Thanksgiving Food Favorites

Just a quick post today....

Hope you all have a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING....gobble gobble!!

Sweet Potato Brulee


Turkey Cupcake Bites


Honey-Poppyseed Butter



Cranberry Sauce


Pumpkin Cheesecake

Banana-Sweet Potato Brulee

Bananas and sweet potatoes, huh? OK, I know it sounds like a weird combo but trust me on this, it totally works. The banana and sweet potato are actually very complementary flavors. There is also some fresh orange juice and zest that really makes this side dish shine.

This is definitely a Thanksgiving day worthy recipe but I decided to make it one night last week for dinner. I am not a huge fan of sweet potatoes myself but in order to keep my kids eating their veggies, I can't limit them to just my tastes. Of course, I still wanted to enjoy this myself and hence came the idea to brulee the top.


The caramelized sugar on top gives this dish a nice textural touch and an excuse to use that creme brulee torch again!


My mix-and-match dinner: a store bought rotisserie chicken and made from scratch banana-sweet potato brulee.

Ingredients

2-3 (med-large) sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1/4 stick unsalted butter
1 banana, sliced
1/2 orange, zested and juiced
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
pinch grated nutmeg
Salt and pepper
turbinado sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Set aside 4 ramekins.

Boil potatoes until tender, drain and reserve.

In another pot over medium heat, add butter and bananas to the pot. Cook bananas 3-5 minutes and add the orange juice, zest, potatoes cream, nutmeg and sugar. Mash potatoes, banana, and other ingredients together until well combined. Season with , salt, pepper to your taste. Mash to combine spices and spoon into the ramekins.

Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle the tops with 1-2 tablespoons of turbniado sugar. Using a creme brulee torch or your broiler (watch carefully!) caramelize the top. serve and enjoy!

Source: Inspired by Rachel Ray

Sour Cream and Chive Mashed Poatoes

Are you tired of the same old boring mashed potatoes? If so, here is a quick and easy update that not only tastes great but looks pretty on your plate too.

I decided to make sour cream and chive mashed potatoes earlier this week and I'm glad I did! This creamy, velvety side dish was delicious and so easy to make.

(excuse the blurry picture)


The simple recipe just requires you to add sour cream, milk, a little butter and the chives to boiled, fork tender potatoes. If you have kids who love to help in the kitchen (I have two excellent and enthusiastic helpers) this is a great recipe for them. My son was so proud of making these with me and said that they tasted like they came from a restaurant...:)


Ingredients:

2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and quartered
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Place potatoes in a large pot with enough water to come up 2 inches from the bottom. Bring to a boil, and cook for 20 to 25 minutes, until fork tender. Drain, and mash. Mix in the milk using a potato masher or an electric mixer until fluffy. Stir in the sour cream, butter and chives, and season with salt and pepper.

Source: Adapted from All Recipes

Pork Tenderloin

This was Sunday night supper. Roasted pork tenderloin with pan sauce, roasted sweet potato wedges and sauteed green beans....so,so good!

The pork tenderloin recipe comes courtesy of Fortheloveofcooking blog. To make the sweet potatoes, I peeled them, then cut into wedges and simply seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper. These cooked in the oven along with the tenderloin for about 30 minutes, turning over half way. The green beans were first cooked in boiling water till tender crisp, then sauteed in a little butter and seasoned with salt and pepper.

This was a wonderful Fall meal and one good enough to serve company. I also love that it's healthy (pork tenderloin has about as much fat as a chicken breast), easy to prepare and so flavorful. We all loved this dish!

Ingredients
1⁄2 cups olive oil
1⁄3 cup soy sauce
1⁄4 cup red wine vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
1-2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1-2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 tsp dry mustard
Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 1-lb. pork tenderloin

Combine all ingredients and marinate for at least 3-4 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a hot skillet over medium heat, sear each side of tenderloin for 2-3 minutes. Place in the oven and cook for 20 minutes or until the meat has reached 160 degrees (check with your meat thermometer because one of mine said 145 degrees for pork and the other said 160 degrees). Let rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing.

Pan Sauce:
Pan scrapings from pork tenderloin
1/2 cup of chicken broth
2-3 tbsp of pork marinade (thoroughly mixed)
1-2 tsp butter
Meanwhile, place the skillet back on the stove over medium heat. Add the chicken broth and scrape up all the browned pieces from the bottom of the pan. Add the marinade and let it boil down for 2-3 minutes. Add the butter and remove from heat stirring until butter has melted. Pour over the pork tenderloin.

Baked French Fries

Dinner tonight came together very easily. I made Boca burgers (original variety) with cheese and homemade baked french fries.

These baked fries are not only easy to make but they are also healthy b/c they are baked and not fried. They taste much better than the frozen variety too.

Ingredients
Makes 4 servings

2 large baking potato
1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon dry basil
sea salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Wash and dry potatoes. Cut potatoes into wedges or thinner. Lightly season with salt and pepper. Mix olive oil, paprika, garlic powder, chili powder, basil and onion powder together. Brush potatoes with oil/spice mixture and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, then turn over potatoes. Bake an additional 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle with additional salt if desired.

Stuffed Baked Potatoes (two ways!)

Sometimes it can be a real challenge cooking for my husband and young children. They all seem to like such different things.

My husband prefers meals that require minimal clean up and are low-fat. My son eats a good variety of food but like many young kids dislikes most vegetables. My daughter is only 1.5 years old and is my pickiest eater. She loves cheese and pasta but not much else. Plus, b/c of her young age she can't eat certain things, such as nuts or shellfish. So,that's why I like meals like these stuffed potatoes. I can customize each potato, so everyone eats what they like but I'm not doing a lot of extra work.

For my husband and I, we got a more grown up taste with the addition of the andouille sausage. I still had some leftover from the Jambalaya and got the idea to use it from Emeril's recipe. For the kids, I kept it simple with just broccoli and cheese. Pair this with a salad and you have a complete meal.


Before baking.


On the left-- Potato with andouille sausage, broccoli and cheese.
On the right-- Potato with just broccoli and cheese.


Here is the basic recipe with just broccoli and cheese. I put the steps for the addition of sausage (and parsley) with an asterisk.

Ingredients
Makes 4 servings

4 large baking potatoes
1/2- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
2.5 cups broccoli florets
1/2 onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup grated white cheddar cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp. milk
Salt and pepper

*6 oz andouille sausage (about 2 links, casings removed and crumbled)
*2 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 375°F. Pierce potato with a fork several times. Bake until tender, 1 hour and 30 minutes. Or, you can cook in the microwave for 7-8 minutes. Steam broccoli until tender, 5 minutes. Drain; rinse. Pat dry and roughly chop.

*In a skillet over med heat add 1/2 tbsp. oil and cook sausage for 8-10 min or until thoroughly cooked. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels.

In a skillet over med heat, warm 1/2 Tbsp. oil. Saute onion until soft, 8 minutes. Add garlic; cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

Let potatoes rest until cool enough to handle. Set oven to 350°F. Cut top 1/4 inch off potato. Scoop out flesh.

Mash potato flesh. Mix with remaining ingredients. Fill potato shells with mixture; bake for 10-15 minutes. Then put under broiler for about 5 min or until top is golden.

*Add sausage and the parsley to the mix.