Italian Inspired – Simple Summer Supper

 

Did that eggplant catch your eye?

 

The shiny purple spheres look so inviting, but then what to cook with them?  How ‘bout layering it in a pie with ricotta cheese and Italian sausage? It is a meal that takes 20 minutes of your time and costs only  $2.31 per serving.

 

This recipe has been the hit of the summer!  The key ingredient is the flavorful Parmesan crust and the crumble topping.  To keep it simple, it is a press-in-the-dish crust with the same recipe used for the crumble.   The use of Southern Biscuit ® All-Purpose Flour is perfect to keep the crust light, but give it enough structure to hold together when you slice the pie.

Save time

Save money

Eat well

Active time 20 minutes

Cost per serving = $2.31

Italian Strata with Parmesan Crumble

Serves 6.

Crust and Topping

2 cups Southern Biscuit® All-Purpose Flour

½ cup butter, softened

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 large egg

Cheese Layer

1 cup (1/2 pound) ricotta cheese

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning blend

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

6 ounces sliced mozzarella cheese

Filling

1 small eggplant, sliced in rounds ¼-inch thick

1 medium zucchini, sliced ¼-inch thick

1 pound Italian sausage, cooked and crumbled

1 cup (8 ounces) prepared pizza sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To make the crust:

Combine flour, butter, and Parmesan cheese.  Mix with your hands until the mixture is very crumbly.  Measure ¾ cup of the crumbs and set aside.

Stir into the remaining mixture one egg.  Mix well.  (Mixture will be dry, but will hold together when pressed with your hands.)  Press evenly into the bottom of a 10-inch round, 3-inch deep pie dish or casserole dish.

Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until set.   Remove and allow the crust to cool while preparing the filling.

 To make the cheese mixture:

Combine the ricotta cheese, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning blend and Parmesan cheese, set aside.

To layer the strata:

Layer one layer of eggplant, overlapping slices, over the cooled crust.  Then layer the zucchini slices.  Spoon the ricotta cheese mixture over the zucchini, then top with the mozzarella cheese, press slices slightly to spread the ricotta.

Spoon  the cooked and drained Italian sausage over the cheeses, then spread the pizza sauce evenly over the meat using the back of a spoon.

Squeeze the reserved Parmesan crumble to make sure it clumps, then sprinkle it over the pizza sauce.

Bake for 1 hour or until crumbles are lightly browned and the casserole is bubbly hot.  Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

 

 

 

Summer Vegetable Casserole

Free Up Your Summer With EASY and Healthful Main Dishes

Summer is time to take it easy…and to enjoy all those fresh summer vegetables.
We have some tips for an easy on the budget, time saving, and healthy summer meal! That’s a lot to pack into one recipe!

START WITH CORNBREAD:
One batch of cornbread made using Tenda-Bake® Corn Meal Mix costs less than 20 cents a serving! It is the perfect bread to go along with any meal without breaking the bank, and your family won’t know you are stretching the budget, they will only thank you for the bread that tastes go good with summer vegetables.

COOK TODAY NOT TOMORROW:
One-dish meals mean the bread, meat, vegetables, and dairy are all in one. There is not a single thing to add – so clean up and preparation is super easy.
You can even do the prep work on the weekend when you have more time, so dinner is just simply warmed up and served on weeknights.
Cook once, and eat twice – since this recipe serves 8.

DON’T PUT CASH IN THE TRASH:
Consider using leftovers from other meals to make this casserole, your leftover two grilled chicken breasts today could be a casserole tomorrow. The rest of the tomatoes sliced at lunch for a BLT will be part of this dish. You get the idea. We throw away about 1/3 of food purchased. Toss away less by using it!
When you cook bacon, save the drippings. Two tablespoons make a casserole with a terrific flavor, without adding much more than a ½ teaspoon of bacon fat per serving.

