For Christmas this year my mother didn't want Macaroni and Cheese and we needed another dish to compliment our eclectic menu. So my mom suggested we make an all cheese lasagna. I was skeptical at first but I went ahead and made the lasagna anyway and it turned out GREAT! Especially when I added a great marinara sauce. It was absolutely awesome!

Ingredients

2 Boxes Lasagna Noodles

4 c Colby Jack Cheese

4 c Mozzarella Cheese

2 c Jack Cheese

Cheese Sauce

3 c Milk

3 tsp Black Pepper

3 tsp Parsley

3 tsp Salt

2 1/2 c Flour

1 Stick of Butter

Follow the instructions on the box for the noodles. Create the cheese sauce.
Cheese Sauce: Create a rue in a large pot (use whatever fat you like bacon, olive oil, butter, etc.) Cook your fat in the pan for 5 minutes. Then add the flour. Once the flour has cooked a little bit, slowly add the buttermilk. You need to do this with a whisk. It is very difficult to incorporate the flour without it. The sauce will be thick and slightly chunky just continue to stir. You should end up with a nice béchamel sauce; add the cream cheese and butter to the mixture. Constantly stir this mixture until everything is fully combined. Then add the Mozzarella and Colby jack cheese. Whisk the cheese into the sauce 1 cup at a time. This will allow the cheese to fully blend with the béchamel until it begins to bubble. Add your seasonings and let simmer, constantly stirring to keep the cheese mixture smooth. This is very tiring so be prepared to do some work. The work is hard but the payoff is creamy cheesy goodness!

Then begin a layering process. Alternate between a layer of cheese sauce, noodles, and cheese. Or cheese sauce, cheese, noodles. Which ever way works for you. Once you've reached the top of the pan place a full layer of cheese on top and put in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes. Or until the cheese on top is bubbling brown.  Let it rest for 10 minutes. Then Serve!

*These are drop biscuits so use a spoon or ice cream scoop to place them, rolling out the dough and forming with biscuit cutters could ruin final product of the biscuit*

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

2 Onions

2 Bell Pepper

1 Garlic Bulb

2 Eggs

3 tbsp Salt

3 tbsp Pepper

3 Cans of Canned Salmon

2 cups Bread Crumbs

1 cup Flour

4 tbsp Olive Oil or Canola Oil

Directions

Clean the canned salmon and place the meat in a bowl. Chop onions, bell peppers (saute the veggies until soft or translucent), garlic, mix with bread crumbs, flour and eggs. Form into patties and flour each side then pan sear in olive oil or canola oil. Fry until golden brown then drain on a paper towel. Before eating squeeze some fresh lemon juice all over it'll brighten the flavor of the croquette. 

*Pair up the salmon with a nice salad w/ a light lemon vinaigrette.*

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, for pan

Red Velvet Brownie Layer:

Ingredients:

4 Sweet Potatoes

1 Cup of Evaporated Milk

1 tsp. of Vanilla Extract

1 tsp. of Lemon Zest

½ stick of butter

¼ tsp. of salt

¼ tsp. of cinnamon

¼ tsp. of ground cloves

½ tsp. of Lemon Juice

2 cups Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

¼ cup of Flour

9 inch unbaked pie crust (2 deep dish)

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Polk holes into the bottom of the crust along the sides with a fork. Place in oven for 8 min. let it cool on the counter until sweet potato mixture is made. Place all 4 sweet potatoes on a baking sheet in a 350-degree oven. Cook potatoes until done (to tell if the potatoes are done use a fork to pierce the potatoes if it goes all the way through and feels soft its done) then remove from oven and rest until cool to the touch. Meanwhile mix butter, eggs, and sugar until incorporated. Peel potatoes and add to the eggs mixture, blend well. Then add the zest, lemon juice, cinnamon, salt, milk, vanilla extract, and ground cloves and blend well. If the mixture is very loose, add the ¼ cup of flour to help thicken up the pie. Pour the sweet potato mixture into the pie shell and bake for 30 to 45 minutes. Continuously check on your pie if it jiggles when you pull it out its not ready. The pie should be very firm (a good tester is to use a toothpick or knife in the center of the pie if it comes out clean then its ready). Remove the pie from the oven cover and let it rest for 10 minutes or until cool to the touch. Then serve with vanilla ice cream, pecan ice cream, praline ice cream, or simple whipped cream.

*Makes 2 full deep dish pies or 4 regular pies*