Grits & Greens

11/27/2023

This is a great casserole for either breakfast or dinner. I made it to clean out a lot of garden produce that needed to get used, but the vegetables can easily be modified. Enjoy!

Grits & Greens Casserole

Ingredients

1 cup grits
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups milk
1 Tbsp. mayonnaise
1 onion, diced
2-3 stalks celery, diced
1-2 cups peppers, sliced
1-2 cups okra, sliced
1/2 lb. breakfast sausage
1 cup gouda, shredded
4-6 eggs
salt & pepper, to taste

Serves 4-6
Cook Time: 20-25 minutes

Preheat oven to 350.
Make grits by bringing stock and water to a boil; whisk in grits and cook 20-30 minutes or until grits no longer taste metallic. Add mayonnaise and salt and pepper to taste.
While grits are cooking, saute onion, celery, and peppers until softened and beginning to brown. Add sausage and cook through. Add okra and cook until softened; salt and pepper to taste.
Add cheese to grits and then mix in vegetable mixture. Using a serving spoon, make depressions (one at a time) in the top of the grits and crack and egg into each depression (it is easiest to crack and egg into a little bowl or cup and pour the egg into the depression).
Bake 20-25 minutes or until egg whites are cooked through.
*A wide, shallow casserole dish is best for this dish.

Honey Sriracha Chicken Meatballs

11/27/2023

These are great for entertaining and can be made days in advance, then reheated in your slow cooker a few hours before serving. I would recommend reheating your sauce on the stove before putting the slow cooker - it just helps things heat up more quickly. This is a huge recipe, but can easily be scaled up or down to fit your needs. Pictured with Mushroom Tartlets and Holiday Cheeseball.

Honey Sriracha Chicken Meatballs

Ingredients

Meatballs

6 lb. ground turkey
1 head of garlic, minced
2 onions, minced
3 cups bread crumbs
2 eggs
1 cup cilantro, chopped
1 Tbsp. salt
3 Tbsp. olive oil
3 Tbsp. Sriracha
Honey Sriracha Sauce
6 1/2 cups water, divided
1/2 cup Sriracha
2 cups soy sauce
1/3 cup minced garlic
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup honey
1/2 cup corn starch

Serves 50
Cook time: 2 hours and 30 minutes

In a medium sauce pan, combine 6 cups of water, sriracha, soy sauce, garlic, sugar, and honey and stir. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat. Whisk together the 1/2 cup corn starch and remaining 1/2 cup of water until dissolved. Add to sauce pan and stir until bubbly and thickened. Remove from heat and set aside
In a large bowl combine the turkey, garlic, onion, bread crumbs, eggs, cilantro and salt. Form into 1" balls (approx. 120). Set aside on a baking sheet.

Heat a large sauté pan on medium high heat, add olive oil and brown the meatballs for 1-2 minutes rolling them in the pan. Then place them in slow cooker.

Alternately, you can put them on a greased baking sheet and bake at 400 until they are 165 inside (roughly 20 minutes). Then place in slow cooker.

Pour the honey sriracha sauce over the meatballs. Cook on high 2 hours; give a stir about every thirty minutes to make sure all the meatballs are coated in the sauce.

Mushroom Tartlets

11/27/2023

These are the easiest and most delicious finger food I've got! I used to make them for tailgates all the time, but they are just as good at the holidays. It's a big recipe, but can easily be scaled up to down to meet your needs. Don't forget (like I did) to sprinkle with a little parsley to brighten them up before serving. Pictured with Holiday Cheeseball and Honey Sriracha Meatballs.

Mushroom Tartlets

Ingredients

4 packages phyllo shells (15 pieces per package)
8 Tbsp. butter
16 oz. Cremini mushrooms, chopped
1 tsp. salt
8 cloves garlic, grated
1 cup cream
1 cup parsley, chopped

Makes approx. 60
Cook time: 20 minutes

Melt butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add mushrooms, cook until they give up their moisture, then add salt. Add garlic and cook one more minute.
Stir in cream and continue to cook until thickened.
Divide between phyllo shells and sprinkle with parsley.

Holiday Cheeseball

11/27/2023

This is my favorite cheeseball to have around the holidays. It's made with white cheddar, studded with dried cranberries and scallions, and rolled in toasted pecans. The recipe below is for a crowd and makes up to 3 large or 60 small cheeseballs - it can easily be scaled to a smaller size though. Pictured with Mushroom Tartlets and Honey Sriracha Meatballs.

Holiday Cheeseball

Ingredients

24 oz. cream cheese, softened
24 oz. white cheddar, shredded
3 cups dried cranberries
1 1/2 cups scallions, chopped
3/4 cup parsley, chopped
3 cups toasted pecans, chopped
60 pretzel sticks or lollipop sticks, optional

Makes approx. 60 mini cheeseballs or 3 regular cheeseballs

Beat 1/3 cream cheese with a paddle attachment until smooth; gradually add in 1/3 of each: cheddar, cranberries, scallions, and parsley scraping the sides of the bowl often. Repeat process 1/3 at at time with remaining ingredients.
Shape cheese mixture into at least 60 balls, rolling in your palms. Roll each cheeseball in toasted pecans and refrigerate for a several hours to harden up. Using either a pretzel stick or lollipop stock, skewer each cheeseball so they resemble lollipops in shape, if not appearance.

