Thanksgiving Dressing

Don't you love those people who make great food, but when you ask for the recipe, they can only tell you they threw in this and that with no measurements? That is the case here. I love the dressing my in-laws make, and after quizzing one of my sisters-in-law and looking at a couple sites online, I came up with this recipe. I tried it out, and will say it's easy and bursting with great flavor. I recommend adding the browned sausage - Yum! I used Jimmy Dean's sage sausage. This dish will be quick to do a disappearing act on Thanksgiving Day, so be sure to have plenty on hand to serve to the guests!
Ingredients:
2 loaves French bread, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 Tbsp. butter to grease pans
1-2 onion, chopped
5-8 stalks celery, sliced in 1/4-inch pieces
2 Tbsp. butter, to saute veggies
2 tsp. celery salt
1 Tbsp. poultry seasoning
1 tsp. dried sage
2 eggs, beaten
2 C. chicken broth (can use 2 bouillon cubes boiled with 2 C. water)
1/4 C. butter, melted
1 lb. ground sausage, browned (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two cookie sheets and set aside. Cut bread into small pieces, and place in a single layer on the baking sheets. Stir occasionally as it bakes until dried out – about 30 minutes. Allow the bread crumbs to cool and add to an extra-large bowl.
Preheat over to 350 degrees.
While the bread is in the oven, melt 1/4 C. butter in a skillet and saute onions and celery. Stir often, about 10 minutes. If you’d like to add it, brown the sausage at this point.
Add all ingredients to the bowl and stir until all ingredients are combined.
Grease a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and pour the mixture in, covering tightly with tin foil.
Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes and serve immediately. Makes 15+ servings.
Angel's Tip: Add onion and celery according to taste - I like to add more.

Mini Mac-n-Cheese Cups

These Mini Mac-n-Cheese Cups are a fun presentation of a popular comfort food – one of my family’s favorites.
All of my boys enjoyed these, and they disappeared before I could blink – I'll consider a double batch next time! A new twist in this recipe, besides making them in a muffin tin, is adding chives and onion cream cheese. (My pickier eater didn’t mind the hint of onion flavoring at all.) I imagine these would also be fun to serve at a picnic or party as well.


Ingredients:
1 1/2 C. Ritz crackers, crushed
2 C. cheddar cheese, grated and divided
4 Tbsp. butter, melted
4 1/2 C. cooked elbow macaroni – still hot! (about 8 oz. uncooked)
1/2 C. chives and onion cream cheese
2 Tbsp. butter, cold
2 large eggs
1/2 C. milk
1/4 C. sour cream
1/4 tsp. salt
Pinch red pepper flakes, optional

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Generously spray muffin tin with cooking spray.
While macaroni noodles boil, cooked according to package directions, combine the crushed crackers in a large bowl, 1 C. shredded cheese and the melted butter, mixing well until the crumbs hold together.
Divide the cracker crumb mixture among the muffin cups and firmly press the into the bottoms and up the sides of each muffin cup to make the crust. In another large bowl, combine the cooked macaroni – make sure it’s still hot – and 1/2 C. of the shredded cheddar, the cream cheese and the butter, mixing well.
In a small bowl, mix together the eggs, milk, sour cream, salt and red pepper flakes.
Add the egg/milk mixture to the cooked macaroni, and gently mix until all the ingredients are melted and smooth.
Place about 2-3 Tbsp. of the macaroni mixture into each muffin cup. Evenly top with cheese.
Any leftovers can be cooked in a separate dish alongside the muffin tin.
Bake the mac and cheese cups until lightly golden on top, about 20-25 minutes.
Let cool slightly before removing from the muffin pan. Serve immediately. Makes 12 mac-n-cheese cups.

Angel’s Tip: In the future, I may try this recipe baked in a 9x13 casserole dish with plain crushed crackers sprinkled on top in the last 10 minutes of baking.

Inspired by: The Curvy Carrot

Focaccia Bread

This is a mouth-watering bread recipe that I made for my husband for Father's Day. I love the focaccia bread sandwiches at a local restaurant, and a couple years ago a friend of mine brought some of the bread, homemade, to a potluck lunch. I hadn't thought of making it myself. My friend said she found the recipe online. Here's one I found online which I altered to make my own. It makes a soft bread that is perfect for sandwiches - it's baked like pizza, somewhat flat then cut into squares and each square is sliced in half, horizontally (think hamburger bun). Adding toppings to the bread really makes it special – the focaccia bread I made, which is pictured here, had no toppings. Since it is a bit of work – a labor of love, really – I suggest doubling or tripling the batch. The triple batch I made was gone in no time.
Ingredients:
2 tsp. yeast
1 C. warm water
2 Tbsp. sugar
3 1/2-4 C. flour
1 Tbsp. coarse or regular salt
1/4 olive oil, or vegetable oil
Toppings:
2 Tbsp. olive oil, or vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
10 olives, sliced thinly
1/4 C. Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp. coarse salt or regular
ground pepper
2 Tbsp. fresh rosemary
(all optional)
Directions:
In a bowl proof yeast, combining with the warm water and sugar. Stir gently to dissolve. Let stand a couple minutes until foamy. Use mixer on low or stir by hand with wooden spoon, slowly adding the flour. Dissolve salt in 2 Tbsp warm water and add. Also add 1/4 C. oil. Continue mixing. If hand stirring, place dough on a lightly floured surface with extra flour on hand. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic, adding flour as needed.
Form dough into a ball. Set it in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap in a warm place until doubled in size – about 30 minutes or more. (I like to turn on the oven to lowest setting for one minute, shut off, and place dough in the oven – make sure the oven is turned off!)
Add a light coat of oil to a cookie sheet and spread around (you can sprinkle with cornmeal if desired).
Once dough is ready, turn it out on counter and roll and stretch the dough into an rectangular shape about 1/2-inch thick. Lay the dough in the pan covered with plastic wrap, and let rest 15 minutes.
Meanwhile preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Saute onion in the oil on low heat for 10-15 minutes until caramelized.
Uncover dough and make dimples (about an inch apart) with fingertip. Brush dough with oil and add onions, garlic, olives, cheese, salt, pepper and rosemary. Bake on the bottom rack for 15-20 minutes. Makes one loaf for about 6-8 servings, depending on sandwich sizes.
The bread is great with any type of sandwich. I last used it with shredded chicken. It's also great with soup – just about anything!
Enjoy!
Angel's Tip: Using olive oil and coarse sea salt makes everything just a bit nicer, but if you don't have these on hand go with what you have in your cupboards, it will still turn out great!