Showing posts with label Family Recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family Recipes. Show all posts

Thursday, January 17, 2019

Missouri stove top meal!

I don't know if you have seen this post so today I'm re-posting so as to share some food memories I have growing up in a small Northeastern Pa town. (Some refer to it as the Coal Region).


My brother and I have different recollections of what our parents would call this meal.  I thought it was Dad who called it Missouri and he says it was Mom.  It really doesn't matter whomever we both agree on the ingredients and that we both liked it.  Today I made it with a touch of my way..  Here it is:

1 lb. ground beef (lean)
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion sliced or diced
2 cloves garlic(minced)
3 basil leaves chopped or dried(**note:  optional today I used fresh basil pesto)
3 potatoes peeled and sliced in medium slices.
1 -14.5 oz. can Petite Diced tomatoes(juice included)
 salt and lots of pepper

10/28/15






I added fresh pesto to my meat and onion mix while saute'ing.



In  a large dutch oven  place olive oil add beef and salt and lots of pepper. Brown slightly.  Add sliced or diced onion, garlic and basil and potatoes.  Cook until potatoes start to brown.  Add diced tomatoes juice and all. Cook for approximately 1 hour or until potatoes are tender and juice is absorbed a bit.  Enjoy!  Happy Cooking!


Note:  I had made fresh basil pesto the other night and used it (instead of garlic and basil) to saute' my ground beef (3 tablespoons). You can do that too if you have jarred pesto it adds a bit of a punch to the dish.

Here's my Pesto recipe if you would like.


  • 1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano chese
  • 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts
  • 3 medium sized garlic cloves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.  Put all ingredients in mini chopper or food processor. Grind until all are blended. If you are not using it immediately, do not put cheese in, until ready to use.. This freezes well in small portion size baggies..



10/31/12
10/28/15

Saturday, November 3, 2018

Spiced Pecans: Mom's recipe

Great recipe for your nut loving family and friends.

Hint:  Thanksgiving and Christmas.


I wasn't going to do a thing today in the kitchen but I just couldn't resist making some wonderful toasty pecans that everyone loves!   Mom made these every year and she couldn't make them fast enough. You can't eat just one! if you know what I mean.  Everyone loves them!  They are also wonderful to make for the holidays AND  they STORE WELL IN COOKIE TINS.  I doubled the recipe and made 2 lbs..

I love to give containers mixed with these pecans and trail mix that I make especially during the holidays.  You can find cute little containers at the Dollar Store.

Happy Baking from my kitchen to yours,

1 egg white slightly beaten
1 tablespoon water
1 lb. pecan halves
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt or to taste
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves (optional)
1/2 tsp. nutmeg or 1/2 tsp. allspice


All toasted and just out of the oven..Yummy!




Stir after 20 minutes and put back in oven for 10 minutes more..


Mix together sugar, salt and all spices..

In a Medium bowl whisk egg white and water, stir in pecans until all surfaces are moistened. Sprinkle above sugar/ spice mixture to coat all pecans.  Mix well until all pecans are covered with sugar mixture...

Spread pecans on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake in a pre heated oven 300 degrees for 30 minutes..stirring once after 20 minutes then put back in oven and bake remaining 10 minutes. Cool and store.








11/18/12 original

11/23/13

Monday, October 22, 2018

Italian Style Macaroni and Cheese( Family Favorite) (Pictures included)

A great Easter Tradition for those who choose to eat a meatless meal.



One of the favorite Family Recipes!

Easy dish to prepare and as a suggestion you may also make this dish in a 9x13 size pan.  Let it set for a few minutes and cut in squares in bite size pieces.  Enjoy!

This original recipe was my grandmother’s.


Note to clarify:  "Maccaroni and cheese" does not exist in Italy. This seems more a "Frittata di Pasta" 

3/21/16
 

On Friday's during the Lenten Season we ate meatless meals growing up and still do.  This dish was and still is a family favorite.  My mom shared with me her secret (lots of Italian Cheese for flavor).  Do not skimp!!!  Happy Cooking!






My grandmother used to make this and my mom made it as well so I'm following tradition.  Enjoy! I adjusted the recipe slightly since now noodles are 12 oz. instead of a pound pkg..

3 eggs beaten
1 cup milk
1  1/2 cups grated Italian Cheese(Pecorino Romano(Mom and Grandma used 1 cup but I  find that adding about 1 1/2 cups of cheese is a little tastier)
1 pkg(12 oz) Fine Egg Noodles
Cook egg noodles according to package directions with a slight amount of salt.  Rinse thoroughly.

