Baby Back Ribs

These Ribs were delicious. Finger licking good!

I lb.  Baby Back ribs

Salt, pepper 

Garlic powder

Onion powder

1/2 cup water 

Sweet Baby Rays Barbecue sauce of choice

 Season the ribs with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder.  I put 1/2 cup water in my crockpot fat side down and  placed seasoned ribs. Cooked on high for approximately 4 hours. 

 Removed from crockpot brushed heavily Sweet Baby Rays placed on a cooking sheet(I used a disposable pan for convenience and easy clean up) and broiled on high about 10 minutes or until barbecue sauce coated the ribs.

Homemade coleslaw, grated and sliced thin a 1/2 head of cabbage 1/4 piece of a red pepper too.  Added Miracle whip, pinch salt and sugar and a tablespoon half and half.  Mix thoroughly and refrigerate until serving.

Yummy dinner for two!  Homemade fries too!  Easy Meal!!

Note: Saves time using the crockpot!  No watching and waiting!

Enjoy!

Extra creamy macaroni and cheese

Note:  the creamy macaroni and cheese is 

           On top of picture.

I was determined to get my recipe for macaroni and cheese to be creamier and the below recipe is as close to perfect as you can get.

My family raved over it saying it was the tastiest, creamiest and delicious macaroni and cheese I ever made.  

Can’t totally say where I found it but it might have been Food  network.

I followed the recipe pretty much but where the cheese was added I added out favorites...***

I did make a few substitutions which we loved! 

▢ 1 lb. dried elbow pasta

▢ 1/2 cup unsalted butter

▢ 1/2 cup all purpose flour

▢ 1 1/2 cups whole milk

▢ 2 1/2 cups half and half

▢ 4 cups grated medium sharp cheddar cheese(***I used yellow sharp American cheese) divided (measured after grating)

▢ 2 cups grated Gruyere cheese divided*** ( I used white American cheese)(measured after grating)

▢ 1/2 Tbsp. salt

▢ 1/2 tsp. black pepper

▢ 1/4 tsp. paprika

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and grease a 3 qt baking dish (9x13").  Set aside.Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  When boiling, add dried pasta and cook 1 minute less than the package directs for al dente.  Drain and drizzle with a little bit of olive oil to keep from sticking.

While water is coming up to a boil, grate cheeses and toss together to mix, then divide into three piles.  Approximately 3 cups for the sauce, 1 1/2 cups for the inner layer, and 1 1/2 cups for the topping.

Melt butter in a large saucepan over MED heat.  Sprinkle in flour and whisk to combine.  Mixture will look like very wet sand.  Cook for approximately 1 minute, whisking often.  Slowly pour in about 2 cups or so of the milk/half and half, while whisking constantly, until smooth.  Slowly pour in the remaining milk/half and half, while whisking constantly, until combined and smooth.
Continue to heat over MED heat, whisking very often, until thickened to a very thick consistency.  It should almost be the consistency of a semi thinned out condensed soup.  
Remove from the heat and stir in spices and 1 1/2 cups of the cheeses, stirring to melt and combine.  Stir in another 1 1/2 cups of cheese, and stir until completely melted and smooth.
In a large mixing bowl, combine drained pasta with cheese sauce, stirring to combine fully.  Pour half of the pasta mixture into the prepared baking dish.  Top with 1 1/2 cups of grated cheeses, then top that with the remaining pasta mixture.
Sprinkle the top with the last 1 1/2 cups of cheese and bake for 15 minutes, until cheesy is bubbly and lightly golden brown.  
Enjoy!

Pineapple Ricotta Squares

 If you didn't catch this recipe earlier, here it is again!




My mother- in- law made these delicious baked pineapple, ricotta squares during the holidays and we all loved them.  It was something I really looked forward to when we would visit.  I never had the courage to make them myself because she said the dough was very hard to handle and I never felt very confident in making anything difficult.  Since I ventured into blogging my goal has always been to share family recipes so I decided to make this my end of the year challenge.  I gathered all that I needed this past week and tonight after my granddaughter left to go home, here I am making this supposedly difficult recipe late tonight. This is my mother in laws shared recipe and it has cooled and hubby and I tasted it..Yummy!  Light cake,  light  crust,, sweetened pineapple and a light custard like ricotta topping. This is not a rich dessert!  You can certainly eat more than one piece..I can attest to that!!!

 Happy Baking and Cooking!

This recipe has been copied from my mother-in-laws own writing.  The only difficulty I had was that my dough was very soft so I had to piece it to conform to the cookie sheet. Other than that it really turned out fine and the crust was tender.  Note:  Just allow yourself time to make this recipe and you will have a great dessert that will be loved by anyone who has a piece of it....It is truly yummy!




 Pineapple Filling

2 cups crushed pineapple juice included #2 cans

½ cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Cook for a few minutes until thickened

Set aside to cool.

