Come, join us for dinner.
Squash casserole is one of my favorite comfort food dishes.
When I was a teenager, my Mother and I would go to a restaurant called “The Black-eyed Pea” and order veggie plates. Plates full of broccoli rice casserole, fried okra, cheese-y broccoli soup and the most amazing squash casserole.
It was one of our favorite dinner spots, and one of my favorite teenaged memory clusters.
Once I was all-growed up (yes, I said growed up) I began trying to replicate the squash casserole.
Years and years ago I found a copy-kat recipe that I have altered until I was happy with it.
Baked Squash Casserole
- 5 -6 medium size Yellow Squash
- 1 cup Bread Crumbs plus additional 1-2 tablespoons for topping
- 1 stick Butter or margarine (melted) *I use light butter, and I usually use less than a whole stick*
- 1/4 cup of Brown Sugar
- 1/4 cup of Onion (chopped)
- 2 eggs (beaten)
- 1 teaspoon of Black Pepper
- 1 teaspoon of Salt
- 1 teaspoon of tarragon
Cut the ends off squash and cut each squash into 4 or more pieces.
Place the squash into a pot of boiling water, use enough water to cover the squash. Reduce heat and cook until tender. I cooked my squash fir about 12 minutes. Drain and mash.
While the squash is cooking, mix the beaten eggs, 1-cup breadcrumbs, melted butter, sugar, salt, onion, tarragon and pepper together in a bowl.
Combine the mashed squash with the crumb mixture.
Place the mixture into a casserole dish that has been lightly sprayed with a non-stick baking spray.
Sprinkle the top with the 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned.
I used the broiler at 500 deg. For the last 5 minutes to give the top a nice crust.
I have Phun with iPhone Photos!
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Take one semi-lazy baker.
One text conversation about desserts.
And 1 hour.
What do you get?
Mixed Fruit Pie.
This recipe will make 2 pies.
- 5 cups of random frozen fruit from said baker’s freezer
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (or preferred flour)
- 1-1/2 to 2 cups sugar (depending on how sweet you like your pie)
- 3 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 tablespoon butter or margarine or cooking oil
Mix all of the above together in a bowl. Make sure to mix it well.
2 pre-made pie crusts or homemade crust (see links below)
Vegan Pie Crust
Pie Crust
Gluten Free, Soy Free, Dairy Free Pie Crust *the recipe is half way down the post…scroll down*
1 crumble topping
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup oats
- 1/2 cup butter, margarine or cooking oil , melted
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Pour the filling into the pie crusts.
Sprinkle any left over flour-sugar-spice mixture over the frozen fruit. Place the crumble topping over the fruit.
Pat down gently to make a nice crust.
Bake for about 45 minutes or until done. Once a knife can be inserted into the center of the pie with little to no resistance your pie is done.
Allow pie to fully cool before cutting for best results.
Enjoy.
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Taco Salad, remade.
When I was young, my mother made taco salad all the time. Ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, pinto beans, Catalina dressing and Doritos. We had this version of taco salad almost weekly.
When I married and became the “cook” I began making the salad too.
It’s very kid friendly, it’s easy to assemble and made with ground chicken it’s healthier.
This salad is also yummy, meat free.
Very simply….
- 1 pound of ground chicken, browned
- 1 head of lettuce or one bag of salad mix
- 1 tomato diced
- 1 cup of shredded cheese (more or less at your preference)
- 1 can of pinto beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 1/2 – 2 cups of Doritos, (placed in a bag and broken up into small pieces *but not crushed*)
- 1/3 cup + of Catalina dressing, I make my own. Recipe follows..
To make the salad, add all the ingredients (except the dressing) into a bowl. Mix well, slowly add dressing until the salad is covered, but not drowning.
Catalina Dressing
Makes about 2 cups of dressing.
- 1/3 cup ketchup, any brand
- 1/3 cup of white sugar or 1/4 cup of honey
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/3 cup onion , grated
- 2/3 teaspoon paprika
- 1/3 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2/3 cup olive oil
- 2/3 teaspoon (to taste) salt and pepper
Place all the ingredients except the olive oil into a blender or food processor, pulse or blend until smooth.
Slowly add the oil, while continuing to blend. Place into a mason jar or other container. Store left over dressing in the fridge. Shake before using.
