Homestyle Pasta

Homestyle Pasta
from a Hillshire Farm magazine ad

1 16-oz pkg. uncooked linguine
4 C fresh small broccoli florets
1 pkg. Hillshire Farms Polska Kielbasa
1/2 C chopped onion
1 tsp. hot sauce
1 7-oz pkg. refrigerated basil pesto
1 5-oz pkg. crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
2 green onions, sliced
Salt and pepper, to taste

Cook linguine according to package directions. During the last 4 minutes of cooking, add broccoli to water. When linguine and broccoli are tender, drain; keep warm

Cut sausage into 1/2 inch cubes. Heat a 4 to 6-quart pan over medium high heat for 3 minutes. Add sausage and onion to pan; cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sausage is browned and onion is tender.

Add hot sauce, cooked linguine and broccoli. Toss gently over medium heat for 1 minutes. Stir in pesto, Gorgonzola and green onions; heat through. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

Serves 8.

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Notes: I used penne pasta instead of linguine. I don' t think that the hot sauce did a single thing for this recipe. It could very easily be omitted... in my opinion.

Verdict: This was the first time I've used Kielbasa in a recipe. And WE LOVED IT!!! This was so easy and so quick... less than thirty minutes to prepare! It smelled so good while cooking that when it was ready to serve there was not a single patient member of my family that would support me in getting my camera out to take a picture! We will definitely make this again!

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

from an ad in a Current Catalog (a very long time ago)

CAKE:

1/4 C butter

1 C sugar

2 eggs

1 C sour cream
1 tsp vanilla

2 C sifted flour
1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

FILLING:

1/4 C brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp cocoa

3/4 C chopped pecans

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat well. Fold in sour cream and vanilla. Sift dry ingredients and fold into creamed mixture. Set aside. Mix filling. Spoon half the batter into greased bundt pan. Top with half of the filling. Add the remaining batter and top with the remaining filling. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Cool 10-15 minutes before removing from the pan. Cool completely, then drizzle with glaze or dust with powdered sugar as desired.

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Notes: I omitted the pecans. Too many people in my family don't love pecans. I also did not frost it in any way... left it naked... so to speak! Sydney made this almost entirely by herself. It was easy and quick to put together.

Verdict: This was a very moist and yummy cake. Just enough sugary crunch, from the filling, to make it pretty close to a perfect coffee cake!

It is finding little gems like this that make me so glad for this fun little project that we are doing!! Sydney was incredibly proud of her efforts and the recipe is definitely a keeper!!!

Scallion Whipped Potatoes

Scallion Whipped Potatoes
from the Market Cafe in the Buttes
recipe printed in The Arizona Republic

1 pound small red potatoes, unpeeled
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp kosher salt
2 scallions, sliced thin

Quarter the potatoes and place in a large pot. Cover with water and add a little salt. Bring the potatoes to a boil, lower heat to medium and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes. In a separate saucepan, combine the cream, butter, pepper, garlic powder and salt. Place over medium heat until butter is melted. Drain the water from the potatoes and return potatoes to the pot. Place the pot over medium heat, mash the potatoes and add the hot cream mixture. Adjust seasoning to taste. Sprinkle in the sliced scallions. Makes six servings.

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Notes: The Market Cafe is located at the Marriott hotel, The Buttes, in Tempe!

Verdict: Potato Heaven!!!! I'm NOT kidding! So easy and so yummy! Everyone loved them! We will definitely make these again!

Tri-Color Stuffed Peppers

Tri-Color Stuffed Peppers
recipe found in a Kraft ad

2 c frozen ground beef
1 pkg. (10 oz) frozen corn
1 1/2 c salsa
1 1/2 c cooked instant rice
1 c shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 each; large red, yellow and green pepper, cut lengthwise in half
1/2 c water

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix beef, corn and salsa in large non-stick skillet. Cook on medium 5 min. or until heated through, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Stir in rice and 1/2 c of cheese. Spoon into pepper halves; place in 13x9 inch baking dish. Pour water into bottom of dish; cover with foil. Bake 30 min.; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake, uncovered, 10 min. or until cheese is melted.

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Verdict: This is a perfect family dinner! We all loved this and the kids devoured it! We will definitely make this again. We served it with rolls and a fruit salad!

Rolo Pretzel Treats

Picture from Hostess with the Mostess blog.

I was intrigued by the recipe for the Rolo Pretzel Turtles that I have seen all over blog-land this holiday season. We received a couple of plates of these tasty treats and I knew it was something I wanted to make.

The recipe:

1 bag of Rolo candies

small pretzels

pecans

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place pretzels on paper and one unwrapped Rolo candy on top of each pretzel. Place in the oven for about 4 minutes. Rolos should be just soft, not melted. Remove from oven and immediately place one pecan on each Rolo candy and press gently. Yummy!

So easy, so fast and so delicious!

Big problem: Most of my family does not really care for pecans. I had to figure out some way to make these treats more perfect for my family!

Hello M&Ms!!

And Hersey Kisses!!

Paige, Kendall and I made these one afternoon before Christmas. We used Hershey Kisses (the caramel filled ones and the candy cane flavored ones) instead of Rolos... and we used M&Ms instead pecans!

Very, very successful!! The girls loved that they were able to make these entirely on their own! And they were so yummy!

What a fun treat!!

Coca-Cola Chocolate Cake

Coca-Cola Chocolate Cake
printed in the Arizona Republic

2 c all-purpose flour
1/4 c cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsps cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 c sugar
1 c butter
8 oz Coca-Cola
2 eggs
2 tsps vanilla
1/2 c buttermilk

Icing:
1/4 c butter
4 oz Coca-Cola
3 T cocoa powder
1/2 c pecans, chopped
1 tsp vanilla
1 box (16 oz) powdered sugar, about (3 1/2 c)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x13 pan. Sift together the flour, cocoa, cinnamon, salt, baking soda and sugar in a large bowl and set aside. In a small saucepan, heat the butter and Coca-Cola over medium heat until the butter melts. Add the eggs, vanilla and buttermilk and mix well using a wire whisk. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and beat, until smooth using an electric mixer. The batter will be very thin.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes. Spread icing on cake while warm.

Icing: In a small saucepan, heat the butter and Coca-Cola over medium heat until the butter melts. Do not boil. Add the cocoa, pecan, vanilla and powdered sugar and mix well. Pour over cake.

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Notes: I did not use pecans in the icing.

Verdict: Yummy!!! This is very, very similar to Texas Sheet Cake! This is a very rich cake, so the 9x13 pan went very far! And everyone LOVED it. I will definitely make it again. Because I'm a Pepsi girl, I'll make it with Pepsi next time! :-)

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

My sister-in-law made these for Christmas Eve... man o man... these are some amazing cookies.

The recipe is from Paula Deen. Enjoy!

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

1 (8oz) brick cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 (180z) box moist chocolate cake mix
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioners' sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and gooey. Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners' sugar, if desired.