Two Potato Gratin

This is a super yummy holiday side dish!  This crowd pleaser is a bit more gourmet than a regular potato cheese dish, and adds a festive flair to your holiday feast. 

I made this recipe for the first time at least nine years ago.  The original recipe called for a crust, and then we realized it didn't really need one.  So, I revised the recipe a bit and now share it for you to enjoy!

Two Potato Gratin

1 Garlic clove minced
1 T. Fresh Rosemary (or 1 tsp. dried)
1 1/2 lbs Sweet Potatoes
1 1/2 Yukon gold potatoes
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2 c. Gruyere cheese (divided)
2/3 c. Heavy cream


1.  Peel and thinly slice the potatoes.  We use our mandolin to get even slices. (Make sure you use the guard so you don't lose a finger tip...)

2. Place the potatoes into a greased 9-10 inch round pan, or 9x13 pan.  I place them in a pan by alternating every other type.  For a round pan, I make a round design.  For a rectangular pan, you can do one row of potatoes in one direction, the next row lying the opposite direction, and so on. 

3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

4.  Roughly mince the fresh rosemary.  Or, if using dried - I usually put the dried in my hand and crush it up with my fingers. 

5.  Sprinkle the salt, pepper, and rosemary evenly over the potatoes.  (Honestly, I don't really measure. So, you can play it by ear a bit here.)  Sprinkle with 1 cup of the cheese.

6.  Microwave cream and garlic together on high just until boiling. Pour over the potatoes and cheese. 

7. Sprinkle with remaining cup of cheese. 

8.  Cover with aluminum foil.

9.  Bake for one hour.  Uncover and bake for 25 minutes or until the potatoes are done.  Check the potatoes at 45 minutes, if they are already soft, uncover and bake until the top is a light golden brown.

10. Enjoy!!

Thanksgiving Turkey

Years ago, I discovered turkey bags to cook turkeys in and now it's the only way I cook my turkey. 

They are so easy to use and make a yummy, moist turkey! I think it comes out similarly to cooking a chicken in a crock pot, but a 23 pound turkey just won't fit in my crock pot.

You need a cookie sheet, a cake pan, or roasting pan. Whatever your turkey will fit in.

Thanksgiving Turkey Recipe

1 T. flour
Onion quartered
Celery chopped
Butter
Salt

Wash your turkey, take out the neck and bag of giblets. My mom would cook those on the stove in some water and make additional broth out of it. My uncle would even use the liver, etc. to cut up and put in the stuffing. We rub the turkey all over very well with butter.  Then, we cover it very generously with salt and massage it in. Then, follow the directions in the roasting bag box.  Once the turkey is in the bag I fill it with however much onion or celery I feel like (or that I had in my fridge, ha!)

You can see the broth level in the bag below after it was cooked! Yum! We poke a hole in the bag and drain the broth out.  We use the broth to make our stuffing instead of using water.  We also make gravy with the drained broth.

I was out of the kitchen or distracted when the timer went off and our turkey probably even over cooked a bit.  You can tell the turkey is done when the timer pops up, and the legs fall away from the bird, and the breast bone splits in the middle (you can see it in the picture below).  The meat literally falls off the bone. Enjoy!

Cranberry Mousse Jello

My mom used to make some kind of fluffy cranberry jello recipe for some holidays.  Since she isn't around to ask, I've been trying to figure out what comes closest to her recipe!  This is pretty close I think, though not exact... This recipe calls for nutmeg, which I will omit the next time I make it.  Though, it gives it a holidays kind of taste, I don't like it in this recipe.  This recipe calls for pecans, which I also leave out.  

I use my Tupperware jello mold and it comes out great!  I made this for Thanksgiving, but it could also make an appearance at a Christmas dinner as well. 

