3 Delicious Apps: Sausage Stars, American Bruschetta and Cheddar-Bacon Pinwheels

Today I wanted to share the 3 (simple) delicious recipies I made at our New Years' Eve Progressive Supper since we were the first house with appetizers. :) Sausage stars are my mom's recipe - and Sam's favorite Christmas appetizer. I made an "American Bruschetta" with cream cheese - it adds a rich creamyness that I kind of like. Finally I made cheddar-bacon pinwheels... just saw it online and it looked good. Hope you enjoy!



SAUSAGE STARS

Ingredients
2 cups (2 lbs) cooked crumbled sausage
3 cups colby jack or cheddar jack cheese, shredded
1 cup Hidden Valley Ranch dressing
1 package won ton wrappers

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.
Blot sausage if needed and combine with cheese and ranch dressing.
Lightly grease muffin tin.
Press 1 wrapper into each cup. Bake 5 minutes or until slightly browned.
Fill with sausage mixture. Bake 5 minutes or until bubly.

AMERICAN BRUSCHETTA

Ingredients
Cherry tomatoes
Kosher salt
Freshly cracked pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
French bread, sliced
Cream cheese

Directions
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Put cherry tomatoes in a pan and cover with olive oil, generously sprinkle with salt and pepper and mix. Roast in the oven for 30-45 minutes. On another baking sheet, put slices of french bread and toast them until they are golden brown using the broiler. Then, spread cream cheese on the toast and top with cherry tomatoes. (You may also top with chopped fresh basil).

CHEDDAR-BACON PINWHEELS

Ingredients
1 can Pillsbury refrigerated crescent dinner rols
2 tablespoons ranch dressing
1/4 cup cooked real bacon pieces or 4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/2 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped green onion

Directions
Heat oven to 350.
Unroll dough, separate into 2 long rectangles. Press seams together.
Spread dressing over dough. Sprinkle with bacon, cheese and onions.
Roll up starting with the short side. Press edge to seal. With a sharp knife, cut each roll into 8 slices. Place cut side down on greased cookie sheet.
Bake 12 to 17 minutes utnil eges are golden brown. Serve warm.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

This is a great "dump soup" - made out of canned goods! I got the recipe from my mom. I changed just a few things to make it go farther, and because Sam doesn't like corn too much so we added more of other ingredients to make it seem like less corn. :) It was a nice, spicy, filling soup that we both really enjoyed. And since its all affordable ingredients that can be kept on hand, I'm sure we'll be enjoying it a couple times this winter!

Ingredients
2 cans worth of chicken broth
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 package taco seasoning
2 cans chicken, shreddede
1 can corn
1 small-med. sized jar of salsa
shredded cheese (mexican, cheddar, or whatever you like!)
sour cream
tortilla strips or chips

Directions
Mix chicken broth, soup and taco seasoning. Add the chicken, corn, and salsa. Heat and simmer for a few minutes. Top with sour cream, cheese and tortilla strips or tortilla chips, crushed into smaller pieces. Enjoy!

Tiramisu!

This is my ALL TIME FAV dessert. I LOVE tiramisu!! I always had heard it was a very difficult dessert to master. However, this Ina Garten recipe couldn't be more simple! The only bad part is, it's pretty expensive to make - especially the mascarpone cheese and the espresso. I ended up using the new VIA instant Starbuck's coffee - the strong kind. It did work and still was delicious, but I could tell the difference. But a cup and a half of espresso is a fortune if you don't have an espresso maker! (Which I don't). If you'd like to try it though, you could use a strong brewed coffee or use the VIA - you probably can't tell if you aren't comparing it to the other.

I brought this into the office for my birthday today... it went over well! I borrowed the pic but mine looked exactly the same as this picture... I didn't want to take pictures of my food at work, plus it doesn't look as "fancy" on a paper plate anyhow!! I love how the rum and espresso is used in two parts of the recipe - it really ties in the cream mixture with the soaked lady fingers. Hope you enjoy!



Ingredients
6 extra large egg yolks, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark rum, divided
1 1/2 cups brewed espresso, divided
16 oz. mascarpone cheese
30+ ladyfingers
unsweetened chocolate powder

Directions
Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in teh bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on high speed for about 5 minutes, or until very thick and light yellow. Lower the speed to medium and add 1/4 cup rum, 1/4 cup espresso, and the mascarpone. Whisk until smooth.

Combine the remaining 1/4 cup rum and 1 1/4 cups espresso in a shallow bowl. Dip 1 side of each ladyfinger in the espresso/rum mixture and line the bottom of a 9 X 13 inch pan. Pour half of the espresso/rum mixture over the ladyfingers. Pour half of the espresso cream mixture over the top. Add another layer of ladyfingers dipped in the espresso/rum mixture and pour the rest over the ladyfingers. Top with the rest of the cream. Smooth the top, cover and put in the fridge.

