A trip to the river on Thanksgiving Day.
Every year we spend Thanksgiving lunch with my husband's family at the place we affectionately call the Pond. The kids love riding the golf cart, zipline and going for a hayride to the river. Some might even perform the newest dance routine or sing a little karoke. My mother-in-law believes in have a stress free holiday and has a caterer prepare the turkey and dressing. We all contribute the sides. Since I had some great recipes for appetizers I recycled the recipes from the oyster roast. I also prepared my children's favorite veggie- green beans. Canned green beans seem to be a staple in my pantry, but I always add a little something to enhance the flavor.
Fancy Green Beans
2 cans green beans
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 lb. bacon fried, save some drippings
1/2 onion chopped, finely
Drain the green beans and set aside. Combine the vinegar and sugar in a saucepan. Cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Fry bacon in a skillet. Near the end of frying add the onion and cook until tender. Drain the bacon and onions on paper towels. Combine the green beans, white vinegar/sugar mixture, onions and two tablespoons of bacon drippings. Crumble the bacon and save. Allow bean mixture to marinate for an hour. Cook at medium heat in a saucepan. Serve with crumbled bacon on top.
Hope your holiday was as delightful as the one I experienced. I have enjoyed cooking so much and I just hate for all of the fun to end when I return to work tomorrow. We visited with family and friends for several days while enjoying lots of good food. Some great friends host an annual oyster roast on Thanksgiving Eve. We love steamed oysters, but nobody loves them more than my eleven year old son. Each year we anticipate a really bad night after he eats his weight in oysters. Our host and hostess always ask everyone to contribute an appetizer. Each year I have fun trying something new just for the occasion. This year I tried- Hot Bleu Cheese Dip with Granny Smith apples (we are still eating the apples from the Rotary Club fundraiser) and Citrus Marinated Feta and Olives (the current issue of Southern Living- page 183). The dip had an awesome flavor that can be attributed to the mixture of bacon and bleu cheese. Meanwhile the marinated feta and olives had a zingy flavor that was just delightful on fresh french bread. Feel free to look up the Southern Living recipe for the marinated olives and feta. I will share the dip recipe. This week I will continue to share more about our celebrations as well as recipes.
Hot Bleu Cheese Dip
1 (8oz) cream cheese, softened
5 oz blue cheese crumbles
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp minced garlic
7 slices of backon, fried and crumbled
Granny Smith apple slices (Cut up ahead and soak in orange or pineapple juice to keep from browning. Place in a colander to drain before serving.)
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients except apple slices. Spoon into a greased 1-quart baking dish. Bake 30 minutes. Serve with the chilled apple slices.
In case you didn't know red boots go with everything or at least my daughter thinks so. Somehow she convinced her daddy she needed a pair of cheap, red suede like boots. So cheap they most likely landed on our shores on a large barge with about one million pairs in a variety of colors. She got them in early October and wants to wear them with EVERYTHING. The outfit of the day- a purple "I Love To Dance" tee with her red boots and topped off with a bubble gum pink hairbow. Yes, she looks just like a red hat lady!
I've just given up on even trying to convince her red boots don't go with every outfit. As long as she keeps the bow in the hair, I will let her wear most anything on the feet.
One day my little sweetie will look back and wonder what possessed her to think red boots go with everything. My must have fashion fad as a child was a pair of lavendar parachute pants- have mercy- what was I thinking!
Next time you are pondering what to wear just consider that pair of red boots in the back of the closet.
Who else loves Pinterest? I love pinning all of my favorite things and recently I've found lots of great recipes. My hubby has gotten in the habit of looking over my shoulder and eyeing the pics as I pin away. Today, due to a case of pink eye I had lots of time to pin great ideas and recipes. The Philly Cheese Sloppy Joes made my mouth water. Hubby and the kiddos loved them and put them on the repeat list. This recipe made enough for two nights for a family of four.
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound ground beef
1 softball-sized onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons steak sauce (I used A-1)
1 cup beef stock (I used canned beef broth)
Salt and ground black pepper
4 dinner rolls
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup provolone, shredded
In large skillet over medium-high heat add the oil and then brown the ground beef, about 5-6 minutes. Add the onion and green pepper and cook another 3-4 minutes, until the vegetables start to get tender. Stir in the steak sauce and beef stock, season with salt and pepper, bring up to a bubble and cook about 2 minutes. Serve on buns and top with grated provolone.
My hubby and children have claimed these muffins are "the Best". I looked at several recipes before I decided to try this one. The topping makes it. Sorry, I forgot to take a photo.
Pumkin Cheesecake Muffins
This recipe claimed to make 2 dozen muffins, but I got about 18 muffins from these ingredients.
Filling:
1 (8 ounce) cream cheese, room temperature
1 egg
3 tbsps sugar
Topping:
5 tbsps sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup roughly chopped pecans
3 tbsps butter, melted
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Muffins:
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsps cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup pumpkin
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
Heat oven to 375º. Spray muffin pans with Pam. You might also use paper liners, but spray the liners.
In a bowl, mix the filling ingredients together and set aside.
In another bowl, mix the topping ingredients together and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together the sugar, flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.
In another bowl, mix the eggs, pumpkin, oil, and vanilla together.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the pumpkin mixture in. Mix with a fork until well moistened. Do not use an electric mixer because the muffins will get over mixed.
Evenly divide half the batter between the 24 muffin cups. Place 2 teaspoonfuls of the cream cheese mixture on top and then divide the rest of the batter between the cups covering the cream cheese as best you can.
Sprinkle some of the pecan mixture over the top of each muffin.
Bake until golden ~ about 20 to 25 minutes. Insert a toothpick in center to check for doneness.
No long story about why I haven't blogged in FOREVER-My dear daughter is preparing for the Nutcracker and we have been traveling an hour to practice almost every weekend.
I have tried some great recipes lately. If all works with my computer today, I will share some great fall recipes.
My husband is in the Rotary Club. Each year the club in our community sells apples as a fundraiser for community projects. Everyone in our community looks forward to the apples arriving. We start looking for great recipes as soon as we order our bushel.
Apple Cake Recipe
3 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups raw apples, peeled and chopped fine
Sauce:
1 cup packed brown sugar (for sauce)
1/4 cup milk (for sauce)
3/4 cup margarine(1 -1/2 sticks) (for sauce)
Mix oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Sift together flour, salt, soda. Add to first mixture. Fold in pecans and apples. Bake in tube pan at 350 for 1 hour.
For the sauce, mix and cook ingredients 3 minutes after it begins to gently boil, stirring constantly. Pour over hot cake while cake is still in pan. Let cake cool completely before removing.
This is a picture of the cake after I poured the caramel sauce over it. Once the carmel sauce soaks in and the cake cools you may remove it from the bundt pan. Moist and delicious!
More recipes will be posted this week. Enjoy!
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