BBQ Baked Beans

My favorite Kansas City Barbeque is "Bates City BBQ", and these beans are my own copy cat version of their baked beans! The sauce is sweet with a spicy kick, and the green pepper flavor is infused throughout. These baked beans are STUPENDOUS! I eat these beans as a meal they are so good! But that's just me... some people consider beans the "poor man's meat" but I like to think of it as the "healthy man's meat"! So, I made these beans with some delicious macaroni salad for dinner, yummm-o!

Ingredients
1 green pepper, chopped
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 (16 ounce) red beans, undrained
2 (16 ounce) cans navy beans, drained


Directions
In a large bowl, stir all the ingredients together (stir the beans in last). Pour into a 2-3 quart casserole dish and bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. After an hour I stirred the beans and put them back in for another 1/2 hour (the beans will be hot and bubbly after an hour but you'll want to cook them for another 1/2 hour so the liquid reduces).

Aunt Kelly's Bread Stuffing

Next to my Grandma's Noodle Gravy, this is my favorite part of Thanksgiving! Growing up I would go to my mom's side of the family Thanksgiving (famous for the Noodle Gravy) and then my dad's side of the family Thanksgiving (famous for my Aunt Kelly's Bread Stuffing). So now when I go to Thanksgiving with Justin's family I bring my grandma's gravy and aunt's stuffing. It's like the best of both worlds! Now if I could only get my Aunt Mina's mom's pie recipes... then I may just have the best Thanksgiving dinner possible!

On Thanksgiving we went to Justin's parents' house for dinner. Before I tell you what Abbott said you should know that we've never been hunting and we've never eaten game meat. Not that we have anything against hunting, we're just too lazy to get up that early in the morning... that and no one in my family could stomach the thought of killing something ,-)
So, while we were getting ready to leave for Thanksgiving, Abbott asked "who’s bringing the turkey"
I said "Grandma"
Abbott asked "Did she hunt it?"
"No" I said
"Oh Crap! It tastes terrible when someone didn’t hunt it!" exclaims Abbott
"Well grandma bought it from someone who hunted it (meaning the store)" I say
"Oh phew! I am glad she bought it from someone. The hunted kind tastes so much better than the kind you buy at the store!" Abbott said

So... weird fact about Abbott #1,836- Abbott thinks hunted turkey tastes better than store bought turkey.
Weird fact about Abbott #1,837- Abbott's under the false impression that he's eaten a hunted turkey before.

Ingredients
2 loaves of sandwich bread, aired out for a few hours to get stale and crusty
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 cans chicken broth
2 eggs
1/2 cup white onion, minced
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions
In a large skillet over medium heat, warm the butter, onion, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper.

Slice up the celery stalks and add them to the pan (I stir in each celery stalk after I cut it).

Once all the celery is cut, add 1 can of chicken broth and turn the heat to medium low. Cook for 8-10 minutes until celery is just soft. Then remove from heat so it can cool.

While the celery is cooking cut the 2 loaves of bread into cubes (or if you prefer you can cut the bread earlier in the day, I'm lucky because while I'm cutting and cooking celery Justin cuts up the bread).

Whisk 1 can of broth and 2 eggs together. Slowly pour the egg broth over the bread, stopping to toss the bread (with your hands) in-between drizzles. You don't want to soak the bread, just spread the egg broth around evenly.

Now, hopefully your seasoned celery broth is cooled to just being warm (you don't want to scramble your egg with boiling broth). Using a spoon (or in my case a measuring cup), ladle on the celery and broth.

Toss the bread after every couple ladles, (so the bread doesn't get too runny) you want to evenly distribute the celery and seasoned broth.

Spoon on more celery and broth and toss. Repeat until you're out of seasoned celery broth.

Put the stuffing in a baking dish and smash it down. I prefer a deeper dish to keep the stuffing really moist (I used a 2.5 quart cast iron pot), but a 9x13 works fine... it's just a little more dry.

Bake, covered, at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Uncover for 15 minutes or so until nice and browned on top.

