Barefoot Contessa Old Fashioned Banana Cake

How were your holidays? Merry and bright? Were they "the most wonderful time of the year"?  I love the holidays, starting with Thanksgiving and ending with New Years. Love the focus on  Christ, family, service, love- lunch with dear friends, smelling the pine tree, nativities, snow, snow, snow, music, and unearthing all of the decor that has been in hibernation for the past 11 months. Love the way the home looks after it's all decorated. So cozy and warm. Love the outside lights. For the past few years one of our neighbors have lit up a huge tree in their front yard.  Hundreds of lights. I'm not sure why, but every time I passed that tree all lit up, it made me smile. That was December.
Now it's January. I wonder, why is it all of the decor, etc. (in my home) looks so wonderful... up until January 2? Then it takes on a different look. The look of CLUTTER. The look of, "put me away, I was so last month". 
Scene in my house right now. It's 10:30 AM, everyone is still asleep. Jake is sick, Brooke and Stephen home from college, were up late. And I'm looking at the clutter. I've come up with an idea to enlist their help in stashing the clutter  decor.  I'll bake something yummy. The smell will waft through the air into their rooms, it will be enough to make them wake up and come to the kitchen. Then, after feeding them something sweet, I'll talk them into helping me pack and clean.  It's a plan.

Had some old bananas sitting on the counter. Found this recipe in Ina Garten's   "How Easy Is That" cookbook Sheri gave me for Christmas. Mixed up in about 5 minutes. Cooked up in about 40. Really moist. Absolutely delish served warm. Will work for food? 
Works for my kids.

Old Fashioned Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Barefoot Contessa- How Easy is That cookbook
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3 very ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream (I used low fat)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour, after sifting
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
powdered sugar for sprinkling on top
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)
Cream cheese frosting ( optional,recipe follows)
Walnut halves, for decorating

PREHEAT oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 x 2-inch round cake pan, or line the pan with a piece of parchment or wax paper cut to fit inside the cake pan.  Spray the liner and sides lightly with cooking spray. 

MIX bananas, granulated sugar and brown sugar in bowl with an electric mixer on low speed until combined. Add oil, eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Add flour, baking soda and salt. With mixer on low,  mix just until combined. Stir in chopped walnuts if using. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, turn out onto cooling rack.

Serve warm, sprinkled with powdered sugar, or cool completely and top with Cream Cheese Frosting. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (1/2 pound)

MIX cream cheese, butter and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment on low speed until just combined. Don’t whip. Add sugar and mix until smooth.

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Carrian's One Hour Rolls

It's two weeks till my favorite holiday of the year. I'm not going to give you the lecture. Again.

Thanksgiving=home made. That's all I'm saying.

One Hour Rolls. Really, one hour?? My review. Easy. Quick. I was skeptical when I saw this recipe on Sweet Basil, another Utah bloggers site. Every other quickie roll recipe I had ever tried left me not quite satisfied with the result. This is the exception. Light, quick, easy, and yummy.

Easy to make a batch, or two, or three on Thanksgiving day. I think the recipe yielded about 18 rolls. I took Carrian's suggestion and shaped the rolls into knots. Loved the way they turned out.

Carrian's One Hour Rolls

Sweet Basil

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1 tablespoon yeast, rounded
1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 1/4 cup milk, scalded
4 tablespoons butter

2 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup warm water
4 cups flour, plus more for kneading and surface

2 tablespoons melted butter, optional

Sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the warm water.
Melt the butter in the scalded milk. Stir to cool.
Mix eggs, 3 remaining tablespoons sugar, salt and dissolved yeast mixture to a bowl.

When milk mixture is cooled a bit (not hot), add to egg mixture.
Mix in flour. Knead dough on a floured surface, or in a mixer, adding flour until rolls are no longer sticky to touch.

This is where usually, rolls are left alone to raise for about an hour. No need with this recipe.
Roll out in desired shapes and place on lightly greased baking pan.
Place rolls in draft free place*, brush lightly with melted butter and let raise while oven is preheating. I left my rolls to raise until the rest of dinner was about 15 minutes away from being done.
Turn oven to 400 degrees and place rack in middle of oven. When oven is preheated, bake rolls for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Tips:

-*Remember, when letting items raise on a kitchen counter, best to look for the warmest spot in the kitchen. Maybe it's the top of your dryer? Granite or stone surface counter tops are not a good choice unless you are trying to quickly cool items. Tke your hand and place it on the granite if you don't believe me. Always place a towel (or two) on a stone surface if leaving dough out to raise.

