Pizza Casserole

I am sure many of you have seen this casserole all over the internet. I first came across it on Pinterest and just new I had to try it out!! I mean who doesn't love any form of pizza. I needed to take a meal in to some friends and was trying to decide what to take and decided this would be the perfect thing and so I made a pan for us as well and boy was it tasty!! If you need a meal to take to a friend or just in general love pizza this pasta is for you and your kids will gobble it up. Serve it with french bread and a salad and you have a top notch meal!! And once again I know my photography skills are subpar but don't let them deter you from making this!!
Pizza Casserole
1 lb pork sausage(i used half ground beef half sausage)
1 large onion, chopped
2 T. minced garlic
1 tsp dried oregano or italian seasoning
50-60 oz of spaghetti or pizza sauce(I use my homemade spaghetti sauce)
1/2 to 1 lb ham, cooked and cubed(I used lunch meat ham)
1/2 to 1lb pepperoni
24 oz shredded mozzarella cheese(i used half moz and half sharp cheddar)
6 T. parmesan cheese
1 lb pasta of your choice( i used bowtie)

Cook pasta according to package directions. Cook sausage/hamburger with onion, garlic, and oregano utnil browned, drain the grease off. In a greased 9x13 pan.Pour a enough sauce in the bottom of the pan to coat the bottom. Then layer the ingredients like so: pasta, sausage and onion mixture, 1 cup of cheese and 2 T of parmesan cheese, ham. Then sauce, pasta, sausage, 1 cup cheese, parmesan cheese, ham. Repeat layers if necessary. ending with the last cup of cheese on top and the pepperoni's layered on the top completely covering the whole dish like the picture down below. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes or until hot and bubbly and pepperonis are crispy. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving. If you like peppers or olives on your pizza you may add those to this as well. Make it how you like your pizza!!!

Spaghetti Sauce
2 T olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 large bell pepper, green red orange or yellow or a mixture, chopped
2 T. minced garlic
1- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1-28 oz can diced tomatoes
2 T. tomato paste
2 tsp dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic salt
1 T. dried parsley
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, pepper, and garlic and cook until veggies are tender. Add in everything else. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Serve over favorite pasta or use for favorite pasta dishes.

Pumpkin Pie Steel Cut Oats

So as I have mentioned before I love to eat homemade granola for breakfast. I was kind of getting a little tired of it the other day and needed something a little different for breakfast so I decided to make these steel cut oats. They were amazing so yummy and so packed with goodness.It keeps you full longer because it is hearty and full of protien, fiber, calcium and B vitamins.  1 cup of steel cut oats had 8 grams of insoluble fiber!!!  Anyway, I found this recipe on Pinterest.If you love oatmeal give this baby a try. Now if you don't like pumpkin mix in some other kind of fruit. Just do what you like. I love how versitile this recipe can be. YOu should be able to find Steel Cut oats at any grocery store but in most places they are pretty expensive unless you have a health food store you can buy them in bulk at. If you live here where I live you can buy them at the amish store for about $0.67/lb so so so cheap!!! I love that you can make this the night before and reheat it for a quick no fuss breakfast.
 
Basic Steel Cut Oats Recipe(makes enough for 2 people for about 4 days)
3 1/3 cups steel cut oats
9 cups water
pinch of salt

Add the water, oats and salt to a large saucepan and bring to a boil.Turn heat down and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat. Ladle oats and water into glass jars, cover, and let sit on the counter for 8 hours, then store in the fridge. My oats had a little bit of water but not as much as the recipe said they would. I let mine sit on the counter for about 3 hours and then stuck them in the fridge and it worked out great so it just depends. In the morning reheat desired amount with a little bit of milk and desired sweetner/fruit.

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal(for 1 serving)
Place about a 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups oats(from the above recipe)into your bowl
add 1/3-1/2 cup of milk
a little maple syrup or brown sugar
2 heaping spoonfuls of pumpkin puree
a little cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
chopped pecans or almonds

Heat in the microwave for 2-3 minutes and enjoy!!! THis is not a set recipe just use how much you like of everything. I don't measure exactly. Like I said if you don't like pumpkin than use blueberries or strawberries or bananas. Or saute chopped apples with a little bit of cinnamon and sugar until tender and then add to oats for apple pie oatmeal!!

