Ingredients:
2 cups carrots
1 cup sugar
1/4 tablespoon flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick butter, softened
2 eggs
cinnamon
Directions:
Clean carrots and slice–no need to peel. Cook and mash carrots (easy to do in food processor but takes awhile to cook the carrots so plan accordingly.) Add remaining ingredients. Pour into 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Cook at 350 for 50 minutes until set in the middle.
Spread pesto sauce onto marinated portabello mushroom caps
cover pesto with thinly sliced black olives, sliced cherry tomatoes and minced garlic.
Add tiny dollops of ricotta cheese over veggies. Sprinkle with goat or mozzarella cheese or both if you like.
Cover cheese with juliene sliced yellow peppers and zucchini slices.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes until mushroom is fork tender.
To grill on the BBQ:
Spray olive oil on mushroom cap. Cook the top of the cap first (gill side down) for 8-10 minutes, remove from heat and fill with your toppings. Allow to grill for another 6-10 minutes until fork tender and your cheese has melted.
Ingredients
6 baking potatoes, peeled, cut crosswise
7 tbs Black Walnut Oil
Choose a fresh herb and highlight it in your potatoes:
(basil, chives, thyme, garlic confit – all are wonderful)
Directions
Place potatoes in large pot. Cover with cold water. Boil over medium-high heat about 40 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 1/2 cups potato cooking liquid. Stir over medium heat until any excess liquid evaporates. Add 6 tablespoons black walnut oil and mash. Add your fresh chopped herbs. Drizzle with remaining tablespoon black walnut oil and serve.
We don’t have to talk about comfort do we? You know this is the main reason you eat mac and cheese. When you need a little warmness in your tummy. This is adult comfort food with the Blue Cheese. If you are making for a crowd, you can do half with blue and half with cheddar, then the kids and my husband are happy too! Dennis loves extra sharp cheddar.
16 ounces of macaroni – I used the big elbows boil until al dente
2 packages of four cheese sauce mix made according to package directions or 1 jar of of four cheese sauce
2 ounces of parmesan cheese grated
2 ounces of  crumbled blue cheese (or sharp cheddar)
mix the cooked macaroni with the sauce reserving 1/2 cup to pour over the top.
Sprinkle the parmesan and blue cheese over the macaroni and sauce mixture. Pour the last bit of sauce over the cheese.
Pop in the oven for 10 minutes.
Bake at 350 degrees.
This is good. You could top it with a bread crumb mixture, but I like mine plain.
My mother-in-law’s favorite “Company’s coming dinner” was German Hot Potato Salad and Roast Beef served with a green side salad. Jacque loved bacon probably since it was rationed or hard to come by during World War II. When she died at age 83, she had about 20 pounds of bacon in her freezer. She never wanted to run out! This is her recipe, and as simple as it is, it is always delicious. Chunk potatoes, bacon bits, scallions. Perfect combination.Â
6 Cups boiled potatoes, then either dice or slice potatoes (about 6 medium potatoes)
2 T chopped chives or parsley
2 T finely chopped scallions
4 slices of bacon, fried crispy and crumbled
2/3 cup mayonnaise
2/3 cup french salad dressing (Kraft is the type she used)
1/4 cup cider or wine vinegar or white balsalmic vinegar
Mix potatoes, chives, scallions, and bacon. Combine mayonnaise, dressing and vinegar: blend. Pour over potato mixture. Reheat in the oven for 20-30 minutes at 225 degree oven.
Serve hot or chilled, although my preference is straight from the oven. Makes 8 servings.
Cook this stuffing in a casserole dish covered for the first 30 minutes and uncovered for the last 15 so it browns a bit on the outside.