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Care for a slice?
This French toast like breakfast casserole is a favorite in my home. I make a large batch so it can be munched on for a few days.
I used whole wheat bread, but you could use French bread or any other type of bread.
- 9 pieces of whole wheat bread
- 1/2 cup of brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
- 1 cup of dried cranberries (or other dried berry of your choice)
- 8 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 & 1/2 cups of milk
- 1 tablespoon of vanilla
- Spray a baking dish with non-stick spray. Arrange the bread in layers, sprinkle cranberries over each layer.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon
- Pour the liquid mixture over the bread. Make sure that all the bread is covered in the egg mixture. *I use my hands to mash the bread slices up.*
It looks like this....pre baking
4. Cover the baking dish with foil and refrigerate overnight.
5. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Bake covered for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 5-10 minutes more.
6. Let the casserole stand for 5 minutes before serving.
ready to serve
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Apple-Pear Butter
Slow Cookers are wonders when it comes to cooking beans, chili, roasts, soups and stews.
Slow Cookers are also wonderful for making apple sauces, cranberry sauce and apple-pear butter.
I hope you’ll join Allie and me for this week’s slow cooker link-up.
apples and pears are really great friends
Apple-Pear Butter, slightly adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe
- Wash, seed and slice 4-5 organic apples and 4-5 organic pears *I prefer to leave the skins on*
- place them in the slow cooker
- add 1 cup of brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons of cinnamon or a cinnamon stick or mulling spices tied up in a little bag
- 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
Cook on High for 4 hours.
- Mash the fruit with a potato masher
Cook for about 3 more hours on High. Until the mixture has a golden color and thick.
Process in the food processor in batches. I prefer to leave the skins on the fruit, Martha says in her recipe to skin them.
Consider this information from LiveStrong.com
“Fiber and Nutrients
A medium apple without the skin has 2.1 g of fiber, while the same apple with the skin has more than double that amount of fiber, or 4.4 g. Eating a medium pear with the skin will give you 5.5 g of fiber, while removing the skin will cut your fiber by more than half. In addition to containing a large portion of the fiber found in apples and pears, the skin of these fruits also contain most of the nutrients and antioxidants that are important for your health. Not eating the skin could prevent you from getting the full benefits of these healthy fruits”
So, that is why I leave the skins on my organic fruit.
Transfer into jars or containers
2 pint-sized jars, for my family
- Can be stored in the fridge for 3 weeks or frozen for up to 3 months
Toast rounds, they're like toast only smaller and more...well..round
- Dear Slow Cooker (theflowerroom.wordpress.com)
- Bring out that Slow Cooker – and Save Energy (thegreenlifeonline.wordpress.com)
- Pear Sauce and Pear Butter in a Slow Cooker (katydidcountry.wordpress.com)
- Slow Cooker Apricot-Currant Oatmeal (dishesanddishes.wordpress.com)
- Homemade Pear butter (gicrockpot.wordpress.com)
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Cra-mazing: (adj.) something both crazy and amazing.
also known as Freak-tacular
I bought these super duper long pretzels. As soon as I saw them, I knew that I
- had to buy them
- intended to dip them in melting chocolate
A few days later, while picking up some yarn from Michael’s, I found candy cane flavored melting chocolates.
Score.
I warmed the chocolate. I dipped the pretzels in dark chocolate. Allowed them to dry.
Then I drizzled them with the candy cane chocolate. And then a few of them, I just dipped into the candy cane chocolate.
Hello lovely.
Salty, buttery, sweet and chocolate-y. What else would you call it but cra-mazing?
What cra-mazing things have you come across lately?
No peanut brittle recipe today, I’m short one ingredient. Raw peanuts.
Maybe Monday!
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Fancy a cup?
I love spiced tea. It’s one of my favorite holiday drinks. It is warming and spicy goodness in a happy little cup.
Making spiced tea is fairly easy.
It
Here’s what you need to make your very own spiced tea.
This recipe will fill about 2 pint-sized canning jars, with a bit left over…you know, for taste testing.
How to make it.
- 1 cup of (unsweetened) instant tea *regular or decaf* <~~~ Bahahaha! I said decaf….
