Sourdough-Cornbread Stuffing with Bacon

I've always wanted to make my own stuffing. It's my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner. Since I was hosting this year, I thought I'd give it go. I looked through zillions of recipes and finally decided on a sourdough-cornbread. Sour, sweet, and bacon adds salt. Both my mom and mother-in-law insisted on taking leftovers of this home.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
12 ounces sourdough, torn into bite-sized pieces
12 ounces baked cornbread, cubed or coarsely crumbled
1 stick butter
1 1/2 cups diced yellow onion
2 cups diced celery
2 tablespoon minced garlic
2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoon fresh sage
2 tablespoon fresh thyme
16 ounces bacon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place sourdough and cornbread pieces onto two cookie sheets and bake for 25 minutes or until lightly toasted. Set aside.

Cook bacon in a large rimmed skillet according to package directions. Once cooked, place bacon on paper towel-lined plate to absorb extra grease. Cut bacon into 1-inch pieces and set aside.

Discard all the bacon grease except for tablespoons. Add butter to pan with bacon grease and melt over medum heat. Saute onions and celery until tender, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Pour in chicken both. Add sage and thyme. Stir then reduce heat to simmer. Add half of the cooked bacon. Simmer for about 10 minutes.

Place toasted bread into a large bowl. Carefully pour broth and veggies over the bread and toss, making sure all the bread is wet.

Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Transfer stuffing to baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining bacon. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the top is just golden brown. Stuffing should still be moist.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Side Dish Ideas:
Alfredo Green Bean Casserole
Cheesy Tomato Zucchini Bake 
Cranberry Sauce Three Ways: Traditional, Orange Zest, and Brandied 
Mashed Potatoes
Eric's Fried Rice
Sauteed Kale with Bacon
Simply the Best Macaroni and Cheese

Hummus without Tahini

I'm going to state this right out of the gate: hummus without tahini is never going to be as amazing as hummus made with tahini. So why would you even bother making hummus without tahini? I can think of a number of reasons. Tahini is expensive. You've run out and don't want to go to the store. You don't even know what tahini is. And because hummus without tahini can still be damn good.

Recipe adapted from here.
 

Ingredients:
1 15-ounce can chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans)
1 cloves, (also try with roasted garlic)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon lemon juice, optional (sometimes I add it, sometimes I don't)

Directions:
Drain and rinse the chickpeas and place them in a food processor along with garlic. Process until chickpeas turn to paste. Add sesame oil and lemon juice (if desired) and process until incorporated. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with crackers or veggies.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Snack Recipes:
Apple Pie Salsa with Cinnamon-Sugar Chips 
Bacon and Cheese Deviled Eggs 
Buffalo Chicken Dip 
Cucumber Chips
Fried Dill Pickles 
Fries with Garlic Cheese Sauce
Potato Chips in the Microwave
Roasted Garlic White Bean Hummus 

Pumpkin Soup with Sage Croutons and Bacon

It's pumpkin season again! First up, pumpkin soup! I've been longing to make pumpkin soup for years. I've read through a lot of recipes, and even tried a few--none very good, the one I made last year ended up in the trash. This year I decided to make my own based off a delicious butternut squash soup I made a couple of years ago. It was love at first taste.

Since Eric isn't a big pumpkin fan--at least when it's used in savory dishes--I made him a little tasting bowl. His reaction: If I liked pumpkin, it'd be really good. He did absolutely love the sage croutons though.

Ingredients:
Pumpkin Soup
1 cup pumpkin puree
4 ounces cream cheese, softened (I used reduced fat)
2-3 cups chicken stock (I used low sodium)
1 tablespoon butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon onion, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground sage
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste
4 bacon slices, cooked
Dried parsley, garnish, optional

Sage Croutons
3 slices of sandwich bread
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground sage
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice 

Directions:
Sage Croutons
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

Cut bread into 1-inch squares. Toss bread with olive oil and spices. Spread the bread into a single layer on the cookie sheet.

Bake 14 to 16 minutes or until croutons are brown and crisp. Flip half way through baking.

Store in an airtight container.

Pumpkin Soup
In a saucepan, saute garlic and onions in the butter until they are translucent.  Remove from heat.

Place pumpkin and cream cheese into a food processor. Pour in sauteed garlic and onions. Blend until well combined, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Transfer back into saucepan. (If you don't mind little pieces of garlic and onion floating in your soup, you can skip this step). Add 2 cups chicken stock, sage, and pumpkin pie spice to saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat. Whisk ingredients together until well combined. If soup is thicker than you desire, add more chicken stock (I like my soup a little on the thick side). Season with salt and pepper but remember, you are going to add bacon so that will add a lot of sodium to your soup.

