Thanksgiving Menu.....

OK, this year we are not, going to do the traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  Maybe I'm getting lazy in my old age, but I just didn't want to work so hard this year, just want to send more time in the living room with the family and less time in the kitchen.  So here's the menu....keeping my fingers crossed for good weather, so we don't have to grill in the garage....LOL.

Cranberry Salsa with Tostada Chips

(recipe below)

Tossed Green Salad

Choice of dressings: Ranch, Thousand Island, Blue Cheese

Steak 

horseradish sauce/sauteed portabela mushrooms and onions

Baked Potato

(and I do mean baked not microwaved)

Butter, Sour Cream, Cheese, Chives, Bacon

Green Bean Casserole Au Gratin 

(recipe below)

Legendary Lion House Rolls

(Recipe)

For Dessert choice of:

My Apple Pie, Key Lime Pie, and French Silk Chocolate Pie

French Silk Chocolate Pie, My Apple Pie and Key Lime Pie

Recipes: Chocolate, Apple, Lime below

(I may make some chocolate cupcakes for the grandgirls they're not much on pie)

Cranberry Salsa

 1 bag Cranberries chopped

1/2 small onion chopped

1 jalapeno chopped

1/3-1/2 Serrano pepper optional

1/2 bunch cilantro chopped

1 C sugar          1/2 C Splenda works well too

Dash of salt

Juice of 1 lime

Process first 5 ingredients, stir in remaining ingredients.  Chill several hour or over night.  Serve with chips

Would taste great thinly spread on a turkey Panini .

I rediscovered how good a real baked potato tasted maybe a year ago.  I was trying to duplicate the baked potatoes at OutBack Steak House and came up with this, technique:

Wash/scrub your potatoes well

dry them off

Stab each in several places 

Drizzle with olive oil, and rub each to coat

sprinkle with sea salt or kosher salt

Bake at 400 deg for about a hour (depending on their size) or until fork tender

And of course serve piping hot, and top with you favorite toppings.

And I'll just bet you won't believe where I found this recipe...Tasty Kitchen, of course.   It really sounds good.

Green Bean Casserole Au Gratin

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 2 Tablespoons Flour
• ⅛ teaspoons Dry Mustard
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• ¼ teaspoons Black Pepper
• ¾ cups Milk
• ⅓ cups Shredded Colby Or Jack Cheese
• 2 cups Frozen Or Fresh Green Beans, Cooked And Drained
• ¼ cups Butter Flavored Croutons, Crushed
• 2 slices Bacon, Cooked Crisp, Crumbled
• ½ teaspoons Paprika

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Melt butter in pan; add flour, mustard, salt and pepper, stirring constantly until it has a creamy bubbly consistency. Pour in milk and cook, stirring constantly until you have a nice thick white sauce. Add cheese, blend well and remove from heat.

Put green beans in a casserole dish sprayed with cooking spray. Pour the cheese mixture over the green beans and stir to coat the green beans well. Sprinkle the crushed croutons over the green beans. Spread the crumbled bacon over the top and sprinkle the paprika evenly over the top.

Bake for 30 minutes uncovered.

Now for the Key Lime Pie recipe, I found (don't remember where, but I'm pretty sure it was on the internet somewhere) and made recipe #1 for the first time a few weeks ago and it was so good, but I have another recipe I want to try, so I'm not sure right now which I am going to do.  I let you know...

Key Lime Pie  (2)

#1.   Ingredients  (5 stars, yes it was that good)

          For the crust:

• 1-¼ cup Graham Cracker Crumbs
• 3 Tablespoons Sugar
• ⅓ cups Butter

  For the filling: 

• 1 Tablespoon To 2 Tablespoons Of Grated Lime Zest (optional)
• 2 cans Sweetened, Condensed Milk, 14 Ounce Cans

• ½ cups Sour Cream

• ¾ cups Key Lime Juice

• Optional Garnishes: Whipped Cream And Lime Rounds

Preparation Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Make the crust by combining the graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Then melt the butter in the microwave and mix it together with the crumbs.

