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Browsing category archives: whatscookin

Mom’s Sweet Potato Casserole

Yesterday I received a call from my sister Luci requesting my husband’s mother’s Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe. She said, “I looked for it on the blog, but I couldn’t find it.” That is when I realized I have never posted this very popular dish of my husband’s family. In fact, my husband says every year how this dish is his favorite of all the Thanksgiving dishes. This dish has been liked by so many, that I have given out the recipe too many times to count (hopefully it’s not a secret family recipe!) The dish can be made the night before for easy baking. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do! (I will try to take a picture of the casserole myself this Thanksgiving, until then here’s one I found online that looks similar.)

8 medium sweet potatoes or 8 medium yams
3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 stick melted)
1/3 cup evaporated milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour

1. Boil sweet potatoes or yams till soft. Mash together.
2. Mix mashed potatoes, 1/2 cup melted butter, evaporated milk, eggs and vanilla. Mix together and beat well.
3. Pour into a 9 x 13 pan.
4. Now make the topping. Mix brown sugar, flour, and pecans together.
5. Mix in remaining cup of melted butter (about 1/4 cup). Mix well.
6. Pour topping on top of potatoes.
7. Bake 40-50 minutes at 350 degrees.

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Make Ahead Meals: Wild Rice and Sausage Casserole

I am starting a series of blogs for Make Ahead Meals that I am preparing before Baby 2.0 arrives. Every night when I make dinner, I am doubling the recipe and putting the second in the freezer. I am hoping that the prepared meals will help on those totally exhausted days when cooking sounds like no fun. I am hoping many of the meals I will be preparing will be somewhat healthy and low calorie, but I know there will be some meals mixed in that aren’t. To prepare for the freezer meals, I purchased some slow cooker liners (for the crockpot meals), gallon freezer bags (for the freezer skillet meals), and Aluminum Foil Steam Table Pans with matching lids (for the freezer casseroles).
I made this recipe a while back and it is now one of my husband’s favorite casseroles and he requests it all the time. 
2 packages (6.3 oz each) rice pilaf 
2 cups of wild rice mixture, cooked
1 lb bulk pork sausage
12 celery ribs, chopped
8 medium carrots, sliced
2 cans (10 3/4 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
2 cans (10 3/4 oz) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
4 tsp onion powder
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp pepper
4 cups of chinese chow mein noodles
2 packages (2.5 oz.) of sliced almonds
Prepare rice pilaf according to package directions. 
I like this brand of rice pilaf, but I only use 1 seasoning packet as I find with two it gets too salty.
–
In large skillet, cook the sausage, celery, and carrots over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. The veggies might be a bit crisp, but will cook down in the oven. 

In a large bowl, combine the soups, onion powder, garlic powder and pepper. 
Add mixture to the skillet full of carrot, celery, and sausage. 

Add in the rice pilaf mixture and stir.

 Add in cooked wild rice and 1 package of almonds.

Stir.

Grease two baking dishes. I made the meal that night, so used the smaller one for dinner and the larger one is for the deep freezer.

Transfer the casserole over to the two dishes.

Sprinkler top with remaining package of sliced almonds.

And top with chow mein noodles.   

Cover and freeze one casserole for up to 3 months. I use tin foil on the top and then cover with the lid that matches the pan to prevent freezer burn. Label the freezer one to thaw, bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until warm.

For dinner that night, bake the remaining casserole at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Enjoy!!
Meals to date:
1 x Wild Rice and Sausage Casserole

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Make Ahead Meals: Dump Chicken Meals

