Winter Kielbasa Bake

This is our kind of a meal - easy to assemble and when it cooks, it makes the whole kitchen smell delicious. Buy some quality sauerkraut and kielbasa (I like kielbasa that emphasizes "beef" on the label) and you won't go wrong. Great for grim days in winter.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. Kielbasa (Polish sausage)
• 10 small to medium red potatoes, halved and sliced lengthwise
• 6 carrots (or 1 lb of baby carrots)
• 1 lb sauerkraut
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp. granulated brown sugar (if you use apple juice, skip for beer)
• 1 cup apple juice or 1 cup flat dark beer
• 1 tsp of caraway seeds (optional, but it really jumps up the flavor)

Steps:

1. Spray a large baking dish (I use a 4 quart Corning ware) with non-stick spray.
2. Drain the sauerkraut then spread across the bottom of the dish.
3. Slice the kielbasa into 2 inch chunks then halve lengthwise, making 2 inch long half cylinders. Arrange the kielbasa on the sauerkraut, skin side up.
4. Scrub those small potatoes (I love red potatoes here), halve them lengthwise too. Place them skin side up over the sauerkraut.
5. Slice the carrots; add them to the dish. I sometimes use the organic baby carrots here - one of those little bags works out well.
6. Thinly slice the onion and sprinkle over all.
7. Dissolve the sugar in the apple juice (or dark beer) and pour over the entire dish.
8. Cover tightly.
9. Bake in a 325°F oven for one hour until It's done when the potatoes and carrots are tender. Easily serves six hungry people.

Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries

These sweet potato fries are a family favorite. So easy and our Notorious Non-Eater of Sweet Potatoes actually enjoys them. Not as oily as the fried sweet potato fries from the restaurant and so easy to make in the background while making something as the entree.

And it is packed with vitamins - if my sweet potatoes were not so lumpy, I would skip peeling them. Nice smooth ones from the store may be clean enough to keep the skins on - more vitamins and antioxidants!

Ingredients

• 2 lbs sweet potatoes
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
2. Peel the sweet potatoes. Cut each potato in half, and then into quarters. Then, slice into fry shapes, about 1/2 inch wide.
3. Put the sweet potatoes into a resealable plastic bag.
4. Add oil, salt, paprika and cinnamon.
5. Seal the bag and shake well to thoroughly coat the fries.
6. Spread the potatoes out onto the baking sheet in a single layer.
7. Cook for 30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes, until slightly browned.

Cast Iron Cornbread

Here’s a classic cornbread recipe from Homesick Texan's recipe blog. We like it because it is baked in a cast iron skillet which makes setup and cleanup super-easy (take that Jiffy mix!).

Homesick Texan notes, "Be sure and get the cast iron good and hot, as that’s what sears the batter and makes for a crispy, crunchy crust."

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of cornmeal (we like yellow)
• ½ cup sifted flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Put the oil in a small cast iron skillet and place it in the oven for a 5 minutes until it’s sizzling.
3. Mix together dry ingredients. Set aside.
4. Whisk egg and buttermilk. Mix with dry ingredients
5. Take cast iron skillet out of oven, and pour hot oil into batter, and mix.
6. Pour batter into cast iron skillet, bake in oven for 20-25 minutes. Cornbread should be brown on top and pulling away from the sides of the skillet.

Creamy Maple Oatmeal

We found this recipe at Quaker Oats website and posted it here, mostly the same. The "craisins" work as well as raisins normally do, but they kick it up a notch with a more rounded flavor. You can substitute water for some or all of the milk, but our most Notorious Non-Oatmeal Eater prefers at least half milk. Plus you can get your calcium this way.

Ingredients

• 3-1/2 cups low-fat milk
• 2 cups aats (we preferred old fashioned)
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup good maple Syrup
• 1/4 cup toasted wheat germ or bran cereal

Steps

1. In medium saucepan, bring milk to a gentle boil.
2. Add oats, dried cranberries and maple syrup.
3. Return to a boil for 1 minute and then reduce heat to medium.
4. Cook 1 minute for quick oats, 5 minutes for old fashioned oats or until most of milk is absorbed, stirring occasionally.
5. Stir in wheat germ or bran cereal

Yields 4 servings

Calories: 360

Buttermilk waffles

After this, I may never go back to straight 'milk' waffles again. Umm, so delicate and tasty.

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups of flour (you can go as high as 3/4 cup whole wheat with no issue)
• 1 tbsp of baking powder
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk
• 4 tbsp of oil
• 1 tsp of vanilla

Steps:

1. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs well. Add the buttermilk, oil and vanilla and mix very well.
3. Add the wet to the dry and stir until just mixed (like brownie batter).
4. Let sit for 5 minutes - I like to plug in the waffle iron at this point.
5. Once hot, spray the iron with veg oil or rub with some butter.
6. Cook the waffles just to being done - with the sour buttermilk and the baking powder, these will rise and be delicate.