Pizza Muffins

I know this has been out there for some time. My mother made these in the '70's and don't know if she came up with the idea or saw it somewhere else. I have made them for years and years myself but elaborated on it somewhat since they always came out soggy the way my mother had made them. Since we just made homemade mozzarella and homemade English Muffins (from previous post) I thought it would be a great next post.  These would be a great snack for the kids or a appetizer for a party or just for dinner. So onto what you need:

 

English Muffins (Store bought or make your own!)

Sauce (Your own or store bought)

Mozzarella

Toppings

garlic powder

oregano

 

If you make your own you have this....

Split them open and toast them in the toaster. This will keep them from getting soggy when you put the sauce and toppings on till you bake them up.

Spread them out and put your sauce and toppings on. I use my own sauce but store bought would be just ok. A quick marinara sauce does great too.

Here I used my homemade sausage and baby portabellas which were sautéed first. You need to sauté your mushrooms first or they tend to release moisture when they cook and would add unwanted water on your muffins. Another thing. Your toppings should go on first before your cheese. Here we have my homemade mozzarella.

You will not believe the difference homemade makes. So if you really want to make a splash at a party you can say you made these top to bottom, literally! The Yum factor is huge! You can use what ever toppings you have handy. Sprinkle on a little garlic powder and oregano. Top with your cheese.

I opted not to use my regular oven and use my toaster oven. I also use unglazed quarry tiles. 6" x 6" I have 9 of them that I usually line my rack in my oven on the very bottom when ever I make pizza. The reason for this is so the bottom cooks evenly with the top or else your top will cook before the crust has a chance to cook. You usually get a burnt top before the bottom is finished. There are pizza stones you can purchase but I found that if you use the tiles that when not in use they stack and don't take up much room. They should be readily available at your local +Home Depot or +Lowe's Home Improvement Center in the tile section. Just ask. Remember they need to be unglazed. Well any way my toaster oven holds 4 of them beautifully. Heat the oven (which ever one you chose) to 425 degrees thoroughly. You want to make sure the tiles or stone is also at that temp. Now don't worry if you don't have the tiles or stone. With these, since we toasted the muffins first, you can use a cookie sheet. I just like using my tiles since they come out faster and more even. Personal preference but not critical for these. Ok back to the matter at hand. When the oven is all pre-heated (very important) pop them in.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and starts to bubble.

Don't they look the yummiest? Serve as it or let cool somewhat and quarter to serve as appetizers! Let me know what you think! If you should have any questions please let me know. I will be more than happy to answer you!

 

Enjoy!

Stephanie

 

www.webdees.com

Sausage and Baby Bellas with Pasta

Keeping with using what you have I made a quick dinner. I didn't want to spend a lot of time so I took out some of my homemade sausage which I froze on a cookie sheet then placed in a freezer bag so I could take out what I wanted without having to package them up in separate packets. I had also bought a big package of Baby Bellas which are little portabella mushrooms. Yummy. I didn't have any peppers or else this would have been a sausage scaloppini so I used what I had.

 

1/2 small onion chopped

6-7 mushrooms

1 pound of sausage (any kind will do)

1 large can of crushed tomatoes (I use Tuttorosso crushed with basil green label)

2 large cloves garlic or more to taste chopped

parsley

basil

black pepper

olive oil

grated cheese

Pasta of choice 1/2 pound

Aren't they lovely? Add  a little olive oil to fry pan and fry up your sausage. When just about finished add chopped garlic and onion and fry till slightly brown. Transfer to a pot, add tomatoes.

Shake in some basil, parsley and pepper. Simmer for about 15 min. Get your mushrooms ready. Wipe the mushrooms down with a dry cloth. Do not rinse them. It adds water to them. Slice them up and add to the pot.

 

Add about 1/2 handful of grated cheese. I used my own that I made.

Anyone want to know how to make this cheese? It's a great substitute to buying it in the store. Anyway, simmer for an additional 15 minutes. Meanwhile cook up your pasta (I used Penne) till al dente and drain. Mix the sausage mixture with the pasta and there you have it! Dish it up and add a little more cheese on top. If you use this type of pasta instead of spaghetti it doesn't soak up a lot of the sauce. But the choice is yours.

Simple enough! Add a salad and maybe some garlic bread and you have yourself a quick meal! Makes enough for 4.

Enjoy!

Steph
www.webdees.com
www.etsy.com/shop/deesshoppe

Homemade Sausage Round Two

Well I had posted how to make loose sausage with country style ribs. I was in Shop Rite and found out they would grind up my Boston Pork Butt roast for me. I actually did a little dance in the aisle! I was so happy! Sausage time big time! Got my herbs and spices out and I even found Hatfield sausage casings on a previous visit! I just love +Shop Rite Supermarket They have just about everything and they put the grocery stores in Cecil County, Maryland to shame. I just can't get my usual goods anymore here so I have to travel to Delaware. On another note I just love my +KitchenAid mixer! It was my Nana's and was handed down to me. I love it! I had bought all kinds of attachments for it and it never lets me down! Love you +KitchenAid ! I use it so much some of my attachments are cracking from use...

 

So, you will have to see a previous post about making sausage and the only difference is these are stuffed in casings.

Made 9 pounds of sausage for $1.29 a pound! Any questions let me know!

 

Enjoy!

Steph

 

www.webdees.com

www.etsy.com/shop/deesshoppe

Pasta and Goodness-Veal and Sausage

As I have mentioned before, it's all about saving money and using what you have. I remember weekends at my Nana's and baking with half the ingredients that the recipe called for. We would either substitute or leave out what she didn't have on hand. It was always an adventure and was always good. Even if it didn't look too good! But hey, it was fun. I have so many memories of those times and I have always cooked the same way. So if you don't have all the ingredients to make a traditional dish make one of your own! Here I made what I had on hand and it was very good. More than good it was great! Let's take a step back and think about the money saving thing. Even though Italian cooking, for maybe you, is something that you may think is exact (I am full blood Italian),  rules can be broken. Make it your own is what I say. So here is what I made and let me tell you it is really good. You can change the meats or omit and put in other things, it doesn't matter. The exercise for this is to make what you can with what you have on hand and satisfy your family. Mushrooms, peppers (easy on the peppers, they tend to dominate the taste of what ever you put them in unless of course if you use roasted red peppers)  sausage, meat of any kind. The combinations are endless. So, back to what I made. I had a package of veal, and a package of Primo sausage and half pound mozzarella.

 I used penna pasta which is my fav but you can use what ever you have on hand. That is the purpose...use what you have.

 

Let me start with a basic sort of marinara sauce. Chop up a couple clove of garlic, some onion, I prefer crushed tomato (see pic), fresh or dried parsley, basil, salt, pepper and optional grated cheese ( I use my home made cheese-only if you ask me to blog that!)

 

Fry up the garlic, onion in some olive oil, add the meat till browned, add tomato and herbs. dash or two of salt and pepper and simmer for about 40 minutes in your cooker.

The veal which I took out to brown the sausage.

We are super cooking here. You can do the long cook way and wait for about two hours if you wish in a regular pot. Cook pasta,

mix with some of your sauce and add to dish with cooked pasta and topped with mozzarella bake in oven 375 degrees for about 20 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Finish up with some of your homemade bread

toasted and wow.

A nice hearty meal to feed the masses!

 

 

Enjoy!

 

Steph

www.webdees.com

www.etsy.com/shop/deesshoppe

Homemade Sausage from Country Style Ribs!

I just love my food processor. There are so many uses for one than you would think. For instance, want some ground beef for tacos but don't have anything but some cubed beef for stew? Well just partial freeze it and process away and wa-la! Ground beef! I have worn one out just because I love to use it. Here is another use. Let's make some loose sausage or sausage patties! How much is the store bought stuff now. $3.58 on sale? Guess it depends where you live. Any a hoo here is what you do! Now remember you can't make a bad batch just different flavors. It may be fun to try different  things for different tastes. Pork Country ribs go on sale for what? $1.49 a pound? Maybe a little more? Still under $3.00 right? Get out your food processor and lets get started.

Start with partial frozen ribs. Makes it easier for the processor and you cubing it. Trim off the meat, fat and all. Toss the bones into a small pot with some carrot, onion, celery and then a few noodles for a little spot of soup. We don't waste anything here. You would not believe the amount of fat that is in sausage. That is where all the grease comes from, and the flavor though I have found that some of the store bought is mostly fat and little meat! If you have visited my website www.webdees.com and saw in the recipe section on how to make homemade Canadian bacon and saved the trimmed fat off that then bring it out. If you saved it in the freezer that is great. It will cut into cubes frozen. If you look on the web there are so many different recipes for making sausage. Different spices and additions. Try this to start and what I do is I take a little and fry it up, taste it and adjust to taste. Get creative.

Ok you will need:

Pork partial frozen (country style ribs work well) One healthy package will do 3-4 lbs

2 tablespoon black pepper

1 cup of fresh sage or 1-2 tablespoon of ground sage (I like extra)

4 cloves of garlic

salt

4 tablespoon of cold water

1 cup of pork fat (fat back can be used but I have not had luck with it. If you use it don't add any salt till you test it first! Or you can just make a lean sausage. It may be a little dry.)

 

The above is the basic. You can add fresh onion, brown sugar, nutmeg, fennel, Broccoli Rabe, combination of all or beer even. Cayenne, crushed red pepper to spice it up...It is up to you. I have tried so many combinations and they were all good! Now with your pork and fat all cubed up give it a good round in your processor with your spices so it is all chopped up with no chunks and well mixed.

Looks like this. Let it sit for a bit, about 15 minutes or longer to let all the spices just combine with the meat and try a test fry.

Just try a little with any addition if you are not sure and try it out first, add what you think it needs and try again. I didn't say this was a science! Besides, if you don't make it your own you can't gloat! I add some Turmeric to mine as it has great value and taste! When you get it how you like it make patties and freeze on a sheet. Provided you haven't eaten it all! LOL!

Pop into the freezer then take them out and place them into a bag so you can pull out how many you want at any given time.

There you have it. I made these with 3 tablespoon of brown sugar for a nice breakfast treat. Form into logs and put in a bun with your homemade sauerkraut from a previous post! If you have any questions or comments please leave them below. And please, if you try this out let me know how yours came out!

Enjoy!

Steph
www.webdees.com
www.etsy.com/shop/deesshoppe