Yum. Comfort food.

Hash brown casserole...easiest thing in the world- thrown together, really.



Pre-heat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, stir together one bag of shredded hash browns, 1 cup each cream of mushroom soup and sour cream, 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese, and one cup of sliced onions and bell peppers (more onions than peppers). Pour into a lightly greased 13x8 inch glass casserole dish, and bake at least an hour, or until edges are brown and crispy.

Oops. I've neglected this blog again.

I had family in from out of town this week, and had to cook for everyone. One night I made choucroute garnie- an Alsasian dish served in Germany, France, and Eastern Europe. It's a dish with no real recipe- but always has sauerkraut and several types of meat. Mine had pork chops and four different kinds of German sausages.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choucroute_garnie

I browned the meats, and then put them in a crockpot covered with sauerkraut. I added a bit of white wine, and just let it cook all day!

I personally don't like the dish, but everyone enjoyed it.

Cocktail time.

Mom had a party last weekend, and this drink was the big hit of the night: Bananas Faster. It's basically a Bananas Foster in drink form!

It's from In the Land of Cocktails by Ti Adelaide Martin and Lally Brennan.

For one cocktail:

2 packed teaspoons dark brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 orange wedge
1/2 cup vanilla ice cream
2 ounces dark rum
1 once créme de banane (we couldn't find any, so we used banana rum/banana schnapps)
1/2 banana, peeled and sliced lengthwise

Combine one teaspoon of the sugar and the cinnamon on a saucer and mix well. Wet the rim of a brandy snifter with the orange wedge and dip the rim into the sugar mixture. Set aside.

Combine the ice cream, rum, créme de banane, banana, and remaining sugar in a blender and blend on high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds.

Pour into prepared glass and serve immediately.

This drink is addictive!

Lemon Cake!

Adapted somewhat from The Cake Mix Doctor.

1 package lemon cake mix
1 3.4 ounce package instant vanilla pudding
4 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 12 ounce can 7-Up

2 jars of lemon curd.

This is where I changed things...they call for homemade pineapple curd, but I didn't have time to do that! Lime or cranberry curd would be good, too.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease and flour three 9-inch round cake pans and set aside.

Place cake mix, pudding, eggs, oil, and 7-Up in a large mixer and beat on low speed for one minute, then scrape the bowl down with a spatula. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 or 3 minutes more. Divide batter among the pans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until cakes pull from the sides of the pans.

Let cakes cool completely. When cool, spread lemon curd on each layer, and cover the whole cake with more curd.

Should serve about 12. Really good served with a berry sorbet or chocolate ice cream.

I meant to post this last week.

This was dinner on the day of the Kentucky Derby!

The Hot Brown

6 tablespoons butter
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups half-and-half
1 ½ cups heavy cream
1/3 cup grated Romano cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup sweet sherry
2 egg yolks, beaten
4 toast points
½ pound turkey breast slices
4 strips crisp cooked bacon
2 trimmed and fluted mushroom caps
4 tomato slices

In a heavy saucepan, melt the butter. Sprinkle on the flour and stir constantly until the roux is golden and dry. Stir in the half-and-half and the cream. Cook several minutes, or until the flour taste is gone. Stir in the cheeses. Add the sherry and continue stirring until the sauce is thin and the cheese is melted.

Strain the hot sauce into a bowl. Add the egg yolks and blend well. Preheat the broiler. Line 2 ovenproof single serving dishes with 2 toast points. Top with slices of turkey and a generous portion of the sauce. Broil until the sauce is lightly browned on top. Remove and place 2 bacon slices, tomato slices, and 1 mushroom cap on each. Garnish with parsley.

Leftover lamb!

Easter dinner with lamb and ham means great leftovers. I used up a leg of lamb by making pita sandwiches with Tzatziki sauce. I made up my recipe on the spot, but it's pretty basic (everyone has a similar recipe):

One cup of Greek yogurt (ordinary plain yogurt will do in a pinch)
1 medium cucumber, peeled and seeds removed, chopped, excess liquid squeezed out
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon chopped mint (traditional, but I use basil if I'm out of mint)
Salt to taste

Mix all ingredients together and serve cold. Drizzle on lamb or falafel in pita sandwiches. Yum!

I sliced up the lamb and pan fried it in a bit of olive oil, salt, and lemon juice. When cooked this way and served with the tzatziki in a pita, it tasted just like the gyros from any good Greek/Mediterranean restaurant.

Of course, I made spanakopita this year like always, and as usual, they didn't last long!

This year, I didn't do anything special with the leftover ham. I just fried slices of it and served it with scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast.

Book sale= cooking magazine treasures!

My mom brought home a huge stack of magazines from the library book sale. Many back issues of Cook's Illustrated, Taste of Home, and Cook's Country. I'm having fun going through them all, and finding great recipes to try out.

I have a subscription to Every Day with Rachael Ray now. I love it.