Corn Casserole

This is one of my favorite holiday dishes but I rarely make it because I'm the only one that likes it.  I know in most other families this is served often, especially in the South.  The beauty of this dish is that it is incredibly easy.  With all the work that goes into most holiday mains and sides, this yummy dish is a welcome respite.  

8 oz Jiffy Corn Muffin mix 

15 oz can whole kernel corn (drained)

15 oz can creamed corn

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup melted butter

2 eggs

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  In a mixing bowl, mix all ingredients together and then pour into a greased 8"x8" baking pan.

3.  Cook uncovered for 45-50 minutes or until lightly browned.

Note:  You can omit the eggs.  However, using eggs makes the casserole lighter.  

If cheese is your thing, you can mix 1/2 to 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese or cheese of your choice.

If you like super sweet things, you can add 1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar.  Just beware:  Using sugar makes an already sweet casserole extremely sweet.  Using eggs and sugar in this recipe makes this more like a dessert.

Serves 8

Thanksgiving 2019

With my son away in the Army, it was just myself and my parents for Thanksgiving.  That didn't stop us from making enough food for 20 people.  With my current health problems due to an auto accident three years ago, cooking is very difficult for me.  Sadly I wasn't able to contribute as much as I would have liked due to physical limitations, but there was certainly more than enough and at least I got to make a few things.

Our menu this year was as follows:

Cornish Hens (my mom made these)
Ham (my mom made this for my dad because he doesn't like anything "weird")
Gravy (my mom made this)
Mashed Potatoes (I made these because I always do)
Sweet potatoes (my mom made these)
Green Beans (my mom made these and they tasted like Sonny's green beans, which I love)
Squash Casserole (I made this)
Dressing (my mom made this)
Asparagus (I made this)
Baked Beans (my mom made these because my dad loves them)
Corn Casserole (I made this because I love it)
Deviled and Hard Boiled Eggs (my mom made these)
Biscuits (my mom made these)

Because the meal was so nontraditional, I used a very modified formal place setting for the table with my great grandmother's china.  I wasn't expecting the biscuits, because my mom had made no mention of bringing any bread and since we usually don't eat bread with our meals, I wasn't planning to make any.  In light of all this, I replaced the bread plate with the coffee cup/saucer.  I also eliminated the extra wine glass as I was only serving a single wine.  My parents really don't care about wine like I do so I didn't worry about getting formal with the wine.  I also removed the sherry glass because I'm the only one that drinks sherry.  And the salad fork is missing because I wasn't actually serving salad.  The salad plate is on the place setting to give everyone more plate room for all the side dishes.  And since we were not having any fish/seafood, I eliminated the fish knife and the fish and seafood forks.   As I said:  A highly modified formal place setting.

Nontraditional or not, we enjoyed the meal.  Of course, there are more leftovers than you can shake a stick at.  I'm quite certain we'll all be eating leftovers for more days than we care to!  And now the Christmas meal planning begins.  Christmas often closely mirrors Thanksgiving, but my dad mentioned he wanted my seafood pasta this year for Christmas so I thought perhaps we might do a traditional Italian Christmas meal.  We shall see.

Thai Chicken Vegetable Soup

I made this soup a few months ago and it was amazing!  It's incredibly easy and quick to make thanks to using Swanson broth.  It's good when it's first made, but is even better warmed up.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into 2" matchstick-thin strips
1 medium red pepper, cut into 2" matchstick-think strips
1 cup sliced mushrooms (shitake, oyster, cremini), optional
1 carton (32 oz) Swanson Thai Ginger Flavor Infused Broth
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 can (about 14 oz) unsweetened coconut milk
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1.  Heat the oil in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add carrot and pepper, cook for 5 minutes or until tender-crisp.  Stir in mushrooms, if using.

2.  Add broth to saucepan and heat to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low.  Stir in chicken, cook 5 minutes or until chicken is hot.

3.  Stir in coconut milk and cook until mixture is hot and bubbling.  Stir in lime juice and cilantro.

Serves 5 (about 1 1/2 cups per serving)

New Year 2015

I've already spent my first morning of 2015 in the kitchen!  No complaints from me!  I have already made my first pot of soup.  Nothing gourmet, mind you!  I simply had some chicken broth from a chicken done in the slow cooker and then some base left over from last night when I made cabbage and kielbasa.  I also had a few vegetables I wanted to use and some quinoa that just needed to be used up.  Not only do I now have lunch for today, but I also have lunch for next week at work.  Since I'll start visiting the ducks at the park for lunch each afternoon this is very handy.  I've missed my ducks and can't wait to start seeing them again!

As for 2015 kitchen goals...

I want to keep trying new recipes.  I want to get better about trying at least two a month, but would prefer to try four a month.  But we'll see.  It seems like I get so busy thoughout the year and I never meet this goal.  We'll see how it goes this year.

I also want to continue to eat as much organic as I can.  I know some don't believe eating organic really makes any difference, but I do know I feel much better when I do. 

This year I plan to finally buy my rice maker.  I just have to find a place to store it!  And I'm going to be purchasing more bento boxes from my wish list.  I think I'm looking forward to the bento boxes the most!

I hope you're year in the kitchen is tasty and fun with lots of new adventures!

