Zuppa Toscana

• This is a Zuppa Toscana recipe adapted from Tuscan Recipes.  
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• Zuppa Toscana
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• 2 lb ground Italian sausage
• 1 Tbsp crushed red peppers
• 1 large diced white onion
• 1/2 cup crumbled bacon 
• 4 tsp garlic puree
• 8 cups chicken broth
• 8 cups water
• 2 cup heavy cream
• 6 peeled and diced white potatoes or sweet potatoes
• 1/2 of a bunch kale
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• Sauté Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in a large pot. Drain excess fat.
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• In the same pan, sauté bacon, onions and garlic over low-medium heat for approximately 15 mins. or until the onions are soft. 
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• Add chicken bouillon and water to the pot and heat until it starts to boil.
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• Add the sliced potatoes and cook until soft.
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• Add the heavy cream and just cook until thoroughly heated.
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• Stir in the sausage and the kale, let all heat through and serve. 

Black Eyed Pea Dip

I saw this recipe in the comment section of a post on a favorite blog, Rural Revolution.  It sounds good but I haven't yet tried it. Thanks, PollyS! 

Black Eyed Pea Dip
From Neiman Marcus’ Pure and Simple

About ½ pound dried black eyed peas (frozen are good too, canned tastes very flat)
8 slices bacon*
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
¼ cup green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ t black pepper
2 T Tabasco sauce, or to taste
½ C Ketchup
3 cubes chicken bouillon, crushed
¼ t nutmeg
¼ t cinnamon
1 can (14.5 oz) Rotel tomatoes with green chilies, chopped – if not available, add 1 small canned chopped chilies to can of tomatoes
2 T oil
3 T flour

Soak peas overnight or 4 hours. Put soaked peas in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook or 30 minutes, or until just tender.
To avoid having lots of dirty pots, I do this step in a pot rather than a skillet -- Cook bacon until crisp. Set bacon aside, drain 1-2 teaspoons of the grease and reserve. Add celery, bell pepper, onion, and garlic to bacon drippings and sauté until soft. 
Make a paste of ketchup, bouillon, black pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, and Tabasco. Add to sautéed vegetables. Add cooked peas and tomatoes with chilies. Cook 30 minutes on very low heat. It is ok if some of the beans break up, you want this to happen. Just don’t let it cook too high or you’ll end up with a “mush”, it tastes the same, just doesn’t look as nice! 
Mix reserved bacon grease and flour together. Cook on stove or microwave until it starts to bubble, this is your roux. Add roux to pea mixture and cook an additional 10 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat and transfer to serving dish. 
Crumble bacon over top and serve with tortilla chips.
Can be served cold or reheats well. Freezes well too. Serves 2-16, depending on how hungry you are.

*Omit bacon for vegetarians, add bacos or liquid smoke if you wish. Sauté vegetables in olive oil.

Pork and Beans for Canning

Pork and Beans for Canning, from an online forum:

1c dry navy or white beans /qt 

Add 1/2 c loosely packed brown sugar (recipe called for 1 cup, but that's TOO much for me!)

1 T salt and 2T dry mustard 

Some sliced bacon for each quart

Fill jars with hot water to proper headspace and process 90 minutes in PC at 10#. 

Cher's Breakfast Casserole

This is a recipe from a facebook group. I'm looking forward to this! I love making things in the evening and cooking them in the morning for an easy beginning of the day.

Cher's Breakfast Casserole

1 lb ground sausage

3-4 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 large pepper, green, red or yellow

1/2 lb of ham chopped

1/2 med white onion ( chopped )

6-8 slices of Crisp Bacon chopped

16 eggs

1 cups heavy whipping cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan or dish with bacon grease, olive oil or coconut oil.

1. Cook ground sausage until done ( drain ).

2. Layer shredded cheese evenly. Layer sausage atop the cheese.

3. Layer the green, red, or yellow chopped pepper next.

4. Layer the ham next.

5. Layer the chopped onion next.

6. Layer the chopped cooked - bacon next.

7. Beat 16 eggs with 1 quart of heavy whipping cream and pour over the top of

the onions.

Bake 350 degrees F. 55-60 min. Sides and top should be golden brown.

Take out set on wire rack. Serve warm.

This can be prepared the night before. Cover with foil and set in the

refrigerator. The next morning set in oven uncovered, set oven to 350 add 10 min to cooking

time. Serve warm.

Jackie Clay's Ham and Beans

This is from Jackie's column at Backwoods Home.
Jackie Clay's Ham and Beans
2 qts. dried navy or other smaller beans
1 lb. thickly sliced bacon or salt pork (or ham)
6 large onions, diced
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
4 tsp. salt
4 tsp. dry mustard
1 1/3 cups molasses
Sort beans, rinse, then cover with 6 quarts fresh water; let stand overnight in a cool place. Drain. Cover beans with 6 quarts water in large stockpot. Bring to boil; reduce heat. Cover and simmer until skins begin to crack. Drain, reserving liquid. Pour beans into turkey roaster or other very large baking dish. Add bacon,ham, and remaining ingredients and 8 cups reserved liquid. Ladle sauce over beans and bake, covered, at 350 degrees for about 3 hours. Add water or cooking liquid to keep wet enough; you don’t want them dry but watery. Pack hot beans and sauce into hot jars, leaving 1 inch of headspace. Process pints for 80 minutes and quarts for 95 minutes at 10 pounds pressure.

BLT Salad

I found this at She Cooks, He Cleans. It sounds like it could be a summertime dinner staple! No measuring on this one, just throw together enough to feed your crowd!

BLT Salad

Vine-ripened tomato
Bacon strips, cut into 2-inch pieces
Lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces
2-3 tablespoons mayonnaise (preferably homemade)
splash of balsamic or apple cider vinegar
several generous grinds of black pepper
touch of honey
feta cheese (optional)

Fry up the bacon pieces in a skillet over medium heat. Set aside on a paper towel.

Mix the mayonnaise, to taste, with vinegar, pepper, and honey. If adding feta, mash the cheese into the mayonnaise mixture to break up any large clumps.

Assemble the salad by placing lettuce in bowl, slice the tomato into bite-sized pieces and add to the lettuce. Top with bacon and mayonnaise dressing. Eat and Enjoy!