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.

Baked Parmesan Tilapia

The first time that I tried to make fish, I bought a couple of fresh tilapia fillets that were on sale at Meijers. I didn’t really look up a “recipe recipe,” I just tried to find out how other people pan fried fish. So I made three plates: flour, beaten eggs, and panko bread crumbs.

I took each fillet and dipped it on each plate, trying to coat all sides before putting it in a frying pan with some olive oil.

And the first fillet got rather overcooked. A tad burnt to be honest.

The one on the left is half of the burned fillet while the one on the right is the second one I made, which I thought turned out rather well.

Apparently, fish cooks really really fast! So I decided that it might be easier to bake fish. I also wanted something more flavorful as what I’d made didn’t have much oomph to it.

So I found a new recipe and some frozen fish fillets that were on sale (I like sales!) at Kroger and decided to try again.

The recipe that I used was really easy and I was super happy with the way the fish came out.

They were a tad on the dry side, so I’ll probably cook them about five minutes less next time. But they were tender and packed with flavour. This recipe does call for six spices, so make sure you have your spice rack stocked before making this one. I also should have halved the recipe as I used one instead of two pounds of tilapia fillets.

I turned two of the fillets into tacos and loooooved them! I put some hot and spicy mayo and mozzarella cheese on the tortilla before putting a fish fillet on there. They were marvellous and I was excited when we had one leftover fillet so that I could take that to work for lunch the next day.

 

Baked Parmesan Tilapia by *Parsley* on Food.com

Ingredients

• 2 lbs tilapia fillets (I used 1lb)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/3 cup mayo (I used miracle whip)
• 1 tsp lemon juice (I didn’t have any)
• I cup breadcrumbs (I used panko breadcrumbs)
• 2/3-3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1 tbs parsley

Directions

1. Spray baking pan(s) with nonstick cooking spray and preheat oven to 400 degrees. I put parchment paper on a baking sheet instead of using spray.
2. Place beaten eggs in a shallow dish. Stir in mayo and lemon juice until well combined.
3. In a separate dish, stir together breadcrumbs, cheese, and all of the spices, mixing well.
4. Dip each fillet into egg mix, coating both sides. Let the excess drip off and then dip into breadcrumb mix, coating both sides.
5. Place prepared fillets on baking sheet and bake, uncovered for 20-30 minutes or until the fish is white and flaky inside.

I give this recipe five stars!