Once soup is thoroughly heated, remove from heat. Divide soup between four bowls. Garnish with parsley if desired. Add croutons and crumble 1 slice of bacon over each bowl.

Eric's tasting bowl

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Pumpkin Recipes:
Cheese Tortellini in a Pumpkin Sauce
Cinnamon-Sugar Pastry with Pumpkin Dip
Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes
Pumpkin-Black Bean Stew with Spicy Sausage
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Brownies
Pumpkin Fudge
Pumpkin Gnocchi with a Parmesan Sauce
Pumpkin Hot Cocoa 

Sauteed Kale with Bacon

I love kale. I didn't know that I loved kale until I made this recipe. I had made kale chips before and liked them. But I could have eaten bowl after bowl of sauteed kale. When I had Eric tried it, part of me hoped he wouldn't like it so I'd have the whole batch to myself. But he fell in love with it too.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds kale, stems and leaves coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoon onion, minced
1/2 cup vegetable stock or chicken stock
4 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
salt
pepper
2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Directions:
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and onion; cook until soft but not colored. Pour in stock and kale. Toss to combine.

Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the cover and continue to cook, stirring continuously until all the liquid has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle in bacon. Drizzle with vinegar.

Sauteed kale with cheese stuffed chicken and corn.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Side Dish Recipes:
Baked Parmesan Tomatoes
Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes
Cheesy Tomato Zucchini Bake 
Twice Microwaved Loaded Potatoes
Very Simple Roasted Potatoes
Simply the Best Macaroni and Cheese

Asian Turkey Meatballs

Since my parmesan turkey meatballs were such a success with Eric (who is typically anti-ground turkey) I thought I'd push my luck and try a different turkey meatball recipe. How could I go wrong with hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and toasted sesame seeds? Answer is: I couldn't! With two successful ground turkey dishes, Eric says he'll happily eat any ground turkey dish I serve.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
Meatballs
20 ounces ground turkey
3 tablespoons plus1 teaspoon sesame oil, divided
1/2 cup Panko
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 egg
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons green onions, chopped
Toasted sesame seeds, garnish


Sauce
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease cookie sheet or line with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine turkey, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, Panko, ginger, egg, garlic and green onions. With your hands, combine ingredients well. Shape meat into golf ball size meatballs (I made about 20) and transfer them to the cookie sheet. Brush meatball with the 3 tablespoons sesame oil.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through.

While the meatballs cook, prepare sauce. In a saucepan, stir hoisin sauce, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and ginger together. Over medium heat, heat sauce until hot. 

Pour sauce over meatballs, garnish with toasted sesame seeds, and serve.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Dinner Recipes:
Spicy Cheese-Stuffed Turkey Burgers
Turkey Burger with Avocado Sauce
Spicy Parmesan Sausage Meatballs with a Whiskey Barbecue Sauce 
The Tale of Two Quiches: Ham and Broccoli Quiche
Lemon Pepper Chicken with Garlic Potatoes
Jalapeno Popper Chicken

Parmesan Turkey Meatballs

This recipe finally converted Eric--he has resisted ground turkey for years, but these Parmesan turkey meatballs have changed his mind. I've always been a fan of ground turkey, but even I will admit that it tends to dry out. But these meatballs couldn't have been more tender and moist and cheesy. We had all of four meatballs leftover and even a day old they were still delicious.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
20-ounce package of ground turkey
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons green onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 egg, scrambled
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
3 tablespoon olive oil

Tomato sauce or marinara sauce

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, panko, Parmesan, green onions, garlic, parsley, egg, salt and pepper. Shape meat into golf ball size meatballs (I made 20) and transfer them to the cookie sheet. Brush meatball with olive oil.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through. Serve with tomato or marinara sauce. (To freshen up my spaghetti sauce, I sauted some onions and garlic and threw in some oregano and basil. It's make a world of difference).

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Dinner Ideas:
Jalapeno Popper Chicken
Margarita Chicken and Steak Fajitas 
Turkey Burger with Avocado Sauce
Spicy Parmesan Sausage Meatballs with a Whiskey Barbecue Sauce 
Cheesy Tomato Zucchini Bake 

Orange Chicken with Fried Rice

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but we no longer need to order out for orange chicken. Now, I have a very good crockpot orange chicken recipe (my mom absolutely loves it--she says it's even better the second day) but for real orange chicken, you need it breaded and fried (this coming from a girl who generally prefers her chicken baked or grilled). I've made more than a few variations of it since orange chicken is something Eric and I both love; we almost always order it when we get Chinese. Eric has already perfected fried rice--honestly, I'd rather have his fried rice than a restaurant's fried rice--and I figured out the perfect breading a while ago. So I've been working on the sauce. Soon as Eric tasted it, he told me I nailed it. He also ate leftovers for his lunch and dinner the next day (which is a big deal because he isn't big into leftovers).

