Meaty Cheesy Manicoti

Source:  Not Sure

Posted by Lisa

My husband hates pasta...I like it.  So, in an effort to find one he will eat and do so happily, I tried this recipe.  He loved it!  I think it is because it is not tomato based.  It is cream based...so beware.

The next time I make it though, I will probably use large shells instead of manicoti noodles.  It just takes too long to fill the tubes.  

1 (8-ounce) package uncooked manicotti shells

1/2 pound hot Italian sausage

1/2 pound ground round $

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1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 cup dry white wine (I used chicken stock)

2 cups whipping cream

1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano, drained

2 cups (8 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese

3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Cook pasta according to package directions; rinse in cold water. Drain. Place in a single layer on a wire rack; set aside.

Remove casings from sausage, and discard. Cook sausage, ground round, and onion in a large skillet, stirring until meat crumbles and is no longer pink. Drain and set aside.


Add wine to skillet, stirring to loosen browned bits; bring to a boil. Add whipping cream and next 3 ingredients; reduce heat, and simmer, stirring often, 15 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat; cover and set aside.

Combine meat mixture, tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese.

Spoon mixture evenly into 12 manicotti shells; arrange shells in a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish.

Bake, covered, at 350° for 20 minutes.

Uncover and pour cream mixture evenly over shells; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 10 more minutes.

Broil, 5 1/2 inches from heat, 2 to 3 minutes or until cheese is lightly browned.

Bacon wrapped tator tot bombs

Source:  WWW.DAMBDELICIOUS.NET

pOSTED BY lISA

wOW, THESE ARE SOOO GOOD!  tHEY SEEM FUSSY TO MAKE, BUT THEY REALLY AREN'T.  jUST SIT DOWN AND RELAX AND ENJOY THE QUIET TIME IN THE MORNING!  wHEN YOU HAVE THESE BAKING AND THE FAMILY STARTS TO WAKE UP AND SMELL IT...WATCH OUT!  

rEALLY, REALLY GOOD.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups frozen tater tots, at room temperature
• 1 ounce sharp cheddar cheese, cut into 1/4-inch squares
• 4 slices bacon, quartered
• 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves

INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat; set aside.
• Working one at a time, wrap each tater tot and cheese square in a piece of bacon. Repeat with remaining tater tots, cheese squares and bacon pieces. 

• Dredge each tater tot in the brown sugar, pressing to coat.

• Place tater tots seam side down onto the prepared baking sheet. Place into oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, using metal tongs to turn at halftime.  (I DID NOT TURN)

• Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.

NOTES

Raspberry White Chocolate Scone Recipe

Posted by Lisa
source: http://www.rockrecipes.com/raspberry-white-chocolate-scones/

These are soooo good.  Really, after searching and trying different recipes trying to get close to the one I had from a popular bakery, these hit the mark!  Easy to make and the texture is much closer to a "scuffin" than a crumbly dry scone.  Terrific fresh out of the oven, but did still taste great after a couple of days.

Ingredients

• 3 cups flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 6 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• ¾ cup very cold butter, cubed
• 6 ounces good quality chopped white chocolate
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk
• 1½ cups frozen raspberries

Instructions

1. I start these in my food processor because it is so fast but they can be made just as easily in a large bowl by cutting the butter in with a pastry blender or even 2 knifes held between the fingers.

1. In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
2. Pulse in the cold butter until this mixture resembles a coarse meal. It is very important that pea sized pieces of butter remain in this mixture.
3. Transfer to a large bowl and toss in the white chocolate.

1. Mix together the lemon juice, vanilla extract ans milk.
2. Pour this over the surface of the dry mixture. Toss all together gently with a fork only enough to form a dough ball.
3. When the flour is almost incorporated, add the frozen raspberries.

1. Frozen berries work best because they are less delicate and easier to incorporate into the scone dough.
2. It is important that you work this dough as little as possible or the finished scones will be too dense and heavy.
3. Roll to 1 inch thickness and cut out scones with biscuit cutter or in triangles with a sharp knife and place on parchment lined baking sheet.

 I rolled it out between 2 pieces of parchment, it was much cleaner.  I tried just free forming them by hand and it stuck too badly to my hands, so rolling out and cutting them with a cutter is much easier.

1. If desired you can brush the tops of the scones with an egg wash of 1 egg beaten together with 1 tbsp water.
2. You can sprinkle the tops with turbinado sugar if desired but this is, of course, optional.

1. Bake at 375 degrees F for 25 minutes or until light golden brown. Baking time will vary depending on the size of your biscuit cutter.

Bran Muffins

Posted by: Lisa
Source:  Not sure!  I got it from a friend, it may be from Kelloggs

Most people..at least people in my immediate world, hear the word "bran muffin" and shrink away with thoughts of digestive health the sole purpose for eating such a muffin.  I made these and caramelized them and fed them to a group of teenagers and my children....and they came back for more!  That is the true test!  They have a terrific texture and I really enjoyed the flavor.  I also made them without caramelizing them and they are still really good.

