Golden Mashed Potatoes

So no baby yet.....sigh. He will be here Monday, at the latest, if he's ready or not! Cooper's birthday is tomorrow, so we predict it will either be tomorrow or he will just wait and be forced out on Monday! Ug....I am SO READY!

Now onto the food.....

Ok...so...these are awesome. I know I say that about alllll of my recipes, but I promise I only bring you the best of the best. ;)

Golden Mashed Potatoes

3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and diced

1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

4 ounces cream cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup shredded Cheddar

1/2 cup grated Parmesan 

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Salt and Pepper to taste

Pinch of Nutmeg

Boil potatoes until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and return to pan. Add cream cheese, sour cream, Cheddar, Parmesan, butter, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Mash until smooth.

Spread out in a 9x13 casserole dish and bake, uncovered, at 350 for 15 minutes until heated through. 

Dig in!!!

White Cheddar Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Fried Apples

WELL....due date is 2 days away...and no baby. Sigh. I have contractions on and off, nothing consistent. GET OUT BABY LUKE!!!

I got for my weekly check up on Tuesday, they are going to monitor me for 30 minutes to see how his heart rate is. After 40 weeks, they get a bit cramped and can start having irregular heart rates and lots of fun things like that...stress! So if he's ok, they will schedule me for an induction sometime next week, if his heart rate is off, they'll send me over right away. SO wish me luck...I keep hoping he'll just come on his own....but I don't hold my breath. Sigh. 

I am cloth diapering this time around, so it's been exciting getting all of those in the mail and getting those prepped. I also ordered a Boba wrap to use with the little guy, can't wait to try it out!!

Anyway..onto the food. In my need to eat carbs and comfort foods during pregnancy....I came across a Thanksgiving issue of Better Homes and Gardens that included a recipe for sweet potatoes. The original recipe called for about 10 other ingredients, but I left them out and they came out great! They called for fried sage leaves for one, I am not a fan of sage. Or cilantro. Or really too much ginger. Or cumin, sometimes.

Well...here they are in all of their glory, and they were glorious....

White Cheddar Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Fried Apples

2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup half and half

1/4 cup butter

3 ounces white cheddar, shredded

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 medium cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced

Cook potatoes in boiling salted water until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and return to pot. Mass with potato masher with butter and half and half until smooth. Stir in white cheddar salt and pepper. 

Meanwhile, melt butter in skillet and add apples, cook until tender, about 5 to 7 minutes. 

Transfer potatoes to serving dish and top with apples. 

Dig in!!

Creamy Onion Soup

Kevin and I had a 'hot date' date on Saturday for lunch...we went to Outback. I know, we are way too fancy.

I had the soup and salad....creamy onion soup was the soup of the day and WOW was it good. I didn't think to ask if it had chicken or beef broth in it, but later when I came home and did a copy cat recipe search, most of them called for beef bouillon. Whoops....

WELL...I combined and altered several recipes to come up with this combo below. It was DELICIOUS, like, no leftovers delicious....

Creamy Onion Soup

8 cups chicken broth (I used the vegetarian version)

3 medium white onions

Salt and Pepper to taste

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup heavy cream

1 1/4 cup shredded Mexican Fiesta style cheese (Or a blend of cheddar and Monterey Jack)

Bring broth in a large soup pot to a boil. Quarter and slice onions thinly. Add to the broth along with salt and pepper, return to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour. 

While stirring, sift flour over soup and stir while adding. Stir out any lumps and continue to simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Add cream and cheese, stir and simmer 10 more minutes to heat through. 

Serve it up hot and dig in!!

BBQ Lentils

It's strawberry season in Florida, you know what THAT means?? STRAWBERRY ONIONS ARE BACK!

I look forward to strawberry season because they grow these wonder, sweet onions around the perimeter of the strawberry fields for extra money. You can only find them at produce stands so they are a real treat! They cook up beautifully and don't burn your eyes like regular Vidalia onions. 