Oh and you can add a Tablespoon of ground flax seed to each bowl as well!!

Garlic Ginger Shrimp or Chicken

The other day I found a bag of shrimp in my freezer that needed to be used and My kids and hubbby wanted fried rice and eggs rolls so I went on the hunt for a good shrimp dish to go along with our Chinese theme. I found this recipe on pinterest. They used chicken but I decided to swap in the shrimp. It turned out so good. It was awesome and even my husband ate it and he dislikes shrimp or fish most of the time. I happen to love all seafood but rarely cook with it because of him. Anyway this recipe was perfectly sweet and spicey and paired well with rice and the eggs rolls we ate. Go give this recipe a try despite my horrible picture of it. I had to take the picture the second day because I didn't have enough natural light the night before. You can use chicken or shrimp.
Crispy Giner Shrimp
1 lb bag of small uncooked shrimp or 2-3 chicken breast,chopped
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
6 T. cornstarch
1 T. canola oil
1/2 tsp dried red chili flakes
2 T. garlic, minced
1-2 inch piece of ginger grated, we prefer less ginger but us the larger amount if you like a strong ginger flavor
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar toasted sesame seeds and sliced green onions for garnish if desired

Marinate the chopped chicken or shrimp with a 1/4 cup soy sauce. rice vinegar and salt for at least 30 minutes. Next stir in the egg and the cornstarch and mix well. Heat a deep fryer or enough oil in a wok to cover the chicken or shrimp pieces. When hot add the shrimp/chicken and deep fry 5-6 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Meanwhile heat the 1 T. of oil in a skillet. add the garlic, ginger, and red chili flakes and cook until fragrant and tender, stir often so you don't burn the garlic. in a small bowl combine the remaining soy sauce and brown sugar;set aside. Add the cooked chicken or shrimp to the pan with the garlic/ginger mixture and mix to coat all pieces. Add a little bit of your soy sauce/br.sugar mixture and stir to coat all pieces. Don't add too much or the chicken/shrimp will not remain crispy. You can add the soy sauce/ brown sugar to you rice if you like more sauce. Serve over rice and with toasted sesame seeds and green onions.

Apple Pie Jam

For Christmas this year I wanted to give something to friends that was different from the normal goodie plate. I feel like we all get so many goodies and sometimes just don't know what to do with them all sometimes so when I found this recipe over on Coleen's Recipes and knew this is what I wanted to make. Can I tell you this is some of the best jam I have ever tasted and it was so easy to make!! All my family and friends raved about it!! If you are in a jam rut go give this jam a try you will not be disappointed plus the good thing you can always find good apples all year round instead having to wait for the summer like most other fruits!!!
Apple Pie Jam (makes about 11 pints)

18 cups granny smith apples(peeled)about 8lbs apples
1 1/2 cup apple juice or cider
2 tsp butter
9 cups white sugar
6 cups brown sugar
3 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp nutmeg
3 small boxes(1 1/4 oz each)Sure-Jell powdered pectin

Dice the apples, then put them in the food processor for just a very few pulses. You want the pieces small but not pulverized. Put the apples, apple juice, and butter in a 10 qt pot with tall sides over medium low heat until apples are soft but not mushy. Stir in the powderes pectin and bring to a full rolling boil(on that does not stop when you stir it);stir constantly. When it comes to a full rolling boil, add the sugars,cinnamon,and nutmeg. Stir well and bring back to a full rolling boil and keep at a full rolling boil while stirring for exatly one minute.
 Remove from the heat. as with a lot of jams that have chunks of fruit, if you aren't careful the fruit will float in the jar and it won't be evenly distrubuted throughout the jam. To avoid this:After you take the jam off the heat sit it on a towel or pot holder. Let the jam sit in the hot pot for five minutes before you put in hot jars.Stir the hot jam every 60 seconds or so with a clean spoon. After the five minutes Pour into hot clean jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. wipe the rims of the jars with a clean wet cloth and put the lids and rings on each and hand tighten. Process in a hot water bath:half pints for 10 minutes and pints for 15 minutes.

If you don't want 11 pints of jam the recipe is cut down easily. cut in half easy or even in thirds!!!