Grandma's Noodle Gravy

This is my grandma's recipe for her famous noodle gravy! We have it for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Everyone lathers it on their turkey and mashed potatoes and it's the best part of the holiday dinner! After Thanksgiving 2003 I called my grandma (while the Thanksgiving preparation of noodle gravy was fresh in her head) to get detailed directions for her noodle gravy. I've made it a few times since then and it's spot on every time! Since we have multiple families to visit I don't always get to go to my grandma's, so I bring this gravy to whatever dinner we're going to! The best part is that this gravy can be prepared without a turkey! Just cook up a couple chicken legs or thighs to get a little drippings, then use a couple cans of chicken broth!

Ingredients
De-greased turkey or chicken pan drippings, supplement canned chicken broth if you don’t have enough drippings (you need around 6 cups total. I used 1 cup of drippings and 4 cans of chicken broth)
1/2 cup diced turkey or chicken meat
1 can cream of chicken soup
3-4 tablespoons of flour
2 diced hard boiled eggs, minced
Homemade egg noodles
2 cups flour
3 egg yokes
1 egg (yoke and white)
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions
The day before, bake some chicken legs and/or thighs for dinner. Save the chicken drippings and the meat of one leg/thigh. Keep the drippings and meat in your fridge over night so you can scrape the fat off in the morning (throw away the fat that gathers at the top).
The day of, warm the drippings, meat and canned chicken broth in a large pot over medium low heat. You'll want around 6 cups of liquid total.
While the liquid warms on the stove, prepare the noodles. Put flour and salt in a mixing bowl, make a well in your flour and add the 3 egg yokes and 1 egg.
Drizzle in the 1/2 cup of cool water. Start stirring with a spoon but once the dry ingredients are sufficiently moistened I press it by hand.
Keep pressing the dough until you can get it to hold in a ball (you may need to drizzle in an additional 1/4 cup water).
Once you have the dough formed into a ball you will cut it into quarters. Sprinkle flour on your counter (or a cutting board) and roll a quarter of the dough out with a rolling pin. As you flip and roll the dough sprinkle more flour on it. You don’t ever want sticky dough; it needs to be dry and dusted with flour. When it is thin, use a pizza cutter to cut small noodles.
When all the noodles are cut and ready, add them to the chicken broth and chicken bits. Turn the heat up to medium and let the noodles cook for 15 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes. After 15 minutes spoon out around 1 cup of broth and whisk in 3-4 tablespoons of flour, then pour the broth/flour mixture back into the pot (this will help thicken the gravy). Add the cream of chicken soup and minced hard boiled eggs to the gravy. Let the gravy cook another 5-10 minutes and it's done! You can serve immediately OR you can hold the gravy for a couple hours by pouring the gravy into a crock-pot and keeping the crock-pot on the warm setting (this is what I do since I take the gravy to our family dinners.

Spanish Rice

Due to some outrageous medical bills we've been eating at home every night (which I love) but we have to eat the cheapest meals we can (which I hate). Our cheap meals are usually hot dogs, noodle soup, hamburger helper, burritos, grilled cheese, etc. All junk type foods with no fresh fruits or vegetables :-( Why are cheap meals also the most unhealthy meals? I gotta tell you, it really tweaks my melon!

Anytime someone says "tweaks my melon" I always hear in my head "I gotta tell you Travis, it really tweaks my melon to see a buff bro like Crawl here get weeeeezed on by a greasy scumbag like you! Now let's chow down here and munch on some grindage!" I'll give anyone a hug that can name that movie! Also, anytime someone says "Yippee Ki-Yay" I finish it with something in my head too... but that's not really blog appropriate ,-)

So, anyways! To save money I thought I would make my own Spanish Rice! We were bummed though, this recipe wasn't very flavorful. Don't stop reading yet though, this rice has potential! Justin added some salsa to his and it was much better so I'm going to give this rice another try but substitute salsa for the tomato sauce! I'll let you know how my 2nd try turns out ,-)

Ingredients
1-2 tablespoons oil
2 cups white rice
1/2 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce (next time I am using 1 cup of salsa instead)
1/2 onion, minced
3 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules
5 cups water

Directions
Heat oil in skillet and fry rice until light brown. Add tomato sauce and stir. Add onion, bouillon and water to the rice, stir well and cover. Bring rice mixture to a boil, over medium-high heat. Once liquid level has dropped below the rice, turn heat down to low and simmer 30-35 minutes. Move rice to see if liquid remains. If so, keep simmering. Once rice is done, you may crack the lid to let steam out and let sit for 10-15 minutes before serving (this helps the rice dry out a little and not be so sticky).

