Grandma's Green Bean Casserole

I wish this was my grandma's green bean casserole, but sadly, it's not. This was pretty darn good. I've never been a huge fan of GBC but this was really yummy with the sour cream in it and everyone at our Turkey Day dinner seemed to enjoy it. From allrecipes.com.

INGREDIENTS (serves 8-10)

* 2 tbsp butter
* 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
* 1 tsp salt
* 1 tsp white sugar
* 1/4 cup onion, diced (omitted)
* 1 cup sour cream
* 3 (14.5 oz) cans French style green beans, drained
* 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
* 1/2 cup crumbled buttery round crackers (I substituted french fried onions)
* 1 tbsp butter, melted (omitted since I omitted the crackers)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Melt 2 tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in flour until smooth, and cook for one minute. Stir in the salt, sugar, onion, and sour cream. Add green beans, and stir to coat.
3. Transfer the mixture to a 2.5 quart casserole dish. Spread shredded cheese over the top. In a small bowl, toss together cracker crumbs and remaining butter, and sprinkle over the cheese.
4. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the top is golden and cheese is bubbly.

Super Easy Stuffed Peppers

I've made stuffed peppers a few times but I've always cooked the meat beforehand. I wanted to try this recipe because the meat actually cooks inside the peppers in the oven. This was pretty good! From allrecipes.com.

INGREDIENTS

* 2 medium green bell peppers
* 1/2 pound ground beef (I used ground turkey)
* 8 oz can tomato sauce, divided (I used spaghetti sauce instead)
* 1/4 cup uncooked instant rice
* 3 tbsp shredded cheddar cheese, divided (I used mozzarella)
* 1 tbsp chopped onion
* 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/4 tsp pepper
* 1 egg, beaten

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut tops off peppers and discard; remove seeds. Blanch peppers in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water; set aside.

2. In a bowl, combine beef, 1/4 cup of tomato sauce, rice, 2 tablespoons of cheese, onion, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper and egg; mix well.

3. Stuff the peppers; place in an ungreased 1-1/2-qt. baking dish. Pour the remaining tomato sauce over peppers. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 45-60 minutes or until meat is no longer pink and peppers are tender.

4. Sprinkle with remaining cheese; return to the oven for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

Can you tell fall is here by three soup posts in a row?? :)

This was sooooo yummy. I altered the recipe's cheeses a little bit and it ended up tasting a lot like Panera's, which I absolutely LOVE. And, bonus points that it was super easy to make! Recipe from allrecipes.com.

Full recipe is listed below but please do not make the full recipe unless you are feeding 10+ people. I cut it into a third and it still made enough for three meals for myself!

INGREDIENTS

* 3 (10 oz) packages frozen chopped broccoli
* 3 (14.5 oz) cans chicken broth
* 6 tbsp margarine
* 1 onion, chopped
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 2 cups milk (I used skim and it turned out fine)
* 1.5 lbs processed cheese food (i.e. Velveeta), cubed (I used about half shredded sharp cheddar, half shredded 5-cheese italian mix, and a few slices of swiss)
* 1 pinch ground white pepper (who has white pepper? I used regular!)

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large pot over medium heat, simmer the broccoli in the broth for 15 minutes. In a separate skillet over medium heat, melt the butter or margarine, add the onions and saute for 5 minutes, or to desired tenderness.
2. Add the flour to the onions and stir well, forming a pasty substance. Gradually add the milk and stir until thick. Add this mixture to the broccoli mixture in the pot and stir well. Then add the cheese, stirring until melted. Finally, add the pepper. (Note: Be careful not to let the soup boil, or the cheese will break down.)

Horseradish Potato Salad

I've been loving horseradish on everything lately, so when I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen, I couldn't wait to try it out! This was pretty good and great to make when you don't want your grandma's regular tater salad!

