Broccoli Cheese Soup

YUM ... YUM ... YUM ... YUM





1 med white onion, chopped

In soup pan over medium heat melt 1/2 stick butter.
Add chopped onion and saute until onion is transucent.
Now mix in 1/4 cup white flour and stir until all butter and onion is incorporated.

Add 3 cups whole milk
1 cup half/half
pinch nutmeg
salt & pepper to taste

Over medium heat stir until hot and beginning to thicken.

Rough chop 1 head of brocolli florets into bite size pieces and add to milk mixture.
Simmer until brocolli is tender but not mushy, about 20 minutes.
Add 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese and stir until melted.

Serve in bread bowls for a really cool rustic lunch ... but a regular bowl works just as well.

Easy Apple Dumplings

A great, easy and delicious little dessert.


1 can of 8 buttermilk biscuit - I fondly refer to this as a "whack a can" biscuits.
2 medium granny smith apples, peeled, cored and quartered. (soak in lemon water to keep from browning)

In small sauce pan combine 1 stick of butter, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 cup water 1 t. vanilla
Heat over medium heat until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved then turn off the heat.

Open each of the 8 biscuits about half way and tuck in an apple slice.  Seal the biscuits so that all the apple is covered and put into a 9x13 cake pan.

Once all biscuits have been "stuffed" with an apple slice pour the hot sugar mixture over the entire pan.

Mix up 1/4 cup sugar and as much cinnamon as you like (about 1T) and sprinkle over the top of the biscuits.

In a preheated 375 deg oven bake for 35 mintures or until golden brown.

Puffed up Pancake

Oh my . . . this is so delicious and so easy to make.   You can really impress company with this addition to Sunday brunch.  I used the berry topping but I think next time I will try the apple.

• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup milk, warmed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons shortening
• Confectioners' sugar
• Fruit topping (recipe at the end)
• 
  
• Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, salt, sugar, milk, vanilla, and butter. Whisk in the flour to make a smooth batter. Set aside.

Heat a well-seasoned 10-inch cast-iron skillet in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove and brush the inside with the shortening. Pour in the batter and bake for 15 minutes.

Lower the oven to 350 degrees F. and continue baking until puffed and golden brown, about 13 to 15 minutes more. Run a knife around the edge of the skillet. Sift the confectioners' sugar over the pancake. Serve immediately in the skillet with maple syrup, marinated berries, or glazed apples.

ANOTHER OPTION is to grease a large muffin tin and pour equal amounts of the batter into each of the muffin holes.   This way you can have individual pancake puffs and serve a variety of toppings.

FRUIT TOPPINGS:

BERRIES:

• Mix 2T sugar into 1/2 pint each of:  raspberries, blueberries, strawberries or blackberries.  Set aside to marinate until pancake is done.   
• 
  

APPLES:   peel, core, slice 3 small granny smith apples and put into a large sauce pan.   Add 1/4 cup butter & 1/4 cup sugar and saute until apples are tender.  Add cinnamon & brown sugare if you desire.

Smokey Cheesy Mashed Potatoes

How could I have forgotten the hit of the day?   Mashed potatoes with a twist I've never tried before.  They were fabulous.  In fact they were just as good as the sample I tried in my favorite HEB grocery store in Belton, TX.   I can never have regular mashed potatotes again!

Potatos ... how many you ask?   As many as you need to feed your family is my answer.  I probably peeled 8 med. to small size russets.  Don't think it really matters.  Just peel and plop in boiling heavily salted water until fork tender.

Remove from heat, drain and rinse.

Put your spuds into a mixing bowl or back into the pot you cooked them in.
Add 1 stick of butter (none of that fake stuff either).
1 heavy cream
1 cup shredded SMOKED cheese ...  I bought it in cubes and then ran it through the food chopper.
1T kosher or sea salt (now at HEB I bought sea salt with truffles in it  ... it cost $12.99 !!! YIKES)

Beat until it is as smooth or as lumpy as you like it adding milk to the desired consistancy.

This is so yummy that I will definately do this again.

Turkey Club Sandwich

OK so now what to do with that leftover turkey . . . Never a problem for me because I love me some turkey breast on buttered bread with a little salt and pepper.  Nothing better than that  ... until I discovered the Turkey Club.

Fry up some really good and thick smoked bacon.  Don't go for that cheap thin stuff .. get the good stuff for this sandwich.

Toast some whole wheat bread, add mayo, then iceberg lettuce and bacon to one slice of bread .. mayo, turkey breast and then a smear (or more) of that delicious chunky cranberry sauce.   Love, love, love ...

Chunky Cranberry Orange Sauce

I love this chunky stuff ..  another surprise since I grew up with the canned gelatinous cranberry sauce (which I still like) but somewhere along my journey of life I tasted and fell in love with this tart little side dish.  

In small sauce pan add 1/ 2 cups of water, one bag of fresh cranberries and the zest and juice of one orange.   Bring to a boil and once the cranberries start to burst reduce heat to low.  Add 1/2 cup sugar to the mixture and I added the juice of another orange and sliced the peel in very thin pieces and added to the simmering sauce.   Cook down until it reaches the consistancy you like.  Refrigerate (it will thicken) until ready to use.  

Cornbread Dressing

Cornbread dressing is my favorite part of Thanksgiving.  That in itself is surprising since I am a Yankee born and bred but I think I got some of my mother's southern genes because I just love the south and everything about it.  Love the people, the food, the slower pace and did I say the food?   I love the food .. not the grease so much but the food is so tasty.  So here goes with the dressing .. you can stuff your bird with it but most true southerners would rather die than shove all that goodness in the backside of a bird!

Turkey Day Eve ...

First I made a double batch of corn bread (not the sweetened stuff) and baked it in a jelly roll pan (or a large cookie sheet).  Once cooled I cut it into cubes, loosened it and set it out over night.

1 loaf of french bread cut into cubes and set out overnight on a cookie sheet.


Turkey Day ...

In a very large bowl put in all of your cubed bread.  Melt 1 stick of butter and pour that in as well.   Salt & pepper to taste.

In saute pan add 1/2 - 1 stalk of celery cut up (leaves and all) and 1 chopped onion.   Saute in olive oil until transparent but not browned.   Cool it down then dump in with your bread mixture.

Because I have it in my garden and because I have never used it before I chopped up some fresh sage into the mixture.  I have no idea how much I used but I would say a minimum of 1T then to that I added ground sage until it smelled right (again no idea how much but add as much or as little as you like).  Salt & pepper to taste and gently fold ingredients together (with your hands) so that all the spices are combined well.

To this mixture you will add 1 carton (more or less) of low sodium chicken broth.  You don't want your mixture to be real wet so add slowly.  You also don't want your bread to break down so be gentle with it.
Put mixture into a buttered 9x13 pan...Now to the tasty part ... remove the lid from your roaster pan and ladle out a couple ladles of turkey juice and pour over top of your dressing.   Using a spoon move the bread around until it absorbs the juice.   Add more juice until the dressing is moist but not saturated.   Cover with foil and bake in 350 oven for 30 minutes.  You can remove the foil the last 10 minutes if you want a crustier top.