Ham and Potato Scallop

I have been getting in "one of those ruts" where I start cooking the "same ole things" over and over and over again - my poor family!!  So early this week, I opened up my Better Homes and Garden New Cookbook and started leafing through the pages searching for new recipes.  If I found one that sounded interesting, I marked it with a paper clip, wrote down whatever ingredients I might need to buy and continued looking through the cookbook.  I think I found about 7 or 8 new recipes to try.

Well, last night was the first night of "experimenting."  This recipe sounded like a good place to start. 

Ham and Potato Scallop by Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups cubed fully cooked ham
1/4 cup chopped onion
4 medium potatoes (peeled and thinly sliced) - I used the Yukon gold potatoes - didn't peeled, just sliced.
1 10 3/4 oz can Cheddar Cheese Soup
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup bread crumbs ** (I substituted crumbled up Ritz Crackers - so much better!!
2 T dried parsley
1 T melted butter (I omitted that)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350

In a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish, layer half the ham, onions and potatoes.  Repeat the layers.

In a separate bowl, mix the soup and milk.  Pour over the layered potatoes/ham/onion mixture.

Bake for about 1 hour until the potatoes are tender.  Remove from the oven.

Mix the crumbs with the parsley and sprinkle over the top of the casserole. 

Bake uncovered for an additional 15 minutes.

Entire Recipe:

Ham and Potato Scallop by Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups cubed fully cooked ham
1/4 cup chopped onion
4 medium potatoes (peeled and thinly sliced) - I used the Yukon gold potatoes - didn't peeled, just sliced.
1 10 3/4 oz can Cheddar Cheese Soup
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup bread crumbs ** (I substituted crumbled up Ritz Crackers - so much better!!
2 T dried parsley
1 T melted butter (I omitted that)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350

In a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish, layer half the ham, onions and potatoes.  Repeat the layers.

In a separate bowl, mix the soup and milk.  Pour over the layered potatoes/ham/onion mixture.

Bake for about 1 hour until the potatoes are tender.  Remove from the oven.

Mix the crumbs with the parsley and sprinkle over the top of the casserole. 

Bake uncovered for an additional 15 minutes.

ENJOY!!

Comments:

This was good!!  I definitely see me making this again - both my husband and son loved it.  And it is so very easy to make.

 

Spaghetti Pie

Last night was one of those nights where I had no clue what I was going to make for dinner.  I walked into my kitchen and nothing seem appealing - do you ever have one of those days (months???).  So I picked up my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.  It opened to this page and at the very top was a recipe for Spaghetti Pie.  Now that sounded interesting and, as luck would have, it I had most of the ingredients.  Once again dinner was saved and my family would not have to eat a bowl of cereal for dinner!

Spaghetti Pie by Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients:

4 ounces spaghetti
1 beaten egg
1/3 c grated Parmesan Cheese
1 T butter
1 c cottage cheese (I used small curd - not sure that made any difference)
1/2 lb ground beef (or Italian sausage)
1/2 c chopped onion
1/4 c chopped and seeded green pepper (I didn't have that so I omitted)
3/4 c your favorite spaghetti sauce
1/2 c shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350
For the crust, cook the spaghetti per the directions on the box.  Drain.
In a separate bowl, add the egg, Parmesan cheese and butter.  Mix in the hot spaghetti.
Spread this evenly around the bottom and the sides of a 9 inch pie plate.
Drain the cottage cheese.  Mix the egg with the drained cottage cheese and spread over the spaghetti crust.
In a skillet, cook the meat, onions and pepper.  Drain off any fat.  Stir in the spaghetti sauce.
Spoon over the cottage cheese mix.
Bake for 20 minutes. 
Remove from the oven and sprinkle the cheese over the top of the pie.
Bake about 5 minutes for or until the cheese melts and crust sets. 
Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting.

ENJOY!!

Comment:

This was really good!!  I served homemade bread sticks with this, though I think a salad would have been a better choice.  My husband loved it.  Definitely a keeper recipe!!

Quiche Lorraine

What do you do when you literally have a ton of eggs (like 17 dozen!!)?  Well, you make quiche!!  I have always wanted to try Quiche Lorraine.  When you think of quiche, at least for me, this one always comes to mine.  So off to the Internet I trotted!  So many different recipes . . .

The recipe I chose was by Emeril Lagasse.  I have never tried any of his recipes, but this one sounded good and, fortunately, I had most of the ingredients - as always I had to do a bit of improvising and I will not those below.

Quiche Lorraine by Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients

Single pie crust

6 ounces thick cut bacon
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 1/4 cup half and half ** (I didn't have, so I just used whole milk)
1/4 tsp white pepper ** (I didn't have, so I just used black pepper)
pinch of ground nutmeg
1 cup grated Gruyere or Swiss ** (I had smoked Gruyere cheese)

Directions:

Make the pie crust according to your directions
Roll out the dough to fit into a 9 inch tart pan with a removable bottom or a 9 inch pie pan.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375F
Line the pie dough in the tart pan/pie pan with parchment paper and pie weights (I used dried beans).

Bake until the crust is set, about 12 to 14 minutes.  Remove the weights and paper and bake for an additional 8 to 10 minutes until the crust is a golden brown.  Leave the oven on.
In a medium skillet, cook the bacon until crisp (beware family members will appear out of nowhere to eat bacon!!!).  Remove bacon and let drain on a paper towel.
Crumble the bacon and scatter around the bottom of the pie crust.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, yolks and half and half (or milk) together.  Add the remaining ingredients.
Pour over the crust and bake until the custard is golden and puffed, roughly 30 to 35 minutes. 

The center might still be slightly wiggly (that is ok!).
Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 15 minutes before serving.

 
Entire Recipe:

Quiche Lorraine by Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients

Single pie crust

6 ounces thick cut bacon
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 1/4 cup half and half ** (I didn't have, so I just used whole milk)
1/4 tsp white pepper ** (I didn't have, so I just used black pepper)
pinch of ground nutmeg
1 cup grated Gruyere or Swiss ** (I had smoked Gruyere cheese)

Directions:

Make the pie crust according to your directions
Roll out the dough to fit into a 9 inch tart pan with a removable bottom or a 9 inch pie pan.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375F
Line the pie dough in the tart pan/pie pan with parchment paper and pie weights (I used dried beans). 
Bake until the crust is set, about 12 to 14 minutes.  Remove the weights and paper and bake for an additional 8 to 10 minutes until the crust is a golden brown.  Leave the oven on.
In a medium skillet, cook the bacon until crisp,  Remove bacon and let drain on a paper towel.
Crumble the bacon and scatter around the bottom of the pie crust.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, yolks and half and half (or milk) together.  Add the remaining ingredients.
Pour over the crust and bake until the custard is golden and puffed, roughly 30 to 35 minutes.  The center might still be slightly wiggly (that is ok!).
Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!!

Comments:

This was a winner!  The resident experts loved it.  It is a very easy meal to make and not very expensive.  This definitely will be a repeat dinner!