Cranberry Mousse Recipe
Recipe from Here

• 1 package (6 ounces) strawberry gelatin
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple
• 1 can (14 ounces) whole-berry cranberry sauce
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• 2 cups (16 ounces) sour cream

Directions 

In a large bowl, dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Drain pineapple, setting the pineapple aside and adding juice to gelatin. Stir in cranberry sauce, lemon juice and peel. Chill until mixture thickens. Fold in sour cream and pineapple. Pour into a glass serving bowl or an oiled 9-cup mold. Chill until set, at least 2 hours. Yield: 16-20 servings.

Coconut Nog Ice Cream

This is the same concept as the Mint Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream I posted a few weeks ago.  (Though the chocolate has less sugar!)  So simple, a little bit healthier than regular ice cream, and so super easy your three year old could do it!  (Like mine...)

Just pour your Coconut Milk into your ice cream maker and turn it on!  In about thirty minutes you have some ice cream!!!  If you turn it off sooner you have a shake - you choose!  If you want a firmer ice cream you stick it in the freezer for a bit until it's to your desired firmness. 

If you want the real deal Egg Nog Ice Cream go HERE. 

St. Patrick's Day Soup

I thought I would be festive and try this soup for the upcoming St. Patrick's Day.  To get my kids to eat it I told them this is what Leprechaun's ate and called it Shamrock Soup.  Mostly, the kids just ate the sausages and potatoes out of it, but oh well. 

I thought it was great, but I love cooked cabbage!  It made the house smell really wonderful!  The apple cider vinegar at the end made the soup seem like it would taste kind of sauerkraut-y.  It didn't really, but it was so good!  I had ahem, multiple helpings.

Rustic Irish Potato and Cabbage Soup Recipe
Recipe from HERE

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and cut into chunks
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1-pound head of green cabbage, cored and sliced thin (I put mine in the food processor so it was super tiny sized)
4 medium gold or white potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
4 sausages or brats (I used 1 lb. smoked sausage)
4 cups light gluten-free broth (I  used vegetable broth)
1 cup of gluten-free lager or ale- optional (I used vegetable broth)
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds- crush them if you like (didn't have - I used1/4 tsp. celery seed)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 pinch raw sugar (I used an unpacked T. of brown sugar)

Instructions:

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat and add the onion; stir for five minutes or so. Add the garlic and cabbage and stir together; cook until the cabbage has wilted. Add the potatoes, carrots and sausages. Stir. Season with caraway, parsley, sea salt and fresh ground pepper.

Pour in the broth; stir together. Cover and bring to a high simmer; then lower the heat a bit and simmer until the vegetables are fork tender- about 45 minutes.

Add a touch of cider vinegar and a pinch of raw sugar to liven things up. Taste the soup and season to your liking.

Potato Gratin with Rosemary

I tried another new recipe from this month's Southern Living magazine. I was very unsure how this would turn out, but I thought it was super yummy. Though, next time I'll work on a few things to make it look prettier.

It is a potato gratin with rosemary crust using gruyere cheese - see recipe and pictures HERE.

A few adjustments to the recipe:

1. It says to bake it at 450 degrees - that is just way too high - it burnt my crust. Next time I'll cook it at a lower temperature but for longer.

2. 3 pounds of potatoes did not fit in my 9 inch springform pan. I wasn't able to use one whole sweet potato.

3. I didn't microwave the cream.

4. I think this would be delicious without the crust as well, just mix the rosemary and extra cheese in with the potatoes. Even prettier if baked in a pyrex so you can see the layers to the potatoes.



I was worried there wasn't going to be enough liquid, but I stuck to the recipe and it was great.

It's like a sophisticated au gratin potatoes - love it!

Cranberry Lime Drink

I love a yummy drink recipe. This is perfect for the holidays! It is a little tart, fresh, and very tasty!

I got the recipe out of Southern Living's magazine, you can see it here.

They call it a punch recipe, but I wouldn't categorize it as a punch, it's more of a lemonade-y, club soda-y kind of drink. I changed the recipe a little; not adding the alcohol and I used regular limes instead of key limes.

