I'll be back soon...

I apologize to the few readers I do have for taking some time off from blogging.  It's not as easy for me as it is for "normal" people to juggle cooking, blogging, and the holidays.  Actually I've even been slacking on the cooking end too (my husband pointed that out) but I'm having a minor outpatient procedure on Thursday so next week I plan on getting back to cooking and blogging as long as everything goes good!  So see you all soon and I hope you all have a good New Years! 

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!

Basic Pie Dough

I made Annie's Basic Pie Dough a couple of weeks ago but I never took any pictures and so I decided just to provide you with links to Annie's recipe along with her tips and tricks.  Also here is a link to learn how to make a lattice pie crust.

I think this will be my shortest post ever!  Anyways Happy Thanksgiving, I will be making a few things today and tomorrow morning to take to my in laws house!

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.