Chicken And Sage Sausage - The Great Seasonings Quest

I like the idea of making my own sausage.  For one, I can control what's in it.  Also, I can use whatever meat I want.  We like using ground chicken since it's leaner than pork; however, most chicken sausage is pretty costly and hard to find.  Turkey sausage is more common, but it can still be fairly expensive when you look at the per unit ounce price of the pre-made sausage vs a pound of ground meat.  Also it tends to not be seasoned to my liking.  Picky?  Perhaps, but I don't like the idea that I either have to get something I don't like the flavor of or pay extra for something that's hardly exotic.

My digging through the Kitchen Simplicity blog lead me to this recipe for Chicken and Sage Sausage Patties.  I tried it exactly per the recipe, but found it didn't have enough flavor to suit me or my boyfriend.  I grew up eating hot and spicy pork sausage; and while I realized I would never capture that pork flavor in chicken, I did want to at least get some of the flavorful seasonings I enjoyed.  So here's what I have so far.  It needs work as I'm not 100% satisfied with the seasonings, but it's getting there.  I may try with turkey to see if that helps.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground chicken
• 2 tbsp green onion, finely chopped
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 2 tsp dried sage
• 1/2 tbsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 tbsp smoke flavor
• 1 tsp cajun seasoning (I use this in place of the salt as most of it has salt in it)
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp crushed red pepper

I may end up either doubling the cajun seasoning or adding a touch of sea salt and cayenne pepper.  I could also add more sage, or perhaps add thyme.  If you try this, and change up the seasonings, then let me know how it was!

Directions:

1. Mix all of the seasonings, onion, garlic, and mustard with the ground chicken in a large bowl.  You may be able to do it with a fork, but you might find it easier to mix it with your hands like you would a meatloaf.  Mix until the seasonings are well blended into the ground meat.  You want to make sure you don't have large clumps of seasoning as it will make the sausage taste different from patty to patty.
2. Once mixed use a tablespoon to scoop out the meat into balls and flatten into patties.  You can place these on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper until you are ready to cook them.  If you do refrigerate the sausage, then leave it out for about 30 minutes to make sure it cooks evenly.  You can also freeze them up to six weeks if you make sure to have parchment paper between the patties so they do not stick.  Allow to thaw overnight in the fridge, and sit out for 30 minutes prior to cooking.
3. When you are ready to cook the sausage keep the heat around medium to medium high.  If you are not using a no-stick pan, then you will want a bit of oil to keep the patties from sticking too bad.
4. Cook around 3 minutes per side or more depending on the thickness of the patty.

This can make around 10 sausage patties depending on the size of the patty. That's 5 servings total at 2 patties per serving.

Let's Eat Quiche!

Up until recently I was a bit intimidated by the thought of cooking a quiche.  I loved eating quiche, but I always thought it was a very involved recipe that called for dozens of eggs and such.  I had pie shells in the freezer that I wanted to use, so I decided to be brave and look up a recipe for quiche.  I then felt silly.  Quiche take a little bit of time, but it's supremely easy. 

Basic Quiche - The Essentials
Ingredients:

• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup cream or milk
• 1 9 inch deep dish pie shell
• 1/2 cup cheese of your choice
• Your favorite seasonings

So that's the essentials for the quiche.  The cheese itself may even be considered optional if that's not your thing.  The following are suggestions for ingredients you can add to give your quiche more flavor and to make it more hearty.  Of course this isn't the end all of what you can add!  I didn't mention hamburger under the meat section, but you can easily make a cheeseburger quiche if you wanted.  You could avoid meat, and just bulk up on veggies.  The great thing about quiche is that you can make it to be breakfast or lunch/dinner.