Mix together eggs, milk and cheese.  Add to noodles....Grease a square 8x8 pan or 13x9 in. with butter(I used  a 9 inch pie plate) I thought it added a nice touch for serving!  Place all noodle mix in pan/dish.
 Top with some more grated cheese and pepper.  Dab a little butter on top..

Bake 350 degrees for about 30 minutes..LAST FEW MINUTES TURN BROILER ON AND SLIGHTLY BROWN TOP. Cool slightly and cut in squares or pie slices.  Serve with a salad

From my kitchen to yours,





original recipe 3/15/12

 12/8/12
2/4/13
 2/9/16
**All recipes and their respective images are the sole property of I Like to Bake and Cook Blog 2012, all rights reserved. All content herein is meant for your personal enjoyment only and is in no way to be used for commercial purposes. Use of this site automatically constitutes your agreement to these terms.

Saturday, June 16, 2018

Favorite Recipes..

Re-Post.......Favorites

Over the past 7 years I have found the below posts to be some of the most popular ones viewed. Two great years of baking and cooking and sharing recipes for you and your family, hoping to make your time in YOUR kitchen a time for making great food memories more enjoyable.

Some of the links are not highlighted so you may have to copy and  paste the link in your browser to access.  I am sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you.  


*****Here is the Most Popular Post!

Strawberry Blueberry Cobbler
Strawberry Blueberry Cobbler

After checking my blog posts it seems the second most viewed(2) recipe has been my own recipe for Italian seasoned Porketta (porketta).


Porketta


3. Aunt Alda's Cheesecake

 
Aunt Alda's Cheesecake Recipe

4. Italian Ciambellone

Italian Ciambellone


5. Roasted Pork, Spinach and Carrots



Roasted Pork and carrots



6. Two Lonely Apples and a Piecrust




Two lonely apples and a piecrust


7. Handy Kitchen Tools #3



 http://iliketobakeandcook.blogspot.com/2011/08/handy-kitchen-tools-3.html

8. Drop Noodles for Haluski

 

Drop noodles for Haluski

9. Italian Stuffed Meatloaf

 

  Stuffed Italian Meatloaf



10. Sweet BBQ Bake

 

 Sweet BBQ Bake


11. Bacon /Cheeseburger loaf


Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf

12.. Easy Bake Scones


 

Easy Baked Scones


13. Mom's Italian Macaroni and Cheese

 
 Mom's Italian Style Mac and Cheese


14. Cream Puff Ring

 
Cream Puff Ring

15. Chicken Francaise



 
Easy Chicken Francaise




******There were a lot of others that had great responses as well.  Honorable mention to Aunt Dora's Earthquake cake, Easy Peanut Butter Fudge, My version of Banana Split cake, A different salad Roasted Butternut Squash and many more.


To date I have posted over 1300 recipes which include many family recipes and each and every one of them I am proud of.  I have many more recipes to share with you and hope you are enjoying my blog posts as much as I am enjoying writing, taking photos and posting them.

Happy Baking and Cooking from my kitchen to yours,

 





5/19/13
re-post 2/24/14
12/4/17



















Thursday, March 8, 2018

Cheesecake of all cheesecake recipe..."Aunt Alda's" Cheesecake recipe + Cool Gift #10

Many years ago this recipe was handed down to me by my favorite aunt on my hubby's side also known as "Aunt Alda". She is smiling down from heaven knowing that I am continuing the Christmas tradition making her recipe. xo


Here is a recipe that my hubby's aunt gave me many years ago and it is the best!!

I have a few of Aunt Alda's recipes and today I would like to share her cheesecake recipe.  You can follow this as I have before with success or try it my way.  I decided this was a good time to try it with a different twist.  I will post the recipe as the original. :  Enjoy!  


Happy Baking


2– 8 oz. Pkg. Cream cheese softened
1 lb. Ricotta
1 ½ cups sugar
1 stick margarine (I use butter)
5 eggs
1 large container sour cream (15 oz.)
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Cream butter, sugar and cream cheese.  Add Ricotta and 5 eggs.. Add cornstarch, flour and sour cream beating well after each addition.  Add vanilla and lemon juice to mixture beating well until all is blended..  Butter spring form pan and sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs.. Pour mixture slowly into pan and bake 325 approx. 1 hour 10 minutes..  You can  use a 9” springform pan or larger..Cool on wire rack.. Serve alone or with favorite topping. I have made this recipe with success as is but wanted to change it a bit so I did the following:









Note: I wanted to add a little twist to Aunt Alda’s recipe so I separated my eggs, beat the egg whites separately and added them to the mixture at the very end, hoping to get a lighter cheesecake.  I also used  butter instead of margarine in my recipe and used a cooking spray to coat pan before sprinkling with the graham cracker crumbs.  My final opinion is stick to Aunt Alda's way of making this cheesecake. My way was a little too soft but very light so if you like soft and light make it my way but if you like dense cheesecake make it Aunt Alda's way.  To make sure your cheesecake is set leave the cheesecake in your refrigerator overnight before you take it out of the spring form pan.  Happy Baking!







