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

Chickpea Salad

Lunch is my hardest meal of the day. Breakfast is usually tea with oatmeal or cereal or fruit. As I make my grocery list and go shopping, I plan my dinners. But lunches? Easy if there are leftovers in the fridge. Not so easy if there's no leftovers. I tend to eat a lot of egg salad or tuna salad just because I can't think of anything else and it's easy. But that gets boring. In order to chance it up a bit, I decided to make chickpea salad. Oh my god, so so so good. I have a new favorite, easy, heathly lunch!

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
1 15-ounce can of chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans), drained, rinsed, and dried
1 celery stick, chopped
2 tablespoons onion, minced
1-2 tablespoons mayo (I tend to go super light on mayo. It's all personal preference)
1 tablespoon lemon juice, optional (sometimes I add it, sometimes I don't)
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
salt and pepper, to taste
a dash of garlic powder, optional

Directions:
Coarsely mash the chickpeas (you can use a fork, potato masher, I use a meat mallet) in a bowl. Stir in the rest of the ingredients.

Serve on bread, with crackers or veggies, or eat as is.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Chickpea Recipes:
Chickpea Veggie Burgers 
Hummus without Tahini
Cinnamon-Sugar Roasted Chickpeas 
Roasted Pumpkin Chickpeas
Sweet and Salty Chickpeas
Skinny Chocolate Chip Cookies (Made with Chickpeas)

Chicken Nugget Tacos

A while back I posted a recipe for an Italian chicken nugget casserole, which had surpassed all my expectations. Since then, I've still been playing with ideas of how to transform boring old chicken nuggets into something more adult and tasty. These chicken nugget tacos are just that. Seriously, why didn't I think of using chicken nuggets in tacos earlier? It's so easy and so good. Now, this is more of an idea than a recipe. My favorite tacos are simple: chicken, cheese, hot sauce, onions. Sometimes salsa, sometimes not. But you can build your taco however you like.

Ingredients:
Chicken nuggets
Taco shells, hard or soft
Taco Seasoning, optional
Hot sauce, optional
Shredded Cheese, optional
Lettuce, optional
Tomato, optional
Onion, optional
Salsa, optional
Beans, optional
Sour cream, optional

Directions:
Bake your chicken nuggets according to package direction. Cut your chicken nuggets into strips or little bits. Toss with hot sauce or taco seasoning--or both! I tossed mine with hot sauce. Assemble tacos with your favorite ingredients. I then put mine into the micrwave to melt the cheese.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Chicken Recipes:
Orange Chicken with Fried Rice
Parmesan-Seared Chicken
Parmesan Chicken Casserole 
Tomato and Artichoke Chicken
The Ultimate Comfort Food Casserole
Zesty Shredded Chicken (Crockpot) 
Baked Garlic Chicken

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

Black Bean Veggie Burgers

Last month I made chickpea veggie burgers, this months it's the same recipe made with black beans.

Ingredients:
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained, rinsed, and dried
1 cup herbed stuffing mix (I used Stouffers)
2 tablespoons minced onion
2 to 4 tablespoons lemon juice (or water)
salt and pepper, to taste.

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

Coarsely mash the beans with a potato masher so you have a paste with some bean chunks in it. Stir in stuffing mix and onions. Add lemon juice a tablespoon at a time until the mixture holds together. Salt and pepper to taste. Shape into patties (I made five).

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, flip burgers, and bake for another 10 to 12 minutes.

Dress your veggie burger up however you'd like--cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, bun (I had mine with cheese and caramelized onions).

 

 

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Burger Recipe:
Chicken Patties
Spicy Cheese-Stuffed Turkey Burgers
Tuna Burgers
Turkey Burger with Avocado Sauce

Bacon Barbecue Green Bean Casserole

I was actually a little nervous about this recipe. Green beans and barbecue sauce? Even Eric looked at me a little side ways when I told him what I was planning. But the dish kind of wowed me. And it must have wowed the husband a bit too because he didn't even complain about the onions. He actually piled the casserole on top of his chicken breast and ate it that way which makes me wonder if I could throw some shredded chicken into the casserole and take it from a side dish to a main dish. Just might have to try it next time.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
6 strips of bacon
1/2 cup yellow onion, chopped
3/4 cup barbecue sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray)
2 14.5 ounce cans of French cut green beans, drained and rinsed

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook bacon in a large skillet. Remove from pan and crumble. Set aside. Reserve 1 tablespoon of dripping and discard the rest. Saute the onions in remaining bacon grease until tender. Stir in barbecue sauce, bring to a boil, and remove from heat.