- 2 cups of Tang or powdered orange flavored drink mix *not a sports drink*
- 2 cups of sugar, or 1 1/2 cups if you like your tea less sweet
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon of cloves
- 1 teaspoon of dried orange peel
- 1 teaspoon of dried lemon peel
- 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon of ginger
Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Place into a gift-able glass jar.
Directions for use:
Stir in 2 TBSP (or less to taste) of mix per cup of boiling water. Stir. Sip. Enjoy!
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Is there anything more comforting on a cold winter day than Hot Chocolate?
I’m going to go ahead and say NO.
Gifting a lovely jar of homemade cocoa mix is always usually a hit.
The snowman watches over the cocoa...it's his job.
Who loves it?
- Kids, especially with whipped cream on it
- Teens, gah…they just like it…’kay
- Adults, because you can add liquor to it
- Teetotalers, even those who don’t like the boozie cocoa, love a good chocolaty drink
- Dogs, but don’t give it to them…please
Who does not love it?
- Zombies, because of the shocking lack of brains
- Scrooge, anything fun is a No-No to a Scrooge
- Cats, because they are persnickety…plus they like stinky food
care for a cup?
How to create a jar full of chocolate bliss….. adapted from a recipe on myrecipes.com
You will need a 1 quart canning jar or other 1 quart cute-sey container
- add 1 cup of sugar to the jar
- add 1 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder to the jar
- add 1 cup of powdered milk to the jar
- add 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the jar
- add 1/2 cup of chocolate chips *or minty chocolate chips*…to the jar
- add 1/2 cup of mini marshmallows to the jar
Now, I must ban the word jar for the rest of the post…due to over use.
It will be a tight fit, but if you tap the container a bit to compact the ingredients the marshmallows WILL fit.
Directions for use of the cocoa mix.
1 container = 12 (1 cup) servings of cocoa.
- mix the cocoa ingredients in a bowl
- 1/3 cup of the cocoa mix added to 1 cup of boiling water per serving
Or…
- add 12 cups of water to a pot (or your slow cooker)
- mix the
jar of container of cocoa mix with the water
- warm until boiling *on the stove* or heat on high in your slow cooker for about 30-45 min, then change the setting to warm and it will stay at serving temperature for hours.
How do you drink your cocoa?
Since I love linking up, and my iPhone, I’m linking up with All photos in this post were taken with my iPhone.
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The idea & post for cake in a jar is courtesy of a question on my Facebook page.
Making teacher or co-worker gifts that will impress (not to mention survive the trip to school/work) isn’t always easy.
Cake~ baked in a canning jar fits the bill perfectly.
Here’s what to do…..
- Cake mix…make your own or use a boxed mix.
- canning jars, half-pint or pint-sized
- Set your oven to the correct temp for your recipe.
- grease the canning jars
This is very important…..
- fill the jars ONLY half way full *if you fill them past the half way point, you’ll have a cake-eruption.*
- place the jars on a cookie sheet
- bake for about 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean
- remove the jars from the oven.
I recommend that you….
- place the lids on.
- allow the cakes to cool.
- Store them in the fridge until you are ready to send them off to school or take them to work
- re-ice the cakes before you send them off, the first icing will melt into the cake a bit.
- The jars should be stored in the refrigerator and eaten within 2 weeks.
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Some gifts are about food. About filling a tummy with gooey goodness.
Other gifts are about pampering someone you care about in a non-foodie way.
Lemon Sugar Hand Scrub is one a great way to pamper the crafter, gardener, baker, person who likes pampering in your life.
Making your own sugar scrub is so easy.
Seriously, you’ll smack yourself for ever buying it once you know how simple it is to make.
- 2 1/2 cups of sugar
- 1 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 4 TBSP of Lemon Juice (fresh or from concentrate)
- 2 TBSP of Lemon Peel (fresh grated or granulated)
-
It's edible, but it's for your hands.
- Mix it together until smooth
- Jar it up in lovely canning jars
- Gift it to the people you love
Three ready made gifts.
Happy hands, in a jar.
Wet hands.
Scrub with sugar scrub.
Rinse hands.
Wash hands with gentle soap.
Pat dry.
Enjoy soft hands.
I’m linking up with
And you should too!
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