Sage and Sausage Stuffing

1 cup shopped celery
1/2 cup copped yellow onion
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil 
one can ( equal to a cup and half) of chicken broth
3 cups hot water
1 pound of Sage seasoned pork sausage
1 tsp sage
1 stick unsalted butter
3 packages of stove top stuffing( already seasoned type)
( optional: 2 cans of sliced  water chestnuts, or a cup of chopped nuts)

If using non seasoned stuffing, omit water, add 2 more cans of broth.

Brown sausage,set aside.  Fry onion and celery in olive oil, for about 3 minutes in a large pot.  Add butter. add chicken broth and water. bring to a boil.  turn off heat. Add Sage.  Add Sausage. Add stuffing. (add optional nuts at this point)  Let set for about a minute. Then mix with a fork. Either stuff your bird, or put into a large oblong glass baking pan and bake at  375 for 30 minutes.  or until edges are brown and crispy.

asparagus casserole

This asparagus casserole is baked with white sauce made with cheese and a topping of buttered bread crumbs.

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 to 3 pounds of asparagus, or 18 to 20 ounces frozen asparagus
• 6 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 3/4 cup soft bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper, or to taste
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 3/4 cup grated mild Cheddar cheese
• 2 ounces drained pimiento, 1/4 cup chopped

Preparation:

Wash asparagus, remove woody part of stalks and cut into 2 1/2-inch pieces. Cook in boiling salted water until just tender. Drain and place in a shallow baking dish or casserole. Melt butter in saucepan. Mix 2 tablespoons of the butter with the soft bread crumbs; set aside for topping casserole later. Blend flour, salt, and pepper into remaining butter in saucepan. Continue cooking and stirring over low heat. Gradually add milk, stirring until thickened. Add Worcestershire sauce, pimiento, and cheese; stir until cheese is melted. Pour sauce over asparagus in casserole; top with buttered crumbs. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes.
Asparagus casserole recipe serves 4 to 6.

Turkey Brining

Heres the Brine I am using this year.  Savory Turkey Brine

This Brine gets a portion of its salt from vegetable stock. The combination of spices and herbs will give your turkey a rich flavor.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: Makes about 1 gallon of brine

Ingredients:

• 2 quarts vegetable stock
• 1/2 cup salt (3/4 cup Kosher or coarse salt)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon dried rosemary
• 1 tablespoon dried sage
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• 2 quarts cold water

Preparation:

In a large pot combine vegetable stock, salt, sugar, and herbs over a medium heat. Simmer for about 15 minutes until the salt is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Add cold water. Place turkey in a large plastic container. Pour brine over top, cover and refrigerate. Brine for 1 hour per pound.
Thoroughly rinse all the brine from the turkey before cooking. Otherwise there will be a salty flavor to the turkey.

Classic Potato Salad

   CLASSIC POTATO SALAD



    1 Cup Real Mayonnaise
    2 T Vinegar
    1 1/2 t Salt
    1  t  Sugar
    1/4 t Pepper
    1/2 tsp Paprika
    1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
    1 tsp Apple vinegar
    4  Cups Potatoes (5 to 6 medium) I Scrub the potatoes and cube them, then boil. I leave the peel on.  But its a personal choice.
                     
    1 Cup Sliced celery
    1/2 Cup Chopped onion
    3  Hard-cooked eggs, chopped

(You can also Add: cubed or shredded yellow cheese, olives, green onion or even chopped ham :)

  Combine mayonnaise, vinegar, salt, sugar and pepper and garlic.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Cover; chill.  Makes 5 cups.  Can garnish with sprigs of parsley and paprika.
 

Panko Fried halibut

This is very good, almost as good as beer batter halibut.

2 halibut 'steaks'

1 box of Panko Bread Crumbs. use about half cup for this recipe. More or less depending on size of halibut.

2 eggs

about a 1/2-3/4 cup of flour put on a plate, add some salt and pepper

Oil for frying

 Heat oil, in a deep frying pan, until hot but not smoking. Whisk egg.  Pour panko onto a plate.  Dredge the fish in flour and seasonings.  Coat in egg. Coat very well.  Put on plate with the panko and coat all sides with the panko.  Put into the frying pan.  cook until dark golden brown on both sides.  Maybe 7 minutes each side. (depending on thickness of halibut)

We made this using Halibut and Salmon. Both fish work well.  Can use it for Prawns Also :)

Serve with a coleslaw and fries.

Enjoy :)

 Time of year for pumpkin themed dishes. Our first submission for this year is from Suzanne! Thank you Suzanne


This may sound strange but I just made these and they are outstanding. Thought you guys might want to try them.

Pumpkin Coconut Bread
adapted from Goodman's Galloping Gourmet

Makes 2 loaves

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup sweetened coconut
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 (3 oz) packages coconut pudding (not instant)
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
5 eggs, well beaten
2 cups pumpkin (16 oz can)

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 2 bread pans. Cook until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Usually about 45-60 minutes.

Cheater Cinnamon Rolls

I used to hate to make dough. Its one thing in cooking, I do not seem to be very good at. Then I got a bread machine!! Greatest thing ever. 

This Recipe is very versatile. You can make pecan sticky buns, or cinnamon rolls from it. I started making cinnamon rolls when I was about 12.  Ive tweaked the recipe to my liking .

1 loaf of frozen bread dough, or u can make white dough from scratch, or in a bread machine.
1/4 cup cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp of ground cloves
3/4 cup sugar( can use a half cup of white and 1/4 of brown)
3/4 to a whole stick of real butter, softened.
2 tablespoons flour
extra flour for rolling.
Additions:
Raisins, nuts, cran-raisins, pecans.......whatever u like. Ive even taken a cpl of apples, chopped them up and added them. Today we r making straight cinnamon rolls, not nuts or raisins. My Hubby doesn't like them in his cinnamon rolls.

Place the  (1to 1.5  pound loaf )of dough in a greased plastic container,  three times the size of the loaf.  Cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rise until double in size.

Mix the cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg and cloves.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface. Flour your rolling pin too.  Roll into a rectangle. Work quickly, the dough doesn't like to be over worked, you'll have tough rolls otherwise.  about 12-14 inches x 8 inches.

Spread the butter evenly on the dough with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle with the sugar mix, then sprinkle about 2 tablespoons off flour over the sugar mixture. Add your nuts and/or raisins at this point, spread evenly over the dough.

How you roll the dough rectangle up depends on how big of rolls u want.  If u roll the small side up, you'll have about 7 Giant rolls. If you roll the long ways up, you'll have more smaller rolls. We went the long ways for today's rolls.  Take the dough and roll it into a cylinder.

Slice the rolled up dough into about one inch slices.  Do not use a serrated edged knife, I found this out the hard way. Has to be a smooth edged sharp knife. Some say use dental floss, but i tried it and I didn't like the results.  Place into a prepared glass square or round baking pan I like to use a little vegetable oil and flour. I usually sweep up the flour I used to rolled the dough out on, into my baking pan. Dont worry about the extra cinnamon, its fine.

Cover with a moistened kitchen towel and rise again until about double. About 30-60 minutes, depending on how warm the spot is u set them to rise. I preheat the oven at 200 then shut it off and open the door for about 3 minutes and then place my dough inside and shut the oven door.  These are the same rolls as above, doubled in size.

Bake at 350 for about 35-40 minutes. Until dark golden brown and bubbly.

let cool for a bit then ice them with the following recipe:

3  cups  powdered sugar
3  tablespoons  milk

Stir together sugar and milk until smooth. Spoon icing into a zip-top plastic bag. Snip 1 corner of bag, and drizzle icing over warm rolls.

Enjoy!