Cheesy Potatoes My Way

Cheesy potatoes, funeral potatoes, call them what you want, are usually too dry and bland for my liking. I just amped it up a bit  and it turns out so much better. I served these at my sister's bridal shower and everyone loved them.

Cheesy Potatoes

1 package frozen shredded potatoes (got mine from fresh and easy, Ora Ida just seem to be too thick and mealy for this recipe)

2 cans cream of chicken soup

2 cups sour cream

1/3 cup green onions

1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese

 Pepper, to taste

2 sleeves Ritz crackers, coarsely smashed

5 Tbsp butter, melted

In a large bowl, mix cream of chicken soup, sour cream, green onions, cheese and pepper together. Mix in the potatoes and pour in a 9x13 casserole dish. Add smashed crackers on top and pour melted butter over the crackers.




Bake 30 minutes at 350.

Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Rolls

This is a slight adaptation of PW's cinnamon rolls. They turned out absoluely fantastic which is a good thing considering that I'll be serving them at my sister's bridal shower brunch this Saturday!

 2 cups Whole Milk
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil

1/2 cup Sugar

1 package Active Dry Yeast

4 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

2 teaspoon Salt

1/2 cup Melted Butter

2 cups  Brown Sugar

Generous Sprinkling Of Cinnamon

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup butter

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 lb powdered sugar

2 Tbsp milk

Preparation Instructions

Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. Scald the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in package of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 4 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

After rising for at least an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down).

When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle 1/4 cup melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle 3/4 - 1 cup of brown sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.

Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.

Spread 1 tablespoon of melted butter in a seven inch round foil cake or pie pan. Then begin cutting the rolls approximately ¾ to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans.

Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake at 375 degrees until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.

For the frosting, mix together all ingredients listed and stir well until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed. Generously drizzle over the warm rolls. Go crazy and don’t skimp on the frosting.

Pan Roasted Porkchops

This is one of the best pork chop recipes I have had thus far! You will definitely not be disappointed. It is adapted from Sweet Nicks blog. You can check it out for the original recipe. I tweaked it a bit to our liking and it turned out fabulous. I think the brining here is the key. They were so tender and juicy, and the sauce is to die for. Made it with mashed potatoes and the sauce also complemented them as well. I doubled the recipe (except the brine which was enough) and it fed 4 adults and 1 kiddo perfectly.

Pan Roasted Pork Chops

Pork Chop Brine:


Dissolve in one gallon resealable freezer bag:


2 cups hot water
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
Add:
6 cups cold water


Dissolve salt and sugar in hot water. It helps to set the bag inside a large bowl in case of spills or leaks. Add ice water to brine. This will cool the brine quickly. Add the pork and seal the bag and refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Just before cooking, dry chops to remove excess brine.


4 1″-thick brined rip chops
2 T olive oil
1 T garlic, chopped
1 T sweet onion, chopped
1 T shallot, chopped
1-1/2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 T Dijon mustard
1/4 cup half and half

Preheat oven to 425. Season chops with pepper. Dust lightly with flour. Brown one side in olive oil over medium-high heat. Turn, cover and roast in oven for about 10 minutes. While the chops are in the oven, in the same pan saute onion and shallot in the drippings over medium-high heat until soft. Add garlic. Deglaze pan with broth. Add sugar and vinegar; reduce by half. Add Dijon mustard and half and half and pork chops to pan and cook for 2 minutes each side until sauce is thick. Makes 1 cup sauce.

Perfect Pizza Crust

No, it's not just good pizza crust or even great pizza crust - this truly is the perfect pizza crust recipe. Given to me by one of my besties (she came over to make me pizza AND then cleaned my kitchen after I had the baby!) Amazing? Yes I think so :) I don't have a picture yet, it gets eaten too fast! But I am sure I will get one up soon because we are now pronouncing a weekly pizza day in our house. 

What are your favorite topping combinations? We love Canadian bacon with sweet onions and pineapple on one side and mushrooms with bell pepper and pepperoni on the other side and we are all happy campers! Ive also put motz. cheese folded under the crust... it is so great. I'd imagine this recipe would be great for bread sticks too.

 

Perfect Pizza Crust

Yeilds: 2 pizza crusts
 

2 cups warm water

4 1/2 tsp. active yeast

5 cups plus 3 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp kosher salt

Olive Oil

 

Preset your oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl mix the water, yeast and 2 Tbsp flour for a couple seconds. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp flour on top. Place aside for 2-3 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl wisk together the rest of the flour and salt. Pour in the yeast mixture and stir together until fully incorporated. Kneed the dough for a full five minutes on a floured surface adding a bit more flour if dough is too sticky. Split dough in half and put in a bowl covered with plastic wrap for 20 minutes.

Roll rested dough out to desired size. Poke the entire surface with a fork and then brush the entire surface lightly with olive oil. Place on pizza stone or a greased pizza pan. Add your favorite sauce, cheese and toppings. Bake for 20 minutes.

 

*A GREAT sauce is much easier then you think. Just pour tomato sauce on the uncooked dough, sprinkle with garlic salt and italian seasoning (i like to extend the seasonings out to the crust) Top with mozzarella cheese and toppings, and enjoy!

 

 

 

Perfect Pumpkin Cookies

Perfection in cookies in my book means that every time I walk through the kitchen I have to grab one as I pass by because I just can't get enough. So this to me is a perfect recipe. 
Don't ask me how many I ate.
Because I will lie to you and say "only 2...ish"
But you will know better then that.

  I made them twice this week and sent home the recipe with my sister who was visiting because her fiancee couldn't get enough of them! :) Perfect pillowy pumpkin perfection!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies adapted from Joy the Baker

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter flavored crisco
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cup canned or fresh pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup dark chocolate chips, or any chip you like


Position a rack in the middle of the oven . Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Wisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices together in a medium bowl for 30 seconds and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. On low speed, mix the eggs, pumpkin, and vanilla until blended. Mix in the flour mixture to incorporate it. Mix in the chips.

 Using an ice cream scoop with a 1/4-cup capacity, scoop mounds of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies at least 2 1/2-inches apart. You could also simply use a 1/4-cup measuring cup if you don’t have a scoop. Use a thin metal spatula to smooth and flatten the rounds.

 Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, about 10 minutes. Cool them on the baking sheet for 5 minutes.

Dust the cooled cookies lightly with powdered sugar. The cookies can be stored in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Light and Fluffy Waffles

Had breakfast for dinner last night... now I just wish I had doubled the recipe for this morning! The texture of these waffles are perfect, not too chewy and wonderfully fluffy. Enjoy!

Light and Fluffy Waffles

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons shortening
1/2 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Combine flour, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl and stir to combine.Beat the egg in another medium bowl until its about doubled in size, and combine with sugar, butter, and shortening, mixing well until smooth. 3 Add the half & half, buttermilk and vanilla and mix well. 4 Add the dry flour mixture to the wet mixture while beating and mix until smooth. 5 If you can, cover and chill overnight, though the batter can be used right away. 6 Rub a light coating of vegetable oil on a waffle iron, and preheat it. 7 Leave the batter out of the refrigerator to warm up a bit as your waffle iron is preheating. 8 Spoon 1/3 to 1/2 cup of batter into the waffle iron and cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until the waffles are light brown.

Whats Keeping Me Away...

... is this little girl. She'll be a week old tomorrow and we are so grateful for friends that have brought us dinner all week long. As amazing as that has been, I'm dying to get to cooking again! Here are a couple meals I have planned for next week:

Breakfast for Dinner (using a new waffle recipe)

Pot Roast (new recipe)

Spaghetti (have leftover sauce I froze from last week)

White Bean Chicken Chili

Taco Night (with Cilantro Lime Rice and Black Beans)

BBQ Pork Ribs

Ill post the recipes afterwards just to make sure they are as good as they look!

