Now, I haven’t made these in about 10 years.  I pulled the recipe from the Betty Crocker/Bisquick website.  I thought the proportions seemed quite a bit off – 3 cups of bisquick, 4 cups of cheese?  To just one pound of sausage?  But then I thought, hey, it’s Bisquick’s own recipe!  They of all people should have it right.

I should have trusted my instincts and found another recipe.  They were awful.  Ended up as sort of a cheesy dough with bits of sausage and just terrible.

Next time I’ll be using this recipe from Consumer Web Help – the proportions seem much more reasonable and the sausage isn’t so far outnumbered by the cheese & Bisquick.

Ah well, lesson learned.  Onward and upward!

In my fridge there is a 7.92# Shady Brook Farms turkey breast!  The first market I went to last evening had at least a dozen of them.  Much better than the year I had to go to 3 different stores to find one.

I always get the biggest one I can get my hands on, because the leftovers will NOT go to waste.  I like turkey, but don’t eat it a whole lot.  My brother LOVES turkey.  Last year he had 8 meals in a row of turkey sandwiches after Thanksgiving.  We’ll see if he can break the record this year.

As it stands, we will again have enough food for a small army, even though it’s just my brother & myself.  But I won’t have to cook for at least 3 days afterwards!

The cheese & sausage plate will be a meal in and of itself.  I’ve got summer sausage, hard pepperoni and…  There’s one other thing and I can’t remember what it is off the top of my head but it’s in the fridge.  For cheeses, we have good old sharp cheddar, pepper jack, salsa jack (never heard of it before, but it looked interesting,) smoked gouda and dill havarti.  I also have a roll of Salame Panino.  (Salame rolled in mozzarella!) It just looked really yummy.

Can’t wait!

online casinoBacon Wrapped Potato Bites

How on earth could I have not thought of this before now????

Thanks, Apartment Therapy!

So, about a month ago, I mentioned the Curry Chicken Pot Pies that I had at a party.  I wanted to give them a whirl, but of course, I couldn’t stick with Alton’s original recipe… (Sorry, Alton!!  But I’m sure you understand.)

It’s still not perfect by any means, so this is round one – but they are still pretty tasty!  I skipped the curry – my brother isn’t a fan (bad childhood experiences) which was fine, I’ve been looking for a decent “plain” chicken pot pie filling recipe to start with, and this looked like a good base.

First, I wanted to do some sort of bite sized version like my friend did.  I couldn’t find puff pastry (I am sure my market has it and I was just looking in the wrong places) so I went with fridge biscuits and used about 1/3 to 1/4 of a biscuit for each section in a mini muffin tin.

I added some garlic (because everything needs garlic) to the onions & celery, and used sweet onion since the white onions around here have been insanely strong this year.

Cut the 4 cups of veggies to 2 cups and added 2 cups of diced white potatoes.  (I also microwaved them for a few minutes, as I had no faith that they would cook through just sitting in the oven with the veggies – I would have boiled them if I had thought of it soon enough.)

Finally, rather than letting the sauce thicken and then folding in the veggies & chicken, I just went ahead and added it all at the same time and letting the chicken simmer in the sauce & seasonings.  Added them to the biscuit cups and popped them in the oven for 10 minutes at 350 (the temp called for on the biscuit package.)

And the results:

I put some of the leftovers in the fridge – 5 minutes at 400 degrees in the toaster oven is just right for reheating without burning the biscuit part.  The rest are in the freezer, we’ll see how well they can be thawed and reheated for snacks.

Now, the changes I need to make for next time…

– Cut it in half.  The original recipe says 6-8 servings.  That is 6-8 servings for people who really, REALLY like chicken pot pie!  (Seems most 4 serving recipes will feed myself and my brother, and then I have a small serving left for lunch the next day.)
– More potatoes, less veggies. :)
– A little bit of bacon.  Cause everything is better with bacon, and I think it would give it a little something.
– Find where the grocery store is hiding the puff pastry.

