Sausage and Cranberry Dressing

Sausage & Cranberry Dressing

About 4 cups bread, crusts trimmed, cubed

(I usually use Goldminer Cracked Wheat Sourdough)

1 12-oz pkg Jimmy Dean Regular pork sausage

1 cup diced onion

3/4 cup diced celery

1 tsp dried sage

1 tsp poultry seasoning

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 apple, diced

3/4 cup dried cranberries

4 Tbs butter

1 can Chicken Broth

Toast cubed bread on a large pan in a low oven (about 300°F), stirring several times until completely toasted and dried. This step can be done ahead of time.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Crumble sausage into 12-inch skillet and cook over medium heat, along with the diced onion, for 10 to 12 minutes stirring frequently to break up the sausage. Add butter, celery, sage, poultry seasoning and thyme and continue to cook for another 2 or 3 minutes.

Place dried bread cubes, apple, cranberries into a large bowl. Pour sausage mixture over and stir to combine. Add chicken broth to moisten--note: you may not need quite all of the broth.

Place mixture in a 2-quart casserole dish. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Sherrie's Italian Pasta Salad

This salad can be served as a side with a meal, but is hearty enough to be a meal by itself--really good in Summer when it is hot and you don't feel like cooking. You can, of course, omit the meat for a vegetarian version.

1/2 pound dry fusilli or rotini pasta

1 six-oz can whole black olives, sliced

8 or 9 whole green Spanish olives, sliced

1/3 cup or so pickled banana pepper slices, chopped

8 to 10 marinated artichoke pieces, sliced to bite-size

about one cup diced summer sausage or salami

1/2 of a medium red onion, peeled and roughly chopped

(see notes for additional suggestions / ingredients)

Vinaigrette Dressing:

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup red-wine vinegar

2 teaspoons Italian seasonings

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

4 or 5 dashes of Red's Hot Sauce

3 or 4 squirts of bottled Italian dressing with aged Romano

Cook the pasta in a large pot of generously-salted water about one minute more than the package directs--for cold pasta salads you really don't want "al dente." Drain pasta and rinse under cold water until no longer hot. Drain.

While the pasta is cooking and draining, slice and chop the other ingredients and place them in a large container. Add all vinaigrette ingredients into a glass jar with lid, and shake to combine.

Add drained pasta to the bowl, pour vinaigrette over and stir to combine. Although this can be eaten right away, it is best to let it marinate in the refrigerator for a while to let the flavors meld. It will keep in the refrigerator for several days to a week.

Notes:

This recipe is flexible and can include more vegetables, meats, cheeses, etc. as desired. Including the tomatoes and/or broccoli add a nice punch of color to this salad. Other suggested ingredients:

• Broccoli florets, cut into small bite-sized pieces (add them to the boiling pasta during the last couple of minutes to cook, then rinse them with cool water along with the pasta)
• Grape tomatoes, halved (these can be added with the other ingredients when making the salad, but halved ones tend to look a little sad if not served soon, so I prefer to add them right before serving. Of course you can put them in the salad whole, but they're tricky to stab with a fork)
• Fresh mozzarella or other cheese, cut into bite sized pieces, or grated (not the dry powdered stuff!) Parmesan or Romano cheese stirred into the salad
• Pickled Italian vegetables (giardiniera), but NOT pickles

  

  Aunt Peggy's Baby Shower 1946
  (She's in the mddle, with Mom right behind her;
  this salad would go well at a party like this!)

Coffee Ice Cream

Sadly, cousin Becky is lactose intolerant
so can't have any of this ice cream!

1-1/2 cups half-and-half

1-1/2 cups heavy cream

1 cup coffee beans

3/4 cup sugar

3 large egg yolks

1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix the half-and-half, cream, beans and sugar in a saucepan. Heat, stirring quite frequently (almost constantly) until bubbles start to form around the sides of the pan--just slightly below boiling. Remove from heat and let stand for about one hour to allow the coffee to infuse into the liquid.

