may be the first time I've ever eaten real lasagna. I do know one thing, it won't be the last. This stuff was good. 

Bourbon & Cherry Giant Pigs In A Blanket

A few weeks back we made a trip down to Charleston to see Garth Brooks, and while we were there we visited the local Farmers Market. We're lucky enough that during warm weather seasons it's just outside of our hotel ... literally, you walk out of the side door and within 15 feet, you're in the back of someone's tent.

The last few times we've been, we've said that we should bring a cooler, but of course, we forget every time. Well, not this time my friends (although I did didn't get the size cooler I wanted). We were originally looking for Rio Bertolini, who makes the best pasta you can find, but I demanded that while we were there we had to look for Meathouse Butcher too. We first fell in love with Rio Bertolini when we picked up a few boxes of ravioli when they came up to Greenville's farmers market. Meathouse Butcher has been at the Charleston farmers market every time we go, but again ... never had a cooler to bring it home in.

We pulled up to the farmers market and the very first 2 booths were Meathouse Butcher and Rio Bertolini. I'm 99% sure that as we pulled into the drive we each heard angels sing AAAAHHHHHHHHH!

We walked away with 3 boxes of ravioli from Rio Bertolini, a pack of Jalapeno-Hickory Bacon, a pack of Boudin Sausage, and a pack of their Bourbon & Cherry Pork Sausage.

We had been debating on what to actually do with the sausages, but then we were watching American Diner Revival one night and Amanda Freitag made a pig in the blanket with a full sausage link for one of the diners. As were were watching it, we both turned and looked at each other and said, "oooh that's what we can do with the Bourbon & Cherry sausage!"

So here we are ... a Bourbon & Cherry Giant Pig in a Blanket.

We took the 2 full sausage links.

Seared them in a cast iron pan.

Kind of use the technique of doing a wellington, and put them in the fridge for a few minutes. Once they were out, we rolled them up in puff pastries. We cut the excess off and pressed the extra pieces together for pig #2. No need in using 2 sheets and wasting the excess.

Rolled them up and placed them on a baking pan.

Rubbed the top with some melted butter, then added onion powder, garlic powder, parsley, basil, chives, and smoked pepper. Then put it in a preheated over at 400 for 20 minutes (we originally did 15, but then put them back in for another 5 to finish up).

Once they came out ... pure amazingness ...

I'm so good, I actually made my cut right on one of the real cherries.

We're debating if we can talk Rio Bertonlini's people into bringing up some Meathouse sausage when they visit the Greenville fresh market this Summer. I will DEFINITELY be taking a larger cooler when we visit Charleston again, and we will DEFINITELY be making these again.

Peanut Butter Dog Bone Treats

Yes, you read that right. Rhett is now so spoiled that we make him special treats and I'm posting the recipes on my blog. For those out there that aren't dog lovers, I'm sorry. For those out there that are dog lovers ... I'm really not sorry, and you're welcome.

2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oats
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
1 cup room temperature creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup grated Parmesan

Be careful with the peanut butter, there's a lot of changes being made to peanut butter that's making it not safe for pets. Check yours to make sure that it doesn't include Xylitol.

Preheat your oven to 375. Combine the flour, oats and baking powder, and then stir in the broth and peanut butter until it turns into a dough.

Lightly flour your work surface and knead the dough for 30 seconds until it's smooth. Roll the dough out till it's about 1/2 inch thick, and cut your cookies out.

Place the bones onto a baking sheet with cooking spray or parchment paper, and sprinkle the Parmesan on top.

Bake for 20 minutes or until light brown. Transfer to a wire rack so they can cool off, and then make your little guy or girl love you even more.

Drunk Banana French Toast

For the New Year, I felt like we needed a breakfast that'd help numb that hangover everyone has today.

We have brioche french toast with a loaded banana sauce.

Whisk together 3 large eggs, 4 large egg yolks, and 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar until it's smooth.

