Sausage & Onions in a Brown Sugar Sauce

I came up with this recipe on my own, kind of adapting from the slow cooked sausage I made earlier this year. That was good in the slow cooker but some of the sausage was over-cooked and rubbery so I thought it would turn out better on the stove, and it did! This recipe only had 4 ingredients and it was really easy to make and had so much flavor. I kinda guessed how much brown sugar I used in the recipe, but you can add more or less, depending on your taste. I made some couscous for a side dish and also to soak up the sauce.

Sausage & Onions in a Brown Sugar Sauce (2 servings):

Package of sausage of your choice
3/4 of an onion, diced
1/2 to 1 c brown sugar
1-2 tbsp butter

Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the onions sausage and cook until the onions are translucent. Add the brown sugar and stir to coat/combine. Cover with a lid and let it simmer at medium heat for about 20-45 minutes. It's done when you have your desired consistency of a sauce. Enjoy!

Pappardelle Pasta with Parmigiano-Reggiano Cream Sauce

I was in the process of going through my apartment and getting rid of food I wasn't going to take with me on my move and found a bag of pappardelle noodles. I was going to cut back on my pasta eating once I moved so I thought I'd find a good recipe to use them with before then. I found this recipe on Pinterest. Sounded pretty easy to make and it was. I added some diced chicken to mine to make it a full meal. Not sure if I'd make this again with zucchini noodles though since the sauce was really heavy but it had a really good flavor. Maybe if I found a substitute for the heavy cream...

Pappardelle Pasta with Parmigiano-Reggiano Cream Sauce (4-6 servings):

Bag of pappardelle pasta
2 c parmigiano-reggiano, plus more to serve
5 tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 c heavy cream
1 large pinch pepper
1 small pinch nutmeg
Salt to taste

Cook pappardelle in salted boiling water according to pkg directions. Reserve 1/2 c of cooking water. In large skillet over medium heat, add the butter. Stir until melted and then add the heavy cream. Let the butter and cream simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened (should coat the back of a spoon).

Slowly add the grated parmesan, until desired consistency. Bring back to boil, stirring constantly, until cheese is fully incorporated into the sauce. Stir in the pepper, nutmeg and salt to taste. Add the noodles to the skillet, stirring to coat evenly. Add enough of the reserved cooking water to thin out the sauce to your desired consistency. Top with more cheese and enjoy!


Butter and cream simmering...




Cheese simmering...




Pasta added to sauce...




Enjoy!

S'mores Dip

This recipe was also originally on Facebook and once again I was tagged, along with my friend Dana and my friend Jeremiah's little sister Nicole. Those were the girls who I made the S'mores bars with too. This one was really easy to make and only involved 3 ingredients. It tasted really good and was super rich. This would be fun to make again for a holiday party. Not sure where the original recipe came from but you can find it all over Pinterest and on the web.

S'mores Dip (4-6 servings):

1 bag of semisweet chocolate chips (or any flavor you prefer)
1 bag of marshmallows, cut in half
Graham crackers, for dipping

Pour the bag of chocolate chips in the bottom of a 13x9-inch baking dish. Top with the halved marshmallows (you may not need all of them, just make sure that the chocolate is well covered). Place in a 350 degree oven until the marshmallows get brown and toasted, about 20-30 min. Carefully dip in your graham crackers and enjoy!

Watermelon Rum

Again, I don't have the recipe for this one lol but I do remember it. And we had to doctor it quite a bit to make it edible. I originally found this recipe in a Weight Watcher's cookbook and the points were really low-like 2 I think. Super simple easy ingredients. Like I said we had to doctor it a little bit because it was really strong in alcohol-too strong! I'd make this again but I think but I would use less alcohol and it would be nice to have some mint leaves on hand since that would tame down the taste a lot, even though I'm not fond of mint! We didn't have any on hand so we used basil, which worked okay. And I think we used some lime juice as well to tame down the flavor a little. It was good after that and I think we ate it all (I was with my family).

