My Tasty Week of Thanksgiving

I spent this past week hanging out with my family. We had a great time, and we also made some amazing food. Rather than publishing all of the recipes individually, I decided to put them all here. Some have pictures, but I forgot to take some of the others. I've linked to recipes when possible, or just posted what I used.

Bananas Foster Pain Perdu

Apple Enchiladas

We cut the butter down to 3 T and used about 1/4 c brown sugar instead.

Apple Dip

We followed this recipe, except that we mixed the mini chocolate chips in with the cream cheese instead of sprinkling them on top.

Crock Pot Hot Chocolate

We followed this recipe, but substituted half and half for cream and used whole milk.

Spinach Bacon Quiche - from Chris & Becky Hagler

2 - 9" pie crusts
9 eggs
1 pint half and half
1/2 c diced onions
1 pound bacon, cooked and chopped
2 c your choice of shredded cheese
3 large handfuls fresh spinach, chopped





Prep crust in pie plates and follow directions for baking them.
In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, half and half, onions, bacon, cheese, and spinach.
Heat oven to 425.
Split the batter between the two baked crusts.
Cover the crust edges with foil or crust covers. Bake 45-50 minutes.

Buffalo Chicken Dip - from Becky Hagler

2 - 10 ounce cans of diced chicken, drained
2 - 8 ounce cream cheese blocks, cut into cubes
1 c ranch dressing
3/4 c hot sauce
1 1/2 c cheddar cheese

In large saute pan on low, heat chicken and hot sauce.
Stir in cream cheese and ranch until smooth.
Add 3/4 c cheddar cheese, stir.
Move all contents to a slow cooker on low. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

Baked Crab Artichoke Spinach Dip 

1 c mayo
1 c grated parmesan cheese
14 oz. can of artichoke hearts, diced
10 oz. frozen spinach, thawed and drained
12 oz. crab
1 1/2 shredded pepperjack or cheddar






Preheat to 350. Mix mayo and parmesan.
Add in artichoke and spinach.
Gently fold in crab.
Pour into 1 qt. dish. Sprinkle with cheese, and bake for 15-20 minutes (until bubbly).
We served with bagel chips.

Turkey & Quinoa Stuffed Peppers - started with this, and tweaked it

1 cup (dry) quinoa, cooked
1 pound ground turkey, browned
3 garlic cloves
1/2 onion, diced
6 colorful bell peppers, top and seeds removed
16 oz + 1 cup tomato sauce
1 T Worchestershire sauce
Prepare quinoa according to packaging.
Brown turkey with garlic cloves and onions.

Arrange peppers in baking dish (you may need to slice the bottoms a little to make them stand up straight).
In a mixing bowl, combine turkey, quinoa, 16 oz tomato sauce, Worchestershire sauce, and any other desired seasonings.
Spoon mixture into hollowed peppers.
Pour the remaining 1 c tomato sauce over the tops of the filled peppers.
Bake for about one hour.

Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Icing

Cupcakes:
1 can pumpkin puree
1 box spice cake mix
2 eggs
Preheat to 350. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mix until moist throughout. Spoon into muffin tin until 3/4 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool on wire rack.
Icing:
1 - 8 oz block cream cheese
1 - 12 oz jar marshmallow fluff
Blend together until smooth. Frost cupcakes.

Crock Pot Baked Apples - my Granny's recipe/ Mom's specialty
6 qt slow cooker
4 pounds apples; peeled/cored/sliced
1 stick butter, melted
1 cup hot water
1 t cinnamon
1/8 t nutmeg
1/8 t ginger
1/8 t allspice
1/8 t cloves

Put all apples into slow cooker. (Ours overflowed, but as they heat up, they will condense and you'll be able to stir and fit them all in.)
Pour melted butter overtop.
Set on low/med heat for 2 hours.
Check on them after that time and see if you can squish them into the crock.
3 hours after start, take 1 cup hot water and mix all spices into the water. Pour spices/water over apples in cooker.
Check on the apples every 30 minutes-1 hour and stir them. Use a potato masher if desired.

We took our leftovers and ran them through a food processor to make applesauce. Delish!

Venison Stuffing Stuffed Shells - tweaked recipe found on Chef's Cupboard stuffing box

1 box cornbread stovetop stuffing
1 pound venison, browned
1/2 c mayo
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 can broth (veg/chicken/beef)
24 jumbo pasta shells
Preheat to 350.

Boil shells according to package directions, drain, and separate so they don't stick to each other.
Prepare stuffing according to package directions. Add venison and mayo. Mix well.
Stuff mixture into shells and place in casserole dish.
Mix can of soup and broth; pour overtop of the stuffed shells.
Cover with foil and bake for 30-45 minutes.

