Cheese Sauce

Cheese Sauce

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup grated extra sharp cheddar

Melt butter in saucepan and remove from heat. Stir in flour and seasonings. Gradually add milk, stirring until well mixed. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and smooth. Cook for 5 minutes longer, and then add cheese. Stir until smooth and well blended. Serve with pasta or vegetables.

Note: To make twice as much, double everything in recipe except only use 2 cups of milk instead of doubling the regular amount. Also, if you use a mild cheese like Monterey Jack instead of sharp cheddar this recipe makes a good base for cream casseroles.

Italian Pasta Sauce Recipe

Italian Pasta Sauce (Red)

2 (28oz) Cans Tomato Puree
2 Medium Onions
1 Green Pepper
3 Cloves Garlic
2 Bay leaves
Salt
Pepper
Oregano
Fennel
Thyme
parsley
Grated Parmesian cheese
Pinch of Sugar
Water (to thin sauce)
Optional: 1 lb cooked Italian Sausage or Ground Beef or Meatballs
Two Tbsp Olive Oil

This is a great basic spaghetti sauce that will work for almost any pasta. If you want a little extra flavor, add some wine instead of water to thin the sauce.

Dice the onion and pepper, and mince the garlic.

In a large pot, add the olive oil and heat, add onion and pepper and sauté for ten minutes until soft. Add garlic (garlic burns easily so add it last) and sauté for a few more minutes.

Add tomato puree, bay leaves and all the spices except the parsley. Next add the sausage or beef and let simmer, stirring occasionally, the longer the better. Add water or wine to thin the sauce to desired thickness, and the pinch of sugar to cut the acidity of the sauce.

When the sauce is about ready, sprinkle in some parsley. Taste the sauce and adjust spices as necessary. I recommend making the sauce the night before you need it, so that the flavors can really blend.

Tomato Florentine Soup Recipe

Tomato Florentine Soup

5 Stalks Celery
1 Medium Onion
2 cups Fresh Spinach Leaves
1 Cup elbow macaroni (or any pasta)
3 Cans Stewed Tomatoes or Diced Tomatoes (depending how chunky you like them)
1 Can Chicken Broth
2 Cups of water
1 Bay leaf
Salt, pepper, thyme and grated parmesian cheese to taste.
1 teaspoon butter

Chop onion and celery and melt butter in the bottom of soup pot. Add onion and celery and sweat out the vegies for 5-10 minutes. Its ok if the onions carmelize a little bit, but don’t completely brown them.

Add chicken broth, water and tomatoes, bay leaf and spices. Bring to a boil, if the soup looks too thick add more water as needed.

After the water has reached a boil, add in the spinach leaves. Don’t worry if they look overwhelming at first, they’ll tend to disappear as they cook.

Let it boil a while, until spinach is completely softened. Then add pasta, the soup will be ready as soon as the pasta is cooked (10-15 minutes)

Split Pea Soup Recipe

Split Pea Soup

1 large or 2 medium onions
5 stalks of celery
10 carrots
8 potatoes
16oz pkg. of dried split peas
1 lb ham
2 bay leaves
thyme
salt
black pepper
butter

This recipe works best if you soak the peas overnight in water, but I’ve made it without doing this and it comes out fine, but takes a lot longer to cook.

Dice the onions and celery, and slice the carrots into coins, set aside. Peel the potatoes and cut them into bite size cubes. Dice the ham into bite size pieces.

Put a small amount of butter in the bottom of a large stockpot and heat under a medium flame. When pan is suitably hot, add the onions, celery and carrots. (If you’re not sure, add a little onion and see if it sizzles.) Let the vegetables saute’ for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The vegetables will be ready when the onions are transluscent.

Add 1-1/2 quarts of water, peas, potatoes, and ham; reduce heat to a simmer. Stir every few minutes or so to prevent peas from sticking. This is especially important if peas were dry. Add bay leaves, 2 pinches of thyme, 2 pinches of pepper, a pinch of salt, and allow to simmer for 2 hours while continuing to stir every 10 minutes or so.

Keep the soup simmering until the peas have dissolved into a porridge like consistency. If soup is too thin, allow it to cook down; if it’s too thick, add water to thin.

Serves about 8. Goes great with a slice of dark pumpernickel bread on the side.

Greek Lemon Soup Recipe

Greek Lemon Soup

1/2 gallon chicken broth
1 cup uncooked rice
2 eggs
2 lemons, juiced
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 teaspoon chopped dill
salt to taste

Heat chicken broth to a simmer. Add rice and cook 20 minutes. While rice is cooking, whisk together lemon juice, egg, and parsley. Blend chicken broth and rice into lemon-egg mixture. Heat for 2 minutes. Stir in dill and serve. Garnish with thyme.

Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe

Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:
1 large or 2 medium onions
6 stalks of celery
8 carrots (10 if small)

1 lb chicken, pre-cooked
1 qt chicken broth (the natural broth from the chicken works best, otherwise canned broth or boullion can be substituted)
24 oz. egg noodles
1/4 cup soy sauce
ground thyme
black pepper
chopped parsley
salt
butter

Dice the onions and celery and slice the carrots into small coins.

Cut the chicken up into bite size pieces.

Add a small amount of butter to a large stockpot. Melt butter and let it get hot enough for veggies to sizzle. You can test the temperature by dropping a small amount of onion into the pot.

Add the veggies and stir every few minutes, until they’ve sweated down. The onions will look translucent when they are ready.

Add chicken broth, and water if necessary.

Add chicken, add pepper and thyme to taste. Add two pinches of salt. Allow to simmer for at least 1 hour.

Add soy sauce. (It should darken the color of the soup just a little.)

Add noodles and raise burner to a medium heat. Cook for 20 minutes.

Add parsley to taste and then serve.

Serves 6 to 8 people.

Twice Baked Potatoes Recipe

Twice Baked Potatoes

6 medium potatoes (russet or baking potatoes)
salt and pepper to taste
1 pt. sour cream
1/2 cup chives or chopped green onion, if desired
1 cup chedddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
Parmesan Cheese

Bake the potatoes until done, approximately 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees. Cut in half. Scoop out both halves. Reserve the skin. Whip the potatoes together in a large bowl and add salt and pepper to taste. When smooth, add sour cream, chives, or onion if desired, cheese and butter. Whip until blended. Scoop potato mixture back into the skins. Sprinkle with a little parmesan cheese. May be held in the refrigerator for 24 hours, or wrapped for freezing. To serve, place on cookie sheet and bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Spaetzle Recipe

Spaetzle (German-style homemade noodles)

3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons dried dillweed or mixed herbs
(like chives, parsley, basil)
4 eggs, beaten
1 3/4 cups milk

In a large bowl, combine the flour, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, and dillweed. Make a well in the center and pour in the beaten eggs and milk; mix by hand just until smooth. Bring a large pot of water to a hard, rolling boil; add remaining 1 teaspoon salt.

Over the pot, with a wide slotted spoon, scoop out a spoonful of batter and shake it lightly until it breaks into strands that fall into the water. The pieces of batter will congeal to form spaetzle; when the spaetzle float to the top of the water, remove them with the slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Repeat until no batter remains.

Makes about 4-6 servings, 8 cups cooked noodles.

Note: Add spaetzle to any soup, serve it with any meat or chicken dish, or simply serve warm spaetzle plain, with butter or gravy or topped with cheese.

Sausage Apple Stuffing Recipe

Sausage and Apple Stuffing

2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons butter, divided
2 cups water
2 large bags of your favorite cornbread stuff crumbs
1 pound pork sausage (no links)
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, diced
3 medium apples, cored, sliced
1 cup chopped walnuts

In a large pot melt 2 sticks butter in water. When melted add dry cornbread stuffing, stirring to incorporate liquid, set aside.

In a large saute pan set over medium high heat melt 1 tablespoon butter and add sausage. With a wooden spoon break up port and saute until lightly browned and cooked through. Remove sausage to paper towels to drain. In the same saute pan melt remaining butter and saute onions with a garlic and celery until onions are translucent and celery is crisp tender. Add walnuts and saute for 1 minute. Add apples and saute for one minute more. Remove from heat. Combine cornbread stuffing with sauteed ingredients and stuff turkey. Roast turkey as usual. Alternately: fill a 9x13x2 inch pan with stuffing and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven, covered with foil for 1/2 hour. Remove foil and bake for 15 minutes more.

Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Pumpkin Pie

1 – 15 oz. can pumpkin filling
1 – 14 oz. can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon cinammon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
Prepared, Refrigerated Pie Crust (only need one, but there are two in the box)

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Take one of the pie crusts out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature. Set the crust into the bottom of a 9 inch pie pan.

In large bowl, combine all ingredients and pour into the pie crust. Bake for 15 minutes at 425F. Then reduce heat to 350 degrees, bake 35-40 minutes.

Serve with whipped cream topping or with vanilla ice cream.