Advanced Quiche  aka "More than just eggs & cheese"
Optional Ingredients:

•    Meat!
• 4 to 6 slices of lean, cooked bacon crumbled
• 2 slices of lean ham
• 1 to 2 links of bratwurst style sausage
• 1/2 pound smoked sausage
• 1 chicken breast, cooked and diced
• Veggies!
• 1 mushroom of your choosing, sliced or diced
• 2 to 3 green onions, sliced
• 1 small bell pepper, diced
• 1 small hot pepper of any sort, diced, seeds included
• Sun dried tomatoes
• 1/2 cup zucchini

 I have my ingredients... let's cook this!
Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Place your pie shell on a cookie sheet to make it easier to handle, and also to help with cleanup in case it bubbles up.
2. Whisk the eggs, cream, cheese, and seasonings together in a bowl and put to the side.
3. Add the meat and/or veggies you chose to the pie shell.
4. Pour the egg mixture into the pie shell ensuring to cover everything.
5. Sprinkle a bit of cheese over the top if desired.
6. Cook for 15 minutes at 400 degrees, and then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F. Cook for 35 minutes until the top is nicely browned.
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
8. The quiche refrigerates nicely (be sure to cover it), and can be reheated in the microwave for about 2 minutes.

Serves 4

Creamy Zucchini Shrimp Pasta

This dish was supposed to use couscous instead of pasta, but somewhere along the way I forgot (oops).  Maybe it's because we have a hurricane heading our way, and my mind is on that.  Maybe I forgot to look at the "Meals for the Week" list that's tacked up on the cork board.  Either way my boyfriend enjoyed it, and all but demanded that I write down the recipe since it wasn't one that I had found online.  Without further adieu...

Creamy Zucchini Shrimp Pasta

Note: The zucchini I used was mostly chopped pretty finely which allowed it to cook into a creamy texture. There were a few pieces that were cut into wedge slices.  It was like this because I had been making cookies with it, and chopped up most of it before I realized I had too much.  Still it made the dish pretty interesting.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups of zucchini, mostly chopped fine with a few pieces sliced as described above
• 6 oz of medium-large (41/60) cooked shrimp, tails off, deveined
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 cup rotini pasta
• Sea salt, ground red pepper, and lemon pepper to taste
• Parmesan cheese for topping - optional

Directions:

1. Melt butter in large pan over low heat.
2. Once butter is melted, add zucchini and saute until soft
3. Add seasonings and stir
4. Add lemon juice and heavy cream. 
5. Add shrimp and mix well. Simmer for about 4 minutes. 
6. Once sauce is lightly bubbling, thick, and hot, remove from heat.
7. Cook pasta per box directions. Drain pasta and add back to the pot you cooked it in.
8. Combine the zucchini and shrimp sauce to the pasta and mix until the pasta is covered in the sauce.
9. Top with a little bit of the Parmesan cheese if desired.

Serves 2

Chocolatey Chocolate Chip Scones!

I love to cook, but sometimes I cook to soothe anxiety or perk me up from a bit of depression.  Cooking takes my mind off of whatever stimulus has it in a funk.  It refocuses and re-centers me.  Having a recipe I find turn out awesome brings me a lot of joy, especially when it's one that is practical.

Yesterday I was in a gloomy spot, and I realized I needed to do something quickly to fix the problem or else my whole day would be consumed by it.  I decided that I should bake something, and I should use the cocoa powder.  I didn't want to make a cake so soon after finally getting done with the last one, and suddenly I thought of scones!  After digging around a bit, I found this recipe from the Paris Pastry blog.  It seemed simple enough, and I had everything the recipe required in stock.  The scones were super yummy, and they were fun to make since the last little bit involved some hands on (or hands IN) TLC.

Chocolatey Chocolate Chip Scones

Ingredients:

• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• ½ cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 ¼ sticks tablespoons butter, cold, cut into small cubes
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 large whole egg
• ½ cup + 1 tbsp heavy cream (Might want to keep the container handy, I had to use approximately 1/4 a cup extra because this wasn't enough)
• Also have 1 large egg yolk (or 1 tbsp egg substitute) and 1 tbsp heavy cream to brush over the scones prior to baking.
• Granulated sugar to sprinkle over the brushed scones prior to baking

Directions:

1. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Whisk the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl until well combined. 
3. Add the butter and either use a blender with a pastry attachment, or hand cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a stiff spatula.  The mixture will coarse and crumbly with a few larger butter clumps. 
4. Fold in the chocolate chips.
5. Whisk the whole egg and heavy cream together in a separate container. Stir into the flour mixture until the dough just comes together. Make sure to get all the dry crumbs under the forming dough, and add more cream as necessary.  If you need to add more cream, then add it a little bit at a time so the dough doesn't get runny.
6. Lightly flour a surface (a clean counter top will do), and pull the dough out onto the surface.  Gently knead it into a rectangle (3x18 inches, 1 inch thick works), and either use a knife or a pastry cutter to cut the dough into triangles.
7. Place the triangles onto the lined cookie sheet, and place the scones into the refrigerator for around 30 to 45 minutes.  You may want to cover the sheet with plastic wrap if you're worried about odor.
8. When it is nearly time to take the scones out of the fridge, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
9. Whisk the egg yolk and heavy cream together and brush over the top of the scones.
10. Sprinkle the sugar on the scones after brushing them with the egg and cream mixture.
11. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through to make sure the sugar turns a nice golden color all over.  A toothpick or cake tester inserted into the scones should come out clean (unless you hit a chocolate chip).
12. Remove from the oven, and cool on a wire rack.  Try not to devour them all immediately.

Should make 10 or so scones, but your mileage may vary according to how large or small you cut them! :)

Snacks and breakfast!

I'll post the recipe tomorrow morning!

Acorn Squash & Kale Soup

I love Autumn!  I love the weather cooling off, the leaves turning, and just the overall feeling of the season.  I can pull out my longer sleeved shirts, layer, and slum around in my comfy brown hoodie.  It's a great season, and I love food that reminds me of it.  That's why I decided to make a dish with a fall/winter squash.  I originally was going to go for butternut squash, but found this recipe for acorn squash on Martha Stewart's website.  The picture you see above is my leftovers being stuffed into jars for cold storage. :)

The acorn squash can be prepped ahead of time until you're ready to make the soup.  Just try not to burn out your blender in the process like I did.  It was an older inexpensive machine, so it couldn't handle the squash!

RIP Mr. Blendy!

Acorn Squash and Kale Soup (Original Recipe Here )

Ingredients:

• 4lbs of Acorn Squash  (having a touch over won't hurt. I ended up with just under 4.5 pounds).
• 6 cups of kale, cut up with the hard stems removed
• 4 slices of bacon, cut into small pieces
• 2 to 3 green onions - bottom parts only
• 3 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie seasoning
• 1 pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp butter
• 3 cups of water

Acorn Squash Prep:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Place the acorn squash on a rimmed cookie sheet, and place the sheet into the preheated oven.
3. Bake for an hour, turning the squash occasionally to ensure it gets done on all sides.
4. Remove squash from oven and allow to cool completely.
5. Once cooled, slice the squash in half and remove the seeds.
6. Scoop the meat of the squash into a blender and discard the skins.
7. Puree/liquify the squash.

Directions:

1. Cook the chopped bacon in a large pot over medium to medium low heat until crispy.
2. Using a slotted spoon, remove the bacon and drain on a paper towel covered plate.
3. Cook green onion in bacon fat until soft (about 2 to 3 minutes).
4. Add kale, and cook until the kale is tender (about 5 to 7 minutes).
5. Mix the acorn squash puree into the pot with the water.  Add more water if you desire a thinner consistency.
6. Add seasonings and butter.
7. Simmer over medium heat stirring occasionally.
8. Either mix the bacon in a few minutes before stirring, or add to the tops of the bowls as a garnish (I mixed it in to capitalize on the flavor).

Serves 5 to 6

Spicy Baby Octopus Sauce + Pasta

The inspiration for this dinner came from this Serious Eats recipe.  Mine probably turned out different as I didn't have the bucatini, parsley, or the chilies. Instead I used a whole wheat linguine, crushed red pepper, and a can of diced tomatoes with chilies.  I also didn't have the cherry tomatoes.  I'll have to try this again with the cherry tomatoes as the sauce had a lot of liquid.  Despite missing a few of the ingredients, the dish turned out really well!  The octopus was quite tender and flavorful.  I may use a little less pasta next time so I can enjoy the sauce more, but overall I recommend trying this!

