Lighter tomato pie

I have posted before I am not a huge fan of tomatoes, however I do like yellow tomatoes. Well tis the season round here and I have bought some fresh locally grown tomatoes. I decided to make a tomato pie. Now here in Eastern PA, Philadelphia area, tomato pie is actually a pizza with fresh (or sorta) crushed tomatoes, basil,  and garlic, with no cheese (sometimes places will put like grated Parm cheese on). But down south (like Paula Deen area)  it is an actual pie, with crust on bottom.

I had seen Paula Deen make her version, and Bobby Deen made a lighter version on her website. Well seeing as how I am constantly trying to lose weight, or at least not gain anymore…. I decided to go with Bobby Deen’s recipe.

As you all know who have read this blog before I don’t always go with exact recipes, unless it has to do with baking (even then I might stray). So this one I may not have done exact, but will put a link to the website with the exact recipe.

 

Ok so here is the actual recipe from Paula Deen’s site….

http://www.pauladeen.com/recipes/recipe_view/bobbys_lighter_tomato_pie/

 

Here is what I did…

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup mayo
• 3/4 – 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup green onions
• 3 strips of left over bacon, crumbles
• 6 leaves fresh basil
• 3 yellow tomatoes, sliced thick
• one frozen deep dish pie crust
• 3-4 dashes of hot sauce
• S&P to taste

 

Mix mayo, cheese, basil, bacon, onions, hot sauce together.

Put about half maybe little more of your sliced tomatoes into pie shell, sprinkle with S&P.

Sprinkle this layer of tomatoes with basil and about half of your cheese (this is why I use about a cup of cheese), top with remaining tomatoes, and little bit more S&P.

 

Now gently spread mayo mixture on top of tomatoes, but do not take the mixture all way to edge, leave space it will melt to crust.

 

Bake 400 degrees till cheese is bubbly golden and pie crust looks done. I of course didn’t get a final picture as per my usual. It was tasty!! And even better the next day.

Options: I would totally add in crumbled sausage, either breakfast or Italian and make it a whole complete meal package. Add in jalapeno peppers or green chili peppers to give it a kick would be good too.

Enjoy!

Italian Hillbilly

So that wild hair never showed up, imagine that? Kids are at school and I just doctored up my photos, thanks to the Hubbs showing me how to touch them up in Adobe Photoshop.

I believe I have mentioned before that I consider myself and Italian Hillbilly. See I was born and raised (mostly) in the mountains of West Virginia (we lived 10 miles north of the capital, Charleston, till I was 14 years old). My mother and all her people are completely from West Virginia, even farther up in the mountains going back generations upon generations (of which I need to research just how many generations it truly is).  So the hillbilly gene is definitely there.

Here are some pictures I just recently obtained when going down for Grandma Short’s funeral.

These are great great grandparents Isacc and Prudence Boone.

These are great grandparents Pete and Annie Short

These are great great grandparents Bourne (not sure of first names, never saw this picture before)

These are great grandparents Chaney and Macy Boone.

Now my father is full blooded Italian. My grandpop Mussano was born here in PA in 1911, but Noni born August 2, 1919 in Roccadaspide, Italy to the late Francesco and Maria Carmela (Scovotti) Brenca, Rosa lived in Leechburg since 1947. She came over after my Grandpop met her while he was stationed there during WWII.

Here are a few pictures of the Mussano/ Brenca side of the family.

These are great grandparents Brenca (Noni’s mom and dad).

This the the Mussano clan (my grandfather is the 2nd from the left).

Now that you know the history you understand where I get my Italian Hillbilly tendencies. In honor of this self proclaimed title I made these two dishes the other night. They were a hit. I hope you like them too!

Brasciole (No -red sauce)

• 4-6 thin slices of steak
• 1 can of diced tomatoes (I used fire roasted was all I had)
• 1/2 large onion chopped
• 1 cup AP flour
• 1 Tbsp each of granulated garlic, season salt, ground pepper, dry oregano,dry parsley
• 2 Tbsp each butter and EVOO

preheat oven 350 degrees

First in shallow dish (I use a pie plate) mix AP flour and spices. Then dredge both side of your pieces of meat in this mixture.

Then roll it up, as tight as you can and stick a tooth pick through so it stays closed.

While you are dredging you can be heating up your skillet with 2 Tbsp of butter and EVOO in it.

When your skillet is nice and hot put in your brasciole and brown on all sides

While these are browning, open up your can of diced tomatoes and chop up your onion. Place these on bottom of your casserole dish.

When brasciole are brown on all sides place on top of your tomato and onions.

Your meat will not be cooked through just browned off. Now cover with foil and lets move on to the tators.

Grandma Short’s scalloped potatoes

Ingredients

• 2-4 baking potatoes, washed, and sliced thin (I used a knife this time)
• 1 onion sliced thin
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 3 cups grated cheese (I used Colby cheese)
• S&P to taste
• 2-4 Tbsp of left over flour from meat dredge

Butter your casserole dish well.

slice up your tators and onions

Place layer of tators on bottom of casserole then layer of onions and repeat till you are at top of dish.

Now work on your gravy, by first reheating the leftover oil from brasciole (see the hillbilly in me says don’t waste anything, well that was Noni’s mantra as well, guess it’s just the poor folk gene coming out). Then start adding in a Tbsp at a time the flour you dredged the meat in, whisking as you go.

Once all the oil is absorbed by the flour (meaning it doesn’t look greasy but pasty) slowly pour in milk and then cream (or just use a 2 cup measure with both in it like I do), remember still keep whisking.

Do ya like my new flat whisk? I do, found it at bargain outlet, it is a Paula Deen whisk, woo hoo I was excited! The kids thought I was nuts!

Now add in 2 cups of the cheese.

