Cheesy Broccoli & Potato Casserole

Another side dish I prepared for Thanksgiving, I used the crock pot. As it was super easy, I threw the ingredients in and forgot about them!

I got the recipe out of:  Busy People's Slow Cooker Recipe Book

It is one of my favorite cook books, as it is all crock pot recipes, which is nice to come home to after 12 hour shifts at the hospital!

The one small drawback, is that it cooks for 6-7 hrs...and we were eating at 1ish.  Do the math real quick....

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 That means I have to get up at what time?! Oh yes, 6am  :-(

Well I did take a pic of the time...but I guess it got deleted...You'll just have to take my word for it!

And Now, May I Present:

Cheesy Broccoli Potato Casserole

Here are the ingredients. (Super easy, right?!)

And just dump them all into the crock pot and cook on low for 6-7 hrs.

During the festivities, I forgot to take a pic of the finished product, but rest assured, it looked delish!

This is a super easy side, and a general crowd pleaser!

For a printable recipe, click here!!

Cinnamon Ripple Sweet Potato Cake!!

This year at Thanksgiving, I was in charge of the side dishes (probably more work, but way less pressure!)  I knew I wanted to do some sort of sweet potato goodness for dessert, but I didn't know what. (Luckily I had a back up sweet potato casserole recipe, that is always a crowd pleaser.)

So on came the TV and I switched it to The Food Network, knowing that they wouldn't let me down.  Well low-and-behold,  what was on next?! Paula Deen!!!  I KNEW that she would have something good, as it was her Thanksgiving dessert show! And that is how I found this recipe. (Also, there is NOTHING healthy about this recipe.  I could have probably substituted something for all the butter, but With the in-laws coming, I didn't want to risk it. ) ( I only experiment with that stuff when it's immediate family, I don't want to subject anyone else to the possibility of a poor outcome!)

Cinnamon Ripple Sweet Potato Cake!!

Here is a pic of the ingredients. (I know, the sour cream threw me off too!)

Mix 1/2 C packed brown sugar, 1/2 C chopped pecans, and 1 tsp cinnamon in a small bowl, and set aside (aren't you already excited?!  I know I was!!)

Blend 2 sticks of butter (see, nothing healthy, thanks for the coronary Paula) (You know I still love you!) and 2 C of sugar (It just keeps getting un-healthier) until it is nice and creamy

Add 3 eggs (Why, hello Lipitor!) , one at a time, blending well in between each egg.

Add 1 C mashed cooked sweet potatoes (It is about 1 medium sweet potato) (But, I'm lazy, so I just bought canned, cooked sweet potatoes, and just mashed them up with a fork)

Then, add 12 oz sour cream (pretty much a whole tub) and 1 tsp vanilla. Beat until well mixed.

In a medium bowl mix 3 C flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp salt (you can also add 1/4 tsp nutmeg, but I don't like nutmeg, so I omitted that)

Add the flour mix into the sweet potato mix a little at a time, mixing in between times until it is all mixed together to form a batter. (Just a heads up, it is thicker than regular cake batter, so it won't pour as easily)  

Spoon 1/2 of the batter into the bottom of a greased/floured bundt pan, and sprinkle the brown sugar/pecan mix evenly over (fyi: this is only 1/2 done, it should be around the whole cake.)

Then spoon the rest of the batter on top of the pecan mix

and bake at 350 Degrees for 1 hr. (when a knife is stuck in the middle it should come out clean)

(I know, it's not super pretty...yet)

Next we will make the Rum Glaze

Mix 2 C confectioners' sugar, 1/2 C heavy whipping cream, and 3/4 tsp rum extract (I didn't have rum extract so I substituted vanilla) (I read online that you can also use 3x the amount of actual rum as what it calls for the extract [so it would be 2 1/4 tsp rum] )

Then just drizzle over the top of the cake, and serve!

(Now it is beeeeauuutiful!!)

