"American Chop Suey" aka Nannie Sketti

 I first posted this recipe 20 years ago. I cannot believe it's been 20 years! It's been a staple in my family since before I was born. I've renamed it Nannie Sketti in honor of my mother, whom my children called Nannie. She made it consistently throughout my life until I moved out and started making it myself. My sister also makes it, and I'm sure she makes it her own way just like I've adapted my mother's recipe to fit our tastes. I hope you enjoy it!

American Chop Suey

• 1 lb ground beef 
• 2 28 oz cans whole tomatoes
• 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 lg onion, chopped
• 1-2 Tb. oil
• garlic salt
• onion powder
• salt & pepper
• 1 lb spaghetti or angel hair

---

In a tablespoon or two of oil, brown the onions. Add the hamburger and brown. I typically sprinkle the garlic salt & onion powder over the meat/onion mixture, enough to coat without drowning.

Once the hamburger is cooked through, hand crush the tomatoes and add the juice to the pot. Add 1-1/2 - 2 cans of water. Again sprinkle the garlic salt & onion powder across the pot, add salt & pepper. Simmer while the spaghetti cooks. The longer you simmer, the better. Top it off with your favorite cheese!

Low-Fat Breakfast Frittata

This is the type of recipe where you can add or remove any fresh, healthy component and it will still taste great. For example, next time I might use tomatoes, onions, spinach, and different types of cheese. But these are the ingredients I had on hand, so that's what I used.  

Note that I did not use any type of fat to "grease" the pan and the eggs did stick a little, but nothing I couldn't handle with a spatula :)

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. zucchini slices
• 1-1/2 oz. chopped green pepper
• 3 oz. chopped broccoli 
• 2-1/2 oz. shredded mozzarella
• 6 lg eggs

I simply layered the items in a quiche pan as listed, topped with cheese, and popped into the oven  at 350F for approximately 15 minutes. It was delicious!

What veggies might you substitute? What about herbs? I'm always looking for new & yummy ways to wake up my breakfast.

https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076

Amount per serving
Calories	76
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 2g	3%
Saturated Fat 1g	5%
Cholesterol 5mg	2%
Sodium 134mg	6%
Total Carbohydrate 3.4g	1%
Dietary Fiber 1.1g	4%
Total Sugars 1.6g
Protein 10.7g
Vitamin D 0mcg	0%
Calcium 71mg	5%
Iron 0mg	2%
Potassium 285mg	6%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet.2,000 calorie a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Tomato Pie - Summertime Deliciousness!

 

Tomato Pie ('Mater Pie)

By now, anyone with access to fresh tomatoes might have an overflowing bounty of them. Here in Tennessee, we've had so much rain that the tomato crop certainly has benefited greatly from the weather. Your first instinct might be to use them for this recipe, but in truth, unless you've grown romas, you might wind up with a soggy pie if you use those gorgeous, fat & juicy tomatoes from your garden. That's what happened to me when I made this the first time. LOL You'll have to squeeze those tomatoes free of their juice before you use them for the pie, or you can just buy some Romas and begin. Here's what I did:

5 BIG roma tomatoes - they were the size of my closed fist!

Slice them in 1/4" slices and arrange them in a colander so that when you sprinkle them with salt, they will all get some.

Let them sit for at least 30 minutes or longer, to help them release their juices. While that's working, you're going to put your pie crust in the pan (I used a cast iron skillet) and pre-bake it at 350 for 30 minutes. This is vital! 

Now it's time to assemble the rest. 

1/2 cup (or more) of your favorite mayo

1/2 cup (or more) shredded parmesan cheese

3 (or more) cloves of minced garlic

1 cup (or more) shredded mozzarella

a good handful of fresh basil leaves that you've shredded

Mix all of this together and set aside.

Is the pie shell done yet?

Once it is, you're going to line the bottom with 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese. This will help protect the crust from getting soggy. It works!

Now take some paper towel and blot your tomatoes dry - as dry as you can anyway. 