Mary's Roasted Vegetable Medley

My good friend Mary (the vegetarian) told me about these roasted vegetables last week, she made them sound so delicious, I couldn't wait to give them a try! I've never met a vegetable I didn't like.... with the exception of the vegetables served in my school cafeteria (I swear there's more pepper than vegetables). My lovely husband however rarely meets a vegetable he likes. To his defense he's WORLDS better then when we first started dating, he only ate corn and potatoes back then. Now he eats any kind of salad, spinach, green beans, and avocado (ok, you caught me avocado's really a fruit), but he's come a long way in the last 14 years! This vegetable medley really pushed his tolerance though, he almost threw up twice at the dinner table, it was hilarious actually. He was really trying to eat all his vegetables but he said the mushrooms did him in, I broke out into giggles two when he dry heaved.

Ingredients
2 pounds red potatoes, quartered
1 zucchini, cut into chunks
1 yellow squash, cut into chunks
1 onion, halved then cut into chunks
1/2 pound button mushrooms
1 cup of sliced carrots (this was my addition, not in Mary's recipe)
4 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil
2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions
You cook these vegetables in two parts because the potatoes need to cook twice as long as the other veggies. So we'll split the oil and seasonings between the two groups of vegetables. So first put the quartered red potatoes in a large ziploc, add two tablespoons oil, shake the ziploc to cover the potatoes with oil. Then, add 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper to the bag and shake the ziploc until the potatoes are coated and pour them out onto a baking sheet. Cook for 20 minutes at 425 degrees.
Next combine zucchini, yellow squash, onions, carrots, and mushrooms in a large ziploc (I use the same Ziploc as the potatoes). Add two tablespoons oil, shake the ziploc to cover the vegetables with oil. Then, add 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper to the bag and toss them again to combine and spread them out onto a baking sheet with the potatoes. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes at 425 until tender.

Roasted Chicken and Gravy

This dinner is absolutely amazing! The chicken is literally fall off the bone tender (Abbott laughed when his chicken leg fell off the meat and onto the table) and the gravy is so flavorful! It does require marinating overnight and 4 hours of cooking, but it is worth the wait! I suggest serving this with Creamy Mashed Potatoes, we call them Abbott's potatoes but they're everyone's favorite! The chicken/gravy only serves 4 people so if you have a bigger family you will need a 2nd chicken ,-)

Chicken Ingredients
1 (4 pound) whole chicken
4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 onion, cut into 4 pieces
5 cloves garlic

Gravy Ingredients
Chicken drippings
2 tablespoons flour
1 can chicken broth (or 1 cup water and a chicken bouillon cube)

Chicken Directions
The night before... In a small bowl, mix together salt, paprika, onion powder, thyme, pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder. Remove and discard giblets from chicken. Rinse chicken cavity, and pat dry with paper towel. Rub chicken inside and out with spice mixture (use all of the spice mixture). Stuff the pieces of onion and garlic cloves into the cavity of the chicken. Place the chickens in a resealable bag or double wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight, or at least 4 to 6 hours. After marinading... Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Place chicken in a roasting pan (I just used my 9x13 pan). Bake uncovered for 4 hours, to a minimum internal temperature of 180 degrees (I don't have a meat thermometer, but 4 hours was the perfect time for my 4 pound chicken). Let the chicken stand for 10 minutes before carving. While carving the chicken discard onion and garlic. Gravy Directions
Take the chicken out of the pan when it's done cooking. Now pour all the drippings into a glass measuring cup. Leave any browned bits on the bottom of the roasting pan (these are actually quite tasty and help give the gravy its flavor.) Let the drippings stand for a minute or two until the fat rises to the top of the measuring cup. Set the roasting pan over medium-low heat (you may need to use two burners at once.) Spoon out 4 tablespoons fat from the top of the measuring cup and put it back in the roasting pan.
Sprinkle the flour over the fat and whisk. Whisk flour and fat for 1 to 2 minutes until the flour turns a nice golden-brown color.
Pour the measuring cup drippings and can of chicken broth into the roasting pan. Whisking and scraping off the encrusted bits on the bottom of the pan. Simmer mixture for 2 to 3 minutes while whisking. Adjust the thickness of the gravy. If it is too thin, simmer, whisking often until the gravy is as thick as you want it. If it is too thick, whisk in a little more chicken broth. Taste the gravy and season it with salt and pepper if needed but with the rub of the chicken mine didn't need any salt/pepper. Serve the gravy over mashed potatoes with the roasted chicken. Enjoy!

