Grandma's Green Bean Casserole

We brought this to Thanksgiving dinner this year and it was sooo yummy! This one definitely takes the cake for the best green bean casserole I've ever had.

Grandma's Green Bean Casserole

2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/4 cup onion, diced
3/4 cup sour cream
3 (14.5 ounce) cans French style green beans, drained
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup crumbled buttery round crackers (I used Town House)
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in large skillet over medium heat. Saute onions until tender and caramelized. Stir in flour until smooth, and cook for one minute. Stir in salt, sugar, pepper, garlic powder, sour cream and half of the cheddar cheese. Add green beans and stir well to coat (mixture may be somewhat thick). Transfer mixture to a 2 1/2 quart casserole dish and spread remaining cheese over the top. In small bowl, toss cracker crumbs and remaining butter. Sprinkle over the cheese. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is golden and cheese is bubbly.

Lemon Garlic Chicken

This recipe was supposed to be for the crock pot, but I forgot to put it in, so I did it all on the stove top. I don't' really know how well it would work in a crock pot, because there's not a lot of liquid but maybe I'll try that next time. I cut the chicken up into pieces about the size of a golf ball because it was still partially frozen and I didn't want it to take forever to cook. Anyway, I served this with brown rice and veggies. It was delish!

Lemon Garlic Chicken

1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 C. water
3 Tbsp lemon juice
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp chicken bouillon granules
1/2 tsp dried parsley

In a bowl, mix the oregano, salt and pepper. Rub the mixture into the chicken. Add the butter and oil into a large skillet and heat over medium heat. Cook the chicken until there is almost no pink in the center. Add the water, lemon juice, garlic, chicken bouillon and parsley. Reduce heat to low and gently simmer, stirring every few minutes, until chicken is no longer pink in center, and sauce is thickened to desired consistency.
Serves: 6

Spinach & Bacon Hash Brown Quiche

This is a yummy quiche!

Spinach & Bacon Hash Brown Quiche
3 cups frozen shredded hash browns, thawed
4 Tbsp butter, melted
6 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
3 eggs
1 cup half-and-half cream
¼ tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp onion powder
2 cups fresh spinach
2/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
½ cup shredded Swiss cheese

Press hash browns between paper towel to remove excess moisture. Toss with butter and press onto bottom and sides of 9 in pie plate. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, or until edges are browned. Meanwhile, combine eggs, cream, salt, onion powder and pepper. Stir in cheeses, spinach and bacon. Pour onto crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour (bake on 2^nd from top rack in oven so bottom does not burn). Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

Oatmeal Almond Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I think these are one of my new favorite cookies. And, as far as cookies go, they're relatively healthy. Minus the 14 tablespoons of butter... :)

Oatmeal Almond Chocolate Chunk Cookies

1 3/4 stick (14 tablespoons) butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup almond butter
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup ground almonds
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal (not quick cook)
8 ounces semi-sweet or dark chocolate chunks or chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Beat butter until creamy. Add sugars beating until fluffy, approximately 3 minutes. Scrap the bowl as necessary. Beat in almond butter until incorporated. Beat in vanilla and then eggs, one at a time.

Gently stir in the dry ingredients. Add ground almonds and oatmeal and stir until just incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chunks.

Roll cookies into 2 Tbs sized balls. Place on baking sheets and bake cookies for 10-12 minutes. Edges should be slightly browned and the cookies puffed. Cool on sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a cookie cooling rack.

Freeze any leftover cookie dough for use later.

Ranch Chicken Tostadas

These are really quick and yummy. Jeremy prefers them to regular tacos.

Ranch Chicken Tostadas

2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
cumin, to taste
garlic powder, to taste
2 roma tomatoes, diced
shredded lettuce
1/2 can (14 oz) sliced olives
Mexican blend shredded cheese
ranch dressing, to taste
tostada shells

Place shredded chicken and beans in pan and sprinkle generously with cumin and garlic powder and warm until heated through. Layer chicken, lettuce, tomato, olives, and cheese on tostada shells and top with ranch dressing.

Hazelnut Swirl Pumpkin Bread

You don't need a whole new pumpkin bread recipe for this. You can just start with your regular pumpkin bread recipe. Once the batter is prepared, pour it into several mini loaf pans. Use about 2 Tbsp Nutella per loaf pan and drop by spoonfuls into batter. Use a knife to swirl the spread in the batter and then bake as usual. (You may want to stir the Nutella really well beforehand so it is easier to swirl). This is a yummy twist on regular pumpkin bread!

Cider Biscuits

These biscuits are really moist and flaky... they would be yummy with honey too.

Cider Biscuits

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp apple pie spice
8 Tbsp cold butter, divided
3/4 cup apple cider, or apple juice
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

In large mixing bowl, combine first six ingredients. Cut in 7 tablespoons butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cider just until combined. Knead dough about 8 times. Roll into 10"x6" rectangle on greased cookie sheet. Melt remaining tablespoon of butter and spread over top of dough. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Cut into 8 even pieces and separate about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet. Bake at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Bavarian Cream

I was looking for an "authentic" Bavarian Cream recipe to use in Justin's b-day cake because I really don't like the "pudding-y" kind. I found this recipe on "Joe Pastry" and it was great! The recipe says that you can freeze it for up to 3 months, which I think is wierd, because I didn't think that cream things were supposed to freeze well, but I've put the remainder in the freezer to try it, so we'll see how it works! :)

Bavarian Cream

1.5 ounces (3 Tablespoons) cold water
2 1/4 tsp gelatin
4 large egg yolks
3 ounces (1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon) sugar
1 1/2 C. half-and-half
seeds from one vanilla bean
1 1/2 C. heavy cream, cold

Put the cold water in a small bowl, sprinkle on the gelatin and let it stand. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar.


Get a large bowl of ice water ready. It should be big enough to hold the bowl of cooked custard, without letting water spill into the mixture.


Put the half-and-half in a small saucepan, add the vanilla seeds and whisk to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil, then slowly pour it into the egg mixture, whisking the whole time. Pour the entire mixture back into the saucepan and bring it just to a boil. When the custard starts to bubble, pour it through a fine mesh strainer into another bowl. Whisk in the gelatin and place the bowl in the ice water bath.


While the custard is cooling, whip the cream. Add the cold cream to the bowl of an electric mixer and whip to the soft peak stage. When the custard has cooled and has just started to thicken but is still liquid, fold in the whipped cream. If desired, scrape the mixture into individual serving bowls, or leave in the large bowl. Refrigerate for a minimum of 3 hours. It can be kept several days or frozen for up to three months.

Pasta Fagioli Soup

We had this soup last night with Foccacia Bread (which Jeremy isn't a fan of and I don't understand how that can be) and it was quite yummy. Mom, you should be happy to know that this is good because this is actually a recipe that you printed and put in your recipe binder (somehow I ended up with your binder instead of mine).

Pasta Fagioli Soup

1 (29 oz) can petite diced tomatoes
2 (14 oz) cans Great Northern beans, undrained
2 (14.5 oz) cans chicken broth
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
3 C water
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 pound seashell pasta
shredded parmesan or Romano cheese

In large stockpot, combine all ingredients except pasta and cheese. Bring to a boil, and let simmer for 40 minutes, covered. Add pasta and cook uncovered until tender, approximately 10 minutes. Garnish individual bowls with shredded cheese.