Green Bean Casserole

This isn't the traditional GB-Casserole with the canned soup and canned/frozen green beans, this is what I consider to be 100% homemade or as close to it as you can be.  I guess you could always make the fried onions yourself rather than out of a can.  But anyways this was delicious and while I was eating I heard a couple people ask who made them and comment about them.  And the best thing about them is they don't really take long to make. 

Green Bean Casserole
2 pounds Fresh Green Beans, Ends Cut Off
4 slices Bacon, Cut Into 1/4 Inch Pieces
3 cloves Garlic, Minced
½ whole Large Onion, Chopped
4 Tbsp. Butter
4 Tbsp. All-purpose Flour
2-½ cups Whole Milk
½ cups Half-and-half
1-½ tsp Salt, More To Taste
Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste
⅛ tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 cup Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 jar (4 Ounce) Sliced Pimentoes, Drained
Extra Milk For Thinning If Necessary
1 cup Panko Bread Crumbs or French's Fried Onions

Boil green beans and then drain them and set to the side.  Add bacon to a skillet and cook for a few minutes and then add the garlic and onion and cook until the bacon is done but not crisp. 

In a separate skillet or saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Sprinkle flour into the pan and whisk immediately to evenly mix it into the butter. Cook for a minute or two, then pour in milk and half and half. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, while sauce thickens, about 2 minutes. Add salt, pepper, and cayenne then add the grated cheddar. Stir while cheese melts. Turn off heat.

Add the onion mixture and the pimentos then pour over the green beans and stir gently. (you can do this is the dish you plan on baking it in or feel free to dirty another dish and do it in that.)  Sprinkle either the Panko bread crumbs or the onions over the green beans. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Adapted from Pioneer Woman.

Jalapeno Popper Dip

FYI-I doubled the recipe, so if you want this much then double the recipe!

A couple weeks ago or so we went to a friends house and she had made this dip and it was absolutely wonderful, between the four of us I think we ate the whole batch.  After having it there I knew I wanted to take it to Thanksgiving.  At my friend's house we ate it with baguette slices and so I served it with the same, only thing is when you toast them in the oven make sure you get them crispy enough, I thought I did but when I ate some they didn't taste that great because they needed to be toasted longer.  I took the leftover dip to my family's get together on Friday and they ate them with Ritz and said it tasted really good!  This would be a perfect dish to serve at any get together-large or small, football parties, Christmas parties...you name it, take it!

Lee was being my hand model!

Jalapeno Popper Dip
2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup mayonnaise
1 (4 oz.) can chopped green chiles, drained
1 (4 oz.) can diced jalapeno peppers, drained
½ cup shredded Mexican style cheese
½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2-4 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled
1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix the panko and Parmesan in a small bowl and set to the side.  Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl till well blended, spread in a 9x9 baking dish.  Sprinkle the panko mixture over the cream cheese mixture and spray lightly with cooking spray.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, until topping is golden and mixture is hot.  (If you had mine at Thanksgiving then you should know I forgot to spray mine with cooking spray therefore it wasn't golden.) 

Adapted from Annie's Eats & got the wonderful idea from my friend Kirbe to add BACON!

Sopapilla Cheesecake

I've been wanting to make this for awhile now and I finally did!  I have a stack of recipes waiting to be posted but since Thanksgiving is this week I wanted to post this ASAP for those that are still looking for a dessert to make.  This was one of the easiest desserts I've ever made, I think I prepared it in 10 minutes.  And it was really good! 

Sopapilla Cheesecake

16 ounces cream cheese (2-bricks)

2 cans Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations refrigerated seamless dough sheet

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup cinnamon sugar

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a bowl mix together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla.  In a 9x13 dish lay out one can of the dough and spread the cream cheese mixture on top, then lay out another can of dough on top.  Melt the butter and pour on top followed by the cinnamon sugar mixture.  Bake for 30 minutes. 

 

Adapted from Pillsbury. 

Rich and Thick Hot Chocolate

When it's cold outside I have a SMALL obsession with homemade hot chocolate.  I haven't had hot chocolate in packets since I was probably 17 and even then I used to use milk instead of water.  My senior year in high school I lived with my grandparents and my grandfather would make a batch of hot chocolate made out of cocoa, the recipe that is on the side of the cocoa, and he would put it in a pitcher and I could heat me up a cup at a time whenever I wanted it.  I kept doing this for many years and last year I found this recipe, so this will be my 2nd winter with it.  Also I have substituted some of the milk for cream and it didn't really change the taste so I don't think it's worth the extra calories, do it if you wish but to  me it's not worth it.

Rich and Thick Hot Chocolate

1 cup water

2 squares  Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate

1/2 cup sugar

3 cups  milk

1 tsp. vanilla

 

In a medium saucepan cook water and chocolate on medium heat until melted.  Stir constantly.  Add sugar and bring to boil.  Add milk and continue stirring constantly.  Turn down heat and add vanilla, continue stirring until heated through.  *You can also pour the mixture in a pitcher and heat up one glass at a time and store in the refrigerator for a couple of days.  I don't have the patience to let the stove heat it so I always heat it in the microwave once I had the vanilla!

 

Adapted from Kraft Foods.

Jiffy Corn Casserole

This might be what I consider a "classic" dish that you all have had, I'm really not to sure though because I hadn't had it till last year for Christmas and then I made it again a couple weeks ago.  It's very easy to make and really really good.  This is another dish that would be a good item to make for your upcoming Holiday dinner.

Jiffy Corn Casserole
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 can creamed corn
2 eggs, beaten
1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix
1 stick butter, melted (or 1/2 c. oil)
1 c. sour cream
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all the ingredients together and pour into a 9x13 casserole dish.  Bake for 30-45 minutes or until done. 

