some favorite recipes

Here are some of my go-to recipes that I have not yet posted on:

Hash Brown Casserole
adapted from Taste of the South magazine

1 bag southern style hash brown potatoes, thawed
1 stick melted butter
1 tub sour cream (i think 16 oz?)
1/2 block velveta cheese, cubed
approx 1 cup fiesta blend shredded cheese (i just grab a big handful and throw it in)
1 can cream of chicken soup
dash pepper
approx one sleeve ritz cracker crumbs, crushed.

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients but cracker crumbs in a large bowl until combined.

Spread into one greased 9x13" baking dish, or 2 8x8" baking dishes.

Sprinkle the top evenly with cracker crumbs (you can mix them or top them w/extra butter if you want. Bake for 45 min-1 hour or until bubbly and smelling good!



Don't forget to let your pup lick the bowl (this is the most important part of the recipe, it makes sure that the extra love gets in)

This is one of my most requested pot luck recipes. I found it and made it a few years ago for my Bible study girls while they were still in college and it became an instant favorite. It is super easy and you can make it in advance. There is absolutely NO nutritional value or culinary prowess required. It's just good plain comfort food. It's also good for breakfast, can be made into a yummy cheesy potato soup when pureed with milk (using your fancy immersion blender that you got for Christmas last year) and heated over the stove, and it helps make you fatter! (exactly what we're all looking for right?) But seriously, my proudest moment with this casserole was when I took it to hubs' grandmother's little country church potluck, and this was the only dish that was completely! (and you know those old country ladies are good cooks!)

_____________________________________________________________________
Yellow Squash Muffins

2 cups cooked pureed yellow squash
2 eggs
1 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
3 cups flour
5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Combine squash w/eggs and butter.
Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of dry mixture, add squash mixture to dry ingredients, stirring only until moist.

Spoon into greased muffin tins filling 3/4 full.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Doggies like this batter too...

I found this recipe somewhere online after receiving a massive amount of summer squash and being unable to eat it all myself (i am just one person!). I knew that there just had to be some kind of bread or muffin recipe using squash, and found a great one on my first try! Of course, the orginal recipe was a "healthier" version which involved applesauce and maybe oil...I made it unhealthy, but oh well. These have been a hit wherever I have taken them--even with people who hate squash! They really taste like a corn muffin, just without a cornmeal texture. Very very good for breakfast or with dinner! (sadly, hubs still won't try them....)

____________________________________________________________________
Eggnog bread pudding

1/2 loaf day old sourdough bread, cubed (could also use brioche or any sweet-ish bread)
2 tbsp. melted butter
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups prepared eggnog from grocery
1/2 cup packed brown sugar.
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans
(can include a splash of rum)

grease 8x8" pan
layer pecans and bread cubes
mix remaining ingredients, pour over bread cubes and press down so that the tops of the bread are covered by the wet mixture.
allow to rest in refridgerator for at least 1 hour (best overnight)
bake for 45 minutes at 350 F.

This is the first recipe that I ever came up with myself, and also the first dessert that I made COMPLETELY from scratch, in that I used my homemade sourdough bread for this. I love to pour some extra eggnog over the top of it as a sauce--especially for breakfast! I honestly do not like eggnog to drink, but I really enjoy this. As I've gotten more accustomed to baking I play around more with the spices in this (i now have more spices than "pumpkin pie" and cinnamon!) but this is my base recipe. It would be good with a hard sauce or something like that too.

____________________________________________________________________

Pumpkin Roll
original from Two Peas and Their Pod

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp lemon juice
¾ cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsps cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp salt

Filling
1 cup powdered sugar
1 8 oz. package of cream cheese
4 T butter
½ tsp vanilla

Beat eggs and sugar together. Add pumpkin and lemon juice and mix together. In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking powder, spices, and salt. Fold into pumpkin mixture.

Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper. Spray with cooking spray. Spread pumpkin mixture evenly in pan. Bake at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes. Turn out immediately onto a clean dishtowel that has been sprinkled with powdered sugar. Remove the parchment paper. Sprinkle more powdered sugar on top of cake. Start at one end, carefully rolling towel and cake together. Cool on countertop or in fridge.

Combine 1 cup powdered sugar, cream cheese, and butter, and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Gently unroll cake, remove the towel. Spread filling evenly over cake. Roll back up! Cover with foil and put in fridge or freezer. Best when made a day ahead.

**Okay...I'm cheating a little here b/c this is not the exact recipe that I make. This is the base recipe that I have adapted, but I have to keep some of my adaptations a secret on this one b/c I get the most orders for it. The filling is exactly how I make it though. This is amazing for dessert, or can even be eaten for breakfast!**

dessert table at one of my open house events

Well, these are some of my favorites and are all really easy--I hope you try and enjoy them!

MSC: Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

For this month's Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Club, Kim from What the Whisk chose the Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes from page 236 of Martha's Cupcakes book.

I made the full recipe even though I probably should have cut it in half considering that I still had some muffins left over f/m the TWD post this week.

I honestly had planned to make the marzipan pumpkins that are displayed in the book, but I wasn't able to make it to the Hobby Lobby in time for it (and even if I had, I definitely wouldn't have made them for every single cupcake! I settled for some cute little pumpkin Wilton cupcake wrappers that I already had on hand.

I thought these were really good...but maybe a tad dry. I used 1 cup of fresh pumpkin that I had recently put up and about 1/2 cup of canned. I also forgot to rotate the pans half way through...For some reason, the cupcakes that were on the top rack had crinkly tops, while the bottom ones were nicely rounded.

left= top rack, right=bottom

I took 2 dozen to work and came home empty-handed, so I think they were a hit!

Funny story: My co-worker Crystal doesn't like cream cheese icing (or anything w/cream cheese really...I know, she's crazy!) so I frosted 3 of them with some homemade buttercream that I had on hand from hubs' birthday. I sprinkled a little dash of pumpkin pie spice on the top of those to distinguish them as "Crystal's" cupcakes. Well one of our new (and very sweet) nurses went in to get a cupcake while I wasn't in my office to let her know that they were "special." Crystal found out about it and spent the rest of the day introducing the nurse to people as the "cupcake thief."

Another interesting thing...Butchy LOVES pumpkin. Everytime that I cook and puree one she can't wait to lick the bowl and utensils (but really...she's like that about most everything...). I ate one after dinner tonight and she kept sniffing the wrapper and trying to get to them on the cake plate. Well, of course I had to capture her cute longing

don't worry...she got close but didn't get any.

Thanks for a great pick Kim!