Reesie's Meat Lover's Lasagna

1 1/2 lbs. Mild Italian Sausage
1 lb. Ground Beef
1 small packet of pepperoni
2 cups Mozzarella, shredded
1 cup Parmesan, shredded
1 package of no pre-cook lasagna noodles
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 onion, diced

Brown sausage and hamburger in a frying pan, drain if necessary. Mix together your sauce with your sausage/hamburger mixture. In a 9x13 pan, spread a small amount of sauce on the bottom of the pan. Layer with noodles, then cheese, then another layer of noodles. Spread on sauce, more cheese, another layer of noodles, sauce & cheese. On the 4th layer, place your noodles, any sauce you have remaining, last of your cheese and then a layer of pepperoni. Place a piece of parchment on top of the dish, then a piece of aluminum foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour - 1 1/2 hours. 

Can let the dish sit for a couple of minutes before serving. Serve with garlic toast and a side salad. 

Reese's Beef stroganoff

1 lb ground beef 
1/2 onion, diced 
1/2 pkg of mushroom, sliced 
2 cloves garlic, minced 
1/4 green pepper, diced 
1/2 tsp lawrys seasoning 
1/2 tsp pepper and salt 
egg noodles 
1 T Worcestershire sauce 
2 C Beef broth
1/4 C  cream cheese 
1/4 C sour cream
one T of flour
handful of parsley

In a large pan, brown the ground beef. Add the worcestershire sauce now. When it is almost done cooking, throw in your onion, garlic and peppers to cook until soft. Chop the parsley and add to the pan. Add in your salt, pepper and Lawry's. Next, put the sliced mushrooms in pan and cook on low for a couple of minutes. 

While this is cooking, boil noodles in a separate pot until done per the instructions on the package. 

In your pan with the beef, add your beef broth and stir well. Once warmed, add in the cream cheese and sour cream using a whisk to get it all mixed together well. Sprinkle your flour into the mixture and whisk well. 

Serve the ground beef mixture on top of the egg noodles. This taste really good with warm bread topped with butter. 

Reesie's summer taco casserole

2 lbs. hamburger 
1 c. salsa 
1/2 c. dry rice, prepared 
1 small can green chilis 
1/4 c. cream cheese 
1/3 c. beef stock 
1 green onions, diced 
1/2 green peppers, diced 
1 c. zucchini, diced 
3 cloves garlic, minced 
1/2 medium onion, diced 
1 pkt. mrs. Dash taco seasoning 
1/4 tsp. chili powder 
1/4 tsp. Nature's Seasoning
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 small can sliced black olives
1/2 c. shredded mexican cheese


Prepare rice according to directions. Brown hamburger and drain. Add vegetables and saute until soft. Add green chilis, 1 can tomatoes, salsa, beef stock, black olives and spices. Mix in pan until blended. Add cream cheese and stir. Add in rice and stir. Cook on low for 10 minutes. Add last can of diced tomatoes. Mix in cheese. 

Serving suggestions:
 - Make ahead and put in the crock pot on low to warm before your guests come.
 - Serve on the side some warmed up soft taco shells or tortilla chips.

Recipe variations:
 - You can adapt this recipe to be Italian instead of Mexican. To do so, substitute in mushrooms, Italian seasoning, celery, Mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese. You can also substitute out your salsa for another can of tomatoes with garlic and onion. Serve with garlic bread.

