Sweet Potato Souffle

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Ours was very nice - we shared a Thanksgiving meal with our "military family" aka our neighbors.  :)  We had great fellowship, great food, and we played a game that is now one of my favorites- Apples to Apples.  It was so much fun to play with a crowd, and it kept us laughing, that's for sure!

This sweet potato souffle is a recipe that my Mema passed to my Mom and me.  We have it on Thanksgiving every year, and even though I'm not a big fan of sweet potatoes, my hubby loves them, so I knew I should make them this year for him and our other friends to enjoy.  I wish I could scrape the topping onto my plate and enjoy that!  ;)

(I know you can only see the topping of this dish in the picture above.  This was something I was bringing to someone else's home, so I couldn't really scoop some out to take a picture of, lol.  I trust you all know what mashed sweet potatoes look like; just imagine some underneath that topping.)

Here are some pics of our little sweetie on her first Thanksgiving:

Sweet Potato Souffle

3 cups cooked & mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix all together and put in a 2 quart casserole dish.

Topping:
1/2 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup pecans
1/2 cup melted butter

Mix together and spoon on top of potato mixture.

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Watergate Salad

One of my sweet friends told me about this dish (and how much she loves it) about a year ago, and I had never heard of it before.  Then, as I was scanning through one of my cookbooks, there it was!  It could not be easier to throw together in a skinny minute, and it is a nice marriage of textures and flavors.  Creamy cool whip and pistachio pudding, tart pineapple, sweet mini marshmallows, and crunchy pecans.  Yes, it's light green...but who cares?!

When I told my husband that I made "Watergate Salad", he responded by wondering what was in it with the lettuce.

: )

I can't blame the guy, it is called a salad.  He was pleasantly surprised when I told him there was no lettuce (he still tries to boycott most veggies when possible) and was even more pleased when he tasted it!  He said his favorite part was the pecans...I wonder if you can guess MY favorite part?  (I know my mama can!!)  If you're not my mama and you have no clue, my favorite part is definitely the mini marshmallows.


Watergate Salad
Source:  Southern Plate cookbook

20 oz. can crushed pineapple (juice and all)
1 cup mini marshmallows (I added extra, which made it that more awesome, heehee)
1 cup chopped pecans
1 small box instant pistachio pudding
8 oz. whipped topping

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together well.  Chill before serving.  If the salad is too thick, it can be thinned with a little milk (I did not have to use any milk; the consistency was just right).

Shrimp Stuffed Potatoes

Remember on the last post how I mentioned a certain "knock-your-socks-off" dinner?

Yeah...meet these cheesy, flavorful, shrimp stuffed potatoes.

It's kind of like eating a loaded baked potato...except no bacon, add lots of shrimp.  Although, bacon would be a GREAT addition!

This was our dinner one night last week, along with salads and green beans (see, now the calories in the potato are balanced out with 'green'!).  They are really delicious, and I wish I could've eaten one of the leftovers...sadly, I can't eat much shellfish while pregnant.  I haven't been eating any at all, but I made an exception for 1 potato the night I baked them, and boy was I happy!  Make them for your family, and you'll all be happy too!  :)


Shrimp Stuffed Potatoes
Source:  food.com
Original recipe serves 6; can be easily halved


6 large Idaho potatoes
vegetable oil, for coating
8 TB butter
2 cups grated cheddar cheese, plus more for sprinkling
2 cups grated monterey jack cheese
2 cups sour cream
salt & pepper
1 lb shrimp, peeled, cleaned, and sauteed (I thawed out some frozen shrimp, cleaned and peeled them, then patted dry, coated them with salt, pepper, and garlic powder and sauteed in butter.)
paprika

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Begin by washing potatoes, drying them, and gently pricking them with a fork on the sides.  Coat each potato with vegetable oil (I also salted the skins), place on foil covered pan, and bake for approximately 1 hour or until done.
Place the butter in a large bowl.  Remove the potatoes from the oven and slice each potato in half (Instead, I sliced the tops off the potato to make 1 large stuffed potato rather than lots of halves).
Gently scoop out the potato and place in the bowl.  Using a mixer on high, mix the potatoes, butter, sour cream, and salt and pepper to taste.  Fold the shrimp and both cheeses into the mixture.
Gently stuff the mixture back into the potato shells, making sure not to break them.  Pile the mixture as high as you can on top of the potato shells.
Sprinkle each potato with cheese and paprika for color.
Bake in the oven for approximately 20 to 30 minutes until browned on top.