Strain the cream mixture into a separate pan; discard beans. Whisk egg yolks into the now-tepid liquid to mix thoroughly. Heat over low heat until slightly thickened (it doesn't really have to be "pudding" consistency, as the ice cream maker will thicken it, you just want to make sure the egg yolks reach a safe temperature). Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Strain once more into a large measuring glass or bowl. Allow to cool & then refrigerate to chill further until cold.

Follow your ice cream maker's instructions. This makes about 1-1/2 pints, so is ideal for small electric ice cream makers, such as those which have a freezable bowl rather than using ice & rock salt.

Apple-Cranberry Conserve

5 cups peeled, chopped apples

Brother Rick with "Old Yeller" abt 1967
in Sunnyside, WA

1-1/3 cup Apple Juice

1/3 cup lemon juice

1 pkg (1-3/4 oz) dry regular pectin

(or similar appropriate amount of liquid pectin)

3 cups sugar

1/2 cup corn syrup

1 cup dried cranberries

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/8 tsp salt

Combine the apples, apple and lemon juices in a large Dutch oven.  Bring to boiling; reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.

Stir in the pectin and bring to full rolling boil, stirring constantly.  Stir in sugar and cranberries.  Return to a full rolling boil.  Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat, stir in spices.

Ladle into hot, sterilized half-pint jars, leaving 1/4-inch head space.  Wipe jar rims, apply lids.  Process in boiling water bath for 5 minutes (start time when water begins to boil).  Remove jars from canner; cool on racks.  Makes six 1/2-pint containers.

Lemon Curd

Very good on crumpets or Englsh muffins. I've also stirred some into heavy cream to create a Lemmon Posset-like dessert.

1 stick butter

Grandpa Don (R) & unknown
in the 1920s (Alaska?)

1-1/4 cup sugar

3 lemons

5 egg yolks, beaten

Peel outer yellow part of lemons using vegetable peeler; reserve. Juice the three lemons (it should be about 1/2 cup of juice; if it is a little bit more that is OK, just increase the amount of sugar slightly).

In a heavy saucepan melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the sugar, lemon juice and the lemon peels; heat and stir until sugar is dissolved.

Stir some of the heated lemon mixture to the egg yolks to temper them, then stir yolks into the saucepan. Continue heating, stirring constantly, for about eight minutes until curd is thickened.

Pour through sieve into a bowl or large glass measuring cup (I use a 4-cup size). Discard lemon peels and pour curd into jars. Cool, then refrigerate. Keeps in refrigerator for several weeks.

Frozen Margaritas for a Crowd

Frozen Margaritas for a Crowd

Limeade Base:

12-oz can limeade

2 scant cans of cold water

Mix the limeade and water in a pitcher.

For each blender-full of drinks:

Fill blender about 3/4 full of small ice cubes

Add:

1 cup mixed limeade

Squeeze of fresh lemon juice (yes, lemon)

1/2 cup Cuervo Gold (4 oz--a little more is fine)

Slightly more than 1/3 cup Triple Sec

Blend until "slushy" and serve in salt-rimmed glasses. Garnish with lime wedge.

Me on Dad's Log trug, about 1955

Hot Buttered Rum Batter

Hot Buttered Rum Batter

This recipe was given to me by my friend Norm Ritter and was developed long ago--before raw eggs were deemed unsafe to eat by those who might have compromised immune systems. So to be on the safe side, use only "certified" eggs or a pasteurized product such as "Egg Beaters/"

1/2 lb (2 sticks) real butter, softened

1 lbs brown sugar

1/2 lb powdered sugar

2 whole eggs (or use Egg-Beaters)

dash of rum

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Mix all ingredients well with electric mixer.  Store in covered container in the refrigerator.  Use about one heaping teaspoon (or more to suit your taste) per cup of boiling water or hot milk, add one jigger of rum or brandy.

Grandpa Gene on Right on trip from MO to WA