Sausage, Rice & Noodle Casserole

It has been quite a while since I made this casserole, which used to be a staple of our newly-wed days. I don't know why it's taken me so long, because after making it again I remembered how yummy it is. It's easy and the sausage makes it a little different from your average casserole. My kids loved it, even my 1 year old, so I'm sure I'll start making it more regularly. It's such a homey tasting dinner.

Sausage, Rice, and Noodle Casserole

1 lb bulk pork sausage (I used 12 oz Jimmy Dean reduced fat sausage)
1 onion, chopped
1 cup rice
1/2 cup slivered almonds
4 cups water
2 envelopes dry Lipton Chicken Noodle Soup mix

Brown sausage with onion in a large skillet. Add rice and slivered almonds and cook until almonds just start to brown; spread into a 9x13 baking dish.

Meanwhile, boil 4 cups of water and add Lipton Chicken Noodle Soup Mixes to it. Stir well. Pour this over the sausage/rice mixture in the baking dish, stir around to distribute ingredients evenly. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 1 hour. Take foil off and bake another 10 minutes or until rice is cooked through.

Green Beans Almondine

This is such a great, classic side dish. I love green beans, especially with the nutty flavor of browned butter and almonds. It is also a great side dish for holiday dinners like Thanksgiving and Christmas. You could make these green beans extra special by adding cooked and crumbled bacon and Craisins. I used frozen green beans,  because that's what I had on hand, but you could also use fresh green beans.

Green Beans Almondine

2 lbs frozen green beans (I used frozen whole green beans)
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup slivered almonds
garlic salt, to taste
salt, to taste
ground pepper, to taste

Place green beans in a colander and rinse with water (I find this gets rid of any freezer burn taste). Place rinsed green beans in a microwave safe bowl, cover, and microwave on high for about 8 minutes or until green beans are heated through. Drain green beans and set aside.

In a large skillet melt butter. Add slivered almonds and cook on medium high heat until butter and almonds just start to brown. Add in green beans, a few shakes of garlic salt, and salt and pepper to taste. Toss green beans with butter and almonds and heat through. Serve immediately

Crock Pot Stuffing Chicken

This is a great crockpot chicken recipe. It's easy and the chicken turns much moister than a lot of crockpot chicken recipes. I bet you could make this with frozen chicken breasts, just increase the cooking time a little. I served it with green beans almondine (recipe coming soon) and crescent rolls. It was a lovely dinner.

Crock Pot Stuffing Chicken

5 chicken breasts, thawed
1 box chicken Stove Top stuffing mix
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1 can cream of chicken soup

Place chicken breasts in the bottom of slowcooker. Dump box of stuffing mix (the dry mix) on top of chicken. In a bowl combine sour cream, milk, and cream of chicken soup. Spread the soup mixture on top of the stuffing. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours. Fluff stuffing and soup mixture with a fork and serve stuffing over the chicken.

Creamy Creamed Corn

I think creamed corn is a rather polarizing vegetable - either you love it or hate it. Well I think this recipe can change your mind if you're in the "hate it" camp. It is not like the canned stuff at all and it is oh so decadently creamy and yummy. How can you go wrong with corn, cream, and butter?? It's really good. I made it for Thanksgiving and I think I changed a lot of negative opinions on creamed corn with this recipe.

Creamy Creamed Corn

2, 20 oz packages frozen corn (40 oz total)
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoons flour
ground black pepper to taste (I use about 1/4 teaspoon)

In a large saucepan/pot, combine frozen corn, cream, milk, sugar, and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl whisk together melted butter and flour. Pour this flour mixture into the corn and stir well. Bring to a boil again and cook until thickened. Add pepper to taste and more salt if necessary.

60 Minute French Bread

This is a fast, easy, bread to make to go along with any dinner and the bread is so good. I am so glad I tried yet another French bread recipe because I love this one. It's from the blog Jamie Cooks it up. I was so surprised that it was made from start to finish in one hour. And it makes 3 loaves! We only ate one loaf with cheesy chicken and rice soup the other night, so I put the other 2 loaves in the freezer and I plan on making garlic bread with them to go with spaghetti and meatballs.

60 Minute French Bread

1 cup boiling water
1/3 cup warm water
1 tablespoon instant yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon shortening (I used butter flavored)
1 cup cold water
5-6 cups bread flour
1 egg

Preheat oven to 170 degrees.

