Red Enchilada Sauce~Top your favorite enchiladas

My hubby wanted some enchiladas for Sunday dinner.  I don't like the canned enchilada sauce so I set out to find a homemade sauce to try.  I quickly found one that I had bookmarked from Pam at For The Love of Cooking.  She has the most amazing recipes and I love browsing through her blog when I'm looking for something special.  I topped our Beef Taco and Cheese Enchiladas with the sauce, and they were great.  I will share that recipe with you tomorrow.

Ingredients:

1 T canola oil
1/2 cup yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 T chili powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried Mexican oregano
kosher salt
black pepper
1 - 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
1 tsp honey

In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, heat up the canola oil.  Add the yellow onion, salt, and pepper and cook for 5 minutes.  Add the garlic, chili powder, cumin, and oregano and cook for 1 minute.  Crush the tomatoes by hand and add them to the pan.  Add the honey and stir well.  Bring to a simmer, cover, and turn heat to low.  Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

After 30 minutes, turn off the heat and transfer to a bowl and let cool slightly.  Puree in a food processor in two batches, being careful not to overfill since the liquid is hot.  Use on your favorite enchiladas or Mexican dish.  Enjoy!

Southern Sausage Gravy

This gravy is good on biscuits, mashed potatoes, chicken, or just straight from a spoon. You only need a few ingredients and less than 10 minutes for some great homemade gravy.  We had it over some biscuits this morning, and the rest topped off our mashed potatoes and chicken tenders at dinner.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb breakfast sausage, crumbled
2 T butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 cups milk
kosher salt
black pepper

In a large skillet over medium high heat, crumble up the breakfast sausage.  I use a potato masher to break the sausage up into smaller pieces.  Cook until no longer pink.  Add the butter and once it is melted, stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes.  Add the milk and bring to a boil.  Lower heat and cook until thickened, stirring occasionally.  Season with salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.  If it gets too thick, add some more milk.  Enjoy!

Chunky Cinnamon Apple Sauce

This is my Mimaw's recipe that I found in my Mom's recipe file.  I remember it always being in the fridge every time I visited her and my Meemaw.  My girls love cinnamon apple sauce, and I have to admit, I've never made it homemade.  I've always bought Mott's, and my girls top it with a maraschino cherry.  Now that I know how easy it is to make, there's no excuse not to make it more often when Granny Smith apples are in season.  It sure brings back memories of my sweet Mimaw.  I miss her dearly.

Ingredients:

4-5 cups Granny Smith apples (3 very large or 6 small), peeled and sliced thin
1/4 cup white sugar
1 T brown sugar
2/3 cup water
1 tsp cinnamon

In a large sauce pan, add all ingredients and stir to coat apples.  Cover with a lid and cook over low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove the lid and stir well to break up the apples.  Cook another few minutes until the mixture is thickened.  Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until ready to serve.  Enjoy!

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving was a success!  Our family and friends joined us for a day full of fun, food, and Dallas Cowboys football. I love my family! Here's what we did...

The week before, my girls made some salt dough Christmas tree ornaments to give to our family and friends on Thanksgiving day. 

The menu was finalized, and only one item didn't make it to the table...the caramel apple pie.  We already had 3 desserts, which was plenty for 12 people.  

Thanksgiving Dinner 2010

Appetizers

Spinach Dip with Tortilla Chips

Chilled Shrimp with Cocktail Sauce

Cheese/Salami/Cracker Platter

Fruit Tray with Thanksgiving Fruit Dip

Dinner

Bill’s Famous Deep Fried Turkey

Honey Baked Spiral Ham

Country Dressing

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Turkey Gravy

Macaroni and Cheese

Green Bean Casserole

Vegetable & Tomato Tian

Sweet Potato Casserole

Cranberry Sauce

Dinner Rolls

Desserts

Caramel Apple Pie

Coconut Cream Pie

Maple Pecan Pie

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Caramel Sauce

Fresh Whipped Cream And/Or Vanilla Ice Cream

 

The night before Thanksgiving, my oldest daughter helped me make all this good stuff:

Cranberry Mandarin Orange Sauce

Coconut Cream Pie

Maple Pecan Pie

Pumpkin Cheesecake (topped with caramel sauce later)

The dinner rolls were also prepared and put in the fridge to rise overnight. 