Mix till all cheese is melted, then turn off heat.

Pour this mixture slowly over tators and onions.

And finally add last cup of cheese on top, cover with aluminum foil and place in oven. Bake for 45 minutes then uncover and cook another 10-15 minutes till top is brown.

Now I strongly urge you to put this on a cookie sheet, because if you have my luck then it will bubble over and cause the smoke alarm to go off and your house to be smokey.

The brasciole can cook with the tators in oven for 45 minutes, when you uncover the tators, just take out the brasciole and leave on stove top till tators are done.

Options: You can add dash or two of cayenne to milk cheese mixture if you like spice in tators; mix up the spices you dredge the brasciole in cumin, chili powder, would be nice too; you can serve brasciole over pasta or rice if you like; pair tators with anything; add a salad if you feel it’s missing something green or some green beans.

Enjoy!

Metamorphisis of a Cauliflower

I had the left over roasted cauliflower (of which I was the only one who would eat it, seeing as it had Parm cheese on it and it was a cooked veg the hubbs nor the children would touch it, the weirdos!) But I got tired of it and wanted a pizza so I decided to make the Paula Deen wheat-less pizza crust that I have posted about before, look up I have a confession….posted on 10/21/12 for the whole recipe.

This time I decided to add a little more pesto, and turn it into a pesto pizza crust.

And here is how I did it in pictures, as you can go see the recipe on the post I have a confession….

This is part parm cheese and part mozzarella, I didn’t have quite enough of the mozzarella but it still worked.

Word to the wise, SPRAY your sheet or it will stick and you will curse yourself! Trust me!!!

Now you can add any and all pizza like toppings and put this back into oven for another 5-8 minutes or till you cheese (if you used that and you should if it’s pizza) is melted, golden, burnt, however you like it!

I think I would add more pest next time, but seeing as I used all that I had, which was about 1/4 cup…I would probably add about 1/2 cup to really get the pesto flavor.

Enjoy!

 

P.S. Here is a picture I was able to capture of our big ice over that caused the 2 hour delay on Wednesday. Thanks to photo shop program I was able to make it look a bit nicer than the original captured picture.

Now don’t be scared it is a lot of ice, I don’t know how I handled driving in it…(can you hear the sarcasm?)

Cauliflower

I bought a head of cauliflower and intended to cut it up for my kids to eat it, but waited a little too long. And well, if you know about fresh vegetables like cauliflower and broccoli, they get sour if you wait too long to eat them raw. If that happens you have two options, throw it away or cook them. Seeing as how I am not the type of person to waste good money on food that is still good (unless it has mold on it or is rancid it is still good to me).

So I made roasted cauliflower, then it morphed into a pesto cauliflower and then it morphed again into pesto wheatless pizza crust. I started by looking at a recipe from none other than my girl The Pioneer Woman.

Ingredients

• 1 head cauliflower but into bite-size pieces
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• S&P to taste
• 1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs (I did not add this part)
• 4 Tbsp butter, melted (I did not add this part either)

Preheat oven 400 degrees.

Place on cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil and S&P. Roast 15-20 minutes till golden brown, with some darker spots.

*The PW recipe calls for you to mix melted butter with panko, then put cauliflower in casserole dish top with panko, bake for 5 minutes.

What I did was put cauliflower in casserole dish, pour some pest on top, mix well, then top with Parmesan cheese, bake for 5 minutes.

Enjoy! UP next how it morphed into  pesto cauliflower wheat-less pizza crust.

P.S.  The hubbs just showed me how to make my pictures brighter and more true color in Photoshop, which will help seeing as I take my pictures with my trusty Lumix point and shoot.

 

My version of Salisbury Steak

I know you are waiting with bated breath (what does that mean exactly?) for the biscotti and torchet cookie recipes but last night I had to get back to my roots. By that I mean good ole pantry sleuthing.  I wanted salisbury steak, but didn’t have beef consume, and some other items that were in Paula Deen’s recipe, so I did what I do best….And this was the result, I personally think it is better than the school cafeteria or frozen dinner that we all grew up with.

Ingredients

• pkg of button mushrooms, sliced
• medium onion sliced
• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, separated
• S&P to taste
• 1 Tbsp each butter and olive oil
• 1 lb. hamburger
• 2 beef bouillon cubes, crushed
• 1 tsp season salt
• 1 tsp garlic granulated
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 Tbsp Ranch Mix Seperated
• 2 Tbsp milk
• 1/2 cup chicken or beef stock

First in skillet heat butter and olive oil, then add in your mushrooms and onions, season with S&P.

While those are cooking, mix meat with season salt, garlic, pepper, ranch mix, 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 2 Tbsp milk. Then form into whatever size patties you want, I did fairly small, like to fit on a hamburger but.

Remove mushrooms and onions from skillet, brown hamburger patties on both sides (they do not have to be cooked all the way, they will finish in sauce).Usually they say no squishing of hamburger but in this case go ahead, it makes for a better sauce in the end, I think!

Remove all patties, melt in beef bouillon cubes, add in 1/2 cup of stock (I used chicken because it was in the fridge and needed to be used) and add in the remaining Tbsp of ranch mix.

Now take ab out 2-3 Tbsp of this stock  and add in 2-3 Tbsp of corn starch, mix well and pour back into skillet, mix. Now place in patties and onion/mushrooms. Make sure they are nice and covered, then cover pot simmer 10-15 minutes on med-low heat.

I served this with egg noodles, peas, and corn, but over mashed tators would be fabulous too!. I guess you could add the peas in if you really wanted to.

Now that I really think about this dish it is a cross between a salisbury steak and a stroganoff, but no sour cream in it. Maybe next time I will add it in, I think I was out or it most likely would have been added.

Enjoy!