7 Layer Dip

It's football season!  You have to know how to make a good 7 Layer Dip during football season.  This is how I make it, no tomatoes, no lettuce, that's for tacos, not DIP.  

Ingredients:

• 1 can of refried beans (black or pinto)
• 1 pack of Taco Seasoning
• 1 (8oz.)  Guacamole (1 C.)
• 1 (8oz.) sour cream (1 C.)
• 1 (8oz.) salsa (1 C.)
• 1 bag of Mexican finely shredded cheese (2 C.)
• ½ jar of Jalapeño slices
• 1 (2oz.) sliced black olives

Directions:

1. Combine the beans and taco seasoning in a bowl and mix well
2. In a 13x9x 2 dish, spread the bean mixture to cover the bottom of the dish
3. Layer each of the other ingredients, in order, to create the 7 layers
4. Refrigerate for several hours before serving
5. Serve with tortilla chips

Tips and Tricks:

• Do not try to serve this dip with Tostitos Scoops.  You need a chip that has a flat edge to scrap the dip up and out of the dish.
• I don’t recommend using light sour cream for this recipe.  To create the 7 layers you need the consistency of the full leaded sour cream.
• I like to make my own guacamole, but for this recipe save yourself the time, it’s not necessary.

Spicy Corn Chowder

This is a recipe from the Neelys.  It's spicy and hearty and it feeds about 8 people.  I made this with leftover corn and potatoes from a seafood boil.  It came out great!

Ingredients:

• ½ lb. of bacon, chopped into bite size pieces
• 1 medium Vidalia onion, finely chopped
• 1 medium, red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1 small jalapeño, chopped (seeds and ribs removed)
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 T. kosher salt
• ¼ C. all-purpose flour
• 6 C. chicken stock
• 2 large red potatoes, small diced
• 1 C. heavy cream
• 1 lb. frozen corn or 6 fresh ears
• ¼ t. cayenne pepper
• 1 bay leaf

Directions:

1. In a Dutch oven over medium heat, sauté the bacon until crisp then remove with a slotted spoon, drain on paper towels and reserve
2. Add the onions and red peppers to the pot and sauté until tender and translucent, about 5 minutes
3. Add the salt, garlic, and jalapeño and sauté for 1 minute
4. Add the flour and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring frequently
5. Stir in the chicken stock and the potatoes and simmer for 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender
6. Add the bacon, cream, corn, cayenne, and bay leaf
7. Simmer for 20 minute
8. Remove the bay leaf and about 4 C. of the chowder into a bowl
9. Puree the 4 C. of chowder in a blender or use an immersion blender
10. Return to the pot and stir well
11. Serve hot

Tips and Tricks:

• Do NOT scrap the seeds of a jalapeno pepper out with your fingernails.  You WILL regret this.  Scrap with a teaspoon and save your skin.
• Making your own chicken stock for this recipe is cheaper and tastes better. Follow my link to find out how I make mine.

Gorilla Bread

This is a great weekend breakfast.  I have made Monkey Bread on Christmas morning for years. This is similar to that, but with cream cheese.  It is a Paula Deen recipe, so bring out the butter.  It makes enough for 10 people, so put on a pot of coffee and gather your family or friends.

Ingredients:

• 2 cans of buttermilk biscuits, (10 count)
• 1 T. ground cinnamon
• ½ C. granulated sugar
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 C. brown sugar
• 1 (8 oz.) cream cheese
• 1 ½ C. chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Spray a Bundt pan with cooking spray
3. In a small sauce pan, melt a stick of butter on low heat
4. Add the brown sugar and stir until fully incorporated
5. In a medium sized bowl, combine the cinnamon and granulated sugar
6. Cut the cream cheese into 20 equal squares
7. Press the biscuits out with your fingers and sprinkle each with ½ t. of the cinnamon sugar
8. Place a cube of cream cheese in the center of each biscuit and seal the dough around the cream cheese
9. Sprinkle ½ C. of nuts and 1/3 of the mixture in the sauce pan into the bottom of the Bundt pan
10. Place 10 of the stuffed biscuits into the pan
11. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and pour another third of the mixture in the sauce pan and ½ C. nuts
12. Place the next 10 stuffed biscuits into the pan
13. Pour the remaining mixture from the sauce pan, nuts, and cinnamon sugar over the biscuits
14. Bake for 45 minutes
15. Remove from the oven and let the Gorilla Bread cool for 5 minutes
16. Place a plate on top of the Bundt pan and invert

Tips and Tricks:

• I use 1/3 less fat cream cheese.
• To manipulate the biscuits, just pat the biscuit flat between your palms.  Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar, then crimp the edges of the biscuit around the cream cheese forming a semi-circle.

