Spaghetti Squash Au Gratin

So this is not typically a dish I would have considered for tailgate but I have the camp oven now and well there's a lot of folks that are doing the no-carb thing at the tailgate.  So I decided to experiment with something new in the off season. 

This was so delicious that several times I forgot that it was veggies and NOT noodles holding it all together!

The original recipe was from Dandy Dishes... here is the link.

Ingredients:

• 1 big spaghetti squash
• 2 tbsp of butter
• 1 small yellow onion
• 1 tsp ground thyme
• couple of dashes of cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup of sour cream
• 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese  (original recipe was for 3/4 cup but I upped the anty)
• 6 strips of bacon (cooked and chopped up)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut the squash in half.  In a microwave safe bowl put 1/4 inch of water and place the squash in it open side down.  Cook on high for 12 mins.  Remove and scrape out the "noodles" with a fork.  Repeat with second half of the squash.

In a saucepan heat up the butter, minced onions, cayenne pepper, and thyme.  Cook until the onions are soft and a little brown. 

Add the scooped out squash "noodles" and the saucepan onion mixture to a bowl.  Add in bacon, sour cream, salt, pepper and 1/2 the cheese to the bowl and stir.

Grease a casserole dish (I use an 8x8 pan) and spread the mixture evenly on the bottom.  Top with the remaining cheese.

Cook for 20-30 mins depending on your oven.  The key is making sure all that gooey and wonderful cheese is melted!

Spinach and Bacon Stuffed Mushrooms

This is another recipe I found on the Skinnytaste blog.  It was good but I think I needed bigger mushrooms because all my filling kept falling out. 

The original recipe is found here.

Ingredients:

• 14 oz (1 package) fresh mushrooms (remove stems)
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced thin  (I used minced garlic)
• 4 cups fresh baby spinach
• 4 slices center cut bacon (I cheated and used Hormel real bacon bits)
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 2 tbsp shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Take the stems from the mushrooms and mince them.

Take the minced stems, garlic and olive oil and saute in skillet for a few minutes.  Add in spinach until it starts to wilt.

In a bowl, combine skillet contents with the remaining ingredients (minus the actual mushroom caps)

In a muffin tin place the mushroom caps and stuff with the contents of the bowl.  I found this works great because then the mushrom doesn't slide all over the place with you remove the tray from the oven.

Cook for 20 mins in oven until slightly browned.

French Onion Burgers

This is something I've been making for a long time and its so yummy to turn an ordinary burger into something special.  Remember if you don't like onions...probably not a good idea to try this one :-)

Ingredients:

• 1lb of 95% lean ground beef (I only use lean since I'm grossed out by meat fat)
• 1 packet of french onion soup mix
• American Cheese

Directions:

Preheat grill.

Mix together meat and soup mix. 

Shape into hamburgers.

Grill until done to your liking.  I put cheese on it.  You know whats funny is that my husband hates these burgers since he doesn't like onion so I have to make the cheese into a different pattern on the top so he knows these are the "poison" burgers.  That's why the cheese is criss crossed on the pictures.

Zucchini Lasagna

Decided to try substituting the lasagna noodles for zucchini.  Turned out "ok".  Little too runny for me.  If I did it over again I would cook the zucchini a litte first on its own to soften it and get some moisture out. 

Ingredients:

• Zucchini (cut into slices)
• Cottage Cheese (a large tub...I used large curd)
• 1 egg
• 2 small bags of shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp Garlic salt
• 2 small jars of Ragu super chunky mushroom sauce

Directions:

In a large bowl combine egg, 1 bag of cheese, cottage cheese, garlic salt, and italian seasoning.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 9x13 pan.  Put down a layer of sauce on the bottom.  Layer with slices of zucchini.

Top zucchini layer with layer of the cottage cheese mix. 

Top cottage cheese layer with light layer of sauce.

Repeat 2 more times.

Top the last zucchini layer with sauce and the 2nd bag of mozz. cheese.

Bake for 60 mins.  Let stand 15 mins before serving.