Ingredients:
Chicken
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
3/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
2 eggs, beaten
Oil for frying

Orange Sauce
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
3/4 cup orange marmalade 
1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water

Eric's Fried Rice

Toasted Sesame Seeds (optional)

Directions:
Prepare Fried Rice and Toasted Sesame Seeds first.

Chicken
Place the cornstarch, salt, and pepper in a shallow dish and combine. In a second shallow dish, beat the eggs. In a third shallow dish, pour panko breadcrumbs. Dredge the chicken pieces in the cornstarch, dip in egg, then coat in panko.

Heat oil over medium-high heat. In batches, cook chicken until the breading is a golden brown and the meat is cooked all the way through. Place chicken on a paper towel-lined plate.

Orange Sauce
In a large saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cup water, vinegar, soy sauce, marmalade, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Over medium heat, bring to a boil.

In a small bowl or glass, dissolve 3 tablespoons of cornstarch into 2 tablespoons of water. Slowly pour into sauce. Stir until sauce reaches the desired thickness.

Pour sauce over chicken and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds (you don't have to do the sesame seeds, but Eric and I have discovered that they make everything better). Serve with fried rice.

Arya sulking because she was exiled from the kitchen while we cooked.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Chicken Recipes:
Baked Garlic Chicken
Chicken Enchiladas with Fire-Roasted Tomatoes
Chicken Patties
Jalapeno Popper Chicken
Corn and Black Bean Skillet Chicken 
Parmesan Chicken Casserole 
Pizza Inspired Chicken  

Roasted Garlic Butter

Once you have garlic butter it's so easy to make your own garlic bread. We had a friend coming to dinner so I made my baked ziti (except I added spicy sausage which took it to a whole other level). Pasta dishes just cry out for garlic bread so I roasted a head of garlic, whipped it with some butter, and spread it on homemade French bread. Delicious! (It's also really good on mashed potatoes!)

Ingredients:
1 head of garlic
1 cup of butter, room temperature

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Peel away the outer layers of the garlic head; however, don't peel the skins of the individual cloves. With a knife, cut off the top of the cloves--about1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top--so you can see the inside of the individual cloves.

Drizzle the top with olive oil then wrap the garlic head in tin foil. On a cookie sheet, bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the cloves feel soft.

Allow the garlic to cool. Separate the individual cloves from the head then pinch the end of the cloves so the garlic inside shoots out into a bowl.

Add butter to bowl. With the whisk attachment on your electric mixer, whisk the garlic and butter together until well combined and butter is light and airy.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Appetizer Recipes:
Cheese Puffs for Cheese Lovers!
Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Parmesan Onion Rolls 
Pull-Apart Spinach and Cheese Bread
Toasted Ravioli 

Crockpot Brown Sugar and Garlic Chicken

Slow cookers, Crockpots, whatever you call them, they are fabulous for when you feel lazy. Throw in your ingredients, turn on the machine, and forget about it until dinner time. I'm so happy to add this chicken recipe to my list of Crockpot recipes.  Eric couldn't stop commenting on how amazing it smelled and then he couldn't stop telling me how amazing it tasted. I was a little worried about it being too sweet, but I'm happy to report that it was the perfect balance of sweet and savory.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons garlic, minced
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons water

Directions:
Grease your slow cooker with cooking spray and place the chicken (frozen, thawed, or fresh--I used frozen) inside. In a bowl, mix together the brown sugar, vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, soy sauce and pepper. Pour mixture over the chicken. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 4 hours.

Remove the chicken from the slow cooker (I shredded mine) and pour the remaining sauce into a saucepan. In a small bowl or glass, stir together the corn starch and water, and then pour it into the saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat and allow to boil for 2 to 3 minutes or until the suace thickens. Remove pan from heat and allow to sit for a 1 to 2 minutes so the sauce can continue to thicken.

Pour over chicken and serve.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Crockpot Recipes
 Alfredo Green Bean Casserole
Creamy Butternut Squash Soup
Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Orange Chicken
Pumpkin Butter 
Tomato and Artichoke Chicken

Parmesan Chicken Casserole

I'll keep this short and sweet: If you love chicken parmesan, you're going to love this dish. Chicken, pasta, tomatos, cheese, what's not to love?

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
14.5-ounce can of diced tomatoes
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/2 to 1 cup chicken broth
6 ounces pasta
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
pinch of black pepper
1/2 cup mozzarella
1 cup cooked chicken, shredded

Directions:
Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

Over medium-high heat, heat oil in a large skillet (oven safe if you have one). Cook garlic, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, and salt until fragrant, approximately 1 minute. Add canned tomatoes--liquid and all--the water, 1/2 cup chicken broth, and pasta to the pan. Stir to combine. Brinng to a vigorous simmer, cover pan, and simmer (you may need to reduce the heat) until the pasta is tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir mixture frequently.

