As the Holidays Begin.......... Since joining Pinterest the recipes seem to build up and the holidays are always a good time to try them out. This Thanksgiving we hosted both sides of the family but on different days and different menus. Thursday: My family came for an evening Thanksgiving dinner. The afternoon we had snacks before the traditional turkey dinner at night. Leon brined and smoked one of the turkeys and the other was a bagged oven cooked one. We also provided the bean casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pecan pie, pecan pumpkin crunch dessert, wine and sangria.  The 2 recipes that I would like to share are

Pecan Pumpkin Crunch

INGREDIENTS

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• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for baking dish
• 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree (not pie mix)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar, divided
• 1 tablespoon bourbon, optional
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
• 1/8 teaspoon table salt
• 1 1/2 cups roughly chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
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DIRECTIONS

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F and arrange a rack in the middle. Coat an 8 by 8-inch baking dish with butter and set aside.

Combine the pumpkin, cream, eggs, sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, bourbon, if using, ginger, nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Whisk until evenly combined and pour into the prepared baking dish.

Cut the butter into small pieces and add to a medium bowl. Stir in the pecans, flour, and the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/8 teaspoon salt and mix until it holds together somewhat but still crumbles. Scatter the topping over the pumpkin mixture and bake until the edges are puffed and the filling is set in the center, about 55 to 60 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool to room temperature. Serve with whipped Cream and/or ice cream. 

My mom brought the fixings for a delicious vegetable made with brussels sprouts and cauliflower.  My family love brussels sprouts so we were all anxious to taste this vegetable dish.  It will be made again real soon!

Parmesan Brussels & Cauliflower

4 slices of bacon cooked until crispy reserve 1 tablespoon of the drippings

Mix with the drippings in a large bowl:

3 cloves of garlic finely minced

1/2 Tablespoon of olive oil

1/2 Tablespoon of butter

pinch of kosher salt and pepper

Add to bowl and toss:

2 cups of brussel sprouts halved

2 cups of cauliflower separated into florets

Grease a 9x15 baking pan

Pour in mixture and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes

Sprinkle on 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese and bake for another 5 minutes or until the veggies are tender.

Sprinkle with the bacon when ready to serve

Friday's Menu for Leon's side of the family was soup during the Cornhusker game!  Leon and I each made our favorite soups of Chicken Noodle and Hearty Italian.  Family members brought bread, vegetable tray, broccoli soup and desserts including a pumpkin bread pudding and a raspberry pie. 

 Hearty Italian Soup

Ingredients

• 1 lb Italian sausage
• 1 green peppers, chopped
• 1 onions, chopped
• 1 (28 ounce) cans tomatoes, diced
• 1 (16 ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 1 (16 ounce) cans water
• 3 chicken bouillon cubes
• 3/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• 3/4 cup macaroni, rings
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions

1. In Dutch oven, brown sausage, green pepper, and onion. Drain.
2. Stir in remaining ingredients except macaroni and cheese. Cover. Simmer 15 minutes.
3. Stir in macaroni. Cover and simmer 10 to 12 minutes, until macaroni is tender.
4. Top individual servings with cheese.

My sister -in-law Eileen brought this wonderful low calorie pie which both of my children said they would love to have the recipe for.  

Light Raspberry Pie

Mix together:

8 ounces of softened cream cheese

1 6 ounce raspberry yogurt

2 Tablespoons of suger or splenda

Add:

1 cup of fresh or thawed frozen raspberries

Fold in:

1 8 ounce carton of Cool whip

Pour into graham cracker crust and refrigerate

Happy Thanksgiving from Gentrup's Cooking!

Boy School got in the way and then summer came and I have not spent much time with my blogs. Even my school blog suffered. Leon and I have been trying a lot of new recipes and he and our son are gearing up for a Rib competition for our church. Pinterest has been very useful and we are trying different recipes to find the winning combination.

