Katy’s Best Recipes

The Bonessi Family makes this fabulous sauce recipe for us every time we come to visit. It is so good you would think it’s been simmering all day but it only take about 2 hours from start to finish.

2 large cans of plum peeled tomatoes – use the ones from Italy

1 normal can of Del Monte diced tomatoes with basil, garlic & oregano

Parmesan cheese

½ cup white wine

Minced garlic – about 3 heaping tablespoons

1 medium onion – chopped pretty fine

1 heaping tablespoon of

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Basil

“Nature Seasonings” – this is actually a spice on the grocery shelf

Sugar

Take one can of the plum tomatoes and put in blender – add ½ the can of the DelMonte tomato and liquefy it.  Then place in a bowl and put the other can of plum tomato and the other ½ can of DelMonte into blender and liquefy that.

Add small amount of olive oil to bottom of pan.  Add the onion until it become translucent slowly and then add the minced garlic – cook for a minute or two – stirring.  Put in the Garlic power, onion powder, basil and Nature Seasonings.  Stir and this should form a pesto like substance.  Stir for a couple of minutes.  Add all the canned liquefied tomatoes.

Sprinkle sugar over the top of the sauce, add the wine and sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the top.  Stir.  Cook this at a very hard simmer – so it really bubbles – for about 45 minutes – stirring every 10 minutes or so.  Turn it down and simmer for about another 2 hours (add sausage at this time if you want).

If you are adding sausage – brown in oven about 30 minutes and cook in sauce about 2 hours.  If adding meatballs (brown them with the sausage in oven), let them only cook in the sauce for about an hour or they will fall apart.

One bowl of stale bread chunks cubed or torn or both. Set aside.

Saute the following: 1 stick of butter

1 chopped onion

2-3 stalks celery

Add dried or fresh parsley. Dump this mixture onto your bread chunks.

Add 7-8 eggs, enough to make the bread moist but not slimy.

Add 1/2 teaspoon salt. and pepper to taste.

Fill the bird’s cavities with the stuff, but leave enough room for it to expand.

Rub sage on your bird or 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning and sew it shut. Remember to increase the cooking time for the stuffing. Baste your bird occasionally.

I got this recipe from Bobby’s Grandmother. We love to make it when peaches are in season, but it if just as delicious with frozen peaches thawed.

Crust

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup margarine, melted

Mix melted margarine and cracker crumbs together. Reserve 1/2 to 1 cup for topping. Press rest into 9 x 9 inch pan.

Peach Filling

4 cups fresh peaches, peeled and sliced

1/2 cup sugar

Stir sugar into peaches. Set aside.

3/4 cups sugar

pinch of salt

2 Tablespoons cornstarch, heaping

1 cup water

1/2  (3 oz) peach Jell-O packet

In a saucepan, combine sugar, salt, cornstarch, and water. Cook and stir until clear and thickened. Remove from heat. Add Jell-O. Stir to dissolve. Cool. Add peaches.

1 (8 oz) cream cheese

1/2 cup scant sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 (8 oz) Cool Whip

Beat cream cheese and stir in sugar until fluffy. Continue beating and gradually add milk. Fold in Cool Whip. Put 1/2 cream cheese mixture over the graham cracker crust. Spread all of peach mixture over the cream cheese mixture. Put remaining 1/2 cream cheese mixture next; then sprinkle remaining graham cracker crumbs on top. Chill for 2 hours or until set.

These no bake goodies taste like  Reeses’s Peanut Butter Cups.

1 cup butter, melted

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

2 cups powder sugar

1 cup peanut butter

1 and 1/2 cups chocolate pieces

4 Tablespoons peanut butter

Mix the first four ingredients together, them pat into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan. Melt the chocolate pieces and the peanut butter until chocolate is smooth. Spread evenly over the peanut butter mixture. Pop it in the fridge to cool for at least an hour. Overnight is better. Cut into bars.

With its oatmeal cookie bottom and fudgey middle, this is Bobby’s all time favorite dessert. He asks for it in lieu of a birthday cake every year.

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 cups quick-cooking oats

1 and 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Set aside 2 tablespoons of the butter. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter on medium to high-speed for 30 seconds. Add the brown sugar and baking soda. Beat until combined, scraping sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs and 2 teaspoons of vanilla till combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in remaining flour and oats by hand.