Fill a glass measuring cup with 1 cup of water; microwave until boiling, about 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, fill another glass measuring cup with 1/3 cup warm water. Stir 1 tablespoon of yeast into the water with a fork. Stir until yeast is completely dissolved. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together: 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of salt, and 1 tablespoon of shortening; pour the 1 cup of boiling water over these ingredients and mix for about 30 seconds. Add 1 cup COLD water. Pour in the yeast/water mixture. Add 3 cups of bread flour and turn mixer on to slow speed. Add flour one cup at a time until you have a fairly firm dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl (for me I added about 2 1/2 more cups of flour for a total of 5 1/2 cups of flour used). Knead dough on high speed for 8 minutes. Let dough rest in bowl of mixer for 5 minutes.

Turn out dough onto a non-stick sprayed surface. Divide dough into 3 equal pieces. Let dough rest for another 5 minutes.

Take one section of dough and press into a rectangle with your fingers. Roll from smaller side, tucking under ends and sealing seams. Place on a non-stick sprayed cookie sheet. Repeat with other 2 dough pieces. Cut 3-4 angled slits in the formed loaves. Beat egg in a small bowl until frothy. Brush each loaf with beaten egg (this gives it a nice shiny crust).

Place cookie sheet with loaves into the preheated 170 degree oven and let rise for about 15 minutes (leave oven at 170, don't turn it off). Turn up oven to 400 degrees, leave loaves in oven while it comes up to temperature, and bake for 15-20 minutes or until tops of loaves are golden. Turn down oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Remove loaves from cookie sheet and cool on a wire rack.

No-Bake Individual Creamy Pumpkin Pies

Sometimes pumpkin pie can be a little heavy. This is a great, creamy, pumpkin pie treat that is not heavy at all. It's actually more like a light pumpkin cheesecake and it's made in individual servings - yummy and cute! So if you're looking for a different pumpkin pie recipe for Thanksgiving, give this a try. It's really delicious.

No-Bake Individual Creamy Pumpkin Pies

Crust:
1 sleeve graham crackers (9 sheets of crackers)
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Filling:
8 oz package cream cheese, softened
15 oz can pumpkin
3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1, 1 oz package sugar-free cheesecake instant pudding mix
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
12 oz tub Cool Whip, thawed

Topping:
prepared whipped cream
ginger snap cookies

Instructions:
Place graham crackers in a food processor and pulse until crackers are ground into fine crumbs. Add melted butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Pulse until combined. Place 2 tablespoons of this mixture into the bottom of 10-12 half pint canning jars, ramakins, or small plastic cups and press with a spoon just to make crust an even layer. Place jars in fridge to set while you make the filling.

In the bowl of a mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat cream cheese until light and creamy. Add pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, and instant pudding mix and beat until completely mixed, scraping down sides of the bowl. Add sweetened condensed milk and mix until combines. Mix in Cool Whip until well combined. Cover mixture with plastic wrap and allow to chill in fridge for 1 hour.

Place chilled filling in a pastry bag with large tip, or use a large ziplock and snip the corner off. Pipe the filling into the jars on top of the graham cracker crusts. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

To serve, top individual pie with whipped cream and a ginger snap cookie if desired.

Thin Pizza Crust Dough (makes 2 large pizzas)

This is a great pizza crust recipe from Pioneer Woman. I had been wanted to try this for a while, but I kept forgetting to make it early in the week, the dough ages for 2-4 days in the fridge. Finally, I just made it one Wednesday morning and on Friday night baked it into the most wonderful thin crust pizzas. The finished pizzas reminded me of Ledo's Pizza, one of our favorite pizza places when we lived in Maryland. Really, really yummy. I am a huge fan of thin crust pizza, but about half of the rest of my family likes thicker crusts, so I'll probably rotate this recipe with my ususal pizza recipe for future pizza nights.

As a Note: I've seen this dough listed with 1 teaspoon of yeast and with 2 teaspoons of yeast and I'm sure either would work, though this time I used 1 teaspoon of yeast and with the 2 1/2 days of proofing time in the fridge it worked great. I would probably use 2 teaspoons of yeast if I was making this dough for use on the same day.

Thin Pizza Crust Dough

1 teaspoon yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup olive oil

In a measuring cup, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water. Set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer, combine flour and salt. Add olive oil and mix until just combined. Add yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined and dough pulls cleanly away from the bowl. Spray the inside of a large ziplock bag with cooking spray. Place dough in bag and seal. Place in the fridge for 2-4 days. *Alternatively, if making pizza the same day you can place dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise for a couple of hours.

Making Pizzas:
Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Take 1/2 of the dough and roll it out to the size of a cookie sheet. Spray cookie sheets with cooking spray and place rolled out dough on cookie sheet, stretching out dough to the edges. Repeat with other half of the dough. Top uncooked crusts with pizza sauce, then shredded mozzarella, and toppings of choice. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly - I found cooking pizzas on bottom racks helps them cook on top and bottom best. Remove from oven and cut into squares.