Then whisk in a cup of milk, half cup of heavy cream, and 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and vanilla extract.

Make 1/2 inch thick slices of your bread. Notice my fancy new ceramic knife I got for Christmas.

To cook the french toast, melt 2 tablespoons of butter with 2 tablespoons of canola oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Once melted, place your bread into the batter on both sides until it's soaked. Then move the bread to the saute pan and cook for about 2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.

(If you need to keep some slices warm, put them on a baking sheet in your oven at 250 degree)

The sauce is really easy, and can be done at the same time as the toast.

First, melt 4 tablespoons of butter over high heat. Once it is melted, whisk in 1 cup of light brown sugar and  a pinch of ground cinnamon until the sugar has melted and it has thickened, approximately 5 minutes.

Add 2 sliced ripe bananas and cook until slightly softened ... a minute.

Remove from the heat and add 2 tablespoons of banana liqueur and 1/2 cup of dark rum or whisky if you don't have rum (mini bottles work as perfect substitutions). Add the sauce back to the heat for about 2 more minutes (your choice) to cook the alcohol off.

This was sweet, but the alcohol helped cut the sweetness and give you that kick to get your day going.

New York Strips with Tequila-Chipotle Butter Sauce and Loaded Smashed Potatoes

Checked out the BBQ-Brethern Thursday to see if there were any throwdowns that were interesting and would give me some ideas for dinners. I saw that the Steak and Potatoes throwdown was expiring on Monday, so did some searches and found a couple of new recipes to give a shot.

The first thing to do is to make the tequila-chipotle butter. To do this take 1/2 cup of unsalted butter, 1/8 cup of parsley, 1/2 banana pepper seeded, 1 tablespoons of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, 1 tablespoons of silver tequila, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of brown sugar.

All all of the ingredients into a blender and puree until smooth.

Lay out a sheet of plastic wrap and place the butter in the middle and roll tightly creating a log. Once it's rolled and the wrap is sealed, place the log in the freezer while you're making the rest. If you want to make this the night before, you can just put this straight in the fridge.

For the loaded smashed potatoes, I cooked an entire pack of bacon (ended up not needing that much, so I just ate the extra bacon while I was grilling the steaks). Then sliced and boiled 12 small red potatoes till three quarters done. Brush the potatoes with olive oil and place them in a baking dish and bake in a 425 degree over until fully cooked. Once ready, smash the potatoes and top with crumbled bacon, fried onions, and cheese. Throw it all back in the oven for about 5 more minutes to melt the cheese. Add a little sour cream and chives on top.

Grill the steak to perfection and create some sexy grill marks.

Every now and then I got a hit of spice from the butter, but it was absolutely delicious. We will definitely be saving the butter for steaks in the future.

Apple Cinnamon French Toast Casserole

Nothing starts a great Mother's day off, like not having to cook breakfast first thing in the morning. So, how about a dish that you prepare the night before, instead? 

Peel and finely slice seven apples and cook them in a pot for 5 minutes on Medium-High heat. You can decide on how many apples you'd like to use. Seven seems to be the magic number for us. Anything less, and you're mostly eating bread.

While that's cooking, mix 3/4 cups of packed brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 2 tablespoons of water.  (We like to add a little ginger and nutmeg in too.)

Add the mixture to the apples and continue cooking for 10 more minutes.

While the apples are cooking, slice the bread in one inch slices.

Line the bottom of a 13x9 pan with the apples.

Then layer on the bread pieces.

In a mixing bowl, beat 4 eggs before adding 1 1/4 cups of milk and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

Once that's whisked together, evenly distribute to the top.

Cover and place into the fridge overnight.

The next morning, take the casserole out of the fridge and let sit while you preheat the over to 375. Once the oven is preheated, place the covered casserole into the oven for 35 minutes.

Remove the casserole once it's cooked, and let rest for 5 minutes.

This will make 4-6 servings, so on top of an easy morning and a delicious breakfast, you have leftovers.  Can be served alone or with maple syrup.