Next, arrange the sliced tomatoes in the pie crust in whatever way you choose. I tried not to stack but to keep them offset from each other. You'll want to do this so that the topping that you mixed earlier can ooze down and get to all the tomatoes! There's no science to this. Now just spread the mayo & cheese mixture over the tomatoes in an attempt to coat everything. Top it off with another handful of parmesan on top and place it in the oven for 30 minutes or until the top is that beautiful toasted cheesy color.

Voila!

A word of warning! As good as it looks, you will be much better off if you let it sit for at least 10 minutes so that the juices & cheese set some. Otherwise, you will not get slices, but rather you'll have more of a tomato & cheese soup :) Ask me how I know. ;)

I served this with grilled chicken, but I have it in mind to alter this recipe and put some grilled chicken in there before I bake it! I'll let you know how that turns out!

Enjoy! Please come back and let me know if you make this delicious 'mater pie!

Shakshuka, Dawn style

Smoked sausage pasta toss

Delicious and quick - my 2 favorite words!  I posted this on spark recipes, so figured I'd just copy & paste it here.  I was trying to clean out some stuff in the fridge, and this recipe was born.  You could easily add some fresh veggies, or more veggies. This is just what I did, and it came out soooo yummy, I wanted to share :)
Enjoy!

SMOKED SAUSAGE PASTA TOSS

Minutes to Prepare: 5

Minutes to Cook: 10

Number of Servings: 4

Ingredients

7 oz Hillshire Farm Turkey Smoked Sausage - cubed
1.5 cup Kroger Recipe Beginnings Cajun Mirepoix Blend (Onion, Green Pepper, Celery) 
2 clove Garlic, sliced
3 cup Spaghetti 
.75 cup Del Monte Petite Cut Diced Tomatoes with juices
2 tbsp Parmesan Cheese, shredded 
1 1tsp Coconut Oil 

Tips

You could easily substitute chicken or any kind of meat. I used the smoked sausage as I was trying to clean out my fridge. You can also, of course, use fresh veggies, but again, I was trying to get fridge cleaned up :)

Directions

Saute veggie mix in olive oil.
Cook spaghetti separately
when veggies are cooked, add in sausage and warm thoroughly
When spaghetti is cooked, toss with juice from tomatoes
Add tomatoes, and meat/veggie mix.
Top with cheese.

Serving Size: makes 4 servings

wow

I have had this blog for a long time.  It's carried me through 3 states, 2 additional kids, and a LOT of yummy food.  I haven't updated it in a very long time for a few reasons.  One of those reasons was that the "man" that I'd spent the last couple of decades with had decided that blogging was a waste of time.  Because I'd dealt with his demoralizing tactics for years, my blogs (all of them!) fell to the way-side and I shut off this valuable tool in my arsenal of self-expression.  Well, guess what!

Now he's gone, out of the picture - shacking up and playing house with an older version of who he wanted me to be.  The kids & I have started over - literally from scratch - and I need to reclaim those things that I love(d) and allowed me to express myself.  I'm not going to spend vast amounts of time drumming up traffic to  my blogs.  I'm not going to worry about SEO and social media marketing.  I just want to reclaim these places that I loved and had spent so much time and energy building, to continue to make it a source for others - as well as me - to go for yumminess!  Follow along if you'd like :)

Homemade butter in 10 minutes!

Yes, you read that right.  10 minutes is all it takes to make homemade butter! This is not a sponsored post - it is just my own way of doing things, and it works great.

All you need is:

• a clean jar with a leak-proof lid
• heavy whipping cream

Seriously that's it.

All you do is pour the whipping cream into the jar - I did about 1/2 cup at a time.  Then you close the jar tightly and start shaking it.  I just alternated arms when I got tired, but within 9 minutes, the buttermilk separates from the milk fat (which is butter!).  Simpy pour the buttermilk out of the jar, and you can use that for whatever people use buttermilk for.  Then I put the butter into a covered bowl for the fridge.  If you leave it out on the counter for a few days (like I do), it'll sour.  So refrigerate! :)

Step 1.  Pour the milk into the jar.

Step 2. Shake - shake - shake!

3 Minutes later, we have whipped cream (without the sugar)

 After about 6 minutes, we start to see separation.

After 9 minutes, we have completely separated the buttermilk from the milkfat.

