Breakfast Skillet

This has become our favorite Sunday dinner lately. Jayson makes it for our family, and we’ve all requested it for Christmas Morning breakfast. Yum!

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cups frozen Southern-style hash brown potatoes
• 16 ounces ground sausage (I use Jimmy Dean)
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add potatoes; cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until golden, 6 to 8 minutes.
2. At the same time in another skillet, cook sausage, and mushrooms. (you can add bell peppers, if desired) Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender, about 4 minutes.
3. Reduce heat to medium. Continue stirring. When sausage is fully cooked. Break 4 eggs over mixture in skillet. Stir, scrambling eggs while they cook. When eggs are cooked, sprinkle cheddar cheese on top and serve.

BTW - Definitely use Southern-Style hash browns.

"Homemade" Donuts

I made these yesterday. They were so much better then any time I have ever made donuts. I think it is because I bought the Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits.

(Fried in Veg. Oil on low heat)

Alma came home and was like WHOA they are so much better then any other time I made them.

The powder sugar made like a glaze on them, and i just cut them in forths and I did not roll them. I left them fluffy, I think that made them better. And NUTELLA on them... yum.

Enjoy!

Crock Pot Orange Chicken

I saw this recipe on Pinterest and got super excited. So we made it last night. Well, I think... no not think... i know that in my 4 years of marriage... this was THE WORST MEAL I have ever made. So if you see this DON'T!!!

It is 1 can of thawed Orange Juice Concentrate

4 T Brown Sugar

3 T Ketchup

1 tsp Balsamic Vinager

1/2 tsp salt

Dip peices of chicken in eggs and flour and then brown with out cooking all the way through, toss into crockpot and pour sauce over it.

Cook 5-6 hours on Low

2-3 on High

Serve over White rice

The taste was like a sour yuck! It smelled like YUCK, the chicken was overcooked, it tasted nothing like orage chicken.

We never do not eat the meal I make. But this was not edible.

I then went back to the recipe and read the reviews, there were many that said they threw it out. A few said they ate it but did a lot of different variations to it. So they didn't eat it like this recipe was. Anyway, why did I post this... just so we all can save ourselves from making this horrible meal, and if anyone has an easy fun way to do orange chicken... POST!

Fried Tuna Patties

Well it came time for dinner and I had no meat thawed and so I remembered I had seen these on line. You just mix a can 2 cans of tuna with egg, seasoning, mustard and bread and mold them into a pattie and fry them in a pan.

They were not horrible, but I am not sure I would make them again.

But if you are curious... have fun!

Cranberry Sauce

I never really liked cranberry sauce. Maybe it’s the way
that it slides out of the can like dogfood, still in the shape of the can. But,
after making my own, I can’t get enough! Here’s the recipe – it’s so
simple!

12 ounces cranberries

1 cup sugar

1 cup orange juice

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, dissolve the sugar in the orange juice. Stir in the cranberries and cook until the cranberries start to pop (about 10 minutes). Remove from hear and place sauce in a bowl. Cranberry sauce will thicken as it cools.

Pie Crust

Our family believes that a million pies at Thanksgiving is a must! {and layered Jell-O} This year, at our trial run with Jayson’s parents, I made apple, pumpkin {from a whole pumpkin} and my favorite – Chocolate, Peanut Butter Banana Pie. {I just use a premade graham cracker crust when making this. Super easy.}

This year the apple was the best ever. I blame the crust! Here’s the crust recipe. Jayson usually makes the crust for me!



2 cups flour
1/2 cup cake flour
3 tsp powdered sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup salted butter
pinch salt
1 egg
3 tsp vinegar
1/4 cup ice cold water

Using a pasty blender, blend the flours, sugar, shortening, butter and salt. Whisk the egg, vinegar and water in a 2 cup measure and pour over the dry ingredients incorporating all the liquid without overworking the dough. Toss the additional flour over the ball of dough and chill if possible. Divide the dough into 2, for a top and bottom or 2 tops.

 

Sweet Potato Casserole

Since Thanksgiving is coming up (and we already had a trial run) I am listing my favorite recipes, just in case you want them. So – let the Thanksgiving Baking commence!

Sweet Potato Casserole
Sweet Potatoes {approx. 4 cups} -bake at 350 for 1 hour. Peel.
½ cup sugar
2 eggs
½ tsp salt
4 Tbs butter
½ cup milk
½ tsp vanilla
Mix together with an electric mixer. Pour into a 9x13” pan. Mix topping ingredients (below) in a bowl and sprinkle on top.
½ cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
3 Tbs butter
½ cup pecans, chopped
Bake at 325 for 30 minutes.

Kitchen Make Over

We love it! I think is is really a little darker in real life. fun - fun - fun! Does this mean I have to cook now? Why didn't I have a nice kitchen when you all were little and I lived in the kitchen?

Blackened Fresh Chicken Alfredopomodoroitaliano

Here's Pato's take on Chicken Alfredo. Kacey isn't a huge fan of the heavy, rich, way too much alfredo that you get in most restaurants; so here's how we make it.

You'll need:
Chicken breast
Blackening seasoning
Penne pasta
Fresh tomatoes
Fresh spinach
Alfredo sauce (it can be from the bottle, but pick one that isn't loaded with fat) We found some roasted red pepper stuff that was good and not super fatty.



Step 1:
Butterfly the chicken breast so it's 1/2" thin or so and sprinkle plenty of blackening seasoning on both sides. The more seasoning, the spicier the final result!! Cook in a hot sautee pan with a little olive oil.

Step 2:
Cook the penne pasta. 'Nuff said.

Step 3:
Dice the tomatoes and run a knife through the spinach to make it a little smaller.

Step 4:
When the chicken is done, let it rest for a minute or two and then slice it nice and thin.

Step 5: (where the magic happens)
Get a clean sautee pan nice and hot and add a few ounces of your alfredo sauce. You just want enough sauce to coat the ingredients, not to form a big pool of the stuff on the plate. Throw in some penne pasta, chicken and spinach. Toss together and cook for 30-45 seconds, just until it's nice and hot, not until the spinach is nasty!! Dump it onto the plate (Pat cooks each portion separately so you feel like your eating at Macaroni Grill!) and top with the diced tomatoes.

Serve with garlic bread and chocolate milk. It's nice, tasty and not as heavy as most Alfredo dishes so you can eat the whole plate!




Bon Apetite!!!

Orange Julius