Now you may wonder, "Why octopus???"  Honestly, I chose it because I wanted the challenge and it just seemed like it would be funny to have little tentacles and pasta all in one wriggly dish.  Finding the octopus was a challenge.  None of the grocery stores with a seafood counter carried it.  One store's website claimed they did, but the counter guys were bewildered as to why I would think they'd have something like octopus.  We accidentally found a seafood market that sold octopus, but only full sized, and only in 5 pound chunks.  I also could not tell where the octopus came from.  Finally we found Antonio's.  They sold baby octopus in 2 pound blocks, which was still more than I needed by half a pound, but I figured a half pound overage was easier to work with than a 3 1/2 pound overage.  Antonio was very helpful with advice on how to prep the octopus for cooking, and was able to tell me where the octopus itself had been caught!

A word of advice: the prep time on this is longer than the original recipe indicates (actually the original recipe has no prep time mentioned at all).  You may want to get started on the prep early in the day, or do this on a weekend.  Cutting up two pounds of octopus takes a little bit of time, and this doesn't even take possible thawing into consideration in the event your octopus is frozen.

Spicy Baby Octopus Sauce + Pasta

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs of baby octopus
• 1 can of diced tomatoes with chilies (should  be around 15 oz)
• 1 medium sized tomato, diced
• 2 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 3 tsp black pepper (I used the bourbon barrel black pepper)
• 1 tbsp crushed red pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 8 1/2 oz of whole wheat linguine (rough estimate, I didn't measure this part, adjust as necessary)

Prep:

1. Rinse the octopus and cut into 2 inch pieces.
2. Marinate the octopus in milk for 45 minutes.  This will act as a tenderizer.
3. While the octopus is marinating, slice the garlic and tomato.
4. When the octopus is ready, drain the milk, and lightly rinse the octopus.

Directions:

1. Add the olive oil and sliced garlic to a large pot. Heat on low to medium low until the garlic is lightly browned.
2. Add the tomatoes, octopus, and seasoning to the pot. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil (medium high heat), and then reduce to a simmer.
3. Allow the sauce to simmer partially covered for 20 minutes.  Stir occasionally.
4. Remove the cover, and cook over medium high heat to for around 7 minutes to thicken the sauce.
5. While the sauce is finishing, prepare the pasta according to the directions.
6. Once the sauce has thickened a bit (or when 7 minutes is up), remove from heat.
7. Drain the pasta and add to the pot with the sauce.  Toss until the pasta is well covered in the sauce.

Serves 4 to 6.
 

Dinner Preview...

Death by Garlic

I love garlic.  My boyfriend, however, is nuts for it and has been known to eat so much of it that the smell was seeping from his pores.  When I found the Death by Garlic recipe, I knew it would be a hit with him.  Upon looking at it further, I decided the recipe needed to beefed up a bit.  The base recipe was pasta, oil, a bit of cheese, and garlic.  I decided to add smoked sausage and pepperoni to make it heartier.  I also not only added more minced garlic, but added whole cloves and used a garlic infused olive oil.  The result burned my eyes while cooking, but the taste was worth it!

Death by Garlic (Original Recipe)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup garlic infused extra virgin olive oil
• 15 cloves garlic, minced
• 15 cloves garlic, whole
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon bourbon barrel smoked black pepper ( Bourbon Barrel Foods )
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Garlic Herb Blend (I use Kitchen Stories )
• 1 small red cayenne pepper chopped, seeds included
• 1 pound smoked turkey sausage, sliced
• 1/2 cup turkey pepperoni
• 1/2 pound dry rotini pasta (or other pasta type)
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

 Directions:

1. Heat the oil and garlic over low to medium low heat until minced garlic starts to turn golden.
2. Add sliced sausage and pepperoni.  Stir to ensure that the garlic doesn't burn and that the meat gets coated in oil and starts heating up.
3. Cook rotini according to instructions. Drain when done and put to the side.
4. Add the chopped cayenne pepper, seasonings, and cheese. Stir well and simmer about 5 to 10 minutes keeping an eye on the garlic.  When the garlic cloves appear to be soft, then remove from heat.
5. Toss the garlic and meat mixture with the pasta in a large bowl or pot so that the pasta is well covered in the mixture.

