Kentucky Spoon Bread

This is another family favorite side dish at the holidays.  This is a cornbread that is completely prepared in one casserole dish and is so moist that it requires a spoon for serving.

I've had this recipe for about 30 years and my mother-in-law would call days before Thanksgiving to make sure I was bringing it with me when celebrating with her in the mountains.  A family friend, Bobbie Godsey, whom we attended church with and also was a neighbor, shared this recipe with me.  This dish gets 9's all around in my household and 10's from the rest of the family.  If you've ever had the cornbread at El Torito Restaurant, this dish is even better than that!

I begin by placing a stick of butter in my 2 qt. casserole dish and melting it in the microwave oven.

To the butter I add the canned corn, creamed corn and sour cream, mixing thoroughly to combine.

Then I add the slightly beaten eggs.  I add the eggs separately figuring the cold sour cream has cooled down the melted butter, so that the eggs won't begin to cook when I add them.

The last ingredient is the box of cornbread mix.  I stir this in until thoroughly combined.

It doesn't look very appetizing at this point, but the magic occurs in the oven where it gets baked at 350°F for 45 minutes.  If you are also making my Broccoli Supreme dish, it can be baked at the same time because they both cook for the same amount of time at the same temperature!

When it comes out of the oven, it should be piping hot and nicely browned on top.  It's ready to serve!

This tasty side dish is so easy to assemble and it brings a nice pop of color to the plate!  Enjoy!

Kentucky Spoon Bread

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter

1 – 8 oz. container sour cream

1 – 8 oz. can whole kernel corn, drained

1 – 8 oz. can creamed corn

1 pkg. Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix

2 eggs, slightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350°F.  In a small casserole dish (about 1 ½ to 2 qt.), melt butter in a microwave oven.  Add all ingredients in order listed, mixing well.  Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes, or until golden brown on top.  Serve hot with a spoon.

Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread

Let me begin by telling you that I love cinnamon rolls!  Not all cinnamon rolls are created equal; some are good and some are not so good.  This doesn't stop me from collecting recipes for cinnamon rolls or those using cinnamon rolls.  This recipe I found on Pinterest (it originated at bakemore.com) and I'll be forever grateful that I found it and tried it.  The first time I made this cinnamon roll decadence, it was for the ladies in my discussion group at a Bible study I attend every Thursday.  I think every single one of them asked for a copy of the recipe, which I gladly handed out the next week.  Now to have my family try it.

I probably should have mentioned before that I try at least one new recipe each week.  In order to determine whether or not a recipe should be kept and made again, I ask my guys to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best ever.  They, however, never give anything a 10 as they think there is always room for improvement, so in my house, 9 is the new 10!  This offering got one 8 and two 9s on the Melnarik rating scale.  I believe in giving 10s, and that's what I give this recipe.

This recipe takes a bit of preparation.  I began by putting the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and mixing thoroughly.

Then, I opened the Grands cinnamon rolls and placed them on a cutting board.  Next, I cut each roll into quarters.

Each quarter got rolled in the cinnamon sugar mixture and placed in a greased bundt pan.  (The buns rise during baking, so make sure to use a pan where there's room to spare once all of the cinnamon roll pieces are in the pan.)

I used a 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup to melt the butter in the microwave.  This allows plenty of room for stirring in the brown sugar and it makes it easy to pour in the next step!



After putting one-half of the rolls in the bundt pan, I poured about one-third of this mixture over the rolls.  This gave all of the rolls the ooey-gooey, buttery goodness.  Then I added the remainder of the rolls.






Finally, the last of the butter/brown sugar mixture was poured on.  About 20 minutes into the baking time, I  covered the pan loosely with foil to prevent the top rolls from getting too crusty.

The aroma in the kitchen was intoxicating and this is how wonderful the cinnamon roll pull apart bread looked when I inverted it onto my serving platter.  But there was one more step to add to the decadence of this breakfast treat!  If you remember, the containers that the cinnamon rolls came in had icing in them . . .

I waited about 5 minutes before adding the icing to the top and letting the hot cinnamon roll goodness melt it down the sides.  If you don't wait for it too cool a little bit, you'll have a pool of icing on the platter instead of mostly on the rolls.  This has got to be one of my favorite ways to feast on cinnamon rolls!  Enjoy!

Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread

½ cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ cup butter, melted

½ cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 – 17.5 oz. cans Pillsbury Grands Cinnamon Rolls

Preheat oven to 350°.  In a shallow bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon; set aside.  Combine butter and brown sugar and stir until smooth; set aside.  (I melt my butter in a 2-cup measuring cup in the microwave and then add the brown sugar to the butter.  This way it’s easy to pour over the rolls in the pan.)  Remove cinnamon rolls from cans and cut into quarters.  Roll each piece in cinnamon sugar and place in a greased bundt pan.  After placing half of the rolls in the pan, re-stir the brown sugar/butter mixture if necessary and pour about 1/3 of the mixture over rolls.  Continue adding the pieces, which have been rolled in the cinnamon sugar, into the bundt pan.  Pour the remaining butter/brown sugar mixture over the rolls.  Bake for 40 – 45 minutes or until the rolls are firm or “springy” when pressed.  To prevent over-browning of the rolls at the top of the pan, loosely place foil over the top of the pan after approximately 20 minutes.  Invert onto a large plate or platter.  Let stand for 5 min. before adding the icing.  Only add the icing to the top as the heat melts it and it runs down the sides on it’s own.  Enjoy!