I am starting a series of blogs for Make Ahead Meals that I am preparing before Baby 2.0 arrives. Every night when I make dinner, I am doubling the recipe and putting the second in the freezer. I am hoping that the prepared meals will help on those totally exhausted days when cooking sounds like no fun. I am hoping many of the meals I will be preparing will be somewhat healthy and low calorie, but I know there will be some meals mixed in that aren’t. To prepare for the freezer meals, I purchased some slow cooker liners (for the crockpot meals), gallon freezer bags (for the freezer skillet meals), and Aluminum Foil Steam Table Pans with matching lids (for the freezer casseroles).
Another sale at the local store, this time with boneless, skinless chicken! Perfect for some dump chicken meals. Now if you have never heard of “dump chicken” let me define it for you:
Dump Chicken {ˈdəmp  ˈchi-kən }:
 The process of combining many ingredients with chicken and then pouring (or “dumping”) them in a baking carafe to make a meal. 
In other words– very easy meals made with chicken and some other random ingredients. I made three “dump chicken” meals and I thought I would share the recipes. 
All of these meals I plan to cook in the crockpot (though you could also bake them in the oven), so I put them all in a slow cooker liner bag. I separated three pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts into three slow cooker liner bags. 
And then I prepared myself to begin dumping ingredients.
The first recipe:
Cranberry Chicken
 You will need: 
1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
1 can Cranberry Sauce
1/4 cup Orange Juice Concentrate
1/8 teaspoon Cinnamon
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. 

And “dump” on your chicken in the slow cooker liner:  
Seal with a twist tie: 
I plan on serving this meal with Quinoa on the side and it should be pretty tasty!
Pretty tough, right? Only two more recipes to go!
The next recipe is: 
 Apricot  BBQ Chicken
You will need:
3/4 cup Ketchup
3/4 cup Apricot Preserves
1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tbs Worcestershire Sauce
2 teaspoons Chili Powder
1/8 teaspoon Salt
3  teaspoon brown sugar

Again, mix all the ingredients in a bowl: 
And pour over a different bag of chicken: 
Twist with a twisty tie: 
I plan on serving this meal either as whole chicken or pulling the meat into sandwiches. I think it would be great with a side of corn bread. 
Ok, can you handle one more??? I know these recipes are tough! This is the last one: 
Sticky Chicky
You will need: 

2 tablespoons Oil
2 tablespoon Soy Sauce
3/4 cup Peanut Butter
3 tablespoons Ketchup
1  teaspoon of Salt
Mix all ingredients in a bowl together: 

Pour over final bag of chicken: 
And seal again with a twisty tie: 
I plan on serving this meal over some cooked brown rice! Super easy!
Now because all of these chickens are in slow cooker liners, which are somewhat thin, I decided to put each bag into a freezer bag to prevent any freezer burn. 
You can label them each
“Thaw overnight. Cook in slow cooker for 4-6 hours”
or 
“Thaw overnight. Bake in oven for 45 minutes or until chicken reaches 165 degrees.”

These “dump chicken” meals are so easy to put together and always turn out great! 
Meals to date:
1 x Cranberry Chicken
1 x Apricot BBQ Chicken
1 x Sticky Chicky
I have a little confession to make– I have made a ton of meals so far, but honestly not had the time to blog about them all. I actually go into the hospital to have the baby in 4 days, so I doubt that I will be able to blog about the rest of them in time, so I will just keep posting these until I have them all up! Thanks for understanding! 

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Double Chocolate Banana Bread

This is a great recipe to use up any only bananas you might have in your freezer. My husband is not a normal fan of banana bread, but this recipe with the double chocolate kick made him change his mind!

1 cup of butter
2 cups of sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
6 brown bananas, mashed
3 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of dark chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease and flour two bread loaf pans.
3. In large glass bowl, melt butter in microwave.
4. With mixer, mix sugar and eggs with butter until combined. Beat for a minute.
5. Mix in vanilla and brown mashed bananas.
6. In sifter, place flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Sift into bowl with liquid mixture. Stir with spoon until combined.
7. Stir in pecans and chocolate chips.
8. Pour into greased bread loaf pans and place in center rack of oven.
9. Bake for about 55-65 minutes until knife inserted in middle of each loaf comes out clean.
10. Let cool slightly before removing from pan. Enjoy!!