2 c. fresh cranberries
1 c. sugar
1 c. water

1/2 c. fresh lime juice (about 2 1/2 limes)
5-6 c. chilled club soda

Combine cranberries, sugar, and water in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 8 minutes or until cranberries begin to pop. (Once, I actually cooked it too long and ended up getting cranberry pulp in my drink. You just want the syrup.) Pour mixture through wire-mesh strainer into a large pitcher. Cool completely. Stir in chilled club soda, and lime juice.

So yummy.

I need more.

Easter Dinner Place Cards

I have always wanted to dye Easter eggs and have them turn out like they do in a Martha Stewart magazine. However, they never do.

This year, I wanted to try doing the monogrammed eggs. They say using vinyl cutouts are best, but I don't have a vinyl cutter, so I just used stickers I've had for years.

They turned out pretty cute. The only thing is, when you take the stickers off to dye them again, there is a sticky residue left on the egg that doesn't help with keeping clean lines.

It turned out all right though, just not perfect.

These would make great place card settings for an Easter dinner.

My other favorite Easter place card setting is to stick a place card in a Peep. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd take a picture of it for you, but you can imagine it, right?

Valentine's Day Dinner

I wanted to make a special Valentine's Dinner for John and I.

Our menu:

Beef Wellington
Baked sweet potatoes
Asparagus drizzled with lemon, garlic butter
Homemade Raspberry Italian creme sodas
Molten Lava Cakes
Homemade white chocolate covered strawberries (our favorite)

I had tried Beef Wellington at a wedding about three years ago and have wanted to try and make it ever since. I finally did yesterday. I researched a lot of recipes, chose one, printed it up, and forgot to buy some of the ingredients. Some of the recipes seemed to be very heavily seasoned with thyme, and I like thyme, but didn't want just a thyme seasoning. So, this recipe ended up being my very own creation.

HOLLY'S BEEF WELLINGTON RECIPE:

2 lbs of filet mignon (okay, this is pretty pricey, so I only bought one pound of this (2 filets) and one pound of top sirlion filet (3 filets), which didn't turn out as tender, but still good, and cheaper!)

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Dijon mustard (I forgot to add this, but had seen it in one of the recieps, and had really wanted to try it. I think it would have tasted good...)

1 Box of Puff Pastry (thawed to room temp.)

1 egg

Rosemary or Thyme sprigs for garnishing (I didn't have, but would have looked great on top of the finished pastry)

Most recipes say to tie meat into a circle shape, I didn't care about that, so I didn't do it. Drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Pour a little olive oil in the bottom of a pan and heat over medium heat. Sear filets, about three minutes on all sides. Remove from heat, and lightly smear with dijon mustard (I forgot to do), let it cool slightly, and then cover with plastic wrap and set in fridge. (I read that this is to prevent over cooking during the baking process)

Mushroom Filling Recipe (Called a Duxelles, but I don't use words I'm not sure how to pronounce.):

1 lb. of white mushrooms

2 green onions (most recipes called for shallots, but I forgot to buy some...)

1/2 tsp. dried thyme (you could use fresh, also forgot to buy...)

1 tsp. dried rosemary leaves (I was going to use fresh, and when I went to get some from my herbs outside, it didn't look very good...)

4 cloves of garlic

Peel mushrooms (don't wash, just peel outside layer off), and then put above ingredients in a food processor and pulse until finely shopped. Add 1 T. butter, and 1 T. olive oil in skillet, and saute mushroom mixture for 6-8 minutes over medium heat until most of the liquid has evaporated. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk one egg, to make an egg wash. Roll out puff pastry on lightly floured surface. Cut desired size to wrap beef in. Spread a portion of the mushroom filling onto the pastry, and top with beef. Wrap up the beef, sealing edges with egg wash, and brushing the top of the pastry with egg wash.

Bake at 425 degrees for about 40 minutes until pastry is golden brown and beef registers 125 degrees on an instant read thermometer. (I know filet mignon is supposed to be served very rare, but I don't do pink, so my meat was cooked a little longer. I actually overcooked the sirlion a little to most people's standards, but not mine.) Next time, I'm going to try and make these as appetizers.