Once the pasta is cooked, remove the cover and stir in the parmesan cheese, pepper, and chicken. If the mixture is dry, add another 1/2 cup of chicken broth (I had to do this). Now, if your skillet is oven safe, sprinkle the top of the casserole with the mozzarella. If your skillet isn't oven safe (mine wasn't) tranfer the mixture to an 8x8-inch baking dish and sprinkle with mozzarella. Bake for 5 or 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted and bubbles have formed around the edges of the pan.

I made bread sticks to go with this casserole and we have spiced rum brown butter cookies for dessert!

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Casserole Recipes:
Alfredo Green Bean Casserole
Black Bean and Sausage Stovetop Casserole
Cheesy Sausage and Potato Casserole
Cheesy Tomato Zucchini Bake 
Pumpkin Penne Casserole
Sausage and Bean Casserole
The Ultimate Comfort Food Casserole

Chicken with a Honey Mustard Sauce

I'm not a big fan of yellow mustard. I like Dijon mustard. But I love honey mustard. Eric shares this love. So when I saw a recipe for a Dijon mustard sauce, I knew immediately that I was going to turn it into a honey mustard sauce. It turned out soooo good. And what's better than a delicious recipe? An easy, delicious recipe. It's hard to believe something that tastes this good could be so easy to make.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoon yellow onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons chicken broth
3 tablespoons honey mustard
1/2 tablespoon dried thyme

Directions:
With a meat mallet, pound the chicken breasts to 1/4-inch to 1/8-inch thickness. (Or you could buy Tyson's Thin Sliced Chicken Breast, which is what I had in my freezer. They are so convenient!) Combine flour and pepper in a shallow dish. Coat the chicken in the flour mixture.

In a skillet, melt the butter over medium heat then add chicken. Cook each side for approximately 6 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink. Remove chicken from pan and cover it to keep it warm. Leave the drippings in the pan.

Add the onion and garlic to the skillet and cook until tender, about 1 to 2 minutes. Dissolve the cornstarch in the milk (you could replace the milk and cornstarch with 1/3 cup heavy cream) then add to pan. Add chicken broth and honey mustard. Stir and continue to cook until the sauce has thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in thyme.

Spoon sauce over chicken and serve.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Chicken Recipes
Baked Garlic Chicken
Chicken Enchiladas with Fire-Roasted Tomatoes
Chicken Patties
Chicken Stuffed with Ricotta, Pesto, and Sun-dried Tomatoes
Jalapeno Popper Chicken
Lime Mustard Chicken
Olive Garaden Chicken and Gnocchi Soup Knock Off
Orange Chicken in a Slow Cooker
Parmesan-Seared Chicken

Toasted Ravioli

No more boiled ravioli for us. I'm not normally one to fry foods (unless I'm appeasing Eric), but these toasted ravioli are absolutely delicious. This recipe also gave me a chance to test out my buttermilk substitute recipe.

Ingredients:
1/3 cups canola oil
24-ounce packaged of ravioli (I used cheese ravioli)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan, grated
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
marinara or spaghetti sauce

Directions:
Place buttermilk in a shallow dish. Combine the breadcrumbs and Parmesan in a second shallow dish. Dip ravioli in buttermilk, coating completely. Shake off excess buttermilk and then dredge the ravioli in breadcrumbs. Place on plate. Repeat with the rest of the ravioli.

Even the uncooked ravioli look delicious.

Heat in a large frying pan over medium heat. Fry the pasta in the oil until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes on each side. Transfer the ravioli to paper towel to drain the excess oil. Serve with a side of warmed marinara or spaghetti sauce.

Toasted ravioli with marinara sauce and rosemary focaccia.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

A Simple Parmesan and Garlic Sauce

It's almost time to go grocery shopping and we're down to a box of pasta and a few staples in the pantry. That means it's time to make Parmesan and garlic sauce with pasta. No matter how low on food we're running, we almost always have the ingredients to make this dish. It's a simple, filling, and full of flavor.

Can you guess where we shop?

Ingredients:

2 serving of the pasta of your choice
1 tablespoon margarine
1 tablespoon flour
1 small garlic clove, minced
½ cup chicken broth
½ cup milk
¼ cup Parmesan
Pepper, to taste
Parsley, optional

Directions:

Cook pasta according to package directions; set aside.

Melt margarine in a sauce pan and add garlic. Sauté for about one minute or until garlic turns a golden brown color. Add flour and cook for about minute while continually stirring. Pour in broth and milk. Bring to a boil, continually stirring so the sauce thickens. Reduce heat. Add Parmesan and stir until cheese is melted. Add parsley and pepper. Pour over pasta and serve. 

Enjoy!

~Krissy