Watermelon Rum:

1/2 of a watermelon, cut up
Rum of your choice
Mint leaves

Pour the rum over the watermelon and let everything soak up. (Don't use the whole bottle! Just use enough to coat the watermelon.) Add some mint leaves and enjoy!

S'mores Bars

One of my friend's found this on Facebook and tagged some of us in it to make these. Not sure who was the original source but I did find the recipe on Pinterest so I'll post that recipe on here. These turned out ridiculously good! They had so much flavor and they were really rich! I was at my friend Jeremiah's and his little sister and I actually went out around midnight to pick up the ingredients so we could make it that night. Jeremiah's girlfriend also helped make them-I kinda did but mainly I entertained their baby :) I would definitely make this again and again!

S'mores Bars (20 servings):

1 box graham crackers
2 (7 oz) jars marshmallow creme
1 tub Cool Whip
2 tsp vanilla
1 bag semisweet chocolate chips
1 c heavy whipping cream
1 tsp salt

Mix the marshmallow creme with the cool whip until smooth. Add the vanilla and mix again. Line a 13x9-inch baking dish with graham crackers (you may need to break them so they fit somewhat evenly on the bottom of the dish. Once the marshmallow creme is mixed, spread about 1/2 of the mixture over the graham crackers. Using a spatula, spread as evenly as possible. Layer some more graham crackers on top of the spread of marshmallow creme. Add the remaining marshmallow creme on top of the crackers, making sure to spread the cream out as much as possible.

Melt the chocolate chips and heavy cream in the microwave, stirring about every 30 seconds, until the chocolate has melted down. Add the salt and mix to incorporate. Carefully pour the chocolate over the bars, spreading evenly on top. Put the dish in the freezer for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour. (I don't think we waited that long!)

Cut into squares and enjoy!

Sangria Popsicles

So I can't really remember how I made these...lol. I thought I used a recipe on Pinterest but after looking over that recipe again I discovered I didn't use all the ingredients...enough to make me realize that I think I kinda winged it! I can give you a guess as to what I used. You could pretty much add anything to these and they would taste good. I have really cheap popsicle molds so some of the popsicles had to either eaten out of the mold with a spoon or they had to be inverted into a bowl to eat with a spoon. These tasted really good but I think with the alcohol added, they turned into more of a slush. Either way...yum!

Sangria Popsicles (6-8 servings):

Popsicle mold
Assorted fruit (I used blueberries, raspberries & strawberries
Lime juice
Wine of your choice-I believe I used a cheap Cab

Mix all the ingredients together and pour into popsicle molds. Freeze 6-8 hours or overnight. Gently pull out of popsicle molds and enjoy!

Cream Cheese Chili Dip

My cousin used to bring the ingredients to make this dip a lot for our family get togethers. Super easy and super tasty. I make it every so often now just as something to snack on. I rarely make the large batch that I'm posting-usually I only use about 1/4 c of the cream cheese if I'm just making it for myself. And if you make too much and can't eat it all, just put some tinfoil over the plate and stick it in the fridge. Tastes pretty good the next day too! I've also learned that it's really important to place something over the plate-like a pan lid-to keep the cheese from splattering all over your microwave!!!

Cream Cheese Chili Dip (8-10 servings):

1 can of chili (I use the beanless kind since it's easier to spread without all the big lumps of beans!)
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese
1 (8 oz) pkg of shredded cheddar cheese (any kind of cheddar)
Tortilla chips of your choice

Place cream cheese on a large platter and microwave about 20 seconds to soften it. Using a spatula or the back of a large spoon, spread the cream cheese around on the plate to make a thin spread. Top the cream cheese with however much chili you want, also using a spatula or large spoon to evenly spread it over the cream cheese. Sprinkle evenly with cheese. Microwave about 1 minute 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Serve hot with chips...Enjoy!