Homemade Ice Cream

You don't need any fancy equipment (unless you consider a ziploc baggie fancy)


1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 cup half & half
1/4 tsp. vanilla
6 tablespoons rock salt
1 pint-size Ziploc bag
1 gallon-size Ziploc bag
Ice


Fill the large bag about half way with ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag.
Put half and half (or milk), vanilla, and sugar into the small bag. Seal tightly!
Place the small bag inside of the bigger bag. Seal it good.Shake until the mixture is solid, which takes about 5 minutes. The longer/faster you shake the more solid it will be. Each bag will make approximately 1 scoop of ice cream and you can add any flavors you like to the mix (i like to put in some broken oreos or cocoa powder.

This is a super fun activity to do with kids.

Butter

That's right, you heard me. Why buy it when you can just make it?


2cups Heavy Cream
1/4 tsp. Salt


Put in the food processor and whip until its solid-ish. It will firm up more in the fridge.

Leave out the salt if you intend to use the butter for baking.

All Day Spaghetti (fit to feed a small army)

2 lbs lean ground beef
3 mild/sweet Italian sausages
3 hot Italian sausages
1/2 green bell pepper
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 yellow bell pepper
1/2 sweet yellow onion
2 small zucchinis (optional)
2 packages of sliced mushrooms
5 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup chopped spinach (optional)
1 Large can of Hunts Tomato Sauce
1 Small can of Hunts Tomato Sauce
2 cans of Hunts Tomato Paste
4 oz. of water
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Garlic Powder
Parsley
Cayenne Pepper
Lawry's Seasoned Salt
Red Pepper Flakes
Garlic Salt
Fresh Black Pepper
Italian Seasoning Mix
Oregano
Angel Hair Noodles
Shredded Parmesan & Asiago Cheese


Its not nearly as complicated as you think. The key here is starting it in the morning. I usually start chopping things around 10:30 in the morning for dinner by 5:30.

Chop the bell peppers, onion. (zucchini, and spinach if you choose to hide more veggies in the meal)


Put in the pan with a few tablespoons of olive oil, the sliced mushrooms, and minced garlic.

Let those simmer on medium/low as you brown the sausage in a separate pan. Cut the sausage into slices and toss them in the pot to simmer with the veggies.

Brown the ground beef with a tablespoon of parsley, a tsp of garlic powder and a dash of red pepper flakes and seasoned salt and mix it in with the veggies and sausage.

Add in the sauce, water and tomato paste. Add the other seasonings as you please, I use a little bit of everything, and am very heavy handed on the garlic. If you like your sauce a little bit sweeter(which is sacriligeous by the way), you can add some extra basil too.

Stir it up and turn the stove down to low. You are going to want to simmer this for several hours. Serve over pasta with a generous amount of parmesan/asiago cheese.

Green Beans with Bacon

2 bags of frozen whole green beans
1/2 a cup of water
1/4 cup of bacon bits
2 Tbsp of butter
Lawry's seasoned salt & ground white pepper

In a large pot, bring water to a boil. Add green beans & cook 10 minutes or so (I cook them longer because I like my green beans totally soft). Drain and put back in pan. Add bacon & butter. Stir and add seasoned salt & pepper to taste.

I much prefer this to green bean casserole, but then I'm not much for soupy vegetables.

Corn Casserole

Most everyone in my family raves about the Gullivers Creamed Corn that my mom makes. It's yummy, but if you ask my dad he will take my corn casserole first every time.

1 box jiffy corn muffin mix
1 egg
1 stick butter (softened)
8oz sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 can creamed corn
1 can whole kernel corn

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray an 8x8 pan with pam.

In a large mixing bowl, combine jiffy mix, egg, butter, sour cream, salt & sugar. Stir until all the big lumps are gone. fold in the creamed corn and whole kernel corn. Transfer batter into 8x8 pan, bake for 45-60 minutes. The top should be golden brown and look for all intents & purposes like corn bread.

Let coolfor several, cut into squares and serve while still warm(Trust me its not half as tasty cold, although it microwaves well).

Grandmas Miracle Cranberry Salad

I have been neglecting my blog lately, so I am going to spam the poor thing with a few recipes from Thanksgiving so I don't feel so bad about it.

My grandmother used to make this stuff, but I didn't have her recipe so I took the idea and tweaked it to my satisfaction. My mom, children & I all fought over who got to eat it and it was polished off by Saturday morning after Thanksgiving.

2 Large packages Raspberry Jello
1 1/4 cup water
1 bag fresh cranberries (crushed in the food processor)
1 can crushed pineapple
1 1/2 cups green grapes, halved
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Boil water. In a 13x9 pan, dissolve jello with boiling water. Add cranberries, pineapple, grapes and walnuts. stir CAREFULLY! Sprinkly coconut liberally over the top. Refridgerate for several hours to allow to solidify, I like to serve it really cold!

Sauce (optional)

1 cup Miracle Whip
2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp Vinegar

Mix together and serve alongside the salad to spoon on top. Some people prefer cool whip for this. Personally I prefer NOTHING. I literally stood in my fridge with a spoon and ate the leftovers straight out of the dish. delicious. This is my FAVORITE thanksgiving food. Probably the only one I actually choose to make and eat.

Creamy Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie with Gingersnap Crust

Ingredients:

For the crust:

1 cups ginger snap cookies crumbs (i used my food processor to grind them)
1/8 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

2 8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened
2 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with rack in center. Spray a 9" glass pie pan with Pam.

2. Make the crust: In a medium bowl, mix cookie crumbs, sugar, and butter until moistened; press firmly into bottom of pan. Bake for 10 minutes.

3. Make the filling: With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar on low speed until smooth; mix in flour. Add pumpkin puree, pie spice, vanilla, and salt; mix just until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, mixing until each is incorporated before adding the next.

4. Pour filling into pie pan, and gently smooth top. Transfer to oven; reduce oven heat to 300 degrees. Bake 45 minutes. Turn off oven; let cheesecake stay in oven 2

5. Remove from oven; cool completely. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate until firm, at least 4 hours or overnight.

Just a word of advise, don't just butter the pie pan thinking that will be sufficient...you won't be able to get the crust out with the pie!! Other than that this pie was a BIG HIT. I made 2 for thanksgiving and everyone LOVED it. Including me. In fact, I ate a piece today and lamented that there is only half of one left. Although my ever expanding waist line is lucky thats all that is left of the thanksgiving leftovers!