Spicy Buffalo Cauliflower Bites

Ingredients:

1 cup water
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp garlic powder
22 oz (6 1/2 cups) cauliflower florets
3/4 cup Hot Wing Sauce
1 tbsp melted unsalted butter

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Lightly spray a large non-stick baking sheet with oil.

Combine the water, flour, and garlic powder in a bowl and stir until well combined.

Coat the cauliflower pieces with the flour mixture and place on the baking sheet; bake for 20 minutes.

While the cauliflower is baking, combine the hot sauce and butter in a small bowl.

Pour the hot sauce mixture over the baked cauliflower and continue baking for an additional 5 minutes.

Serve with ranch dressing if desired and celery sticks.

Mini Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients:

2 cans (14.5 oz each) green beans, drained
1 can (10 3/4 oz) cream of mushroom soup
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup French-fried onions

Directions:

1Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 4 (7- or 8-oz) individual baking dishes (ramekins) with cooking spray.2In large bowl, mix green beans, soup, garlic and pepper flakes. Divide mixture evenly among baking dishes. Top with onions.3Bake uncovered 20 minutes or until bubbly and onions are golden brown.

Simple Icing

Ingredients:

3 large egg whites
4 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Whisk the eggs while and slowly add in powdered sugar.

Once it reaches a creamy texture it is complete.

Pumpkin Roll

Ingredients (Roll):

3 eggs
2/3 cup pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup flour
1 cup chopped pecans

Ingredients (Filling):

1 (8oz) cream cheese
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Mix all roll ingredients together and spread onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. When done flip onto damp towel and roll up. Leave rolled up for 4 minutes. Unroll and spread filling over it and roll up again. Wrap in plastic or foil and freeze (helps it stay together easier). Lay out a few hours before wanting to eat.

Goulash (Paula Deen)

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon Paula Deen’s House Seasoning
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 bay leaves 
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning 
2   (15-ounce) cans diced tomatoes 
2   (15-ounce) cans tomato sauce 
3 cup water 
3 cloves garlic, chopped 
2 large onion, chopped
2 lbs lean ground beef 
1 tablespoon Paula Deen Seasoned Salt
2 cups elbow macaroni, uncooked

Directions:

In a Dutch oven, saute the ground beef over medium-high heat until no pink remains. Break up the meat while sauteing. Spoon off any grease. Add the onions and garlic to the pot and saute until they are tender, about 5 minutes. Add 3 cups water, along with the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning, bay leaves, soy sauce, House Seasoning, and seasoned salt. Stir well. Place a lid on the pot and allow this to cook for 15 to 20 minutes. Add the elbow macaroni, stir well, return the lid to the pot, and simmer for about 30 minutes. Turn off the heat, remove the bay leaves, and allow the mixture to sit about 30 minutes more before serving. Serve with garlic bread and a salad.

Salt Dough

Ingredients:

2 Cups of Flour
1 Cups of Salt
1 Cup water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 200.

In a large bowl mix salt and flour.

Gradually stir in water. Mix well until it forms a doughy consistency.
Form a ball with the dough and kneed it for at least 5 minutes. The longer you kneed the dough the smoother it gets!
Roll out the dough with a rolling pin, or use it like you would clay and form ornaments (like snowmen etc, but remember the dough will take longer to dry in 3d ornaments!)

Place the ornaments on a cookie sheet and poke a hole in the top with a toothpick, so you can thread ribbon for hanging. If you make 3d ornaments, then you may want to invest in tiny cup-hooks to screw into the top before baking. Let them air dry or bake them at 200F until dry (you can up the temp to 350 but they may turn brown a bit. Not a big deal if you paint them anyway, and if not it might look rather nice. They tend to look like cookies, or bread when they turn brown a bit).

Bake the ornaments at 200 F until they are dry. The amount of time needed to bake depends on size and thickness; thin flat ornaments may only take 45-60 minutes, thicker ones can take 2-3 hours or more. Increasing the temperature to 350F will dry the ornaments faster, but may make them brown. If you paint them, this will not matter, since the paint will cover the brown. On the other hand they may look very nice and rustic, like cookies or bread if they are kept the natural colour and just lacquered.

These make great “Baby’s first Christmas” presents as well and look cute tied to a gift! You can personalise them by painting the name of the recipient on them!

Have fun making your very own ornaments for your tree!

Happy Holidays!

One Pan Cheesy Smoked Sausage & Pasta Skillet

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb Hillshire Farm Smoked Turkey Sausage, sliced
1 cup diced onion
1 Tbsp minced garlic (about two fresh cloves)
2 cups Chicken Broth
1 (10 oz) can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup milk or heavy cream
8 oz dry pasta (any small pasta will do)
1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper, each
1 cup shredded Cheddar-Jack cheese
1/3 cup chopped scallions, for garnish

Instructions:

Add olive oil to a 4-5 quart saute pan over medium high heat. Add onions and sausage and cook until lightly browned. Add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds.

Add chicken broth, tomatoes, milk, pasta, and seasonings. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for about 15 minutes, or until pasta is tender.

Turn off the heat and stir in 1/2 cup of cheese. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and cover for about five minutes to allow cheese to melt. Top with sliced scallions and serve.

Makes about 4 servings.