-**To make knot shapes, roll the dough out, cut into strips about 6 inches long, 1 inch wide and about 1/2 inch thick. Take the strip and tie into a loose knot. How loose? Not so loose that you can see through the knot. Snug, but not so tight the dough breaks. Tuck the ends under, place on baking sheet and brush top lightly with butter. It's not as complicated as it sounds. Just experiment with a few and you'll get the hang of it. You'll also discover how large or small you like the rolls.

-Do not add too much flour when kneading dough. This will produce a tough roll. Also, the roll will be hard to shape.

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Elk and Potatoes with Brown Gravy and Beaten Butter Biscuits

Have I told you before Grant is a crazed bow hunter? Well, he is.

Here is our life.

Part of it anyway.

About early April. Grant bumps up his 3-4 day a week runs to 5-6 days a week. He starts shooting his bow about 3 times a week too (which eventually ends up being 5-6 days a week by July). Every night around 10, he calls his brother Brett, (they are like Siamese twins, separated at birth) who lives 1.3 miles away. Yes, they have measured. The convo goes like this:

G- "Hey what's up" nonchalantly.

response I can't hear from Brett.

G-"Did you run?'

response.

G- in an even more nonchalant way- "Did you shoot?"

response.

Now Grant is answering the same q's, Brett is asking him.

Every.

Night.

Why is this relevant?? Years ago, when they started hunting together, they decided to use a point system to see who would get to fling the first arrow on the elk hunt. Here's how the elk hunt goes, when you hunt in a pair:

Typically, one hunter calls in the elk, using a hose type device (kind of like a vacuum cleaner hose) called a "grunt tube" Yes, really, that's what it is called. Usually, it's covered in a piece of camo fabric kind of like a huge scrunchie. They make sounds into the tube. Sometimes it's a "bugle" sound, sometimes it 's a cow (girl elk) sound. In my mind, the cow elk must sound like:

"Honey, I found the remote for you!"

Click here if you want to see a demo. This is serious business.

Anyway, long story short, the hunted elk hears the sounds, comes running to what he thinks is a real animal and the other hunter then takes his shot at the animal.

Getting in to shape- good idea if you are hauling around a pack like this.

So, G & B decided to keep track of fitness and shooting points all summer long. This would motivate them to be in great shape when they needed to hike all over creation to find the elk, deer, sheep, mountain goats, or whatever they were (are) hunting and perfect their bow hunting skills ( like Napoleon D). On the night before the opener, they tally the points to see who will hunt first, and who will call. The person with the most points gets to hunt first. It's suppose to be a surprise.

The only problem is, the nightly phone call keeps them up to date on who is ahead in the scoring system. And often possesses Grant to do midnight temple runs. In the end, it is never a surprise. Does this make sense? Don't answer that question.

Crazy.

Bow Brothers aka G & B, Dit and Dot.

Anyway. Almost every year, we are fortunate :) to have some type of game in our freezer. To date, we have had: elk, venison (deer), mountain goat, moose, big horn sheep, bear, antelope, turkey and duck. No the duck was not shot with a bow. But yes on all of the rest.

My boys love bow hunting as well. They tagged along as when

they were younger, and are now hunters themselves.

The hat Jake is wearing in this pic is called the

"Good Karma Hat". All hunters must put it on their head,

including Brett and his kids, before a hunt begins.

Serious.

Cooking Part:

So, the big question is always - "Do you eat the meat??" or "Do you cook it??"

The answer, yes. Not as often as I should, but yes. Over the years I have experimented with many different cooking methods. My tried and true is a Swiss steak- Ill post that sometime. Wild game is tricky. Unlike beef, or pork, there is very little, if no fat on elk meat, or any marbling of fat. Grant (my no- cooker hubs) recently found the secret to cooking delish wild game. Searing, and not overcooking, only cooking to medium rare, at most. Seems simple. But for some reason, this has escaped me all of these years.

A while ago, I used some tenderloin elk steaks to make this wonderful dish. I'm not a huge fan of wild game, but this was really yummy. Tender pieces of meat, rich gravy, buttery biscuits. You could of course, use beef in place of the wild game, if your hubs is a girly man, and isn't a hunter.

That was a joke.

Let me know if you need some elk steaks, I have about 900 lbs in my freezer.