Adapted from Cooks.

Maple Brown Sugar Ham

First I want to apologize for my lack of posting on Thursday and Friday, I had gone out of town to my Sister's house and I didn't have time to post Wednesday night or Thursday because I was packing and getting ready to be gone all weekend and then when I tried to post at my Sister's house on Friday my internet connection went crazy...I don't know what was wrong it would allow me on Facebook but not on here.  Anyways I'm back and I already have all my posts ready for the week.  :) 

I've been trying to come up with and post holiday recipes and I'm not about to cook a big Turkey before hand so I figured I'd do a Ham.  I really liked the flavor of this Ham I just made a mistake and bought the wrong cut of Ham so it had entirely too much fat for me.  I couldn't even tell you what kind I bought I just know it had a bone and next time I will buy one without a bone.  And next time I will be asking either my Dad, Mom, or Grandparents which cut they buy because I want one like I've had at their houses not like this one.  But regardless of the cut of Ham this recipe is wonderful and the flavor was really good!  Enough babbling here's the recipe...

Crock Pot-Maple Brown Sugar Ham
7-8lb. ham
2 cups pineapple juice
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup REAL maple syrup

Place your ham flat side down in the crock pot.  Rub the brown sugar on all sides of the ham.  Whisk together the maple syrup and the pineapple juice in a bowl and then pour over the ham.  Cook on low for 4-5 hours.  An hour before serving, baste ham with the collected juices from the bottom of the slow cooker. 

Let your ham rest 10 minutes on the carving board before you cut into it.

Adapted from This Mommy Cooks.

Bacon & Onion Green Beans

This recipe and picture is from my Mom, I guess kind of like a guest blogger, I have made and had these green beans though plenty of time to be able to tell you they are AMAZING!  If you haven't ever had green beans like these then you need to try them and if you don't want to use fresh green beans then you could always use a can of green beans but I recommend fresh!  This would also make a good side dish for your Holiday dinner, we usually have this for Christmas with my Mom.

Bacon & Onion Green Beans

1 lb fresh Green Beans, snip ends but leave whole

1/2 cup chopped Bacon

1/2 cup chopped Onion

1 to 2 Tablespoon White Vinegar

Lawry's Season Salt

Onion Powder

Garlic Powder

Lemon Pepper

Boil Green Beans until almost tender, still a little crisp, drain.  Fry bacon until almost crisp, add onion, fry until soft.   Drain all fat from Bacon and Onion mixture.  Add Green Beans.  Season to taste, with Lawry's Season Salt, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Lemon Pepper.  Toss till warm, remove from heat and sprinkle with Vinegar. 

Recipe came from my Mom, Sheri Klish. 

Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin

(The darker color at the bottom is probably the reason why you should bake this on a wire rack on a baking sheet, doing it in a Pyrex dish did result in the meat baking in juices/leftover crumb mixture but it still tastes really good!)

So a couple weeks ago we went to a wedding and they had a Herb Crusted Pork Loin at the reception and it was wonderful so of coarse that made me go on a search for the perfect recipe to make it at home.  I probably looked at 15 recipes until I found one that looked good, and boy was it good.  It originally came from Cook's Illustrated so you know it has to be good coming from them!  Also after tasting it, it made me think of Thanksgiving.  When I told Lee that he looked at me and asked if I thought it tasted like Turkey and of coarse it doesn't but there's just something about it that reminded me of Thanksgiving.  With that being said I think this would be a great alternative to a Turkey at the holidays, or if your family makes more than a Turkey then I would suggest adding this to your menu!  But of coarse this would be a great meal just for the family, though this is being put on my list of meals to make when we're having company. 

Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin

3lb. Pork Tenderloin
Kosher Salt
1/4 cup Sugar
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 medium shallot, minced
4 tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. olive oil
Ground black pepper
1/3 cup packed fresh parsley or basil leaves, minced (I didn't use fresh)
2 tbsp. minced fresh thyme leaves (I used 1tsp Ground Thyme)
1 tsp. minced fresh rosemary (I didn't use fresh)
1 large clove garlic, minced

The recipe says to score the meat but I did not do this and feel like it tasted fine w/o so do it either way you please.  Dissolve 1/4 cup kosher salt and 1/4 cup sugar in 2qt of water (I used a 2qt pitcher and the meat/water fit perfectly but I did have to put the meat in over the sink because water overflowed!) and put plastic wrap over the top.  Refrigerate for 1 hour. 

About 15-20 minutes before your 1hr is up start mixing the herb paste and bread crumb mixture together.

Place breadcrumbs, 2T. Parmesan, shallot (I gave my shallot a quick turn in my food processor), 1T oil, 1/8t of salt and 1/8t of pepper.  Using a fork, toss mixture until everything is coated with oil.

Put parsley, garlic, thyme, rosemary, 1/8t of salt, 1/8t of pepper, 6T of Parmesan, and 3T of oil in food processor and process until smooth. 

Move your rack to middle/lower position and preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Now take your meat out of the refrigerator and rinse meat with cold water and pat dry.  Heat 2t. oil in skillet and brown all sides of meat, takes about 10 minutes.  Then the recipe says to transfer meat to wire rack set in rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil but I just used a Pyrex glass dish and it worked just fine!  (But look at what I wrote under the pic at the top)

Cut a pocket in the tenderloin and spread 1/4 of the herb paste in it.  Now close it and spread the remaining paste on the outside of it and top with bread crumb mixture.  Cover with foil and bake for 60-90 minutes.  (I baked mine for 90)

Remove from oven and cut in 1/2in. slices and serve. 

Adapted recipe from Sugar & Spice by Celeste.