Baked Mostaccioli, Leon Salad & Bubble Loaf

For as many years as I can remember, when a birthday was coming up for one of my guys, I gave them the choice of me making one of their favorite meals or going out to dinner on their special day.  When the boys were younger, they always picked something they loved that I made.  In, I'd say, the past 5 years or so, they all have opted for going out to a sit-down restaurant.  We don't go to restaurants with servers very often, so it was always a nice treat and a good way to try new restaurants in our area.  My husband just celebrated his birthday, and I gave him the normal options expecting him to choose to go out to dinner.  I was extremely surprised when he asked if I'd mind cooking and proceeded to tell me exactly what he would like.  He chose Baked Mostaccioli, Leon Salad, and Bubble Loaf.  As much as I was looking forward to a night out, it was such a compliment for him to choose my cooking over restaurant fare!

My twin sister, Mary Gage, gave me this recipe for Baked Mostaccioli and it has been a family favorite for years.  This is one of my go-to recipes when I'm cooking for a family with a new baby, or where someone's had surgery, etc.  The original recipe called for ground beef only, but I kicked it up with 1/2 ground beef and 1/2 Italian sausage.  This recipe makes quite a bit as it sits higher than the top edge of my 9x13-inch dish.  It's hearty and quite flavorful.

Leon Salad is the perfect pairing with any Italian-style dish.  The actual salad doesn't have many ingredients, but the homemade dressing is what makes this special.  I asked Marcia Wrobbel for this recipe after tasting it at a work potluck over 30 years ago.  At that point, I still lived with my parents and had never gone grocery shopping.  I quickly learned that there is lettuce other than the "head lettuce" (iceberg) which we always used.  Also, one of the ingredients in the dressing is Parmesan cheese.  At that time the only Parmesan I was aware of came in a green can!  I was so excited to make this salad for my family, I did so the next time my mother made an Italian dish.  I had to confess to Marcia that it was awful, as it seemed as though there was sand in the salad.  She asked if I had used the "green can Parmesan."  After admitting that I had, she told me that Parmesan cheese is sold in a wedge, and was kind enough to tell me how to grate it properly on the bumpy side of the box grater!  Our family has never gone back to the green can!  I've served this salad many times throughout the years including for large functions.  The key here is to toss the salad with the dressing just prior to serving so the lettuce doesn't wilt.  It is best when tossed with the dressing, but I've also served the dressing on the side.

Bubble Loaf is another recipe that my sister, Mary, turned me on to.  She found it in the Apr./May '97 Taste of Home magazine.  It's super easy to make, you just have to allow enough time for the frozen bread dough to defrost and then after adding the herbs, it needs to rise before baking.  It is sooo worth it! My youngest son actually asked me to make 2 loaves for this meal!

These three recipes combined make for an Italian meal that won't soon be forgotten.  Enjoy!

Baked Mostaccioli

8 oz.mostaccioli                                        1 (4 oz.) mushroom pieces

1 lb. ground beef                                     ½ cup water

1 lb. Italian sausage                                1 tsp. salt

1 med. onion, chopped                             1 tsp. sugar

1 sm. green bell pepper, diced                 1 tsp. crushed dried basil

1 clove garlic, minced                              ¼ tsp. pepper

1 (28oz.) can diced tomatoes                   1 large bay leaf

1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce                       16 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 (6 oz.) cantomato paste                         ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a large pot, cook mostaccioli in a large amount of boiling water according to package directions; drain.  Meanwhile, in a Dutch oven, cook the ground beef, Italian sausage, onion bell pepper, and garlic until meat is browned and vegetables are tender.  Drain off fat.  Stir in undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, undrained mushrooms, water, salt, sugar, basil, pepper and bay leaf.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat.  Cover; simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove bay leaf.  Stir in cooked mostaccioli.  Place half of this mixture into a 9x13-inch or 3-quart casserole dish.  Sprinkle 2/3 of the mozzarella cheese on top; add the remaining meat mixture.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Cover with foil and bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until heated through.  Remove foil; sprinkle remaining mozzarella cheese on top and return to the oven for 5 minutes to melt the cheese.  Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Leon Salad

Salad

            2  bunches romaine lettuce, finely torn

            1/4 lb. Italian salami, cut julienne

            1/2 lb. mozzarella cheese, shredded

            1 can (15 oz.) garbanzo beans, drained

Dressing

            1/2 cup vegetable oil

            4 Tbsp. white wine vinegar

            2 tsp. dry mustard

            1 tsp. salt

            1 tsp. pepper

            1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (not Kraft in the green can!)

In a large bowl, toss all salad ingredients.  In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients*.  Pour dressing over salad and toss.  Serve immediately.

Helpful hint:

I use a Tupperware shaker cup to mix the dressing ingredients.  Then if I’m taking this recipe to a party, I take the salad fixings in a large Tupperware bowl and the dressing in the shaker cup.  Just before serving I shake the dressing, add to the salad and toss.

Bubble Loaf

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 Tbsp. dried parsley flakes

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. garlic salt

1-1 lb. loaf frozen bread dough, defrosted  (I use Bridgford brand)

In a very small bowl, combine seasonings with butter.  Pull off 1/2-inch ball size pieces of dough, dip in butter/herb mixture and place in a loaf pan.  Set in a warm place for 45 minutes or until loaf doubles in size.  Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 min. or until golden brown.  Invert on a plate to serve.