HEALTHY ON A BUDGET:
Most of us get more meat than we need, bulking up on more vegetables and less meat is good for you. Stretch your meat by making casseroles.
Eat fresh vegetables in season. Watch for what is on sale in the supermarket. Or better yet, wait until the summer squash and zucchini begin to overpower home gardeners. Most of the time, there’s plenty of free squash around if you are lucky enough to be a grower or a friend of a grower.
Eat out less. Did you know most of the time we consume more calories when we eat out as compared to eating at home? It costs less and is better for our waistline to cook!

WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR BUDGET SAVING IDEAS!

COST TO MAKE THIS RECIPE:
One batch of Tenda-Bake Cornbread (the whole pan!) $ 1.25
Chicken Thighs 2.99
Tomatoes 1.99
Onion 1.29
Zucchini 0.80
Milk 0.36
Sour Cream 0.99
Cheese 1.80

TOTAL $ 11.50
COST PER SERVING $ 1.43

Think about that next time you are ordering off of the dollar menu!

Makes 8 servings

Cornbread Base
2 cups Tenda-Bake® Self-Rising Corn Meal Mix
1 ½ cup milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
¼ cup vegetable oil
¾ corn, about two ears of fresh corn cut from cob

Filling
2 tablespoons vegetable oil or bacon drippings
1 ½ cups chopped onion (1 medium)
2 cups chopped zucchini (I medium)
4 chicken thighs, sliced thin
4 tablespoons Southern Biscuit ® All-Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon each salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup sour cream
½ cup milk
2 cups shredded Monterey jack cheese (about 8 ounces)

2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes (about 2 medium tomatoes)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 9×13-2-inch glass-baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Combine corn meal mix, milk, egg, oil, and corn. Pour into baling dish and bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Heat oil in a skilled over medium heat. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add the chicken and cook just until chicken turns white. Stir in the zucchini and cook for about 2 minutes or until slightly tender. Add flour and stir until flour is completely absorbed. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in sour cream, milk and 1 cup of Monterey Jack cheese. Remove from heat and very gently fold in the tomatoes just to combine.

Spoon the filling over the cornbread. Sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese and bake until cheese has melted and casserole is bubbling, about 20 minutes. Remove casserole from oven.

Allow casserole to sit for 5 minutes before serving. Cut into squares and enjoy.

Independence Day – Freedom Celebration

Since we are celebrating freedom…

It is time to be – Free from the same old side dishes
It is time to be- Free from spending the holiday cooking
It is time to be- Free from high priced meals

Here it is – The answer to a fun and frugal holiday cookout.

Entertain for the holiday without breaking the bank or spending the day working in the kitchen – with a simple side dish that takes 15 minutes to put together (not counting the time spent baking). And this dish only costs about 82 cents per serving. See cost table below.

We have found some budget friendly entertaining tips for your July 4th or any gathering.

• Make this recipe when tomatoes are least expensive or better yet pick some from your plants in your own backyard.

• To save money, buy solid cheddar cheese and shred it yourself. You pay 10 to 20 cents less per ounce than buying the cheese already shredded and the pre-shredded cheese has added cornstarch, so you are not even buying 100% cheese.

• Look for the Tenda-Bake® Corn Meal Mix on sale. (It is on sale now in many stores!) Stock up while it is on sale.

• When you are entertaining offer plenty of side dishes that are usually less costly than the meats you have on the grill.

• Find simple recipes- like this one and cook from scratch, rather than paying high prices for prepared foods from grocery store delis or frozen food sections.

• About a third of food in this country is thrown away, but you won’t have to worry about any of this recipe going to waste. This recipe will be one of the first dishes to disappear at any gathering.

Cost of this recipe: Tomatoes $4.00
Onions 1.29
Butter 0.19
Corn Meal Mix 0.25
Eggs 0.30
Milk 0.36
Cheddar 1.84

TOTAL $8.23 = 82 cents per serving!

 

Cornmeal Tomato Pie

Makes about 10 servings.

4 cups (5 medium) ripe tomatoes, cut into bite size wedges
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter
1 ½ cups (1 medium) sweet onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons Southern Biscuit® All-Purpose Flour

Topping

2 cups Tenda-Bake® Buttermilk Corn Meal Mix
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1 ½ cup milk
1 ½ cup shredded Cheddar cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 12-inch cast iron or ovenproof skillet with nonstick cooking spray.

