Alfredo sauce

So for my second post of the day, I thought I would give you the best recipe for Alfredo sauce. Seriously! Everyone I have made this sauce for wants the recipe. This is not a healthy recipe, but oh my is it ever worth it for your taste buds. I found this recipe years ago one the internet and it was called Better than Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce and I have to agree with it. It's the best. Unfortunately over the years I have made it mine and I don't even follow a recipe anymore so I won't be able to give you that link.

Here it goes, I am sharing my secret alfredo sauce recipe, the only downfall, it doesn't make great leftovers because the ingredients separate.

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
garlic (I usually use about three cloves, but if you want more add more, or less)
a pinch of pepper
2 cups of heavy cream (Milk will do but you'll have to thicken it)
1/4 cup of shaved or grated parmesan
1/2 cup of mozzarella

1. Start your noodles.
2. Melt butter and cook garlic for 10-15 seconds
3. Add the cream and the pepper.
4.Let it simmer for about 4 minutes, then add the parmesan and keep simmering on medium for 5 minutes.
5. Add the mozzarella and let it melt and simmer. It is pretty important to keep stirring the sauce otherwise your mozzarella might melt and stick or cook and your sauce won't be smooth.

Serve over hot noodles. I usually add chicken pieces to it if I'm making it as a meal.

Enjoy!

Come back tomorrow where I will give you a recipe with this sauce that I just made tonight and that my husband would have had a third serving if I hadn't stopped him!

Home made Pizza

Here I am again, I am doing good, second day of 14 (I can totally do this). So today I thought I would like to share my favourite quick pizza dough recipe!
I make this quite often, I even used it for calzones!

Ingredients for pizza dough*
With this recipe I am usually able to make 2 pizzas.
2 1/2 cup flour
2 3/4 tsp. baking powder (you can substitute with baking soda, only use half that amount and don't use salt)
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. oil
1 cup water

Warm oven at 400
Mix all dry ingredients, then add the water and oil. Stir until it forms a balls. If you are having a hard time and it's flaky just add more water (I find that most of the time I am adding a little bit more). The dough shouldn't be sticky, knead for a few minutes (3 or 4 minutes) and then roll.

Top with your favourite toppings and put in oven for 15 minutes for a softer crust, up to 25 minutes.

I promise that once you start using this pizza dough recipe, you will never again buy that pre-made one!

And just in case you ever want to make me pizza, I love putting mushrooms, olives and lots of cheese and of course pepperoni!

*I took this recipe straight from this link, I didn't even change one ingredient http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,2341,157183-233201,00.html 

Scalloped potatoes

So a few days ago when I posted the prosciutto brie pasta, I realized that I never made good on my promise of posting my scalloped potatoes recipe. Oh and they are just so good! I only discovered scalloped potatoes after moving out, I guess my mom never made them, but I had been missing out! 

Here is the easiest yummiest recipes

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
2 cloves garlic crushed
2 1/4 cups shredded cheese (I had on hand cheddar and mozzarella but any kind would do)
5 large potatoes, thinly sliced (I used a mandolin to do it, so much easier and you're not afraid of slicing off your finger with the last few slices)
*If you like onions, go ahead a put some in there

Preheat oven to 375. In the meantime, make the sauce for the potatoes. Melt butter (medium heat should do, we don't want to cook it) in a saucepan (if you are putting onions, this is where you would cook them). Stir in the flour, add the milk and garlic. keep stirring until it thickens (I never changed from medium heat). Stir in 2 cups of the cheese and stir until it melts. Remove from heat. 

In a buttered or sprayed oven proof dish (I used my 9x9 Pyrex), layer the sliced potatoes. Once the potatoes are all layered, pour the sauce on top. Give your dish a little shake, this will allow the sauce to disperse. Add remaining cheese on top and put in the oven for about an hour, until is is brown and bubbly. I looked at it after about 50 minutes and mine was ready but I know my oven tends to heat a little hotter. 

Enjoy! 

Cheesy bacon mini meatloaves

Oh my, it has definitely been a while, and I apologize. However, in the meantime I have tried many new recipes and some were successes and some, not so much. So you won't read about those, but here is one of my success, I made these when my in-laws were visiting, I didn't want to be slaving away in the kitchen all day just to have a good meal, I wanted to be able to enjoy my time with them so I made these make-ahead mini meatloaves.

Ingredients

2 eggs

1 cup milk

2 lb. (450 g) extra-lean ground beef

1 pkg. (120 g) Stove Top Stuffing Mix for Chicken

1 cup Shredded Cheese (in this case I had leftover jalapeno havarti)

1/2 cup BBQ Sauce (I had Kraft original on hand)

slices of bacon (I used 12 since I made 12 meatloaves)

Directions

Whisk egg and milk in large bowl until blended. Mix in all remaining ingredients except bacon. Shape into 1-inch-thick patties; wrap bacon slice around edge of each patty.

Wrap individually in plastic wrap; place in freezer-weight resealable plastic bag. Seal bag. Freeze up to 3 months. See I didn't plan that much ahead of time but I did put them in the freezer for about 6 hours, they were frozen through but they weren't flimsy either.