Chicken Stir Fry

My son and I had this for dinner tonight and we really liked it.  I was super pleased with the way it cooked up.  It is very easy to prepare and quite tasty.  And I'll admit, I was trying to finish up laundry so instead of stir frying the veggies properly, I stirred them long enough to coat them with the sesame oil to give them the proper taste and then threw a small amount of water in the pan and put the lid on and let them steam a bit while I took care of the laundry.  Maybe it's cheating, but when you're the only one doing every bit of the housework for two humans and four animals, shortcuts become a way of life.

2 cups white rice
4 cups water
2/3 cups soy sauce (I used reduced sodium soy sauce, but either works fine.)
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch (If you don’t have cornstarch, 2 tablespoons flour will work.)
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger (If you don’t have fresh ginger, ¼ teaspoon ground ginger will work.)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, thinly sliced
2 tablespoon sesame oil, divided
1 green bell pepper, cut into matchsticks
1 can (8oz) sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 head broccoli, cut into florets (If you don’t have fresh, 3 ½ cups frozen florets will work.)
1 cup sliced carrots
1 onion, cut into large chunks

1. Prepare rice according to package directions. I like to put a bit of sesame oil in the water.

2. Combine soy sauce, brown sugar, and cornstarch in a small bowl; stir or whisk until smooth. Mix ginger, garlic, and red pepper into sauce; coat chicken with marinade and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.

3. Heat 1 tablespoon sesame oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir bell pepper, water chestnuts, broccoli, carrots, and onion until just tender, about 5 minutes. Remove vegetables from skillet and keep warm.

4. Remove chicken from marinade, reserving liquid. Heat 1 tablespoon sesame oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir chicken until slightly pink on the inside, about 2 minutes per side; return vegetables and reserved marinade to skillet. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until chicken is no longer pink in the middle and vegetables are tender, 5-7 minutes. Serve over rice.

**Try adding bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, snap peas or any other of your favorite veggies. You can also serve over noodles.**

Serves 6

Thanksgiving 2014

I've gotten several questions this year asking what we serve at Thanksgiving and asking for the recipes.  Ours is not a traditional Thanksgiving meal, but it does have a few traditional dishes.  And it's very good.  At least we think so! 

2014 Thanksgiving Menu

Chicken (As a family, we do NOT like turkey.  So as a family we decided we wanted a heavy hen for
   dinner.  My mom roasted it and it was very good, of course.)
Hog Maw (This is our preferred holiday meat.  I made this.)
Gravy (Of course my mom made this using some of the pan juices from the chicken.)
Mashed Potatoes (My son requested these and I made these.)
Green Bean Casserole (My son requested this and I made it.)
Sweet Potato Casserole (My son requested this and I made it.)
Collard Greens (I love these and so does my mom.  My son and dad do too, but not as much.  I made
   these.)
Steamed Pole Beans (My mom thought perhaps we needed a "normal" vegetable on the table.  I made
   these.)
Fried Cabbage (I had cabbage leftover from the maw so decided to fry it up.)
Cranberry Sauce (My mom requested this and I made it.)
Cole Slaw (My dad requested this and my mom made it.  Her's is perfect and I can't duplicate it.)
Deviled Eggs and Hard Boiled Eggs (I wanted the deviled eggs.  My mom made them because I can't
   duplicate her perfect deviled eggs.)
Stuffing and Dressing (My mom made this.)
Cornbread (My mom made this.)
Biscuits (My mom made these.)
Pineapple Upside Down Cake (This is my son's favorite so my mom made it.)
Homemade Pink Lemonade (My mom made this.)

And this was only for four people.  Needless to say we have a ton of leftovers.  We've eaten some of the leftovers today, but I fear I'll be eating leftovers for the rest of my life!  And then comes Christmas.  My son has already requested a ham so I'm on the quest for the perfect ham now.

In the coming days I'll post recipes for the individual dishes.  As I post the recipes I'll come back here and add a link directly to the recipe.  I won't post recipes for my mom's dishes (I don't know them).

Buffalo Shrimp Salad

My son was going through some recipe cards I had laying on the table and picked this out as something that he wanted to try "right away".  Although instead of a salad like the original recipe called for, he wanted his in a wrap.  Really there is no difference.  Just take the salad and stuff a wrap with it.  Pretty easy.  This turned out really good and is something that is great to take to work for lunch too.

1 large fresh mango, coarsely chopped
1 medium avocado, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 lbs peeled/deveined shrimp (thawed), tails removed
1 tablespoon garlic herb Buffalo wing seasoning
1 bag (9-10oz) romaine lettuce
1/2 cup Caesar dressing
1/4 cup Buffalo wing sauce
1/4 cup honey

1.  Preheat oven to broil and line a baking pan with aluminum foil.

2.  Chop mango and avocado, discarding peel and seed.

3.  Arrange shrimp on pan in single layer.  Sprinkle seasoning over shrimp and broil 4-5 minutes or just until shrimp turn pink and opaque.

4.  Place romaine in salad bowl.  Combine dressing, wing sauce and honey.  Drizzle 1/2 of the dressing over the lettuce and then top with shrimp,mango and avocado.  Drizzle the remaining dressing over prepared bowls and serve.

Serves 4