That, my friends was not a joke.

Elk and Potatoes with Brown Onion Gravy &

Beaten Butter Biscuits

A Bountiful Kitchen

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Beaten Butter Biscuits:

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

3/4 cup cold milk, whole or low fat

Ina food processor fitted with a metal blade, combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Pulse several times to combine. Add the butter and pulse again several times until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. With the motor running add the milk. Continue processing just until the dough forms a ball.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times gently. Pat out to an even thickness of about 1/2 inch. Using a round biscuit cutter, cut out biscuits.

Bake 15-20 minutes at 425 if serving alone, or if topping casserole, place on top of prepared dish. Bake whole casserole uncovered, at 425 for 15 minutes.

Meat/potato layer:

1 lb elk or venison steak, cubed

3-4 cups cubed cooked potatoes, any type

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced

herbs optional- oregano, basil, parsley

In about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, saute the onions in a saucepan until tender. Remove. Turn the heat to medium high, and sear the cubed meat. Make sure to not over cook. Cook just until the outsides are brown. Turn off heat.

Transfer meat, cooked onions and garlic and any desired herbs fresh or dried into a casserole dish. Set aside.

Gravy:

adapted from Ina Garten

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion ( about 2 small onions)
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups beef stock, heated
2 tablespoons red or brandy cooking wine, optional OR

2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
1 tablespoon heavy cream, optional

In a large (10 to 12-inch) saute pan, cook the butter and onions over medium-low heat for 12 to 15 minutes, until the onions are lightly browned. Make sure the onions are well cooked, this brings out great flavor in the gravy.
Sprinkle the flour into the pan, whisk in, then add the salt and pepper. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the hot beef stock mixture and cooking wine or Worcestershire, and cook uncovered for 4 to 5 minutes until thickened. Add the cream, if desired. Season, to taste.

Assembly:

-Place meat mixture in greased casserole dish.

-Top with gravy.

-Place biscuits on top

-Bake

Tips:

-Don't let the length of this recipe scare you. Start to finish (prep), I can make this dish in about 30-40 mins. Then pop in the oven and bake. Best to make when you have leftover baked potatoes.

-I usually make gravy without a recipe, but knew you would seriously consider opting out of our cyber/blogger friendship if I didn't give specifics. Ina's is a good basic gravy to make and use in this recipe.

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Fool Proof Chocolate Bundt Cake with Fudge Frosting

I've had this recipe since we first got married. It came from one of my SIL's and it is one of my three box mix approved recipes. Number one was Spinach Herb Twists. Dos: Simple Lemon Almond Poppy Seed Cake. This recipe is big number three. After this, I only have one more box mix approved recipe to share with you. I know how you LOVE mix recipes. Seriously. So pay attention.

Tops 10 reasons I love this cake, why you will love it and why grown men, women and children have been known to literally beg me to make this:

1. Suuper easy.

2. Super high fat. Not really a reason why I love it, but face it, the reason it tastes so good.

3. Super yummy/moist.

4. No fail recipe.

5. Doesn't matter how many times you make it, peeps always eat it all up.

6. Travels well, sliced or unsliced.

7. Usually have all of the ingredients on hand.

8. Mixed, baked and frosted in about 1 1/2 hours. Most of this time is baking/cooling time.

9. Great all purpose party/gathering cake: farewell, homecoming, shower, funeral.

10. Who doesn't love a BUNDT.

Chocolate Bundt Cake with Fudge Frosting

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1 cake mix - chocolate (any name brand will work)

1 small box instant pudding, chocolate or vanilla, dry

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup water

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 cup (or about 1/2 package) chocolate chips, semi sweet

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

*Generously grease a bundt pan.

Combine cake mix, dry pudding mix and sugar together in bowl. Add rest of ingredients, mix until all ingredients are combined well (with blender), about one minute. Pour into prepared pan, and bake on middle rack of oven for about 50-60 mintues or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on wire rack.

Let cake sit for about 5 minutes, loosen edges with a table knife, and invert onto a platter.

Cool completely, then frost.

Fudge Frosting:

1 cup (or about 1/2 package) semi sweet chocolate chips

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 to 1 cup powdered sugar

dash salt

milk to thin

Melt chocolate chips in double booiler or microwave safe dish. Add the butter and beat until smooth. Add powdered sugar 1/2 cup to begin, then add vanilla and dash of salt. Add remaining powdered sugar, continue to mix until desired spreading consistency. Add milk to thin. Top cake with frosting.