It was super tasty, and all the girls at work raved about it!  It is sure to be a hit at your holiday party!!

Next time I make this I will probably substitute some things to make it healthier:

Instead of 2 sticks of butter--1 stick of butter and 1/4 C plain applesauce or 1/4 C more sweet potatoes (Butter adds taste and moisture, so you can use applesauce or sweet potatoes [also bananas work well, depending on the recipe])

Instead of 2 C of sugar-- 1 C of sugar and 1 C of sugar substitute (or what ever the equivalent of that is depending upon what the package says) Also, I might reduce the amount by 1/3 so instead of 2 C use 1 1/3 C.

Instead of 3 whole eggs--use 4 egg whites, or the equivalent in egg substitute (like EggBeaters)

For a printable version of this recipe, click here!!

Original Recipe can be found here

Toasted Cornbread, Bacon, and Chestnut Stuffing

I have been holding onto this recipe, pretty much since Rachael Ray Magazine started. It was in her first Thanksgiving edition, so that was about 4-5 years ago. But I never had to actually prepare anything until this year, so what better year to break it out!

There is quite a bit going on here, but I divided it up into 2 days worth of work.

The day before Thanksgiving, I prepared the corn muffins, and chestnuts.

The recipe calls for 2 8 oz packages of corn muffin mix, so I just bought the cheapest one, as they are going to be mixed with other things.  So just prepare the muffins according to the back of the package

I just added milk, oil, and eggs, according to Marie Callender,

Filled up a greased muffin tray 2/3 of the way full, and baked about 13 minutes (I don't remember what the oven was set on, but every muffin package will be different)

Then I just put them in a tupperware to save until the next day (one less thing I have to do on Turkey Day)

Now on to the chestnuts (Which were rather difficult to find) (three stores later)

All I could find were raw chestnuts, so I had to roast them myself. Which was much easier than I was expecting it to be.

First just wipe them off with a damp paper towl

Next cut an 'X' in the top of it (It's easiest when you lay it on the flat side) (also, the shell isn't too hard, so with a regular steak knife, I was able to do it easily)

Like So

Once all of them had been scored, I placed them in a pan, and roasted them for about 25 minutes at 425 Degrees.

This is what they will look like coming out of the oven.  Wait about 10 minutes for them to cool (just enough for you to touch them) and peel the shells off (It's best and easiest to do that while they're still warm)

This is what they are supposed to look like.  (I had about 3-5 rotten ones in a 1 lb bag, they are brown throughout)

Then I just popped them into the fridge to await the rest of the preparation on Turkey day!

Thanksgiving rolled around, and the rest of the prep-work began!

I crumbled up the muffins, and placed them on an un-greased baking sheet and popped them into the oven for about 10 minutes to toast.

While they are in the oven, whisk together the chicken broth, half and half, and the eggs.

Fold in the toasted cornbread with the milk/egg/broth mix, until it is all soaked up.

Meanwhile, I cooked the bacon (in a skillet) until the edges were just starting to get crispy, drained most of the grease off of the pan, and added the butter and about 1/2 chopped onion. (You can also add celery at this point, but I don't care for it, so I left it out.)

and cooked them until the onion was starting to get tender. Then add the chestnuts, thyme and sage, then stir in the cranberries, parsley and muffin mix.

At this point, my mom came over, and I promptly neglected to take anymore pics. Oops.  I'm still pretty bad about that, but I acknowledge this short-coming and will do my best to remedy it.

At this point, let this mixture stand for about 30 minutes, while the oven pre-heats.

Add stuffing mix to a greased casserole dish (9x9) and cover and bake for 40 min. Uncover and bake until golden for another 15 minutes. 

I just have to say that this stuffing was DELICIOUS!!!!!  Even Matt liked it...I think. He had a small bite, which I learned was a HUGE step!  Apparantly he isn't a fan of stuffing. Huh...I thought EVERYONE loved stuffing! 

