Braised Red Cabbage with Currant Jelly

I seem to be in the mood for posting tangy recipes today :-)

Braised Red Cabbage with Currant Jelly

1 medium Red cabbage -- trimmed
1/4 cup Butter -- melted
1/4 cup Water
1/2 tsp. Salt
2 medium Apples -- sliced
1/4 cup Red wine vinegar
1/4 cup Currant jelly

 Slice cabbage into 8 wedges. Place in a greased, 9" x 13" pan. Add water and drizzle with butter. Season with salt. Cover and bake at 325 degrees for an hour. Flip cabbage and top with apples. Drizzle with vinegar. Cover and bake for one more hour. Stir in jelly. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 more minutes.

Black Bean and Goat Cheese Quesadillas

Do you love goat cheese?  I adore goat cheese -- it's so flavorful!  And I love how it enhances the flavors of everything else it's combined with.

Black Bean and Goat Cheese Quesadillas

1 can Black beans -- rinsed and drained
4 oz. Goat cheese
1 7-oz. jar Roasted red bell peppers -- drained
4 10" Tortillas
Cooking spray

Spread an ounce of goat cheese over half of each tortilla. Add a layer of beans and mash slightly with a fork. Add a few strips of roasted red bell pepper. Fold in half. In a large skillet greased with cooking spray, fry pepper side down until lightly browned. Flip and brown on other side.

Beer-Battered Fish

Very tasty, even if you don't like beer.  I don't like beer, but I do like these fish.

Beer-Battered Fish

1 lb. Fish fillets
1 cup + 4 Tbsp. Bisquick -- divided
3/4  cup Beer
1 Egg
1 tsp. Salt
Oil

 Beat egg in a large bowl. Mix with beer and salt. Add one cup of Bisquick 1/4 cup at a time and whisk until smooth. Add more beer if necessary. Heat lots of oil in a large skillet. Roll fish in Bisquick and dip in batter. Place in skillet and add more oil if needed. Cook fish, turning once, until pierced easily with a fork. Cook remaining batter as a pancake.

No-Cook Cranberry Relish

Cowboy made this for us this weekend for the first time, and it is amazing!  Tangy and tart and terrific.

No-Cook Cranberry Relish

12 oz. Fresh cranberries
1 Apple -- cored and quartered
1 Tangerine (unpeeled) -- quartered and seeded
2/3 cup Sugar

 Place all ingredients in a food processor and process to a rough puree.

Caramel Apples with Toasted Coconut

I kid you not -- these are The Best Caramel Apples I Have Ever Eaten.

Caramel Apples with Toasted Coconut

5 medium Apples
5 Apple sticks
1 11 oz. bag Caramel bits
1/2 cup Coconut flakes

 In a medium skillet, toast coconut until brown and fragrant. Set aside. Melt caramels according to package. Spoon caramel over skewered apples. Roll apples in coconut. Refrigerated for one hour before serving.

Pumpkin Penne

This has quite a few ingredients, but none of them take terribly long to prepare.  You'll spend as much time mincing garlic and chopping green onions as you will on the other prep.  Start your water boiling to cook the penne, then start your other prep work, and by the time the noodles are done the rest of the recipe will be too.

Pumpkin Penne

2 cups Chicken pieces
1 lb. Penne rigate -- cooked according to package
2 tbsp. Oil
1/4 cup Green onions -- chopped
3 cloves Garlic -- minced
2 cups Chicken broth
1 can Pumpkin (or 2 cups roasted real pumpkin)
1/2 cup Heavy cream
1 tsp. Tabasco
1/8 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Pepper
1/2 tsp. Sage
 Parmesan cheese

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onions and garlic and sauté. Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in cooked pasta and serve with cheese.

Beefy Mac-and-Cheese

Also a simple recipe -- a nice upgrade to mac-and-cheese that doesn't take a long time or much effort.