Eggnog Cream

11/27/2023

This is a great dessert to have around the holidays: it's festive and quick to throw together! It does use a raw egg, because that's how my eggnog is made, however if that's not for you you can easily mix store-bought eggnog into the cream cheese and mascarpone cheese. Best served with my Gingerbread cookies!

Eggnog Cream

Ingredients

12 oz. mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
4 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup half-and-half
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg + more for sprinkling

Serves: 4-6
Prep time: 10 minutes

Whip mascarpone, cream cheese, egg yolks, and half-and-half until thoroughly combined (you may add more half-and-half if you would like a "looser" mixture). Combine with sugar, vanilla, and freshly grated nutmeg. Divide into ramekins, tea cups, or dessert bowls. Sprinkle with more nutmeg when ready to serve and stick two Moravian Spice cookies into cream.
The cream can be made a day or two in advance, but allow to sit at room temperature for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Chestnut Cream Cookie Filling

11/27/2023

This is an easy to make cookie filling that is full of festive flavor! Goes great with my Chocolate Sable cookies.

Chestnut Cream Cookie Filling

Ingredients

4 oz. chestnut cream
1 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 Tbsp. shortening

Cream ingredients together until cohesive. Put in piping bag and pipe between cookies to make sandwich cookies.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

11/20/2023

I know what I'll be having Thanksgiving morning - this Pumpkin Bread Pudding! It's quick to throw together and is best when allowed to refrigerate overnight. Easy and delicious!

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Ingredients

1 loaf challah or brioche, cubed
2 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
6 eggs, beaten
1 15 ox. can of pumpkin
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
maple syrup, for serving

Serves 8 - 10
Cook time:1 hour 20 minutes

Preheat oven to 350.
Whisk milk, butter, eggs, pumpkin and sugar together; add cranberries, salt, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice. Place bread cubes in baking dish and pour egg mixture over; make sure all bread is pressed down to get fully saturated with egg mixture. Cover and bake 1 hour; uncover and continue baking for about 20 minutes, or until browned on top.

Linzer Cookies

11/20/2023

I love these cookies! In truth, they're kind of a pain to make, but you can easily divide the work up over a few days. They're delicious and so beautiful they're always a hit!

Linzer Cookies

Ingredients

12 Tbsp. butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups almond flour
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup red jam
powdered sugar
matching large and small cookie cutters

Makes approximately 15 cookies
Cook time: 10-12 minutes

Cream butter and sugar together, add egg and beat until fully incorporated; add in vanilla and almond flour. Meanwhile, whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Add dry mixture to wet mixture and beat until just combined.
Bring dough together into two discs and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Roll out refrigerated dough onto floured surface, roughly 1/8" thick. Cut out cookies into desired shapes (I like Christmas trees or stockings). Using the mini-cookie cutter cut out the centers of half the cookies. Bake at 350 until edges are just beginning to brown.
Let cookies cool and smear jam onto the bottom halves (the halves that have only been cut once). Sprinkle powdered sugar onto all the halves with the missing centers. Top the powdered sugared cookies onto the jam cookies to create the classic Linzer cookie look.
Freezes well.

Gingerbread Spice Mix

11/20/2023

Here's my gingerbread mix I use throughout the holidays.

Gingerbread Spice Mix

Ingredients

2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp. ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. ground white pepper
1/2 tsp. ground mustard powder

Makes about 6 Tbsp.

Combine in mason jar and shake till completely combined.

Gingerbread Cookies

11/20/2023

These are my favorite Christmas cookies! They're a really spicy cookie that is rolled super thin - more of a snap than a cookie.

Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients

3 Tbsp. butter, softened
3 Tbsp. shortening
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg yolk
1 2/3 cups flour
1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. Gingerbread Spice
1 2/3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda

Makes 45 cookies
Cook time: 10 minutes

Preheat the oven to 325.
Whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, pepper and mustard together in a medium bowl.
Beat the butter, shortening, and sugar together using your paddle attachment until lightly and fluffy. Beat in the molasses and egg yolk. Gradually add the dry ingredients and mix together on low speed until dough is just combined and still crumbly, about 3 minutes. Give dough a few kneads to bring it together.
Divide dough into thirds, shape into disks and refrigerate wrapped in plastic wrap. On a well-floured surface roll dough until it is very thin, about 1/8"; repeat with remaining dough. Place dough on parchment-lined baking sheets and freeze for a few minute. Using gingerbread cookie cutters, or any shape you desire, cut cookies. Move cookies to new, clean parchment-lined cookie sheets (this is a sticky dough, so you will go through some parchment paper).
Bake 8-10 minutes until just barely browned around the edges. Transfer to a cooling rack after about 5 minutes and allow to cool.