Reesie's peach Bourbon BBQ sauce

1 big yellow onion, sliced thin 
10 peaches, peeled and sliced 
1 green pepper, diced 
3 cloves garlic, diced
1 quart crushed tomatoes 
1 c. brown sugar 
1/4 c. wild turkey bourbon 
1/2 c. vinegar, apple cider pepper 
1/3 pepper and 2 tsp. sauce chipotle with adobo 
1/2 c. BBQ sauce or ketchup 
2 tsp. allspice 
1 1/2 tsp. cloves 
2 tsp. cinnamon 
2 tsp. paprika 
2 tsp. dried mustard 
1/2 tsp. black pepper 
1 tsp. celery seed 
3 tsp. salt 
1/2 T. honey dijon mustard 

Saute in 2 T. butter: onion, 1/2 peaches, green pepper, chipotle with adobo sauce and garlic. Add the bourbon and all the spices. Add 1/2 the tomatoes. Sauce until onions are translucent. Using the immersion blender, blend until chunky. Add in the rest of the peaches, tomatoes, brown sugar, vinegar, ketchup/BBQ sauce and honey dijon mustard. Cook until reduces and becomes thicker. You can use the immersion blender again to break up the chunks if you would like it smoother. 

Serving tips: Serve on meat or as a dipping sauce on the side. 

Storage tips: Can, if you are able. If not, can be stored in a glass container in the fridge. Could be frozen as well.

Reesie's Chicken Salad Wrap

3 tortilla shells
2 T. cream cheese
6 oz. cooked chicken, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1/4 of red or green pepper, diced
1/3 onion, diced
1 T. mayonnaise
2-3 squirts dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. Mrs. Dash garlic and herb
lettuce
tomatoes

Spread cream cheese on each tortilla. Mix together chicken, celery, peppers, onion, mayo, mustard and spices in a small bowl. After you spread the cream cheese, you can add on your lettuce, tomatoes or any other additional toppings. Spread mixed chicken salad on one half of the tortilla. Roll up tortilla.

Tips for additional ingredients: sliced green olives, sliced grapes or cucumbers.

Tips for serving: This works great as an appetizer as well. Just slice your wrapped tortilla in several slices and serve. 

Reesie's Chocolate zucchini cake

1/2 c. butter 
1/2 c. oil 
1 3/4 c. sugar 
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla 
2 C. grated zucchini 
1/2 c buttermilk 
4 T. cocoa 
2 1/2 c flour 

1/2 tsp baking powder 
1tsp. soda 
1 tsp. salt  
1/2 tsp. cinnamon 

cream  the butter, oil, sugar in large bowl. mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda,salt, cinnamon together in small bowl. add the rest of ingredients to the butter, sugar, oil, mixture. mix well add flour mixture. pour into 9 x 13 pan. sprinkle the top of cake mix with 1/2 c chocolate chips and 1/2 c sugar and 1/2 c. chopped walnuts. Bake 350 for 25 minutes. 

Today, we actually doubled the recipe. It works well to double the recipe, bake extra cakes and then freeze the cake. To help keep the cakes freeze well, I put parchment paper on the top of the cake. Measure and cut as much parchment as you need. Then we put aluminum foil around the cake. Last we cover the foil with plastic wrap. It seems like a lot of steps, but doing it this way, we have had cakes last up to a year and still taste fresh. 

Reesie's Speculoos cookies

This recipe is from a friend of mine that suggested I try them. You can find the recipe at www.eaththelove.com/2012/12/speculaas. 

If someone is looking for kidney friendly cookie options, these will be ok for you. My dietitian recommended I try these. There is a spread, like nutella, that is made out of these cookies. I haven't tried this spread yet. 

I learned that it better to chill the dough in this recipe before rolling it out. We didn't have the cookie mold that they recommend. So, we rolled out the dough and cut in squares with the pizza cutter. For our second batch, we chilled the dough for about 15 minutes in the refrigerator. Then we put a little bit of flour out on the board, like we did when we rolled the dough. This time, though, we made balls. That seemed to work a little better. If you want to try to make a pattern, you can criss cross a fork on the ball, while pushing down slightly. This is like what you do when making peanut butter cookies. 

We didn't have the white pepper. It was ok without using that. Couldn't tell too much of a difference. I think by adding the pepper, I could really taste the vanilla and cinnamon better. 

I kind of liked the taste of these cookies. Maybe the next time I'll make it, I'll just roll into the ball into making the squares. The dough is so delicate that it is kind of hard to work with.