Green Chile and Rice Casserole

The boys and I are off all next week for spring break, yay!! I have been emailing myself so many recipes to make over spring break that my gmail started putting them into a junk folder. No joke! Gmail thought I was getting spammed I was sending myself so many emails, lol! We eat rice all the time as a dinner side dish, probably more than we eat potatoes. In fact, the 3 kitchen appliances I use most often are my Presto Salad Shooter, KitchenAid Mixer, and Black and Decker Rice Cooker. We love plain white rice but it gets boring night after night so this Green Chile Rice is a great way to spice it up (don't worry it isn't spicy just flavorful). It would also make a great potluck side dish!

Ingredients
16 ounces (1 pound) white or brown rice
1 1/2 cup sour cream
2 (4 ounce) can chopped green chiles
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon salt

Directions
Cook the rice according to the directions on the package (I cooked mine in my rice cooker of course). In a large mixing bowl combine the sour cream, green chiles, cheese, and salt; stir in the cooked rice. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish and pour in the rice mixture. Cover with foil and cook at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Corkscrew Pasta Salad

This is my absolute favorite pasta salad (notice I didn’t say macaroni salad)! When we go to BBQ’s it is so difficult for me to decide if I should bring my Delicious Macaroni Salad or this Corkscrew Pasta Salad, I usually end up bringing both… I love these salads that much! This pasta salad is sweet and tangy, nothing like the usual Italian dressing pasta salad. I brought it for lunch today and all morning I couldn’t wait to eat lunch (that’s not lame, is it?). I ate lunch during a meeting but all I did was savor every bite of my pasta salad wondering why I don’t make it more often. Whenever I get those recipe emails or someone asks for my favorite recipe I always give my corkscrew pasta salad and delicious macaroni salad recipes, yumilicious!!

Ingredients
16 ounces corkscrew pasta
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 cucumber (sliced)
1 green pepper (chopped)
1/2 cup red onion (chopped)
Optional- 1 cup cheddar cheese cubes
Sauce
1/2 cup olive oil
3/4 cup vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons mustard
1 tablespoon Accent or any MSG
1 teaspoon garlic salt or powder

Directions
Cook the corkscrew pasta in boiling water, drain, and cool. In a large bowl whisk together the sauce ingredients. Add the pasta, tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper, and onion to the sauce and stir to coat everything. Cool in the fridge for at least 4 hours or over night. Stir before serving (the sauce tends to settle at the bottom).

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

I’ve tried making garlic mashed potatoes before but I used raw garlic and it was so strong the potatoes were almost inedible. So, while watching Emeril Lagasse on FoodTV roast garlic this week it occurred to me that roasted garlic is probably the kind of garlic that goes in mashed potatoes. Which is probably why I always see “roasted garlic mashed potatoes” on restaurant menus… it takes me awhile to catch on ;-)

Random Note... I did Pilates with Kathy the drill sergeant last night. Kathy had us do this balancing act while pumping our arms; it sounded something like this…
Carrie: I’m dying
Kathy: Only a couple more ladies
Carrie: How many more?
Kathy: forty
Carrie: FORTY!!! How about four!!
… this morning I woke up, inspected my body and told Justin that I think I have a hernia, he laughed and said “exercise has been known to make you sore, I think you’ll live Carrie”. He was right, I “lived” but I think I’ll stick to the elliptical; my stomach muscles don’t feel like they are residing outside my body when I use the elliptical, lol!

Ingredients
1 head of garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 pounds potatoes, peeled and diced
1 stick butter, cubed
1/2 to 3/4 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper

Directions for roasting garlic
This was my first attempt at roasting garlic and I can honestly say that it was very easy and anyone can do it (yes, even you)! You take the whole garlic bulb and chop off the top. Lay a piece of foil out and place the garlic in the middle and drizzle with olive oil. Then wrap the foil around the garlic covering it (I just wrapped my foil around the garlic like I was wrapping a present). Place in a 450 oven and roast for 35 to 40 minutes, or until tender and golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool. Squeeze or remove the garlic cloves from the head and place in a small bowl. Using a fork, mash the garlic until smooth.