Before serving, sprinkle the top with chocolate powder.

Half Recipe
3 extra large egg yolks, at room temp
1/8 cup sugar
1/4 cup dark rum, divided (2 Tbsp, 2 Tbsp)
3/4 cups brewed espresso, divdied (2 Tbsp, the rest)
8 oz. mascarpone cheese
15 + ladyfingers
chocolate

Tequila Christmas Cake

Ingredients
1-cup water
1-tsp. baking soda
1-cup sugar
1-tsp. salt
1-cup of brown sugar Lemon juice
4 large eggs Nuts
1 bottle tequila
2-cups dried fruit

Directions
Sample the tequila to check quality.

Take a large bowl, check the tequila again. To be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink.

Repeat.

Turn on the electric mixer.

Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl.

Add one teaspoon of sugar. Beat again.

At this point its best to make sure the tequila is still OK. Try another cup...just in case.

Turn off the mixerer thingy.

Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit.

Pick the frigging fruit up off the floor.

Mix on the turner.

If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers just pry it loose with a drewscriver.

Sample the tequila to check for tonsisticity.

Next, sift two cups of salt. Or something.

Check the tak...teck...tequila (that's a funny word).

Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts.

Add one table.

Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. Whatever you can find.

Greash the oven.

Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over.

Don't forget to beat off the turner.

Finally, throw the bowl through the window.

Finish the tequila and wipe counter with the cat.


CHERRY MISTMAS!

Chicken and Stuffing Casserole

This is another really easy barely-counts recipe... I was craving a hot dish and was too lazy to do anything more than open a few cans on Sunday night! This was a nice dish to have everything on hand (at least I did!) and its some good hearty food!

I got this recipe from Stove Top's website and it was really yummy! I made just a few minor changes. If I was less lazy last night I probably would have sauted onions but alas, I did not. I liked having stuffing as the topping of the hot dish - something I wouldn't have been clever enough to think of myself but its genius!!

Ingredients
1 box of stuffing (substitute 1/2 the water it calls for with chicken stock)
1 can of chicken
1 can - cream of chicken soup
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup cheddar cheese
1 can of carrots and peas mix, drained (or a frozen back of mixed vegetables)

Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F. Prepare stuffing mix as directed on package adding the chicken stock; set aside.
Mix remaining ingredients and put in a buttered 9X9 pan, top with the stuffing. Bake about 20 minutes or until mixture is bubbling and stuffing is slighly browned.

Pumpkin Pancakes

Hi there - sorry I have been doing HORRIBLE at updating my food blog! I've been cooking a little bit - but during Christmas its usually for other people and I don't experiment with someone else!

But today, I had the day off work, its snowy out there, so it was just him and me eating at home - yay! I wanted to try pumpkin pancakes...doesn't that sound just delicious? I never even thought of such a thing until someone on facebook said they were making it. I found a few recipes for pumpkin pancakes from scratch, but I didn't have buttermilk so I cheated and used a box mix. So really this barely counts as a "recipe" but I wanted to post something!

It was the perfect cold-weather meal! Sam took his pancakes without pumpkin - but its easy enough to make 2 batches separate! My directions are for one batch - yes, I ate them all. Yummm. And my directions are very approximate. I added enough pumpkin so that there would be some in every bite. I went a little heavy on the nutmeg - its so strong I would use less next time to allow the pumpkin flavor to come through. I also made us some turkey sausages and had some pomegranate with mine! (That's those pretty berry-looking things in the back). I was home all day today, and after doing a couple hours of Bible research I was (subconsiously) hungry for pomegrantes! My considerate husband brought me one home - yum!


Ingredients
1 cup complete (just add water) buttermilk pancake mix
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup pumpkin
couple pinches cinnamon
pinch nutmeg

Directions
Mix ingredients all together. Cook as regular pancakes. Top with maple syrup - real maple syrup if you have it!

Sundried Tomato Dip

I was asked to bring a veggie tray to Aunt Pearl's thanksgiving. Well, I thought that the basic brocolli, carrots and celery with store bought dip just didn't sound that fun or exciting. So I used an Ina Garten recipe for sundried tomato dip. I thought it was delicious! The dip was very flavorful and very easy. Plus - I got to use the food processor my mom and dad got me for my birthday! :) (Early present!). Also, for the veggies, I did celery and carrots (just because they are popular for a reason so figured I'd better include those) and green beans, asparagus (both blanched) and red and yellow pepper. Isn't it pretty?



Ingredients
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped (8 tomatoes)
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
10 dashes, hot red pepper sauce
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 scallions, thinly sliced (white and green parts)

Directions
Puree the tomatoes, cream cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, red pepper sauce, salt and pepper in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the scallions (saving a few for topping) and pulse twice. Let flavors blend overnight if possible. Serve cold or at room temperature topped with scallions.