Out of House and Home

Joni’s Manicotti

For the sauce,

• Sautee two cloves of finely chopped garlic in olive oil.
• Add:
  • two 6oz. cans tomato paste and two cans of water,
  • two 8oz. cans tomato sauce and two cans of water,
  • salt,
  • pepper, and
  • oregano.
• Simmer for 2 hours.

Then:

• Cook 9 lasagne noodles for 10 minutes, strain and cut in half.
• Mix together:
  • 1 16oz. carton cottage cheese,
  • 6 to 8oz. mozarella cheese, cubed,
  • 1 raw egg,
  • 1/2 cup parmesan cheese,
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, and
  • salt and pepper to taste.
• Fill noodles with mixture and lay in a 9″ by 13″ baking dish.
• Cover the noodles with sauce, cover with aluminum foil, and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Italian Beef

4# chuck roast
1 can beer
2 packages Good Seasons Zesty Italian Salad Dressing
1 (16 oz.) jar peppercini peppers and juice
1 to 3 beef bouillion cubes

Put all ingredients in a crock pot and cook until meat is very tender. Shred the beef and return to the juice. Heat and serve on rolls. This is a great sandwich! Yummy!

Update — have to also try the recipe from What Geeks Eat — a slight variation, but also looks good!

Spanish rice

Brown 1-1/2 cups rice in oil. Add onion and garlic to your satisfaction. Saute’ 1 to 2 minutes. Add small can of tomato sauce along with 2-1/2 cans water. Salt and pepper. “Don’t cover”! Boil until you can see the top of the rice..then cover and simmer till done.

Polish Noodle Casserole

I copied this recipe from a xeroxed copy of a typewritten booklet that my mom was lucky enough to receive. I have tried to keep Aunt Lil’s exact wording, and have only occasionally changed punctuation or notation styles. I will go over the collection later, when I have time (hah!) and clarify some of the more vague bits for those who have been lucky enough to run across this and the other “Aunt Lil” recipes without having had the good fortune to have grown up eating these dishes and/or watching them be prepared.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. fresh Polish sausage
• pepper to taste
• 3 or 4 10-oz. cans mushroom soup
• 2 20-oz. cans sauerkraut
• 1 8-oz. pkg. noodles cooked in hot water for 15 minutes

Cook Polish sausage 30 minutes. Reserve juice. Rinse sauerkraut once, drain and put in Dutch oven or pan of same size. Add 2 cans mushroom soup. Mix. Add noodles. Mix. If more mushroom soup is needed, add and stir. Water from polish sausage may be added also if the above is too thick. Cut Polish sausage in bite-size pieces, add to above and simmer 30 minutes adding water from Polish sausage if needed. NOTE: Canned slices or fresh mushrooms may be added to recipe before simmering.

Zucchini Unlimited

I promise you that, as long as you do not tell, not a soul who eats this dessert will believe that it is anything more than an apple pie. Please note: The number of zucchini given below is based, first, upon the zucchini we got out of our garden in Wisconsin – only slightly smaller than a newborn human baby, and second, upon the smaller-than-a-cucumber-sized ones available in Southern California grocery stores. Getting the amount correct will take time, so better to over- than under-purchase. Until I take the time to figure out the amount by weight, as the lovely commenter below suggested, please use your best judgement, and use leftovers as ice cream topping

For the filling, you will need:

• 2 large (or 12 – 14 small) zucchini, peeled, seeded (if seeds are large), quartered or halved length-wise, and cut into 1/4″ slices
• 2/3 c lemon juice
• 1 c sugar
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t nutmeg

Cook zucchini slices in lemon juice until tender; add sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, simmer and then allow to cool.

For the crust and topping you will need:

• 4 c flour
• 2 c sugar
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 c margarine/butter/butter-flavored crisco

Combine flour, sugar and salt; mix well. Cut in the butter with a fork or other tined instrument, and mix until crumbly. (Side-note: this usually makes more crust mixture than I end up using, but I guess the originator of this recipe may have made a thicker crust than I do. Play with it.)

Fold 1/2 cup of the crust mixture into the filling mixture. The result should look and taste like apple pie filling. Press 1/2 the remaining crust mixture into a 9″ x 13″ pan; bake this crust at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Pour zucchini over this new crust. Add 1 t cinnamon to remaining crust mix and sprinkle over zucchini. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Slice into bars and serve!

Baked sweet onions in cream and parmesan

Here’s a recipe I found from SlashFood — Baked sweet onions in cream and parmesan.

It seems really close to another recipe favorite of ours, Walla Walla Sweets.

Here’s our take on the recipe; our additions are in [square brackets]:

• one large [sweet] onion per person [if the onions are really big, maybe one onion per two people]
• double cream [heavy whipping cream in the states]
• grated Parmesan [cheese]
• [also grated swiss or gruyere cheese, if you like]

1) Peel the onions and boil in a pan of water for about 25 minutes until tender.
2) Remove and drain then slice in half.
3) Place in an oven-proof dish cut side down and cover with cream and as much parmesan [and other cheeses] as you like.
4) Bake for about 30 minutes [at 350 degrees] until golden and bubbling.
5) [If the cheese hasn't browned to your liking, turn on the broiler for 5 or so minutes (watch it, since it will go from white to brown to burnt within 30 seconds!)]

It’s a really yummy and simple dish that uses ingredients that aren’t strange, and if you ignore the fact that you’re dousing it in cream and cheese, is probably not all that horrendously bad for you. Really. }:>