Scalloped Sweet Potatoes & Apples with Pork Chops

Okay, this one came from a book that Erin got from the library (I think). I was really looking forward to this and the smell certainly made it worthwhile. It smelled so amazing and I was so hungry by the time that it was ready. I'm sorry to say that I was disappointed, I thought the chops seemed a little dry even though the sauce was too thin and it seemed like the sweet potatoes were kind of floating in a broth (a tasty broth though). I was ready to say that I wouldn't make it again and then I started copying the recipe into the post and realized that I had forgotten to add the flour (cue the sad horn - mwa mwa mwaaaaaaaa). So I will have to revise my opinion and say that I will probably try it again just to make sure (but on a day when I've had lunch because baking sweet potatoes with brown sugar and nutmeg is just more than one woman can take on an empty stomach).

1 T oil
4 pork chops (I used the thick boneless ones)
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced
2 large apples, peeled and sliced
2 large onions, sliced
1/4 c melted butter
1 T brown sugar
1/4 c flour
1 t salt
1/4 t nutmeg (I unintentionally used much more)
1/4 t fresh ground pepper (I also used more pepper)
12 oz beer

Brown the chops evenly on both sides. Layer sweet potatoes, apples and onions alternately into a shallow, greased casserole dish (I used my pyrex 8x8 square dish). Sprinkle them with half of the butter and the brown sugar and place the chops on top of the vegetables. Mix the spices and flour with the rest of the butter and the beer in a saucepan. Bring sauce to a boil and pour over the pork chops. Cover with foil (or a lid if your casserole dish has one) and cook at 350F for 1 1/2 hours (no, that's not a typo). Take the foil off and cook for another 30 minutes.

Okay, what would I change the next time. I'D ADD FLOUR!!!!!

Joe's Mama's Crabmeat Casserole

I've been eyeing this one since Joe's Mama gave me this recipe box. For those just tuning in, this recipe box is packed with cake recipes that her mama used in her many, many years as a professional cake decorator. Those are really cool.

Joe's mama also included several recipes that are family (for "family" read "Joe's") favourites. So far Joe claims that this is comfort food that he doesn't really like the taste of very often but has one clear memory of it being amazing and that's what gives it the comfort food designation. Deep breath.

I set out to make this exactly like the recipe but I couldn't resist playing with the proportions a bit.

1 cup uncooked elbows (I used 2 cups uncooked whole wheat pasta)
1 can crabmeat (I used 2 cans)
1 cup white sauce (McCormicks or any pkg white) (I used Knorr)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar (I used closer to 3/4 because that's all I had left)
1 egg yolk
3 T melted butter (I probably used more)
1/4 to 1/2 cup bread crumbs

Cook elbows.
Make white sauce.
Add cheese to white sauce stir until melted
Remove from heat
Add beaten egg yolk
Add crabmeat
Turn into greased casserole.
Mix butter & breadcrumbs
Sprinkle top with breadcrumb mixture
Add cover 350F for 30 minutes.
Also very good with fresh cooked crabmeat.

Okay, it was really delicious. Because I started the pasta water and the white sauce at the same time and had to keep whisking, I wasn't able to wander away from the pasta and lose track of time until I had mush like I usually do so the pasta was perfectly al dente. I don't know how large a serving is supposed to be in Joe's family home but 1 cup of pasta didn't seem like that much to me (not for more than two people anyway) so I doubled it and it filled my small casserole dish nicely, the amended recipe makes for a nice yield for 4. It seemed like the bread crumbs were really wet but because it's covered while it's cooking, they get all melty.

Next time I make it I'd like to try baking it without the lid for at least 10 minutes at the end, maybe all the way through even. I'd like to see if the breadcrumbs crisp up at all. I'd also like to just do the bechemel from scratch, 2 cups of milk with 2 T of flour, a little salt and pepper. I can totally see doing this in individual ramekins, the larger ones. Nice.

Oh yeah, I served it with steamed asparagus spears.

** Editorial Correction: Joe has since informed me that this casserole always attains the status of "good" but sometimes achieves the lofty height of "amazing". I stand corrected on my recollection. It is very likely that I was wrong because if it had only been good one time, I would have heard about it many more times. **

Okay, so last night there was this ham ...

A gigantic, gorgeous ham served with boiled potatoes and green beans with what looked like mushrooms and almonds in them (I didn't see them being made so I can't be sure). We put the ham in the over at 300 (I think) and pretty much left it there all day. A little longer than we should have actually or meant to, we got to setting at John's house and didn't make it back in time. Anyway, this is not the real subject of the post because that's a pretty straightforward meal.

Tonight we had macaroni and cheese like I've never had before. From what I could gather, this is how it went:

6 cups cooked macaroni
1 chopped onion
1/2 each green and red pepper, cut into short strips
1/2 cup each green beans and peas (I think you could probably use frozen)
1 1/2-2 c shredded cheddar
1 big honking pile of ham cut into big chunks with lots of little flakey bits that have bits of heel on them

Cook the macaroni, if you haven't already. Saute the onion and add some garlic if you want (she might have, I didn't see it), add the peppers and cook till onions are translucent. Add the other vegetables and then stir all of it together into a big dutch oven. Throw the lid on and put it in the over until you figure it's done.

It was actually really good. I think if I was going to try to do it at home, I would probably do a bechemel sauce and add the cheese to that before I stirred it all together. The ham... was divine.

Oh yeah, subtract 2 hours from my post time for Willow River time, I'm actually trying not to adjust too much.

The Bisquick Chronicles

I've given this one verbally to Erin over the phone at least once so I thought that this would be a good day to add it to the file. Plus, that's what we had for supper.

Pizza Casserole (6-ish)

3 1/3 c Bisquick
1 c milk
2 small cans or one large-ish jar of pizza sauce
2 c grated mozzarella
whatever pizza toppings you be cravin'

Mix the milk and Bisquick in a bowl. Spray a 9" x 13" casserole dish with baking spray (I'm using my Epicure oil atomizer for this). Drop 1/2 of the Bisquick dough by the spoonful across the bottom of the dish (it won't cover it). Spoon half of the pizza sauce haphazardly over that. Sprinkle half of your toppings and then half of your cheese. Repeat the layers and bake at 425F for 20-25 minutes. Yummy.

This is even better for breakfast the next day. What?!! Everyone eats pizza for breakfast at some point in their life! According to the Great Wiki, Bisquick has transfats but not cholesterol. I'm not a big fan of the transfats so maybe someone's tried their own pre-mixed baking stuff and can post the recipe? I had a great one back in Ottawa oh so many years ago but not any more.