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!)

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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....)

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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.

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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!

Holiday wrap-up

Hello again! So sorry that I have been so out of touch over the past few weeks. As with everyone else, the Christmas season was incredibly crazy and my brain was running so fast that I could not slow down and process enough to actually write a coherant post...plus our internet was screwed up and I couldn't upload pictures...and you know that's half the fun of blogging!

Well, instead of writing separate posts for each of the momentous occasions of the holiday season, i'll sum it up with a few pictures, and then maybe a separate post with a few of my go-to potluck recipes.

Thanksgiving was wonderful and for the first time we combined both my mom and dad's extended families into one dinner instead of spreading it out over two days. It was bittersweet as this was our first holiday since my Granny passed away. Dinner was lovely...my dad smoked his amazing turkey and everyone brought their best dishes. Then we had our Thanksgiving tradition of the "thankful tree" Every place has a pen and paper leaf cut out of construction paper. We each write down some things that we are thankful for and then take time to go around the table, share what we are most thankful for that year, and offer a prayer of Thanksgiving to God. Then my parents tape the leaves onto a branch from the yard that they have "planted" and leave it up for display.

dinner w/the Weakley & Pruitte families (minus dad--he was behind the camera)


our feast!


my plate vs. hubs (note, this is not to make me look like a pig, but rather to show how picky he is)


butchy wants some turkey!

the thankful tree


and a close up of some of our leaves

Sadly, I forgot to take my camera to the Edmundson family Thanksgiving. It was a good time with everyone, but I was very sad b/c hubs had to work so I had to go without him! I enjoyed that I had free reign to tell funny stories about him though ;)

The next big event was my office Christmas party, and unfortunately I forgot my camera for that as well! We had a great time though I was exhausted b/c I had a marathon baking session--I make homemade sourdough bread & cookies for everyone in the office! Here's my crazy process:

each batch of the starter makes 3 loaves...I had 11 batches going: 33 loaves of bread. Once again, I ran out of bowls and had to use some pots & pans!


rising, and baked (along w/some cookies)

Santa Clause also made a trip to my office on Christmas eve, and made it a very special trip to the doctor for one adorable little girl!

Christmas was wonderful, we got everything we could have wanted and more! :) The Edmundson family had our Christmas celebration on Christmas eve after I got off work. We saw a Christmas Carol and then went back to hubs' parents house for gifts and dinner. One of my favorite gifts is a massage mat and massaging shoes for all my pain! It was kinda funny though, b/c my sis-in-law got these really fancy red patent leather heels and I got my massaging shoe things at the same time...and I'm younger! lol. It was really a fun night and we enjoyed the time with everyone. I'm just sad that I forgot my camera!

We saw my family on Christmas day after opening our presents and stockings at home (I got hubs some fleece pans w/bulldogs on them and some bulldog houseshoes--butchy tries to give them a "high five" whenever he wears them b/c they have little arms on the side). After my parents house we went to my Aunt Gail's and took butch with us!(in her Mrs. Claws outfit I might add) I did bring my camera for that one and we got a cute family picture:

The funniest thing there was that Aunt Gail has a little pomeranian who did NOT like Butch at all. We tried to keep them across the room from one another and keep Butch surrounded by boxes, but any time there was a gap Gina (the dog) would dart across the room like a little bullet, nip Butch on the neck, and then run away before Butch could react.

sworn enemies


stylin' in her Mrs. Claws outfit and boots ;)

Once again, it was a bittersweet night as this was the first Christmas without my Granny, but Aunt Gail made it extra special by having an extra gift under the tree for everyone from a "Secret Angel" with something of Granny's for us to help remember her. We ended the night by doing our traditional advent devotional and it was lovely!

aunt gail's tree

I guess that wraps up the holidays! We had a very low-key new year's eve, working on cleaning (me) and video projects (hubs) with short breaks for pizza and watching the ball drop. Today has been more of the same, exept with an injured bulldog! I don't know what happened to her, but she was running around one minute, and the next her back right leg was spasming and she has limped all day. :( thankfully we had some pain pills left from her last injury!

Well, 2009 was a wonderful year filled with some very special moments--and my instroduction to the blogging world! I'm so excited for a new year and new adventures!

Now I've got to clean up the holiday aftermath!

to all my foodie and frugal friends....

Here's a post i typed up last week but the internet (along w/everything else) was tired and broken:

No matter how crazy your kitchen is...



No matter how little counter space you have...


Do not.


I repeat, DO NOT....


...unload your baking chips out of the grocery bag and onto the top of your oven which will be on all evening baking cakes and pumpkin rolls.



Especially not the super cute mini Andes mints baking morsels.



All you will be left with is goo.


However...this is an easy way to melt chocolate!



I was going to swirl some white almond baking bark into this, but in the craziness of the kitchen I could not locate it...there may not be any in all honesty. I have enjoyed it as a nice minty chocolate treat though!

And here are some recent cakes:

for a very special 3 year old's ballet themed birthday party


and a balloon cake for a random new customer I met at the post office!

Both are white cakes w/vanilla buttercream icing