BBQ Ribs Grill Master Paul's Ribs 1 rack of ribs 1/2 cup of dry rub 1 can fruit mop optional BBQ sauce The Prep: Dry Rub makes about a cup 4 tablespoons paprika 2 tablespoons chili powder 2 tablespoons kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 tablespoon garlic powder 1 tablespoon onion powder 1 tablespoon black pepper 2 teaspoons cumin 1 tablespoon dried thyme 3 tablespoons brown sugar Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. You will use about half of this for a rack of ribs. Store what you don't use in an airtight container for future use. Trim a rack of spare ribs of excess fat and silver skin. Cut off "skirt" and cut rack in half . Massage a liberal amount of dry rub into the ribs. Seal in plastic bag, removing the air, and refrigerate for 8-24 hours. Getting Fired Up: Soak a few handfuls of wood chips in water for 30 minutes. Take ribs out of refrigerator and allow ribs to sit at room temperature before grilling. Place wood chips in a foil packet and poke lots of holes through the top and bottom of the packet. Place the foil packet on the rack over the back burner of the grill. Allow grill to heat up to 450 degrees with the grill lid shut. Next to the packet, place a can of fruit mop. Fruit Mop 2 cups water 1/2 lemon cut into 4 pieces 1/2 orange cut into 4 pieces Place fruit in a clean can and fill with 2 cups of water. (you can also use apple cider, cut up apples, and a few tablespoons of cider vinegar if you prefer) After the woods chips begin to smoke, and the temperature of the grill has reached 450 degrees, turn off all but the back burner. Lower the back burner to medium heat. You will be cooking over indirect heat, meaning no meat will be placed over a direct flame. The only thing over the flame is your wood chips and mop can. Let temperature fall to 300 degrees before you put the ribs on the grill. Get Grilling! When grill is 300 degrees, place ribs on grill (not over flame) meat side down. Temperature will drop once the meat is on the grill. Close the cover, allow to cook at 225-250 degrees, adjusting the rear burner as necessary to maintain temperature. Allow to cook and smoke for half an hour. Turn the ribs and cook the other side for half an hour. Keep the lid closed as much as possible throughout the cooking process. After the first hour start applying fruit mop with a heavy brush every time you turn the ribs. You will flip and mop every 20 minutes until the ribs are done, about another hour to an hour and a half more. They will form a lovely crust and stay moist inside. Total cooking time is 2 1/2 hours. Critical points to remember: If any flame appears from melting fat or wood chips catching fire, immediately extinguish. Have a spray bottle of water handy. (you can spray yourself as well if you get too hot!) Don't let the temperature rise above 250 degrees during the cooking process. If it starts to get too hot, open the grill and use your fruit mop to cool things down a bit. You can brush on some BBQ sauce at the end and grill on each side for 2 minutes more. I have to warn you that this makes a mess of your grill. We prefer to heat up a little sauce on the side and apply it after the ribs come off the grill. You can also serve them without any sauce and leave the saucing up to each individual. While your ribs are cooking you can whip up a batch of this sauce. Let the ribs sit for 5 minutes before carving into individual pieces.

Trying new Recipes is fun!

Boy, I can't believe that it has been over a month since my last post :(  I have been busy with school and life so I guess I have an excuse.  With my committed interest in Pinterest I have found some great recipes and have tried them out.   I do have an update on the lettuce  vacuumed in a jar......it works great and I had a salad after 14 days of it in my frig and I had maybe 2 or three leaves that I didn't want to eat but the rest was just as good as the day I purchased it.   We even tried the mix salad from a bag with the purple cabbage and carrots and that worked also.  My son loves this!   When he comes home from work he has an instant meal without the chopping.  Last weekend we had our 2 bathroom sinks barely draining so I went to Pinterest (i know this is nothing about food) and found a homemade drain cleaner.  We added baking soda to the drain and then vinegar until it pooled in the sink.  Let this sit for 10 - 15 minutes then take a kettle of boiling water and pour down the drain and it unclogged and is still working great after a week!  My son was amazed and so was I!
Well back to my new recipes:
Leon has been hungry for Shepherds Pie and he wanted it with lamb.  Well I made it but not with lamb but ground Beef.