Ingredients (I halved, but full recipe is below)

* 3 pounds small (2-inch) potatoes, your choice of variety

* 1/4 cup red onion, chopped (I omitted)

* 1 tablespoon white-wine vinegar

* 1 cup sour cream (or 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup yogurt)

* 2 tablespoons fresh dill, finely chopped

* 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives (I used dried)

* 1 tablespoon dijon mustard (I omitted)

* 3 tablespoons prepared horseradish

* 1 teaspoon salt

* 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

1. Boil the potatoes until fork tender, cool them to room temperature and quarter them.

2. In a large bowl, mix the remaining ingredients and fold over the potatoes.

3. Adjust seasoning to taste and either serve immediately or refrigerate.

Buffalo Potato Wedges

Taters are one of the only veggies that my husband will eat, so when I found this recipe, I knew I had to make it for my buffalo sauce loving man! Recipe from here.

Ingredients (for 2)

* Appx 2-3 medium size potatoes

* 1 tbsp olive oil

* Salt, pepper, and garlic powder, to taste

* 1/8 cup butter

* 1/8 cup hot pepper sauce (less if you can't stand the heat)

* Ranch or blue cheese dressing, for dipping

Directions

1. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Arrange potato wedges on sheet and drizzle with olive oil.

2. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
3. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes until tender.
4. Remove pan from oven. Combine the hot sauce and butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave until melted. Stir to combine. Drizzle mixture over potato wedges and return to oven for an additional 15 minutes.
5. Serve with salad dressing for dipping.

Balsamic Potatoes

I originally intended to make this recipe from Messily Ever After, but I decided to simplify a little bit and only use the ingredients I happened to have in the house. This was really easy to make and pretty good! Plus the light balsamic vinaigrette with the fat-free feta cheese made it pretty healthy!

Ingredients (for one serving)

* 2-3 medium size red potatoes, cut into wedges

* 1 tbsp water

* 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil (my fresh basil had gone bad, so I used dried)

* 1/4 cup light balsamic vinaigrette dressing

* Fat-free feta cheese crumbles (I used basil tomato flavor)

Directions

1. Place potato wedges in a large microwave-safe bowl; add 1 tablespoon water.

2. Cover with plastic wrap, vent (do not allow plastic wrap to touch food). Microwave on high 5-6 minutes, or until tender; drain.

3. Stir in vinaigrette and basil. Top each serving with cheese.

CousCous Stuffed Peppers

I had some leftover couscous to use up last night and decided to make these stuffed peppers. These were really good!

Ingredients

* 1 orange bell pepper, cut in half with core and seeds removed

* Appx 3/4 cup cooked couscous (I used parmesan flavor)

* Chopped onions

* Minced garlic

* Parsley (I used dried)

* EVOO

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet.

2. Place the pepper halves cut-side down on the prepared baking sheet. Roast ~15 minutes in the oven, or until tender and skin starts to brown on edges.

3. While the peppers are roasting, heat EVOO in a medium skillet over medium heat. Cook the onions, garlic, and parsley in oil for 2-3 minutes.

4. Spoon in the cooked couscous and stir until heated through. Remove from heat.

5. Remove peppers from oven and spoon in the couscous mixture into pepper halves.

6. Stick back in oven for ~5 minutes. Serve immediately (with side of sour cream if desired).

Seasoned Feta Asapragus

After looking online at a bunch of different recipes using asparagus, I decided to just combine a bunch and make something up on my own. I had a bunch of leftover asparagus after making these roll-ups for Easter, so I needed a new way to try it. This was really good!

Ingredients

* Bunch or partial bunch asparagus

* Extra virgin olive oil

* Salt and pepper

* Kroger Grill-Time Seasoning (or whatever seasoning you'd like)

* 1 pinch red pepper flakes

* Crumbled feta cheese (I used reduced fat)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Trim asparagus and then lay flat in baking pan (I used an 8x8 pan). Drizzle olive oil and then shake pan to move oil around so that it covers most of the asparagus.

3. Sprinkle the last 4 ingredients over asparagus, as much as you'd like.

4. Bake at 375 degrees for appx 12-15 minutes.

I cut them up and mixed in with some brown rice. Yum!

