Sausage and eggs or oatmeal just didn’t feel right this morning.

Decided to use up some things that were hanging around instead.

Kind of whooped this up, as my darling Irish Woman would say, so the exact amounts of some of the ingredients may need adjusting the next time I make something like this.

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Ingredients –

1 stale buttermilk biscuit

1/2 of a 13×9 pan of cornbread

3 bananas that are enjoying the twilight of their life

Scant 1/4 cup of white sugar, honey, or maple syrup. Adjust to your taste.

2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil or melted butter

1 to 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

6 large eggs, beaten

1/2 quart whole milk or half and half

Flavoring to taste (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.)

Peel bananas and put into mixer. Mix on low speed until fully mashed. Mix in sugar, oil/butter, and vanilla and flavorings. Add in eggs and dairy. Once thoroughly mixed, crumble up biscuit and corn bread and add to mixer. Mix thoroughly until all crumbs are incorporated into wet ingredients.

Grease 13×9 inch pan and pour mixture into pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes until middle is set. Increase heat to 375 for 5 to 10 minutes until top is brown. Allow to cool on rack and serve warm.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients –

12 to 16 ripe apples. I used Granny Smiths and Fuji

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups oats

2 cups white sugar

Cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice to taste

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup bourbon

1 to 2 quarts cold water

1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions –

Combine 1 cup soft butter, brown sugar, and oats in a mixer and combine until smooth. Press mixture into the bottom of a greased 13×9 inch pan.

Combine white sugar and cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice in a bowl.

Combine cold water and lemon juice in a large bowl.

Wash and core apples. Apples can be peeled if you prefer. Slice into wedges between 1/8 and 1/4 inch across. You could also use a mandolin to slice evenly across whole apples. Place apple wedges/slices into lemon water to prevent browning.

In 13×9 pan, layer the apple slices evenly across the bottom crust. If you cut into wedges, align wedges so that they all go in one direction. If you used a mandolin, evenly cover crust with apples.

Once crust is covered with apple, liberally dust apple layer with spiced sugar mixture. If using wedges, place next layer with wedges perpendicular to layer below it.

Continue layering apples in alternating direction and dusting each layer with spiced sugar until all apple is placed in pan.

Heat 1/2 cup of butter until it just melts, then combine with bourbon. Evenly pour buttered bourbon over the layered apples, then dust top of apples with spiced sugar mixture.

Place on middle rack in 350 degree oven for 45 to 30 minutes. Dish is done when apples are fork tender and top layer is brown.

Allow to cool. Syrup in apples will be extremely hot. Serves well with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Makes enough to feed a small army.

1 to 2 quarts cherry tomatoes, washed, stemmed and cut in half
2 sweet bell peppers
1 large Vidalia onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
Dried Italian seasonings
Salt and pepper
1 pound mozzarella, grated
Heavy Cream (optional)

Pasta of choice

In large sauce pan, heat olive oil on medium-high heat. Add in onions, garlic, and peppers. Sauté until onion starts to become translucent. Add in tomatoes and mix. Bring to simmer, then reduce heat to medium. Stir occasionally. Add Italian seasonings, salt, and pepper to taste.

Cook tomato mixture until tomatoes start to come apart in their juices

Put hot tomato mixture into food processor and puree until smooth. Add in mozzarella and puree until fully combined. Add in heavy cream if desired to add richness.

Cook Pasta to al dente and drain. Combine in pot with tomato/cheese sauce, then cover and let stand 15 minutes to let pasta soak up extra liquid from sauce.

Serve with grated Parmesan, crusty bread, and greens salad.

I’ve had a nagging craving for something since about an hour after dinner. Couldn’t articulate what it was until about 15 minutes ago.

“Welsh Rabbit!” My mind finally alighted upon something I haven’t eaten in decades.

My family used to eat this for dinner a few times a month. It’s a tasty, rather filling meal that costs a few pennies per person. I’ve made it a few times since I left my mother’s house, but don’t think I’ve made it in the 20 years since Irish Woman and I became a couple.

This recipe is how I remember my bad-side-of-Boston Irish mother making it. It shares a few things with Welsh Rarebit, which I have had when traveling to the United Kingdom and enjoyed with a glass of dark beer. But it’s the trailer-park version, so my description of it to my Brit friends horrified them.

Anyway, I’m the only one up, so I took 5 minutes and made a small batch just as a snack. It turned out exactly as I remembered it, so I’ll have to make it for lunch sometime and teach Boo how to make something tasty for very little money or effort.

