Creamy Alfredo

Several years ago my sister gave me her recipe for creamy Alfredo sauce. While it does take a bit of patience and especially to cook it on a low heat so that the milk/cream does not curdle, it is well worth the effort.

Pancetta

For this I used some fresh Pancetta- Italian bacon- and fried it up in my cast iron pan. It does not really brown much, so fry it for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

* I also sauteed a can of sliced mushrooms too.

Parmesan Cheese

Fresh Parmesan cheese- I used about 1/2 plus a couple tablespoons of this in the recipe. (honestly did not measure, but used about 1/3 of the carton. Removed from fridge and set aside while I prepared the sauce.

spaghetti pasta noodles

 Organic- gluten free quinoa and brown rice spaghetti. You can use whatever pasta you like. I made about half of this package for a weeks worth of meals for myself.  (approx 5 servings) Boil noodles until done to your likeness- I prefer al dente, not mushy.  Drain and toss with a TBSP of olive oil to keep from sticking.

* I also added 1/3 cup petite peas to the water just at the end and then drained with the rest. 

 I did not take pictures of the beginning. For this recipe, take 6 tablespoons of butter (not margarine) and melt it slowly on low heat in a cast iron pan. (or nonstick, if you prefer.) To this I slowly added 1 1/4 cup of warmed Half and Half*
By slowly I mean a few TBSP's at a time, stirring constantly on LOW heat. This is very important as you do not want this to boil...as it will curdle and ruin your whole dish!  Adding all of half and half took at least 5 minutes or more.






 
(*skim will not work...whole milk, cream, or half and half are what I recommend.)

Now turn off heat and add about 1 tsp of fresh ground pepper, and the Parmesan cheese. Stir until the cheese is completely incorporated/melted.  Pour this over your prepared pasta, add the Pancetta, peas, and mushrooms (if using).  You could also use green beans or asparagus if you want. 

Yum! comfort food! Serve with a tossed salad or garlic toast if you wish.

Cracker Barrel Hash Brown Casserole

What does one do when they wake up at 5:30 a.m. on a Sunday? Start perusing Facebook on the kindle in bed, of course. As it happens the first recipe I came across, posted by my friend, was one I had already planned on making this weekend. However, a comment caught my eye, written by a former cook at the Cracker Barrel restaurants, and she said the recipe was incorrect- they did not use sour cream in the recipe!  For years I had been faithfully making it this way, so when the actual recipe was put in the thread, I knew I must try it.


So...without further ado.... here is allegedly the original Cracker Barrel Hash Brown Casserole recipe, as told by someone online who might know more than the rest of us! (I am not posting names as I would not want to get anyone in trouble, but another person said it had been published in People magazine once too.)

Cracker Barrel Hash Brown Casserole

1 stick of butter-melted
1 can cream of chicken soup
10 cups of frozen shredded potatoes
Chopped onion ( 1 put in about 1/4 cup)
Black pepper (1-2 tsp)
8 ounces of shredded Colby cheese and about a cup more sprinkled on top


Mix all together and put in a 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with the extra Colby cheese and bake 20-30 minutes at 375 or until browning and slightly crispy along the edges.

Cast of Characters- I am gluten-free, so I use a gf Cream of Chicken soup. Also, did not have frozen hashed browns so the refrigerated fresh will have to do.

Mixed it all together in a big bowl before pouring into a greased (sprayed) baking dish.

That's it! I can smell it baking right now, and anticipating the cheesy potatoey goodness! Just the thing for a cold Sunday morning in late November. 

Enjoy!



p.s. check my Facebook page out at https://www.facebook.com/RusticFroggie/

Vacuum Cleaner Maintenance 101

Vacuum Cleaner Maintenance 101- Recently my vacuum cleaner decided to try to suck up one of my scatter rugs, which caused it to slip the belt. This happens from time to time, but it does give me a good excuse to clean out the threads and hair wound up in the roller at the same time.

Now my vacuum is an OLDIE- meaning it is not bagless (which I do not care for, as dumping out the "dust and debris" causes more issues with airborne allergens, in my opinion) and has relatively few working parts to mess with. I actually found my vacuum on a curbside during a city wide clean up day, at least 10 years ago. The previous owner- presumably male, given it had a playboy bunny sticker on it- decided it was broken and tossed it. Actually, the belt had slipped and they had appeared to have sucked up a pen, causing a log jam of gunk. Once cleared and cleaned, and sticker removed, belt replaced, it has worked perfectly fine ever since.

But I digress... here is my step by step pictorial guide to changing out the belt and cleaning the roller of your vacuum. If you have a newer model, I am not certain what the inner workings looks like, but would hope that they all have similar abilities to general repair. Check with your owner's manual if you do decide to take matters into your own hands.

Unplug your vacuum and tip it on the back side revealing the base.

Locate screws holding the covering plate on the bottom and remove with a screwdriver. (usually a Phillips head)







In my case there were four screws to remove...

Remove the base plate and set aside.

Note the belt is not broken, just slipped off. You can replace broken belts in a similar manner. Every belt is a different size so make sure you are buying the correct one for your specific machine.

 Using a scissors, trim off threads and hair wound up in the roller.

Yuck!

Locate the bottom of the belt. I had to remove the roller bar in order to reattach the belt. It was hard to get a photo, but I basically pulled the roller gently toward me and then used the screw driver to help hook/guide the belt back onto the attachment rod. 

Note that it is attached to a metal rod sticking out.

Replace the roller bar, pulling the belt tight. My roller bar has fitted notches to guide the piece in securely.

Now that it is all attached (see arrow) I screwed the protective base plate back on, and voila! my vacuum was once again "fully operational."

Back together...and yes, the outline of the sticker is still on there. I never got around to removing it with rubbing alcohol.