Just pour the buttermilk out (into a bowl or whatever) and then you have butter!

I used the butter immediately to make an egg for breakfast.  It tastes just like the unsalted butter I normally buy, but haven't in a while because the prices have gone up so much.  

Let me know if you try it!

Creamy basil & tomato salsa

Hi guys,

Remember me?  I used to record all of my most favorite recipes here, both as a way of saving them, and of sharing my love of FOOD!

Well, I still love food, but my blogging habit was effectively squashed for quite some time.  I am (still) a full time college student, have one kid going into his senior year of high school, and 2 more at home that I homeschool.  When I began this blog 9(!!!) years ago, I didn't even have one of those kids yet!  It is amazing to me how much time (and food) has passed through these pages, and I am hoping to try and post here more often.

In the intervening years since I've posted last, we moved to East Tennessee.  The NSSO (not so significant other) decided not to dig in a garden this year, so I have had to supplement my love of fresh tomatoes and basil with offerings from the markets.  Fortunately, most markets carry local produce in the summer, so those farm-fresh tomatoes are still available to me.  I have been nurturing a single basil plant on my window sill for months now, and somehow, it has survived!  Today, however, was the first real time that I raided it for it's tender and fragrant offerings, and raid it I did!

I initially found the idea for this salsa from here.  However, I then added to it to make it my own, and it really was delicious served on top of some grilled turkey burgers!  Such a fresh taste. Perfect for this hot, summer day.

Creamy Basil & Tomato salsa

2 cups chopped tomato
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 Tbs. red wine vinegar (infused with garlic)
salt, pepper to taste

You simply combine all the ingredients!  The mayonnaise can be increased, depending on your taste for it.  The same for the vinegar.  I tried it both ways and liked it with just a splash of vinegar.

I would love to hear how you liked this recipe!  Please leave me a comment to let me know :)

Thanks!

Dawn

Souper Easy Potato Soup (see what I did there?) (no dairy)

Hurricane Sandy was barrelling up the coast and I was glued to the weather channel for hours upon hours.  Someone on my facebook feed mentioned they'd made soup, and I suddenly thought "omg, we need soup too!".  We were under threat of losing electricity and since we heat and cook with electric, that means huge impact for us.  I figured if I made soup, I'd forget about the scary weather!  Ha.

Here's what I did.  You can adjust according to your own tastes, of course.

• 8(ish) cups chicken broth - I used 1 pod of Knorr's new chicken bouillon that I've mentioned before to 3-1/2 cups of water - then another 4 cups of water mixed with 2 packages of goya brand vegetable seasoning/broth. 
• 1 medium sized onion, chopped
• 5-7 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tbs. oil
• 5-6 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 2 good sized stalks of celery, chopped
• 2 bay leaves

Optional:  bacon (I used real bacon pieces that you use on salads), cheddar cheese, green onion

1. Lightly brown garlic in oil.  
2. Add onion and celery and saute until soft.
3. Add broth and potatoes.
4. Simmer until potatoes are tender.
5. Strain 3/4 of the potatoes out and mash.  You could do them all if you wanted, but I like chunky.
6. Re-add mashed potatoes to soup.
7. Add a couple of bay leaves.  I waited until this point so that the bay seasoning would not overtake the whole soup.
8. Stir well - this should thicken your soup.  

If it's not thick enough, you could always add a couple of tablespoons of flour to some cold water (cold is important) - mix it until it's dissolved and then add to the soup, until it's to your liking.

I added bacon and cheddar to my own bowl, and it's absolutely delicious!

Potato soup garnished with cheddar cheese and bacon bits.

How to roast a pumpkin

Whenever I need to use pumpkin for a recipe, I always roast my pumpkins.  It's so much fresher tasting than using a canned pumpkin, and of course, there are no preservatives.

Roasting a pumpkin is simple.  This is for a pumpkin that is roughly 1-2 pounds (typically called a pie pumpkin).  Line a baking sheet with foil.  Spray the foil with cooking spray or, as I did this time, drizzle a small amount of (almond) oil.