Place cut tomatoes in a bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Let bowl stand while preparing other ingredients.

Melt butter in a skillet and cook chopped onions until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in flour and cook for an additional 2 minutes.

Gently pour tomato mixture and liquid into casserole. Spoon the onion mixture over the tomatoes evenly. Do not stir.

Prepare the topping by combining corn meal mix and baking powder in a large bowl. Stir in eggs and milk. Add 1 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese.

Pour batter over the tomatoes. Do not stir. Sprinkle top with Cheddar cheese.

Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until golden brown. Serve warm.

Southern Panzenella

Celebrate summer with Panzanella, a Tuscan bread salad that we made Southern style by using cornbread.  Use some of the first tomatoes of the season and keep this recipe throughout the summer when the bumper crop arrives.

Never had panzanella?  Think bruschetta in a bowl.  Toss cornbread, tomatoes and some olive oil and vinegar and you have it.

Y’all will love this with cornbread. Of course, any real Italian cook would use tomatoes only, but we add anything on hand such as cucumbers, onion, celery, mozzarella or garlic. We make ours with truly fresh vegetables from our southern summer gardens.

If you don’t want to bake cornbread on a hot day, bake the cornbread in the evening and save it for a few days.  Dryer bread works better for this recipe anyway.  I even freeze leftover cornbread in chunks to use later for this salad.

Serves 6-8

1 recipe Tenda-Bake Cornbread, following the recipe on back of package, cut into cubes about 1-inch and let dry for a day, should measure 4 cups of cubes

1 cup thinly sliced red onion

1 cup halved cherry tomatoes such as sun gold or sweet 100’s

3 cups seeded and diced heirloom tomatoes, a mixture is preferred

12 large basil leaves, cut into a chiffonade

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons fruity, like Sicilian, extra virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place the corn bread cubes on a baking sheet that has been lightly greased.  Place in the oven and cook for about 4 minutes.  Check the corn bread and turn them over.  Cook about another 4 minutes.  Remove from the oven and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, a wooden salad bowl works nicely, toss the onion, tomatoes, and basil leaves together.  Add the red wine vinegar and olive oil, and toss again.  Pour in the corn bread cubes and gently toss to combine.  Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.

Asparagus

June is here, get your asparagus before it is gone!

You can eat it raw, grill it, roast it, steam it, bake it, and FRY it! Frying asparagus takes the thin, tall crisp stalks to new heights. Kids can’t wait to get their hands on them. Yes, kids who would turn their noses up at any green vegetable will now eat them with a smile. Adults too.

We used a combination of flour and panko bread crumbs for this recipe. Panko crumbs can be found in any grocery store, they are crisp but have no flavor. We kicked up the flavor using Tenda-Bake® Seasoned Flour and Coating Mix. The coating mix helps hold the panko crumbs on the asparagus and gives just the right flavor, not too spicy to the breading.

Here are some fun asparagus facts from the Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board. No, we didn’t make that up.

- It is one of the most nutritionally well-balanced vegetables in existence.
- Asparagus is a member of the Lily family.
- It can grow 10” in 24 hours.
- It is not harvested for 3 years, so planting it at home is a lesson in patience.
- The larger the diameter the better the quality.

So get the fryer going!

Asparagus Frites

These are a great healthier twist on your everyday French fry.

5 cup peanut oil
2 bunches of fresh asparagus
2 cups Southern Biscuit® All Purpose Flour
3 eggs
3 tablespooons water
2 cups panko bread crumbs
½ cup Tenda-Bake® Seasoned Flour and Coating Mix

Heat the oil in a large cast iron skillet, filled no more than 1/3 full with oil.
Trim the asparagus and set aside.

Fill three mixing bowls sitting side by side; put the flour in the first one; the egg and water in the next one; whisk well; then in the third one add panko crumbs and combine with the seasoned flour and coating mix.