Makes two – 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaves

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Easy Crockpot Cheesy Potato Hamburger Casserole

I am not a casserole girl….. I use to be, but I think during college I ate so many of them that I just don’t enjoy them as much. Once in a while though, I will stumble across a super easy casserole recipe that I find it hard to resist trying and this is the case of this recipe. My husband really liked it, but requested less cheese the next time, so I pared down the cheese in this recipe. It’s easy to put together and goes right in the crockpot, so make early in the day and dinner is ready at night!  
Crockpot Cheesy Potato Hamburger Casserole

1 pound ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped
1 box of Betty Crocker Cheddar & Bacon Scalloped Potatoes
1 can whole no salt kernel corn, undrained
1 can 98% fat free cream of celery soup
pepper to taste
4 slices of 2% American Cheese or 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

1. Brown the ground beef in a skillet over medium heat.
2. When beef is cooked, add in chopped onion and cook until translucent.
3. Drain the beef/onion mixture.
4. In crockpot, place scalloped potatoes in bottom and mix with powered cheese mixture.
5. Pour can of undrained corn onto potatoes.
6. Top with spoonfuls of cream of celery soup.
7. Place ground beef/onion mixture on top of the soup.
8. Sprinkle with pepper. You can salt this too, but I found with the soup, potatoes, and cheese that no salt was needed.
9. Top with cheese slices or shredded cheddar cheese.
10. Cook on low for 4-6 hours, depending on your crockpot. After a few hours, I stirred mine so the cheese would not burn on the sides.





Enjoy!

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Naked Potato Salad

This is not your normal potato salad recipe! This is a mayo or miracle whip free potato salad, which my husband will LOVE! I adopted this recipe from Giada at Home’s recipe Red Potato and Tomato Salad but thought hers was super bland so changed some of the ingredients! Enjoy!

1 pound baby red potatoes, halved
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
5 scallions, sliced
1 6 oz. can of pitted black olives, halved
1/3 cup chopped fresh italian parsley
1/4 cup of capers
3 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 large lemon, zested
1 half of lemon juice
Salt and pepper

1. Boil potatoes until fork tender.
2. Drain potatoes and let them cool to room temperature.
3. In one bowl, mix together all ingredients: potatoes, tomatoes, scallions, olives, parsley, capers, thyme, olive oil, lemon zest, and juice from half of the lemon that was zested.
4. Toss gently until all the ingredients are coated.
5. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Depending on the saltiness of your olives and capers you might need to add more salt.
6. Refrigerate for a few hours before sevice and toss again before serving.

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Zuppa Toscana Soup

My cousin Nikki was raving about this soup recipe a few weeks ago and sent it to me. We have had a couple of cold rainy days lately so I made this for dinner the other night. It was a HUGE success! I loved the green the kale added to the recipe and overall it was great comfort food! Serve with some crusty bread on the side!

1 lb ground Italian sausage (I use 1 package of Johnsonville Spicy Italian Sausage, removed from casings)
1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
1 large diced onion
1/4 cup turkey bacon pieces, crumbled small
2 teaspoons of garlic, minced
1 pound potatoes, or about 2 large potatoes, sliced in half, and then in 1/4 inch slices
6 cups water
2 (14.58 ounce) cans chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups of kale

1. Saute Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in a large pot. Remove from pan and drain excess fat. Keep warm.

2. In the same pan, saute bacon, onions and garlic for approxiamtly 15 mins. or until the onions are
soft.
3. Add in diced potatoes.
4. Add chicken broth and water to pot and stir.
5. Add sausage and bacon and salt and pepper to taste.
6. Simmer for another 10 minutes, to thicken the soup.
7. Turn to low and add heavy cream and cook until thoroughly heated.
8. Add kale just before serving. Delicious!

Makes: 6-8 servings

Thanks Nikki!

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Butter Chicken

I was inspired to make this for dinner tonight from my cousin’s facebook post. Sometimes you forget how good Indian food is!! I originally found this Butter Chicken recipe from foodnetwork.com, but I thought it might turn out to be too tomatoey tasting, so of course I adapted it to my liking!