Maryland Crab Pretzel

There are a ton of restaurants around the Baltimore area that serve crab pretzels.  But at about $10 a pop they are pretty expensive for an appetizer.  Shop Rite had a sale on lump crab meat this week for $9.99 for a pound so I thought why not try it myself.  Also the frozen soft pretzels were $1.99 for a pack of 6.

These turned out awesome!

Ingredients:

• Ingredients for the hot crab dip
• Box of Frozen Soft Pretzels
• Shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Cook hot crap dip as the previous post from May 2012 says.  Let cool for 15-20 mins so it doesn't run off the pretzels.

Microwave pretzels for about a minute.

Set the oven to broil.  On a cookie sheet lay down the pretzels.  Top with crab dip.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Broil until the cheese is bubbly.  Done!

Presto Salad Shooter..Where have you been all my life??!!

My other big find...my $10 used Presto Salad Shooter from the 80s? 90s?  Anyways this thing rocks.  I've been grating all my zaucchini and cheese my hand lately and its killing me.  Takes soooo much time and effort. 

This little beauty though eats through a zucchini in like 2 seconds!  Score!

Cheese .... no problem!  I've used it like 10 times already this week and it has a slicing attachment I haven't even tried yet.

Zucchini Pizza Boats

Around this time of year I'm always faced with the issues of zucchini burn out.  I've made loaves of zucchini bread.  I've grilled zucchini on the grill.  I've used zucchini for stir fry.  I'm just getting tired of the lame ass options for zucchini prep that I'd always gone to.  So I decided to do an "Ode to Zucchini" and experiment a little.

On the Tasty Kitchen website I found an interesting little recipe for "Zucchini Pizza".  It looked intriguiing and almost like I wouldn't feel guilty for gobbling down an entire tray in one sitting of this yummy creation.  Score!

And it lived up to all the hype and then some!

The link to the original recipe is here.

Ingredients:

• One zucchini (cut into small strips lengthwise)
• olive oil for drizzling
• Salt
• Pepper
• Spaghetti sauce (I used Ragu traditional...why?  because it was on sale)
• Shredded Mozzarella cheese
• Toppings (I used sliced mushrooms and pepperoni)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450ºF. Cut off ends of zucchini and slice lengthwise into several pieces. Place on a baking sheet or glass dish. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Lay flat on the pan. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of sauce over each zucchini slice until the entire slice is covered. Sprinkle with approximately 1 to 2 tablespoons of mozzarella. Top with any toppings you like or none at all. Bake for 15 minutes, until brown and bubbly.

Lobster White Cheddar Mac and Cheese

When I went to Ocean City, MD last I went to a place called Fish Tales on the bay side of town near 22nd Street.  On their menu is Lobster Mac and Cheese.  I'd never never had this dish before and it was awesome!  So I went in search of a recipe.  I couldn't find one for lobster mac and cheese though.  So I looked for just white cheddar mac and cheese and found a recipe on Group Recipes that looked good.  I modified it slightly for the lobster and for cheddar and bacond on top instead of bread crumbs.  The original recipe link is here.

Ingredients:

3/4 box elbow macaroni noodles

2 T butter

2 T flour

1/2 cup fresh cut chives

chili powder (dash)                                                 

salt (dash)

pepper (dash)

either dried mustard or a little Dijon mustard

1 1/2 cup whole milk

2 cups of shredded white cheddar cheese (use the best stuff you can find, like Tillamook, to make this really decadent)                                                 

1/2 cup sour cream

 1 cup of Gueyrere cheese

 1/2 container of Hormel Real Bacon Bits

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 and butter a 9x13 glass dish.

Boil the elbow pasta and drain.  Put into a bowl.

In a large saucepan, melt the butter. When it is just hot add the chives and sauté for 2 minutes.

Add the flour/chili powder/mustard/salt/pepper and mix well, getting out all the lumps and stir for 3 minutes. (Just a dash of all of those seasonings.)

SLOWLY add the first 1/2 cup milk, mixing like crazy until it's smooth and NO lumps. When it's a nice glossy uniform sauce, add another 1/2 cup milk, repeat. Add the rest of the milk and mix well so it's not lumpy.

