Sausage, Egg and Biscuit Casserole

I always have good intentions! But, by the time the dark of night falls on our community, the thought of preparing a casserole for the tomorrow's breakfast is just more than I care to tackle. That is just one reason I love this Sausage, Eggs & Biscuits Casserole!

Using kitchen shears, cut your biscuits, toss into a greased 8 x 8 pan, add your drained sausage, egg mixture & cheese. Bake 30-35 minutes, let cool 5 minutes and you have breakfast that will please the whole family!

I used pre-cooked Jimmy Dean sausage patties and Pillsbury Grands. Sausage was perfect, but I think the Grands were too grand! Next time around I will use regular sized biscuits. I also omitted adding any salt as eggs contain salt naturally and the sausage and cheese also contain a healthy dose.

I baked the casserole 35 minutes to make sure the biscuits were cooked through, but then, the top became a little too brown as you can see from the picture. Again, next time I will use smaller biscuits & bake it only 30 minutes. No matter how it is baked, though, the flavor is fabulous!

When serving this dish, don't bother with toast or muffins. There are plenty of carbs in each serving! However, a little fresh fruit on you plate will make a nice accompaniment! I chose honeydew melon and bing cherries.

Your 8 x 8 pan will give you 6 generous servings or 9 smaller servings.

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Hawaiian Chicken

Crock pot meals are so much fun when you are on a tight schedule or just want to focus your energy on things other than meal preparation! Hawaiian Chicken is no exception! Very little effort goes into this tasty dish. but definitely gives you great-tasting results! Serve over rice, add your favorite vegetable and a little fresh fruit and voila, a meal that will please everyone in your family!

I bought a can of pineapple juice, but actually found I didn't need it. I opened a can of pineapple tidbits and the juice measured almost a cup exactly! Plus, there was the added bonus of bits of pineapple throughout! Yummy!

Cost can be another factor, but I found a great way around it! When shopping for chicken breasts, I realized they ran $5.49 per pound...ridiculous! So I ran over to frozen foods to check the price of chicken breasts in a 3 pound bag...$3.00 per pound...still ridiculous! So I headed back to the fresh meat dept. and found split breasts with ribs for a mere $.99 per pound! You will need a sharp knife and about 2 minutes to remove the bones and skin from the chicken. Cut at the solid white bone/cartilage and you will be able to remove the bones with one simple cut! Remove the skin which will also come off in one piece, cut the chicken into bite sized portions & toss into your crock pot! But don't throw the trimmings away. They too are useful. Put them in a medium sized pot (about 2 quarts), add water to cover generously, add about 1/2 tsp. salt, bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for at least an hour. Pour broth through a strainer so no small bones remain and use to cook your rice or freeze and use at a later time for soup, to cook veggies, etc.

One thing I wish I had done during preparation was use a crock pot liner. It would have made cleanup so much easier! So this is a word to the wise...use a liner!

This recipe can be varied. I saw similar recipes that used ginger, peppers, Hawaiian style barbecue sauce...among other things. But whether you keep it simple or let your imagination run wild, I'm pretty sure you will love this dish!

Beef Stew and Beef Stew Seasoning

It has been rainy and storming here in Minnesota the last few days. So despite the heat, when I wake up and its still dark out, it kind of makes me think of comfort food. What could be more comforting than a hearty beef stew? I found this recipe, Super Simple Crock Pot Beef Stew, and loved that it was just that, super simple!

This stew is chunky, but missing enough veggies for me. I did add a bag of carrots to the mix, but that is the great thing about beef stew. There are few vegetables that couldn't go in a beef stew. What I found difficult about this recipe was the lack of seasoning directions. Salt Pepper Herbs to taste is very loose and could result in a disaster for someone like me that likes to just start tossing things in. This put me on a hunt for a good combination of seasonings. I wanted something that didn't have MSG or fillers, just a good additive that takes the guesswork out of flavoring. I found this recipe, Beef Stew Seasoning Mix, and it seemed to be the right mix for my family. My husband loves things with a bit of spice, so the cayenne really appealed in this recipe.

As you can see from from the photo, the recipe makes a large quantity. But the great thing, is that this recipe will work for beef stew, pot roast, even a venison roast! The original recipe shows the seasoning packaged for gift giving, so if you are handy with baked items for Christmas, it might even make a nice addition to a food basket.

The combination of the good, basic stew recipe and the flavorful seasoning mix made a stew that my family will not soon forget. My husband was talking last night about how he couldn't wait for leftovers today because he knew with the great seasoning, it would have melded into something fantastic today. These recipes are definitely worth saving, even if the weather is holding you back on stew for now.