Serves 4

Greek Quinoa

My friend and former co-worker Emily gifted me this recipe a while back. I decided to fix it last night since it's quick and easy.  Despite being a light dinner, it can be pleasantly filling!  This is a great warm weather recipe since you only have to use your stove to cook the quinoa.  Next time I make it, I will include some cucumbers and maybe a small spoonful of Greek yogurt on top.  I've made a few small edits to the recipe, so I'll include the original ingredients in parenthesis.

Greek Quinoa

Ingredients:

• 1 cup rinsed quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• ¾ cup lemon juice
• 2 1/2 tsp KitchenStories Greek Herb Blend (original recipe: 1 tsp dried oregano)
• 2 clove garlic, minced (original recipe: 1 clove garlic, minced)
• ¼ cup kalamata olives, sliced
• 1 bunch scallions, chopped
• 1/2 small/medium sized fresh tomato diced (original recipe: 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved)
• 7 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
• ¼ cup red onion (original recipe called for ¼ cup red onion, I didn't use this at all)
• 1 tsp sea salt  (original recipe only called for salt & pepper at the end)

Directions:

1. Bring the water to boil, and add the quinoa. Turn the heat down to medium low, and let the quinoa simmer stirring occasionally until the water is absorbed. This will take around 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Add oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and seasonings to a bowl.  Toss in quinoa until well mixed.
3. Add olives, tomatoes, scallions, and feta. Mix well.

Should serve 4, though it may only make it to 3. :)

Chicken and Asparagus Spaghetti in Creamy Red Sauce

A few years back Wal-Mart created a series of regional cookbooks that featured recipes from their own employees.  Some people would read that and scoff, but the recipes weren't too bad.  Naturally they include heavy product placement; whether this was done by the submitters or done by the cookbook's editors I'm not sure.  The sponsorship also made the cookbooks relatively inexpensive; if my memory serves me, then mine was around $4 to $5.

The 2002 cookbook that I got in Louisiana featured a main dish recipe labeled as Quick Chicken and Asparagus Spaghetti.  It's not a bad little meal, but it calls for cream of chicken soup.  My problem with this is that I'm not a fan of most cream of chicken soups as they contain mechanically separated chicken. Finding a version that does not can be expensive and difficult.  My version of the recipe cuts out the soup in favor of making a creamy tomato sauce.  I've also added a few extra things to make it a bit more robust all around.


Chicken & Asparagus Spaghetti in Creamy Red Sauce
Ingredients:

• 8 oz of dry whole wheat spaghetti
• 8 oz of frozen asparagus spears, chopped into 1 inch pieces
• 2 8 oz cans of unsalted natural tomato sauce
• 1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes with chilies, drained
• 8 oz of cooked chicken breast chopped into small pieces
• 1 8 oz package of Neufchâtel cheese cubed
• 1/2 a small bell pepper of any color chopped finely
• Crushed Red Pepper to taste
• Thyme
• Ground Black Pepper to taste
• Garlic Powder or the Garlic Herb blend of your choice

Directions:

1. Cook spaghetti according to package instructions. Add the asparagus to the boiling water during the last 4 minutes of cooking time.  Drain pasta and asparagus, and put to the side. To keep your dirty dishes at a minimum, use a larger pot and reuse this pot for the sauce. Be sure to either let it cool, or rinse it to cool it off before adding the cheese.
2. Simmer cubed cheese, bell pepper, and diced tomatoes in the large pot over low to medium low heat.  Stir occasionally to ensure the cheese melts evenly and does not scorch the bottom of the pot. 
3. Once the cheese is melted and well incorporated with the mixture add the seasonings and tomato sauce and allow to simmer.  Stir occasionally.
4. When the sauce is bubbling, add the chicken and the spaghetti asparagus mixture.  Stir and allow to simmer until heated through (about 5 to 8 minutes).