3. Press the grainy crust mixture against the bottom and up the sides of a pie dish.

4. Grate the skin of a lime until you have 1 – 2 tablespoons of zest (depending on how “limey” you like it!). I didn't use any and didn't miss it at all.

5. In a medium bowl, combine condensed milk, sour cream, lime juice, and lime zest.

6. Mix well and pour into the graham cracker crust.

7. Bake in preheated oven for about 8 minutes, until tiny pinhole bubbles burst on the surface of pie. Do not overcook or get even close to brown! If you don’t get these pinhole bubbles, that’s OK just make sure to still pull out the pie in under 10 minutes or it will burn!

8. Chill pie thoroughly before serving.

9. Garnish with whipped cream and lime rounds, or however desired!

#2.  Ingredients

     For the Crust:

• 1-¼ cup Graham Cracker Crumbs

• ⅓ cups Sweetened Coconut

• 2-½ Tablespoons Sugar

• 6 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, melted

      For the filling:

• 1 can (14 Oz) Sweetened Condensed Milk

• 4 whole Large Egg Yolks, At Room Temperature
• ½ cups Fresh Key Lime Juice (or Bottled, If You Prefer)

             For the topping:

• 1 cup Heavy Cream

• 1 teaspoon Plain Gelatin

• 1 Tablespoon Cold Water

• 2 Tablespoons Confectioner's Sugar

• ½ teaspoons Vanilla

Preparation Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together graham cracker crumbs, coconut, sugar and butter with a fork in a medium sized bowl. Press mixture evenly into a 9-inch glass pie pan (not deep dish). Make sure the mixture covers the bottom and sides of the pan. Bake on a rack in the middle of the oven for 8-10 minutes (mine took 8 minutes). Remove to a wire rack and cool.

Mix together sweetened condensed milk and egg yolks with a whisk until combined. Add in lime juice and whisk again until thoroughly combined. Pour filling mixture into cooled crust. Bake on a rack in the middle of the oven for 15 minutes. Cool pie on a wire rack and then chill for at least 6-8 hours or overnight.

About an hour before serving the pie, put heavy cream in a large bowl. Place gelatin and water in a small dish in the microwave. Heat 5-10 seconds or just until gelatin is melted. Add this mixture to the heavy cream and whip just until combined. Refrigerate this mixture for about an hour.

When ready to serve, whip the heavy cream mixture with confectioner’s sugar and vanilla until stiff. Place into a pastry bag and pipe onto pie as desired.

Pictures and reviews to follow on Black Friday...Mari Ann and Shawn have to work Thanksgiving....

Wishing all of you

 a wonderful and prayerful 

Thanksgiving!

Hope you are having a Blessed Easter...

Sorry about the chipped plate, my husband has chipped all but a couple,
 of these, he's so rough with with stuff

Here's what was on my menu for Easter Sunday.  It is a meal that I hope will show my thanksgiving for this day.  I put a lot of thought and work into it and I hope everyone enjoys the fruits of my labor and love.  There is Orange Glazed Pork Roast, Potatoes Romanoff, Green Beans, Legendary Lion House Rolls (the ones I froze last Sunday) and for desert Lemon Buttermilk Pie and a Chocolate Buttermilk Pie.  All of these recipes I found on the Tasty Kitchen web site except for the Lemon Buttermilk Pie which is a recipe I got from my mother, so many years ago.  I also made a couple of changes in the Potatoes Romanoff  and the Green Bean recipes from the links above, (I found out to late that I was short a couple of ingredients).  If you haven't checked out this site you really need to it's got all kinds of recipes which lead to inspiration in you own kitchen.


