Grandma's Fruit Salad

This is my dad's mom's recipe.  We lost Grandma twenty years ago, Dad 9 months ago.  Hurts my heart to think about them but it warms my heart to make food that they loved.  Grandma loved this salad and whenever she would make it she would add bananas at the last minute then make sure to tell us to eat them.  Every time.  You HAD to take bananas in your bowl or they would turn brown.  Over the years, it became a joke with her, culminating in her telling us to "Eat the GODDAMN Bananas!". 

Grandma's Fruit Salad

2 grapefruits

1 can pineapple- drained

2 oranges

1 can mandarin oranges

Maraschino cherries with some juice

 

Peel and chunk up the oranges and grapefruits.  Make sure to squeeze out the grapefruit halves to get the juice into the bowl.

Stir in the cans of mandarin oranges and the drained pineapple.

Add some cherries to taste (I usually cut them in half)

Add some of the cherry juice to taste - we go for color as well.  The juice is a little pink.

 

RIGHT BEFORE you serve it, cut up a banana.  Yell at everyone to eat the banana.

 

I've added grapes before as well if I have them around - they are good. 

 

Her recipe makes a good sized bowl and, without the goddamn bananas, will keep about a week.

Fall Breakfast for Dinner

It's Fall.  Yippee!!!  Time for real cooking to begin again.  One of the first things I crave when the weather cools is my mom's Stuffed Squash.  But this isn't your mother's stuffed squash....it's MY mother's stuffed squash.  Think of a perfect Fall breakfast, then have it for dinner.

Recipe from mom....

STUFFED SQUASH

 

1 or 2 Buttercup squash- depending on the size

2 lbs bulk pork breakfast sausage 1 hot and 1 mild

1 lg onion, chopped

~ 1/3 of a loaf of Italian bread, crust removed and cubed

Maple syrup, butter, salt  and a 9”x13” casserole

Cut the squash in half and clean out the seeds. Spray a baking sheet with PAM and put the squash cut surface down on the baking sheet and bake at 425°F for about 40 min.

Or

Pierce squash all over with a knife tip. Place on a foil lined baking sheet and bake at 375° for about 1 hour. When soft, peel and seed.

While the squash is baking, spray the casserole with PAM. Then in a large skillet, brown the sausage, breaking it up into little bits. When the sausage is almost done, push it to the back of the pan and add the onions. When the onions are brown, push them aside and brown the bread cubes-you may need a little oil here. Then mix it all together and turn off the heat.

 

****Mom and I have different opinions here.  I do the onions first.  Probably makes no difference but thought I'd point it out anyway.***

When the squash is done-it will be soft- scoop it out of the skin and put it in the casserole. Add salt and a few pats of butter and mash it around. Smooth it out and drizzle with the maple syrup. Then add the stuffing and drizzle again with the syrup.

Put the casserole back in the oven for about 10-15 minutes-the top will get crispy.

 Notes: Other types of squash work-buttercup is my favorite. I used to make this by stuffing a half of a squash but it’s easier to eat this way. But sweet dumpling squash are very pretty stuffed.

I buy the sausage when it’s on sale and keep it in the freezer until I’m ready to use it. If I have only mild sausage, I add some crushed red pepper. I’ve used Bob Evans, Jimmy Dean and no name bulk sausage-they all taste the same to me.

Real maple syrup works best for this. I get a big container at Costco.

I say Italian bread but what is really needed is a sturdy bread.

You can use more onion. I usually do.

While the squash is baking and after the stuffing is made, you’ll have time to make a salad, etc.

The bake time is flexible and you can adjust it to accommodate other things you have to do.

 

***Amanda here again. This makes a big casserole, so if you're just cooking for one or two, then obviously get less squash!  And get 1 lb of mild sausage and add red pepper flakes.***

Pizza Pizza

Most pizza recipes probably start out with a recipe for dough....but not mine!

I've made my own dough using a bunch of different recipes.

It's a lot of mess. Not really work, but mess with all the flower and the rolling and the waiting. Okay, so it's the waiting that I don't like.

My solution, and Mom I'm sure is proud of me for this, is to simply buy pre-made dough.

Oh! The Horror!

Oh - chill out. You usually buy pasta from A STORE. It's much easier and once you find one you like it makes pizza night way more fun that slaving over dough. I live in the South so I have Harris Teeter's all around and their dough is great. You could also go to a local pizza shop and buy some from them. Just don't buy it frozen unless you want to wait two days for it to thaw.
 

