Onion Dip

If you are an onion lover like I am, you must try this dip.  I mean must, really, I'm not kidding.  I first made it for my daughters birthday party and got rave reviews about it.  I've since made it for another party recently and again, rave reviews.  It's super easy, way more flavorful than the dried soup mix variety.

First things first, chop the onions and caramelize them in a pan with olive oil and kosher salt.  This will usually take about 15 to 20 minutes.

See, getting golden and yummy.  My house smelled so good after making this dip.  Once they are caramelized, take them off the heat and let them cool.

Meanwhile, mix your sour cream and your mayonnaise.  To this add your garlic powder, white pepper and kosher salt.

After the onions have cooled, add them to the sour cream/mayo mixture and combine.

Refrigerate this mixture for at least two hours.  Easy breezy.

You can find the recipe here: French Onion Dip

Quick Pan Chili

Sometimes you just want a bowl of chili and not a huge pot of chili.  This recipe does make more than just one serving, but its so versatile that you certainly could just make one serving.  You can change up pretty much everything in this recipe and invent your own favorite.

Start by browning some ground beef.  I used about 1/2 a pound.

While the meat is browning, chop of one medium to small onion.

Add the onion to the meat and cook until tender - about 5 minutes.

Add one can of tomato sauce.  You could used diced tomato's here too.

Add a can of beans, I used kidney beans but Pinto would be yummy too.

I added peas because I love them, but corn would be really good or any veggie - or no veggie at all.

I keep homemade chili seasoning in my cupboard, I'll put the recipe below.

Some people would say this is a very odd ingredient but I really think black olives are perfect here.

I upped the spiciness factor slightly by adding some Red Pepper Flakes.  This is optional of course.  Let all these flavors mix together at a simmer for about 20 - 30 minutes.

I topped with shredded cheese and sour cream.  Delicious!

Here's what you'll need:
1/2 pound ground beef
1 can (14 ounce) tomato sauce
1 can kidney beans
1 medium onion
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 Tbsp chili seasoning - or to your taste
1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes - or to your taste

I add didn't really measure anything for this recipe so you'll just have to do some tasting along the way to make sure it's right for you and your family.
Brown the ground beef, then add the chopped onion and cook until tender. Add the tomato sauce, kidney beans, peas and seasonings and simmer for 20 - 30 minutes. 

 Chili Seasoning Mix

Salmon Patties

I'll be playing catch up this week since last week I couldn't post anything.  These salmon cakes were easy and delicious and took no time at all to throw together.  If you're looking for a nice change, give this a try.

Start with a can of Salmon, drain and reserve the juice.

Dice a medium onion.

Melt some butter in a pan over medium to medium low heat.

Saute the onion in the melted butter until the onion turns translucent.

Add 1/3 Cup of bread crumbs to a medium sized bowl.

Pour the reserved Salmon juice into the bread crumbs.

Pour a slightly beaten egg into the bread crumb mixture.

Pour the canned salmon (flaked) into the bowl, along with the mustard, and parsley and mix thoroughly.

Melt the Crisco in the same pan you sauteed the onion in.

Form six patties out of the salmon mixture and dredge in the remaining bread crumbs, making sure to cover all sides.

Add the patties to the melted Crisco in a hot pan and cook on medium to medium low heat depending on how hot your burner gets and what type of pan you're using.  You want a nice golden crust on the outside but you also want the inside to be fully cooked.

I served this with some homemade tarter sauce.  I hope you'll give this one a try.  It's perfect after a hard day!

Here's what you'll need:

1 can (14.75 ounce) salmon - drained and flaked, reserve the juice.
2 Tbsp butter
1 medium onion - diced
2/3 cup bread crumbs (or cracker crumbs)
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 Tbsp. dry parsley
3 Tbsp. Shortening

Drain on can of salmon, reserve the juice.  Flake the fish and set aside.
Melt the butter in a skillet and add the onion, cook until translucent.  In a separate bowl combine the onions with the reserved salmon liquid, 1/3 cup of the bread crumbs, eggs, parsley, mustard and salmon.  Stir well and then shape the mixture into 6 patties.
In a separate bowl put the remaining bread crumbs and dredge the patties in it making sure to coat all sides.
Using the same pan you used to cook the onions, melt the shortening.  Place each pattie in the hot Crisco and cook until browned on both sides. 

Here's the thing...

I've got two really good recipes to share with you. 

Oh, but I can't share them right now.

Why?  My husband is in Phoenix and he took the component I need to download the pictures from my camera.  I just wanted to let you know I hadn't forgotten about you.  I hope to have them for you this weekend.  I'll also be making yummy things this weekend for you.  I do it for you ya know, all for YOU!

I'll leave you for now with this picture of Montana last year.  I'll see you again soon Montana (please don't snow on me, I won't be packing snow gear).