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1 cup butter, softened
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Sugar or desert sprinkles

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine sugar, butter, milk, vanilla, and egg; blend well. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. Add flour, baking powder and salt; mix well. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate 1 hour for easier handling.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. On lightly floured surface, roll out 1/3 of the dough to 1/8 inch thick. Keep remaining dough refrigerated. Cut with floured 2 inch cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. If desired, sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees for 5-9 minutes or until edges are lightly golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Decorate if desired.

Makes 6 dozen cookies.

Hasselback Potatoes

Ingredients:

6 Medium Size Potatoes
2 - 3 Cloves Garlic, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
Butter
Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 220˚C (425˚F). Put the potato on a chopping board, flat side down. Start from one end of the potato, cut almost all the way through, at about 3 to 4 mm intervals.

Arrange the potatoes in a baking tray and insert the garlic in between the slits. Scatter some butter on top of each potato. Then drizzle the olive oil and sprinkle some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Bake the potatoes for about 40 minutes or until the potatoes turn crispy and the flesh is soft.

Peppermint Balls

Ingredients (peppermint centers):

2 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 1/2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
1 tablespoon crisco
Pinch of salt

Ingredients (coating):

1 bag Hershey Special Dark Chocolate Chips
1-2 tablespoons crisco

Directions:

Blend powdered sugar, corn syrup, water, peppermint extract, crisco, and a pinch of salt together.

Roll into balls as big or little as you like. Lay out on parchment/wax paper and stick in freezer. You can freeze for as little as 15 minutes or overnight.

When done freezing pull off wax paper so you can use it for the chocolate dipped ones.

Melt 1 bag Hershey's chocolate and crisco (makes it thinner for dipping) in a bowl of a pot of boiling water (double boiler).

Toss 1 ball at a time in the chocolate making sure to coat really good, fish out with a fork and set on wax paper covered cookie sheet. Freeze for 30 minutes.

These are good kept in the fridge.

Peanut Brittle

Ingredients:

2 cups granulated white sugar
1 cup water
1 cup light corn syrup
2 cups raw or roasted & salted peanuts
1/4 teaspoon salt (if you used raw peanuts)
1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:

1. Spray a rimmed cookie sheet with nonstick spray.

2. Combine sugar, water and syrup in a medium-large saucepan. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil and cook at medium heat slowly to the soft ball stage (245 degrees F. on a candy thermometer), stirring gently every so often. Add 2 cups of peanuts and salt (if using). Continue to cook until the thermometer registers 300 degrees F. Add baking soda. Stir to blend and continue to cook until golden brown (just a minute or so more). Remove from heat and stir to combine.

3. Pour the hot mixture onto the prepared pan and spread it out as much as you can with a wooden spoon. Cool completely, and then break into pieces.

Tips:

*Keep your peanut brittle in a tightly covered container until you are ready to serve/eat it. The texture of candy can be greatly affected by the humidity in the air.

*If you are using a candy thermometer that clips to the side, just make sure that the bottom of the thermometer is resting inside the liquid and not pushed all the way to the bottom of the pan (you'll get a false reading if it's touching the bottom of the pan where the heat source is strongest).

Fresh Cooked Green Beans

Ingredients:

1 lb green beans
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
2 tablespoons bacon grease (can substitute 1 T butter and 1 T olive oil)
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 to 1 teaspoon kosher salt (can substitute regular table salt; use 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon)
Ground black pepper

Directions:

Snap the stem ends of green beans, or cut them off in a big bunch with a knife if you’d like. Just don’t tell Granny. Melt bacon grease in a skillet over medium low heat. Add garlic and onions and cook for a minute. Then add green beans and cook for a minute until beans turn bright green. Add the chicken broth, chopped red pepper, salt, and black pepper. Turn heat to low and cover with a lid, leaving lid cracked to allow steam to escape. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes or until liquid evaporates and beans are fairly soft, yet still a bit crisp. You can add more chicken broth during the cooking process, but don’t be afraid to let it all cook away so the onions and peppers can caramelize.

Edible Glitter

Ingredients:

1/4 cup sugar/salt
2-10 drops food coloring

Directions:

Put sugar in a jar that has a lid. Drop 2-10 drops food coloring onto sugar, close lid, and shake. Add more food coloring to get desired color. Place foil on baking sheet and spinkle colored sugar onto it. Bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes. Store in air tight container.

You can do this with salt to add to the rim of a glass also.

Chili Cheese Corn

Ingredients:

1 8oz. package cream cheese
2 Tbsp. butter
4 cups fresh or thawed frozen corn.
1 4oz. can chopped green chilis
1/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional, I didn't have any so I made it without)

Directions:

In a large saucepan, combine the cream cheese and butter.  Cook and stir over medium heat for 4-5 minutes or until smooth.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Cook for 5 minutes or heated through.
This makes 6 servings

Whiskey Meatballs

Ingredients:

1 Trusty Crockpot
1 bag (1 lb.) frozen meatballs
1/2 heaping c. Ketchup
1/2 c. Packed Brown Sugar
1/4 c. Whiskey
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

Directions:

 In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients except your meatballs. Mix up really well.

Place your frozen meatballs into your crock pot, and pour the whiskey sauce in on top. Mix it up all around so each meatball is coated with the whiskey sauce.

Now turn up the heat to high. Leave it on high for about an hour, stirring a couple times.

Once it appears that the meatballs have somewhat thawed, go ahead and turn your crockpot down to low and cooked until done.