Sausage Rolls

 

Sausage rolls

 

·        1 lb ground pork sausage (Fred Meyer store brand has worked best for us of grocery store options- WinCo ended up dry)

·        1 package puff pastry

·        1 cup Bread crumb

·        1 tsp. Ginger

·        ¾ to 1 cup fresh Sage chopped and loosely packed

·        ½ tsp. nutmeg

·        1 tsp. Onion powder

·        Mustard (dijon)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix everything but the mustard and puff pastry together and split into 2 equal portions,

Roll out the puff pastry and cut each piece into 12 equal rectangles (24 total). Put a small dot of dijon mustard in the middle of each piece and wet the edges slightly.

Each half portion of sausage mixture should be split into 12 equal portions again. And placed on top of the mustard dot. Wrap the sausage in the pastry and seal edges.

 

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until puff pastry is golden and sausage is fully cooked.

Caprese Pizza

• Pizza Dough
• 1/3 cup Olive oil
• 7 cloves of garlic
• 1 brick of fresh (soft) mozzarella -sliced into medallions
• 2 tomatoes, 3 roma tomatoes, or 15-20 cherry tomatoes- Sliced into discs
• 5 leaves of fresh basil-rough chop or chiffonade
• Balsamic Vinegar
• OPTIONAL: 1/2 red onion- sliced thin
• OPTIONAL: 6oz mushroom-sliced and browned in butter

Preheat the oven to 425 with a pizza stone in it if you have one. 

Start by smashing and peeling the garlic cloves ad putting them in a small pot with the olive oil. Cook over low heat until the garlic is soft then blend in a small food processor until you have a nice garlic oil paste.

Roll out your dough to the size of your pizza stone or pizza pan. If you have a pizza stone, take it out of the oven now and sprinkle some corn meal on it before putting the raw dough on the hot stone, Otherwise, grease your pizza pan and put the dough on it.

Brush your pizza all over with the garlic paste. Place the mozzarella slices all over it. Then place the slices of tomato all over it. If you want onion or mushroom sprinkle those evenly over the pizza now as well.

Bake for about 10 minutes or until the crust looks cooked and the cheese is melted all over and starting to brown just a little. Sprinkle the basil over the top and bake for just one more minute. 

Take the pizza out and move it off your pizza stone (or it will get cheese stuck to it) and slice and serve with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar over the top. The best vinegar to use would be a balsamic glaze that is much thicker than a regular vinegar-almost honey consistency. You can find this vinegar in stores like Safeway and Fred Meyer (or Smiths) but I haven't seen it at Winco or Walmart. 

Trifle

Growing up, we always spent Christmas Eve with my dad’s family and that night we would feast and when the grown-ups were finally done eating we got to open presents. We got one from a cousin and one from the grandparents. After a frantic clean up the family would scatter to their respective homes for Christmas morning. We spent that with my mom’s mom. This month I will be sharing recipes from our traditional Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner meals.

First up: Trifle

This is a dish we would have on Christmas Eve. It was one of my mom’s contributions to the feast. She spent a significant chunk of her childhood visiting her grandparents in England and this is her version of English Trifle.

·         1 angel food cake

·         1 large package red jello

·         1 large can sliced peaches

·         1 large package vanilla pudding-prepared

·         1 tub whipped topping

The night before, break the angel food cake into chunks and let it sit overnight to get stale. In the morning, prepare the jello according to directions. When it is about half set, pour it over the angel food cake and put it back in the fridge to finish setting.

Then place the sliced peaches on top,

cover with pudding

then top with whipped cream. Yumm.