Sweet Potato Cobbler

I made Jory Sweet Potato Cobbler last weekend. It is his favorite food in the world. That is not a lie. You should have seen the look on his face when I told him I was going to make it!


Sweet Potato Cobbler
Category: Desserts
Sub Category:
Source: GSTSPQ

2 c boiled, peeled sweet potatoes, cut into chunks
1 stick butter
2 c water
2 c sugar
1 ½ c self-rising flour
½ c shortening
1/3 c milk
1 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg

1. Melt butter in 13x9 pan.

2. Heat water and sugar until sugar melts.

3. Make dough with next three ingredients. Roll into a ¼ in thick rectangle. Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg.

4. Put sweet potatoes on dough, roll it up and pinch ends to seal. Slice roll into 15-20 pieces and put them in pan of butter.

5. Pour sugar syrup over pieces and bake 45 minutes at 350.


Notes: 1. This generally takes one very large sweet potato. I boil it for 5-10 minutes to make the skin easy to peel off and it a little easier to cut. Then I peel it, dice it and boil the chunck a little longer until they are tender.

2. The crust is a little hard to work with. I put about half of it in the pan, top it with the potatoes and then with the other half of the dough. Then I just mash it down real good. It bakes up fine.

The Recipe Project has begun

This is Chicken Breast Supreme. It is the first dish I tried as I am making my way through the hundreds of main dishes posted on Kelly's blog. This dish is from Kelly. The first four I am trying are her recipes then I will proceed through the posted contributions. This is chicken breasts wrapped in bacon and baked in a sour cream and mushroom sauce. I had actually decided before I even made it that it was not going to be a keeper. That was partially because it is really high in fat, but mostly because it required me to buy meat in a jar. I didn't even know you could buy such a thing and Kelly's helpful hint that it is found near the Spam did not give me a warm fuzzy feeling. But as it was baking it smelled SO good. I thought I would reconsider.

Kelly suggested serving it over rice and I really liked the sauce in the rice. But when it came to the chicken I picked off the bacon and dried beef which took most of the sauce and I was just eating a chicken breast. Also, when we got done with the chicken there was SO much sauce left. And we didn't get that many meals out of the chicken.

VERDICT...I won't make this again, but I am going to try to make a slightly healthier version of the sauce and pour it over shredded chicken and rice and make a casserole out of it. Stay tuned for that. If you want the original recipe for Chicken Breast Supreme it is here.

King Ranch Chicken
I didn't take a picture of this one, but I should have because it looked really nice. I have been wanting a good King Ranch recipe. This one was different than what I'm used to because it had a soup base versus a sour cream base. Aaron loved it which was bonus, but it was a little bland for me.

VERDICT...This was fine...nothing wrong with it at all, but it didn't win me over and I'm still looking for a King Ranch Chicken recipe. If you want this one, it is here.

Poppyseed Chicken
This is another recipe I have been wanting a good version of. Kelly didn't say where this originated, but based on the two cups of sour cream and the stick of butter I am guessing Paula Deen! This was good, but it was a little runny to me and I wish it was a little more calorie conscious.

VERDICT...This was good, but I think I'm still in search of a Poppyseed Chicken recipe. If you want this one, it is here.

I will say that one of my favorite recipes came from Kelly's blog. It is Swiss Stuffing Chicken and I have blogged about it before. I think it actually did come for Paula Deen and it is good!

Chocolate Cobbler

I don't think the picture is all that enticing, but this is a yummy dessert. And it is SO bad for you. When I make it for people I hold my breath hoping they won't ask for the recipe. I'm afraid once I give it to them the response will be You made this for us? Are you trying to kill us? I thought we were friends!. But this is quite a gooey fun concoction. I got the recipe from the Tyler newspaper a few years ago. I was intrigued by the idea of a chocolate cobbler.

Chocolate Cobbler
Category: Desserts
Sub Category:
Source:

2 sticks butter
1 ½ c sugar
1 ½ c self rising flour
1 t vanilla
¾ c milk
1 c sugar
5-6 T cocoa

1. Melt butter in 9x13 glass baking dish

2. Mix next four ingredients in bowl

3. Pour batter over melted butter

4. Mix 1 cup sugar and cocoa together and sprinkle on top of batter

5. Pour 2 c boiling water over everything

6. Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes

Note: The original recipe states in no uncertain terms that you should not stir when you pour the batter over the butter and you should not stir when you sprinkle the sugar/cocoa over the batter. This is printed in bold, capitalized letters and repeated. Can I tell you how much that makes me want to stir? Every time I make this I have to fight the urge to stir and cause the ultimate recipe calamity. But I do spread and that kind of stirs things up a bit. It makes me feel better anyway.

Enchilada Casserole

I got this recipe from an advertisement for Carnation Evaporated Milk, believe it or not. The recipe was actually cleverly named Enchilada-Zagna, but that's just a little too catchy for me. Besides, it is not even lasagna-like because you don't cut the tortillas into strips. I was confused on how to layer the round tortillas in the rectangular pan - will it be too hard to cut where the tortillas overlap, will there be places with no tortillas that will just fall apart? But it all baked up fine. This was a really good recipe and very easy.