Step 2

Prepare Crust

2 ½ cups flour

2 ½ tsp. baking powder

pinch salt

½ cup soft shortening (spry, butter or margarine)

¼ cup sugar

2 eggs

½ cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix above.. Let stand for a few minutes

Roll out thin

I had to add about 1/2 cup additional flour.(Dough was very sticky) Place in greased cookie sheet (2 inches or higher) 15 ½ by 10 ½   Note:  My cookie sheet was larger than the suggested size so my squares did not bake as high as hers..I would have preferred to use my smaller cookie sheet..Will definitely use smaller cookie sheet next time..

Step 3

Ricotta Filling

In a mixing bowl put 1 ½ lb. ricotta and 4 beaten egg yolks(save whites)

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tablespoon flour

1 cup evaporated milk (carnation)

Mix well then fold in 4 egg whites that have been stiffly beaten..

Spread pineapple filling on bottom of unbaked crust, then ricotta filling on top and bake 350 degrees for 1 hour.. Refrigerate after it is cooled. Note:  Mine was baked after 55 minutes..oven temperatures vary.


From my kitchen to yours,

12/19/11

Italian Stuffed Shells with Chicken and Spinach

A great holiday suggestion.




If you don't want to make homemade pasta but still want a great meal using chicken this filling is a must try.  My Nana made this filling and used it for her homemade ravioli.  This filling is a nice change from cheese or meat ravioli.  I made the filling and today we had some Jumbo Shells stuffed with chicken and spinach and topped them with my homemade marinara sauce.  Bon Appetit!

February 16,2016 original 

I only topped some of the shells with mozzarella (Watching hubby's low fat diet)

Pulse to coarse consistency

Pulse to finer consistency

1 1/2 lb. cooked chicken( I used chicken breasts)  I boiled them with a bit of salt and let them cool(cut in large pieces)
1/2 cup seasoned or unseasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated cheese (of course I use Pecorino Romano)
1/4 cup chopped fresh or frozen spinach cooked
1 T Olive oil
1 clove minced garlic
1 egg beaten
1 tablespoon water if needed to hold together(you can use chicken broth also)

Pulse all in food processor to the consistency you desire.Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

1 box Jumbo Shells cooked according to directions

Rinse slightly and drain.  Fill and top with fresh marinara sauce or jarred sauce of choice.  Top with grated Pecorino Romano cheese and mozzarella.  Bake 20 to 30 minutes covered.


From my kitchen to yours,

8/30/12

Prime Rib, A first!

Christmas Eve dinner.  My first attempt with success making Prime rib.  After so many years cooking somehow I was intimidated cooking one. 

 It was delicious!  Merry Christmas!

“ Prime Rib

You may want to try a standing Rib Roast first.   Your choice both delicious... boneless are a little more expensive $$$ but worth it... 

This year Standing rib roast was $5.99 a lb.

My roast was a Standing Rib Roast weighing  approximately 6 lbs.

Instructions:

Take roast out of Refrigerator at least 1-2 before roasting, pat dry, rub with olive oil... season well with kosher salt & cracked pepper.

Place fat side up in roasting pan  on a roasting rack.  I use a meat thermometer to test for desired doneness.. 

Set oven 450 degrees.

Roast for 15 minutes  @450 degrees.

Next:

Reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake until desired
doneness( check temp every hour for rare, med etc). 

***My roast took approximately 2 1/2 hours from start to finish. 

NOTE;  we like medium well. Slight pink no red!

Remove Roast , tent with foil to allow meat to rest (at least 20 minutes)... deglaze pan with water, scraping to lift up drippings for gravy !!!  

Mine made wonderful drippings so I just added some water and scrapped the pan well.  I heated drippings a few minutes.

Thanks to my friend Marilyn for her easy recipe.

 

Merry Christmas!

CHEERS!

FROM MY KITCHEN YO YOURS,

Sour cream Apple pie DELIGHT

Hi everyone!

My mom made wonderful meals and desserts.  Some of them take me back in time when I knew but never truly appreciated what she put on our table.

As I got older that is when I truly realized and appreciated her great meals and I was so very lucky to be at her side when she baked.

This is her recipe from the 80ties.

She always made it in a cookie sheet with a cinnamon sugar crumble on top.

Today I’m adjusting her recipe to use my deep pie dish.

Here goes:

1- package refrigerated pie crust(Allow to come to room temperature)( it will roll easier when softened)

3lb. Bag Gala apples peeled, cored and sliced (Gala apples stay in perfect pieces when cooked)

Note: if you are looking for a softer Apple pie you may want to use Macintosh apples.

3/4 cup sugar 

1/2 cup sour cream

1 egg beaten

***Preheat oven to 425 degrees

In a large bowl place sliced apples and sugar.  Mix apples with sugar.  In a small bowl whisk egg with sour cream. Add sour cream egg mixture to apples making sure to coat all apples with mixture.

Roll out one pie crust to fit a deep pie dish. Pinch and fork edges so crust won’t slip into pie while baking.

Gently place apple mixture in crust.

Place in preheated oven for 15 minutes at 425 degrees.

Remove from oven and top with pie crust slices.

Using a pastry brush gently spread topping mixture.

