Praline Sweet Potatoes

 

This week I tried a yummy new sweet  potato recipe. I was so happy that my kids love it too, seeing that I have such a hard time getting them to eat vegetables, especially my son. My daughter had 2 helpings and my son ate his entire serving. Sweet potatoes are loaded with vitamin A and they also provide a nice amount of vitamin C. I found this recipe on the back of the Princella sweet potato can. It was super easy.

Ingredients:

29 oz can of sweet potatoes in light syrup

1/3 cup chopped pecans

1/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut

1/3 packed brown sugar

3 tablespoons flour(I used 5)

3 tablespoons butter, melted

Heat oven to 350. Place drained potatoes in an ungreased 1 & 1/2 quart casserole dish. In small bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Blend well. Sprinkle over sweet potatoes. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

 

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Brownie Toffee Trifle

I feel like I haven't posted anything in forever. Well now that I'm starting to make my way out of the black hole of my Christmas mess....I can share another recipe! Every year for Christmas Eve we get together with my husband's side of the family. This year we decided to do just desserts. One of my favorite desserts to make is a trifle. They are so easy and you don't have to worry about some of the common problems that can occur when baking. I love to bake, but when you're going to make something a few hours before the party, it's nice to have a recipe that you know won't fail. Even if the trifle recipe calls for a baked ingredient, like cake, you can still use it even if it falls apart. Just layer and your done! For this recipe I searched multiple trifle recipes and came up with some layers that I thought would work best. It was soooo good!

Ingredients:
Brownie mix( I used brownies with the cream cheese swirl, 9X13 pan)
Whipped topping
Caramel topping(the kind you put on sundaes)
Chocolate fudge pudding, large box, instant
Toffee candy bits(I used the Heath brand, covered in chocolate, in baking section)

Bake brownies as directed,cool. Make pudding as directed, chill. Now in a trifle dish, layer brownies, pudding, caramel sauce, heath candy, whipped topping. Layer one more time and finish with some candy sprinkled on top of last whipped topping layer. Refrigerate before serving. Enjoy!

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Treat #5 Chocolate Covered Pretzels

 This year, for my neighbors, I decided to make chocolate dipped pretzel sticks. I love chocolate covered pretzels. Probably  because, like the payday bars, I love the combination of sweet and salty. These were very easy to make. I put them in clear christmas gift bags, tied with a bow and a tag.

Ingredients:
large pretzel rods
Chocolate for melting( I used Wilton's melting chips in cocoa)
Candy, chopped
Ex-butterfingers,heath bits,sprinkles,mini chocolate chips, candy canes(The candy cane pieces and chocolate chips were a little bit harder to work with)
Directions:
Follow the melting directions on the back of your chocolate.  Spoon chocolate over half of the pretzel. Shake off excess. Sprinkle or spoon candy over the chocolate. Set on waxed paper. Once completely hardened, put in gift bags.

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Cookie #4 Payday Bars

One of my favorite candy bars, if not my favorite candy bar is a Payday. I love the combination of sweet and salty. While looking for new recipes to try for this week of cookies/treats, I came across a recipe for payday bars. I never had heard of them, but they sounded really good. I almost completely demolished the bars by burning myself on the hot pan and dropping half of the crust onto my oven door! However, I decided to take the remaining crust from the 9X13 pan, put it in a smaller square pan,  bake it for a few more minutes, and it was saved. I'm so glad, because this turned out to be such a great treat! Oh...and simple...

1st layer/The Crust:

1box yellow cake mix
2/3 c unsalted butter, softened
1 egg

Mix all of the ingredients, press into a slightly greased 9X13 pan. Bake at 350 for 12-18 minutes.(I baked mine for 20-25. Until the edges were golden)

Second Layer:

2 cups of marshmallows

Sprinkle marshmallows over top of crust. Bake for another 5 min.

3rd layer:

1 bag peanut butter chips
2 T. butter
2/3 cup corn syrup
2 cups crispy rice cereal
2 cups salted peanuts

Melt chips, butter and corn syrup in a saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in cereal and peanuts. Poor over base and spread evenly.(I had to press mine around)Cool, cut into squares.

Recipe from Gooseberry Patch-Old Fashioned Country Christmas Pin It

My Gingerbread Houses

What I'm about to say would have bakers everywhere screaming and mothers cheering...
For this week's ROTW I chose mini gingerbread houses. The inspiration came from the Martha Stewart site and graham crackers were used in place of gingerbread. That's not the part that would cause horror. This is. I put my houses together with a GLUE GUN! It worked liked a dream. I'm so glad the cashier at my grocery store gave me the idea. This week has been sooo busy and I wasn't about to try and put together multiple little houses with frosting. I've heard it is very time consuming. And besides, it's not like I'm going to eat them anyways. Do people actually do that? Me and my 2 kids had a lot of fun putting them together. I hope to make it a yearly tradition. I used the royal icing recipe that Kimberly posted along with her tip to use hair dye bottles(which worked great!).

