Search Results for: sauce

Salisbury Steak is one of those meals I grew up eating. I don’t remember my mom making it, necessarily, but I do remember that it’s what I’d order from a restaurant menu anytime it was available. It might have also been my go-to choice in TV dinners, which were often my after-school snack. Haha! I can still recall those little aluminum trays, each frozen food in its spot. I loved it, but I’m so happy that I’ve learned how to make homemade Salisbury Steak now. It’s a salt-of-the-earth kind of meal, and I believe it’s best served with homemade mashed potatoes and a good country vegetable like creamed corn or field peas. My peeps love hamburger steak, so I tried out this dressed-up version on them recently. They loved it, so I’m going to be sure to add it to the regular rotation around here.

2 lbs ground beef
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 small onion, very finely chopped
1 egg
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

1 package fresh mushrooms, sliced

2 jars beef gravy
1/2 cup port wine
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder

In a big bowl, mix together the ground beef, bread crumbs, onion, egg, worcestershire, dry mustard, salt, and pepper. I usually do this by hand (literally, with my hands), but you could use a Kitchenaid stand mixer. When it’s good and blended, divide into patties. I usually make about 6-7 patties from 2 lbs of ground beef. Place them into a skillet heated to medium. I use my Le Creuset braiser because it’s big enough to hold 6 or 7 steaks at one time. Brown on each side for about 5 minutes.

In a separate bowl, mix together the gravy, port wine, garlic powder, and onion powder.

When patties are browned on the outside, I remove them from the pan so I can pour off the extra grease. Return steaks to the pan and cover with mushrooms. Pour gravy mixture over all, being sure all mushrooms are covered in gravy. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes or until steaks are cook through and mushrooms are tender.

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As you might imagine from a food blogger, cookbooks are an obsession of mine. Anytime we travel, I love to find and thumb through a cookbook from the region because I believe a culture’s food is one of the best expressions of who its people are. And there is nothing better than a cookbook full of recipes you’d really make, but which are all new dishes to your family. Solid gold! The fine folks at Andrews McMeel Publishing sent me a copy of Stir My Soul by Roxie Kelley to review and give away. I’m happy to report that Stir My Soul is FULL of recipes that I’m sure will become regular favorites around our house.

In order to whet your appetite, let me share a few dishes Roxie serves up in Stir My Soul. I didn’t get far into the book (page 2, in fact) until I came upon Spinach Artichoke Nachos. Um, yes, please! A couple of pages over is a recipe for her daughter Brooke’s Sweet Potato Hummus. We eat a TON of hummus at our house, so I’m always looking for a new twist on it. Since we love sweet potatoes, this one will be a big hit! Potato skins are a traditional appetizer in our area, but Roxie makes her Classic Potato Skins with prosciutto and mozzarella. Since our are typically made with bacon and cheddar, I look forward to trying her recipe. Her Castle Wings are a fried chicken wing served with your choice of Kahlua & Coffee Sauce or Raspberry-Tequila Sauce. What?!? I’m all over those!

But appetizers aren’t all Roxie shares. The main dishes in Stir My Soul are equally as mouth-watering. She shares a recipe for Parmesan Pork Loin, complete with carrots and potatoes, which would be a perfect Sunday lunch dish. Jack’s Gumbo is the real deal! It’s a chicken and sausage gumbo made with a roux (the ONLY way to make REAL gumbo in my humble opinion.) Her Chipotle Barbecue Chicken Club Sandwiches will be on my menu soon. And she has several authentic pasta dishes including Stuffed Shells, Baked Ziti, and Fettuccine with Asiago and Parmesan Cheeses.

When I look through a cookbook, I always check to see whether the side dishes are any good, because I feel like a good side dish can accompany most any entree. Roxie’s Asian Rice is something I’d serve with grilled chicken, shrimp, or pork tenderloin. It has lots of veggies, so it’s a starch and veggie in one dish. Her Roasted Mushrooms would be perfect with a juice grilled steak. Her Spinach Baked Potatoes would be delicious (and again, the only side needed) for roast. And her Kelsey’s Asiago AuGratin Potatoes would pair nicely with ham. Her Spiced Marinated Tomatoes would be delicious at this time of year, since tomatoes are in season.

In addition to lots of delicious looking breads and muffins, Stir My Soul also features a large dessert section. The first one I’m trying is the Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake. But her Cheese Filles Chocolate Bundt Cake will be a close second. Her Apple Turnovers are made with spiced apples and puff pastry. Her selection of cookies look divine! They include Peanut Butter Dreams, Salted Chocolate Cookies, Lush Lemon Bars, and Turtle Shortbread Bars.

Stir My Soul can be ordered directly from Andrews McMeel here, you can find it at Barnes and Noble, or you can order from my Amazon affiliate link here..

