Thanksgiving Favorites

Last year I posted our Thanksgiving favorites.  This year I am posting them again, with a few new additions.  The first is my variation of Paula Deen's recipe for green bean casserole. 

Green Bean Casserole



Here's what you need:
1/2 cup diced onions
1/2 cup diced fresh mushrooms
2 cups sliced green beans
3 cups chicken broth
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
1 (2.8-ounce) can French-fried onion rings
1 cup grated Swiss cheese 


Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Melt the butter in a large skillet. Saute the onions and mushrooms in the butter.  Add mushroom soup and half of the onion rings and cook over low heat until thick. Meanwhile, boil green beans in chicken broth for 10 minutes and drain. Add the green beans to a greased 1 1/2-quart baking dish and cover with Swiss cheese.  Pour mushroom soup mixture over beans and top with the rest of the onion rings.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Serves 6.

The next two recipes are from the Sioux City Junior League cookbook "Cornsilk" and have been a part of our Thanksgiving since leaving Iowa eighteen years ago.

Oven Mashed Potatoes

Here's what you need:
5 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 8 oz. package cream cheese softened
1 cup half and half
1 stick of butter, melted
1 tsp. minced dry onions
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 Tbsp. seasoned salt
Paprika


Directions:
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boil. Cook potatoes until tender but firm, about 15 minutes; drain. In large bowl, mash potatoes with half of the melted butter and the half and half. With hand mixer, beat in softened cream cheese and seasonings. Beat until very fluffy. Pile in large casserole dish. Add rest of butter on top and a dash of paprika. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Potatoes should be slightly browned on top when done. These can be made the night before and reheated the next day.

Sweet Potato Rum Nut Casserole



Here's what you need:

3 18-ounce cans sweet potatoes
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
6 Tbsp. butter
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 12-ounce can evaporated milk
1/2 cup rum


Directions:
Mash sweet potatoes. Add salt, pepper, 1 cup brown sugar and pecans. Spread in 9x13 pan, making 3 or 4 indentations down length of casserole. Melt butter and stir in flour and remaining brown sugar. Add evaporated milk and cook until quite thick. Thin with rum and pour over casserole. Garnish with pecans. Bake for 1/2 hour or until hot at 300 degrees.

A new recipe I'm trying this year is one I found on the blog A Year Of Slowcooking.  I'm always a fan of throwing some ingredients into a crockpot and forgetting about it for a couple of hours...

Crockpot Cranberry Sauce

You will need:
12 oz cranberries (fresh or frozen)

1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Rinse off the cranberries and put them into your crockpot. Add the orange juice and water.  Add the sugar and the cinnamon.  Cover and cook on high. It will take about 3 hours.  Stir every hour or so. When the skin from the cranberries has softened, the cranberries will "pop" when pushed with a spoon up against the side of the crock. It wasn't until about 2 hours in that my cranberries were soft enough to do this.  Smoosh all of the cranberries. Stir well.  Heat enough for it to be warm throughout. Take the lid off and heat on high for another 30 to 45 minutes.

The final recipe I am preparing is Sandra Lee's cornbread casserole.  I found this semi-homemade recipe on her Thanksgiving special on Food Network and thought it looked delicious! 

Cornbread Dressing

You will need:

1 large egg

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 pound store bought cornbread, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 cup frozen diced onions, thawed
2 tablespoons Italian herb marinade mix (recommended: Durkee Grill Creations)
1 (8-ounce) can sliced water chestnuts
1 (14.75-ounce) can cream style sweet corn
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 2 1/2 quart casserole dish with cooking spray. Set aside. In a small bowl beat 1 egg with the chicken broth. In a large bowl combine remaining ingredients and egg mixture. Stir to combine. Transfer to the prepared casserole dish. Bake for 1 hour.

The Upside of Empty Nesting

It has been difficult making the adjustment from busy mom of an involved teenager to long distant parent.  When Meg left for college I felt I lost my most important job.  Thankfully teaching has helped keep me busy and my mind off the loneliness that can consume you if you let it.  I have also surprisingly began to love the new life Richard and I have together.  We have begun to do things on a whim like we never have before.  We got a wild hair recently and decided to enjoy a beautiful fall day in Texas and drive down to Galveston, just because we could.  It was fun just one more reminder that life now is different but still just as wonderful.  