Serves 4 to 6

Salvation of a busted up cake

Remember how I said that I sometimes would take on a task that was tough rather than do something simple? My boyfriend went out of town, and I decided to bake a cake for him. The problem is, I didn't want to just bake a regular cake. Oh no, I decided to make a LEGO cake. I've never made one, never made a red velvet cake from scratch, never made my own icing, etc. I was stressing over it big time. All things considered, I think it turned out fine:

Yeah, it's not the prettiest, and it's not to scale. My BF loved it, and that's what counts.

However, it nearly didn't happen. The first take at the base ended in disaster because I didn't put parchment paper in the bottom of the pan. The cake ripped in half when I tried removing it from the pan!

I cried, and then did it over again. Unfortunately I had a whole busted up 9x9 cake that I wasn't entirely sure what to do with. I wasn't going to throw it away since that would be wasteful, and I had put so much time into making it. After some thought, I came up with a solution that made the cake into something like a bread pudding that turned out to be totally yummy!

Ingredients:
- One destroyed 9x9 cake (8x8 will also work, as will 8 or 9 inch rounds)
- Two boxes of instant pudding

Since I had a red velvet cake, I used white chocolate pudding. Pair up the pudding with what kind of cake you have, or what you think will make an interesting flavor combination.

Prepare pudding according to the directions on the box. Once the pudding is nice and thick, stir in the broken up chunks of cake. Stir it until it's well mixed... it will be A LOT of goop!

Now what you do from here is up to you. You can put it in the fridge and eat it as is, or you can bake it. I put it in cupcake cups, and baked it at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes.

The result was a fun little bread pudding-like snack that tasted so good! If you choose to bake it, then be aware that they taste WONDERFUL when still warm! :D

Smoked Sausage & Corn Chowder

Autumn is my favorite season overall with winter coming in a close second. I love seeing the leaves turn, and am thankful for the cooler weather (especially being in the South!). The weather was a bit nicer today, so I'm hoping this means summer is coming to a close soon. With fall potentially around the corner, I wanted to share this warm and hearty recipe that I came across. :)

I found this on BigOven, and I adjusted a few things here and there to make it mine.  I then remade it so I could get the picture, and adjusted it even more.  I decided against using a full half pound of bacon, and went for closer to a quarter pound or less.  I got the same flavor without having to use quite as much of a meat that I can use for other dishes.  I also decided that next time I'm going to crisp the sausage with the bacon, and then remove both prior to putting in the celery and green onions.  This will bring out more of the sausage flavor which kind of gets lost in the chowder otherwise.  That's not to say this chowder isn't awesome, but rather to say that it could be more so!

Smoked Sausage & Corn Chowder

Ingredients:

• 1/4 lb bacon - chopped
• 1 lb smoked sausage - sliced or chopped
• 2 stalks celery - chopped
• 2 to 3 green onions - chopped finely
• 2 cups potatoes - peeled and diced
• 1 cup water
• 1 can unsalted corn - drained
• 1 can cream-style corn
• 1 12-oz can evaporated milk
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Cajun seasoning or Cayenne pepper optional (replace salt with Cajun seasoning as most have salt in them)

Directions:

1. In a large pot, cook the bacon and sausage until bacon is crisp and sausage is nicely browned.
2. Move the sausage and bacon from the pot onto a plate leaving the rendered fat in the pot.
3. Add the chopped celery and onions to the bacon fat and cook until both are slightly tender.
4. Add potatoes, water, and seasonings.  Cover and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes.
5. Stir in both cans of corn, evaporated milk, sausage, and bacon.
6. Lower heat to medium low and cook until potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.
7. I recommend stirring the soup about every 5 to 10 minutes because it can scorch on the bottom if you don't.
8. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

