cheese – Discover Healthy Food

Biscuits and Gravy Breakfast Casserole

This is an easy to make breakfast casserole. These days, I’m all about easy, tasty, and healthy. I wouldn’t put this dish in the healthy category though! It was a hit for teens, preteen and parents alike.

Ingredients:

1 12-oz tube refrigerated biscuits
6 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 lb cooked sausage – I used maple and the touch of sweetness was really yummy
1 cup shredded cheese

For the gravy:

4 Tbsp. butter
4 Tbsp. flour
salt & pepper to taste
2 cups milk

Directions:

Cook sausage in pan. Instead of links, I used tube of Jimmy Dean so was crumbly and easy to spread in dish.
Cut each biscuit into 8 pieces. Set aside.
In a bowl, mix the eggs, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper. Set aside.
In a saucepan, melt the butter. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper, and slowly add the 2 cups of milk. Simmer, stirring, until it’s thickened. This can burn easily so keep stirring. Should only take 2-3 minutes.
In a greased (I sprayed a light layer of Pan) 9×13 glass baking dish, layer the biscuits, sausage, cheese, egg mixture, and gravy.
Bake at 350°F/180°C for 35-45 min, until the eggs on the bottom are cooked.
Allow to cool 5 minutes, if you can wait that long!

Serve with Frank’s Red Hot sauce for an awesome vinegar-y kick. Enjoy!

I’ll see you at the table!

Turkey Spiral Casserole

I find it very helpful to have dishes that I can make better all in one part, pan, baking dish. This casserole was inspired from a recipe that I got at Costco of all places! In typical Jennifer fashion, I’ve added some additional ingredients to really pack in the additional nutrition.

Serves 6
Ready in 55 minutes

Ingredients:
2 cups spiral pasta, cooked and drained (you can use macaroni too)
1 – 12.5 ounce can Harvest Creek diced turkey, drained (this is the turkey you can buy at Costco, any canned turkey will be good)
2 cups shredded cheese (I used a cheddar and Jack cheese combination, you could also do just Swiss cheese for a bolder flavor)
1 – 10 ounce can condensed cream of chicken soup
one soup can of water
half white onion, diced
2 cups broccoli, small pieces
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup plain breadcrumbs

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In medium pot cook pasta until done.
3. Using a large mixing bowl to combine the turkey, cheese, soup, water, onion, broccoli, and black pepper.
4. Softly fold in the cooked pasta and transfer to a 9 x 13 baking dish.
5. Bake at 350° for 30 to 35 minutes or until it is hot and bubbly.
6. Combine the Parmesan and bread comes in a small bowl then evenly spread out over the top of the casserole. Broil for about five minutes or until a nice golden brown color.

Serve with a large green salad. Enjoy!

I’ll see you at the table!

Restaurant review: el Patio del Cordobes – Spain

After walking around Granada, we stopped for lunch to rest out tired feet! Kathy enjoyed her meat lasagna. I had a tiny bite – very moist meat with loads of cheese melted on top. I thought the dish was quite salty. I really liked the eggplant fries with honey sauce drizzled on top. Makes me want to play around in the kitchen to see how I can create a healthier version! The green salad was pretty good, but iceburg lettuce has virtually no nutritional value. But it was fresh and refreshing! Interestingly though, I was hard pressed to find very many veggie options on their menu. Just about everything had cheese or meat.

A funny thing we’ve noticed about Spanish waiters, is that they rarely smile. And when they do, it seems forced. So much for an enjoyable experience with the wait staff… maybe they need a customer service training on the merits of playing nice so that guests want to tip you – just sayin’! But the venue was nice and simple.

Restaurant Review: Temecula Valley Cheese – California

Cheese sampler platter from the Temecula Valley Cheese Co

Cave aged Gruyere from Alpine, Swiss and Brebis aged sheep milk cheese from Spain. Dried apricot, olives, apple, berries and sourdough bread Wow! Heavenly creamy goodness.

Restaurant Review: SLC Winter Farmers Market – Utah

Reason to love Utah No. 5: Winter Farmer’s Market. Every other Saturday at the Rio Grande by Gateway Mall 10am-2pm. Amazing selection of veggies, fruit, baked goods, cheese, pasta, chocolate, flowers and more!

Restaurant Review: Finca – Utah

Restaurant review: Finca is a little slice of Spanish divine cuisine in Sugar House. Met a friend for business lunch to discuss my upcoming trip to Spain (stay tuned for awesome restaurant reviews in late December). James Gehrke is quite the foodie too, so I knew this would be an epicurean delight! When I showed us, he had the cheese and fruit platter already at the table. Nibbling on almonds, grapes, manchego cheese, crispy toasts and dried fruits, we asked the helpful waitress for suggestions. She highly recommended a tapas assortment since it was both our first time there. We enjoyed sardines on creamy cheese spread with sauteed onions and bellpeppers… an explosion of salty creamy sweetness. Wow. The moist meatballs, albondigas, floating in a creamy tomato sauce were mildly spiced but oh so delicious! Garbanzo beans with chard and butternut squash was a wonderful autumn inspired vegan dish. My favorite dish was the roasted brussel sprouts… My mouth is watering again thinking about that dish. Totally looking forward to returning for dinner sometime soon. Simply put into one word: fantastic.