Thursday, March 13, 2014

Italian Crescent Casserole

This is one of our most favorite recipes.  The girls have even requested it for their birthday dinners.
It is so yummy & also so easy to make.
And…..more than likely it is ingredients you always have on hand.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 cup pasta sauce
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup sour cream (or more to make it more creamy)
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tube of crescent dinner rolls
2 TBL butter
Minced garlic

Directions:
Cook your ground beef and add in 1 or 2 cloves of garlic.
Once cooked, add in pasta sauce and store until heated.

In a medium bowl, combine mozzarella cheese and sour cream and mix well.

Pour the hot beef mixture in the bottom of an ungreased 9 1/2 or 10 inch deep-dish pie pan.
(any size dish will do, really)


Spread the cheese mixture on top of the  meat.

Unroll the crescent roll dough and place over the cheese mixture.

Depending on your size dish, you may have to get creative with how you place the dough.
The original recipe says to separate the dough into 8 triangles; arrange points toward the center over the mixture, crimping the edges if necessary.
I used a square dish this time and just slapped that dough right on top, breaking a part a few triangles so that every thing was covered.

Put the melted butter and some minced garlic in a microwave safe dish and heat.

For some reason, this time I mixed the Parmesan cheese with my butter BEFORE I melted it.
Uh-Oh - don't do that.
Melt your butter first and THEN add your cheese…...

'cause I ended up with a big clunk of Parmesean cheese that wasn't spreadable.

Spread the butter/cheese/garlic mixture over top the crescent roll.

Bake for 18-25 minutes at 375, until deep golden brown.


Broccoli using the leftover sauce from my Asparagus Parmigiano recipe.

Yuck, my sauces started to run together.  I had to put a stop to that quickly.


Directions:
Cook your ground beef and add in 1 or 2 cloves of garlic.
Once cooked, add in pasta sauce and store until heated.

In a medium bowl, combine mozzarella cheese and sour cream and mix well.

Pour the hot beef mixture in the bottom of an ungreased 9 1/2 or 10 inch deep-dish pie pan.
Spread the cheese mixture on top of the  meat.

Unroll the crescent roll dough and place over the cheese mixture.

Put the melted butter and some minced garlic in a microwave safe dish and heat.
Spread the butter/cheese/garlic mixture over top the crescent roll.

Bake for 18-25 minutes at 375, until deep golden brown.



The original recipe is from Pillsbury

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Asparagus Parmigiano


I never realized how pretty asparagus was.
I was looking for inspiration for a photo prompt for my 'photo a day' on Instagram - the word was "half," and as I was prepping my asparagus for dinner and breaking off the asparagus stalks, I saw the pretty purple triangles on the stalk - the other half.
Isn't it pretty?


Here is what you will need to create this flavorful dish.
And by flavorful, I mean my girls LOVE it.
That always makes it a top recipe for me.

A bunch or 2 of asparagus



3/4 cup of sour cream

2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 cup Parmesean cheese
+
1 tsp salt

Mix it together (minus the asparagus) in a bowl
Cook the asparagus (I cook mine in a pampered chef steamer and hit the fresh vegetable button on my microwave)
Cook the sour cream mixture in a saucepan; heat slowy, but do not boil.



 Arrange the cooked asparagus on a platter and top with the cream sauce.
Sprinkle paprika as a garnish, if you would like.  
I forgot.


Ingredients:
Fresh asparagus
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup Parmesean cheese
2 tsps lemon juice
1 tsp salt

Directions:
Cook asparagus and drain.
Combine sour cream, cheese, lemon juice and salt in a saucepan.
Heat slowly, but do not boil.
Arrange asparagus on a platter.
Top with cream sauce.
Sprinkle with paprika. *optional





**This recipe is from my Virginia Hospitality cookbook.