Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Comfort Food’ Category

Pumpkin Custard

Posted in Comfort Food, Desserts, Entertaining at Home, Puddings and Custards, Recipes, tagged , , , , on October 19, 2012| 1 Comment »

Captain Cavedweller loves custard and I love pumpkin so the other day I decided to see what would happen if I combined the two.

Good things happened. Very good things.

This recipe comes together quickly and is so easy (and yummy).

Enjoy!

Ingredients

 

Mix pumpkin, eggs, cream, sugar and spice.

You need 1/2 inch of boiling water in a baking dish. You can pour it in or, if you are lazy like me, nuke the pan and water in the microwave.

 

Pour custard into 8-ounce cups sitting in the boiling water.

 

While the custard is baking, mix up topping. Melt butter.

Add sugar and vanilla and mix well.

 

Drizzle on top of custard that has baked about 20 minutes (or until tops are set).

 

Remove from oven when a knife inserted in the center comes out clean (about 40-50 minutes total).

Garnish with whipped cream and cinnamon! Yum!

 

Pumpkin Custard

1 can (15 ounces)  pumpkin

2 eggs

1 cup heavy cream

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping

1/4 cup turbinado (raw) sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon butter, melted

Whipped cream and ground cinnamon, optional
Preheat oven to 350.

Beat eggs lightly then add in pumpkin, cream, sugar and spice.

Pour into 8-ounce custard cups set in a baking dish with 1/2 inch of boiling water. I boil the water right in the dish in the microwave, but you can also put the cups in the pan, fill them, then pour in water around them. The point is that you want the cups to be setting in 1/2 inch of boiling water while they bake.

Once the custard is in the oven, bake about 20 minutes, until the tops are set, then drizzle on topping.

To make the topping, melt butter, stir in vanilla, sugar. This gives the custard an almost brulée taste and texture.

Continue baking another 20-30 minutes until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool.

Top with whipped cream dusted with cinnamon (if you so desire, which I greatly did) and devour!

She Who Must Get Over Her Pumpkin Obsession

Read Full Post »

Shake and Bake

Posted in Comfort Food, Main Dish, Recipes, tagged , , , on September 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The other day I decided to see what would happen if I made by own “shake n bake” mixture for some pork.

Turns out it happened to be a pretty tasty idea.

It was simple to make (honestly, it didn’t take much more time than digging out the pre-packaged stuff I normally use and was way better).

Captain Cavedweller declared it “edible” which interprets to better than average and pretty darn good.

Ingredients

 

Dump your seasonings into a resealable bag and give it a good shake, then stick in your meat and coat thoroughly.

 

 

Place in a foil-lined pan and bake at 425 about 15 minutes or until done. (Baking time will vary depending on the thickness of your meat cuts).

Yum!

Shake and Bake

1/2 cup Panko Crumbs

1 tsp. pork rub

1 tbsp. all-purpose seasoning

1/2 tsp. coarse salt

3 pork chops

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix seasonings, crumbs and salt in a resealable bag. Shake until blended. Add in pork chops, one at a time to coat. Shake well then place on foil-lined pan. (The foil is because I’m lazy and don’t want to scrub the pan later).

Bake for 15-20 minutes until meat is cooked to temp and coating is brown.

You can also use this coating on chicken.

She Who Will Need to Make This Again Soon

 

Read Full Post »

Spaghetti Carbonara

Posted in Comfort Food, Easy Recipes, Main Dish, Recipes, tagged , , , on June 1, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The other day I decided to make something different and fun and exciting for our bored taste buds. Digging through my cache of recipes, I decided it had been forever and a day since we’d eaten Spaghetti Carbonara.

I originally got the recipe from my friend Jolene who is a fabulous cook. I tweaked the recipe just a bit and came up with one I like and Captain Cavedweller will eat – a double winner!

It is easy to make and comes together fairly quickly. Serve with warm bread and a crisp green salad and you’ve got a fantastic meal.

 

Ingredients

 

Bring salted water to a boil then add noodles. Cook al dente.

 

Chop bacon into small pieces and cook in large skillet.

Cook until slightly crispy. Save all that wicked bacon grease in the pan. Remove bacon pieces and drain on paper towels. Set aside.

