Broccoli with Parmesan Crumb Topping

Here is an easy way to prepare Broccoli that even the kids enjoy.

Broccoli with Parmesan Crumb Topping
Serves 6

Ingredients
1 bunch broccoli, washed and cut into smaller pieces
1 inch water
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. butter
4 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/4 cup seasoned Progresso bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated or shredded Parmesan cheese

Put the broccoli in a covered pot with an inch of water and seasoned with salt.  Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low, cover and steam for about 10 minutes until it is a nice dark green.
Drain the broccoli and transfer to a baking dish.  Melt the butter and combine with bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese.  Sprinkle over the broccoli.  Bake at 325-350 for 15 minutes until the crumb topping is golden brown and the cheese melts a little.  Enjoy.  If you wish sprinkle more freshly grated Parmesan cheese and sprinkle some lemon juice over the dish.

Shrimp Scampi

This wonderful garlic and lemon flavored Shrimp dish is always a hit around my house.  The kids and my husband both rave about it every time I make it and it is so easy to prepare.

Shrimp Scampy
Serves 5
2-3 lbs raw, cleaned and shelled large count shrimp (I used Jumbo size which is around 16 shrimp to a lb)
1 stick butter
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. chopped Garlic (I also like to use the garlic that is prepared and in a tube that you can find in your vegetable section of your grocery store)
Juice of 2 lemons
Parsley (dried or fresh to your liking)
dash of red pepper flakes for a little kick

Heat a large skillet with a stick of butter and olive oil.  I find the butter does not burn as easily if combined with Olive oil.  Add the garlic and cleaned and shelled shrimp.  Saute for a few minutes and turn the shrimp over when it is pink on the underside.  When the shrimp is fully pink it is fully cooked!   Do not overcook or it will be tough.  Add lemon juice, parsley, and pepper flakes.  Enjoy with mashed potatoes, or angel hair pasta.  The sauce is really good over pasta.

Pumpkin Belgian Waffles with Vermont Maple Syrup Whipped Cream

I found this great little recipe online at a Bed and Breakfast site that also had a lot of recipes posted
(See http://www.lanierbb.com/recipes/). Here is one I tried this morning and everyone loved! Enjoy Fall.


Pumpkin Belgian Waffles With Vermont Maple Syrup Whipped Cream Recipe
Brought to you by Price House Cottage B&B
Serves: 5-6

Ingredients:

2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1/4 Tsp Clove
1 Tsp Ginger
1 Tsp Cinnamon
4 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Salt
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 1/2 Cups Milk
1 Cup Pumpkin Puree, Canned
4 Eggs, Separated
1 Cup Butter, Melted
For the Flavored Whipping Cream:
1 Cup Whipping Cream
2 Tbsp Pure Maple Syrup

Instructions:
Preheat waffle iron (Belgian or regular). In a large bowl, combine first seven ingredients. Whisk together milk, pumpkin puree, and egg yolks. Stir pumpkin mixture into the dry ingredients and add melted butter. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into pumpkin mixture. Ladle batter onto waffle iron and cook until steam ceases to escape from the iron, producing a lightly browned waffle.

For the Flavored Whipping Cream:
Whip the cream until peaks begin to appear. Add syrup, when peaks begin forming, and finish whipping the cream until stiff peaks form. Serve waffles with pure maple syrup and a generous scoop of the whipped cream.

This is what the batter looks like after you fold in the stiff egg-whites.  It is light and airy

Here is the baked Waffle- nice and golden brown.  Begging for Maple Syrup and Whipped Cream

















BECKY'S NOTE: In the interest of time I skipped the Flavored Whipped Cream (this time) and served it with Maple Syrup and Whipped Cream from a can.  The kids really ate it up too!  My husband LOVED them (and anything Pumpkin) they already requested it for Thanksgiving.

Garlic Herb Cheese Bread

Garlic Herb Cheese Bread

Ingredients

4 oz Cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Butter -- softened
1/4 cup Parsley -- fresh, minced
1 Garlic clove -- minced
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Paprika
1 loaf fresh French Bread - sliced lengthwise

Instructions
In a medium bowl, combine cheddar cheese, softened butter, parsley, garlic, garlic powder, and paprika.  Combine with a fork.  Spread on both sides of the french bread; Heat in 375 F oven for 10-15 minutes.

This recipe is great with Lasagna or any pasta.  It has a lot of garlic- which is why I love it!

Lasagna

Lasagna and Garlic Bread always is a hit in our home.  There is something about Lasagna that brings everyone to the table with healthy appetites.

 Lasagna Recipe:
1 lb shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1 Tbsp. olive oil
 1 lb ground beef
3/4 lb Italian Mild Pork Sausage
3 -28 oz cans Hunts tomato sauce
package of Barilla no cook Lasagna noodles
2 tsp. salt
1 (15 oz) tub Ricotta cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 large eggs

Shred the Mozzarella cheese if you have not purchased already shredded cheese.  Saute the meats (I substituted them with real meats .. none of this low fat around my house) in olive oil.  I added 1 Tbsp crushed garlic to the last minute of browning.  I drained the meat thoroughly.  I returned the meat to the pan and added the spaghetti sauce, heating it through.
I combined the Ricotta cheese, eggs, 1 cup of Mozzarella cheese and 1 cup of Parmesan cheese and mixed them.