Tips:

-*When baking a cake in a Bundt pan, it took me a LONG time to figure this out: Generously grease the pan- key word generously. I use PAM, a cooking spray. Any type of cooking spray, or brushing the pan with oil will work as well. I don't use solid shortening bc it may leave a white film on the baked goods after they cool.

-This recipe works with any combo of: choc cake/choc pudding, choc cake/vanilla pudding, yellow cake/choc pudding.

-Works with low fat sour cream, but better texture with regular sour cream.

-Can make this in two 9 inch loaf pans. Start checking for doneness at the 45 min mark. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment or wax paper, grease paper.

-Great w or w/o the frosting.

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Mother's Day Menu 2010 -Part 3 Grilled Veggies and Winner!

Thanks to all who shared what you love most about your MOM, or what you love most about being a MOM. Loved reading your comments. The Random Counter picked - #1 ( wow, number 1, it pays to enter early, who knew?) Bonnie who said:

"This is one of my favorite ways to cook potatoes. I loved being a Mom when my girls were little. I loved to dress them up in frilly matching outfits. I love even more that now they are older, we shop together like friends, and they dress me up in the latest fashions."

Sweet, Bonnie! Email me at Abountifulkitchen@gmail.com, and I'll send your gifts.

Another quick and easy recipe for your Mo Day menu. Grilled veggies. Fire up the grill, or if you are having inclement weather, ahhhhem. Hello, Weather People in Charge (is that your title?), ITS MAY.

NO.

MORE.

SNOW.

Please.

Grilled Vegetables

swiped from ABK Mo Day 2009 menu

printable recipe

Assorted vegetables MOM likes:
Asparagus, zucchini,carrots, peppers yellow and red,
onions, mushrooms
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper

This is easy: Cut some veg's like asparagus, carrots (not the minis), and some onions, mushrooms up. Uh- you washed them right? Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle a little olive oil over the top. Grill the vegetables, turn and remove from BBQ. If you have a fresh lemon, squeeze it over the top of the vegs when they are almost done. Don't over cook, they should still be a little firm to the tooth. It takes about 10 minutes, tops with the heat on medium to low heat. Grill the vegetables before the meat if your grill is on the small side. It's OK if they are done before the meat. They don't have to be hot. After you grill the vegetables, take out a nice platter and arrange them on the platter. Cover with foil until everything is ready to serve. Vegetable shrink up a bit after cooking, so make a little more than you think you will need, you know Mom will eat the leftovers.

Tips:

-If it's bad weather on Mo Day, which I'm not counting on, but just in case - you can "grill" veggies inside too. Either use a pan with grill marks or turn the oven on to 450 degrees, convection is great, if you have it, and cook until veggies start to blacken a little.

Key words: A little.

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Mother's Day Menu 2010 -Part 2 Parmesan Baked Potatoes and Giveaway! CLOSED

This is one of Di's easy and yummy go-to recipes. It's the perfect accompaniment to our Mo Day main dish, which I'll post later this week. Another dish Mom's going to luh-huv.

Giveaway time! Just in time for Mother's Day.

From the Hip Hostess- A Demi Style apron of your choice:

The Hip Hostess is a Mother/daughter team (you won't believe they are mother-daughter when you see their pic!) who design and sell darling 100% cotton aprons for all occasions.

Hip Hostess special deal to A Bountiful Kitchen readers -

20% off on your order-Expires May 10th. Promo code: KITCHEN

From Jennifer Curtis, Pink Chandelier Jewelry designer,

one custom made charm:

From yours truly :) at ABK - two cookbooks:

one for you, and one for your mom...

The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook

and the tried and true New Better Homes and Gardens cookbook:

To enter- Share what you love most about your MOM or what you love most about being a MOM. All entries must be posted by Friday, April 30 at midnight. Winner will be chosen by Random.org Winner announced on Saturday May 1st.

Parmesan Baked Potatoes

printable recipe

6 tablespoons butter, melted

3 tablespoons fresh grated Parmesan

8-10 medium red potatoes, scrubbed and halved

Pour butter into a 9x13 pan. Sprinkle grated cheese into pan. Place potatoes cut side down on top of cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until tender. Sprinkle generously with Kosher salt and pepper. Serve while hot. You may bake these and keep warm, covered with foil in a 200 degree oven.

