Gouda Mashed Potato Casserole

While I like a good mashed potato they are just always "there", you know? Something that you cover with gravy or stuffing to eat. These potatoes, layered with Gouda and then baked, are phenomenal all on their own- no gravy needed!

And the best thing? You can make these a day ahead and refrigerate them until they need to be baked! Perfect for family gatherings!

Ingredients

* 3 1/2 lbs russet potatoes, peeled & cubed
* 1 cup whole milk
* 1/2 cup sour cream
* 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 6 slices bacon, thick sliced, diced
* salt
* 2 cups Gouda cheese, shredded, divided (If you can't find Gouda you can use a sharp cheddar)
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Boil potatoes in salted water in large pot over high heat until tender, 12 minutes.

Drain, return potatoes to the pot, and dry over medium heat for 1 minute.

Turn off heat, add milk, sour cream, and butter; mash until smooth, cover, and set aside.

Saute bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat until crisp.

Drain on a paper-towel lined plate, then stir into mashed potatoes; season with salt.

Assemble casserole, spreading half the potatoes in a 2 quart casserole dish.

Top with 1 cup of gouda, spread with remaining potatoes, then top with remaining cheese.

(At this point you can put these in the refrigerator and bake them the next day)

Bake until golden, 30 minutes.

Garnish with chives.

Snickers Cheesecake

I've only made this a few times. I like to call it my $30 cheesecake because that’s about how much it costs to make. But it is sooooo worth it!

Creamy cheesecake with Snickers bar throughout and covering the top. Decadence at it's finest!




The recipe I use is from epicurean.com. Don’t let it intimidate you. The most time consuming thing is cutting the Snickers® into little pieces!
Ingredients:
Crust:
1-1/2 cup chocolate wafer crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted

Filling:
1-1/2 lbs. cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 cup heavy cream
1-1/2 cups small pieces of snack-sized SNICKERS® Bars

Topping:
4-1/2 cups small pieces of snack-sized SNICKERS® Bars

Fudge Sauce:
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup boiling water
2 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp light corn syrup

Garnish:
Whipped Cream
Directions:
1. To make crust, combine wafer crumbs and butter.

2. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-1/2 inch springform pan. Set aside.

3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

4. To make filling, with an electric mixer set on medium speed, combine cream cheese and sugar, beating until smooth.

5. Add eggs, one at a time.

6. Add vanilla and heavy cream. Beat at medium speed for 5 minutes.

7. Fold in SNICKERS® Bar pieces.

8. Pour filling into crust and bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until cheesecake is almost set in center.

9. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for 1 to 2 hours.

10. Top cooled cheesecake with SNICKERS® Bar pieces and chill for 4 to 6 hours.

11. To make fudge sauce, combine chocolate and butter in a heavy saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring gently, until mixture has melted.

12. Stir in boiling water, sugar, and light corn syrup, mixing until smooth.

13. Increase heat to medium and stir until mixture starts to boil.

14. Reduce heat and let simmer for 5 minutes without stirring.

15. Remove from heat and let cool for 15 to 20 minutes. Drizzle over chilled cheesecake just before serving.

16. Garnish with whipped cream. (we don't do this)
Yield: One 9-1/2 inch cheesecake.

And just a little FYI: that restaurant that serves cheesecakes so much that it's part of their name... they sell one like this for $42.95. I'm just sayin'.

Parmesan Crusted Chicken

I love dishes that appear like you spent the afternoon in the kitchen but really didn't take as much work as they look like. This Parmesan Crusted Chicken recipe from Cuisine Magazine
tastes like you spent half the day in the kitchen. The crusting keeps the chicken juicy inside and gives it tons of flavor.

In fact, this recipe was in the sample issue they sent to me and is one of the reasons I subscribe to that magazine! I usually pair this with a roasted potato (chop 3-4 medium potatoes into bite size, toss in olive oil and spices and roast in the preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes; toss them in right after you crust the chicken) and side salad but they are also great with these stuffed potatoes.

Makes: Four Servings Total Time: 1 Hour

You need:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
2 egg whites
2 t. cornstarch
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 cup coarse bread crumbs (to dry, bake at 200� 10 - 15 min.)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 T. chopped fresh parsley
1 t. kosher salt
1/4 t. ground black pepper
Zest of one lemon, minced
3 T. olive oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450�.
Prepare chicken breasts. Cut in half lengthwise, then pound between plastic until 1/2" thick.
Whisk egg whites, cornstarch, and lemon juice in a shallow dish for the dipping mixture; set aside.
Combine ingredients for crusting mixture (coarse bread crumbs thru lemon zest) in a wide, shallow dish. Crust prepared chicken by dipping both sides first in the dipping mixture, then in the crusting mixture. Transfer the crusted chicken to a rack set over a baking sheet. Air-dry chicken 20 - 30 minutes to help set the crumbs. (See tip at bottom)
Saute the chicken in a large, nonstick, ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Cook until golden and crisp on one side. Flip the chicken, then transfer pan to preheated oven to finish cooking, 8 - 10 minutes. (See tip at bottom)

Tip: Dipping and Crusting Chicken
Pat crumbs onto both sides of the chicken breasts - it's okay if some crumbs fall off. Rest at room temperature on a rack for 20 - 30 minutes.
Tip: Sauteing
Saute chicken until golden, about 3 mintues. Carefully flip the chicken (use your hand to help guide it). Then transfer the pan to the oven.