They were SO GOOD – I HIGHLY recommend this recipe.  The curry is not at all overwhelming, it just gives it a little bit of a kick.

I am definitely going to have to give these a whirl at some point.

Another from the cooking school weekend at the Sanderling Inn last spring. It’s a great little appetizer, easy as all get out to make.

– 8 oz cream cheese
– 2 T chives
– 1 T lemon juice
Salt & Pepper
– 1# smoked salmon
– Sliced cukes or crackers

Mix the cream cheese, chives, lemon juice and salt & pepper. (It occured to me you could probably also use the chive cream cheese that is available.) Spread the cream cheese mix on the salmon and roll up. Wrap tightly in cling film and put in the freezer for 1-4 hours to get firmed up. When ready to serve, slice and serve on the cucumbers or crackers. The freezing makes them very easy to slice up, and once sliced, they will be thawed in just a few minutes.

Couple mistakes I made: Accidentally bought pre-sliced smoked salmon rather than just a single filet. Had to frankenstein things together a bit and it made it a little more challenging getting the cream cheese spread out. Second, I sliced off too many… More than we could eat in one night. There is still another half in the freezer, I’ll just be slicing off only 3 or 4. They do freeze pretty well.

Assuming 16 pinwheels, 1 pinwheel = 1 serving
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 86 Calories; 6g Fat (65.0% calories from fat); 6g Protein; 1g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 22mg Cholesterol; 265mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 1 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1 Fat.

8 oz lump crab meat, picked through for shells.
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 small red pepper, small diced
1/2 small yellow peper, small diced
2 scallions, chopped
Salt
Fresh Ground Black Pepper
1 tsp lemon juice

Mix cream cheese until smooth – beater or by hand.
Add everything except crab meat, mix until well blended.
Fold in crabmeat gently
Place in ovenproof container and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until browned on top and heated throughout.

I ended up cooking it for about 25 minutes (the baking dish I had was somewhat deep) and put a bit of cheddar and monterey jack cheese on top.  You can also make it a day or two ahead and store before baking.

16 1oz servings, with cheese:
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 78 Calories; 6g Fat (71.2% calories from fat); 5g Protein; 1g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 30mg Cholesterol; 104mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1 Fat.

Crabettes from Joyful Abode

Definitely have to give this a whirl at some point.

Link via Tastespotting.

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

This year, I’m teaching my brother how to handle the turkey breast. (Since it’s just me & him, no sense in a whole turkey.) Honestly, it couldn’t be easier and given that I actually don’t like turkey *that* much – he can cook it next year. :)

I do a salt/sugar (2:1) brine with some peppercorns thrown in. Give that a couple hours, rinse & pat dry. Slather in melted butter and rub in the spices that suit your fancy. McCormick has a “steakhouse grind” that I’ve used and liked on turkey, and I’ll likely go with that again. Roast at 325 until internal temp reaches 165 degrees. Let rest, carve and enjoy!

No fancy or exotic sides – my brother likes to have what we’ve always had since we were kids…which is box stuffing and instant mashed potatoes and crescent rolls. It’s not exactly gourmet, but it makes him happy. A *must* for me is the dish of sweet pickles.

We got a late start today, so by the time we eat, it very well could be midnight. But, in the meantime we’ve got Cheesy Ranch Bacon Dip (details after the jump) and some ready-made spinach dip under the “Simply Enjoy” brand. The spinach dip is kind of “eh” – it’s not seasoned very well, and there are some large chunks of *something* in it that wasn’t chopped up quite right. (Texture of water chestnuts, but who knows.)

We’re skipping dessert cause we need an entire pie in the house like we need a hole in the head. That, and my brother doesn’t actually like pumpkin pie. (I’m not sure we’re really related sometimes.)

Have a lovely day and may nothing burn and all the sides finish at the same time.

Cheesy Ranch Bacon Dip

1 pint sour cream
1 packet ranch dressing mix
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 to 1/2 cup bacon pieces. (Hormel’s bacon pieces work very well for this)

Mix it all up, let set up in the fridge for a bit and enjoy