Beefy Mac-and-Cheese

1 lb. Ground Beef
1 can Diced tomatoes with green chilis
1 can Mushrooms -- drained
4 oz. Velveeta -- cubed
1/4 cup Butter
1/2 cup Milk
1 box Macaroni and cheese mix

Cook noodles from macaroni and cheese. Meanwhile, brown beef and drain fat. Stir in remaining ingredients, including cheese pack from mac-and-cheese box. Heat to boiling. When noodles are done, add them to meat mixture.

Beefy French Onion Pot Pie

A fairly simple recipe that's really great for a cold fall or winter evening.

Beefy French Onion Pot Pie

1 lb. Ground beef
1 small Onion -- chopped
1 can French onion soup
1 1/2 cups Shredded mozzarella
1 12 oz. tube Refrigerated biscuits

 In a large skillet, brown beef and drain fat. Add onions and sauté. Stir in soup. Bring to boil. Transfer to a 9" deep-dish pie plate. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Top with biscuits and bake 15 more minutes or until brown.

Our Spaghetti

Everyone makes spaghetti their own way.  Here's ours.  We've changed and perfected this over the past twelve years, and as usual, we're striving for a balance between nutritious, tasty, thrifty, and efficient.  My dear Italian friend is appalled by the fact that I use canned tomatoes and don't simmer this for hours, but like I said, we're aiming for tasty and efficient :-)

Our Spaghetti

1 package frozen Italian-style meatballs -- cooked according to package
1 lb. Spaghetti -- cooked according to package
1 can Spaghetti sauce -- any variety
1 can Tomato paste
1 can Italian Stewed tomatoes OR Italian diced tomatoes
1 can Mushrooms -- drained
1 cup Onion -- chopped OR 2 cloves garlic, minced (or both)
Oil

Put meatballs in oven.  Saute onion/garlic in oil.  Add sauce, paste, tomatoes, and mushrooms. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer until pasta is done.  Add meatballs to sauce.  Serve.

Pumpkin Pancakes

A tasty variation of pancakes for fall.  Really good with just butter on them, or syrup if you insist.  A few walnuts sprinkled over the top is also yummy.

Pumpkin Pancakes

1 cup Bisquick
1 1/2 tbsp. Brown sugar
1 1/4 tsp. Pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tbsp. Wheat germ
3/4 cup Milk
1/2 cup Pumpkin puree
1 Egg -- beaten
1/2 tsp. Vanilla
1 tbsp. Oil
Butter

In a large bowl, mix Bisquick, brown sugar, pie spice, and wheat germ. In a medium bowl, mix milk, egg, pumpkin, vanilla, and oil. Add pumpkin mix to dry ingredients and stir to combine. Fry like normal pancakes, but spread batter thin (they'll burn otherwise). Serve with butter.

Beef Roast with Cranberry Gravy

Makes a tangy, festive roast with minimal fuss.

Beef Roast with Cranberry Gravy

1 Beef Roast
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4  tsp. Pepper
1 can Whole-berry Cranberry sauce
1 8-oz. can Tomato sauce
1/2  cup Onion – chopped
1 tbsp. Mustard
1 cup Cranberry juice

Rub roast with salt and pepper. Place in a crock pot. Combine remaining ingredients; pour over roast. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, adding liquid as needed.

Pumpkin Soup with Shrimp and Lime

I'm in love with pumpkin right now, can you tell?  This is one of my absolute favorite soups -- zesty and unusual and kind of addictive.  Also, it's fairly simple.

Pumpkin Soup with Shrimp and Lime

2 Leeks (white part only) -- coarsely chopped
1 tbsp. Oil
1 can Pumpkin puree
4 cups Chicken broth
1 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Pepper
1 Lime -- grate zest and squeeze juice
1/4 tsp. Cayenne pepper
1 cup Whipping cream
1 lb. Cooked salad shrimp
2 pints Grape tomatoes -- halved

 In a 3 quart kettle, sauté leeks in oil until tender. Add pumpkin, broth, salt, and pepper. Heat to boiling. Add lime zest and juice, cayenne, cream, and shrimp. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir a few grape tomatoes into each bowl of soup.