Keto sausage bake

Keto Sausage Bake

 Ingredients:
1 lb Beef smoked sausage
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 bell pepper (I used red)
15 baby carrots cut in 4ths length wise
1/2 red onion diced or chopped
2 TBSP Montreal steak seasoning
Avacado oil or olive oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Cut the sausage, zucchini, squash, bell peppers in about 1 inch pieces. Place in a gallon size plastic bag or large bowl. Add all ingredients to bag or bowl. Shake or stir well. You can line with foil or parchment if you choose, I lined mine with foil to help with easier cleanup Spread out in even layer on jelly roll pan. (Cookie sheet with sides). Spread ingredients on pan into a single layer. Place pan in preheated oven. Set timer for 30 min, flip ingredients or stir ingredients half way through. Serve warm. We eat it this way, but you can add a side of salad, rice, mashed potatoes or garlic bread. Enjoy!

Sausage Egg Rolls

Fried Sausage Egg Rolls

Baked Sausage Egg Rolls

Sausage Egg Rolls

These egg rolls are super yummy whether fried or baked. Someone from our church gave me this recipe and I have loved it ever since. I have made this recipe so frequently that I no longer need the recipe. I have made these egg rolls with salad shrimp as well, just exchanging the sausage for salad shrimp. This recipe is doubled. I feed 3 Huge boys, myself and husband. We love these so much I freeze some and cook later. The freezer ones are better baked. As the outer wrapper gets soggy and won't fry well. If you can tell me how to freeze them where the outer coating doesn't get soggy when thawed... I would love you forever! well, maybe not forever but would definitely give a shout out!  Anyways, I just love these. They fry up nicely and bake nicely. As you can tell from the pictures. This is another of my loves for cheap takeout at home. I love asian cuisine but don't have the money to go out to eat much. These are so perfect! 

Ingredients:

1-2 onions diced (depending on size)

1 head of cabbage diced/sliced

6-9 carrots grated, or finely jullianed (the more carrots the better)

1 bag Mung Bean sprouts, drained (Sam Sung brand)

2 Tbsp Black pepper

2 lbs ground sausage/pork (raw), or salad shrimp (thawed and drained)

2 pkg egg roll wrappers (Wei-chuan spring roll shells)

Vegetable Oil for frying or Non-stick PAM for baking

Directions:

Mix onions, cabbage, carrots, bean sprouts, black pepper, and protein (sausage or shrimp) in a large bowl. (might need to get your hands dirty) Make sure ingredients are dry ingredients. (well except for the sausage). If ingredients are wet dry in towels or in oven. When rolling these follow directions on the wrapper. Usually 2 Tbsp of filling is enough per roll. Don't over fill. Once you have wrappers filled, and ready to go...

Frying:
Heat oil to 450F, fry until golden brown on both sides. I use an electric skillet to fry and only use about 1 inch of oil. you don't want them floating, they need to rest on the bottom and oil needs to come to about half way up the side of the egg roll.  So you can easily flip them and they stay put.

Baking:
Preheat oven 450F, spray bottom or cookie sheet/jelly roll pan with non-stick spray (PAM). Place egg rolls on cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. Then once egg rolls are placed on cookie sheet, spray egg rolls with cooking spray. Then place in oven for 15-20 min until brown. (check center of largest roll to make sure sausage is completely cooked.)

Enjoy! These are tasty with some Sweet chili sauce! I also find that at my International Grocer (Food Maxx)...

My family loves these and eat them all up! I've tried freezing them so I can stretch them out. I have frozen them all put together, but in the future I may just bag the filling and then thaw when ready to use with the wrappers. But either way, these are a HIT! I hope you enjoy them. We LOVE Them!!! :)

Red Beans and Rice

Tonights dinner comes mostly from a Rachel Ray magazine that I get. I was looking through my latest copy and saw this recipe. It said that it was a quick and easy version of the Creole version. I had most of the ingredients. I have started working a part time job. It is while the boys are at school. I get home in time to work on homework with the boys, and try to get dinner made for the family, amongst other things I'm sure all of you hard working mothers know. I am still trying to cook dinners from scratch, while working, going to school myself, being a mom, wife, and everything, to everyone.

This recipe is quite easy. No soaking beans. I think the hardest part was smashing the kidney beans with a fork. I can see ways in which this recipe can be made even simpler, with precut onions and celery, even bulk sausage.

I used my rice maker to make the rice. It's just regular white rice. Nothing was done special with it.