Directions for mashed potatoes
Place the potatoes in a pot of salted water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook the potatoes until fork tender, about 12 to 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and drain. Place the potatoes back in the pot and return to the heat. Stir the potatoes, constantly, for 2 to 3 minutes to dehydrate the potatoes. Remove the potatoes from the heat. Add the garlic and butter. Using a hand-held masher, mash the butter and garlic into the potatoes. Add enough cream until desired texture is achieved. The potatoes should still be sort of lumpy. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper.

Parmesan Scalloped Potatoes

We really like scalloped potatoes, but we’ve only ever eaten the boxed kind (kind of pathetic, I know). So I searched online and found Tyler Florence’s Scallop Potatoes recipe, which I modified to fit the ingredients I had on hand. These potatoes were good but not what we are used to. We didn’t care for the parmesan flavor (to us it tasted like Alfredo potatoes); we really missed the usual cheddar flavor. So I think next time I will substitute cheddar cheese for the parmesan cheese.

Ingredients
2 lbs. russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8-inch slices
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
2 minced garlic cloves
1-2 tablespoons butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup gated parmesan

Directions
Preheat oven to 375. In a saucepan, heat cream with Italian seasoning, and garlic.
While cream is heating, butter a casserole dish. Place a layer of potato in overlapping pattern and season with salt and pepper. Remove cream from heat, then pour a little over potatoes. Top with some grated Parmesan. Make 2 more layers. Bake, uncovered for 45 minutes.

Broccoli Cheese Rice

I have a long standing love affair with broccoli cheese rice! Growing up it was sometimes called green rice or broccoli cheese rice casserole but by any name it’s one of my absolute favorite side dishes! This is Justin’s Aunt Nancy’s recipe and I love how easy it is to make! Since I’m the only person in my family that eats broccoli (what’s wrong with these boys) I make it and keep it in the fridge to snack on for days. It is just as good reheated as it is the first day!

Ingredients
2 pounds frozen chopped broccoli
2 cups minute rice
1 (15 ounce) jar Cheez Wiz
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 chopped onion
1 stick of butter
1 cup water

Directions
In a large skillet/saucepan cook the butter and onion on medium heat for 5-10 minutes until the onion has softened and is almost translucent. Add the broccoli, cheez wiz, soup, and water (if your broccoli is frozen then cook it with the butter/onion until it’s thawed before adding the cheez wiz and soup). Cook and stir until everything is warm and mixed together. Stir in the minute rice and pour into greased casserole dish. I use a 2 quart casserole dish and it fills it to the brim perfectly. Cover with foil and cook at 350 for 30-45 minutes, the top will be starting to brown and it will be hot and bubbly. Yum Yum!

The Lady's Cheesy Mac (Fail)

Justin is a macaroni and cheese connoisseur, he remembers having the perfect macaroni and cheese at a church potluck when he was little but hasn’t had one he really enjoys since. So over the next couple weeks I am going to try out different mac and cheese recipes, this one is from Paula Dean. This mac and cheese was just ok, to be fair I really think I need to make it again because I put it in a 9x13 pan and it was way too dried out to be any good; it needs a deep bowl type dish to cook in instead of a pan. It didn’t have much flavor and wasn’t creamy. The search for the perfect macaroni and cheese continues…

Ingredients
4 tablespoon butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cup grated cheddar cheese
3 eggs, beaten
4 cup cooked elbow macaroni, drained
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Once you have the macaroni cooked and drained, place in a large bowl and while still hot and add the cheddar. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and add to the macaroni mixture. Pour macaroni mixture into a casserole dish and bake for 30 to 45 minutes. Top with additional cheese if desired.

Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits

The boys and I love Red Lobster and it’s usually our restaurant of choice for birthday dinners. I have a good story from my Birthday at Red Lobster last year but I don’t think it’s for everyone (especially if you have a weak stomach), so I will post my story as a comment to this post if you are interested click “comments” below. Anyways, back to the biscuits! I found this top secret recipe on the ABC News Website and gave it a try. Of course it’s not as good as the real thing but they were the best biscuits I’ve ever made!