Potato Casserole

Over Thanksgiving break, Jordan and I went to Kansas to stay with his cousin and her family for a few days.  This was really nice, because not only were we able to be around some family for Thanksgiving, but I had never even met these family members since we got married last year.  It was about time, don't ya think?  They have 3 awesome boys, who were VERY excited to see Cousin Jordan again, and even more excited to meet Katie!  : )  I don't think poor Katie got a break from doing her tricks (sit, shake, high five) the entire time we were there, lol.  It's okay though, she loved those boys and soaked up every bit of attention she got!  Katie even got to have her first experience meeting another animal...pigs!  My 2 favorite animals, dogs and pigs, united at last!  lol   : D

We ate a lot of good food while we were there, too.  One night at dinner, his cousin made this potato casserole, and we loved it!  Bonus - it's super easy to put together!  It's like hashbrowns wrapped in a creamy, cheesy sauce - YUM!  The recipe below is for a full 9x13 pan, but, as usual, I halved the recipe to make an 8x8 pan for us.  Try it out as a simple, delicious side at dinner! 

Potato Casserole

1 bag Ore-Ida frozen hash browns

2 cups grated cheese (any shredded kind that you like; we used mild cheddar)

1/2 cup chopped onion (I've tried this with & without onions, and we prefer it without!)

1 can cream of chicken

1 pt. sour cream

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 cups crushed cornflakes

1/2 stick margarine, melted (of course I prefer butter, heehee)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients together except cornflakes and butter/margarine.  Place in a 9x13 dish.  Top with crumbled cornflakes and melted butter/margarine.  Bake for 1 hour.  (If you use butter, watch to make sure the cornflakes don't get too dark toward the end of cooking time; if they begin to, cover loosely with aluminum foil and continue baking till done.)

Grape Salad

Listen.  And hear me.

If you're the kind of person who will take one look at the following photo and close out the screen, please stop yourself.  Don't be like me, circa 2009.  You see, there was a time when we had many church members and friends in the community blessing us with dinners almost every week because my mom was very sick.  One night, someone brought dinner and I opened the container...and there sat this goopy mess they called "grape salad".  I'm usually one to try pretty much anything before judging it, but for some reason, this was a dish I immediately decided I would not try.  Thennnn, everyone else in the family started eating it and there were rounds of "oooooohs" and "aaaaaaahs" over how yummy it was.  I reluctantly took a bite, and WHOA BABY was it good!  A totally unexpected flavor!  I guess I was expecting a "savory" dish, like a pasta salad, but this was really sweet!  YUM!

Here is the grape salad I made tonight:

 
Don't close the screen.  Don't run away and hide.  Just try it!  : )

It tastes like grapes covered in cheesecake filling.  uhh-mazing. 

And folks, if you do make it, please, for the love of Pete, try one of the grapes first.  A dish that stars grapes will NOT taste good if your grapes do not taste good.  It's elementary, my dear Watson.

Grape Salad

3 lbs. small red seedless grapes (wash and dry)
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup Splenda
1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup chopped nuts, roasted  (I use pecans.  And yes, I pronounce it pee-cans.  Don't try to be fancy and pronounce them puh-cahns.)

Cream together the cream cheese, sour cream, vanilla, Splenda, and brown sugar until smooth.  Fold in the grapes and half of the nuts.  Sprinkle the remaining nuts on top.  Keep in the fridge in an airtight container.