John's favorite dessert is chocolate molten lava cake. I have, and have made a ton of those recipes, but decided I would try a new one for our Valentine's dinner. Turns out it that this is my favorite molten lava cake recipe I have tried yet (and I've made a lot). It is Paula Deen's recipe, and you can find it HERE. (MY TIP: When the timer went off, my hands were full, so I just turned off the oven and left the cakes in there, and by the time I went to take them out they had burned on the edges. So, when these are done, take them out of the oven!! I also didn't add the orange flavoring that the recipe called for.) DELISH!

Valentine's Day Breakfast

Planning breakfast in bed for your Valentine? Here's some ideas:

I made some homemade bagels in the shape of hearts. (There are a lot of recipes online, make sure to choose one that you boil the bagels first before baking them. I read that those were the best kind.)

I made three spreads to go with the bagels.

Cinnamon Spread: Beat 4oz. cream cheese 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, and 1 1/2 T. brown sugar.

Honey Almond Spread: Beat 1/4 c. toasted almonds minced, 4 oz. cream cheese, 1 T brown sugar, and 3 T. honey.

Raspberry Spread: Use the cream cheese filling recipe below.

My husband's favorite was the cinnamon spread.

I made doughnuts with a chocolate sauce. I tried a new recipe, but didn't love it enough to share it. You can use most doughnut recipes that you shape the dough. I rolled out the dough and used heart cookie cutters to shape them. You can make your favorite chocolate sauce recipe. I just adapted my fondue recipe to make a sauce.

Now, for my new favorite breakfast recipe! My own special creation... It has a few steps, but well worth the time it takes to make!! Let's just say my husband asked for it two days in a row.

Gourmet Stuffed French Toast

1 large loaf of french bread cut into wide slices (you could also use Texas Toast, but french bread is a sturdier bread)
Raspberries for garnish if desired

Peach Sauce:
1 bag of frozen peaches
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 T. corn starch
1/2 tsp. almond extract
generous pinch of nutmeg

Cut up peaches in smaller pieces. Put them in a small saucepan. Mix together sugar, corn starch, and nutmeg and pour over peaches and mix well. Add almond extract. Heat over medium heat, stirring often, until mixture is to desired thickness. If you want your peaches in smaller pieces you can take a potato masher and mash the peaches in the sauce. Set aside.

Raspberry Sauce:
1 bag of frozen raspberries
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 T. corn starch

Put the thawed raspberries in a small saucepan. Mix together sugar and corn starch and pour over raspberries and mix well. Heat over medium heat, stirring often, until mixture is to desired thickness. Strain seeds. Set aside. (You can use raspberry jam, but I prefer making my own sauces. If you use raspberry jam that has seeds, heat it so you can strain the seeds out as well.)

Cream Cheese Filling:

8 oz. cream cheese

1/4 c. + 1/8 c. raspberry sauce

(You could also add 1/4 c. powdered sugar, but there is plenty of sweetness in the rest of the recipe that you don't really need it...)

Beat cream cheese and add raspberry sauce. Beat until well combined. Set aside.

Using a sharp knife, cut a pocket in the bread, and fill it with the cream cheese filling. (You could also sandwich two pieces of bread together with the cream cheese in the middle, but I think the pockets are cooler.)

Egg Wash Mixture:

3 eggs

1/2 tsp. vanilla (if you love the almond flavoring you could add 1/2 tsp. of that as well)

1/3 c. half & half (you could use milk)

dash of nutmeg

Whisk all ingredients together in a wide shallow bowl. Holding your piece of bread flat, dip each side of the bread lightly in the egg mixture, just getting the top and bottom wet, not the sides. DO NOT IMMERSE.

