Election 2008 (of recipes, that is)

I need to make a couple of side dishes for Thanksgiving. Here are some of my favorites - feel free to leave a comment and cast your vote!

Squash casserole
1 lb frozen or fresh yellow squash
½ cup mayo
½ cup bell pepper, chopped
½ cup onion, chopped
1 egg
1 stick margarine, cut in half
salt and pepper, to taste
1 ½ cup grated cheese
20 Ritz crackers, crushed

Wash, slice, and cook squash in salted water for 15-20 minutes. Drain and blend well. Add ½ stick margarine, salt, pepper, egg, mayo, onion, and bell pepper. Pour into greased 8x8” pan. Cover with grated cheese and crushed crackers. Melt ½ stick margarine and pour over cracker crumbs. Cook at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Microwave Scalloped Potatoes
4 medium potatoes
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
¼ cup chopped onion
1 ½ cup sweet milk
½ stick butter or margarine

Peel and thinly slice potatoes; arrange in 3 quart glass casserole. Sprinkle on flour, salt and chopped onion. Pour milk over all. Dot with butter or margarine. Cover with glass lid or plastic wrap. Microwave on high for 10 minutes. Stir; recover, and continue cooking on high for 8 to 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Let stand. If necessary, reheat potatoes, covered, for 3-4 minutes or until hot.

Broccoli Casserole
2 10-oz packages frozen, chopped broccoli
Cook according to directions and drain well. Place in ungreased 3 qt oven-safe dish.

Mix:
1 can cream of mushroom soup
½ cup mayonnaise
1 ½ cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
2 eggs

Pour mixture on top of broccoli. Cook at 400 degrees for 45-50 min. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

Potato Casserole
1 2 lb bag hash brown potatoes
½ c chopped onion
1 stick melted oleo
1 tsp salt
2 c crushed corn flakes
¼ tsp pepper
2 c grated cheddar cheese
2 c sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup

Mix all together (except corn flakes and ½ butter). Put ½ oleo in mixture and top with the other half (mixed with corn flakes). Cover and bake at 350 for one hour.

Fancy Green Beans
(Recipe courtesy Paula Deen)
2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans
2 slices bacon
1/2 cup red bell pepper strips
1/2 cup thin onion wedges
1/2 cup whole cashews

In a small bowl, stir together the teriyaki sauce, honey, and butter. Fill a bowl with cold water and ice cubes.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the lemon juice. Drop in the beans and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until beans are bright green. Drain the beans in a colander and then plunge them into the iced water. Drain again and set aside.

In a skillet, cook the bacon until very crispy, crumble and set aside. Saute the bell pepper and onion in the hot bacon fat for 2 minutes. Add the beans, cashews, and bacon to the skillet. Add the teriyaki-honey sauce and toss gently.


Bacon Wrapped Green Beans
Cut slices of bacon into 3-4 pieces each. Wrap one piece around 3-4 green beans (canned kind). Stick with toothpick. Pour bottle of Russian dressing over beans and bake until bacon is done (350 degrees for approximately 30 minutes).

Corn Souffle
1 15-oz can whole kernel corn, drained
1 15- oz can cream style corn
1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
1 stick butter, melted
1 c sour cream

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Pour into a greased 13x9 inch baking pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50-60 minutes, or until center is firm.

Carrot Souffle (if you have another recipe for this, feel free to send it my way!)
1 3/4 pounds carrots, peeled and chopped
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup margarine, softened
2 teaspoons confectioners' sugar


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a large pot of boiling water, cook the carrots until very tender. Drain, and transfer to a large mixing bowl. While carrots are warm, use an electric mixer to beat with sugar, baking powder, and vanilla extract until smooth. Mix in the flour, eggs, and margarine. Transfer to a 2 quart baking dish. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until top is golden brown. Sprinkle lightly with confectioners' sugar before serving.

Fruit Sauce

On tonight's menu at our house is pork tenderloin. My favorite way to serve this is marinated the night before, then after we cook it, we slice it and serve it with this sauce (this is my grandmother's recipe). YUM! But don't just take my word for it - a friend of mine who had this at my house last spring mentioned it to me today. She remembered it after about 7 months! She is going to serve her pork tonight with this sauce and needed the recipe. I imagine this would be good with some other types of meat or chicken as well...

Fruit Sauce for Meat
Ingredients:
1 can cranberry sauce, whole berry
1- 15 oz. can pears, cinnamon (if you can't find this, just use regular pears and add cinnamon at your discretion)
1- 11 oz. can mandarin oranges
1 granny smith apple, peeled and chopped
1 cup sugar
½ cup dried fruit mix

Directions:
Cook over medium heat for 45 minutes.

"Holy" Chicken Casserole

We had this dish for dinner last night - YUM! I've had it a couple of times when a friend made it, but I just recently got the recipe so this was my first time making it. My tip: Don't let your 3-year-old help with the cheese, unless you like a LOT of Swiss cheese :) Also, I tend to substitute low fat ingredients instead of the real ones, and it turned out just fine using low fat items.

I served this with my favorite (highly seasoned) sauteed yellow and zucchini squash with red peppers, and some potatoes and green beans with rosemary sauce (one of those steamable packages from the frozen section). Next time, I think I will make several dishes of this and freeze all except one.

"Holy" Chicken Casserole
Ingredients
4-5 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
8-oz cream cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup
shredded Swiss cheese
1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed
1 stick butter, melted

Directions
Mix first 3 ingredients together in casserole dish. Sprinkle cheese on top. Mix melted butter and crackers and place on top of dish. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-45 minutes, until hot and bubbly.

Delicious Dips!

It's party season, and that means time for lots of great appetizers. Here are some very yummy dips that I've made or tried lately. For the first three, you can make these to your spiciness preference. For all of these, you can use low fat cheeses and other ingredients to make them a little healthier.

Rotel and Corn Dip
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can Rotel tomatoes
8-oz cream cheese
mozzarella cheese

Completely drain the corn and Rotel. Soften the cream cheese and mix all ingredients together. Place in an 8x8 dish and cover with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Great with Fritos.

Cream Cheese and Salsa Dip
2 8-oz packages of cream cheese
16 oz salsa
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Layer the ingredients in a 13x9 pan in the order shown. Heat at 350 for about 30 minutes and serve with tortilla chips.

Smoky Cheese Dip
This one is from Holly's parents - they served it Halloween night and it was sooo yummy! They didn't know amounts though, and said they just taste it as they are making it. I'm not always successful with recipes like that, but someone please make this and invite me to your party!

Shredded cheddar cheese
Jalapenos in a jar (chopped)
Liquid Smoke (be generous for an extra smoky flavor)
Mayonnaise

Mix all ingredients, including some of the jalapeno juice - make the spiciness to your liking. Don't use too much mayo - just to tame some of the jalapeno flavor and make the dip stick together. Form into a ball and serve with Fritos. YUM!

Apple Dip
This is the best thing that ever happened to apples - I think even better than the apple pie!

2 8-oz cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 package Health chips

Let cream cheese soften. Blend cream cheese, sugars and vanilla; add Heath chips (if making ahead, don't add Heath chips until the day of the party because they will slightly melt over time). Buy the apples already sliced in the produce section, or slice apples and put in pineapple juice so they will not turn brown.