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies - from me! 

2/3 c butter, softened
2/3 c packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 c oatmeal
1 1/2 c flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1 1/2 - 2 c dried cranberries
1 c white chocolate chips

Preheat to 375.
Beat butter and sugar until mixed. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.
In separate bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
Add dry mix to wet. Fold in cranberries and chips. Spoon onto cookie tray. (We made about 30 cookies... but my assistant and I may or may not have eaten some of the batter...)
Bake 10-12 minutes and cool on a wire rack.

And there you have it! My week in food!

Opal from Jennifer Armentrout!

If any of you have listened to me blather on about books at all, you'll know that Jennifer Armentrout is my favorite YA author. Her Lux and Covenant series are straight awesomeness.

To win the third installment of the Lux series, check out her site here!

Good luck and happy reading!

Corn Chowder - needs CPR!

I've been addicted to Pinterest lately. (But who hasn't?) I found this recipe for Sweet Corn Soup. I decided to make it tonight. Ick. However... here's how I think it could be made better:

1/2 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, pressed
2 T butter
(Saute these for a few minutes until browned.)
To this mixture, add 2 c water. Boil.
Add 8 ears of fresh corn, removed from cob
Simmer this for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a food processor. Blend until smooth. Then add 1/2 - 1 cup half and half. Blend some more. Taste. Add salt/pepper/whatever your favorite seasonings are. Or more half and half. Use your tastebuds.
Serve with bacon bits, sour cream (if you think it needs a little more dairy oomph), and croutons.
I know the original recipe was meant to be healthier... but healthy doesn't have to mean yucky. I was so overwhelmed with onion taste and it was so extremely runny in the original version... it was bad.

Best Drink Ever!

1 mango: peeled, chopped and frozen

1 peach: peeled, chopped and frozen

2 cups of your favorite moscato

Throw it all in a food processor or blender, serve, and enjoy. So delicious!

Obsidian Book Trailer

Recently, I've been a smidge obsessed with any YA book by Jennifer Armentrout. She just knows how to get it done. She has two series that just rock my socks. One is called Covenant. The other is the Lux Series. Smoking hot boys, and compelling female heroines.

Check out the trailer for Obsidian, Book 1 of Lux, here:

Smoothie Muffins

Yep. You read that correctly. I just made what I'm affectionately referring to as "smoothie muffins." I initially was going to make mango muffins, but before I starting mixing the batter, I failed to check to see if I had ripe mangoes. I did not. Emergency plan: raid freezer. I discovered about a 1/2 cup of frozen mango, 3 giant frozen peach slices and about 10 strawberries. I pureed them, tossed it in the batter, and thought to myself, "What the heck? It's just fruit."

Smoothie Muffins (Makes 12 full-size muffins)
1 c all purpose flour
1 c wheat flour
3 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
3/4 c brown sugar (or honey if you prefer)
1/4 c applesauce (or veg. oil)
1 c almond milk (or regular milk)
1 egg (I used 1 T flaxseed and 3 T water instead)
1 1/2 c of whatever fruit you want

1. Preheat to 400 degrees F.
2. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, combine sugar, applesauce, milk and egg.
4. Add dry to wet just until combined. Avoid overmixing. Fold in your fruit.
5. Spoon into greased muffin tin or baking cups and bake for around 20 minutes. Test with a toothpick a few times to make sure they're baked through.
I added a crumb topping that I had leftover from another recipe, but it's certainly not necessary.

Wheat Pancakes

Wheat flour is not my favorite substance to work with. Food made with it is generally tough and dense. This weekend's breakfast experiment was to make decent pancakes with wheat flour. Overall they were good. It's hard to compare them to buttermilk pancakes, because those are in a class all their own. But I will definitely make this recipe again.

Adam's pancake with fresh berry syrup:

I opted for apple butter and honey with a side of strawberries:

Whole Wheat Pancakes:
2 c whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt


2 beaten eggs
3 T brown sugar
2 c almond milk
1 T grapeseed oil
2 T nonfat Greek yogurt


Combine top set of ingredients in a large bowl. Combine bottom set of ingredients in a separate medium bowl and mix thoroughly. Add wet to dry. Try not to over-mix; it will be lumpy and you just want everything to be moistened. Cook on preheated griddle/frying pan on low/med heat until bubbles form and edges start to dry. Flip and cook until lightly browned.


I prepared these in grapeseed oil, but I highly recommend coconut oil instead.


Fresh Berry Syrup - from "The Dolce Diet"
4 oz water
1 c strawberries
1 c blueberries
Add water and fruit to small saucepan. Cover on low-medium heat. When fruit softens, reduce heat and mash with spatula.