Sausage Risotto with spinach and tomatoes

This was amazingly good. A little longer and involved in the preparation than I would normally like but it was definitely worth it. Porter even ate the spinach out of it.


3 1/2 c. chicken broth
1- 1lb pkg regular sausage (I use Jimmy Dean)
2 c. chopped leek (white portion only, but I only did 1 c with a little green)
1 c. chopped fennel bulb (I think that I used 2 c. to make up for the missing leek)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 c. uncooked arborio rice
1/2 c. chicken broth
1 pkg (6oz) fresh baby spinach (I only used half)
2 c. grape tomatoes, halved
2 Tbsp. minced fresh basil or 2 tsp dried
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 c. grated parmesan


In a small saucepan, heat broth and keep warm. In a large skillet, cook the sausage, leeks and fennel over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink; drain. Add garlic, cook 1 minute longer. Stir in rice; and cook 2-3 minutes. Reduce heat; stir in broth. Cook and stir until all the liquid is absorbed.


Add heated broth, 1/2 c. at a time, stirring constantly. Allow liquid to absorb between additions. Cook just until risotto is creamy and rice is almost tender, about 20 minutes. Add the spinach, tomatoes, and pepper. Cook and stir until heated through. Sprinkle with cheese and serve immediately.


For those of you who don't know....on the left is what a fennel bulb looks like (just cut up the actual bulb. And even though it looks like an onion, it smells like licorice but doesn't taste like either), and on the right is a leek (used in a lot of asian recipes, kind of like an asian green onion).

Grandma's Rolls

You can make dinner rolls, crescent rolls, orange rolls, or cinnamon rolls with this recipe. Sorry this took me almost a week Denyse.

1 c. milk
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 c. margarine
1/2 c. warm water
2 pkg. yeast
2 eggs, beaten
5 1/4 c. flour

Scald milk and stir in sugar, salt, and margaring. Cool to lukewarm. Measure warm water into large warm bowl and sprinkle in yeast. Add milk mixture, eggs, and 2 c. flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in remaining flour to make a soft dough. (dough will be slightly sticky) Knead until smooth and elastic. Let rise 30 min.

dinner rolls- divide dough into 3 pieces, then 9 pieces from each one. Place in greased pans and brush with melted butter. Let rise 30 min then bake at 350 for 15-20 min. or until golden.

crescent rolls- divide dough into 3 pieces. Roll on floured surface into a 12 inch circle. Brush with melted butter and cut like a pie into 12 pieces. Roll each piece from the big end and place on greased pan about 2 inches apart. Let rise 30 min. then bake at 400 for 12 min or until golden.

orange rolls- divide dough into 2 pieces and roll each piece into a rectangle. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Grate orange peel on top. Roll up and slice. Place in greased pan and let rise for 30 min. Bake at 400 for 10 min. or until golden.

cinnamon rolls- same as orange, just use cinnamon sugar and no orange peel.

Peach Dessert

Mix in a saucepan:
3 Tablespoons Corn Starch
1 Cup Sugar
Add: 2 Cups of COLD water, stir and boil.
Then add: 1 Package of Orange Jello (3 oz) and set until chilled.
After that add: 4-5 Cups of FRESH peeled square-shaped-sliced peaches and chill in fridge.

Crust
Mix well (drys first and then the butter) and put 1/2 of mixture on bottom of a 9x13 and save the rest for the top layer:
2 1/2 Cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
6 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar
1 Stick of Softened Butter

Cream Mixture
Cream together:
1 Package of Cream Cheese (8 oz)
1/2 Cup of Powdered Sugar
Then add: 8oz Tub of Cool Whip

Put down later of crumbs, all fruit mixture, then cream mixture, and rest of the crumbs on top. Great dessert for peach season!

Ham and Cheese Braids

I really liked this recipe a lot! It's easy and something that picky eaters will eat. My picky eater ate a lot of it! I just served it with vegetables and homemade ranch. I used the Ranch recipe in Deceptively Delicious even though the one below is great too.

2 3/4 cups flour
1 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1 pkg yeast
3/4 cup warm water
4 T. butter, melted
1 egg
Diced ham
Shredded Cheese

You can use rapid rise or just active dry yeast. Combine water, yeast and sugar and let it stand for a few minutes. Then add the salt, butter and egg and mix. Add one cup of the flour and stir it up good. Then add the rest of the flour while you stir/knead. It will make a very workable and moderatly stiff dough (not sticky). I knead it until I like the feel of the dough (10 minutes or so?). Then roll out the dough on a floured surface into a rectangle (not too thin, not too thick), cut the rectangle into three equal strips, fill the strips with much ham and cheese clear to the ends and pinch each one shut being careful to leave no holes where all the good stuff will leak out. Then gently braid the three pieces and tuck the ends tight. Brush it with melted butter or egg white wash and sprinkle it with whatever you want. Let it raise in a warm spot until larger and fluffy looking (time varies). Bake at 375 for approx 30 minutes. You want it to be pretty brown on the outside so as to ensure the inside will not be doughy. Let it cool a bit before cutting into it. Enjoy! It is yummy dipped in ranch.

For home made ranch just mix some sour cream and mayo along with garlic salt, Mrs. Dash seasoning, dill and lemon pepper. Delish!

Chocolate Drop Marshmallow Cookies

These cookies didn't last long enough for me to take a picture, and they are Jacob's favorite. The picture and recipe are from Taste of Home.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
16 to 22 large marshmallows

Icing:
6 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1/4 cup milk
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pecan halves (I don't have these lying around so I usually ignore it)

Directions:
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg, milk and vanilla; mix well. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; beat into creamed mixture.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 8 minutes. Meanwhile, cut marshmallows in half. Press a marshmallow half, cut side down, onto each cookie. Return to the oven for 2 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

For icing, in a small saucepan, combine butter, cocoa and milk. Bring to a boil; boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Cool slightly; transfer to a small bowl. beat in confectioners' sugar and vanilla until smooth. Spread over the cooled cookies. (Unlike the pictured cookies, I usually ice the whole top of the cookie and do not have any marshmallow showing) Optional: Top each with a pecan half. Yield: about 3 dozen.