Loaded Baked Potatoes with Ham and Cheddar

I needed to use up the potatoes in the pantry before they went bad and decided to make loaded baked potatoes. We didn't have any bacon in the house, but we did have leftover Christmas ham. Oh my god, so good! It was a spiral ham with a brown sugar-maple glaze. The sweetness of the ham just worked with the cheese and green onions. Wow.

Ingredients:
4 russet potatoes, scrubbed
1 cup cooked diced ham
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1/3 cup green onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup sour cream (I used fat free)
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste

Directions:
Pierce each potatoes on top and bottom with fork. Place on a plate and cook for 5 minutes on high power. Flip potatoes over and cook for another 5 minutes.

Once potatoes are cool enough to handle, slice in half horizontally. Scoop the flesh out, leaving about 1/4-inch shell. Place the potatoes in a bowl and combine with ham, 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, green onion and sour cream. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Divide the potatoes evenly between the 8 potato skin shells. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Microwave for another 1 to 2 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Or put under the broiler for 3 to 4 minutes.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Side Dish Recipes:
Alfredo Green Bean Casserole
Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes 
Cheesy Tomato Zucchini Bake 
Cranberry Sauce Three Ways: Traditional, Orange Zest, and Brandied 
Mashed Potatoes 
Eric's Fried Rice
Fries with Garlic Cheese Sauce

Cheesy Potatoes

This recipe belongs to Eric's mom. I think I first had her cheesy potatoes the first time I had dinner at Eric's parents' house. I fell in love with them with first bite. So when she asked if she could bring anything to Thanksgiving dinner, I immediately thought of these potatoes. They were a nice change up from mashed potatoes, too.

Ingredients:
2 cups (10-3/4-ounce each) condensed cream of potato soup, undiluted
1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 package (32-ounce) frozen hash brown potatoes (also very good with southwestern has
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.

In a large bowl, combine the soup, sour cream, and garlic salt. Add potatoes and cheddar cheese. Pour into prepared pan and sprinkle top with Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Side Dish Ideas:
Alfredo Green Bean Casserole
Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes 
Cheesy Tomato Zucchini Bake 
Sauteed Kale with Bacon 
Simply the Best Macaroni and Cheese
Very Simple Roasted Potatoes 

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

Crockpot: Mashed Potatoes

Crockpot recipes require so little thought or attendence. And about the time you start to get hungry, your food is done and you can dig in. This past holiday season when your stove top and oven are full with food for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, Crockpots are a lifesaver. I hosted Christmas dinner and made mac and cheese in a slow cooker--the most amazing mac and cheese I've ever had, by the way. Well, my mom made these mashed potatoes in the slowcooker for Thanksgiving dinner. They were sooo yummy. And she didn't have to worry about boiling or mashing or whipping potatoes while making also the turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing, or green bean casserole.

Recipe from here.

Ingredients:
5 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into small chunks
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup butter, cut into pieces
1 cup sour cream*
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoons ground black pepper
1/2 to 1 cup milk, warmed.

Directions:
Place the potatoes, chicken broth and butter into your crockpot. Cover and cool on high for 4 hours or until the potatoes are tender. Add sour cream garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and black pepper. Mash potatoes with a potato masher or beat them with an electric mixer on low. Stir in milk a little at a time until you have the desired consistency.

Cover and set the crockpot on low or warm until ready to serve. (Do not keep the crockpot on for more than 2 hours).

Stir before serving.

*My mom said that the next time she makes these, she's going to use cream cheese instead of sour cream. I will let you know how it turns out when she does. (Or if I bet her to it and try it first!)

Mashed potatoes with Brown Butter

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Potato Recipes:
Salt and Vinegar Roasted Potatoes 
Ranch, Cheddar, and Bacon Potatoes
Twice Baked Potatoes
Twice Microwaved Loaded Potatoes

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

Crockpot: Simply the Best Macaroni and Cheese

My mom bought Arya a reindeer outfit.

This past Christmas was not only the first Christmas dinner I hosted, but also our first Christmas as a married couple, our first Christmas with Arya, and our first Christmas in our new place. So it was a pretty exciting holiday for us. But I don't want to talk about any of that. I want to talk about how freaking amazing this mac and cheese is. It's the best I've ever had; it tops any restuarant, store bought, or homemade version I've ever tried. It's that good. Even Eric and his dad, neither big on mac and cheese, both loved it. My mom and mother-in-law asked for the recipe. And the fact that it's made in the crockpot, all the much better! On Christmas day it was a life saver when everything else had to go in the oven.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
2 cups elbow macaroni
4 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
1 8-ounce bag of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream (I used low fat)
1 10.75-ounce can of condensed cheddar cheese soup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1/2 tablespoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Optional Bread Topping:
2 tablespoon butter, melted
3 pieces of sandwich bread, torn into bite size pieces
1/2 tablespoon McCormick Crusting Blend Garlic, Lemon, and Rosemary (or you can use garlic powder, basil, thyme, rosemary, whatever your favorite herbs are)

Directions:

Boil macaroni in water for 7 minutes. Drain.