Ingredients:
1 C boiling water
1 C Nabisco 100% Bran Buds cereal
1/2 c shortening ( I used butter flavored Crisco)
1 1/2 c sugar (I used 1/2 brown sugar, 1/2 white)
2 beaten eggs
1/2 qrt buttermilk
2 1/2 tsp soda
2 C Kelloggs All Bran cereal
2 1/2 C flour
1 tsp salt
cinnamon and sugar to sprinkle on top before baking

(if you want, you can also caramelize the muffins!  That is how we like them.  If you choose to do this, you would also need:  2/3 c brown sugar, 1/4 cup butter, 2 tbsp corn syrup.  Melt these together in a bowl and spoon about a teaspoon or so into each greased muffin tin before you put in the muffin batter, bake as normal.  It adds a nice outer texture that is delicious! I tried putting it on top of the muffin batter instead of inside the muffin cup, that just made a mess all over the top of the muffin pan.)

Directions:
Pre Heat oven to 400

*Pour boiling water over the 100% Bran Buds in a bowl and set aside.

*Cream shortening and sugar
*Add beaten eggs, buttermilk, and softened Bran Buds

*Add flour, soda, salt and mix
*Fold in the  All Bran cereal

Scoop into greased muffin tins and bake for about 20 min.

I did notice that these do not rise very much, so I would fill the muffin cups 

more next time I make them

(if you are caramelizing them, you would put in the sugar/syrup mixture in first.)

Made in regular muffin tins

Made in larger size muffin tins

Lemon Cream Cake

source: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=336868Posted by : Lisa

Every time we go to Olive Garden, I make sure to leave room for a slice of their Lemon cream cake.  It is one of my favorite desserts.  I searched for a copy cat recipe with little hope of re-creating it successfully.  I made this recipe with a homemade cake instead of a box cake and I couldn't be more pleased!  It has a wonderful light lemon flavor and is very satisfying.  I hope you give it a try.  Very easy to make.
This is a copy of Olive Garden's Lemon Cream Cake. "Delicate white cake and lemon cream filling with a vanilla crumb topping."

Number of Servings: 12

Ingredients

1 white cake mix,prepared ( I used a homemade white cake recipe instead)

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 cups powered sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped to stiff peaks
3 tbsp. lemon juice

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup powered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 tbsp. butter

Directions

Prepare cake as directed in a 10" round cake pan or 10" round spring form pan. 

Blend cream cheese, powered sugar, and lemon juice together.

 In a medium bowl, whip heavy whipping cream to stiff peaks. 

Gently fold into cream cheese mixture and blend by hand. Chill until needed.

 Mix flour and powered sugar in small bowl.

 Crumble butter in and dribble in vanilla extract. The crumbles should be no larger than pea size.

 If you have trouble crumbling mixture, chill for a few minutes. Chill until needed.

After cake is cooled, cut in half. 

Spread cream cheese mixture, saving 1/2 cup, on bottom half and carefully place top layer back. 

Spread rest of cream cheese mixture on the sides of cake. 

Press crumb topping into sides gently. 

Sprinkle the top with powdered sugar

Chill for 3 hours. Cut into 12 pie shaped slices. Makes 12 servings.

Number of Servings: 12

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user RYSMOM06.

White Cake recipe (my go to)

Source: Karen Patitz

Posted by Lisa

White Cake

(pictured was cooked in a 8 inch springform pan)

This cake has a very nice consistency and taste.  Holds up well.

 Ingredients List:

2 ¼ cups flour

1 2/3 cups sugar

2/3 cups shortening

1 ¼ cups milk

3 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanella extract

5 large egg whites

1. Heat oven to 350°.  Grease bottom and sides of pan with shortening, lightly flour.

2. Beat all ingredients except egg whites in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly.  Beat on high speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.

3. Beat in egg whites on high speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.    Pour into pan.

4. Bake 9x13 pan 40-45 minutes, 2-8in. round pans 23-28 minutes, 2-9in. round 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or cake springs back when touched lightly in center.  Cool completely.

For Almond poppy seed cake:  use almond extract to replace vanilla and add poppy seeds.

Scruffin - craisin white chocolate

Inspired by,
source: www.hopeskitchen.com

Posted by Lisa

I recently had a "scuffin" from a friend at work that she purchased at a place of business.  Although these don't come that close, the are pretty good.  Nice and quick to make, and pretty tasty.  The original recipe used  gluten free flour, fresh raspberries and dark chocolate pieces.

Ingredient list:
2 c all purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 t salt

1/3 c sugar
3/4 c half n half or heavy whipping cream
1/4 c coconut oil (melt before measuring)
1 Tbsp vanilla
3/4 c craisins
1/2 c white choc chips

* Preheat oven to 350 degrees
*In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt
*In a seperate bowl, combine sugar, half n half, coconut oil and vanilla.  Mix well.  Add flour mixture and stir just until combined.

* Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Drop about 1/3 c dough onto cookie sheet, spacing 2 inches apart.

*Bake 20-23 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.