It was the right mix of sweet and savory.  The cranberries really added a pop to it, and almost made it like a dessert.  If I make it again, I would go low-fat, and it was VERY rich.

But all in all, I think it was a HUGE success.  Even though, only my mom and I ate it.  Who cares! More left overs for us!!

For a printable version of this recipe click here!!
Original Recipe can be found here

Crispy Cheesy Chicken

And, I had another homerun, in my continueing food odyssey!

Crispy Cheesy Chicken.

I'll admit, Matt looked a little sceptical as I was preparing this dish, but was waiting anxiously for it to come out of the over.  It is super easy to prepare, and with the most time-consuming thing being the cook time, it would be a snap if you didn't want to do too much prep work when you got home from work.

Here are the ingredients: Milk, Sour Cream, Ritz Crackers (or Zips from Kroger), butter, parsley, cream of chicken soup, cheese, and of course Chicken.

I usually keep chicken in the freezer, so I just defrosted it (which took way longer than anything else!)

Then I cut each chicken breast into 3 strips (for quicker cooking)

Next pour 1/2 cup milk into a pan (I used old Rusty Bucket tupperware) (Which, incidentally, is one of my favorite restaurants, as they have INCREDIBLE ranch dressing!!) (Yes, that was a shameless plug)

Then pour some cheddar cheese into another pan (I used a tupperware lid) (also, the recipe called for grated cheese, I just used shredded, but grated would definitely work better)

Then put one sleeve of the crackers into a food processor and crush up (I left them pretty coarse, which I liked) And put them also in another pan (I forgot to take before pics, so this is midway through, so you see some cheese in there, but there should only be bread crumbs.)

Next, dip the chicken into the milk (please ignore my hand, I'm not quite sure why it looks so veiny)

Then into the cheese (You can see that the shredded cheese didn't stick too well, which is probably why the recipe called for grated...[maybe if I had completely read the recipe...]) (Once again, ignore my super wrinkly hand)

Then into the crackers (Ahh, There we go, my hand looks normal! :-D  )

Then put them into a greased pan (I found that a casserole pan works great)

Then sprinkle some parsley on top of it (I couldn't really taste it, but I've had the jar of parsley for a bit, but it looked fancy)

Then cover the pan with tinfoil (meanwhile, please ignore my Quasimodo hand) and bake in 400 deg. oven for 35 minutes.

While the chicken is in the oven, put 1 can of cream of chicken soup, 2 tbsp sour cream, and 2 tbsp butter into small saucepan, and heat until butter melts and it is warm (about 10-15 minutes)

After the chicken has been in the oven for the 35 minutes, remove the tinfoil and cook for an additional 10 minutes (I forgot a pic at this stage, we were in the middle of Big Bang Theory)

Once the chicken has cooked, remove from oven

And serve!

(Steam Bags of Green Beans are a staple at our house, they are easy!)

For a printable version of this recipe, click here!!

The original Recipe can be found here

It's the Most Wonderful Time....of November!

I am SOOO Excited!!!  Thanksgiving is fast approaching!!! AND I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!  (as you can probably tell by my excessive use of caps lock)

It is mine and Matt's first Thanksgiving together (not only as a married couple, but our first together period) (Yea we haven't even know each other for a year. Eek!  LOL)

Our mothers are coming over to our place for some yummy fall goodness!  Growing up, none of my family really liked turkey, so we always had INCREDIBLE ham that Pawpaw cooked, so my mom is bringing that.  And Matt's family being more traditional, always had turkey, so his mom is bringing that.

Matt and I are in charge of side dishes!  Probably more time consuming, but ultimately easier and less stress than the main course.   Haha.

So our menu will include: Deviled Eggs, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli Casserole, Green Beans, Stuffing of some sort, and some sort of Sweet Potato goodness.

I am currently watching the food network non-stop to try to find a unique stuffing recipe and sweet potato recipe.  Luckily Paula Dean is coming up, and she will FOR SURE! have some type of Sweet Potato Goodness!