Now that you have procured the dough, let's talk about what makes this not-quite-homemade recipe so good. It's the sauce. My sister, AD, came up with this recipe and I've stolen it and I love it and I don't feel the least bit sorry. I will credit her with the title:

 

Adrienne's Awesome Pizza Sauce

1 Stick Boar's Head Pepperoni. *It Must Be This Pepperoni*

1 Large Can Plain Tomato sauce

1 tsp Olive Oil

1-3 cloves Garlic

1/4 of an onion, diced finely

Crushed Red Pepper Flakes to taste. I use about a teaspoon

Pre-heated pizza stone in a 400 degree oven or, in a pinch, aluminum covered baking sheet with something non-stick on it. I usually sprinkle grits on the pan as well.  Just a little. 

 

Heat up the Oil on Medium in a Medium sized Sauce pan. Soften the onion. You don't want it to brown too much.

 

Dice the pepperoni into discs and then quarters. (Like a pizza!) Put about 1/3 of it into the pan with the softening onion and oil. As the pepperoni starts to brown, add the garlic for just a minute or two.   I leave the garlic cloves whole and let it cook with the sauce, being careful not to ladle it on to the pizza.

 

 

Take off the heat, let it stop sizzling. Add the Can of Tomato Sauce and the Red Pepper Flakes. Stir.  Cook uncovered on low for as long as you can stand it. Let it bubble and stir occasionally - tomato sauce has a lot of sugar and will burn quickly if you don't babysit a little. You'll smell the difference when it changes from a raw tomato smell to a cooked, saucy (yeah! Saucy!) smell. Maybe an hour. If you don't want to wait that long, well, then, don't! Give it at least 20 minutes though.

 

While that's going on, you can prep the pizza dough, get out the cheese, etc.

 

This sauce is enough for two good sized pizzas.

 

I roll out the crusts, CAREFULLY place on the ATOMICALLY HOT pizza stone. Then brush with olive oil and poke holes with a fork. Bake for 5-10 minutes, just before it starts to rise.

Remove from oven. (duh!)

 

Top with sauce, cheese, the rest of the pepperoni, and whatever else you like. I use mozzarella and the cheap-o Italian blend. About half a package of each. 

 

Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, or until cheese is melting and crust is cooked.

 

 

I often just make one pizza and then save the sauce for next time. Makes pizza night CRAZY easy when you have homemade sauce ready to go.


 

Hope you like it!

It's cold out and I want soup

A family favorite is Cheap Italian Vegetable Soup. Sounds like we are saying Italians are cheap....let's change the name to Easy Italian Vegetable Soup. No, wait, that's no good either.

How about...

Simple Italian Vegetable Soup

In a medium sauce pot...

• Small amount of olive oil
• Brown some garlic and remove it
• Brown a diced onion
• Add water - as much as you like says Mom. Amanda says 2/3 of the way to the top of the pot.
• Add small can of tomato sauce. We like it plain plain plain so we can add our own spices, but do as you like
• If you are going to add pasta- bring the water to a boil and cook the pasta.
• Add can of mixed vegetables
• Heat through

We used canned veggies to keep it cheap. I mean easy. Darnit, I mean SIMPLE. Feel free to use a bag of frozen mixed veggies if you're feeling wild and crazy.

If you're planning to freeze the soup, then boil the noodles separately. I know....TWO pots?!?! But, if you freeze the soup with noodles in it then you get mush.

Mom's version of an old Weight Watchers classic...Taco Soup.  It is so easy and done in one pot!  One Pot!!!  Brown the meat, drain the fat, open seasonings packets pour in and stir, open cans of veggies and beans, pour in everything including the liquids, and stir.  Could not be easier.

 

Healthy Easy Taco Soup

• 1 large jar of northern beans
• 1 can of corn
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 1 envelope ranch dressing seasoning
• 1 envelope taco seasoning
• 1 lb ground beef - browned and drained

1 can of water if you like more broth (Amanda adds about half a can.)

Brown and drain the beef - add everything else and cook 10-15 minutes

 

Even better with a little cheese, but that is pretty much true of everything in life.  Food, jokes, whatever.  You can use this for company by "dressing it up" put out bowls of toppings like 

chopped onion and tomatoes, shredded cheddar, and /or sour cream(or Greek yogurt) and taco chips - looks and tastes like a big deal and not much work or expense.

 

 

Stay warm out there!  Especially you folks in the Great White North of Michigan.