Monday, January 4, 2010

Two Yummy Recipes!

I was in a MAJOR cooking mood on New Year's Day, I knew that I needed to use up some things before they went bad, and I really needed to prep some foodstuffs for the Eat from the Pantry Challenge. So, I threw together several batches of Sausage Potato Bake and Sweet Potato Casserole. Both of these recipes are DELICIOUS! My husband can't stop eating the Sausage Bake and everyone I know that's tried the Sweet Potato Casserole loves it (it's from a friend of mine that is a great cook!).

Sausage Potato Bake
(This recipe is adapted from a recipe that my mother in law makes, as well as several recipes I looked at in cookbooks. I didn't give measurements because I was using up a lot of odds and ends. Mix it up til it looks and tastes good to you. Also, I used from-scratch ingredients, but you can always use short-cut items from your grocery store!)

white potatoes
shredded cheese (I used a mix of Colby and Cheddar)
eggs
onions
sausage
red peppers
Italian seasonings, garlic, pepper, salt

Wash and peel potatoes and thin slice them (I used my food processor for this step). Chop onion. Brown sausage and add seasonings to taste (I do this because we buy our sausage in bulk and it's not flavored or seasoned..if you're using Italian sausage from the grocery store you can skip the seasonings step). Mix potatoes, sausage, eggs, cheese, onion and pepper together in large bowl. Pour into a greased casserole dish and bake at 350 for approximately 30-45 minutes til eggs are set and cooked all the way through.

Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole
3 large sweet potatoes, peel removed and cooked til soft (do this however you like to--boil, bake, microwave)
1/4 cup margarine or butter, melted
6 Tbs. sugar
20 oz crushed pineapple
1/4 tsp each, cinnamon and nutmeg (I love cinnamon so I used a full teaspoon and half a teaspoon of nutmeg!)

Mash or puree sweet potatoes. Mix with the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl and pour into a greased 9*13 pan. Bake for 30 minutes at 375. Butternut squash may be substituted for the sweet potatoes.