Potatoes Romanoff II

Ingredients

• 4 whole Large Russet Potatoes, Unpeeled

• 2 teaspoons salt (kosher or sea)
• ¾ cups Minced Shallots

• 1 - 8 oz, pkg. (2 cups) Triple Cheddar Cheese grated/shredded

• ¼ teaspoons Freshly Ground Pepper

• 1 stick 1/2 C butter melted

• 1 cup Sour Cream
• 1 Cup ricotta Cheese
• 1/2 C grated cheddar cheese

Preparation Instructions

Step 1:  1-2 days before serving:  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Scrub and dry potatoes removing all dirt and sprouts if any, drizzle with oil I prefer Olive oil, and sprinkle with Kosher or sea salt. Place on baking sheet and bake at 45min. - 1 hour, till done.  Let cool to room temperature, then put potatoes on a plate, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.

Step 2: day of serving or day before serving:  Dice the chilled potatoes, including skins into approx.. 1/4 inch cubes, place into a large bowl, sprinkle in the shallots, grated cheese, and pepper. Then pour in the melted butter and fold in sour cream and ricotta.

Transfer mixture to a greased 2 quart gratin dish, making sure that you don’t pack it in the dish! Allow it to fall into the dish, then spread it evenly in the dish without pressing it down.  Covered with plastic wrap and refrigerate till needed.

Step 3: day of serving:  Bake at 350 degrees F until the top is golden brown, about 45 minutes.  Remove from oven, sprinkle the remaining cheese on top return to oven till melted.  Serves 8.


And since I can't not for the life of me leave a recipe alone here's how I did the green beans.


Maple Wrapped Green Beans II
Ingredients

• 1 pound frozen Whole Green Beans thawed
• Dashes Of Salt And Pepper
• 8 strips Bacon 
• 1 TablespoonButter
• 1-½ teaspoonBrown Sugar
• 1 TablespoonMaple Syrup

Preparation Instructions

Grease a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Sprinkle the bacon with the pepper.  Grab 6-10 beans and group them together.

Wrap the cluster with a piece of bacon in a spiral fashion covering as much of the beans as you can and place them, seam side down, on a greased baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the beans.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat butter, brown sugar and maple syrup until melted. Using a brush, liberally apply the butter mixture over the green bean bundles until covered.

Bake for 45-60 minutes until the bacon is crispy and brown.


Oh darn, I forgot to put the glaze on the beans, but the girls still loved them, bet they would have liked them even better with the glaze...Oh well, maybe next time I won't forget.

a little too brown...but not burned

 Lemon Buttermilk Pie

  1        Stick  Oleo -- room temp.

  2        T  Lemon Juice

  2        C  Sugar

  1        t  Vanilla

  3        T  Flour

  5        Eggs -- added one at a time

  1        C  Buttermilk

  1        t.  Lemon Peel -- grated

• Mix ingredients in order given.  Beat well after each egg.  Stir in butter milk

• Pour into 9 inch unbaked pie shell.  Opt: sprinkle top of pie with grated lemon peel

• Bake at 425 for 10 min. lower heat to 325* Cook until firm, approx. 30-45 min.  Center should "jiggle" a little. DO NOT OVER BAKE.  Cover with foil, shiny side up, if the pie begins to get too brown.  I almost didn't cover mine in time.

The Lemon Buttermilk Pie is a recipe handed down to me by my mother, have no idea where she got it from.  This pie is a must for all holiday fares and one of my husband's favorites.

The Chocolate Buttermilk  is a brand new recipe and it will become a new must have at all family holidays and gatherings. Very rich and sweet, with a little bit of tart from the buttermilk.  Soooo good.  Especially with a dab of whipped cream on top, or maybe even some ice cream, oooh you could nuke it for a minute and then but some ice cream on it...ooooh that is soooo wrong.

And the frozen rolls were just as good as they were last weekend.  I pulled them out of the freezer, put them in a pan before I left for Church at about 6am this morning, giving them plenty of time to thaw and rise before noon.  I like the potatoes this weekend better than last, next time, unless I'm feeding Shawn or my son Chipper, I'm cutting that recipe by at least a third, maybe even half.

Easter Dinner on Palm Sunday...