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups Bisquick baking mix
3/4 cup cold whole milk
4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick)
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1 heaping cup grated cheddar cheese
Dried parsley flakes, sprinkled on top

Directions
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Combine Bisquick with butter in a medium bowl, add cheddar cheese, milk, and garlic salt and mix until combined. Drop approximately 1/4 cup portions of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet (I put them on non-stick foil) using an ice cream scoop. Sprinkled parsley flakes over the top of the biscuit balls and bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown.

Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole

This casserole has been one of my favorite sides for years and years. I can remember bringing this to potlucks after my son Andrew (who is now 10) was born. It easy to throw together and everyone always asks for the recipe. Ok... so I know it is terrible for you, but the irresistible comfort flavor helps you overlook the fat content.

Ingredients

1 (1.5 pound) package frozen hashbrown potatoes, thawed

1 pint sour cream

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

1/4 cup melted butter

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl combine the sour cream, soup, cheese, butter, salt and pepper. Press the excess water out of the hash browns and then add them to the soup mixture and mix well. Transfer to a 9x12 inch casserole dish. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until golden brown.

Corn Casserole

This casserole is a classic family favorite served at potlucks for as long as I can remember. Justin now prefers cheesy corn but I still like the good ole corn casserole. Through the years I started getting lazy and mixing all the ingredients in the same 9x13 dish it would cook in. Let me advise against that! If you mix this well in a separate bowl and pour it in the cooking dish it yields a much better product! This was my contribution to our Thanksgiving meal yesterday, yummy!

Ingredients
1 box of cornbread muffin mix
1 can creamed corn
1 can whole kernel corn (drained)
1 egg
1 cup of sour cream,

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. In mixing bowl combine ingredients and stir well. Pour mixture into a baking dish and cook for 45 minutes - 1 hour, or until it gets golden on the top and knife comes out clean.

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

These are the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever had! Last year Justin’s Aunt Nancy made these for Thanksgiving and while I was waiting for the gravy I snuck a quick bite and about fell out of my chair! On my list of Top 10 comfort foods these potatoes are near the top!

Beware… this recipe uses a 5 pound bag of potatoes and feeds 4 people. My boys have 3rds of these potatoes and then come back for dessert potatoes later on! These are heavenly on their own and cross over into dangerously good when topped with gravy. You run the risk of only eating potatoes at that point (which is why I use Grandma’s Chicken and Noodle gravy and call it “dinner”).

Ingredients
5 pound bag of russet potatoes
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup butter, cut in pieces
salt and pepper

Directions
Peel potatoes and boil in a pan until fork tender. Drain potatoes well and add cream cheese, sour cream, and butter. Mix until smooth with an electric mixer. Mix in salt and pepper (stop to taste and add in more salt and pepper). Serve quickly before you eat them all while tasting the salt and pepper!

Reaheating Directions
Who are we kidding, you aren’t going to have any leftovers… but in case you made these the night before here are directions for reheating (the potatoes are just as good reheated)!
Put mixture into a buttered 9x13 pan, dot with butter and cover. At this point, potatoes can be refrigerated for up to three days (the longest 3 days of your life). Bring to room temperature before baking. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven until heated through, about 30-45 minutes.

Sauteed Spinach

I am hopelessly addicted to the TV show “Jon and Kate Plus 8” and although I disagree with Kate on many things (I think she is an anal retentive meany) I like her meal policy of “eat it or go hungry”. My husband Justin is the worst, the only two vegetables he says he likes are corn and potatoes (which technically… I don’t think either are really vegetables, they’re starches). So for years (10 to be exact) I have forgone the yummy green vegetables for plates of prosaic yellow. This has been to the detriment of my children because they too will only eat corn and potatoes. Well not anymore! I am taking Dr. Oz’s advice and we will have something green for every dinner from here on out! Mary’s spinach stuffed shells were such a hit a couple weeks back I decided to try spinach again. I made all three of my boys (yes this includes my husband) take at least 1 bite. Personally I thought this spinach was scrumptious but the boys thought 1 bite was enough, lol! I don’t care though, we will go for another bite tomorrow and even if it takes years I am determined to get my family to eat more vegetables!

Ingredients
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 (10 ounce) bag spinach leaves
2 minced garlic cloves
Salt and Pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
Heat the olive oil and minced garlic in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the spinach to the skillet and cover; allow to cook 5 minutes. Stir in the salt and pepper and cover again for another 5 minutes; remove from heat. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese to serve.