Pour about 1 cup of meat sauce in bottom of your lasagna pan and layer with Barilla no cook noodles (these are my favorite to work with)  Add half the cheese mixture and spread out over the noodles.  Top with enough meat sauce to cover.  Top again with Lasagna noodles, remainder of cheese mixture, another layer of sauce and finally another layer of lasagna noodles.  Top this again with sauce (remainder) and Top with remaining cup of Mozzarella cheese.

Cover and bake for 60 minutes at 350 F.  Uncover and bake another 10 minutes.  Remove the lasagna from the oven and let sit (loosely covered with foil) for another 10 minutes.  Trust me it will still be plenty hot when you sit down to eat!  Serve with Garlic Herb Cheese bread (see Recipe).

Succulent Braised Pork

I watched the series on Food Network: "The Next Food Network Star" and fell in love with Melissa D'Arabian.  To my great surprise she won.  I made her Cafe Green Salad in the past and loved the flavor that her dressing had.  Today, I slow roasted her recipe of Succulent Braised Pork.  Once again, the flavor was a winner, my husband eagerly headed in for a second helping.  Always a good sign.  I think I will use the leftovers to make my Shepherd's Pie next time!  The flavors of the gravy are wonderful.  I served them with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Mixed Vegetables to round out the meal.  The one change I did make to her recipe is that I used more than one carrot.  My family loves roasted carrots, so I put in about 7 large carrots and it cooked up just fine!  Once again Melissa -- a great recipe.  You can also find the recipe at the Food Network website.


Succulent Braised Pork - Melissa D Arabian Food Network

Ingredients
2 pounds pork shoulder, cut into 6 large chunks
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup red wine
1 1/2 cups beef stock or broth
1 bunch parsley stems, tied with string
2 bay leaves
1 cup water

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Pat the pork dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.
In a large Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat, and working in batches brown the meat on all sides until a golden crust forms. Transfer the pork to a plate. To the pan add the onion, celery, and carrot and sweat until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and sweat another 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 3 minutes to cook off the raw flavor and caramelize it. Sprinkle with the flour and cook another 2 minutes to cook off its raw flavor. Whisk in the wine and reduce it by half. Return the pork to the Dutch oven, then stir in the beef stock, parsley stems, and bay leaves. Add the water if liquid does not come up to the top of the pork. Do not cover the pork with liquid. Cover the pan and place it in the oven to braise until the meat is fork tender, about 3 hours. Taste and season with more salt and pepper, if needed. Transfer to a serving platter and serve.

Prep Time: 25 min
Cook Time: 3 hr 30 min
Level: Intermediate
Serves: 4 servings plus leftovers

Aunt Helen's Strawberry Crepes

My Aunt Helen is a wonderful cook.  I had the honor of living with them briefly when I was in College and she would make these wonderful Strawberry Crepes for dessert.  This was the summer that I met my husband.  I still like to make these from time to time and now my children enjoy them too!  Today I made them for breakfast.

Strawberry Crepes
Makes 12 crepes-Serves 4 (3 Crepes per serving)

For the CREPES:
1 cup bisquick mix
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
For the SOUR CREAM SAUCE:
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup brown sugar

1-2 pints sliced fresh Strawberries

Grease a 6-7 inch non stick skillet lightly; heat until hot.  Beat baking mix, milk and eggs with a hand beater or whip until smooth.  For each crepe pour 2-3 Tablespoons batter into the skillet and rotate until the batter covers the bottom.  Cook until golden brown.  Gently loosen edge with spatula, turn and cook other side until golden brown.  Stack placing waxed paper between each; keep covered to prevent them from drying out.  Mix 1 cup sour cream with 1/4 cup brown sugar.  Hull and slice 1-2 pints fresh strawberries.  Place 1 Tablespoon sour cream mixture across center of each crepe.  Sprinkle with sliced berries.  Roll and place on plate or serving platter.  Repeat;  Top with additional sour cream and berries.  Enjoy!


For the crepes, I combined 1 cup Bisquick mix with 3/4 cups of milk and 2 eggs.

I use my favorite non stick pan.  As I pour in the batter I rotate the pan so it is as thin as possible.  I did add about 2 Tbps of milk in addition to the milk to make the batter a little thinner.
This helps the crepes to be very thin.

I have the sour cream and brown sugar mixture close at hand to fill the crepes.

And the strawberries as well

As I finish cooking the crepes I put them directly on the plates for serving, I find this  slightly easier to assemble and then later I do not need to transfer them from a platter.  While the next crepe is cooking I assemble the crepe and roll it and keep an eye on the crepe that is cooking so it does not overcook.

I put about 1 Tablespoon of the sour cream and sugar mixture down the middle of the crepe.

 

Next I put a few spoon fulls of sliced strawberries on the sour cream sauce

 

I roll up the crepe and place it to the side of the plate so I make room for the other 2 crepes.

 

After the crepes are finished I drizzle more sour cream sauce over the top of the crepes and add some more strawberries.

Set the plate aside while you finish the other three servings and present your loved ones with a treat that will keep their bellies smiling for a few hours.

This makes a great dessert for special guests, or a great brunch treat.

I did once make these for a gathering of 20 people, but my back actually started hurting from making the crepes.  I would double this recipe, but making crepes one at a time for a larger group is not something I will do again.

Enjoy!