Place green beans into 1.5 quart baking dish (I divide the beans among 6 small ramkins). Pour the barbecue mixture on top. Cover and bake for approximately 30 minutes. Sprinkle crumbled bacon on top and serve.

Arya only has eyes for the bacon cooking on the stovetop.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Casserole Recipes:
Alfredo Green Bean Casserole
Black Bean and Sausage Stovetop Casserole
Cheesy Sausage and Potato Casserole
Cheesy Tomato Zucchini Bake 
Parmesan Chicken Casserole 

Spicy Parmesan Sausage Meatballs with a Whiskey Barbecue Sauce

I don't eat red meat so meatballs are generally off the table (quite literally) in our house. But Eric loves them and I wanted to come up with some variation that we both could eat. Then it donned on me: sausage! We both like sausage, especially spicy sausage. These things smelled so good cooking that Eric couldn't resist coming into the kitchen more than once to see if they were done yet.

Sausage meatball recipe adapted from here.
Whiskey sauce recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
Meatballs
16-ounce roll of spicy pork sausage
1/3 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Sauce

2/3 cup ketchup*
2/3 cup brown sugar*
1/3 cup honey whiskey (I used Jack Daniel's Honey Whiskey)

*Or you can substitute out the ketchup and brown sugar for 1 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce

Directions:
Meatballs
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease 9x13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl with your hands. Roll the mixture into 1-inch balls and place in the baking dish in a single layer.

Bake for 12-14 mintutes or until thoroughly cooked.

Sauce
Mix together ingredients in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes.*

Pour sauce over meatballs and serve.

*The cook time on this sauce should vary by taste. After 20 minutes of simmer, Eric thought the sauce still tasted too strongly of alcohol (I disagree, I loved it). Depending on your preferences, you could cook the sauce for longer to burn off more of the booze or pour in less whiskey to begin with. Just taste the sauce as you go until you find your perfect balance.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Sausage Recipes:
Black Bean and Sausage Stovetop Casserole
Cheesy Sausage and Potato Casserole
Pasta with Vodka Sauce and Sausage
Pumpkin Penne Casserole
Roasted Sausage, Potatoes, and Peppers 
Sausage and Bean Casserole
Savory Apples Stuffed with Sage and Sausage
The Tale of Two Quiches: Spicy Sausage and Spinach Quiche

Spinach Balls with a Spicy Tomato Dipping Sauce

Christmas tree in front of the State Capitol in Lansing, MI

This past Christmas I hosted my first Christmas dinner! It was me and Eric, my parents, his parents, and his grandma. Seven people. I've cooked for more, but never for a special occasion like Christmas. Even though I love to cook, I will admit I was a little nervous and a little overwhelmed. I was testing out several new recipes and I'd never cooked a ham before. But I have to say, everything came together perfectly. Not just the food, but the company. Eric's grandma was smiling and glowing (she told me that she didn't remember the last time she spent Christmas outside of her own home). Our dads were gabbing and so were our moms. And they were all vying for the dog's attention. Arya just has that effect on people.

I prepared chocolate covered cranberries, bacon and cheese deviled eggs, and these spinach balls for appetizers. I had made the other two recipes before (totally addicted to chocolate covered cranberries) but the spinach balls were a first. I can't even begin to tell you how good there were. I can't wait to make them again. Both Eric and I were keeping our fingers crossed that there would be some leftovers so we could munch on them later. And there were, just not as many as we have liked.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
Spinach Balls
1 10-ounce pack of frozen spinach, thawed and drained (making sure spinach is well drained is very
        important)
2 tablespoon onion, minced
1 heaping cup stuffing with herbs
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Spicy Tomato Sauce
1 cup marinara or spaghetti sauce
hot sauce, to taste

Directions:
Spinach Balls
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheet with cooking spray.