Shish Kabobs

The weather here was beautiful yesterday (75 and sunny!) so we decided to grill out. These were REALLY good! Even Keith loved the chicken even though he claims he doesn't like BBQ sauce. I couldn't get him to try the veggies though ;)

Ingredients

* Uncooked chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces

* Red bell pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces

* Green bell pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces

* Sweet onion, cut into 1 inch pieces

* BBQ sauce marinade (I used Buffalo Wild Wings' Honey BBQ)

* Chicken seasoning to taste

Directions

1. Put chicken breast pieces into ziploc baggy, pour some bbq sauce in, zip and mix around. Let sit in fridge for a couple hours. Put all veggies into a different baggy and do the same thing. Sprinkle some seasoning into the baggy as well if you'd like.

2. Thread chicken on one skewer and veggies onto another.

3. Place skewers on the grill and cook for 10-15 min depending on how hot your grill is and until chicken is cooked through. The chicken will probably take a little longer than the veggies, so we put those on first.

4. Enjoy!

Simple Antipasto Salad

No real recipe here, but this salad was too good not to blog. It consisted of iceberg lettuce, pepperoni pieces, hard salami pieces, feta cheese, chopped onion, and house italian dressing. I should have added some hard boiled eggs but forgot... Yum!

Asparagus Roll-Ups

I have to give (most) credit to Molly of MyHappyMeals... I told her today that I had bought some asparagus and asked her what I should do with it. She started telling me about this Rachael Ray recipe using crescents and cheese spread... of course I was instantly intrigued since crescents and cheese are some of my favorite foods! She eventually found Rachael's recipe online and linked me to it... and I knew that I just had to make this for dinner tonight.

This recipe was SO good! I have to admit that this was my first time ever buying asparagus and eating it at home... but this was so yummy that I'm sure I'll be making it over and over again! Enjoy!

PS ~ I halved Rachael's recipe so that I didn't have too much food (since Keith doesn't eat veggies). Halved recipe is below.

Ingredients

* 1 sheet Pillsbury Recipe Creations (crescent sheet without the cuts)

* Appx 3 oz. soft herbed cheese (I used Rondele Pub Cheese: Garlic and Herbs)

* 6-7 asparagus spears, woody ends trimmed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Unroll sheet of dough onto flat surface and spread cheese all over.
3. Cut sheet of dough into 6-7 strips, appx 1"x9"

4. Starting on the diagonal, roll up each of the asparagus spears with a strip of dough in a spiral shape. Make sure to leave a little of the tip at the end of the asparagus sticking out on each end.

5. Transfer dough-wrapped spears to a parchment lined or greased bakign sheet. Bake until golden brown and puffed, appx 12-15 minutes. Serve warm.

A Twist on Stuffed Peppers

I recently tried Stuffed Peppers for the first time a few months ago. They were SO good!! I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and knew immediately that I wanted to make it! I love feta and will use any recipe as an excuse to eat it :) I altered the recipe a tiny bit, which is posted below. Next time I may add a little ground meat, but this was a great vegetarian option. It was SUPER yummy!

Ingredients

* 1 pack instant rice, cooked (I used Uncle Ben's Ready Rice, which is made in the microwave in 90 seconds)
* 2 bell peppers, halved and seeded (I used one red and one yellow)
* 1 tbsp olive oil
* 2 green onions, thinly chopped
* 1 tsp dried basil
* 1 tsp italian seasoning
* 1 tsp salt
* 1 pinch ground black pepper
* 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. Place the pepper halves cut-side down on the prepared baking sheet. Roast 15-20 minutes in the oven, or until tender and skin starts to brown on edges.
3. While the peppers are roasting, heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Cook the onions, basil, italian seasoning, salt, and pepper in oil for 2-3 minutes. Spoon in the cooked rice and stir until heated through. Remove from heat. Mix in the feta cheese.
4. Remove peppers from oven and spoon in the rice mixture into pepper halves.
5. Stick back in oven for ~5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Awesome Broccoli Cheese Casserole

I knew I wanted to serve broccoli as a side for Thanksgiving, but I wanted something a little interesting. After finding this recipe on AllRecipes, I knew I had to try it!

