My granddaughter Devin's visit !!

This is what I found on my doorstep last Friday morning.

Devin was just dumped on my doorstep at 5 am !!

900 miles from home.

Her parents were no where around.

Just kidding,

My mother drove David, Heather and Devin to Oklahoma to see me !!

They spent a week here.

We had a great time.

Here is a preview of what happens when grandma gets a hold of a baby !!

We play dress up

We play with daddy

We play with Grandpa

Grandpa's silly

We eat rice cereal

We have our picture taken 5,000 times

and we get lots of lovin when we cry

I miss you Devin, see you soon :)

Italian Sausage Pizza Cassarole

I had some turkey italian sausage I bought a few days ago and was looking for a recipe to make with them.

I ran across this recipe on a great website I turn to when I'm in the mood to cook.
I'm always in the mood to cook !!!

Ingredients:

splash of Olive Oil

3 Italian Sausage Links or bulk Sausage

1/4-1/2 cup Chopped Onion

2 cloves crushed Garlic

6 cups Penne Pasta, cooked and drained

2 (8 ounce) can Tomato Sauce or Pizza Sause

2 cups grated Mozzarella Cheese

2 tablespoons dried Iitalian Seasoning

add-ins: black olives, mushrooms, green pepper..........

Directions:

Take the italian sausage links and cut down the middle to remove the casing.

Add a splash of olive oil to skillet,

cook sausage and onion over medium heat until meat is about half way through cooking.

Add the crushed garlic.

Continue cooking until the meat is no longer pink.  Drain.

Add the tomato sauce/pizza sauce.

Add the italian seasoning if using tomato sauce.

Mix the meat and the sauce together well.

Layer the bottom of a buttered 13x9 inch cassarole pan with the penne pasta.

Top the pasta with the meat mixture.

Top the pasta mixture with grated mozzarella.

I ran out of grated cheese,

so I used the sliced I had on hand.

That's what happens when you cook in your jammies and don't want to run to the store ;)

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until casserole is heated through
and the cheese is melted.

 

 

YUMMY

Serve with salad and garlic bread if you really want to impress them !!!

Apple Dumpling

Fall is in the air and

Halloween is just around the corner.

I love this time of year.

When the days are nice and warm

and the nights are cool, great for sleeping !

I love Fall cooking.

Pumpkin pie, potato soup, pork roast with stuffing and ....

Apple Dumplings

Ingredients:

2 whole Granny Smith Apples

2 cans (8 Oz. Cans) Crescent Rolls

1 1/2 sticks Butter

3/4 cup Sugar

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla

Cinnamon, To Taste

1/2 can (12 Oz.) Mountain Dew Soda

Preparation Instructions:

 Peel and core two Granny Smith apples.
I used three because mine were small,
and I like a little more apple in my dumplings.

Cut the apples into eight slices.

I cut mine into four because my apples were on the small size.

Open the cans of crescent rolls and unroll the dough.

Roll up an apple slice in each of the crescent rolls.

Here ya go, not perfect, but you get the idea.

See the nice slice of apple in there.

Place each one into the buttered baking pan.

  

  Melt the 1 1/2 sticks of butter in a saucepan.

 Add the 3/4 cups sugar

and the 1/2 cup brown sugar.

Add the vanilla and stir until just starting to combine.



Pour the mixture over the top of the dumplings,

making sure to coat them.

This is the interesting part.

Pour Mountain Dew all around the edge of the pan

 and down the center.
It makes a great sauce as it cooks with the butter and sugar.

Sprinkle the top with cinnamon.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes,
(mine were done in 40 mins. since my apples were cut bigger)

make sure they don’t get too brown.

You want them golden brown and crispy on top,
soft and apple dumpling-ly on the bottom.

Oh baby !! 

These would be great with whipping cream or vanilla ice cream.

Taylor ate them as fast as I could get them out of the pan and onto his plate.

He requested I make more tomorrow.

I also brought a pan to work and 1/2 an hour later the pan came home empty.

I guess they must be good :)

ENJOY