Duchess of ForkSausage

Impromptu Dinner Party!

Duchess of Fork — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:12:50 +0000

Good Sunday morning to you. It’s another beautiful day in Paradise. Did you remember to Spring Forward? The Duke and I did, and I still woke up at 8 (which is technically 7). I just can’t ever seem to sleep in! Of course, on work days when I have to get up early, I feel like I could sleep forever. Why is that??

Last night we threw an impromptu dinner party at our house with two other couples. We all went out together Friday night, and the idea to have them over for dinner last night just naturally came together. You all know I love to cook, but I also love entertaining. I love the feeling of a house full of great people enjoying each other’s company and wonderful food.

When everyone arrived, we munched on a yummy appetizer. It’s Praline Mustard Glaze over cream cheese with extra pecans sprinkled on top.

It’s the perfect mix of sweet, salty, sticky, creamy. It goes great with a plate of salty crackers and chips.

Here are our good friends Laura, Damon, Patrick and Laura. We have about two other friends named Laura, also. Makes things pretty easy.

For dinner I made a delicious and super easy pasta dish from Real Simple. The original recipe was Sausage, Mozzarella and Broccoli Rabe with Shells, but I used spinach and mushrooms instead of the broccoli rabe and used whole wheat egg noodles. I think my pan was a little too small, huh?

Guess I underestimated how much food I had!

Here it is, ready to go in the oven (minus mozzarella, of course).

And here it is fresh out of the oven.

Holy yum! This stuff was delicious. The whole wheat egg noodles are great- a bit lighter than other hearty whole wheat pastas.

The Duke and I were thoroughly stuffed after this meal.

While we all digested, we played a thrilling game of Catch Phrase- girls vs. guys. Girls won, of course, 4 games to 2!!! Girls rule, boys drool!

Now the Duke and I are off to enjoy this extra hour of sunlight today. We’re signed up for a photography class today. We also have a house showing, so hopefully these buyers will be interested. Ta ta for now. The Duchess

Share and Save

Spicy Southern Comfort

Duchess of Fork — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:37:07 +0000

Howdy, folks! I hope you all had a great weekend. The Duke and I were major couch potatoes, which was wonderful! We had a session with our trainer at the gym Saturday morning, which prevented us from walking on Sunday, thus turning into couch potatoes for the day. Our trainer made us do about 200 lunges with dumbells…my butt and thighs have NEVER hurt this bad! Sitting down is extremely painful. No pain, no gain, right?? I better look like Giselle soon. On another note, did anyone see the AMA’s last night? I like Lady GaGa’s music, but girlfriend is crazy! Where does she find those outfits?? She never ceases to amaze me. She must have some imagination.

So, if you’re anything like me, you’re looking for super simple meals for the family this week. Thanksgiving is just a few days away, so who wants to be cooking all week? I found this easy Sandra Lee recipe for Red Beans and Rice and just had to give it a try. I’ve loved red beans and rice for as long as I can remember. It’s one of the ultimate Southern comfort foods. Nothing beats my mom’s red beans and rice, but this is so easy and tastes great! The best part is, it feeds a crowd in no time flat. Add this to your Thanksgiving week menu for a stress-free and flavorful meal.

Spicy Red Beans and Rice from Sandra Lee

Ingredients

1 (16 oz) package smoked andouille sausage, halved lengthwise and cut into ¼ inch slices (I used smoked sausage)
2 (15.5 oz) cans red beans, rinsed and drained
1 (10 oz) package frozen seasoning blend
1 cup chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 (8.8 oz) packages ready-to-serve long grain rice (I used 2 cups cooked brown rice)
¼ tsp. Cajun seasoning

Instructions

Heat a large heavy-bottom pot over medium-high heat. Add sausage, and cook for 6-8 minutes, or until browned. Add beans, seasoning blend, broth, bay leaves and garlic; cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5-10 minutes. Discard bay leaves.
Heat rice according to package instructions for 2 packages. In serving bowl, stir together warm rice and Cajun seasoning. Spoon bean mixture over rice and serve with garlic bread.

I hope your last-minute Thanksgiving food shopping goes well this week. I know I’ll realize I need something around 4pm on Wednesday…it’s just how it goes. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!The Duchess

Share and Save

And Now We Pause For Peppers

Duchess of Fork — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:01:13 +0000

Hello Thursday! This week is (thankfully) flying by. We’ve had open house and picture day at school, and tomorrow is Literacy Day. This is a chance for all of the elementary classes to dress up like characters from their favorite books. We’re being 101 Dalmatians in Pre-K. I know the kids are going to be too cute! Me dressed like a Dalmatian is an entirely different story. Saturday is Best of the Emerald Coast. It’s basically a one-night showcase of the best of the best businesses on the Emerald Coast. Locals vote on their favorite restaurants, cocktails, eye doctors, etc., and the winners hand out samples. The best part is that the event benefits a local charity every year, and this year it’s the Junior League of the Emerald Coast, which I happen to be a member of. Long story short, I’ll be working the event from sun up to sun down on Saturday. If you’re in the area, I highly encourage you to stop by for lots of food, drink and fun!

This past weekend the Duke and I had some cute new friends over for football, so of course I went overboard with the game day treats. He requested stuffed jalapenos, so I decided to really go all out. When you start with cream cheese, breakfast sausage and fresh jalapenos, you really can’t go wrong. I added in a few special ingredients and these bad boys were a hit! They’re very rich, but that’s certainly not a bad thing. Please make sure you wear gloves when handling any peppers. They can irritate your skin, and you’d hate to accidentally rub your eyes. Give these a try for your next tailgate!