Shepherds Pie
1 1/2 pounds of ground beef
1 small onion diced
1/2 cup of Beef stock
2 cans of Cream of Celery Soup (undiluted)
1 package of frozen mixed vegetables
Mashed potatoes for 8
1 cup of shredded colby-jack cheese

Brown the ground beef with the onion.  Drain any fat.  Add the beef stock, cream of celery soup and mixed vegetables.   Let this cook for 5 minutes.  Meanwhile make your instant mashed potatoes.  Transfer the ground beef mixture to pan and then spread the mashed potatoes on top.  Sprinkle with cheese and then bake for 30 minutes at 350 degree oven.  I served this with biscuits for a nice winter meal.

Pinterest Addiction

I am totally addicted to Pinterest.  I love new recipes and  have found a place to put all those recipes along with sharing them with others.  I can get lost in all the great stuff you can find and it is not only food!.  I have found some awesome ideas for school, home and fashion.  I even have a board with ideas for next Christmas.  Today i used my Sunday to make several of the ideas I found.  The first is a recipe for delicious soft pretzel bites.

PRETZEL BITES

Texas size Rhodes Frozen roll dough 

( I used Surfine frozen bread and got 30 pretzel bites from one loaf)

*as many as you like – each roll makes four bites

coarse salt, parmesan, garlic, cinnamon & sugar

Take a thawed roll or loaf.  Cut it in four equal sections.  Place dough bites on greased sheets. I placed five across and five down on large baking sheets.  Cover with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, and let dough rise until double in size. (about 35-45 minutes) Bring a large pot of water to a gentle boil.  When dough has risen, plop about 10 pieces into the boiling water, tossing gently for about 45 seconds. Remove with slotted spoon, and place bites on paper towels to drain slightly.  Move bites to greased baking sheets, and bake at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes or until done and golden brown.  (Mine took about 20 minutes)

Brush bites with melted butter, sprinkle with Kosher or Sea Salt, garlic and toss in Parmesan cheese.  You can also make Cinnamon and Sugar bites. Make a mixture of Cinnamon and sugar:  About 1 cup sugar and 1 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon, and mix together well. After you butter the pretzel bites, toss in cinnamon and sugar mixture.

You can serve the Parmesan Pretzel bites with a cheddar dip, and the Cinnamon and Sugar Pretzel bites with Vanilla glaze.  So yummy . . . so simple!

Next Leon & I are trying to lose weight and we hate to always have to cut up the lettuce, wash it, eat some of it and then throw the rest away because it got bad.  Well........Pinterest to the rescue.  Leon cut up three romaine hearts in bite size pieces.  Then he spun ten dry in our salad spinner.  From there he filled up 5 quart jars and vacuumed sealed the lids with our food sealer.  This is suppose to keep for salad crisp and ready to use for up to 10 days in the refrigerator.   Worth a try :)

My friend Linda has been talking about steel cut oats and even brought me back a box from Trader Joe's.  I found a wonderful way to make a weeks worth of oatmeal which I can grab as I head to school, microwave and have a good satisfying breakfast without the mess and cooking in the morning.  Much better for you ten the packets plus I can add what I want in it!

Make a Week of Steel-Cut Oats in 5 Minutes

Ingredients

1 2/3 cups steel-cut oats
4 cups water
Large pinch salt

Mix-Ins:
Milk or soy milk
Cinnamon or other spices
Raisins or other dried fruit
Walnuts or other nuts
Jam
Honey

Equipment

5 pint-sized Mason jars with lids (I decided to use plastic bowls)
Large saucepan
Ladle

Instructions

1. Collect your jars and other equipment. I like pint-sized jars for this as they allow a little more room for adding nuts, raisins, and milk later. But you can also use half-pint jars.

2. Bring the oats, water and salt to a boil. Simmer for about 3 minutes then turn off the heat.

3. Ladle the oats and water into the jars. Cover the jars tightly with their caps and rings. Leave on the counter overnight. (This is how I make my oatmeal and I have had absolutely no problems with it, healthwise, but if for some reason you are not comfortable leaving hot oatmeal out overnight, you can also refrigerate the jars. The oatmeal won't be quite as well cooked in the morning; it will be a thinner, less creamy oatmeal. But it will still be fine.)