The generous folks at Andrews MCMeel have sent me a copy to give away to a reader. I’ll give you three ways to enter:

1. Leave a comment on this post. One comment per person, please.
2. Follow The Hill Hangout on Facebook, and leave us a comment on the Facebook post linked here.
3. Follow @TheHillHangout on Twitter, and tweet us a comment about Stir My Soul. 

Good luck, dear readers! I’ll announce the winner next Friday at noon.

** Andrews McMeel Publishing sent me a copy of this cookbook for review purposes. As always, opinions about it are entirely my own. Also, as always, I only review and give away books I think my readers really will enjoy.

I have deemed this summer the Summer of Pizza. We have tried homemade pizza in the past, and always came up a little short. I’ve determined that the fail was in the crust. I have tried pre-made and refrigerated crusts, but nothing suited our fancy. I finally worked up the nerve to try my hand at homemade dough, and lo and behold it’s not that hard. I used Edies’s recipe found here. I used it one night last week to make BBQ Chicken Pizza, and it was perfect.

Honestly, I think I could eat a BBQ Chicken Pizza from California Pizza Kitchen every day of the week and not get tired of it. But since that would be out of my budget, I instead learned how to make them at home. My recipe isn’t an exact replica of theirs, but it IS a delicious pizza that I enjoy making at home.

You’ll need:

1/2 batch of pizza dough (or double the recipe and make 2 pizzas)
1/2 cup BBQ sauce (This can be any variety you like. I prefer a sweet sauce like Costa’s or Sweet Baby Ray’s.)
1/2 red onion, sliced thinly
1-2 grilled or roasted chicken breasts, sliced
6-8 cilantro sprigs
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

Make pizza dough according to directions. Allow dough to rise, divide dough in half, turn onto floured surface, and knead a few times. Roll out dough to desired thickness. Transfer to round baking sheet or pizza stone which has been sprinkled with the cornmeal.

Spread BBQ sauce over dough. Add thinly sliced red onion and cilantro. Add chicken. Top with mozzarella cheese.

Bake on 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted and golden.

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I’m a sucker for a good chicken enchilada. It’s my usual order when we eat out at any of our favorite Tex-Mex restaurants. Enchiladas Suizas are my first choice, as I love the combination of white meat chicken, tart salsa verde, creamy sour cream, and melted monterey jack cheese. It’s cousin, Enchiladas Verdes, is similar, but does not use the sour cream in the sauce. Let’s be honest, I won’t turn down either! But I do think I prefer the addition of the sour cream, as it tones down the tartness of the salsa verde and gives the sauce a nice, creamy texture. However, this is not a dish I wanted to make at home without a REALLY good recipe, as I knew it would be a disappointment after eating the delicious restaurant version. The following passed the test and got rave reviews from the family. They have asked that I make it again soon, and that is always a sure sign that it’s a good recipe.

Enchiladas Suizas is a chicken dish, and you can use most any kind of chicken you want. I grilled a couple of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (actually, I used some that were leftover from dinner the night before). You could also use a store-bought rotisserie chicken or bake a few breasts in the oven with some olive oil, salt, and pepper.

For the sauce you’ll need:

1 jar salsa verde (I used Pace Garlic & Lime Verde) or you can make your own
1/2 cup sour cream

Mix together in a bowl and set aside.

For the filling you’ll need:

3 grilled chicken breasts, chopped or shredded
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 can green chiles
1/2 cup salsa verde/sour cream mixture
8-10 soft tortillas
8 oz block Monterey Jack cheese, grated

Mix together the chicken, onion, bell pepper, and can of green chiles. Add 1/2 cup of the sour cream/salsa mixture. Mix well to incorporate all ingredients. Spoon about 1/4 cup into tortilla shells.

Roll up tortillas and place in sprayed baking dish, like good little soldiers all in a row.

Sprinkle top of enchiladas with grated monterey jack cheese. Pour rest of sour cream/salsa mixture over top.

Bake on 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes or until cheese is melted, bubbly, and slightly golden. Serve right away.

If you make Enchiladas Suizas for your family, they will rise up and call you “sagrada”

[yumprint-recipe id=’35’]Linking up with Home Stories AtoZ.

My husband is the sweetest, dearest man, and he NEVER wants anything for himself. I know that anything I buy for him for Father’s Day, he will most likely end up taking back. He is just not a gift guy. What he values more than anything else is a day off spent with the family. And he won’t ever turn down a little good food either! So when Ragú contacted me to come up with a Father’s Day brunch that was a twist on their Sausage and Peppers by blending it with a traditional brunch dish, I knew exactly the kind of recipe my guy would love – a Sausage and Peppers Omelet! I know this hearty dish will pass my husband’s approval, and I bet it will go over well at your house, too.