The tables were set

The Thanksgiving wreath I made earlier that day was on the front door to welcome our family and friends

And it's finally time for some shut eye before finishing up in the morning! ZZZZZzzzzzZZZZZzzzzzz

I woke up bright and early to finish preparing the rest of the side dishes for our big dinner.  The ladies in the family set up all the appetizers on the kitchen table. 

My girls were hungry and thirsty...they dug right in

The girls patiently waited at the front door for our family to arrive

Family arrived...

Bill fried up our turkey

Just look at this big moist Turkey with crispy skin!

While the ladies helped me finish up the rest of the meal. 

The girls are ready to eat

The food's hot and ready...amazingly so!

Bill's Fried Turkey

Honey Glazed Ham

Country Dressing

Mom's Cheesy Green Bean Casserole

Sweet Potato Casserole

Vegetable and Tomato Tian

Garlic Mashed Potatoes & Turkey Gravy

Bill's Pea Salad

After the big Turkey dinner, we were all stuffed. It was time to relax and enjoy some family fun time. Our girls put on a concert for us. Our Taylor wants to be the next Taylor Swift...

and Jordyn will be her backup musician...

while Madison watches with pride...

 

I'm so thankful for my family! I love them all so much!

Buttermilk Garlic Dressing/Dip

I grew up in the North Dallas area where there were so many great restaurants to choose from.  My family would go to church and then rotate between a few of our favorite restaurants for lunch.  One of my favorite restaurants is Houston's.  Then when my husband and I were dating, I found out his dad used to take him to Houston's all the time too.  So many Sundays were spent at this upscale restaurant.  My husband and I would go there on dates and on Sunday afternoons to keep the tradition going.  Houston's has many fabulous meal size salads and several homemade salad dressings.  I ate a few of their salads back in the day and would always get their buttermilk garlic dressing.  My husband's favorite thing on their menu was the Prime Rib sandwich that was served with shoestring french fries and he would order a side of Buttermilk Garlic dressing for dipping.  It was sooooo good!  Oh how I miss Houston's!  I tried to recreate their recipe and I think it's pretty darn close to perfect.  I added some cayenne pepper for some kick, or you can leave it out and enjoy the sweetness of the original.  I also use lite sour cream and mayonnaise...I'm sure Houston's doesn't use "LITE" anything in their restaurant.

My husband and I had salads for lunch yesterday topped with this fabulous homemade Buttermilk Garlic dressing.  I'm thinking about making some shoestring french fries for dipping just to make sure it really tastes perfect!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup lite sour cream
1 cup lite mayonnaise
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 large clove garlic, crushed (paste using knife blade and kosher salt)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 heaping tsp paprika
1 heaping tsp ground mustard
2 T white sugar
1/2 tsp (or more) cayenne pepper

Add all the ingredients to a bowl and whisk until smooth and creamy.  Add more buttermilk to thin if needed.  Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours so flavors will combine.  This is great served over a refreshing salad or used as a dip...for french fries, or veggies.  Enjoy!

Tip: Did you know you can make buttermilk using items you probably already have on hand? Just combine 1 cup milk with 1 T white vinegar. Let sit for 5 minutes, then use in your recipe. I used 2 tsp white vinegar for 3/4 cup milk for this recipe.

Hubby's lunch salad with sliced salami

Homemade Marinara

I make this marinara sauce for spaghetti, rigatoni, manicotti, lasagna, and pizza.  It's simple and smells so wonderful simmering on the stove. 

Ingredients:

2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 - medium white or yellow onion, diced
3 - cloves garlic, minced
1 - 15 oz. can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano (with juice)
1 - 29 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 - 29 oz. can tomato sauce
2 T Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 bay leaves
pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
pinch of sugar (optional)

Saute onion in olive oil until translucent. Add garlic and cook 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally. Sauce will reduce and thicken. Remove bay leaves before serving. Serve with any pasta or use on pizza.

Note: This photo is my meat sauce. You can easily make this a meat sauce by browning 1 lb. lean ground beef first before adding onion.