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Miss Daisy's Chocolate Cake

A few weeks ago, after I posted Lemon Almond Poppyseed Cake, I am coming to the realization that people WANT easy, easy, easy. Did you notice I made a new category - Seriously Simple? You would not believe how many people sent emails, called or stopped me at church, the gym, school or grocery store to say how much they loved Lemon Almond Poppyseed cake. Hmmm. REALLY? Because, if Marge had not asked me to post it, I never would have. I mean, I love it, and it's a great cake, but I thought it was one of those recipes everyone has. Guess not.

Kind of like this one. I made this a few weeks ago, for a big family dinner so there would be a- slam dunk kid friendly dessert. At that gathering, we only had two other desserts planned. Being food freaks, we always try to have at least three desserts at every dinner. Sick, I know.

Oh, the recipe. I made this cake and a few days later Brookie and Corrine asked me for the recipe. So, usually I make it in a jelly roll pan ( 12 x17, inside measurement). And it feeds a crowd. But my favorite way is to make it in a 9x13 pan, bc I like my cake to be a bit thicker. I've been making this recipe or a variation of it for at least 25, maybe closer to 30 years, it's always a pleaser. And it's simple. You can mix it all up in one pan, cook and frost it in 40-45 minutes. You don't even have to wait for it to cool to frost it.

This particular version comes from the book Miss Daisy Celebrates Tennessee, which I purchased on a trip with Grant, Brett, Di and Sheri to Nashville in 2002. Love that place. Watched Sara Evans perform in the Grand Ole Opry. Stayed in the Opryland Hotel (where I ate some Almond Joy cake that was about half a foot tall, still dream about it). Met up with some of our fave people in the world, Will and Mary Primos. Went to the CM Hall of Fame. Toured some beautiful plantations. Ate a lot. Shocking, I know. Every meal was sauced, gravied and/or fried. Ate until I was sick.

My kind of vaca.

Miss Daisy's Chocolate Cake

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1/2 pound butter melted

4 tablespoons cocoa, unsweetened

1 cup water *

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

Grease and flour a 9x13 pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa and whisk until smooth. Add water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and sift the flour into the saucepan with the butter mixture. Add the sugar, soda and salt. Add the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Pour batter into prepared 9x13 pan. Bake for about 30-35 minutes.

While cake is baking, prepare frosting.

Frosting:

1/4 pound (1 stick) butter, melted

4 tablespoons cocoa

6 tablespoons buttermilk

1 box or about 4 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped pecans, optional

After making cake batter, rinse saucepan. Melt butter, cocoa and buttermilk in pan. Bring to boil. Add sugar and vanilla, stirring until smooth. Pour over warm cake. Sprinkle with chopped nuts.

*I used 3/4 cup water

Tips:

-This cake has many variations:

1. If you want to cut the amount of fat, without losing flavor, substitute 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil for one of the cubes of butter in the cake batter.

2. Add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon to the batter

3. If you don't have buttermilk, sour cream works.

4. Oven temps from 350 to 400 work. Adjust the amount of baking time.

5. Using milk in the frosting instead of buttermilk works. Any type of milk is fine. For the cake, don't sub plain milk for the buttermilk. Use a buttermilk substitute if you don't have any buttermilk.

6. Most recipes for this cake include using chopped nuts and mixing the nuts right into the frosting while mixing. Personally, I don't like this method/presentation. Whenever we see a cake with the nuts mixed right into the frosting, Grant asks me "who ate this before us?"

I think it's more appetizing to sprinkle the chopped nuts on top of the cake. :)

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Simple Lemon Almond Poppyseed Cake

So remember when we had that talk about using boxed mixes? And I told you I only have a few recipes I like, where I use a box and like the result? This is one. Actually, there are 3 total. But I don't ever post them, bc I think to myself - I'm sure everyone has and uses this recipe.

Guess not.

I ran into my friend Marge the other day (don't you love that name?) at the paint store. Yes, I was buying paint. Not a happy place for me. Let's just say sewing is not my only challenge. Anyway, she asked me if I had a good Lemon Poppy seed recipe, and asked if I would post it ASAP. Super simple, hence the name. Really moist, seriously almost fail proof. The original recipe came with some yawner icing, but adding fresh lemon juice and lots of zest makes this special.

Marge, this one's for you.