3 eggs
1/4 orange bell pepper, diced
1/4 onion, diced
1 link sweet Italian sausage, casing removed
2 slices fresh mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup Ragú® Old World Style® Traditional Sauce (Yes, I really use this brand because it has a delicious taste our whole family loves.)
several fresh basil leaves

There is not a dish in this world that isn’t made better by using fresh ingredients, and our Sausage and Peppers Omelet is no exception. If you’ve never used fresh herbs, by all means plant a few in your back yard. Basil, cilantro, rosemary, dill, and parsley are especially easy to grow. And if you’ve never used fresh mozzarella, here’s what you’re looking for:

Start by browning and crumbling sweet Italian sausage in skillet over medium heat. When cooked thoroughly, remove to paper towel to drain. Reserve just a little of the grease in the pan.

Saute diced onions and peppers in skillet with a little of the sausage grease. Salt and pepper well. When veggies are just beginning to soften, add sausage back to pan. Mix it together well.

Scramble eggs in a bowl and pour over top of sausage mixture. Cover and reduce heat to medium low. Allow to cook for around 4-5 minutes or until eggs are no longer runny. Fold in half and put on plate.

Place mozzarella slices on top of omelet. Drizzle Ragú® Old World Style® Traditional Sauce over dish. Finish with basil on top. Serve right away.

Does the Dad in your home deserve something special this Father’s Day? Make him feel as special as he is by serving him some delicious food that took a little extra love to prepare. If your family loves Italian like we do, visit Facebook.com/RaguSauce for more easy and delicious Authentic Italian recipe ideas.

What are serving this Father’s Day? Any Father’s Day traditions you keep?

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I have lots of thoughts swirling in my head these days around the topic of hospitality. Many of these thoughts were stirred after reading Shauna Niequist’s book Bread and Wine. And while I’m still processing a lot of what she had to say about communion and unity and fellowship and breaking bread together (and studying scriptures on the subject to form my own opinions), I have loved trying a few of the recipes she included in the book. She describes risotto as a comfort food, and she gives great detail about how to make it and how to combine flavors. It was from her inspiration that I came up with Bleu Cheese and Bacon Risotto.

Risotto definitely falls into the comfort food category! It’s a classic Italian dish that can be made a bazillion different ways, with any combination of ingredients. It’s typically made with arborio rice, which is starchy and becomes creamy as it cooks. You can add any kind of sauce, cheese, protein, or veggies you like. There is no right or wrong way to enjoy risotto. I chose to start with Bleu Cheese and Bacon Risotto, and it was delicious!

I sauteed an onion, some garlic, and a package of sliced mushrooms in about 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. When the veggies were tender, I added a cup of white wine and two cups of arborio rice. I then let it cook until the wine was absorbed into the rice.

When the wine is absorbed into the rice, you begin adding in the chicken stock. The most important thing to remember about cooking risotto is that it is really easy to let it burn to the bottom of the pan. You HAVE to stir and stir and stir to keep it from sticking. Each time you add stock and stir, the sauce will become creamier. Once you have added all of the stock, taste the risotto to make sure the rice is tender. If it’s not, add an additional cup of water and cook a few minutes longer. When rice is tender and sauce is creamy, remove from heat. Add in bleu cheese and stir to melt cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Scoop by spoonfuls onto a plate or bowl. Top with bacon and green onions.

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My husband’s favorite dessert is chocolate pie. His grandmother was a wonderful southern cook, and chocolate pie was one of her specialties. So Jonathan grew up eating what I refer to as “heirloom” chocolate pie, because apparently one must inherit the ability to make it like she did. I have tried, but goodness knows I just can’t make it like she did. Instead of always feeling like my chocolate pie was inferior, I decided to find a chocolate pie that was entirely different than hers. I came across Mudslide Pie years ago, and it has become a treasured part of the holiday dessert collection around here. Hardly a holiday goes by that one of my gang doesn’t ask for it. I made it last weekend for Easter, and decided to pass it on to you. I hope your family loves it as much as mine does.

Mudslide Pie takes a little time, but it’s definitely worth the effort. Start out by gathering your ingredients. This one goes pretty fast, so have all your ingredients ready as you begin to prepare the pie. Here’s what you’ll need:

1 9″ prepared chocolate pie crust (I use the Oreo crust)
1 cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon instant coffee
1 teaspoon hot water
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup cocoa

Melt a cup of chocolate chips in a saucepan over lowest possible heat. As it melts, stir with whisk to smooth chocolate. When completely melted, remove from heat.

Combine coffee granules and hot water in a medium size bowl. Add sugar, sour cream, and vanilla. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Stir in melted chocolate until smooth. Spread into pie crust and put in freezer for several hours.

When pie is chilled, you can make the topping. Beat whipping cream, powdered sugar, and cocoa in a small bowl until stiff peaks form. Spread over chocolate layer in pie crust. PLace pie back in freezer until ready to cut.

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