We stopped for lunch on the seawall at Float. 

These cute furry friends greeted us as we entered.

Here's Richard sitting at our table looking out to the water. 

The old hotel the Flagship is in the background was destroyed by the hurricane will soon be torn down.

Float is a cute open air little joint.  It wasn't crowded so we were promptly served.

After having lunch and some refreshing beverages we headed to the ferry to Crystal Island. It also was hit hard by Hurricane Ike and we hadn't been back since then and were curious to see the progress made since.

Smile...

The view from our car on the ferry. Richard coaxed me out of the car when a large pod of dolphins decided to join us on our journey over to Crystal Beach. Wish I got a picture of them...

We were second in line to exit the ferry.

The view from our car along Highway 87 headed to Crystal Beach.

Once at the beach it was apparent how much damage the hurricane had done. The beaches that in the past were lined with rows and rows of houses looks much different today.  Even so, progress is being made and that makes me hopeful for this little beach side community.

We walked along the beach enjoying the beautiful weather

and scenery before calling it a day and heading back north to home. 


I had a great day and can't wait for our next last minute adventure!

Best College Football Weekend!

Oh my goodness, what a weekend for college football!  To be honest, before a large chunk of our income began going to Texas A&M and now LSU, I really was not much of a college football fan.  We attended a small liberal arts college so it's never been  something we've followed.  However, the minute Brit became an Aggie four years ago, we did too.  Then, when Meg decided to attend LSU this fall, we became Tiger fans as well.  Now here we are, full fledged college football fans and love it.  How can you not?  This weekend is especially wonderful since A&M and LSU both won and upset the favorites they were playing (Oklahoma and Alabama).  Yay!!!!!!  I Love football, especially when my teams win!  Go Aggies and Tigers!!!!!!

Casseroles Galore

Fall weather has finally arrived in Texas and I'm looking forward to having the girls home for Thanksgiving.  I've always been a fan of Tyler Florence and was excited to see his Thanksgiving dinner featured on the November issue of Better Homes and Gardens.  Not finding the recipes in the magazine I resorted to searching their website where I found his delicious alternatives to the traditional sides I make every year.  The recipes looked fabulous and for a moment I even considered changing our usual menu to something different this year.  I  quickly came to my senses, however, knowing how my family, especially the girls, expect, love and look forward to the same meal I have been making for years.  They are creatures of tradition, kind of like me.  However, I did stumble upon, in my search for Tyler's Thanksgiving dishes, a link to Better Homes and Gardens best casserole dishes EVER.  So, after browsing through a variety of recipes I was dying to try a few on the family over the next month as the weather turns colder.  Nothing like a yummy casserole to warm you up on a chilly night.  Although it was difficult to pick one from a list of many mouth watering choices, I decided to  try the Tuscan Cheese Potato Bake as a side dish to our Sunday dinner this weekend.  It serves 8-10 so I will half the below recipe.  If it passes the "Richard test" then I will make it again over the holidays.  Crossing my fingers that it's delicious because it looks divine!

Ingredients

2 lb. red potatoes
3 or 4 cloves garlic, minced
1-1/2 tsp. snipped fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp. dried thyme, crushed
1/4 cup butter
1 cup buttermilk
4 oz. fontina cheese, shredded (1 cup)
4 oz. Parmesan cheese, finely shredded (1 cup)
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/2 cup panko (Japanese-style bread crumbs)
1/4 tsp. dried Italian seasoning, crushed
1 Tbsp. olive oil
Snipped fresh parsley (optional)


Directions


1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease a 2-quart square baking dish; set aside. Scrub potatoes; cut in 1-inch pieces. In large saucepan cook potatoes in lightly salted boiling water 12 to 15 minutes or until tender; drain.
2. In a 12-inch skillet cook and stir garlic and thyme in butter over medium heat for 1 minute; add potatoes. Coarsely mash potatoes. Stir in buttermilk, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. black pepper. Fold in fontina cheese, half of the Parmesan, and the blue cheese. Evenly spread in baking dish.
3. In small bowl combine remaining Parmesan, panko, Italian seasoning, and oil; toss with a fork to combine. Evenly sprinkle over potato mixture in dish. Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbly and top is golden. Sprinkle with snipped fresh parsley. Yummm...