Mari Ann and her husband are both working Easter weekend, as you may know from previous blogs she is a paramedic and he is a deputy sheriff.  So we decide to do the Easter dinner this weekend.  On the menu is Ham, mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top, potatoes au gratin a Pioneer Woman recipe, Mari Ann is bringing broccoli with cheese sauce, Legendary Lion House Rolls, (they were a huge hit last time I made them so this time I going to make a full recipe and freeze some of them, (I'll let you know how that turns out).  
   
Last but not least for desert chocolate cupcakes and rainbow cupcakes with 7 Minute Frosting.  I placed them in such a fashion so they will have the shape of a bunny with a bow tie, used marshmallows instead of coconut for the fur (no one in my house like coconut except for me).  I actually combined 2 recipes I found on the Internet to put this together, one was a "cut" cake bunny and the other was the cupcakes.  I like the idea of the cupcakes because it will be easy for the girls to pack them in their school lunches.  The cup cakes will be made using cake mixes, 1 chocolate and 1/2  a white actually. 

 The white cake mix was made following my 1/2 a cake mix recipe, the direction on the box said to use 1/4 C  of oil because white cakes are notorious for being dry, that's what I used.  Then I divided the batter was into 4 equal potions, in 4 separate bowls , approximately 1/2 C each, a different food color was added to each bowl and mixed well.  Then using a tablespoon or a very small scoop, place 1 scoop from each color into the muffin tins.  DO NOT mix and do one muffin cup at a time, unless you want stripes, which would be OK too, but I wanted more of a tie dyed effect.  A 1/2 a cake mix makes 11-12 cupcakes.  I used these cupcakes for his bow tie because I thought it would be cute with the jelly beans and so I'd would know where they were.  

I pretty much followed the package directions for the chocolate cake mix except I put 1 t. of instant coffee into my measuring cup added 1 T of hot water, stir to dissolve the coffee, then used milk to finish off the measurement of water the cake mix directions called for.  Each ear is 5 cupcakes, the bow tie is 11 cupcakes and the face is 18 cupcake.  I used Junior mints for the eyes, Sweet Mallos strawberry filled twist for the center of the ears, 3 pink jellybeans for the nose and Sour Punch strawberry straws that I split for the whiskers and mouth.  Just try to find string candy at Wal-Mart...Yeah right, like in that huge store you will find anything...like the sarcasm...
    

  

I think it looks more like a cat, the ears need to be longer.
But I think the girls will like it and that is all that matters.

7 Minute Frosting In (  )'s below is what it takes for me to frost a 3 layer cake.

 3   Egg whites  (4)

  9  T   cold water (12)

  2 1/4 C sugar (3)

  3/4 t  cream of tartar (1)

  1  t  vanilla extract  (1 1/2)

• In a stainless steel bowl, combine egg whites, cold water, sugar, and cream of tarter in the top of a double boiler. Whisk until smooth

• Place over boiling water and whisk constantly or beat with a hand mixer until the frosting is stiff and holds peaks, about 7 minutes
• Remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla.
• Let cool, whisking often

Have a wonderful Christmas eve...

Over-Night Yeast Rolls

Mari Ann and I just finished all the prep work for Christmas dinner tommorrow.  On the menu is:

 Breakfast:

Sausage Cheese Egg Muffins

Orange Juice - Milk - Coffee

Dinner

Ham

Grown-up Green Bean Casserole

(made from scratch no canned soups or onion rings for me)

Crispy Parmesan Asparagus Sticks

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Rice and Sauage Dressing

Grown-up Green Bean Casserole

Over-Night Yeast Rolls

Apple Pie and Cherry Pie

(I cheated and bought these)

French Silk Chocolate Pie

(made with Hazelnut coffee)

Tea/Coffee

It's 2pm and I need to get ready for Mass at 4.  It will be really crowed this afternoon at the children's Mass, in order to get a seat I will be there an hour before Mass is due to start.  I really enjoy the quite time before Mass starts.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

My love to all of you who read this along my wishes for you and your family to have a Blessed Christmas.