If you love to cook, you've come to the right place! Every recipe you'll find here has been made by one of us in our home kitchen. Each one is good enough to share with our friends.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Praline Sweet Potatoes

Located at 4 o'clock in the picture, the Praline Sweet Potatoes is a recipe I've been meaning to try for ages (I printed the recipe out in 2001!!!)  Very sweet and decadent - not a recipe for your everyday sweet potatoes, but for a special meal, definitely a treat.  The recipe calls for four cups of mashed sweet potatoes, so I guessed at four potatoes.  Well, by the time I finally made it (the ham dinner was delayed a couple of times), two of potatoes no longer looked so appetizing, so I halved the recipe.  I think I ended up with a bit more than two cups though.  But even so, I halved everything else and it still came out absolutely amazing! (edit December 15 2016 to add a new picture taken on Thanksgiving)

Ingredients

  • 4 cups mashed sweet potatoes
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • 1/2 pint heavy cream (1 cup)
  • 1/4 pound butter (8 Tbsp)
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 cups chopped pecans

Directions

  1. Butter one 2 quart casserole dish. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. In a mixing bowl, combine the sweet potatoes, sugar, vanilla extract, eggs and cream. Blend well, and spread evenly in casserole dish.
  3. Prepare the topping by combining the butter, brown sugar, flour and pecans. Mix until crumbly, and sprinkle over sweet potato mixture.
  4. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Red Velvet Waffles with Cream Cheese Icing Drizzle

Rachael Ray had these on her show at Valentine's Day and I finally got around to making them.  I made a couple of small changes to it... I never find 4 oz blocks of cream cheese, only 3 or 8, so I went with 3 and stirred in part of the milk until it looked drizzley.   And I have no idea where to find pomegranate seeds, so I skipped them entirely and used the whole 6 oz container of raspberries, which might have been slightly over the one cup.  We had them as a breakfast treat for Easter. And a word of caution, I used a Belgian waffle iron, so I was guessing at how much to ladle in... the batter is thinner than regular waffles (or at least my regular waffles), so go with less than you think or you'll have batter all over the iron and counter.  Oh, and on the show, she used liquer in her berries, but I skipped that too, already decadent enough for breakfast, didn't need boozy berries too!

Ingredients

  • 1 box of red velvet cake mix
  • Nonstick cooking spray
  • For the Cream Cheese Icing Drizzle:
  • 4 ounces cream cheese, one small block, softened
  • 3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • For the Red Berry Salad:
  • 2 cups strawberries, sliced
  • 1 cup red raspberries
  • 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
  • 1 tablespoon sugar 
Yields: 8 waffles

Preparation

Preheat waffle maker to medium-high heat.
Prepare cake mix to package directions. Once waffle iron is hot, spray with cooking spray. Pour 2 cups (about half) of the cake batter into the waffle iron. Cook 5 minutes; carefully remove from the waffle maker.

For the cream cheese drizzle, cream together cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and salt into a bowl. Slowly whisk in milk. Set aside.

Mix together all ingredients for the red berry salad in a small bowl.
Top each waffle with a heaping spoonful of red berry salad and a drizzle of cream cheese

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Shrimp & Broccoli Fettuccine

 Alas, this was not among my favorites for the cooking cremes (Enchiladas still win!).  Not bad, but I would make some changes the next time.  I used a whole pound of shrimp (what was I going to do with 1/4 pound that would've been left?) which turned out to be too much (boyfriend said that he prefers his shrimp breaded) and I left out the tomatoes as he doesn't care for them and a 1/4 cup seemed negligible.  I wasn't sure how far the cream sauce would go so I didn't add more broccoli as I was inclined.  One cup of broccoli is not enough, particularly if you want to make this a one dish meal.  I would increase the amount of pasta, double the broccoli, and use a 1/2 pound of shrimp (which would leave enough to make it again another time! - and more economical too).  If and when I make it again, I'll let you know how the changes came out.

1/4 lb. fettuccine, uncooked
1 cup broccoli florets
3/4 lb. frozen cooked cleaned medium shrimp, thawed
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tub (10 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Savory Lemon & Herb Cooking Creme
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup chopped tomatoes

Directions

Cook pasta in large saucepan as directed on package, omitting salt and adding broccoli for the last 3 min. Drain; keep warm.
Cook and stir shrimp and garlic in large nonstick skillet on medium heat 2 to 3 min. or until shrimp are heated through. Add cooking creme and milk; cook and stir 2 min.
Add pasta to shrimp mixture; mix lightly. Top with tomatoes.