Cook on a greased griddle or in a greased pan until done to desired done-ness (not really a word, I know). Do not flatten with spatula as it will cause the filling to come out. On a plate, top french toast with peach sauce, and garnish with raspberry sauce, sweetened whipping cream, and fresh raspberries if desired.

TIPS: You could make all the sauces, and filling ahead of time - even two days or more ahead. All that needs to be heated up before serving is the peach sauce. You could even slice and pocket the bread the day before hand, and put it back in the bag. Also, for an added touch for Valentine's Day; when garnishing, you could pipe the raspberry sauce in shapes of hearts on the serving plate.

Valentine Pastries

For family night last night, we made cherry cheese turnovers in the shape of hearts. (We talked about love). My two year old had fun playing with the scraps of puff pastry, as did my five year old. The recipe:

Cherry Cheese Turnovers

1 box of puff pastry dough
1 can of cherry pie filling

For the cream cheese filling: Beat together 4 oz. cream cheese, 1/4 cup powdered sugar, and 1/2 tsp. vanilla.

For the glaze: Whisk together 1 1/4 cup of powdered sugar, 1 1/2 T. milk, and 1/4 tsp. vanilla.

Follow the directions on the box for the puff pastry (don't let it over thaw, then it is a little more complicated to work with, and I've found it puffs up nicer if the dough is a little firmer). Cut out desired shapes. Spread on cream cheese filling and top with cherry pie filling (stay away from the edges). Put a top layer of your dough on top and press around the edges with a fork. Bake at 400 degrees 15 - 18 minutes, until slightly browned and puffy. Drizzle with glaze. (With the left over scraps that my children didn't play with, I made funny shaped turnovers, and baked any smaller pieces of dough by itself.)

I wanted to do an open heart to show the filling, so I cut a smaller heart in the middle of my larger heart.

My husband didn't have any faith in my open heart, and thought the cherries would run everywhere, so he and my son made full covered hearts.

Here are some other fun things you can do with pastry for Valentine's Day:

I made a Blueberry Raspberry Pie, and covered it with hearts.

You could also make a chicken pot pie and do the same thing, or make individual chicken pot pies with a single heart like I did.

Lots of fun things you could do with pastry dough for Valentine's Day!

Holiday Meal Idea

I had a pork tenderloin I needed to use, and decided to make up my own recipe for a stuffed pork loin. I had a few setbacks - the tenderloin was cut in half already when I opened the package causing me not to have as thick of pork to work with, I didn't feel like finding my kitchen string (it's such a multi-purpose item that it could be anywhere in my house or work room...) so my pork didn't stay rolled very well, and I didn't have an orange to use for the sauce and chutneys like I wanted to (so I subbed with canned mandarin oranges, which was fine, though not as strong a flavor, but still fine).

I made a sausage, cran-apple stuffing to stuff the pork with and cooked it covered in cranberry sauce, and made a cran-apple chutney to serve it with.

You can make your own with your own choice of seasonings, stuffing, or sauce.

STEP ONE: Butterfly your pork loin, beat it with your meat tenderizer, and season it to your liking. I ran out of time to be too creative and just used salt and pepper.

STEP TWO: Make a stuffing. I was going to make my own from scratch, but knew I wouldn't have time, so I used the pork stuffing mix. You could just stop there, but I wanted to add some spice to it, so I added; a cooked apple, minced onions, garlic, cooked sweet Italian sausage, and about one fourth of my homemade cranberry sauce (you could use canned, I just like to add other flavors to mine).

STEP THREE: Spread stuffing on pork, roll up pork, tie it with string, cover it with your remaining cranberry sauce. You could use any sauce, or even a jar of preserves (apricot), or even apple cider (I've done apple butter). Bake @350 for 45 - 60 minutes depending on the size of the pork and how thick or thin you made it.

STEP FOUR: Make a sauce to serve with it, or you could do the same sauce you bake the pork in. I just made a different sauce because I wanted to experiment a little.

STEP FIVE: Enjoy!

It's so fun to create your own recipes. You start with the basics and add in new flavors you like!