Creamed Spinach

Creamed Spinach

1 bunch spinach 

1 Tbsp butter

2 cloves minced garlic

1/3 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

In a large pan, heat 2 tsp. of olive oil to on medium until hot. Add the spinahc, season with salt & pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, 2 to 3 minutes, or until wilted. Transfer to a strainer; hold or rest the strainer over a bowl. Using a spoon, press down on the spinahc to release as much liquid possible; discard the liquid. Transfer the spinach to a cutting bard to cool. When cool enough to handle, finely chop. Wipe out the pan.

Melt the remaining butter on medium until hot. Add the garlic and chopped spinahc. Cook, stirring frequently, 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until fragrant. Turn off the heat. Add the cheese and 2 Tbsp of water. Stir until creamy. 

This recipe was taken from Blue Apron.

Sweet Corn Chip Dip

Sweet Corn Chip Dip
2 packages cream cheese
2 cans diced green chiles
1 large bag frozen sweet petite white corn
1/2 stick of butter
salt & pepper to taste

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Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Microwave until corn is cooked through and stir. Serve while warm with chips.

Monster Mash Bites

I wasn't going to include these in my Halloween dinner because they didn't look Halloweeny enough, but the recipe looked so good, I decided to do them anyways. They were DELISH!

Monster Mash Bites
4 cups instant mashed potatoes, cooled
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
4 Tbsp. chopped chives
3-6 slices bacon, crisply cooked, crumpled
6 eggs
1-3/4 cups plain bread crumbs
Vegetable oil for deep frying
1 container (16 oz.) sour cream
2 tsp. dry ranch dressing mix
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In large bowl, mix mashed potatoes, cheese, 2 Tbsp. chives, bacon and 1 of the eggs until blended. Shape mixture into 1-inch balls.

In shallow bowl, place bread crumbs. In another bowl, beat remaining 5 eggs. Coat potato balls with bread crumbs, then dip into eggs and coat again with bread crumbs.

In deep fryer, heat 2 inches oil to 375°. Fry potato balls, in batches, in hot oil 1 minutes to 1-1/2 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

In small bowl, mix sour cream, 2 Tbsp. chives and the dressing mix. Serve warm potato bites with sauce.

7 Layer Jello

This jello could be made for any occasion in any color variety, but this time I decided to make it in red for Valentine's Day. I used Raspberry and Strawberry jello in mine. Then I used some heart shaped cookie cutters to cut it out. I LOVE how it turned out. You could also do more or less layers as desired. The website where I found the recipe did a 5 layer jello and it was just as cute.

7 Layer Jello
4 pkg. 3 oz Jello (lemon, orange, lime, strawberry)
4 pkg. Knox unflavored gelatin
1 can sweetened condensed milk
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Mix 1 pkg flavored jello with 1/2 pkg of unflavored gelatin. Add 1 cup boiling water. Stir to dissolve. Cool to room temp and pour into 9 x 13 glass pan. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Mix 1 can sweetened condensed milk with 1 cup boiling water. In a small bowl, sprinkle 2 pkg unflavored gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water. Let stand a few minutes and then add 1/2 c boiling water to dissolve gelatin; add to milk mixture and stir to combine. Cool to room temp and pour 1 cup of milk mixture over first layer of jello. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Repeat for next three flavors. Let jello set. Cut and serve!

Recipe found on The Food Librarian.

Frankenstien Jello Salad

Frankenstein Jello Salad
2 packages (6 ounces each) lime gelatin

2-1/2 cups boiling water
1 cup shredded coconut
12 orange jelly beans
6 red jelly beans
3 tablespoons frosting
12 miniature marshmallows
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In a bowl, dissolve gelatin in water. Pour into an 8-in. square pan that has been coated with cooking spray. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until firm. Cut into six rectangles; place each on a plate. Decorate with coconut for hair, orange jelly beans for eyes an a red jelly bean for nose. Fill a small plastic bag with frosting; cut a small hole in the corner of the bag. Pipe a jagged smile on face. Place marshmallows on side of head for bolts.

Cornbread Stuffing

Each year work has their own Thanksgiving dinner. Its required that you either bring a dish to go with the meal or pay some money to eat. Either way, its worth it because there is always enough food to last for at least 2 days. Most of the men just pay the money and of course most of the women bring a dish. There are a select few in the office who have no choice. Before the sign up list even gets to the break room, their names are already on it with their specialty dish. Carrot Supreme is one of those dishes (made by one of the men in my department). This stuffing is another one of those "you have no choice" dishes. I guess one year the lady did not bring this dish and there was almost a riot. Ok, maybe I exaggerate a little. But ever since then she has none she has no choice on what she brings. She has to bring this dressing or not come at all. Or I'm pretty sure the cry would be, "even if you can't come, you are still required to provide this stuffing for our enjoyment."

Cornbread Stuffing
3 boxes Jiffy cornbread muffin mix
2 cups chopped green onions
1 cup chopped green pepper
3/4 cup chopped celery
3 cans chicken broth
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 to 1 tsp. red pepper (depending on how hot you want it)
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Make cornbread according to package directions. Best to do it the day before, but can be done the day of. Break cornbread up in large bowl. Add rest of the ingredients. Put in cake pan and bake at 325° for 1-1/2 hours or until golden brown on top.

Yellow Squash Casserole

This is a recipe I got from a gal at work. We tried it once, but squash isn't my favorite thing. When JoLynn gave me the recipe, it was written on the back of an envelope. It has floated around my kitchen since then. Since March of 2008 according to the postage stamp on the envelope. So in trying to clean my kitchen up I'm posting the recipe here so if I ever want it, I can find the recipe, without looking for that old envelope.

