Not your traditional Green Bean Casserole

....but it's from now on my tradition!  This was the first thing to be gobbled up at my thanksgiving, and I had NO leftovers! 

Ingredients

• 1 (10 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup (I hate mushroom)
• 3 ounces processed cheese (i.e. Velveeta®), cubed
• 1 tablespoon real bacon bits
• 2 (15 ounce) cans cut green beans, drained
• 1 (2.8 ounce) can French-fried onions

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Heat the undiluted cream of chicken soup in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the processed cheese and bacon, and continue stirring until completely melted. Remove from the heat, then stir in the green beans until evenly coated. Pour the mixture into a casserole dish, and top with the fried onions, leaving a 1 inch margin around the sides.
3. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until heated through and bubbly. Check near the end of cooking to make sure the onions aren't getting too brown.

Sweet Potatoes

These sweet potatoes were holy moly, oh so delicous!  They were so sweet and scrumptious, I feel like I should have served them with the desserts!

Ingredients

• 2 (15 ounce) cans sweet potatoes
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place sweet potatoes in a 10x6 inch shallow baking dish and pour orange juice over.
3. In a small bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt; mix together and cut in margarine. Sprinkle over sweet potatoes.
4. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with marshmallows and broil until browned.

 --Also I totally spaced on the orange juice.  I bet it really adds to the flavor!

Perfect Dinner Rolls

I was in a baking mood today!  As you may be able to tell by all my posts today!  It's finally fall here in Arizona, which means I can bake without dying of heat.  I'm so excited to try out new recipes, and put on that winter weight!  haha.  I will be hosting Thanksgiving at my house this year.   Me.  I'm making Thanksgiving dinner all by my lonesome, so I am starting to try out my recipes now.  This is the first one I tried, and I have to say it's a winner! 

By the way, I'm searching for the perfect Thanksgiving recipes, so if you have any please send them my way.  I'm looking for delicious sweet potato, green bean casserole and stuffing recipes.

Yield:  36 rolls

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups warm milk

4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 teaspoons salt

7 cups all-purpose flour, or as needed

1/2 cup butter, melted

Directions:

	Pour milk into a large mixing bowl, and sprinkle yeast over the surface. Allow to rest for 5 minutes. Beat in the sugar, eggs, 1/2 cup butter, and salt; blend thoroughly. Gradually stir in the flour to make a soft dough. Cover bowl, and set in a warm place until dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.
	Punch down the dough, cover the bowl, and allow to rise again. Repeat this step two more times.
	Break off 2 to 3 inch size pieces of dough, roll lightly into round shape, and place in prepared baking dish, edges touching. Repeat to make 36 dough balls. Cover and let rise until doubled in size.
	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
	Bake rolls in preheated oven until tops turn golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. When rolls are finished baking, drizzle melted butter over the top, and serve warm.

This is a time consuming one, but it's worth it!!

Perfect Pumpkin Pie

I have been craving pumpkin pie lately.  It's my favorite thing about fall.  Last week I hosted a Scentsy party at my house, and I wanted all the food to be fall themed.  So, of course, pumpkin pie was high on the list on desserts to be served.  I did not anticipate the huge brick wall in my way.  NO ONE is selling pumpkin right now.  I guess the pumpkin crop got wiped out last year so there is only a little supply left, so the stores wont be putting them on their shelves until closer to Thanksgiving.  So...  I had two options.  I could not make it, or I could buy an actual pumpkin (why are there real pumpkins in the stores and not canned pumpkin?  Did the Fry's worker lie to me?) and make it from scratch.  Well, I didn't want to do any of those things, so through the magic of Facebook,  I tracked down a can.

So, here is the recipe for my delicious-almost-didnt-happen-pumpkin-pie.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1 2/3 cups evaporated milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. Combine the sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, cloves, pumpkin puree, evaporated milk and eggs; blending until smooth. Pour batter into the prepared unbaked pie shell.
3. Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 15 minutes then lower oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue to bake for about another 40 minutes or until pie is firm. 

This pie was amazingly delicious and I hope you guys can track down some pumpkin so you can try it! The only thing I suggest is to cook the pie at LEAST 15 minutes longer than the recipe says. Enjoy!

Perfect Apple Pie

This apple pie is so good! I did take pictures, but here's the thing. My camera's flash is crap. It's way overpowering so it makes pictures of food look really unappetizing. See?



Not the best. (Plus, I had some crust issues. ) So I probably won't be posting as many pictures. Unless I made food during the day when there is still enough natural light to take a decent picture.

Anyway--want to make this yummy pie? Here's the recipe:

• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie (I made the Pioneer Woman's Perfect Pie Crust--very delicious)
  
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work of crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

I didn't change a thing to this recipe! It's perfect just the way it is! Top with vanilla ice cream. Scrumptious.

Pumpkin Cream Pie

Here is a delicious twist on a Thanksgiving classic:

Ingredients:


2 cups cold milk
2 (3.5 oz) packages vanilla instant pudding mix
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 cup whipped topping
1 9 inch pie crust, baked and cooled

Yes I did make my own pie crust! It turned out really tasty, just not too pretty. I'll have to practice. I'm not going to post the recipe-- just go HERE. You won't be disappointed.

Directions:

Combine milk, pudding mix, pumpkin, spices, and whipped topping in a large bowl.


Beat at lowest speed for about 1 minute.



Pour filling into cooled pie shell.

Chill until set, at least 3 hours.

Top with whipped cream!

I love this pie! It's so EASY! And delicious too!

Pumpkin Butter

I don't know if I would really call this a "recipe". Basically I had pumpkin puree left over from the Pumpkin Cream Pie, and I wanted to use it for something. I searched for a few recipes for Pumpkin Butter online, but ended up just coming up with something on my own from what I had in my kitchen. I hope you guys like it! I do!

These measurings are very approximate. I was just throwing the ingredients together trying to make something delicious!

1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 cup (?) powdered sugar

Adjust the ingredients until it tickles your fancy. I think I may have used more than a cup of sugar (maybe two?), and more like a teaspoon of the spice.