And! I promise to document all of my Thanksgiving antics in great detail!

Stuffed Shells with *Better* Spinach Pesto

I was slaving away at work one day last week, when Matt asked: What do you want to do for dinner?
and I had been saving this recipe for when I was finally feeling ambitious enough to WANT to cook.  I said: How about stuffed shells? And he was game
(remember how much we love pasta here)

So, luckily it was my turn to float at work (which I don't ever call lucky, but today it was), and I went over to our outpatient clinic.  I stayed there all day and when my last patient left at 6:15, I was able to leave!  (As opposed to 7:30 or later, which is the typical time)

I got home, got my grocery list off of the counter (which is something I need to do better about remembering [especially with Turkey day coming up!!!]  )  and we headed off to the store.

As a side note: Yuengling Beer has recently come to Ohio, and in the Barrick house, we are thrilled! No more smuggling it in from the south.  Whoo!!  (So needless to say we stocked up!)

And as I got home I started cooking (which was about 730, [I still would've been at work if I hadn't been floated,  Lucky!, you see])

Before we start: I have a confession:  I didn't do a very good job at taking pictures.  :-(  First I got side tracked by the multitasking, then while I was stuffing the shells, I had a mad coughing fit (I have bronchitis, with a side of strep throat and a sinus infection to top it off.  How lame is that?!)

First things first:  Put a pot of water on, add some salt and olive oil (To flavor the shells, and to keep them from sticking) and put about 12 jumbo shells in to cook.  (I have a confession:  I don't know a good way to cook these. This is the first time I have cooked shells, and I couldn't get them to cook without them sticking to the bottom of the pan.  And that just tore the shells up.  I did get a little distracted by multi-tasking, and probably could have stirred them some more, but, they are not as easy as regular pasta to cook.)

Next: I put a splash of Olive Oil in a medium skilled and saute'd 1/4 C chopped onion, 2 cloves minced garlic, and 1/2 tsp dried basil, over medium heat, until the onion was tender (I've learned, from The Food Network, that it is important to season every layer of the dish, in order to give it a deep flavor.  I usually just do salt/pepper when I'm cooking italian, but you could do sage, thyme, rosemary, basil [if there wasn't always in there]  Experiment!!! )

After the onion is tender add 1/2 cup of chopped spinach.  Mix it up and let it cook until the spinach is wilted.

Blend this spinach mixture in with 3/4 C ricotta cheese (I used low-fat, and you can't tell. :-D), then stir in 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper ( I don't like nutmeg, so I left that out.)

Stuff the spinach mixture into the cooked shells, place in baking pan and bake at 350, covered, until hot all the way through, about 20 minutes.

While this is in the oven, I made some spinach pesto to spoon over the top of it, and I found a better recipe for it!

Spinach Pesto:
1 C loosely packed spinach
1 Tbsp dried basil (Or 3 Tbsp fresh)
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp parmesan cheese
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice

Throw all of these into the food processor and combine until it is the consistency you want ( I actually added a skosh more olive oil than recommended, as I wanted it to be smoother.)  And Voila!  Better spinach pesto!

Once the shells are out of the oven and on the plate, spoon some of the pesto over the top and serve!

Matt suggested adding some cheese on the top, and I would agree with that assessment.

Matt also said these were delicious and he wants me to make them again. Haha.

We have reached an arrangement.  When I cook something new, he has to tell me, not only if he likes it, but also if he would like me to make it again!

When we first started dating, and I made some meals, he said: Oh yea, I like it!  So Then a month or so later, I would make it again, and he wouldn't eat any of it. When I asked him, he said: I liked it, but I wouldn't eat it again, so from that time forward, I always make a point to ask: Do you want me to make it again?  and he makes a point of trying to beat me to the punch and tell me: Yes/No I do/don't want you to make it again.


For a printable version of the recipe click HERE!!!