PS - Sorry for the not-so-pretty picture! :(

Ingredients

* 1 can cream of mushroom soup (I used cream of onion)

* 1 cup mayonaisse

* 1 egg, beaten

* 1/4 cup finely chopped onion

* 3 ten-ounce packages frozen chopped broccoli

* 8 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese

* Salt and pepper to taste

* 2 pinches paprika (I omitted)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9x13 baking dish.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together cream of mushroom soup, mayo, egg, and onion.

3. Place frozen broccoli in a very large mixing bowl. Break up the frozen broccoli.

4. Using a rubber spatula, scrape soup/mayo mixture on top of broccoli and mix well.

5. Sprinkle cheese in and mix well.

6. Spread mixture into prepared baking dish and smooth top of casserole. Season with salt, pepper, and paprika to taste.

7. Bake for 45-60 minutes.

Mom's Cheesy Potatoes

My mom has been making this since I was little. It's one of my favorite dishes ever!! We served it as a side for Thanksgiving. Yum!

Ingredients

* 1.5 lbs Ore Ida frozen has browns (thawed)

* 1 can Campbell's cream of mushroom soup (I use cream of onion b/c I hate mushrooms)

* 3/4 lb sour cream (I use about 1 lb... mmm)

* 8 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese

* 1 stick melted butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Mix first 4 ingredients in large bowl, but only half of the cheese. (I forgot to leave half the cheese out and mixed it all in. Oops.)

3. Mix in melted butter.

4. (Add in bacon bits if you want. I didn't this time.)

5. Scoop mixture into 9x13 pan. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

6. Bake for one hour.

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies

I made these as an appetizer for Thanksgiving and they were soooooo freaking good!! Thanks to Pioneer Woman for the recipe!!

Ingredients

* Fresh jalapenos 2-3 inches in size

* Cream cheese (softened)

* Thin, regular bacon, sliced into thirds

Directions

1. Cut jalapenos in half, length-wise.

2. With a spoon, remove the seeds and white membrane (the source of the heat; leave a little if you like things HOT.)

3. Smear softened cream cheese into each jalapeno half.

4. Wrap jalapenos with bacon piece.

5. Secure by sticking toothpick through the middle.

6. Bake on pan with a rack at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes (mine took almost 30 min). You don't want the bacon to shrink so much that it starts to squeeze the jalapeno. If after 20 minutes the bacon doesn't look brown enough, turn on the broiler for a couple of minutes to finish it off. These are best when the jalapeno still has a bit of a bite to it.

7. Serve immediately, or they're great at room temperature too.

Blue Cheese Stuffed Buffalo Chicken & Garlic Fries

Since I loooooooved the Laughing Cow Chicken recipe so much, I decided to try a buffalo version tonight. This was really tasty and nice and spicy, just how we like it! :) We made garlic fries from Venice's blog to go with it - those were delicious as well!

BLUE CHEESE STUFFED BUFFALO CHICKEN

Ingredients

* 2 chicken breasts, cut in half horizontally 3/4 of the way through (so you can stuff the inside)
* Appx 1/3 cup blue cheese crumbles
* Seasoning to taste (we used "Extra Spicy" Mrs. Dash seasoning)
* 1/4 cup dried bread crumbs
* Frank's Red Hot sauce to marinate

Directions

1. Marinate chicken breasts in hot sauce for at least a couple hours - we did ours for about 4 hours.

2. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
3. Open each chicken breast up and sprinkle blue cheese crumbles and seasoning inside the middle. Fold chicken back over to original shape.
4. Dip chicken in bread crumbs to coat. Place on baking sheet.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

*** The bottoms of the chicken did get a little soggy, so I guess the solution would be to bake the chicken on some sort of rack or maybe try turning them over halfway through.