Coat the asparagus in the flour, dip in the egg and water mixture, then the seasoned flour mixture. I like to use tongs. Once out of the seasoned flour mixture, put onto a dinner plate until all the asparagus are breaded.

Then test the oil with a bread crumb to make sure the oil is hot enough, crumb should sizzle immediately. Place the asparagus into the pan, make sure to not over-crowd the skillet and cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Place asparagus on a plate lined with paper towels.

Serve with, fresh lemon, tomato ketchup, whole grain mustard, or malt vinegar.

Old-Fashioned Cornbread and Biscuit Dressing

Use left over biscuits and cornbread to make this dressing.  You can even freeze the bread ahead of time to use as dressing.  Don’t forget to serve dressing with roasted chicken, it is good on Thanksgiving, but just as delicious served on any fall menu.

 

½ cup (1 stick) butter

1 cup yellow onions, roughly chopped

2 cups celery, roughly chopped

5 cups Tenda-Bake Southern Cornbread using recipe on package, in 1-inch cubes

5 cups Southern Biscuits using recipe on package, in 1-inch cubes

2 teaspoons poultry seasoning

2 teaspoons dried rubbed sage

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

2 14 1/2 ounce cans (4 cups) low-sodium chicken or turkey broth, plus additional as needed

 

In a 12-inch frying pan, melt the butter, add the onions and celery and cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Pour into large bowl.

 

Start adding the cornbread and biscuits to the bowl, a little at a time, mixing well

after each addition. (You might not need all of the bread.) Stir in the poultry seasoning, sage, salt and pepper. Add the chicken broth. Stir just until blended.

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 15-by-17-inch or a

9-by-13-by3-inch casserole with cooking spray (not necessary, but helps

with clean up). Pour the dressing into the casserole.

Bake for 60 minutes or until browned and hot.  Serve hot or at room temperature.

 

Makes 12 servings.

By Belinda Ellis of Edible Piedmont Magazine

 

Cornbread Sausage Dressing

 

Cornbread dressing is a Southern must-have for Thanksgiving.  We added sausage to this recipe for a zesty flavor the whole family will love.  This recipe is best made a day ahead so you can just pop it in the oven on the big day.

1 pound country breakfast sausage (extra sage flavor is best)

1 cup yellow onions, roughly chopped

2 cups celery, roughly chopped

9 cups Tenda-Bake Southern Cornbread using recipe on package, in 1-inch cubes

2 teaspoons poultry seasoning

2 teaspoons dried rubbed sage

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

1 14 1/2 ounce can (2 cups) low-sodium chicken or turkey broth, plus additional as needed

1 14 ½ ounce can (2 cups) cream of chicken soup

1 egg, lightly beaten

¼ cup hot water

 

In a 12-inch frying pan, cook the sausage, crumbling as it cooks, until

just no longer pink. Drain and reserve the fat. Place the sausage in a

very large (bread-size) mixing bowl.

 

Return the fat to the frying pan. Heat the sausage fat, add the onions and celery

and cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Pour in with sausage.

Start adding the cornbread to the bowl, a little at a time, mixing well

after each addition. (You might not need all of the bread.) Stir in the poultry seasoning, sage salt and pepper. Add the chicken broth and cream of chicken soup and egg.  Stir just until blended.

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a 15-by-17-inch or a

9-by-13-by3-inch casserole with cooking spray (not necessary, but helps

with clean up). Pour the dressing into the casserole.

Bake for 30 minutes or until browned and hot.  Serve hot or at room temperature.

 

Makes 12 servings.

 

 

Crunchy Salty

A Culinary Memoir by Katrina Moore

In the heart of Appalachia, a small town hugs the foothills of the Smoky Mountains.  I wouldn’t call the town “sleepy” or “quaint”; I would say it is closer to “half-awake” or “rustic”.  This is where my grandmother has lived most of her life and where I first ate fried okra.