In a large bow, mix all the ingredients together until they are well combined. Shape mixture into 1-inch balls and place on the cookie sheet.  

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until the bottoms of the balls are lightly brown. Makes approximately 30 balls. Serve warm.

Spicy Tomato Sauce
Pour tomato sauce in a bowl, add hot sauce to taste. We like things spicy around here and added quite a bit.

I spent the five days before Christmas baking and cooking in preparation. I made these on Christmas Eve, put then in the fridge over night then popped them back in the oven at 350 for 10-15 minutes. Sadly, things were so hectic Christmas morning/afternoon, I forgot to take pictures of my food. So I don't have a picture of the sauce. But both my mom and my mother-in-law commented more than once how much the sauce complimented the balls.

Dinner table

Dessert table

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Appetizer Recipes:
Cheese Puffs for Cheese Lovers!
Cream Cheese Rangoons
Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Jalapeno Popper Wontons
Parmesan Zucchini Bites
Snowflake Tortilla Chips

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

Savory Baked Apples Stuffed with Sage and Sausage

I've been dying to do a savory apple recipe. When I told Eric that I planned to make apples stuffed with sausage, he was less than excited. I should have taken a picture of the face he made. But I wasn't going to let that deter me. And I'm glad I didn't. These turned out fabulous. I fell in love with them at first bite. It took Eric a couple more bites to come around. After the first bite, he said it was different. And it did have a different palate than what we're used to. But he finished every last bite of the stuffed apples and then declared that they were good. I honestly can't wait to make them again.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons yellow onion, minced
1/2 pound spicy pork sausage
1 teaspoon ground sage
1 teaspoon dried thyme
salt
pepper
1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I made my own by toasting a couple pieces of white bread and crumbling them)
4 to 5 apples (I used Fuji)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon butter and olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook until tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the sausage to skillet. Break the meat up and cook until it's no longer pink, 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in the sage and thyme. Season with salt and peeper. Stir in breadcrumbs and remove from heat.

Cut off the tops of each apple. Scoop out the insides of the apple including the core, seeds, and flesh. I used a regular spoon, though a melon baller probably would have made it easier. Discard the insides.

Divide the stuffing among the apples, packing each apple full. Place the apples in the baking dish. Dot each apple with a small dab of the remaining butter.

Bake apples until the flesh is tender, 45 to 60 minutes.

Because Eric was so unenthusiastic about this dish, I only made 3 apples; that way he'd have leftover sausage to eat for dinner in case he didn't like the apples. Thankfully he did! But I could have easily stuffed 5 apples with the sausage.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Apple Recipes
Baked Apple Chips
Apple Rings!
Delicious Apple Pie 
An Apple Cider Cake
Apple Cider Cupcakes with Caramel Filling and Spiced Rum Frosting

More Sausage Recipes
Black Bean and Sausage Stovetop Casserole
Cheesy Sausage and Potato Casserole
Pasta with Vodka Sauce and Sausage
Pumpkin Penne Casserole
Roasted Sausage, Potatoes, and Peppers 
Sausage and Bean Casserole
The Tale of Two Quiches: Spicy Sausage and Spinach Quiche

Pesto Tuna Wrap

Canned tuna is one of my lunch staples. When I don't know what I want to eat, it's my go to and it's always good. However, tuna salad can get old. I change it up a bit, but it's still tuna salad. Well, I had some pesto left over from my chicken stuffed with ricotta, pesto, and sun-dried tomatoes, so I added it to the tuna. Wow. It's like a whole new, refreshing dish.

Ingredients:
1 8-inch wheat tortilla
5-ounce can tuna, drained
1 tablespoon mayo (I tend to go really light on the mayo, so you may want to double it)
3 tablespoons pesto (I use Knorr)
sun-dried tomatoes or diced tomato (to taste)
onion, diced (to taste)
cheddar cheese, shredded (to taste, I tend to add a lot)

Directions:
Mix the tuna, mayo, pesto, tomatoes, and onion together in a bowl. Spread the mixture down the center of the tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese then fold the sides over the tuna mixture. Now, I like my tortilla warmed in the microwave, just 30 seconds, but I know a lot of people blanch at warmed canned tuna, so you don't have to warm it.

Enjoy!

~Krissy