Heat oven to 375ºF. Unwrap frozen patties; place on rimmed baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Bake 40 to 45 min. or until done (160ºF).
You could probably bake them right when you make them, I probably would put them in the oven for 30 minutes instead of 40 and see if they are cooked. These were delicious

I got 12 out of this recipe, which was great because we were only five and now I have more in the freezer, I think we'll eat those tonight!

I served them with garlic mash potatoes and a canadianized greek salad.

*recipe adapted from http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/recipes/make-ahead-cheesy-bacon-mini-130726.aspx

Twisted Mac and Cheese

Seeing as November is coming around and the weather is slowly changing, I was looking for comfort foods! Yummy! I love mac and cheese but I get tired of the normal one. So I found this recipe and I played with it a   little and it came out oh so good! And bonus, it's easy and fast.

Ingredients

Macaroni
Mushrooms (I used about two 8 oz container, but use as much or as little as you want)
2 tbsp butter
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
12 oz feta cheese
spices (I used rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper)
2 big cloves of garlic crushed (or as much as you want)
1 cup of 35% cream (I used my 1% milk and I added corn starch to thicken it)

Heat oven to 500.
While your noodles are cooking, melt the butter, I use my big Wok, and cook the mushrooms until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the spices and the garlic, cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and the cream, bring a to simmer. (At this point if you have used milk you would add your corn starch, I usually mix mine with a little bit of water to make it more liquid and therefore it is distributed evenly in my dish). Add half the feta cheese and simmer for about 2 to 3 minutes.

In an oven proof dish, mix the sauce and the noodles together, top with remaining feta cheese. If you want to add more you could add some parmesan, It would be very good!  Put in the oven for 5 minutes, let is set for a minute or two and serve!

This picture is from my lunch the next day and it was just as tasty!

Enjoy!

Taco meatloaf with bacon and cheese potatoes

A few years back I was looking for meatloaf recipes and I came across this taco meatloaf one. Over the years I have modified it some, here is how I make mine! There is also a recipe for probably the best potatoes I have made in a while.

Ingredients
Ground beef (I use 1lb for my husband and I, two if I have people over)
One envelope of Taco seasoning (I get the PC brand, it's cheaper and very tasty. I also do not double this weather I use 1 or 2 lbs of beef)
One egg
A dozen crackers (I cumble them all, I have used cheese crackers, soda crackers, and bread crumbs too)
Salsa
Cheese (I have used processed cheese, mozarrella and cheddar before)

There are two ways to make these, I have done both, but I find that the first one holds together better (but I will put both)

Mix first 4 ingredients together and place in your meatloaf pan.
Bake at 375 for about 35 minutes.
Take out, pour a little bit of salsa and cheese on top and cook for another 10 minutes.
Enjoy!

*This is the second one, I find it breaks easily
Mix first 4 ingredients, place half of the mixture in your meatloaf pan put cheese slices, and palce remaining mixture.
Bake at 375 for about 35 minutes.
Take out, pour a little bit of salsa and cheese on top and cook for another 10 minutes.

*based on this recipe http://www.mealsmatter.org/recipes-meals/recipe/9180



Bacon and cheese potatoes

Ingredients
Potatoes (I used about three medium size each)
Bacon crumble
Cheese (I used mozzarella)
*green onions (optional) (I didn't have any so I didn't use them, but they would be good)

Slices potatoes thinly, melt butter and spread over the potatoes on both sides (I used a brush).

I cooked them at the same time as my meat loaf, and they were just perfectly crispy.

Top with bacon and cheese as soon as they come out of the oven.

Enjoy these two recipes together or separately

Bacon and cheese impossible pie

Well it's been a little while and I promise I will try and update this blog every couple of days. I have a few recipes now that I have done in the past couple of weeks and haven't shared!
Who doesn't love quiche! Typically french, typically complicated, well here come the quick and easy impossible pie! Let me dwell on the name for a little while...why impossible, it is so easy that it should be called the I'm Possible Pie!(Okay I suck at jokes).

I love these 'cause you can make them be whatever you like, and it is so easy!

Anyway here is my recipe for my bacon and cheese impossible pie! Enjoy!

I use one of my pie bakeware  for this I find that it works perfectly and it cooks faster than a pie glass dish

Ingredients *this will make one impossible pie
4 eggs
1 cup of milk
1 cup of bisquick (you can make your own, but the one recipe I had found made a ton of it and you have to use it fairly quickly)
Bacon (I used pre-cooked crumble bacon that I got at a good price, but you could cook your own)
Cheese *or whatever else you want to put in these
*Spices of your choice



First heat up your oven at 375 F.
I then put a tiny little bit of butter or oil in my plate just to make it a little greasy and to avoid any sticking!
Mix well the eggs, the milk and the bisquick (you can put it in the blender if you don't want to stir)
In  the pie plate put the remaining ingredients and spices (as much as you like, I usually go for about two cups of whatever I am putting in, obviously only a pinch of spices)
Pour the egg mixture on top of your ingredients and do not mix!
Cook for about 35 minutes