I don’t remember eating anything else before fried okra.  It may even be the first thing I remember eating.  I must have been quite young, because every time I remember visiting my grandparents, Paw and Grandma, the latter already had the ingredients on hand for me.  She mostly used frozen okra, available year-round.  The few times I saw her use fresh okra, I was fascinated by its sliminess.  The fuzzy, slimy vegetable did not resemble the crunchy, salty dish made from it.  I ate one raw, hoping for some flavor similarity.  There wasn’t much.  Fried okra is more about the fried than the okra.

I remember watching my grandma lift handfuls of self-rising cornmeal mix and pour it over her bowl of cut okra.  She dug her hands into the bowl to fold and coat the vegetable with the mixture, then dumped salt on it and mixed some more.  Tenda-Bake Self-Rising Cornmeal Mix is a southern original; it is self-rising flour and cornmeal.  The baking powder in the flour and flakiness of the cornmeal give a nice crunchy texture to the fry.  My favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal was (and let’s face it, still is) scooting the crispy fried bits of breading over to the mashed potatoes and eating them together.

After leaving for college, I began to crave homey foods like fried okra.  I asked my grandmother to teach me how to make it her way, which of course was the best way.  Grandmothers’ recipes always trump every one else’s.  That, and I never took a liking to the batter-breaded deep-fried version found in school cafeterias and most Southern-style restaurants.  Grandma told me that all you need is a little cornmeal mix and some good hot oil.

“Now git yer pan good n’ hot,” she would say. When I got impatient, she slapped my hand and said sternly, “now just wait.”  If the oil was too cold, she said, the okra would get mushy and soak up the oil.  If it was too hot, well you would burn your okra before it was cooked.   She only used about quarter an inch of oil in the skillet, heated until it was shimmering.  The secret, she said, was not to mess with it too much.  You turn it like flapjacks rather than stir it like ground sausage.  You want to get it all nice and brown on one side before turning it over.

The first couple of times I tried it on my own I failed miserably. The breading didn’t crisp up (the oil wasn’t hot enough) or all the breading fell off (I stirred it around too much).   I called my grandma on the phone to ask her what I was doing wrong.  She told me that if you used frozen okra (which I was) and let it thaw out on the counter with the breading on it, the mixture would stick better.

When I moved to Seattle and could no longer find self-rising cornmeal mix, I tried using different kinds of flour and cornmeal to no avail.  Equal parts self-rising flour and corn flour with a healthy dose of salt worked the best.  No matter how hard I try, however, I can never seem to get this dish exactly on par.  Maybe it’s something to do with that ethereal fog in the Smoky Mountains, or the acknowledgment that no matter what you make, grandma always makes it better.

Grandma’s Southern Fried Okra

Makes 4 side-dish servings

The thaw-at-room-temperature method is one of the secrets to my grandmother’s classic Southern fried okra.  Any bacteria will be killed off in the hot oil, but if the method still bothers you, just substitute fresh okra or thaw it in the microwave or refrigerator before continuing with the recipe.  You could also bread the frozen okra then let it thaw out in the refrigerator overnight.  For the breading, use corn flour rather than medium- or coarse-grind cornmeal to get a finer texture.

1 package frozen cut okra

1 cup Tenda-Bake Self-Rising Corn Meal Mix

Vegetable or peanut oil to cover ¼ inch of your skillet

1.    Dump the frozen okra into a large bowl.

2. Fold corn meal mix into the okra until all pieces are coated.  Allow mixture to sit at room temperature until mostly thawed, stirring occasionally to keep the vegetable coated with the breading.  This will take at least an hour and up to 3 hours, depending on the temperature of your kitchen.

3.    Heat a skillet with enough room to hold the okra in one layer (cast-iron is best, but any heavy-bottomed skillet with do) over medium-high heat.  Add enough oil to cover the bottom by ¼ inch.

4.    When the oil is shimmering and hot (350-375F), add the okra.  When the bottom starts to get golden brown, flip sections of the okra with a flat spatula.  Continue to cook until the okra is crisp and golden brown throughout.  Drain on paper towels.  Serve warm.

Submitted by Brenda Ellis of Edible Piedmont