I also have another pumpkin to puree this week... I am going to try a recipe for pumpkin butterscotch cookies or a pumpkin cobbler. So until then!

Fresh Pumpkin Spice Loaf

Love LOvE LOOOOOVE this recipe :)

Of course the pumpkin puree can be substituted with canned pumpkin, but personally I love the flavor of fresh puree in baking over the canned stuff.

Fresh Pumpkin Spice Loaf

2 cups fresh pumpkin puree
4 eggs (whites can be used for lower cholesterol)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
2/3 cup water
2 cups sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla ext.
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. all spice
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 7x3 inch loaf pans. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, applesauce, water and sugars and vanilla until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice and pumpkin pie spice . Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.Bake for about 60 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Fresh Pumpkin Pie

(please ignore the smudgy fingerprints of a little girl who just couldn't resist)

I have a gorgeous and most curly headed three year old, whom I would give the world to. She is a girl after my own heart who loves all the things her mommy does especially cooking. So naturally when she was given a couple pumpkins from our neighbors garden all I heard from her was how she wanted to make pumpkin pie with me. So we did! And it turned out so good, I've never made a fresh pumpkin pie pie from scratch before but man does it make a difference! I didn't make my own pie crust, oh come on give the 9 months along pregnant lady a break! :) But I do plan on making my own come the holidays this year.

To prepare the pumpkin puree you will need 1 small pumpkin. Cut off the stem top and discard, cut pumpkins in half and discard all the nasty membranes and seeds. Actually YOU should save the seeds and roast them but I can't stand the flavor. Cut each half in thirds. Take a large microwave safe bowl/dish and place about 1 inch of water in the bottom. Place the pumpkin slices in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap making sure to seal the sides well. Microwave for about 10-13 minutes or until the flesh can be pierced easily with a fork. The skins will easily (sometimes not so easily) peel off. From here you can mash the pumpkin or blend it up for the puree.
I ate a couple pieces right out of the bowl before i pureed them...so good! I imagine it would be heavenly with a smudge of butter, parm cheese and a little salt and pepper :)
So here is the recipe I used, I found it online and made a couple slight changes :)

Fresh Pumpkin Pie

1 frozen pie shell
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 cups fresh Pumpkin Puree
3/4 cup evaporated milk

1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs, lightly beaten, plus

1 egg for glaze
1 tablespoon heavy cream

sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Use parchment paper to line the baking sheet then set it aside. Combine sugar, brown sugar, flour, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, pumpkin spice, pumpkin puree, and 2 eggs in a large bowl. Beat well. Add evaporated milk and vanillla. Combine. Set aside.

Make the glaze: Beat the remaining egg, and combine with heavy cream. Brush glaze very lightly on edges of pie shell. Sprinkle edges with sugar. Fill pie shell with pumpkin mixture. Transfer to prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F, and continue baking for 30 minutes more. Cool on a wire rack.

Yield: 8 servings

Spiced Sugar Cookies

What a great cookie recipe, just in time for fall too! Found this on Tasty Kitchen. I can only dream of these smushed together with some buttercream frosting! YUM

¾ cups Unsalted Butter, Softened
1 cup Firmly Packed Light Brown Sugar
1 whole Large Egg, Lightly Beaten
¼ cups Unsulfured Molasses
2 cups Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Ground Ginger
½ teaspoons Ground Cloves
¼ teaspoons Salt
1 cup Granulated Sugar, For Rolling Cookies


In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add the light brown sugar and blend until evenly incorporated, scraping down the sides as needed. Add in the beaten egg and molasses; blend.

In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cloves and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer, in batches, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Chill the dough, covered, for 1 hour.

Scoop out the dough by the tablespoon, roll into a ball and roll in the granulated sugar. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, 3″ apart. Bake the cookies at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway through the cooking time.

Transfer the cookies, using a metal spatula, to a rack and let them cool