2. For filling, in a medium saucepan combine the reserved Tablespoons of butter, chocolate chips, and sweetened condensed milk. Cook over low heat until chocolate melts, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in the nuts and 2 Tablespoons of vanilla.

3. Press 2/3 (about 3 and 1/2 cups) of the rolled oats mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 15 by 10 inch pan. (Can use a 9 by 13. The bars will just need to cook a few minutes longer and will be a little thicker.) Spread filling evenly over the oat mixture. Dot remaining rolled oats mixture on filling.

4. Bake in a 350 degree oven about 25 minutes or till top is lightly browned (chocolate filling will look moist). Cool on wire rack.  Wait until completely cool to cut into bars. Makes about 60 bars.

For Scarlet

1 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 (12 ounce) cans of refrigerated biscuits

1/2 to 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

1/2 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 or 10 inch tube or Bundt pan.

Mix white sugar and cinnamon in a plastic bag. Cut biscuits into quarters. Shake 6 to 8 pieces in sugar cinnamon mixture. Arrange pieces in the prepared pan. Continue until all the biscuit pieces are coated and placed in pan. If using nuts, arrange them among the biscuit pieces as you go along.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and the brown sugar over medium heat. Boil for 1 minute. Pour over the biscuits.

Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes and turn out onto plate. Make 15 servings.

Monkey bread will come out of the pan shaped like this. Use a fork, or you fingers to pull the pieces apart but you probably want to wait until it’s cooled some.

Tips:

*Make more by using 4 cans of biscuits.

*If you don’t have brown sugar, Melt the butter with leftover cinnamon sugar mix and boil for one minute before pouring over biscuits.

*If you do not have a tube or Bundt pan. Make in a round cake pan. Lower temperature to 325 degrees. Check after 35 minutes. Push done on the biscuits in the middle slightly. If it springs back, they are cooked all the way through.

Monkey bread all pulled apart. Now you just need a glass of milk or water to go with it.

This is a actual shortcake, not an angelfood cake like is common in the desert of this name in most of America these days. The shortcake pairs much better with the strawberries because the savory of the cake make the sweetness of strawberries more apparent.

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoons salt

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 Tablespoon sugar

Mix this together in a bowl and cut in 1/3 cup butter.

Measure 2/3 cup milk with 1 egg beaten in it.

Add this to other mixture. It should be lumpy. Just mix until moist.

Bake in a 9 inch pan at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

To serve, cut in half. crunchy side side out. Add vanilla ice cream, strawberries that have been cut and sugared and whipped cream.

Minestrone is usually completely without meat. Growing up, my mom always added 2 lbs of beef but it is great with or without.

1 large onion sliced

2 lbs cubed beef

Brown this together in a butter in a large dutch oven.

Add-

2 cans bullion

2 cans tomato (1 crushed)

2 packages mixed frozen veggies

2 packages chopped broccoli

1-2 cloves garlic crushed

2 Tablespoons olive oil

You can use any leftover vegetables you have on hand.

Season to taste with salt, pepper, basil, oregano, parsley.

Add enough water to make a good consistency cook for 2-3 hours over low heat.

This is a scaled down version of my Dad’s 20lb salmon dish.

1 pound Salmon filets

cayenne pepper and salt

1 bunch green onions

fresh parsley

a little fresh mint

2-3 lemons

1/2 lb shrimp

Rinse the fish and pat dry.

Rub cayenne pepper and salt into the filet. In a saucepan saute a bunch of green onions, fresh parsley, mint (just a little) and a little hot sauce to taste. Add the juice of at least one lemon. Add about 1/2 lb shrimp. Cook until shrimp are pink. Just a couple of minutes. Remove from heat. Spray your pan and then line it with foil. Put one salmon filet down and add the stuffing in between. Add the other filet. Slice lemon super thin and put it on top. Wrap it in the foil and cook in a preheated over at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. If you are making more than one, it may take longer but the fish should look opaque.

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

1 roma tomato diced

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1/2 teaspoon dried mint or 1 Tablespoon fresh

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

Fresh grated black pepper to taste

2 Tablespoons diced yellow or red bell pepper

4 Tablespoons (2 ounces) Feta cheese crumbled

1 teaspoon oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly coat  a baking dish with nonstick spray. Put chicken in dish and set aside. In a bowl combine the chopped tomato, parsley, mint, oregano, black pepper, yellow pepper, and feta chicken. Mix well and spoon over chicken. Drizzle the olive oil over all. Bake for 25 minutes or until chicken is firm and opaque.