 

Cook sausages in bacon grease, turning to brown each side. When brown, cover with water and let simmer for about 12-15 minutes until cooked through.

 

Add cream, Parmesan cheese and beaten eggs to noodles. Stirring quickly to keep eggs from going all weird on you.

Add bacon and return pan to low heat, stirring to coat noodles and cook eggs.

 

Top with some chopped parsley and enjoy!

 

Spaghetti Carbonara

1 pound spaghetti

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. salt

6 slices bacon

4-6 sausages

1/2 cup cream

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

2 eggs, beaten

2 tbsp. fresh chopped parsley

Bring a large pot of  water to a boil with salt, add spaghetti and cook until al dente. Drain well. Toss with  olive oil, and set aside.

Chop bacon into small pieces and fry in a large skillet until slightly crispy. Remove from skillet and drain. Set aside.

Using remaining bacon grease fry sausages until brown on all sides, then cover with water and cook for about 12-15 minutes until cooked through. Italian sausages would be best but you can use whatever you have on hand.

When sausages are nearly finished cooking, add beaten egg, Parmesan cheese and cream to noodles, stirring vigorously to keep the egg from getting all funky on you. Add bacon and return to low heat, stirring to coat all noodles and to make sure eggs are cooked before serving.

Sprinkle fresh parsley (or dried if you don’t have any fresh) over the top and serve with sausages.

Yum!

She Who Needs to Not Love Pasta Quite so Much!

Read Full Post »

Easy Alfredo Lasagna

Posted in Comfort Food, Main Dish, Quick and Easy, Recipes, tagged , , on June 3, 2011| 7 Comments »

It’s all about lasagna today on Savvy Entertaining!This lasagna recipe is so easy and simple not to mention quite tasty. For a lazy slug like me, it is the perfect combination in making it look like I went to a lot of work when actually I didn’t.

A few other things to note about this lasagna – I make it in bread pans. Hubby and I eat one and freeze the other (because it makes two) but you could make it in a regular lasagna or casserole pan. This recipe also contains no tomatoes or tomato sauce.

I am about to share a little known fact, so hold on to your hats… I am allergic to processed tomatoes. A lot allergic. So that means no tomato sauce, paste, canned tomatoes, cooked tomatoes. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

There are many, many things I love to eat that involve processed tomatoes. So I have learned over the years to adjust my recipes and use alternate ingredients. It has been an interesting adventure in trial and error, for sure! But this recipe is one I’ve made many times and is always good.

So enjoy!

Ingredients for Easy Lasagna

Brown hamburger and sausage.

Stir up the cheese mix.

Pour Alfredo sauce into the bottom of a pan. I spray mine with non-stick cooking spray first.

Start your layers with a noodle. I use the kind you do not have to cook because they go straight from the box into the pan.

Mix your cooked meat with the cheese and layer over noodles.

Continue layering sauce, noodles, meat mix and shredded cheese.

Finish with a final layer of cheese and bake at 375 degrees for about 50 minutes.

The edges will be golden brown and bubbly when cooked.

Piping hot, sprinkled with more cheese and ready to be devoured. Yum!

Easy Alfredo Lasagna

1 box of lasagna noodles (the kind you do not have to boil first)

16 ounce container of ricotta cheese

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan

2 eggs

1 pound ground beef

1 package of ground sausage

salt

seasonings

1 jar Alfredo sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine ground beef and sausage with your choice of seasoning and cook over medium heat until brown.  While it is cooking, mix together ricotta and Parmesan with eggs. Stir until blended, set aside.

When the meat is browned, drain as much grease as possible from it before stirring into egg and cheese mixture.

Spray a bread pan (or casserole if you want to make one big pan instead of two smaller pans) with non-stick cooking spray. Pour in enough sauce to cover the bottom of the pan, layer in a noodle. In the bread pan, one noodle fills the bottom and makes layering a snap.

Next, layer on meat mixture and top with shredded mozzarella. Repeat layering process with sauce, noodle, meat and cheese. Pour a final layer of sauce and then top off with cheese. Cover with foil and bake about 35 minutes, until mixture is bubbly, then remove foil and bake another 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted and edges are brown.

Remove from oven, let cool a few minutes before plating. Serve with warm, crusty bread and a green salad for a lovely and simple meal!

She Who Can’t Eat Cooked Tomatoes

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »