Sausage Spinach Buns

We got some awesome smoked sausage from the wicked butcher outlet store last week, but now they're hogging space in the freezer. I wanted something different other than your standard super-crisped on a bun or with sauerkraut or something else and started digging on the internet for "sausage bread". ...Not the best search in the world, lol. Reading them, they all wanted sausage out of its casing and lots of add-ons or pizza style. Considering I was just looking for whether or not you could bake a whole sausage in a piece of bread, it was odd, lol. But it gave me ideas and I came up with something that actually rocks.

Sausage Spinach Buns


makes 8 buns

1 recipe pizza dough (i'm still perfecting mine, so you can chose your fave)
1 lb smoked sausage, cut into 1/4 inch half moons
300g frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 medium onion, minced
4 oz mushrooms, chopped
1 cup grated mozzarella
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Preheat oven to 425 F and oil a baking sheet.
Have your dough ready to go, or ready for the final rising, divided into 8 equal balls.
Fry the sausage pieces in a frying pan until nice and crispy.
Remove from pan and drain on paper towels.
In the leftover fat, or a dash of oil, saute the mushrooms and onion until brown and soft.
Stir in the spinach and sausage.
Mix in the cheese just before you start making the buns.
Roll the dough balls into about 6 inch circles.
Put an 1/8th of the filling in the center and pull the edges around it.
Place on pan seam side down and brush tops with oil.
Bake about 15-10 minutes or until filling is hot and dough is cooked and brown.

Enjoy!

Delmonico Potatoes

Saw America's Test Kitchen on the weekend and had potatoes planned for tonight, so decided to internet search it. Love it how all the things that popped up had mixed spellings and varying recipes. The one claiming to be the real recipe from the NY restaurant was just potatoes, white sauce and cheese. I mixed mine up a bit.

Delmonico Potatoes


serves 6 sides

8-9 medium potatoes, cubed
4 Tbsp butter
6 Tbsp flour
3 cups milk
1/4 cup crispy onion pieces
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 F and grease an 8x8" baking dish.
In a large, microwavable bowl, mix the potatoes with a pinch of salt and cover.
Microwave 9 minutes, gently stirring a couple times.
In a saucepan, melt butter until slightly brown.
Whisk in the flour and some salt and pepper and cook about 1-2 minutes.
Slowly stir in the milk, whisking all the lumps out.
Cook until thick.
Put the mostly cooked potatoes in the pan and cover with the white sauce.
Sprinkle the top with the onion pieces and Parmesan.
Bake about 25 minutes or until potatoes are fully cooked and top is brown.

Enjoy!

Blueberry Cheesecake Bites

Was trying to come up with ideas to get rid of my blueberries, and went for blueberry sauce. I thought about doing it on a roll cake but then we had the cream cheese in the fridge and so idea (!): blueberry bites.

The recipe is technically from Fannie Farmer's Baking Book, but we nixed the crust since it was super candy and went for a shortbread type we found in a church charity cook book that makes awesome lemon squares.

Blueberry Cheesecake Bites


makes 25 bites

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
1 cream cheese bar
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups blueberry sauce (canned or homemade)

Pull cream cheese out and let come to room temperature. (Or chop into little bits and microwave about 20-30 seconds if in a hurry)
Preheat oven to 350 F and pull out an 8x8" glass pan.
Cream butter and sugar together and stir in flour.
Press lightly into pan and bake about 12-15 minutes.
In a tall 4-cup measuring cup, mix cream cheese and sugar together with a stick blender.
Blitz in the egg, milk and vanilla and keep at mixture until really smooth.
Pour onto baked crust and bake about 25 minutes or until not jiggly anymore and you don't leave fingerprints when you touch it.
Cool about 15 minutes and cut the square with a sharp, clean knife. (Super important!!! The crust will be really, really hard to cut when fully cooled, especially if well-done!)
Top with blueberry sauce and carefully find your cut marks.
Serve cool and keep refrigerated.

Enjoy!

Twice-Baked Potatoes

So we had ribs and baked potatoes yesterday and mom loves to make leftovers, so we had some potatoes to eat today. Rather than just heat them up and be boring, go for broke, eh? Mom kept calling for potato skins, but what she really meant was twice baked potatoes so I went for a combo.


Twice-Baked Potatoes


makes 8

4 same-size baking potatoes, baked and cooled
1 cup grated cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp milk
pinch garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
oil

Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Cut the potatoes two, so they're long and flat.
Scoop out the middles, trying to leave a little attached to the skin, about 1/8-1/4inch.
Oil both sides of the skins and bake about 5 minutes each side.
Meanwhile, heat up the insides and the milk in the microwave for a couple minutes.
Mash or smash how you want.
Stir in half the cheese, sour cream, and garlic powder.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Spoon filling into the skins and top with rest of the cheese.
Bake about 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and filling is hot.
Serve.

Enjoy!

Cheddar Biscuits

Been craving them for awhile now and they were such a perfect side to the Chicken Stew. This recipe came from logging America's Test Kitchen viewing hours. Their biscuit recipe is one of the best my mom and I have come across in our cooking journeys. To make it fun, I tossed in some cheddar cheese.

Cheddar Biscuits


makes 12

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted (seriously, melted, not softened!!!!)
1 cup milk + 1 Tbsp vinegar (or 1 cup buttermilk if you stock that)
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese (your favourite, as long as it has flavour to stand up to being melted into the dough)

Preheat the oven to 450 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (seriously helps with melted cheese clean up!)
Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
In a smaller bowl, melt the butter in the microwave.
In a measuring cup, mix the milk and vinegar together and let stand a minute to start the reaction.
Pour the milk mix into the butter and stir. You should end up with little butter grains floating in the milk. Takes the need for a pastry cutter and careful stirring right out of the biscuit process.
Add the wet to the dry and stir until partially combined.
Add in the cheese and finish stirring everything together.
Spoon into 12 even lumps on the baking sheet.
Bake for 12-16 minutes, flipping them over at 7-8 minutes to get even browning.
Serve hot.

Yummy!