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 pound of chicken, cubed into 1 inch pieces
3 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons minced ginger
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 (8-ounce) cans tomato sauce
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes in juice
1/4 Greek yogurt
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon of sugar (optional)
Hot basmati rice, for serving
Pita bread (or if you have time, make my Naan recipe)

1. In large skillet heat vegetable oil until hot. Cut chicken into cubes while this is heating up.
2. Cook chicken in oil until no longer pink in the middle of the largest pieces, about 10 minutes.
3. Remove chicken and keep warm in a bowl.
4. Melt the butter in a same skillet used for chicken over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until brown, about 7 minutes.
5. Add the garlic and minced ginger and cook for 1 minute.
6. Add in spices and tomato paste and cook for 1 minute.
7. Pour in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and the cooked chicken that has been set aside. Cover skillet and cook on low for 15 minutes.
8. Stir in yogurt and whipping cream. Reduce heat to very low and let simmer for 10 minutes. Stir often to prevent scorching.
9. Taste the sauce and see if you need to add the sugar. I usually add it if the tomatoes are too acidic. (As a side note, I did not have plain Greek yogurt, only strawberry Chobani. I just scooped the unmixed yogurt off the top and did not need to add any sugar. It gave a nice slight fruity flavor to the sauce, but not noticeable unless I pointed it out.)
10. Serve sauce over basmati rice and bread on the side.

Enjoy!!

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Chicken with Grapes, Thyme, and Wild Rice in a Chardonnay Sauce

The other day it was raining, so instead of doing our normal grilling I decided to use up what I had in the fridge. Namely chicken, grapes, and some old Chardonnay from a previous recipe. (Yep, my husband barely drinks wine, so if I can’t we can keep a bottle for months!)
Now grapes and chicken sound a little strange, but the sweetness in the grapes and the flavor of the thyme really bring a nice flavor to the chicken. At 383 calories per serving it’s healthy for you too!
For the recipe you will need:
1 1/2 cups wild rice blend
rice cooker
3 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 pounds of chicken breasts
1/2 of a small purple onion, chopped 
1 tablespoon of garlic, minced
1 cup of seedless grapes
1 cups of a dry Chardonnay
dried thyme (I think fresh would be better, but I only had dried on hand)
salt and pepper 
To start, make your wild rice. I love my rice cooker. You can make it on the stove, but I just love I can pour  all the ingredients in and walk away. I used 1 1/2 cups of rice and 3 cups of water. Make sure you do this first because wild rice usually takes about 30 minutes to cook. 

Season up your chicken well! Very well. This dish has light flavors and you really need to have the salt and pepper bring them out. 
In a large pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil till very hot and place your chicken in the pan. 
Brown both sides of the chicken but don’t cook them all the way through. 
Once both sides are browned, remove from pan. Place on a plate and keep them warm by covering them with a lid. 
In the same pan, heat the rest of the olive oil until hot. Add your purple onion and cook until caramelized. About 5-8 minutes. 
When the onions are nice and browned, add the garlic and cook for an extra 2 minutes. 
You should end up with a nice mixture of browned onion and garlic that looks like this:
Next, deglaze your pan with the chardonnay. I just poured it out of the bottle, but I think it was around a cup. 
Add your chicken back in bring mixture to a boil. 
Once boiling, reduce to low and add in your grapes. 
Sprinkle with thyme. I used a lot, probably a tablespoon. Cover and let simmer on low for 15-20 until chicken is cooked through. 
When you open your pan you will see many of the grapes have split open and lost their color a little. This is good, the split grapes add sweetness to the sauce!
Plate up your chicken on a bed of wild rice. Cover with onions, grapes, and some chardonnay sauce. 
Enjoy!!
The skinny: Serves 6 @ 383 calories

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Easy Easter Nest Cookies

Want an easy cookie to make for Easter? Well, look no further then these Easy Easter Nest Cookies. I found this recipe originally on the Fiber One website and decided to give it a try. This recipe is fast and very easy to make. Nest cookies are usually made with crispy chow mein noodles, but this recipe uses the original bran cereal. The cookies end up crunchy and a little healthier packing in 11% of your daily fiber needs in just one cookie! If that doesn’t give you a reason why you can eat more than one, I don’t know what will!

2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 3/4 cups Fiber One original bran cereal
Egg shaped candy (I used whoppers)

1. Line cookie sheets with waxed paper.
2. In double boiler, melt chocolate. Stir until smooth.
3. Add in peanut butter and stir until smooth.
4. Mix in cereal.
5. Drop mixture by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper.
6. Top with egg shaped candy for the look of a nest.
7. Refrigerate until chocolate is firm.
8. Enjoy!

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