Baked Ham

Baked Ham is a holiday treat, but in our family we eat it year round.  This recipe is my sister-in-law Donna's specialty.  

Ingredients:

• Smoked Ham, bone-in, whole or shank
• 1 box of light brown sugar, reserve 2/3 C. for the topping
• 1 (12 oz.) bottle of Dijon mustard
• 1 (12 oz.) bottle of honey
• 3/4 C. of beer
• 3/4 C. of Coke
• 1 can of sliced pineapples
• 2 T. corn starch

 Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees
2. In a medium sized pot on low heat, melt the honey, then whisk in the mustard then whisk in the sugar, then add the beer, and finally the Coke until all are combined
3. Place the ham in a roaster with a cover
4. Score the ham and attach the pineapples to the top of the ham with toothpicks
5. Pour the sauce over the ham, then pack the reserved brown sugar into the top
6. Cover the ham, or if you are using a baking pan cover with foil
7. Bake for 1 hour
8. Reduce the temperature to 200 degrees and bake for 8 hours
9. Raise the temperature to 300 degrees and remove the cover for the last hour - Total baking time will be 10 hours
10. Remove the ham from the roaster and place on a cutting board
11. Put the roaster on the stove and heat the sauce to a medium heat
12. Add ½ C. of cold water to the corn starch in a small bowl, whisk until fully dissolved
13. Add to the sauce and cook until the sauce thickens, about 15 minutes
14. Carve the ham and serve with the sauce

 Tips and Tricks:

• Add water to corn starch, NOT corn starch to water.  It makes a difference.  Whisking helps also, you don’t want lumps.
• When you carve a ham, you should carve the meat so your knife is perpendicular to the bone.  An electric knife works well for this project.

Mac and Cheese

Comfort food at its best.  Creamy and cheesy, Yum!  This is a combination of my Mom's recipe and a Paula Deen recipe.

Ingredients:

• 4 C. elbow macaroni, cooked
• ½ lb. Velveeta cheese, cut into squares
• 2 eggs, scrambled
• ½ C. sour cream
• 4 T. butter, cut into small squares
• 1 C. evaporated milk
• ½ T. Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
• 1 C. finely grated Cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cook the macaroni as directed on the package and drain
3. In a large bowl, combine all of the following ingredients, except the Cheddar cheese
4. Add the macaroni and mix well
5. Transfer the mixture into a baking dish
6. Bake for 30 minutes
7. Remove the casserole from the oven and sprinkle with the Cheddar cheese
8. Return to the oven for 5 minutes to melt the cheese
9. Let the casserole cool for 10 minutes before serving

Tips and Tricks:

• Don’t be tempted to cook the macaroni, al dente.  The macaroni should be fully cooked before mixing in the other ingredients.
• 2 C. of uncooked macaroni will yield 4 C. of cooked macaroni. 
• If you are making this for a special occasion, you can prepare this ahead of time, but wait to bake it the day it is to be served.

Meatballs and Scaccia Family Red Sauce

This is a combo recipe.  I've combined the recipe I use for meatballs which I've tweaked over the years and a recipe for Red Sauce from my friend, Sal's mother.  Sal's parents are from Sicily. His mom makes a delicious Red Sauce, and now you can too.

Ingredients:

Meat mixture:

• 1 lb. of ground chuck
• 1 lb. of ground pork
• 1 medium onion, chopped fine
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 egg
• 1 T. kosher salt
• ½ T. black pepper
• 2 T. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 C. bread crumbs
• ½ C. Romano cheese

Sauce:

• 2 T. vegetable oil
• 1 C. finely chopped onions
• 6 cloves of minced garlic
• 8 (6oz.) cans of tomato paste
• 4 (8oz.) cans of tomato sauce
• 10 C. water
• 2 T. kosher salt
• 1 t. black pepper
• ¾ C. sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a large pot, sauté the veggies minus the garlic on medium heat until limp
3. Add garlic and cook 1 minute
4. Add paste and cook for several minutes, then add sauce
5. Add water, stir well
6. Add salt, pepper and sugar and heat until bubbly
7. Lower the fire and cook for 1 hour (stirring frequently)
8. Mix all ingredients for the meat mixture in a large bowl
9. Make meatballs and place on a baking sheet
10. Bake meatballs for about 20 minutes or until brown
11. Add the meatballs to the sauce and cook for an additional hour
12. Serve over spaghetti or angel hair pasta

 Tips and Tricks:

• Meatloaf mix is ground beef, pork, and veal.  It is more expensive then buying the ground chuck and pork, but it makes great meatballs.  It’s your choice.
• I make meatballs with an ice cream scoop.  It makes about a 1 ½ oz. meatball.  This recipe will make about 28 meatballs.
• This freezes well. 