Split the pumpkin in half. Scoop the seeds and other gunk out and set aside (roasted pumpkin seeds are awesome!).  Place the pumpkin halves open side down on the baking sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees (f) for 1 hour or until you can pierce the pumpkin easily with a fork.

Allow the pumpkin to cool for a few minutes before attempting to scoop out the "meat".  Once it's out, you're ready to add it to your soup or make that yummy pumpkin bread!  Enjoy!

(Not) "Beef" and Potato Pie

I initially found this recipe in the June 2012 issue of All You magazine (p. 75), which is my absolute favorite magazine.  When I finally decided to make it, though, I knew I'd have to make some changes, as we do not use any kind of ground beef.  So here is my version of "Beef" and Potato Pie, and it was hands down, the HIT of the week in our house.

The original recipe said it made 4 servings.  I doubled the amount of ground turkey because I have to feed 5, but 3 of those 5 are adults!

Le finished product

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp. canola oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-1/2 lbs. ground turkey, 97/3  (this is approximately 2-1/2 times the amt called for in the original recipe, but I have to feed 5)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 ribs celery, thinly sliced
• 2 carrots, chopped (I omitted this the first time)
• 2 medium red bliss potatoes, scrubbed well, sliced thin (I used my mandoline)
• salt & pepper to taste
• 2 Tbs. wheat flour  (I probably used 3 Tbs. because I used twice the amt of meat called for in the recipe)
• 1-1/4 c low-sodium beef broth. I used Knorr's new Homestyle Stock (beef), and used the whole tub of the broth, because I needed it to really flavor the turkey.
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce (I probably used 2 tsp., also because of the doubled meat)
• 2 tsp. unsalted butter, melted

Ok, I know it seems like a LOT of stuff, but it goes together really quickly.

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Melt 1 tsp. butter in your frying pan.  Once that's melted, add the oil - it helps the butter to not burn.   Once that's heated, lightly saute the garlic. After about a minute or two, add the rest of your chopped vegetables.  See, that didn't take long, did it?
3. Saute the vegetables for about 2 minutes or so. You don't want them to get too soft, though.
4. Add the ground turkey, and mix everything up in the pan.  At this point, I also added the broth, to really cook the flavor into the meat.  This cooks for as long as it takes to cook the meat thoroughly.  It probably took about 10 minutes (some of my turkey came out of the microwave slightly frozen still, so it probably took me 15 minutes).  
5. While the meat/vegetable mixture is cooking, I scrubbed and sliced my potatoes.  The original recipe calls for you to boil the slices in a pan with water.  I microwaved mine for about 3-4 minutes in about 1/2 inch of water in a casserole dish.  Same thing, really - and fewer pans to wash.  Ultimately, though, it's whatever you feel like doing. Just do NOT let the potatoes turn to mush.  You want them slightly cooked, but still firm.
6. Once the meat mixture is thoroughly cooked through, sprinkle the flour over it and blend it in well.  This will thicken the juices and make a sort of gravy.  Now things are really picking up!
7. Now you will layer the slices of potatoes across/around the top of the meat mixture. Because my frying pan is all metal, I can put the whole thing in the oven, so that's what I did.  However, if you cannot do this, then you would transfer the meat/veggie mixture into a oven-safe dish before doing the potatoes on top.
8. Once the potatoes are arranged on top (in a pretty pattern, no doubt!), brush them with 1 tsp. of melted butter.  This helps them brown in the oven.  You can also sprinkle with salt (I used my Lawry's garlic salt).
9. Transfer your pan/dish to the oven that you've had preheating (375ish.)  The original recipe calls for you to bake it for 30 minutes or until the middle is hot.  I cooked it while I was preparing the next recipe (apple cake), so it may have cooked longer than 30 minutes.  As long as you don't burn it, you're fine :D  You can also turn on the broiler at the end to brown up the potatoes, but I didn't even have to do that.  The butter took care of it for me.

I served this with some steamed vegetables and as I said, it was an absolute HIT!  There was NO leftovers (which kinda sucks), and everyone left the table with happy, full bellies.