Ingredients:

• 1 small onion, chopped fine
• 1 to 2 tablespoons of bacon fat or butter
• 1 small can condensed Cream of Tomato soup
• Salt and pepper (Go easy on the salt, especially if you’re using bacon grease. The canned soup will have quite a bit of salt in it)
• Liquid (beer, beef broth, water, depending on tastes and budget)
• Cheese, finely grated (Cheddar is best, but store brand Velveeta will do in a pinch when you’re making dinner with what you can find in the corner of the cupboard)
• 1 or 2 pieces of toasted sandwich bread

In a small saucepan, melt the fat, then add the onion. Season with salt and pepper, then cook the onions until they just start to caramelize. You want them soft, translucent, and just starting to brown. The onions will contribute flavor and texture, but not crunch.

Add in the tomato soup concentrate, and stir thoroughly. Add enough of your liquid so that the sauce is just a little thicker than a cup of tomato soup. Heat until the sauce is simmering.

Sprinkle in one or two handfuls of cheddar a little bit at a time. Stir each sprinkle into the sauce until it melts, then add a bit more. Your sauce is done when the color goes from deep red to an orange-red. Let sauce come back to simmer, then remove from heat.

You can serve this by tearing the toast up into a bowl and spooning sauce over it. Alternatively, you can lay your toast on a plate and cover it with sauce. I’m a dipper, so I just take triangles of bread and sop up some sauce.

Really good for chilly weather meals and snacks.

Ingredients:

1. 1 Large white onion, sliced into thick rings, then quartered
2. 1 pound sliced mushrooms
3. 2 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
4. 2 cloves garlic minced
5. 1 pound stew meat in 1/2 to 3/4 inch chunks
6. Salt and pepper
7. 1 can Rotel tomatoes

Sauté bacon until done to your liking. Add in onions and garlic. Sauté until onions soften. Add in mushrooms and sauté until mushrooms start to give up liquid. Add stew meat and brown on all sides. Pour in rotel and mix thoroughly. Simmer until reduced to about half of liquid. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with steamed vegetables of your choosing. Will also go well with rice. Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 turkey breast or 4 chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
10 white mushrooms, cut to your preferred size slices
1 large white onion, minced
1 Braeburn or Granny Smith apple, cored and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 3.5 ounce Golden Curry packet, broken into pieces.  Use whatever spice level you prefer.  Medium was flavorful, but not spicy.
1 pound frozen peas, steamed
2 cups dry white rice
3 cups water

Prepare rice according to your tastes.

In a wok or large saute pan, heat oil, then add meat, onions, and mushrooms (If this is leftover meat, it can be added after the water later in the recipe).  Once onion has softened and become translucent, add curry and water.  Heat, stirring often, until the curry dissolves completely.  Add apples, peas, and meat, if it is already cooked.  Heat throughly and let simmer for several minutes.  Serve over rice.

It’s officially chilly out there, and it’s time to make something that will warm us all up.

Ingredients:

1 3 to 5 pound pork roast
1 bell pepper, with stem and seeds removed, coarsely chopped
1 large white onion, chopped fine
1 granny smith apple, chopped into 1/4 inch cubes (skin on or off depending on your tastes)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 pound potatoes, whole if they are small, coined if they aren’t.
2 cups cooking bourbon (No need to use the good stuff here)
1 can cream of mushroom soup, or 1/2 pound of sliced mushrooms and milk or cream if you’re better at this than I am and want to make better gravy
Salt and pepper to taste

Put the bell pepper and onion in the bottom of a crock pot.  Sprinkle the apple and garlic on top of the onions.  If you’re making real mushroom gravy, add the mushrooms to this layer.  Arrange the potatoes in a layer above the apples. Place the pork roast on top of the potatoes.  Pour the bourbon over the top of the pork roast.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.  Cook in the crock pot on medium heat for 6 to 8 hours.

When the pork roast is done to your desired tenderness, remove, along with the potatoes.  Use a potato masher to break up any remaining chunks in the drippings left in the crock pot.  Transfer drippings to a saucepan.  Cook over medium heat until it comes to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low.  If you’re making real gravy, stir in the milk or cream and simmer until you get the consistency you want.  If you’re like me, stir in the can of cream of mushroom soup and simmer until the lumps are dissolved and the gravy comes to the desired consistency.  Add salt and pepper to taste, although if you used canned soup, you shouldn’t need to add any salt.

To serve, place several of the roasted potatoes on a plate, mash with a fork, top with the pork, then ladle on as much gravy as you like.  Serve with a good vegetable or a salad, and your favorite crusty bread.  Recipe feeds four with leftovers.