Red beans
Ingredients:


3 cans kidney beans (rinsed)
1 tsp dry thyme
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 tsp cajun seasoning
6-8 dashes of tabasco sauce or hot sauce of choice
1 lb sausage link, sliced
1 16oz can chicken broth
1 onion, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1/2 tsp garlic, minced/diced
3 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

Add the olive oil to the bottom of a hot dutch oven.  Add the onions, celery, bay leaf, thyme, tabasco, and sausage. Cook until the onions are translucent and yellow. Stirring occasionally. Next, add the garlic. Stir and cook about 1 minute. Then add the chicken broth and the cajun seasoning. Let that cook until bubbly. Stirring. smash 1/2 of the red beans with a fork, then add the smashed red beans and the regular red beans to the pot. Let simmer 10 minutes, stir occasionally.  after 10 minutes check the beans to make sure they are heated through and softened, liquid should thicken the longer it cooks.  Serve warm.

Serve over warm rice. sprinkle celery leaves on top, or cheese.

This is a delicious dinner. My kids each had a big bowl of this. I think I have enough for my lunch tomorrow. My husband said it was really tasty and delicious. I hope you enjoy this too. :)

Baked Macaroni Casserole with Smoked Turkey Sausage

Tonights dinner was inspired by a dear friend's macaroni casserole. I was going to make it the way she does, but I had to use of some of the stuff in my refrigerator since we are leaving for vacation in a couple of days. So I wanted to use what I had on hand.

I used similar measurements except doubled them since I have 5 people to feed. And they love mac and cheese things. This smells heavenly, and alas, I have yet to try it. It is sitting on my stove, waiting for my dear husband to come home so we can dig in to dinner. I know I'm such a good wife I'm waiting for him. I cooked it in my pampered chef 13X9 stoneware dish. So it will stay warm for 30 minutes. He should be home shortly.

This dish has my kids swarming in the kitchen. Their cheese and noodle detectors must have gone off and are now impatiently waiting for their cheesy noodle dinner.

Ingredients:
Preheat oven 350F

4 cups dried pasta (macaroni, medium shells, penne)
1 pkg smoked sausage (I used turkey)
2 cups shredded cheese
4 cups milk (I used prepared non fat dry milk)
1 can cream of mushroom soup with roasted garlic
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 vidalia onion
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together, dump in a greased (non-stick cooking spray) 13X9 baking dish, Place in 350F oven bake for 40 minutes.

*Optional - place extra cheese on top 5-10 min before finished baking.

Half Veggie, Half Meat - Meatballs

I have been trying to think of a way to infuse my kids food with more veggies then they normally eat every day. Since it's pulling teeth to get some of them to eat 2TBSP of green beans. I know ridiculous. So since last night I had to pull teeth to get the green beans eaten. Today I thought i'd hide the veggies. Of course, they eat spaghetti sauce, but not usually the diced tomatoes. So here is what I did. Also, I tried a meat ball before I put it in the spaghetti sauce and it was fabulous!

Ingredients:

2 veggie pucks (see recipe for veggie pucks)

1 onion minced

1 bell pepper minced

1/2 cup potato flakes

1/2 cup italian bread crumbs

1 lb ground beef

1 lb ground sausage - bulk

3 eggs

3 TBSP ketchup

1 pkg italian dressing dry mix

1 pkg au ju dry mix

2 Tbsp salt

1 Tbsp fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 400F. In a large mixing bowl, add all ingredients. blend well using hands, until all ingredients are incorporated. Spray a jelly roll pan with PAM. Then, using a scoop, take a scoop full of the mixture and place it on a jelly roll pan. Repeat until all the mixture are in balls on the jelly roll pan in a single layer. This made 47 meatballs for me. They can be touching that's fine. They shrink slightly as they cook. Place jelly roll pan with the meatballs in the 400F oven for 45 minutes. Then cool and remove. Add to spaghetti sauce and eat with pasta or on a hoagie roll.

These are so delicious and good for you, full of vitamins and veggies. It's a great way to get the veggies into those picky eaters, whether they be your husband or your kids or both.

I also, added to my 2 cans HUNTS traditional spaghetti sauce 2 veggie pucks, and two cans of diced tomatoes. To give further veggie factor. This is so yummy! Enjoy! The sauce and meatballs are simmering in the crock pot for a nice easy dinner tonight. The meatballs can be made a head of time cooled and placed in a ziploc freezer bag and used at a later time. They freeze well too!

Sausage, Bacon, Apple Stuffing

Since I was going all out this thanksgiving with 9 pies, turkey, homemade rolls, creamed peas with pearl onions, green been casserole, mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows, mashed potatoes... That I would not just do a box mix stuffing, but a "fancy" stuffing. One with yumminess in it to make it over the top! I wanted to stuff my turkey with flavor. So here is the stuffing I used. It as good. :)

Ingredients:

1 - 16oz bag of cubed stuffing - white and wheat blend

1 box cornbread stuffing

3 cans chicken broth

2 granny smith apples - cored, peeled, and diced

1 lb bulk ground sausage

3/4 lb chopped bacon

1/2 onion diced

1 cup celery diced

1 cup chopped mushrooms

1/4 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp basil

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Brown and drain the sausage, set aside. Brown and remove the bacon - keeping the bacon grease. cook the chopped onion and celery til translucent in the bacon grease. In a large bowl, put the stuffing mixes in, the drained sausage, the browned bacon, mushrooms, apples, cumin, basil and salt and pepper to taste. Add the onions and celery and mix well. Add the cans of chicken broth one at a time, once the stuffing is as moist as you want, then stuff the turkey, or place in a 13X9 prepared baking dish. If using the baking dish, bake in a 350F oven for 30-35 min.