4. The next morning, put all but one of the jars in the refrigerator. Take the cap off one jar and stir up the oatmeal inside. Microwave for 2 to 3 minutes, or until quite hot. Add any milk, raisins, or other mix-ins. Enjoy!

Additional Notes:
• You can also add your raisins, cinnamon, or other mix-ins to the rest of the jars before putting them away in the refrigerator. Then all you have to do is grab one and go on your way out the door.

Holiday Food Fest

The kids are home from College and of course they have favorite foods that they want to make. This year was especially fun since they decided that they would help with the food! We had the Crain side of the family for Christmas on Christmas Eve and it was an appetizer fare. One of the new recipes we tried was one I found on Pinterest. I am hooked on pinterest and have found tons of good recipes to try. My brother said they tasted like a breakfast casserole in a meatball form.  Very easy & quick to make!
 Cream Cheese Sausage Balls
1 lb hot sausage, uncooked 8 oz cream cheese, softened 1 1/4 cups Bisquick 4 oz cheddar cheese Preheat oven to 400F. Mix all ingredients until well combined. (I use my KitchenAid mixer with the dough hook attachment) Roll into 1-inch balls. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until brown. Sausage balls may be frozen uncooked. If baking frozen, add a few minutes to the baking time.
 www.plainchicken.com

Our Fall has Ended!

It is time for soup....... I love soup and tend to fix large pots for leftovers. I love to come home on a cold night from work and know that I have a hearty bowl of soup waiting for me. I also have to have a good slice of bread and love Leon's Cottage Cheese Bread he makes in the bread maker. The recipe to follow.
The soup I love is White Chicken Chili
Bush's White Bean Chicken Chili
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion,chopped
2 cloves of garlic,minced
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1 (18.75 ounce) can tomatillos,drained and chopped
1 (16 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 ( 7 ounce ) can diced green chiles
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seed
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
2 ears of fresh corn (I used frozen)
1 pound diced, cooked chicken meat
1 ( 15 ounce) can white beans
Salt & pepper to taste
Heat oil, and cook onion and garlic until soft.
Stir in broth, tomatillos, tomatoes, chiles, and spices. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.
Add corn, chicken, and beans; simmer 5 minutes. Season with salt & pepper to taste

Thanksgiving Yummies

Layered Pumpkin Dessert 25 NABISCO Ginger Snaps, finely crushed (about 1-1/3 cups) 1/4 cup butter, melted 2 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened 1/2 cup sugar 1-1/2 cups canned pumpkin 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg 2 eggs 2 pkg. (3.4 oz. each) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding 2 cups cold milk 1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided 1/2 cup chopped PLANTERS Pecans, toasted make it HEAT oven to 350°F. MIX cookie crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 13x9-inch pan. Bake 10 min. Beat cream cheese and sugar with mixer until well blended. Add pumpkin and spices; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating on low speed after each just until blended; pour over crust. BAKE 30 min. or until center is almost set. Cool 1 hour. BEAT pudding mixes and milk in medium bowl with whisk 2 min. Stir in 1 cup COOL WHIP. Spread over dessert; cover with remaining COOL WHIP. REFRIGERATE 3 hours or until firm. Sprinkle with nuts before serving. kraft kitchens tips SIZE-WISE Sweets can be part of a balanced diet but remember to keep tabs on portions. MAKE AHEAD Dessert can be refrigerated up to 2 days before serving. HOW TO TOAST NUTS Toasting nuts adds crunch and intensifies their flavor. To toast nuts in the oven, spread nuts in single layer in shallow baking pan. Bake at 350°F for 8 to 10 min. or until golden brown, stirring occasionally. To toast nuts on the stovetop, place nuts in ungreased skillet. Cook on medium heat until golden brown, stirring frequently. To toast nuts in the microwave, place up to 1 cup of nuts in a microwaveable shallow dish. Microwave on HIGH until fragrant and crisp, stirring every 30 sec.