Here are my houses.

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Night Before Christmas Mice

This mouse cookie recipe is a fun recipe to make with the kids. They are more of a cookie for decorating than a cookie that's going to win you best cookie recipe of the year. They have a sweet chocolatey taste, but I felt they were a bit dry. I still wanted to post them though, because the kids really liked them and my daughter had fun making her own little mice.

Ingredients:
3/4 c sugar
1/2 c softened butter
1/2 c shortening
1 t. vanilla
1 egg
2 1/4 flour
1/4 c. unsweetened  cocoa
1/2 t. baking powder
mini semi-sweet chocolate chips for eyes
red or black string licorice for tail

Beat sugar, butter, and shortening until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, mix well. Mix dry ingredients together and add to wet mixture. Mix well. Form into 1 inch ball, pinch/form nose. Form 2 little flat ears for each and put on head. Add choc. chips for eyes. Bake on un-greased cookie sheet at 325 for 8-10 minutes. Put the tails in right when you pull them out of the oven while still hot.

Makes 3 dozen mice

Recipe found in the Gooseberry Patch Old Fashioned Country Cookies cook book. Pin It

Gingerbread party

My mom loves starting traditions and one of the greatest things about her is that once she starts one, they really do become part of what makes our lives and holidays so special. One year, she wanted to have a gingerbread house decorating party for my sister (I want to say 15 or so years ago) and that one party became a tradition that we have done every year since. It is part of Christmas for us now. My mom passed the torch to me three years ago and it has been so much fun to share with my family and friends. This weeks ROTW was gingerbread houses so I thought I would post some of the pictures. The catch, if you will, is that each person invited to the party only has to bring two bags of candy to share with the rest of the guests. So each house will have the same candy on it but it is amazing how different each one turns out.

I buy my houses pre-made from a bakery in my home town as assembling them is time consuming, especially when you have to allow for dry time. If you want start a new tradition that I promise your children will cherish for years to come, give these little houses a try.

Royal Icing Recipe

3 egg whites

1lb powdered sugar

1/8 tsp cream of tarter

Mix all ingredients until thick with electric mixer, about 2-4 minutes.

Something to think about to make decorating easier. Put your icing or "glue" in a squeeze bottle like one you would use for home hair dying or they sell empty plastic squeeze bottles at most party stores, they are inexpensive and they make decorating a breeze. I think they work much better than the pastry bags.

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French Toast Casserole

Well last Friday was my turn to pick the  ROTW. Seeing that the upcoming Saturday, the 28th, was going to be National French Toast Day, I decided to pick a baked french toast casserole by Paula Deen. My original plan was to make this and post this on Saturday, but I forgot that both of my kids would be at Grandmas's that day. There was really no reason to make this just for myself(husband doesn't eat this kind of stuff) so, I decided to wait until today. My first impression of the casserole was that it was very good. The top was especially delicious, crisp and sweet. My second impression was.... I remembered that I'm not a huge fan of the moist bread in french toast casseroles. It tastes good, I just don't really care for the texture that much. I also am not a big fan of bread puddings for that reason. That being said...if you like french toast casseroles, this recipe would make a really good and easy addition to Christmas morning.

Ingredients

* 1 loaf French bread (13 to 16 ounces)
* 8 large eggs
* 2 cups half-and-half
* 1 cup milk
* 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* Dash salt
* Praline Topping, recipe follows
* Maple syrup

Directions

Slice French bread into 20 slices, 1-inch each. (Use any extra bread for garlic toast or bread crumbs). Arrange slices in a generously buttered 9 by 13-inch flat baking dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and beat with a rotary beater or whisk until blended but not too bubbly. Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread and bake for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. Serve with maple syrup.
Praline Topping:

* 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter(I used salted,softened)
* 1 cup packed light brown sugar
* 1 cup chopped pecans(I left these out per my daughters request)
* 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well. Makes enough for Baked French Toast Casserole.
Recipe courtesy of Paula Deen

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Caramel Pecan Bars

We have posted this recipe as a "tart" before, but I thought I would show how they turn out as a bar. I made these for Thanksgiving yesterday and they were a huge hit. This is such an easy recipe to make.  To me, these are even better than a traditional pecan pie. I have a pretty hard time keeping my hands off of them and was even eating them for breakfast last time I made them....and lunch...and dinner...sigh.

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup butter, cubed(I prefer salted butter in this recipe)
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
2/3 cup butter(I prefer salted)
3 tablespoons whipping cream
Preparation
1. Arrange pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 5 to 7 minutes or until lightly toasted. Cool on a wire rack 15 minutes or until completely cool.