Spicy Baked Jalapenos with Sausage and Cilantro

Ingredients

1 lb. pork sausage
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 oz. chopped green chiles
2 green onions, sliced thin
2 tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro
½ tsp. cumin
¼ tsp. chile powder
1 cup pepper jack cheese, divided
10 fresh jalapenos

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 casserole dish and set aside.
In a skillet set over medium high, brown the sausage. Drain of excess fat and return to stove.
Cube the cream cheese and stir into sausage until melted. Stir in chiles, onions, cilantro, cumin, chile powder and ½ cup of cheese. Remove from heat.
Wearing gloves, slice each pepper in half lengthwise and scrape out all seeds and membranes. Stuff a heaping tablespoon into each pepper half. You may have room for more filling, depending on the size of the peppers. Top the peppers with the remaining cheese.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until filling is bubbling and peppers have softened to your liking.
Remove from oven and cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

This is certainly the ultimate man food, so impress your guy with these at his next sports shindig. He’ll be singing your praises for the rest of football season. Enjoy the rest of your week. See you Saturday! The Duchess

Share and Save

My Girl, Paula!

Duchess of Fork — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 08:04:19 +0000

Happy Monday to all. I have to say, my weekend was truly relaxing! That is not always the case for me, so it was a welcome change. The Duke and I spent all day Saturday at our favorite sports bar watching football (Go Gators and Roll Tide!) and we managed to get a lot done yesterday, including the early church service, home work and lesson plans. Yes, that is what I consider a relaxing Sunday. What can I say? It’s a crazy life we lead…

Well, I’m excited to share a new venture with you. I recently joined the cutest blog called My Girl, Paula! It’s just a group of fabulous food bloggers that not only love Paula Deen, but love trying her recipes. A recipe is selected every week from The Lady & Sons Too! cookbook, and we all follow the recipe and blog about the results. What a great idea! Well, this is my first week as a MGP participant. The chosen recipe was Corn Chive Pudding. YUM! My mom makes a killer corn pudding, but she uses Jiffy Corn Muffin mix and cheese. I make her recipe all the time, because it’s inexpensive and so simple for a crowd. The Duke is always saying I should add eggs, though. It must be his lucky day, because Paula loads up on the eggs, and of course adds a healthy dose of butter. The recipe below is Paula’s original version that serves 8. I halved it, since it’s just the Duke and me, and it turned out beautifully. I served it with Smoked Turkey Sausage and an awesome Peppery Cumin Mustard Dip. The pudding would also be great alongside beef or at a potluck dinner.

Corn Chive Pudding

Ingredients

2 (10 oz.) packages frozen corn, thawed
¼ cup sugar
1 ¼ tsp. salt
4 large eggs
2 cups milk
¼ cup butter, melted and cooled
¼ cup fresh chives, chopped
3 tbsp. all purpose flour
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 pinch of nutmeg

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.
Butter a 1 ½-quart baking dish.
In a food processor, pulse one package of corn until coarsely chopped, then transfer to a mixing bowl.
Add remaining package of corn and sprinkle with sugar and salt; stir to combine.
Whisk together eggs, milk, butter, chives, flour and vanilla and combine with corn.
Pour mixture into baking dish and sprinkle with nutmeg.
Bake in the center of the oven until the center of the pudding is just set, about 45 minutes.

Serves 8

Smoked Turkey Sausage with Peppery Cumin Mustard Dip

Ingredients

1 lb. smoked turkey sausage
¼ cup stone-ground mustard
¼ cup ketchup
1 tbsp. pickled jalapeno, chopped
¼ tsp. cumin

Instructions

Set a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Spray with cooking spray.
Cut sausage into 1-inch chunks. Add to hot skillet, and cook for about 1 minute per side (Smoked sausage is, obviously, already cooked. We’re just heating it through).
While sausage cooks, combine ketchup, mustard, jalapenos and cumin. Cool in fridge until ready to eat.

Serves 2-3

I’m off to another great week of school. I hope you enjoy Ms. Paula’s Pudding as much as we did! Leave some comments, please. I love hearing what you have to say.
The Duchess

Share and Save

Chili Cheese Sausage Crescents

Duchess of Fork — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:04:50 +0000

The Duke and I had some dear friends from Alabama stay with us a few weekends ago. The Duke went to the University of Alabama (gag…more on this later), and his college roommate Justin is still a great friend. He was in our wedding this past April. Justin and his precious girlfriend, Farrah, are two of the sweetest people on the face of the earth, and we are so happy to know them!

Well, I was inspired by a recent post by Jenny at Picky Palate where she stuffed a crescent with chocolate and peanut butter. How good does that sound!? I wanted to think of something more savory to stuff these buttery rolls of goodness with.

We’ve always got some breakfast sausage and chopped green chilies on hand, so I gave it a whirl, and they were awesome! It’s certainly not gourmet, but there’s nothing quite like spicy sausage and melty cheese to get you going in the morning. I served these with a side of cheesy eggs, and my house guests were quite happy!!!

Chili Cheese Sausage Crescents

Ingredients

1 can refrigerated crescent rolls
1/2 lb. spicy breakfast sausage (or mild, whatever you prefer)
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 oz. can chopped green chilies

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350. Unroll crescents, and divide at perforations into 8 triangles.
Brown sausage in a non-stick skillet. Drain of excess fat. Stir in cream cheese and chilies.
Put 1 tablespoon of sausage mixture onto the widest side of the crescent triangle and roll up as you normally would. Repeat with all rolls. Bake on a greased cookie sheet for about 15 minutes, or until rolls are golden brown.

Serve for breakfast or even an appetizer at your next dinner party.

Share and Save