Triple Chocolate Bliss Cake

It's no secret that chocolate is a food group here in our home. Which is why I usually only make desserts if we have company or are heading to a family gathering. If I made this for dessert for just my family I'm pretty sure we would skip dinner...

This is a big fudgy cake with a decadent glaze. It's super-easy to make, but be sure to grease your bundt pan very well. The first time I made this it stuck to the pan and it's so dense that it fell apart. Check out this post for the Pan Release recipe I use.

I got this recipe from Kraft. They use raspberries in the center as a garnish in the recipe.

Prep Time: 20 min
Total Time: 2 hr
Makes: 18 servings, one slice each

What You Need

1 pkg. (2-layer size) chocolate cake mix
1 cup Sour Cream
1 pkg. (4-serving size) Chocolate Instant Pudding
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup water
3 cups thawed Whipped Topping, divided
1 pkg. (8 squares) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate
1-1/2 cups raspberries (or other fruit, optional) to garnish

Make It

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 12-cup fluted tube pan or 10-inch tube pan. Beat all ingredients except whipped topping, chocolate and raspberries in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed just until moistened. Beat on medium speed 2 min. scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into prepared pan.

BAKE 50 min. to 1 hour or until wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 min. Loosen cake from side of pan with knife or metal spatula and gently remove cake. Cool cake completely on wire rack. Place on serving plate.

RESERVE 2 Tbsp. of the whipped topping. Microwave remaining whipped topping and chocolate in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1-1/2 to 2 min. or until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring after each min. Drizzle over cake.

Spoon raspberries (or other fruit) into center of cake. Store leftover cake in refrigerator.

Pan Release (Better Than Pam Spray)

I found this recipe over at RecipeZaar and it has been a lifesaver! I absolutely love that just by adding cocoa I have a "chocolate" pan release that doesn't leave a white residue on my chocolate cakes! I made one of each and store them for baking.


Ingredients

* 1/2 cup corn oil or canola oil or vegetable oil
* 1/2 cup vegetable shortening, room temperature (Crisco shortening is good)
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl.
2. Using an electric mixer beat until mixture has increased in volume slightly and resembles marshmallow cream.
3. Place in a container with a lid and store on the counter or in a cupboard (in hot weather it may be refrigerated).
4. The mixture tends to separate slightly upon sitting in your cupboard or refrigerator so mix before using, then brush pans using a pastry brush or a clean paper towel.

** For baking recipes using chocolate you may use 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder in place of white flour or 1/4 cup each cocoa powder and flour.

Crêpes

I adore a crêpe. What's not to like? You can pair them with jelly or syrup for breakfast, wrap a salad in them for lunch, serve them with a thick stew for dinner or pair them with ice cream and chocolate sauce for dessert. Or have them for a snack just sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Honestly, crêpes are so incredibly versatile and easy to make... You could have entire day of crêpe dishes and not get bored.

Of course crêpes are one of those things that intimidated me and I held on to this recipe (that came from a Glad advertisement a few years ago) until this past weekend. And then I wondered why I waited.

You will need:
3/4 c + 1 T all purpose flour
3 T superfine sugar (I pulsed regular sugar in my Magic Bullet for a couple seconds - it's one of my most used appliances)
1/8 t salt
1 3/4 c milk
2 large eggs
unsalted butter

Whisk together flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl (I used a plastic measuring pitcher for easy pouring). In a medium bowl (I used a the blender on my Magic Bullet) whisk together milk and eggs. While whisking flour mixture slowly add milk mixture and whisk until smooth.

Heat an 8 or 9 inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Rub with butter. Pour in about 3 T of the batter. Tilt and rotate pan until batter is evenly spread. Cook until top is dry and bottom is golden brown in spots, about 3 minutes. Gently flip over and cook one minute more.

Remove to plate.

Now you can eat immediately or store (using Glad products, hence the ad) by placing first crêpe on a sheet of plastic wrap, placing another sheet of plastic wrap on top of it and alternating between crêpes and plastic until you have finished cooking. Then store in refirgerator up to 3 days. You can heat in microwave (with the plastic wrap if you use Press N Seal) for one minute.

A note on flipping... use a thin and wide spatula and move slowly. You may destroy a couple crêpes until you get the hang of it. They may not be pretty but they'll still be edible!