Spaghetti-O Pasta Bake

Recently my family and I went on a little drive to find an Italian Market a co-worker told me about.  After a couple of wrong turns we finally got there.  It's such a cute little store and the couple that owns it makes their own sausages, and they import their cannoli shells from New York and make the filling on site.  They had a nice selection of Italian products.  We ended up getting three tiny cannoli's, some of the pasta I'm going to tell you about today, and some peppers and onion sausages that we haven't tried yet.  I'll be going back there again for sure! An interesting thing about the pasta that we purchased is that it needs to be boiled and then baked in order to get tender.  I've never heard of that before but I'm glad that the owner told me or else this recipe would not have turned out! I'm sure you can use any pasta in this, but these were so darn cute!

Brown 1lb of Italian Sausage - I used Sweet Italian. Preheat your oven to 350.

This is the pasta I bought.  I boiled this in some salted water for about 10 minutes while I prepared the meat mixture.

Cut one small onion.  I cut mine in fairly large pieces so I could dig them out easily for my daughter.  She's a pasta and red sauce kind of girl.

Add the onion to the browned sausage and cook until slightly transparent.

To this I added some mushrooms (again, large enough for me to dig out for my little one)

I had some red bell pepper on hand so I threw in about half of it, cut about the same size as the onion.

I used two cans (14 ounce?) tomato sauce.  I also used the empty cans to add the equivalent of 1 can of milk to cut the acidicness of the tomatoes.  Add one Tbsp of sugar, and 1 tsp of garlic powder (or fresh - maybe two cloves).

Pour in the drained pasta.

Pour the mixture into a casserole dish, I used a 9x13 inch dish and it was perfect.

Top with Mozzarella cheese.  I used about 2 cups I think.

Bake for about 30 minutes.

This turned out perfectly and was so yummy.  My daughter really enjoyed it too (after I fished out all the meat and veggies :-/ ).  You could add any veggie you like or switch up the meat.  The sky is the limit.  Hopefully you can find some of these cute little pasta o's somewhere near you. 

Here's what you'll need:

1 lb ground Italian Sausage of your choice
1 lb package of Anelletti pasta (or whatever you've got on hand), boiled
2 14oz can's of tomato sauce
equivalent of one tomato can of milk
1/2 bell pepper cut into cubes
1 small onion cut into cubes
1 package of mushrooms, sliced.
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp garlic powder (2 cloves fresh)
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Put your pasta in a large pot of salted water and cook for about 10 minutes.
Brown the sausage, add the cut onion until it just starts to turn translucent.  Add the mushrooms and bell pepper.  Cook for about 5 minutes.
Add the tomato sauce, milk, sugar, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
Mix the pasta into the meat mixture and then pour into a 9x13 inch pan or a casserole dish.
Top with Mozzarella cheese and bake for about 30 minutes.

Berry Cornmeal Muffins

My not-so-bad-problem-to-have yesterday was a bunch of strawberries that were planning to leave this world without my permission.  How rude!  So I took control and made some muffins.  I don't think I've ever made corn muffins before but I'll be making them again for sure!  They were yummy.  Warning: my little girl helped me make these so some of the photo's aren't necessarily that great.  But you'll have to suffer because I think its the cutest thing in the world when she helps me. Yep, I'm sappy like that.

Here's the line-up. Flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, cornmeal, strawberries, yogurt, egg, butter.

Sorry for the shadows in this picture, the lighting in my kitchen is not so good. And I'm not a great photographer, not a good combination. 
Begin by mixing the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt.

In a separate bowl, mix the cut strawberries with 1/2 a cup of the flour mixture you just made.

In another bowl mix the yogurt, butter and egg together until smooth.

Stir the yogurt mixture into the flour mixture until combined.

Add the strawberries and gently fold them together.

Dollop the dough into your prepared muffin tins.  I sprayed the tins liberally, but you can use paper muffin cups also.

Put them into a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.  Watching them makes the time go by faster.  Not really, but taking pictures of your kids watching muffins bake is great fun.

These came out of the muffin tin with no problem at all.  I love the color - just barely golden brown on top. 

Plenty of strawberries inside.  These are a really good treat that I hope you'll try.  Different from your everyday muffins, but a nice change that I'll be making again.

Here's where I got this recipe:
Berry Cornmeal Muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups chopped fresh strawberries
1 (8 ounce container) Yogurt - recipe calls for strawberry flavored but I used vanilla.
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare your muffin tin by either spraying them, or using paper muffin cups.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cornmeal.
In a separate bowl mix 1/2 cup of the flour mixture with the cut strawberries.
In another bowl; mix the yogurt, egg, and melted butter together. 
Add the yogurt mixture to the flour mixture and mix until incorporated.  Fold in the strawberries.
Put an even amount of dough in each muffin cup and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Makes 12 muffins.