After spreading topping on pastry slices Turn oven down to 350 degrees, place pie back in oven and bake an additional   30 to 40 minutes or until lightly browned.

Note  **cover edges with foil or as I have using a crust cover as not to brown edges too much.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for 20 to 30 minutes.

Slice and serve.

This is Delicious!  Making Mom Proud!

Enjoy!

From my kitchen to yours,

Topping

2  T Butter melted

3 T Brown sugar

1T flour

Mix together to make a paste. Spread gently over pie strips.

 

Baked Potato Casserole! **Bonus Some Family Photos!

I cherish the memories of days gone by and time spent with loved ones.  

I am started to update a lot of my previous posts.  The recipes are the same but since I have so many cherished recipes I felt it was time to go over them and share them again with those who have possibly just started to follow my blog.

Old recipes to some are new to others.  Please enjoy the recipe and some great memories from 7 years ago.  M.j. 

Today we celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary with our children and grandchildren at our home for an easy family  dinner.. I made our family favorite dish Porketta and I also decided to try a new recipe for a side and I was super pleased at the results!  Baked Potato Casserole!!  It was posted on Facebook a few days or so ago and I thought today was a good day to try it since we were having an easy, very relaxing, anniversary dinner with the children and grandchildren.  

Super delicious and special were peanut butter and chocolate fudge and marbled brownies were our dessert along with fresh fruit salad.  It was a great day! A lot of laughs and funny jokes from the grandchildren as well as good conversation.  A plus were looking through old photos.  That is bound to get a chuckle or two or three or four!  
Here is the recipe along with some photos of the beautiful day spent with family.

July 22, 1967

June 2004

June 25, 2013

Baked Potato Casserole

8 medium potatoes (about 2 ½ to 3 lbs total weight, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks)

1 cup 2% milk

½ cup light sour cream

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (divided)

6 slices bacon (cooked until crispy and crumbled)

sliced green onions
Eliminate bacon if you want a meatless dish.

Place the potato chunks in a large pot. Fill with enough water to cover the potatoes. Bring to a boil. Cook over medium-high heat for 15 to 20 minutes or until tender. Drain. Preheat the oven to 350⁰F. Grease a 2 ½-3 quart casserole dish. Return potatoes to the pot. Add evaporated milk, sour cream, salt and pepper. Beat with a hand held mixer until smooth. Stir in 1 ½ cups of cheddar cheese and half of the bacon. Spoon the potato mixture into prepared casserole dish. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until heated through. Top with remaining ½ cup of cheddar cheese, remaining bacon, and green onions. Bake for an additional 3 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

Family Favorite....Porketta

7/21/13

11/15/14

Easy Pierogi Lasagna Casserole: Busy families will love this!!

***Update: 6/15/2022

I used 6 medium skin removed potatoes ( cut in cubes and boil until tender in salted water.

When tender , drain add 2 T butter, approximately 3/4 cup or more milk and 2 cups cheddar cheese.  Beat until smooth. ****( easy short cut store bought mashed potatoes).

Save 1/4 cup for garnish.

I am working very hard at making some easy meals for all  busy families.  Today I was thinking about how Mom and Nana worked tirelessly making homemade dough for their Pierogi and as much as I love making their recipe; today I am making a Pierogi lasagna using Barilla pasta.  Using a few short steps you'll find this recipe to be a keeper.  Here goes!  You are going to love it!

You can substitute store bought mashed potatoes to make it more convenient.

A breeze using Barilla no boil noodles

Lay  noodles in warm water in a pan for approx. 5 minutes.  Drain well.  I pat each with paper towels before placing in dish.

Layer with butter, Barilla noodles, cheddar potatoes until all in box is used (13 x9) pan

Remove and pat to dry

Saute butter with onion until tender.

Layer

Ready to bake!

Happy Baking and Cooking from my kitchen to yours,

1 box(9 oz.) Barilla no boil lasagna noodles

1 pkg. refrigerated (22 oz.) Bob Evans Cheddar mashed potatoes(cooked according to directions)
Note:  For a fuller casserole use two pkgs. cheddar potatoes or you can cube 6 potatoes, boil until tender and season to your liking.

1 onion sliced thin

2 sticks butter or margarine
shredded cheddar cheese 

Place Barilla lasagna noodles in warm water for approx. 5 minutes.

In a sauce pan place butter and onion. Sauté until onion is tender.

In a 13 x 9 inch baking pan place 1/4 of butter onion mixture. Remove 3 sheets of noodles from water. Pat dry slightly. Place noodles in pan and top with 1/4 cheddar potatoes.**(Illustrations below) Continue layering and adding more cheddar potatoes and noodles until all is used. *Note: 1 box of  Barilla no boil noodles will make approximately  a 13 x9 inch pan.

Top with the remainder of butter onion mixture. Sprinkle some shredded cheddar on top and cover.

 Bake 350 degrees approx. 20 to 30 minutes. Set for a few minutes and enjoy!!!! 

Serve with a side salad if desired!!