Cheesy Sausage and Potato Pie

At some point last month or the month before, one of the grocery stores I frequent had Johnsville ground Italian sausage on sale, so I decided that I wanted to try making something new. Did you know that the Johnsonville website has a bunch of great recipes?

I decided that I wanted to try this wonderful-looking savory pie.

Sometimes the bonus result of new recipes, a bonus for me at least, is the fact that I get to buy new cooking supplies! In this case, I needed a pie pan. I also got to work Pillsbury’s refrigerated pie crust for the first time.

This recipe is very easy, but the fact that it has to be baked for an hour means that I don’t consider it a good choice for a week night meal.

After lining the bottom of your pie pan with one pie crust and trimming the edges, you fill it with ground Italian sausage, frozen potatoes, shredded cheese, cream of potato soup, and some spices. Then, you carefully layer the other crust on top and trim it. Make sure to cut some slits into the top so that your pie doesn’t explode in the oven!

I used some onion powder in place of actual onion and accidently used a smaller can of soup than was called for. Otherwise, I stuck to their recipe.

Kevin and I both really enjoyed this. Not only was it tasty, but it was filling and huge, which meant we had the rare occurrence of leftovers. This pie is dense with plenty of sausage and potato goodness to each bite and a creaminess from the cheese and soup to tie it all in. Using a bigger can of soup might have added to the texture, but we didn’t really miss it.

The crust was great too. It was really easy to use and cooked up crunchy yet tender. I’d like to make a sweet pie with it at some point.

Cheesy Sausage and Potato Pie

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground Italian sausage (I used mild)
• 2 cups frozen, diced potatoes
• 1 cup green onion, sliced (or 1/2 tbs onion powder)
• 1 10.75 ounce can of cream of potato soup
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp ground sage
• 2 pie crusts, 9 inches

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Brown and drain sausage.
3. Mix all of the ingredients for your filling.
4. Place on pie shell inside of pie pan, pressing against sides and bottom. Trim off excess.
5. Add filling mixture and then place second crust on top. Trim off excess.
6. Press edges with a fork to seal and cut slits on top of the pie.
7. Bake for 1 hour and let stand 15 minutes before baking.

Beefy Hashbrown Potato Casserole

I forgot to take pictures of this one until after we’d finished eating. This was tasty, but my boyfriend, Kevin, and I decided that it needed something, like cheese. He’s thinking cream cheese and I’m thinking Velveeta.

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped; about 1/2 cup (I didn’t include this)

1 10 3/4 ounces can condensed cream of mushroom soup (I used cream of chicken)

1 tablespoon ketchup

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

3 cups frozen fried potato nuggets

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Cook beef and onion in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until the beef is well browned, stirring to separate meat. Pour off the fat.

Stir the soup, ketchup, and Worcestershire in the skillet.

Spoon the beef mixture into a 2-quart shallow baking dish. Arrange the potatoes around the inside edge of the baking dish. (I coated the top of the beef mixture with the tater tots.

Bake for 25 minutes or until the potatoes are golden brown.

Source: http://www.campbellskitchen.com/recipes/recipedetails?recipeid=50382&fm=internal_search&sf10042417=1

Spicy Sausage Meatballs

This is the appetizer that I made for dinner tonight, the one that I shared before and after oven photos of. Now, they’re called “spicy,” but I didn’t include the spicy ingredients because two out of the four of us don’t do spicy foods.

These were super tasty, but slightly high maintenance. It takes a little while to make sure that the sausage mixture is well blended; I suggest using a larger bowl to have more room to do so.

Ingredients

1 pound Owens Hot Sausage (I used Mild Tennessee Pride sausage)

2 cups Bisquick

4 cups shredded cheddar cheese, Monterrey jack, or mixed

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon dried sage

1 tablespoon dreid parsley

2 tablespoons pickled jalapeno, chopped (I didn’t include this)

2 tablespoons water

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray 2 cookie sheets with non-stick cooking spray.

Put all ingredients in a large bowl and mix with your hands.

Form into 1 inch balls and place them on baking sheets, leaving some space between them so you can turn them over.

Bake 15 minutes and then turn them over. Bake an additional 15 minutes and transfer to serving dish. (This depends on how hot your oven gets; I cooked mine for 12 minutes, flipped them, and then cooked for another 12 minutes).

If you have leftovers, they are good reheated in the microwave.

Cheesy Chicken and Pasta Casserole

This was also super delicious! But my boyfriend said it had too much cheese, while I secretly thought that it could always use more cheese…

Ingredients

8oz medium pasta shells, uncooked

no-stick cooking spray

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper = 1 medium bell pepper (I didn’t include this)

1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes, undrained (I didn’t use this)

1 15oz can tomato sauce (since I didn’t use the above, I put extra sauce on the top of the casserole to make sure it wasn’t dry)

1 1/2 cups shredded Italian blend cheese, divided (I think it would be nice to use just a bag of mozzerela)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt.

Meanwhile, spray 8×8” baking disk with cooking spray.

Spray large skillet with cooking spray; heat over medium-high heat. Add chicken and sprinkle with garlic powder. Cook 2-3 minutes and then add bell pepper. Cook until pepper is tender and chicken is no longer pink in centers.

Stir in undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, 3/4 cup cheese, and cooked pasta.

Transfer mixture to prepared dish and sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup cheese.

Bake 15 minutes or until cheese melts and mixture is bubbly.

Source: Walmart Meal Solutions magazine in the paper.

Crab Filled Crescent Wontons

These are super delicious and super easy to make. My family and I scarfed them down.

Since one member of our dinner party can’t get here until 6:00 pm, the rest of us get hungry waiting until dinner time. So, I thought that I’d make appetizers this weekend.

Ingredients

1 8oz tube crescent roll dough

3oz cream cheese, softened (I missed the “softened” part, so it took lots and lots of stirring to get the filling to the consistency that I wanted it to be)

1/4 cup mayonnaise

3/4 cup cooked crabmeat, chopped (I used lump crabmeat, which I haven’t had before, and it was amazing quality)

2 green onions, chopped (I didn’t include this because, well, I don’t like onions)

1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I put 1/4 teaspoon, but couldn’t taste it at all; on the other hand, everybody could tell it was there, so it depends on your spice tolerance)

salt and pepper, to taste (I didn’t put this in there either)

Directions

Preheat oven at 375 degrees.

Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray, or put parchment paper on your cookie sheet like I did.

Unroll the dough on your work surface. Pinch seams to seal them up, and roll with a rolling pin to create an even rectangle. Cut the rectangle into 6×4 rows to make 24 squares.

Mix cream cheese, mayo, crabmeat, onion, red pepper, and salt and pepper (if you want the later two).

Divide crab mixture evenly among the squares, dropping it by spoonfuls that are 1/2 inch from one corner of each square.

Starting with the same corner, fold dough over filling, and tuck end tightly underneath filling; continue rolling to within 1/2 inch of opposite corner. Roll opposite corner of dough over roll; press to seal. Don’t be disappointed if your wontons don’t look like wontons; mine were tasty pockets.

Place on cookie sheet and brush with egg white, if desired. (I didn’t do the later).

Bake 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from cookie sheet.

Serve warm.

Source