Sausage Balls

My friend, Ron's mom, Judy makes these when Ron and Jeff have friends over for breakfast or brunch.  I took her recipe and tweaked it a bit. One recipe will make about 50 (1" balls).

Ingredients:

• 2 C. biscuit mix
• 1 lb. of hot breakfast sausage in a roll
• 2 C. Sharp Cheddar cheese, finely shredded
• ¼ t. cayenne pepper
• 1 t. salt
• 1 t. garlic powder
• 1 t. Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. In a large bowl, mix the biscuit mix with the cayenne, salt, garlic powder, and Tony’s
3. Add the crumbled sausage and the cheese
4. Kneed the mixture together
5. Roll into balls about an inch in diameter
6. Place on cookie sheets and bake for 18 minutes
7. Use a spatula to flip the balls after 9 minutes
8. Remove from oven and move each to paper towels to absorb the excess grease
9. Serve with the dipping sauce in Tips and Tricks

 Tips and Tricks:

• These are a great for a brunch.
• These are good with a dipping sauce made with ½ C. mayonnaise and ¼ C. of Creole mustard.

Chicken Salad

This is a recipe I got Southern Living magazine about 15 years ago.  I added the Tony's, Creole mustard and roasting the chicken instead of boiling it.  It's easy to make.

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts bone-in skin on
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1 can of water chestnuts, chopped
• ¼ C. sour cream
• ¼ C. mayonnaise
• 1 T. Creole mustard
• 1 t. chopped dill
• 1 t. garlic salt
• 1 t. Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Rub chicken breasts with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper
3. Place chicken breasts skin side up on a sheet pan and bake for 35 minutes
4. After the breast meat is cooled, cut into large chunks
5. Mix all ingredients together
6. Refrigerate so the flavors can “marry”

Tips and Tricks:

• I use a rotisserie chicken’s breast when making this chicken salad sometimes.  I put the rest of the chicken in a big pot and make Chicken Stock. Follow my link to find out how I make mine.
• I usually cut green onions with kitchen shears.  It’s easier to cut them.
• I cut the sliced water chestnuts with the egg slicer.
• I have added sliced almonds to this recipe sometimes.  It looks nice, but it doesn’t change the taste of the chicken salad much.

German Potato Salad

I am German.  My Mom learned from her aunt how to make potato salad.  No recipe was written, but when I got one from the Germanfest I attended in Roberts Cove, LA and showed it to my Mom. She said, "That's it, that's the recipe my aunt used." My Mom doesn't make this potato salad (she has her own recipe, which I will share later) but I do. Here it is!  Thanks, Germanfest!

Ingredients:

• 6 medium sized Yukon Gold potatoes
• 3 eggs
• 6 green onions, finely chopped (greens only)
• ½ lb. bacon, cooked crisp
• 1 T. Dijon mustard
• ¼ C. apple cider vinegar
• 1 t. kosher salt
• ½ t. black pepper

Directions:

1. Boil potatoes and eggs in one pot together until potatoes are fork tender, about 30 minutes
2. While potatoes and eggs are boiling, cook bacon until crisp (save the drippings)
3. Quickly fry the green onions in the bacon drippings until limp
4. Whisk the drippings, onions, vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper together
5. Peel and cut the potatoes and eggs and while the potatoes are still warm pour the combined mixture over the potatoes and eggs
6. Serve warm

Tips and Tricks:

• I cut green onions with kitchen shears.  I think it is easier than chopping them.
• Apple cider vinegar is not necessary, but only use light colored vinegars.  Darker vinegars (like a balsamic) change the color of the potatoes and eggs and then it looks bad.

Crabmeat Au Gratin

This is another recipe from the cookbook that my sister-in-law, Darlene made me.  It is rich and creamy and we like to eat it with crackers.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. of lump crabmeat
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• ½ bell pepper, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• ¼ C. flour
• 1 pint of half and half
• ½ stick of butter
• 1 t. kosher salt
• ¼ t. black pepper
• ½ t. cayenne pepper
• 2 egg yolks, beaten
• 1 C. grated cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. In a skillet, sauté the onions, celery, bell pepper in butter, until limp
3. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute
4. Add the flour, then pour in the half and half gradually and stir constantly
5. Add the egg yolks, salt and peppers
6. Add the crabmeat and mix will
7. Spray a casserole dish with a cooking spray and transfer the mixture to the baking dish
8. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top of the mixture and bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese is lightly browned

Tips and Tricks:

• This can be made ahead and kept in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve it.  Don’t put the cheese on top until you are ready to bake it and serve it.
• I serve this with crackers.  Flaky buttery crackers like Club or Ritz are good.