Notes:

• Next time, I'm thinking about maybe putting this in a pie crust.  Not sure, though, but it SEEMS like it would be yummy.
• Keep in mind that if you DO use ground beef, you will have to drain off the oil when you're done cooking it, before adding the broth.  With the 97/3 turkey, there is no fat to drain off.  Score!
• I will probably up the amount of celery and add the carrots next time, just to make this go farther.
• My son wants me to use more potatoes next time. :)  

Lazy Chicken Enchiladas

Sorry for the poor photo quality!

I have no idea if this idea is replicated a thousand times elsewhere on the Internet.  All I know is that I threw this together last night and my family absolutely LOVED it.  Seeing as that's a huge requirement to my posting things on here, here you go.

Lazy Chicken Enchiladas

• 2-3 boneless chicken breasts
• 1 small can enchilada sauce (mild)
• 6 burrito-sized flour tortillas
• 2 cups mexican flavored cheese
• cooking spray
• sour cream (optional)
• green onion (optional)

First, I sauteed the whole chicken breasts in a frying pan with the can of enchilada sauce.  This was my time to figure out what else I was going to do with the chicken, but I figured it would be a good start.

Once the chicken was cooked completely through (probably 15 minutes), I shredded it and chopped it up with 2 forks.

I spread some enchilada sauce from the pan into the bottom of a 9x12" baking dish.  In the future, though, I will remember that tortillas STICK TO GLASS, so I will spray with cooking spray!

2 tortillas down, then I spread out the equivalent of 1 chopped chicken breast across.  I then put approximate a handful (cup?) of cheese over the chicken, and then spread a THIN layer of enchilada sauce over it all.  Don't use too much, you don't want it to be soupy.  I laid 2 more tortillas across and added another layer of chicken, cheese and sauce. It was much like making a lasagna.

I topped it off with another layer of tortillas, and then spread another layer of cheese and sauce across the top.  I baked it in the oven approximately 20 minutes (at 425 degrees), until the top was nice and bubbly.

I served it topped with sour cream and chopped green onion and like I said, my family sucked it down!  I served it with a package of Mexican rice (Knorr), into which I also threw a cup of frozen corn.  It was a delicious dinner, pretty low-cost and low fat.  Delicious!

The only thing I might do next time is perhaps use 2 cans of sauce, or maybe just the bigger can - or maybe mix it with a can of tomato sauce - not sure yet.  You could also throw in a can of beans of your choice (I usually use kidney beans), but I didn't last night because the kids had told me they were getting tired of beans LOL.  I might also try this with ground turkey instead of chicken.

Next time, I promise to take BETTER photos!

Updated Parmesan Encrusted Tilapia

Ever since I posted the recipe for parmesan encrusted tilapia nearly 5 years ago, it's been a pretty popular search term for My Tasty Space.  It's a wonderful recipe, and so easy to make.  A couple of months ago, though, I decided to try and update it, to see what I could do with it.  The results were so delicious, I felt I HAD to share them here.  So here's my updated Parmesan encrusted tilapia!

• 1-1/2 lbs tilapia
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup regular breadcrumbs - I used seasoned
• 1/4 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
• 2 Tbs. butter (unsalted)
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• garlic powder
• garlic salt
• onion powder

Preheat oven to 400° F.

In a bowl, melt butter and combine with olive oil. 

Rinse fish and check for bones.  Towel the fillets dry. I put my fish in a large metal bowl and pour the butter/olive oil mixture over them, tossing the fish to be sure they're evenly coated.

In a large zip-type bag, combine breadcrumbs, and sprinkle a liberal dose of garlic powder and onion powder. I don't measure, I just sprinkle.  I also toss in a healthy sprinkle of Lawry's Garlic Salt and some pepper.  Toss this around so that it's well mixed.  Add the fresh Parmesan cheese.

Spray the cooking sheet or aluminum foil with a cooking spray, to prevent the fish mixture from sticking.

Now, toss 1-2 pieces of fish into the bag to coat well.  Place them on the sheet and repeat the process until all fish are coated.  Then take the leftover crumbs and spread them evenly over the fish.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the fish flakes with your fork.  

Serve with something yummy, and a side of something yummy, and voila!

Parmesan encrusted tilap-ia!