Enchilada Casserole
Category: Main Dishes
Sub Category:
Source:

3 c cooked, chopped chicken breasts
28 oz mild red enchilada sauce
8 oz sour cream
12 oz evaporated milk
2 c shredded cheddar cheese
4 oz can chopped green chiles
12 (7 in) corn tortillas

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 13x9 in baking dish

2. Combine enchilada sauce and sour cream in med bowl.

3. Combine evaporated milk, cheese and chiles in med saucepan. Cook over med heat, stirring, until cheese is melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat.

4. Spread 1 c enchilada sauce mixture on bottom of baking dish. Layer with 4 tortillas, 1 c enchilada sauce mixture, 1 ½ c chicken and 1 c cheese sauce. Repeat layer starting with tortillas. Top w/remaining tortillas, sauce mixture and cheese sauce. Cover with foil.

5. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Uncover. Cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

Notes: 1. I used two large cans of chicken instead of cooking and chopping chicken breasts. It worked great.

2. I used Light Sour Cream and, again, it worked well.

Recipe Project

I feel like I've been in a recipe rut lately. For the past month we ate meals that I had made and frozen while I was pregnant. They were good, but they were old standbys and nothing exciting. When the frozen food ran out I went back to trying new recipes - I had collected lots over the past two months. And I was so disappointed. I probably had my worst recipe-trying week ever last week. So I was super excited when Kelly did a post today letting people share their favorite recipes. There are already hundreds posted! I decided that I will start working my way through those recipes. That should keep me busy for a while and I'll be trying the tried and true favorites of others. I am optimistic.

Up first are the five recipes that Kelly posted herself. Of those, I've already made one (and posted it on this blog). It is her Swiss Stuffing Chicken. She got the recipe when she was pregnant with Harper and made it and froze it. When she had it after Harper was born she posted the recipe. I am always looking for recipes that freeze well so I tried it and it has definitely become a stand by.

Here is where I blogged about this recipe. Next I am anxious to try her Poppyseed Chicken and King Ranch Chicken. Both of those are dishes I love but do not have good recipes for. Look for my results in the next week or so.

A fabulous egg casserole

I made a wonderful egg casserole this weekend. The recipe was in an ad for Hilshire Farms smoked sausage. Since there was also a coupon for the sausage I thought I'd try it. We were so impressed. What made it great is how fluffy the eggs are. The casserole itself was light and probably my favorite egg casserole. It would have been just fine without the sausage. So if you don't eat sausage I think you could substitute any other meat or vegetable or just do eggs and cheese. I plan to try several variations.

Crustless Quiche
Category: Eggs and Cheese
Sub Category:
Source:

1 package smoked sausage
8 eggs, lightly beaten
1 ½ c heavy whipping cream
1 ½ t dry mustard
¼ t salt
1/8 t pepper
1 ½ c shredded cheddar, divided
½ c chopped green bell pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Cut sausage into ½” cubes, set aside. Place eggs, cream, dry mustard, salt and pepper in a large bowl, whisk until smooth.

3. Stir in sausage, 1 c cheese and green pepper. Pour into greased 9x13 pan.

4. Bake 40-45 minutes or until eggs are set. Sprinkle with remaining ½ c cheese. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Notes: 1. I did not include the bell pepper.

2. Instead of a 9x13 pan I made this in two smaller pans and froze one.

Easter Dishes

Here are a couple of things I made for Easter. This is Carrot Souffle, though no one who has ever tried it believes there are carrots in it. I know for a fact that I make desserts that are healthier than this 'vegetable' side dish, but it sure is good! Carrot Souffle
Category: Sides
Sub Category:
Source: Ann

3 lbs carrots
3 c sugar
1 T baking powder
1 T vanilla
¾ c flour
1 ½ sticks butter
6 eggs

1. Boil carrots, drain.

2. Mix carrots with all other ingredients with mixer until smooth.

3. Pour into greased 9 x 13 pan.

4. Bake 1 hour at 350.

Note: I boil the carrots a REALLY long time so they are mushy by the time I put them in the stand mixer. It makes mixing them until smooth easier.

These are what I call embarrassingly easy biscuits. I was skeptical the first time I made them because good biscuits should be much harder than these to make. They take about five minutes to whip up and Jory loves them.



Drop Biscuits
Category: Baked Goods
Sub Category:
Source: Real Simple

2 c flour, leveled
Stick cold unsalted butter in small pieces
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
1 c whole milk

1. Heat oven to 400. In a food processor, combine everything except milk and pulse until pea-size clumps form. Add the milk and pulse just until moistened.


2. Drop six large mounds of the dough (about ½ c each) onto a baking sheet. Bake until golden, 18-20 min


Note: I don't add the milk to the food processor. I put the flour mixture in a large bowl and stir in the milk.