GARLIC FRIES

Ingredients

* 2-3 potatoes for two people

* Garlic powder

* Salt and pepper (we used seasoned salt)

* EVOO

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cut potatoes into french fry strips. Toss with EVOO, salt, pepper, garlic (and any other seasonings you like!)

3. Bake in oven for 30-45 minutes or until crispy.

Chicken Stir Fry

I didn't really follow a recipe for this.. just kind of threw some things together and put them in the pan. This was just for me and it made a lot! I only used about 1/4 of each veggie too. Enjoy!

Ingredients

* One chicken breast, cut into small strips

* Red onion, cut into bite-size pieces

* Red pepper, cut into bite-size pieces

* Green pepper, cut into bite-size pieces

* Vegetable oil

* Soy sauce

Directions

1. Heat a large pan and add a little vegetable oil. Add chicken and veggies and soy sauce; fry until chicken is cooked through and veggies are to your liking. You'll probably have to stagger the timing of each veggie, as some will be done quicker than others.

2. Serve over cooked rice or egg noodles.

Sweet Potato Fries

I saw this recipe online somewhere a few days ago and I knew that you were supposed to use sweet potatoes, salt/seasoning, and olive oil. So I browsed around a couple websites and pretty much figured out what to do and just kind of went with it. How hard could it be?

Ingredients

* 2 medium/large sweet potatoes (for 2 people)

* Garlic salt/sea salt/garlic steak seasoning (we used all three separately in different sections)

* Olive oil

Directions

1. Slice sweet potatoes into a fry shape. You can either make them the "string" shape of fry or the "steak fry" shape. We did a little of both.

2. Toss in olive oil and then lay flat on a baking sheet.

3. Sprinkle seasonings of your choice all over fries. I have also read that paprika would be good. We just used a little bit of everything that we had in the house.

4. Bake at 400 degrees for 35-45 minutes, depending on how soft/crispy you like them and how thinly you sliced them. Flip them over halfway through.

I read online that sweet potatoes will never actually get that crispy, but using the olive oil and baking at a higher temperature can help. We only baked for about 35 minutes @ 400 and they probably could have used another 10 minutes or so. Oh well, next time!

These were really yummy and we'll definitely be making them again. (We ate them with grilled chicken breast with feta cheese on top.)

Shelly's Famous Potatoes

I got this recipe from one of the most awesome knotties in the world - mcvay! (LovesToNom) This dish was delicious! We made a non-pepper/onion version for Keith and he loved it as well. Yum!

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

* 5 cups chopped red potatoes (about 5 large) (I used russet potatoes)

* 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper (I omitted b/c grocery store was out)

* 1/3 cup diced green bell pepper

* 1/2 cup diced sweet onion

* 1 teaspoon garlic salt

* 1/2 tablespoon montreal steak seasoning (I used chicken seasoning.. tastes the same)

* 4+ tablespoons butter or margarine

* (I also added bacon bits and sour cream)

* Aluminum foil

Directions

1. Lay out about 2 feet of non-stick foil or non-stick sprayed regular foil.
2. Wash & scrub red potatoes clean. Chop up potatoes into bite sized pieces and place in single layer onto center of foil.
3. Dice peppers and onion and sprinkle onto potatoes, toss with hands if necessary.

4. Place little chunks of butter or margarine over top, space out as necessary.
5. Sprinkle garlic salt and steak seasoning evenly over mixture (amount may be adjusted to taste).
6. Fold foil up over the mixture, covering everything. Take another piece of foil and wrap in opposite direction to make sure the packet is leak-proof.
7. Buy awesome new Kenmore grill :)

8. Place on grill at medium heat (about 350-400 degrees) for 35-45 minutes (flip over packet halfway through cooking), depending on your grill and your potato firmness preference.

9. Cut open foil pouch and serve, careful of the steam!
10. If desired, add additional toppings here (bacon bits, sour cream, etc.) Enjoy!
**Note: If there is not enough butter or you cook the potatoes too long they will stick/burn to the foil.

We served the taters with grilled chicken breast. So delicious!