Serves 4 to 6

Oven Baked Natchitoches Meat Pie Recipe

I have a confession to make: I have a bad habit of picking the most complicated version of something new when I want to learn something. Case in point, several months back I hadn't baked a cake in a while, so the first one I did was a triple layer cake with lemon, lime, and orange for the layers. Oh, and marshmallow between the layers. It turned out fine despite its insistence on trying to fall apart when I was putting it together, but I could have just done something easy... like a chocolate cake. I just get these ideas, and I want to see them through.
This recipe came about when I was thinking of making a pot pie, but then remembered how good Natchitoches meat pies are. I hadn't had one in a long time, and I didn't have a good setup for deep frying. I also figured doing it this way would be healthier. Well, healthier in the "slightly better than the alternative" sense.
Traditional Natchitoches meat pies are usually made as individual pies (think empanada) and fried. This version is made in a regular pie shell and baked. While less portable (and a touch less fun), this does make them ever so slightly healthier. At least I'd like to pretend it does. :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natchitoches_meat_pie
This recipe is adapted from Emeril's recipe (which is just odd, I would never think him to have a recipe, much less a decent one) which is on FoodNetwork.com.
Ingredients
For the filling:

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 pound ground pork sausage (I prefer the hot sausage)
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon cajun seasoning (such as Tony's or Slap Ya Mamma)
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup finely chopped green onions

For the pastry:

• Two 9" pie shells. Thaw the one that will be filled, and keep the one that will be the top portion chilled.

Alternatively...

• One 9" pie shell thawed, and one rolled out pie dough (you can find these in the section with the canned biscuits in the store).

Why the different methods? Because fitting the rolled dough over top the filled pie shell might be easier than ripping out the dough of another pie shell and trying to not completely tear it up in the process (I tried and failed). Buying a two pack of pie shells is cheaper than buying a pie shell & rolled dough. Keeping the other crust chilled SHOULD help.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
In a large skillet heat oil and cook beef and pork sausage, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add the onions, bell peppers, salt, cajun seasoning, cayenne, and black pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are soft, about 10 to 12 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
Dissolve the flour in the water and add to the meat mixture. Stir until the mixture thickens slightly, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the green onions. Mix well and let cool for a few minutes.
Scoop mixture into thawed pie shell making sure to spread it evenly in the pie shell. Once full cover with the other pie crust (removed from the pie plate of course) or the rolled dough. Cut a few holes in the crust to vent. Place the filled pie on a cookie sheet, and bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until the pie crust is lightly browned.
Remove pie from oven and allow to cool before slicing.
Serves 4.

Turkey (or Chicken) & Quinoa Meatloaf

I adapted this recipe from something I found on allrecipes.com. The original wasn't bad, but some of the measurements were off, and I really didn't want to make up a brown sugar rub for it.
If you're not sure about what quinoa is, then check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa and http://www.quinoa.net/.
1/4 Cup of Quinoa
1 Cup of Water (can be reduced to 3/4 potentially)
1 tsp of Olive Oil
1 stalk Green Onion, chopped
1 Large clove of garlic, chopped
1 lb of ground turkey or ground chicken
1 tbsp ketchup or tomato paste
1 tbsp (or more) Tabasco sauce
2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce (not 100% necessary)
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp of salt
Pepper and other seasonings to taste - personally I use crushed red pepper, ground black pepper, and alternate between a few different herb & spice blends to change things up.

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a cooking pan (8x8 will work) with cooking spray and put to the side.
• Bring quinoa and water to boil in a pot over high heat. Reduce heat to medium low to low, cover, and simmer until quinoa is tender and water has been absorbed. This may be around 15 to 20 minutes. Once done, remove from heat to cool, fluff quinoa with fork.
• Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the green onion and garlic. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until garlic is lightly browned and onion soft.
• Stir all the ingredients together in a large bowl until well combined. The mixture will be very moist.
• Shape mixture into a loaf in the prepared pan, and add either a zigzag of ketchup or BBQ sauce on top.
• Bake in preheated oven for 50 minutes. Let meatloaf cool for about 5 to 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Serves 4.

Intros and such!

I don't think this will end up being nearly as fancy as some food blogs... well not at first anyway. I'll need to bust out the camera and try taking more pictures of the cooking process and end result. I've yet to be inspired photographically since I moved from Lexington, KY so hopefully this will help get me out of that rut.

To start out I'll post some recipes I've shared with friends and family. I didn't necessarily create them, and I give props where props are due. I do note where I've changed things though.

I'm not world famous, and I've had no formal training. I just hope people enjoy what I'm sharing! :)