2. Pulse flour, powdered sugar, and 3/4 cup butter in a food processor 5 to 6 times or until mixture resembles coarse meal. Pat mixture evenly on bottom and up sides of a lightly greased 11-inch tart pan with removable bottom.

3. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack 15 minutes or until completely cool.

4. Bring brown sugar, honey, 2/3 cup butter, and whipping cream to a boil in a 3-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in toasted pecans, and spoon hot filling into prepared crust.

5. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Cool on a wire rack 30 minutes or until completely cool.

Caramel-Pecan Bars: Prepare recipe as directed, pressing crumb mixture evenly on bottom and 3/4 inch up sides of a lightly greased heavy-duty aluminum foil-lined 13- x 9-inch pan. When completely cool, using the aluminum foil as handles, carefully lift the tart from the pan, and transfer to a serving tray. Cut into squares.

*recipe provided by www.findmyrecipe.com/Southern Living, NOVEMBER 2007

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Pumpkin Pie Parfait

I absolutely looove pumpkin pie. Especially  covered in cool whip! Well in honor of National Parfait Day, November 25th,  I made a pumpkin pie parfait. When I  found out that Parfait Day was coming up, my first thought was, parfaits aren't very fallish. When I think of a parfait I think of flavors like strawberry or raspberry. Something that would make a nice summertime treat. Well that doesn't really work for fall so off I went to find a parfait made with another fruit, pumpkin. I only tried one recipe and in my opinion it's perfect. The parfait tastes  like a bite of pumpkin pie smothered in cool whip. The gingersnaps give this recipe a delicious "crust". Another great thing about this recipe is that you can lighten it up by using sugar free pudding and light cool whip, making it a much healthier alternative to pumpkin pie.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup cold milk(I used 2%)
  
• 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix(I used sugar free)
  
• 2 cups whipped topping
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 cup chopped pecans(I left the pecans out this time, although I do love pecans) (If I were to use them I would probably toast them first)
  
• 1 1/2 cups crushed gingersnaps
• additional whipped topping

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat milk and pudding mix on low speed for 2 minutes. Stir in THE whipped topping, pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice; mix well. Fold in pecans.
2. Spoon half of the mixture into parfait glasses; top with half of the gingersnap crumbs. Repeat layers. Top with additional whipped topping. 

Original recipe courtesy of  Lorraine Dorocha

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Sweet Potato Cranberry Casserole

My favorite Thanksgiving side dish is sweet potatoes. My all time favorite sweet potato recipe is the one my mom use to make for Thanksgiving dinner. I believe it originally came out of one her old church cookbooks. This recipe uses canned sweet potatoes although I'm sure you can use fresh sweet potatoes if you sweeten them first.

Ingredients:

All of the amounts will vary depending on the size dish you want to serve

1-4  29oz size cans of sweet potatoes in syrup, drained (I used 1 can for a 1.5 quart casserole dish, but I have used as many as 4 when I'm using a deep baking pan.)
Fresh cranberries, rinsed and drained (about 3/4 cup for 1.5 quart dish)
1 jar of orange marmalade (about 1/2 cup for 1.5 quart dish)
1 bag of mini marshmallows (1/4 of bag for 1.5 quart dish)
Chopped pecans (1/2 cup for 1.5 quart dish)

Put the sweet potatoes in a greased dish/pan of your choice. I used a 1.5 quart casserole dish this time. It made enough for 3-4 people. Usually if I'm bringing this recipe to a Thanksgiving dinner I use a deep 9X13 pan. I also like using disposable foil pans, as the marshmallows get baked onto the sides of the pan. Sprinkle cranberries over the top then sprinkle the pecans over the top. Now, dot the casserole with orange marmalade. Bake covered at 350 for 30 minutes. Pull casserole out, cover with marshmallows. Put back in the oven and bake until marshmallows are golden brown. You can also broil if you prefer, but KEEP AN EYE on the marshmallows, they brown VERY FAST this way. Pin It

Sweet Potato Bake

I can't imagine having a Thanksgiving  or Christmas dinner without a sweet potato dish on the side. I have been making the same sweet potato dish for years(recipe to come soon). I love my stand by recipe, but I thought it would be fun to try out a new recipe. Who better to go to for Thanksgiving comfort food, then Paula Deen. One of the recipes I picked for this week's rotw was Paula Deen's Sweet Potato Bake. It was such a wonderful recipe! It is so sweet and delicious, it could almost substitute for a dessert. It looks like now I might be making two sweet potato recipes during the holidays!


Ingredients:

3 cups mashed sweet potatoes(I used 3 fresh, boiled them and then mashed them)
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup heavy cream, half and half, or whole milk

Topping:
1 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped

Mix together with fork; sprinkle over top of casserole.
Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix all ingredients together except for cream. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Add cream;mix well. Pour into greased casserole dish ( 1 1/2 quarts). Add topping. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.



Recipe courtesy of Paula Deen Pin It