Country Club Chicken

I love this recipe for Country Club Chicken! It's easy, it's delicious and it can be varied...three things I truly love about any recipe! Of course, when trying a recipe the first time, I tend to follow it fairly closely and I did. But, the beauty in this recipe is that (other than basics) you don't have to! If for reasons beyond my comprehension you don't like mushrooms, you could add frozen peas perhaps. If you prefer not to use wine (also beyond my comprehension!) you could use chicken broth. And on and on the list goes!

These are the things I did differently. Looking in the pantry, there was no cream of mushroom soup, so I opted for cream of chicken soup. As much as we enjoyed this dish, I am not sure I want to use cream of mushroom next time and I will definitely make it again! It seemed perfectly wonderful with "c of c" soup! I do not mince much of anything, except jalepenos! I like to taste what I am eating. So, the apple, onion and mushrooms were cut into small bite sized pieces and I could taste each wonderful flavor with every bite! Like the author of this recipe did, I too added a little extra cheddar cheese and mushrooms.

Things I will do differently next time. I will let the chicken bake a little longer. I used fairly big chicken breasts, but they need to cook about 45 minutes in the oven for optimum tenderness. I did not salt the chicken as there is plenty of salt in the bacon and soup. I will also top it with chopped, fresh green onions just before serving, simply because we like onions & it will add a little color to the dish!

Things you might consider. This is not a low-calorie dish. However, with a few adjustments, it could work for those counting their calories. Use low fat cheese and soup. Use bacon crumbles and saute your onions, mushrooms and apple in a little bit of low sodium chicken broth. Use that as well in lieu of wine. Omit salting the chicken.

However you make it, whichever ingredients you choose to use...or not use, this dish is perfect for Sunday dinners, guests you want to please or a great way to say "I love my family!" So, go ahead, get creative, and serve this dish in your signature style!

Banana Ice Cream

Okay, so I have seen this a few times, and thought, hmmmm. As many of you know, I have been limiting calories and carbs, so often, I really get a craving. Today, I was thinking about our splurge we have planned all week...Cold Stone. Well, this got me thinking we really should have more dessert. I set off in search of low calorie desserts, and this banana ice cream caught my eye again. I decided to give it a whirl, because I love bananas, what is the worst that could happen? Maybe some mushy bananas.

I will say right now, I did not let my bananas freeze a whole 24 hours...who has time for that when you have a sweet tooth? But, they were frozen hard so I think it was close enough, although the texture might be even more like ice cream if they are frozen all of the way. The tips I saw in looking at the many websites that have this recipe posted included making sure that they are old bananas. Green bananas will be bitter, you want ripe. Furthermore, there are many choices for additions, like chocolate sauce as I did, cocoa powder, strawberries, raspberries, even peanut butter.

A few last comments, be aware, that although there is no added sugar, bananas are high in sugar and carbohydrates on their own. Count carefully! Second, my brother and oldest son both agreed they did not care for it, but they don't care much for bananas, so their judgement means nothing! :) If you don't care for bananas, all of the extra ingredients in the world won't mask the flavor of bananas in this. But, if you do love banana, this will be an excellent alternative to ice cream on a hot, humid day!

Tiramisu

ti-ra-mi-su: noun

an Italian dessert with coffee and liquor-soaked layers of sponge cake alternating with mascarpone cheese and chocolate.

Gotta love Italy...the leaning tower of Pisa, the Mona Lisa, the Sistine Chapel and perhaps, best of all, Tiramisu!

We love tiramisu, most especially the Olive Garden version. So when I found a copycat recipe,Tiramisu on Pinterest, was I ever excited! The instructions were easy, the ingredients readily available and the time to prepare it was reasonable.

But, was it everything I hoped for...well, not exactly. I will take partial blame for this though. I spoke with a professional baker who suggested I use lady fingers, rather than baking a sponge cake. I also opted to use Philadelphia cream cheese in lieu of mascarpone cheese. Looking back, had the cake been at least 1 and a 1/2" deep as recommended, I could have used more of the coffee/rum flavoring to intensify the flavor and given the dessert more volume generally. Although I have never used mascarpone cheese, I wish I had tried it. You could immediately recognize the cream cheese flavor in this; something I don't think is so obvious at the Olive Garden! I also found the filling to not be quite as light, fluffy and deep as the restaurant version.

Was it tasty? Absolutely! My husband gave it two thumbs up and would have given it more had he had more available! The version I made was second only to the Olive Garden. It was excellent and something I would be proud to serve even the most discerning tastes!

Will there be a next time? You can count on it! However, I will use a deeper cake, splurge on mascarpone cheese and add a bit of whipped cream to the cheese mixture to add more depth to the filling. But, then I am looking to emulate perfection!