Lemon Almond Poppy seed Cake with Fresh lemon Icing
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Cake ingredients:

4 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons almond extract

1 cup water

2 tablespoons poppy seeds

1 package lemon cake mix (I like Duncan Hines)

1 small (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding

Icing ingredients:

2 cups powdered sugar

Juice from 1-2 lemons (about 1/4 cup juice)

zest from lemons

dash salt

2 tablespoons melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a bundt pan.

Cake:

Mix all wet cake ingredients together with mixer until blended . Add dry ingredients, including poppy seeds, mix until all ingredients are blended well, about 3 minutes.

Pour into prepared pan. Bake for about 40-50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes, before inverting onto serving platter.

Prepare icing, and frost cake when completely cooled. Serve with fresh strawberries.

Icing:

Melt butter, add to powdered sugar, lemon juice and zest, and salt in bowl. Whisk or beat until smooth. Thin with a little milk, water or lemon juice if too thick.

Tips:

-I use 1-2 lemons depending on the amount of juice extracted and the size of the lemon. You will need about 1/4 cup lemon juice to make the icing spreadable. If using one lemon, only take the zest from one lemon as well. If you want to thin the icing a bit, you may use a little milk.

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Sara's Southwest Soup

Last week, we had this:

So I made this:

Easy, easy, easy.

Quick.

Yummy.

What more could you ask for???

Well, maybe -

In a perfect world, this:

Sara's Southwest Soup
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1 package chicken tenders or two whole chicken breasts
2 large (28 oz) cans crushed tomatoes
2 (14 oz) cans chicken broth
1 small package frozen sweet white corn
1 clove garlic, crushed
Juice and pulp of 1 lime
¼-1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Dash of red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper
½ to 1 teaspoon cumin

Cook chicken in oven or crock-pot until done with garlic and red pepper flakes.

Add rest of ingredients to large pan simmer until hot. Serve with dollop of sour cream, grated cheese and tortilla chips.

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Chunky Yams and Apples

Yams. About twice a year I get a craving for some. My mom always made the type out of the can, with marshmallows melted on top. Still does. Every year. In the same dish. An oval cream colored casserole with fainted gold leaves printed on the sides. When I grew up and started making Thanksgiving dinner on my own, I tried several sweet potato/yam recipes. For years, I made the mashed type, tasted almost like pumpkin pie filling with a pecan brown sugar topping. They were yummy, but I grew tired of the dish after years of making it, and gravitated toward yams with chunks of apples and a sweet, buttery, not to spiced coating. Every time I fly through Atlanta, I go to Paschals ( airport version). It's a Southern restaurant, and they have really yummy candied yams. I've experimented with several recipes trying to duplicate that texture and flavor. This one is close (with the addition of apples). Another great make ahead dish. You can make it a day or even two ahead, and on the day of feasting, take it out and bake. More time for watching the parade. Or planning Friday shopping. Or playing in the Turkey Bowl.

Absolutely NO IDEA why Tay is wearing a BYU Law shirt?

Justin, my nephew started asking everyone in the family (back in September) if they would be attending. Not if they would be attending Thanksgiving dinner, if they would be attending THE Turkey Bowl. Taylor, our sports superstar, is the female rep. in the picture. The rest of us womenfolk :) are back at the homestead, getting dinner ready.

Chunky Yams and Apples
print recipe

4 yams, about 8 cups cooked (after peeling)

1 apple, peeled, cored and chunked

6 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

dash salt

additional brown sugar for topping

Place the yams, sliced in half, skin on, in a large pot of water. Bring to boil and cook for about 20-30 minutes, or until soft and skins are beginning to peel away from yam. Remove from water and let cool. Peel and cut into large chunks. Set in greased 9x13 or large casserole dish. Peel and cut an apple into small chunks. Place apple chunks on microwave safe plate and cook for 3 minutes on high. Add to yams in casserole. In microwave or small saucepan, melt butter, add lemon juice, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Pour over yams and apples in dish. Crumble about 1/4 to 1/2 cup additional brown sugar over top of yams. Cover and refrigerate if using later. Bake covered with foil at 350 for 30- 45 minutes, until yams are heated through and sugars are bubbling.

Tips:

- I prefer apples that are not too tart, McIntosh or Jonathan's work well.

-You can double this dish and use the same size pan, the layer of yams will be thicker, and require about 10-15 minutes more baking time.

-If baking after refrigerating, let dish sit out of refrigerator for about 30 minutes, uncovered, or bake for an additional 15 minutes.

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