Place all of the ingredients except the pasta, thyme, and optional bread topping in your crockpot and stir. Add pasta and stir again.* 

Cook for 2 hours on low. Stir in thyme.

Optional: After mac and cheese has cooked, transfer to a casserole dish. In a bowl toss together melted butter, bread, and spices. Top the mac and cheese with the bread and place under the broiler until the bread browns, about 5 to 10 minutes. 

*Since I was making this for Christmas dinner (and for the first time!) and didn't want to screw it up, I did not add the pasta to the crockpot. I made the sauce in the crockpot and add the pasta afterwards. However, I read many, many reviews on this recipe and none of them talked about the pasta becoming mushy. Next time I make this, I'll add the pasta right in.

Now, because I was so busy cooking and entertaining on Christmas day, I kinda sorta forgot to take a picture. But I did take a couple of pictures of some reheated leftovers (oh, it reheats very well) sans bread topping.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

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

Sour Cream Dinner Rolls

My mom couldn't face another holiday dinner with crescent rolls (we have them every single Thanksgiving and Christmas) so along with cranberry brownies and chocolate covered cranberries, I also brought these homemade dinner rolls made with sour cream. My brother, who is an insanely picking eater, missed the crescent rolls, but no one else did. Eric has also discovered the rolls work great for making sandwiches with leftover turkey.

Recipe adopted from here.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup luke warm water
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream (I used low fat)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
2 tablespoon butter, melted (optional)

Directions:
In the mixing bowl of a standing mixer, add 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup lukewarm water, and dry yeast and mix. Let sit at room temperature until it's bubbly and has a sponge-like texture. In a different bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, sugar, salt, and 1/4 cup water.

Attatch the dough hook to your mixer and with the mixer on low, add the sour cream mixture to the yeast mixture. Slowly add the remaining flour 1/4 cup at a time. When all the flour is incorporated, pour in the 4 tablespoons of cooled melted butter. Increase the mixer's speed from low to high.

Mix for 2 to 3 minutes then turn off the mixer. With a wood spoon, scrap the dough down from the sides of the bowl. Mix for another 2 to 3 minutes on medium to high speed or until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Grease a large bowl with butter or cooking spray and transfer dough to greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temperature for approximately 1 1/2 hours or until the dough has doubled in voulme.

Punch down the dough with a floured fist then place it on a floured surface. Divide the dough into 20 equal pieces and shape each piece into a ball. Place them on a cookie sheet (or wrap tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for future use). Cover once more with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 30 to 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Bake rolls for 20 minutes or until golden. Brush with melted butter if so desired.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Bread Recipes:
Homemade Bread Sticks
Pumpkin Ale Bread
Pumpkin Bread!
Chocolate Chip Banana Bread in a Mug

Twice Microwaved Loaded Potatoes

We've all heard of twice baked potatoes. They are delicious. But they take soooo long to make. Well, I was feeling lazy the other night when it came to dinner, but I was craving twice baked potatoes. I knew you could make a baked potato in the microwave, why not a twice baked potato? In approximately 15 minutes you can have that potato that would normally take an hour and a half and it tastes just as good as ones baked in the oven.

Ingredients:
4 medium sized russet potatoes
4 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped
¼ cup fat free sour cream
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Green onions, chopped (optional)

Directions:
With a fork, poke holes in your potatos. Place them on a microwave safe plate and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Flip the potatoes over and microwave for another 5 minutes. Remove the potatoes from the microwave and allow them to cool enough so that you can handle them (Or be impatiently like me and burn your fingertips).

Cut the poatoes in half lengthwise. Scoop out the flesh leaving about a quarter inch shell. Place flesh in a bowl and add sour cream, 3/4 cup cheese, bacon, and green onions (if desired). Mix well and season with salt and pepper. Spoon the mixture back into the potato shells. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese over the top of potatoes. Microwave for another 2 minutes. 

 Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Potato Recipes:
Potato Chips in the Microwave
Baked Potato Soup
The Ultimate Comfort Food Casserole
Roasted Sausage, Potatoes, and Peppers
Salt and Vinegar Roasted Potatoes
Twice Baked Potatoes
Very Simple Roasted Potatoes

More Microwave Recipes:
Zucchini Chips 2.0
Potato Chips in the Microwave
3-Ingredient Gluten-Free Mug Cake
Brownie in a Mug
Chocolate Chip Banana Bread in a Mug
Chocolate Chip Cookie in a Mug!
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Mug Cake
Chocolate-Hazelnut Mug Cake
Chocolate Peanut Butter Mug Cake
Fluffernutter Mug Cake
French Toast in a Mug
Quiche in a Mug
Short-Cut Caramel Sauce