Yellow Squash Casserole
7 cups squash sliced
1/2 cup onion
1 cup shredded carrots
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
Stove Top Stuffing, divided
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Cook squash and onion in microwave until tender. Mix i carrot, soup, sour cream.  Put Stove Top Stuffing in the bottom of a casserole dish. Add squash mixture. Put more Stove Top Stuffing on top. Bake at 350° until bubbly.

Carrot Supreme

Every year my employer does a Thanksgiving lunch the a few days before Thanksgiving. They provide the turkey and rolls and then everyone else signs up to bring a dish. A few of the employees don't get to choose what to bring because in years past they brought something so amazing that no one would forgive them if they didn't bring it the next year. Before the sign up sheet even gets to their desk, their names and signature dish have been added. I am one of the employees who gets to bring whatever I want each year because I've never made something THAT amazing. But one of the dishes that is a must each year is my supervisors Carrot Supreme dish. It is so YUMMY! Each year I ask him for the recipe, but then I usually loose it. So here it is so I can be able to find it and so you can enjoy it.

Carrot Supreme
2 cups carrots, sliced and cooked
3/4 cup liquid drained from carrots
1 Tbsp. minced onion
1-1/2 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. green pepper, cut fine
1 Tbsp. flour
4 Tbsp. cream or canned milk
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Cook onion and pepper in butter. Add flour, cream and liquid. Stir well until it boils (salt to taste). Place carrots into buttered casserole dish. Pour cream sauce over carrots. Cover top with buttered bread crumbs and bake at 20 minutes at 375°.

Grape Salad

I posted this recipe about a year ago, but decided it needed to be changed a little bit because it taste better one way with red grapes and another way with green grapes. 


Grape Salad w/ red grapes
8 oz. cream cheese
8 oz. sour cream
1 cup brown sugar
8 - 16 oz. cool whip
red grapes
slivered almonds
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Remove stems from grapes and rinse well. Lay out on a towel to dry. Cream the cream cheese and brown sugar. Add the sour cream. Fold in cool whip. Mix well. Add in grapes and slivered almonds.


Grape Salad w/ green grapes
8 oz. cream cheese
8 oz. sour cream
7 oz. marshmallow cream
8 - 16 oz. cool whip
green grapes
slivered almonds
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Remove stems from grapes and rinse well. Lay out on a towel to dry. Cream the cream cheese and marshmallow cream together. Add the sour cream. Fold in cool whip. Mix well. Add in grapes and slivered almonds.
*I found two different recipes. One called for the same amount of cool whip as cream cheese & sour cream. The other recipe called for it to be doubled. I made it using low fat ingredients and the low fat cool whip came in containers of 12 oz. so I just went with that. I also sometimes double the cream cheese because I like cream cheese so much. :)

Shattered Crystal Ball

Shattered Crystal Ball
2 pkg. (3 oz. each) lime gelatin
6 cups boiling water, divided
2 pkg. ( 3 oz. each) orange gelatin
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/3 cup cold water
1-1/2 cups white grape juice
1 carton (12 oz.) frozen whipped topping, thawed
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In a bowl, dissolve the lime gelatin in 3 cups boiling water. Pour into an 8-in. square dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. In another bowl, dissolve orange gelatin in remaining boiling water. Pour into another 8-in. square dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until very firm.

In a small saucepan, sprinkle unflavored gelatin over cold water; let stand for 1 minute. Add grape juice. Heat over low heat, stirring until gelatin is completely dissolved. Pour into a large bowl; refrigerate for 45 minutes or until slightly thickened. Fold in whipped topping.

Cut green gelatin into 1/2-in. cubes and orange gelatin into 1-in. cubes. Set aside 8-10 cutes of each color for garnish. Place 2 cups whipped topping mixture in a bowl; fold in remaining green cubes. Spread into a 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Fold remaining orange cues into remaining whipped topping mixture; spread over bottom layer. Sprinkle with reserved green and orange gelatin cubes. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until set. Cut into squares.

Stuffed Potato Ghosts

Stuffed Potato Ghosts
2 lbs. fingerling potatoes
1 large baking potato
1/3 cup sour cream
2 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 tbs. butter
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
7 thin slices Monterey Jack cheese
1 tbs. chopped ripe olives
2 green onions, thinly sliced
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Bake the fingerling potatoes at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until tender; set aside.
Meanwhile, pierce baking potato several times with a fork. Microwave for 6-7 minutes or until tender. Cut in half and scoop out pulp; discard shell. Place pulp in a small bowl; mash. Stir in the sour cream, cream cheese, butter, salt and pepper until smooth.
Cut each fingerling in half lengthwise. Spoon about 1 tablespoon mashed potato mixture over each potatoe half. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet.
Cut each cheese slice into six rectangles; place one on each stuffed potato. (Save remaining cheese for another use.) Bake at 350° for 10-22 minutes or until cheese is melted and potatoes are heated through. Position olives and green onions on each for eyes and mouth.

Corn Bread Casserole

A recipe from Grandma Vonne.

Corn Bread Casserole
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 stick butter- melted
1 can cream style corn
1 can whole kernel corn - reserve 1/2 juice
1 cup sour cream
1 box Jiffy Corn Bread Mix
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Combine all the ingredients and mix well. Pour into a well greased pan. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until set.