I used them in this yummy BBQ Lentil recipe.....

BBQ Lentils

1 cup dry lentils, green or brown

3 cups water

1 cup BBQ Sauce

1 tablespoon honey

Couple shakes of garlic salt

In a medium saucepan, bring lentils and 3 cups water to boil. Simmer until tender, around 20 minutes. Drain off excess water. Combine lentils with BBQ sauce, honey and garlic salt. Simmer 4 to 5 minutes to heat through.

Serve over rice or bread!

Dig in!

Buttery Double Corn-Cornbread Dressing

This was AMAZING...

It does take a bit more prep, you have to precook the cornbread, let it cool, cube it and toast it a bit more, but it's so worth it!

Buttery Double Corn-Cornbread Dressing

1 1/2 cups cornmeal
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk
3 eggs
1/3 cup butter, melted
3 cups frozen corn, thawed
1 large red onion, cut into wedges and sliced
1/2 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon red pepper
Salt and Pepper to taste
3 cups fresh spinach
 2 - 2 1/2 cups chicken broth (I used a vegetarian version)

Preheat oven to 400, Grease a 13x9 inch baking pan. In a large bowl, sift together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

In another mixing bowl, whisk together milk, eggs and 1/3 cup melted butter. Stir cornmeal mixture into milk mixture until just combined. Pour into baking pan and bake for 20 minutes until browned. Cool for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325. Cut cornbread into 1 inch cubes and dump onto large cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, flip cubes around and bake 10 more minutes.

In a large skillet, melt 1/2 cup butter over medium-high heat. Cook onion until just tender and add corn to brown slightly. Stir in red pepper, salt and pepper. In a very large mixing bowl, combine bread cubes, onion mixture and spinach. Pour over broth, a little at a time, stir and add more until just moistened, not sopping.

Transfer to a large 3 quart baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 325 for 40 minutes until browned on top and heated through.


Dig in!!

Cake Mix Hack:Fresh Lime Cheesecake

Still no baby.....

I wish these mild contractions would turn into the real thing....

But, to get us all by...a dessert!

Ah...another cake mix hack. Are you enjoying these as much as I am?

For the rest of my Cake Mix Hacks, visit my Recipe Archive Page.

Fresh Lime Cheesecake

1 box plain yellow cake mix

4 tablespoons butter, melted

4 large eggs

2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened

1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup fresh lime juice, about 4 fresh lime's worth

Preheat oven to 325 and place rack in middle of oven. Lightly grease a 13x9 inch baking pan. 

Measure out 1/2 cup of cake mix and set aside to place in filling.

Place remaining cake mix in mixing bowl along with melted butter and 1 egg. Mix with electric mixer until a soft dough ball forms. Press dough into bottom of baking pan. 

In the same mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and condensed milk. Mix in reserved cake mix, 3 eggs and lime juice until combined. Pour over crust. 

Bake cheesecake until it looks shiny and the center is set when you shake the pan. 45 ti 50 minutes. Let cool for 30 minutes before lightly covering and chilling for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator before serving, best if chilled overnight. 

Dig in!!!

Chopped Chef Style Salad with Special Sauce

This salad was soooo good. The dressing reminded me of McDonald's 'famous' Big Mac sauce...hence the name 'special sauce'.

I used a combo of 2 bagged lettuces I had on hand and just tore them into more 'chopped' pieces. You can use iceberg, Romaine or whatever tickles your fancy.

I also just purchased 4 slices of Swiss from the grocery deli and chopped those instead of buying a whole block.

We also ate ours on some toasted flat bread.

Chopped Chef Style Salad with Special Sauce

6 cups chopped lettuce of choice

1 cup cooked chickpeas

2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

4 ounces Swiss cheese, chopped

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup bread and butter relish

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Toss lettuce, chickpeas, eggs and Swiss. 

Combine mayo, ketchup, relish and vinegar in a bowl. 

Toss dressing in with salad. 

Serve immediately!

Dig in!!