The turkey stuffed will help cook the stuffing further.

This is a delicious stuffing mix. My husband said he could tell the added flavor helped the turkey taste even better. With the aroma of bacon and sausage, and the sweetness from the apples. MMM so yummy. I hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think of this stuffing mix. :)

Lasagna!

LASAGNA

I decided that since my husband and I are going out tonight that I couldn't really make my homemade pizza. We have to get ready for our primary program that's on sunday. This afternoon right before my date I will be practicing with my kids at the church. So, I thought that I'd make some lasagna for the kids to scarf while, Bill and I are out eating sushi. :) So, I took a look around to see what ingredients I had that would work in a lasagna. I was quite surprised at what I found. I made a 9X9 pan of lasagna, which is perfect for my three boys to eat.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb ground sausage

1 lb ground beef

1/2 a bell pepper (diced)

4 or 5 button mushrooms (diced)

1 can premade spaghetti sauce

3 tbsp dried minced onions (or 1/2 a diced fresh onion)

1 medium tomato (diced)

1 cup cheddar cheese

1/2 cup mozzerella cheese

4 tsp fresh parmesan cheese

7-9 lasagna noodles (broken in half)

4 tbsp and 2 tsp italian seasoning

12 oz cottage cheese

2 eggs

1/4 cup ricotta cheese

salt and pepper

Ok this might seem like a long list of items for lasagna. but it was what I had in the house, it was going to have to work.

Directions:

Brown the sausage and beef in a pan. Once almost all browned, add the minced onions, mushrooms, and bell pepper, cook until the minced onions are transparent and like fresh onions. Drain grease. Makes a lot of meat mixture, I stored part of it about 1/2 - 1 cup in a separate container for a different meal. Add the spaghetti sauce. simmer for 5 min. add the diced tomato, 4 tbsp italian seasoning. Mix and simmer on low heat. Meanwhile, cook the lasagna noodles in pot with salted water. Once those are al dente, take off heat and run under cold water keeping them in the same pan. After they have cooled, keep in pan. In a small bowl, add the cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, 2 tsp italian seasoning, eggs and a little mozzarella cheese. Mix until thoroughly blended.

Layering

place enough sauce mixture on the bottom of the 9x9 pan. Just enough to cover. then place lasagna noodles (which are broken in half length wise) covering the sauce. Then place another layer lightly of the meat sauce mixture. Next is 1/2 of the cottage cheese mixture. Sprinkle that with some cheddar cheese. Add another layer of lasagna noodles on top of that mixture. Then add the rest of the cottage cheese mixture on top of the new layer of lasagna noodles. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese and add the remainder of the spaghetti sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese.

Cover with foil. Bake in a preheated oven for 30-35 min, until cheese on top is melted and sauce is bubbly.

remove the foil, bake another 5 min. remove from oven and let set for 5-10 min.

Overnight egg casserole

Overnight Egg Casserole

I wanted to make something for breakfast, but we usually make quick easy pancakes. so I wanted to try something different. I created this casserole with items we had in the house. I looked online for other egg casseroles, and so I took some of their ideas, and incorporated some in to here.

Ingredients:

1 lb breakfast bulk sausage (browned)

10 eggs

1 bag potatoes o brien

1 cup sour cream

1 can cream of chicken with herbs soup

1 tbsp prepared mustard

1 1/2 cup shredded cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Brown sausage and drain. set aside. in a separate bowl beat eggs with salt and pepper til mixed well. Add sour cream, soup, prepared mustard, and ricotta cheese. Once mixed in with the egg stir in the cheese, sausage and potatoes. Pour mixture into lightly greased 13x9x2 pan. Refrigerate overnight covered.

Remove from refrigerator 30 min before baking. Bake uncovered, 350F for 50-60 min or until set. Let stand 5 min before cutting.

I will let you know how this turns out. It looked good before I put it in the fridge. I like easy weekend breakfasts. It makes the weekend get off on a great start. :)

Verdict:

This was very tasty, It took longer than 60 min. more like 1 1/2 hrs to cook. I topped mine with some salsa and sour cream. It was good. I think next time I will sprinkle some extra cheese on the top. But not sure yet. The kids got into other things before this was done, and even before I woke this morning, so they didn't get any (but the leftovers will be used in Breakfast burritos). Bill said it was good, but we were in a hurry at that point to make our appointments. So he had half of his serving. He did say it was good, too. so he won't mind if I use it in Breakfast burritos either. :) Stay tuned for that.