1 box of cornbread stuffing
1 box of bread stuffing mix
2 cups diced onions
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced carrots
6 Cups Chicken Broth
1 Jimmy Dean’s Sage Sausage (fried and drained)
6 Hot Italian Sausage (fried and drained)
1 Cup Dried Cranraisins
Saute onions, celery and carrots in a tablespoon of olive oil. Add chicken broth, then add cornbread stuffing mix. Add the cooked and drained sausage (Jimmy Dean’s sage sausage and 6 hot Italian Sausages) and cranraisins. Depending upon the moisture level, add the regular bread stuffing until the dressing is damp and moist but not runny.Â
Place in a buffet pan, or casserole dish. Cook for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.
My daughter needed a pot luck item for a Thankgiving dinner tonight with about 19 friends. She loves sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed them, roasted in a 400 degree oven on a cookie sheet. I find that about 3 sweet potatoes will fit per cookie sheet. Keep them in a single layer, they will brown nicely and not get mushy. (I also love Butternut Squash and/or Beets roasted in this same way.)
Make sure you use a little olive oil so they do not stick. After 45 minutes, they will be perfect. Salt and pepper to taste and I always like to add a bit of freshly grated nutmeg.
Perfectly yummy!
I used to make soggy rice or  sometimes it would be al dente – you know, tough in the center.
Today, I am proud of my rice and do not hesitate to whip up a batch for an office luncheon.Â
Use a heavy pot that will go from stovetop to oven. I like a small braising pot with a lid. Â
Olive Oil 2 Tablespoons
2 Cups of White Rice (You can add 1/2 cup of wild rice if you like)
1/2 Cup of Veggies: Peas, Carrots, Onions, Salsa or Pico De Gallo, or mushrooms
1 tsp garlic powder and parsley
1/4 cup of lime or lemon juice (optional)
2 Cups Water or Chicken Stock (Makes your rice more flavorful)
Add a little olive oil to the bottom of the pan, and in a proportion of 1 part rice, use 1 part water or boullion.
Add 1 cup of Jasmine white rice to the olive oil. Pop the rice on the stovetop stirring to keep from burning.
Once about 1/4 of it has popped, then add your liquid ingredients of equal proportion.
You can also add cubed chopped onions, black pepper is great in this rice and salt.
If you are going to add veggies: peas, carrots, onions, or tomato salsa for spanish rice – do so now unless they are canned veggies and then you can add them 5 minutes before taking the rice from the oven. Bring the ingredients to a boil and then place in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
Perfect rice everytime.
Variations:
Wild Rice:Â 1 1/2 cups white rice, 1/2 cup wild rice, chicken stock, onions
Mushroom Wild Rice with Carmelized Onions:Â Cook white and wild rice as above in vegetable or chicken stock.
Carmelize onions with brown sugar, garlic powder, and 2 T butter. Puree onion mixture. Saute mushrooms in 2 T butter, add 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream and stir into cooked wild rice mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
Yellow Rice: Add diced carrots, peas, white onion, and 1 tsp tumeric. By the way, tumeric is very good for you and I hear it keeps you from getting alzheimers. Worth a try.
White Spanish rice: Onions, peas and carrots
Tastes so rich.
Servings: 2-4 people
6-8 cups fresh washed spinach
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1/4 – 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
Salt & Pepper to taste
Fry spinach in olive oil.
When it has reduced in size by 1/2, add salt and pepper. I prefer to go heavy on the pepper as it balances the cream.
Add cream and stir as spinach continues to cook.
You don’t have to cook the spinach to death. I prefer it perky!
Serve with a Roasted Chicken Breast.
Optional: Add a little parmesan cheese to kick it up.
First time I had this was New Year’s Eve dinner and dance at the Casino while in Avalon, Catalina 2008.
Servings: 4-8 people
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
Pearl Onions – blanch and peel
Portabello Mushrooms, ribs and stems removed. Cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces.
Arrange one layer of onions and one layer of mushrooms on their own cookie sheet. Sprinkle with Olive Oil and season with Salt and Pepper.
Roast until onions are carmelized and mushrooms are tender. 400 degree oven.
Combine on a serving tray.
Serve warm.