Cool Gift #10 

Salt and Pepper Grinders!!!  Mine are battery operated and light.   Really cool!

I love these..I bought them on overstock.com for $19.99


From my happy kitchen with love,




10/1/11 original 
8/21/14

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Nana's Homemade Chicken Ravioli: My first 50

Nana never made meat ravioli and as I'm thinking back to how Nana prepared meals, I'm thinking chicken and potatoes were used a lot in meal preparation.  I lot of meatless meals...

Mom used to tell me they ate a lot of potatoes.. She came from a family of seven and I think potatoes were also reasonable in price so beef was a rarity and maybe that's a good thing.. Nana lived to 93 and Mom's oldest sister is 100 , mom is 91and her other sister is 89. Her remaining youngest brother is 84.

I just better get to my recipe and stop with the chat..

Look at how much filling I still have..I will be making a few more of these..

Here it is:

1 1/2 lb. cooked chicken( I used chicken breasts)  I boiled them with a bit of salt and let them cool
1/2 cup seasoned or unseasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated cheese (of course I use Pecorino Romano)
1/4 cup chopped spinach cooked and drained well
1 egg beaten
1 tablespoon water if needed to hold together

chicken and spinach filling




Chicken and spinach in my processor


When chicken has cooled process chicken and spinach until desired consistency..Add egg , cheese and breadcrumbs and bit of water if needed.  Refrigerate until ready to use!!!  


Dough:

4 cups regular flour( you can use half regular flour and half semolina if you like)
5 whole eggs
1 tbsp. oil
1/4 cup water plus a little more
1 tsp. salt

Mom said this recipe makes 140 Ravioli.. 

Now to get on to making them.. I was going to wait until tomorrow to start but here is the first 50..  Check out the pictures it looks like I'll be making some more later..

Happy Cooking!!!!!




My macaroni machine..I'm back in business!

I use a pizza cutter to section pieces of dough..

I usually go several times to make my dough the right thickness

After putting a small amount of filling fold in half and seal and then dip a fork in flour and seal again making a fork mark around the ends


My first 50!!!!!!
Happy Cooking from my kitchen to yours,




11/5/11
4/17/15

Saturday, May 6, 2017

Authentic Italian Pasta Sauce Recipe



When we visited Italy last year we had the pleasure of visiting my husbands family (his mom's cousin and her family) and were cordially invited to have dinner with them.  Everything was homemade and the meal was fabulous.  

From what I knew about Italy or so I thought I knew about it this pasta sauce was not what I had expected.  No basil, no garlic no fresh tomatoes?? How could that be?  No pepper or other seasonings just veggies, good ground minced meat or ground meat as we call it to make a good down home easy pasta sauce. According to Lorena ,our cousin, her mom makes the sauce this way for their restaurant but at home she uses garden fresh tomatoes.  See even in Italy they take short cuts.

It was very hard to say what I enjoyed the most but I definitely loved their pasta sauce.  Light and slightly sweet I asked for the recipe. I'm going to try a pot this way for our sauce this weekend.


My copykat pasta and sauce


It took a while for me to receive it and translating was a bit of an issue but here it is. 

1 carrot chopped
1 stalk celery chopped
1/2 sweet onion chopped
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 lb. ground beef
1/2 lb. ground pork
3- 28 oz. cans tomato sauce(clean out cans with a little water)and add to sauce
olive oil
freshly grated Romano cheese
homemade fettuccine pasta

Link to pasta recipe:

Homemade pasta 





In a large pot or Dutch oven on medium heat place approximately 4 T. olive oil.  Add chopped carrots, celery and onion. Saute for around 15 minutes.  Add ground meat, sprinkle a little salt too while  breaking meat up into small pieces and saute slowly until all red has disappeared from meat.  Add tomato sauce and sugar.  Sauce will start to bubble.  Cook on lower heat so not to stick covered slightly for approximately 1 1/2 hours. Buon Appetite!


Thank you Roberta Vispi and her daughter Lorena for sharing it with me.  

 La ringrazio tanto Lorena per avermi aiutato con la traduzione del vostro mamma ricetta. La salsa è ottima e ho pubblicato la ricetta sulla mia pagina e blog. Deliziosa

Roberta, Lorena

Roberta


Roberta's pasta and sauce






10/13/15
6/1/16