Stir constantly for a few minutes. Remove from heat, add half of the cheddar cheese and all of the Gueyere cheese, mix well.

Add the sour cream, mix well.

Pour into bowl with macaroni and stir.

Stir thawed and cooked small lobster chunks into the bowl

Dump contents of the bowl into the glass dish

cover with remaining cheese and bacon pieces.

Cook for 30 minutes uncovered until it's brown and bubbling. Let it sit 5 minutes before serving

Pepperoni Pizza Pull Apart Monkey Bread

This is another recipe from Six Sisters.  The link is here.

I made this on a whim this morning.  I had two cans of biscuits that were going to expire on July 1st and I happened to have all the other ingredients.

The only difference is that I used 2 cans instead of 3.  That's all I had so I made due.

Ingredients:-3 cans refrigerated biscuits (each cans should have 10 biscuits)
-1 (24-26 oz) jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce (we love Prego Traditional)
-1 (6-8 oz) package of pepperoni
-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
-1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
-Other favorite pizza toppings: green peppers, olives, onions, cooked ham, cooked sausage, etc

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Open canned biscuits and cut into quarters and place into a large bowl.

Pour spaghetti sauce on top of biscuit pieces and add Italian seasoning. Mix all together.

Then add about 3/4 of the pepperoni pieces (reserving 1/4 to put on top) and 1 cup of cheese and stir well.

Pour the pizza pieces into a greased 9x13" baking dish (check out my cute helper! She did the stirring and the dumping into the bowl).

Sprinkle remaining cheese, pepperoni, and other toppings on the top of pizza. Place in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the biscuits are fully cooked. They will be slightly firm when you press down on them.

Philly Cheese Steak Dip (in the Slow Cooker)

There's only one word to describe this dip...AMAZING!!!  This was the last one I did in the triple dipper for father's day and everyone who tried it loved it.

I got the original recipe from Better Homes and Gardens...link is here.

Horrible picture again of this dip but oh well it was awesome so I don't care :-)

Ingredients

• 1 17 ouncepackage beef roast au jus
• 1 cupchopped onion (1 large)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoonolive oil
• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1 15 ouncejarprocess cheese dip
• 3/4 cup chopped red sweet pepper (1 medium) Skipped this
• 3/4cupchopped green sweet pepper (1 medium) -- Skipped this
• 1 4 ouncecan (drained weight)sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1/3cuppepperoncini salad peppers, stemmed and chopped
• 1 tblespoonWorcestershire sauce
• 1/4teaspoonground black pepper
• Hoagie Planks

Directions

1. Remove cover from beef roast package and cook beef in the microwave on 100 percent power (high) for 1 minute. Remove beef roast from package; reserve 1/3 cup of the au jus. Cut beef roast into chunks. Using two forks, pull beef into shreds; set aside. In a large skillet, cook onion and garlic in hot oil over medium-high heat until tender. Stir in beef.

2. Lightly coat the inside of a 3 1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Add beef mixture to cooker. Stir in the reserved 1/3 cup au jus, cheese dip, sweet peppers, mushrooms, pepperoncini, Worcestershire sauce, and black pepper.

3. Cover and cook on high-heat setting for 1 to 2 hours. Serve immediately or keep warm, covered, on warm setting or low-heat setting for up to 2 hours. Serve with Hoagie Planks.

4. Hoagie Planks: Preheat broiler. Split 5 hoagie buns and place, cut sides up, on a baking sheet. Spread with about 1/4 cup softened butter and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning, crushed. Broil 4 to 5 inches from the heat for 2 to 3 minutes or until lightly toasted. To serve, cut bun halves diagonally into pieces.

Nutrition Facts (Philly Cheese Steak Dip)

• Servings Per Recipe 20,
• Calories 193,
• Protein (gm) 9,
• Carbohydrate (gm) 18,
• Fat, total (gm) 11,
• Cholesterol (mg) 38,
• Saturated fat (gm) 6,
• Monosaturated fat (gm) 1,
• Dietary Fiber, total (gm) 1,
• Sugar, total (gm) 5,
• Vitamin A (IU) 389,
• Vitamin C (mg) 12,
• Sodium (mg) 604,
• Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Hormel Chili Cheese Dip (in the Slow Cooker)

Another one from the triple dipper experiments on Father's Day.  It was yummy and tasted similar to Chili's Con Queso Dip.  The link to the orginal recipe is here.

