Thanksgiving 2012

This has been an enjoyable and restful holiday. We will be having lots of company in December so it was good to be a little lazy for a few days. For Thanksgiving Dinner and for several meals afterward we had: Ham glazed with honey, ground cloves and cinnamon, and pineapple Cheesy potatoes with bacon lima beans cream corn deviled eggs punkin pie

I had snagged this recipe on Pinterest for the corn. Ingredients: 2 (10 ounce) packages frozen corn kernels, thawed 1 cup heavy cream 1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons butter 1 cup whole milk 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese Directions: 1. In a skillet over medium heat, combine the corn, cream, salt, sugar, pepper and butter. Whisk together the milk and flour, and stir into the corn mixture. Cook stirring over medium heat until the mixture is thickened, and corn is cooked through. Remove from heat, and stir in the Parmesan cheese until melted. Serve hot. I changed it just a bit. I like to use corn starch for thickening. With flour, you really should make a roux so you don't have a doughy taste and corn starch dissolves easier and doesn't alter the taste. And I added green onions.

It was even better re-heated the next day. The potatoes were a twist on a recipe my Hubbie had in his collection. It uses Campbell's Cheddar Cheese Soup. It also calls for ham but I didn't want ham in it since I was baking one, so I crumbled cooked bacon in it. Here's what I did: Boil 7-8 potatoes whole to almost done. I used red potatoes, so when they were done I ran cold water on them and the skins slid off. You could leave them on if you like. Slice the potatoes thin and layer half in a baking dish. I cooked a sliced onion in butter until almost done and spread it over the first layer of potatoes along with some shredded cheddar, and the bacon or ham or no meat if you don't want any. I warmed 2 cans of the soup and added some milk to get it where it will pour. Add some garlic powder and black pepper if you'd like. Pour half over the potatoes. Slice the rest of the potatoes into the dish and then pout the rest of the cheese soup over the top. I added green onions on top. Bake at 350 until bubbly and potatoes are completely done about 30-45 minutes. Let rest 10-15 minutes. This is one you could double for a pot luck and everyone would like it. You can play around with the add ins and cheeses for something a bit different every time.

Homemade Croutons

I recently became the proud owner of a beautiful Kitchenaid stand mixer. Thanks Hubbie! He asked a few years ago if I wanted one and at that time I said no. But I started thinking a few weeks ago that someone who likes to eat, hum cook as much as I do might find one useful. So last weekend I decided to make French bread. The mixer of course worked great but the bread did not want to rise very well. I went ahead and baked it and the loaves were think and dense, but tasted ok. We had some left so I didn't want them to go to waste so I made croutons out of them. Here's what I did. First I cut the bread into small cubes and placed them in a large mixing bowl. Then I melted 3/4 stick of butter. I wanted to coat it but not make them oily or greasy. Then I sprinkled the cubes with garlic powder, black pepper, Italian seasoning and dill. I mixed well, and tasted a few until I got them like I wanted. I then placed them on cookie sheets in a single layer and toasted them in a 400 deg. oven stirring and flipping often for about 20 minutes. The house smells great and they taste very good too. Might just have to snack on some - hope some make to a salad!

Linked in with On the Menu Monday

Lemon Blueberry Yogart Loaf

Made this today for Bible study class. This got a little more done than I'd have liked it to be. Temp got jacked up and I didn't notice! Borrowed form Sweetpeas Kitchen. Give Christina a visit~lots of goodies over there! Yummy!
http://sweetpeaskitchen.com/2011/05/15/lemon-blueberry-yogurt-loaf/
For the Loaf:
1 1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (approximately 2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen, thawed and rinsed
For the Lemon Syrup:
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar
For the Lemon Glaze:
1 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottom and sides of one 9 x 5-inch loaf pans; dust with flour, tapping out excess.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and oil. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix the blueberries with the remaining tablespoon of flour, and fold them very gently into the batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 50 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing loaf to a wire rack on top of a baking sheet.
While the loaf is cooling, make the lemon syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir together the lemon juice and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved. Once dissolved, continue to cook for 3 more minutes. Remove from the heat; set aside.
Use a toothpick to poke holes in the tops and sides of the warm loaf. Brush the top and sides of the loaf with the lemon syrup. Let the syrup soak into the cake and brush again. Let the cake cool completely.
To make the lemon glaze, in a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and 2-3 tablespoons of the lemon juice. The mixture should be thick but pourable. Add up to another tablespoon of lemon juice if the mixture is too stiff. Pour the lemon glaze over the top of each loaf and let it drip down the sides. Let the lemon glaze harden, about 15 minutes, before serving.
Yields: 1-9x5 loaf
Note:
This recipe will also yield about 12 standard muffins or 36 miniature muffins, baking time adjusted.
It could be doubled and baked in a well-greased and floured bundt pan, baking time adjusted.
This recipe could also be baked in an 8-inch square or 9-inch round, to create a thin cake (approx. 1 1/2 inches tall), baking time adjusted.

Dump cake and "on the fly" dip

It's been a bit of a busy weekend, and I needed quick and easy stuff to fix for after Bible Study Class this afternoon. I remembered Dump Cake. It's certainly an oldie and a goodie and easy.

Dump 2 cans of any pie filling in a dish that has been sprayed with Pam. I used apple today, but peach and cherry are really good too. Spread a whole box of yellow cake mix, dry over the top. Dot with LOTS of butter, it took over one stick for this one. Bake in 350 degree over about 30 minutes or until golden brown on top. Check it after a few minutes in the oven to be sure the butter has melted and covered the cake mix or it will not make a good "crust". It turns out kinda like a cobbler. Could probably put chopped nuts on the top also. The sky is the limit-use what you love best.

I like to also make a dip, or salty snack to have. I remembered that I really didn't have a plan but had a block of cream cheese and alittle sour cream. I let the cream chesse soften and mixed 1/2 packet of ranch dressing in. It was alittle strong, so I added 2 big blops of sour cream. I made some pico with a homegrown tomato diced and a green onion. I let the cream cheese mixture get firm again in the the fridge and rolled it out on some plastic wrap, made a ball shape and put it on a platter. I drained most of the juice off the pico I made and put it over the top. Wish I had diced up a bit on hot pepper in the pico, but it's very good anyway. Served with crackers.

Cheese ball

I found this at Beverely's Back Porch cooking blog. http://beverlysbackporch.blogspot.com/ Go by and see her blog - there's lots of good stuff there! I made it the day before, wrapped it plastic wrap and then rolled it in the pecans and let it get room temp before serving it. That's slices of summer sausage and green olive on the platter around it. I added some black pepper and some Old Bay. I think some liquid smoke may be good in it too.
Cheese Ball
about 2 pounds
1/2 pound sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
1/4 pound Roquefort or blue cheese (I used crumbles)
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons grated onion ( I used green onion sliced thin)
Cayenne pepper to taste
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup finely minced parsley
1 cup chopped pecans

Thoroughly mix all ingredients except parsley and pecans. Combine parsley and pecans and blend half of them into cheese mixture. Spread remaining parsley mixture on sheet of waxed paper. Form cheese into a ball and roll it in parsley mixture until well coated. Chill before serving. Freezes beautifully. Thanks Beverly!