Again this picture sucks and does the end product no justice but its all I could do on that day.

Main Ingredients:

This recipe is recomended for 12 servings

• 1 (15-ounce) can Hormel® Chili No Beans
• 1 (1-pound) package pasteurized prepared cheese product, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Instructions

1. In medium microwave-safe bowl, stir together chili and cheese product; cover. Microwave on HIGH (100%), stirring once, 4 1/2 to 5 minutes or until hot and cheese is melted. Serve with corn chips, if desired.  I actually put this in the Triple Dipper to cook and it was fine.

Hormel Easy Pepperoni Pizza Dip (in the Slow Cooker)

For Father's Day Dinner I wanted to use the Triple Dipper again but I wanted to try some different dips.  I cruised around the recipe websites and found one on hormel.com.  The link to the recipe is here.

This one was good.  Everyone liked it a lot.  I just wish I would have gotten a better picture of it.  Maybe next time.

Main Ingredients:

This recipe is recomended for 16 servings

• 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese
• 1 (15-ounce) can or bottle pizza sauce
• 1 package Hormel® Pepperoni Minis
• 1 cup shredded pizza cheese blend
• Crackers and breadsticks

Instructions

1. In 2-quart slow cooker, place cream cheese
2. In bowl, combine pizza sauce and pepperoni minis; pour over cream cheese. Sprinkle with shredded cheese. 
3. Cover slow cooker; cook on LOW setting 2 hours or until cheese is melted. Stir before serving. Serve with crackers and breadsticks.

Hot Crab Dip

Got this recipe from our good friend Robin.  She brought it to an event and it was so good I needed the recipe.

Monday we went to another cookout and swim party.  Decided to bring this and literally it was GONE in 20 minutes.

For tailgate I can use my Camp Chef Oven to cook right there!

Ingredients:

• 2 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese (softened)
• 4 tbsp mayo (not Miracle Whip)
• 1/4 tsp dryed mustard
• 1/8 tsp garlic salt
• 1/4 tsp lemon juice
• 1lb lump crab meat
• 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
• 8oz sour cream
• Old Bay to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl combine all ingredients except crab meat and cheese.  Mix with a blender until smooth.

Fold in the crab meat with a spoon.  (Probably a good idea to take any shells out of the meat if you can before you dump in).

I used a Pampered Chef square stone pan.  Spread the mixture across the bottom evenly. 

Sprinkle with cheddar cheese.

Bake for 40 minutes.  Let cool for 15 mins.  Serve with crackers or carrot sticks.

Slow Cooker or Oven Mac N Cheese

So it was my sister-in-law's 40th birthday over the weekend and we had a great time...pit beef...pool..boardwalk fries...YUM!

For the party I made Slow Cooked Mac N Cheese in the Crock Pot.  This can be done in the oven also.  For the oven just put in a a 9x13 pan with bread crumbs on top...cook for 40 mins on 350 degrees.

I had gotten this recipe from Paula Deen's site after my sister told me about it.  The kids LOVE it.  This was gone in literally 10 minutes at the party.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/creamy-macaroni-and-cheese-recipe/index.html

Ingredients

• 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (an 8-ounce box isn't quite 2 cups)
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stuck) butter, cut into pieces
• 2 1/2 cups (about 10 ounces) grated sharp Cheddar cheese
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed Cheddar cheese soup
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

Boil the macaroni in a 2 quart saucepan in plenty of water until tender, about 7 minutes. Drain. In a medium saucepan, mix butter and cheese. Stir until the cheese melts. In a slow cooker, combine cheese/butter mixture and add the eggs, sour cream, soup, salt, milk, mustard and pepper and stir well. Then add drained macaroni and stir again. Set the slow cooker on low setting and cook for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.

The above is the work in progress!

The finished product!