Sweet Potato Balls

I was watching the Food Network one night before Thanksgiving and Paula Deen was on. I wasn't really paying too much attention to the show until they started talking about sweet potato balls. Sounds interesting right? I thought so too, so I started really listening. It looked pretty easy to make so I decided to try them for our Christmas dinner at the cabin this year. They turned out pretty well and it makes a perfect single serving. It also lets your guest or family member choose what they want on their serving so everyone is happy!

A couple side notes...the recipe calls for orange juice and orange zest. My mom used canned sweet potatoes, which are a little more moist than regular baking sweet potatoes. If I were to use the canned again, I wouldn't add the orange juice. The sweet potatoes were a little too moist and starting to melt. I also wasn't a big fan of the strong orange juice taste with the sweet potatoes. So next time, I'll omit the juice but keep the zest for a little added flavor.

Since there was only 3 of us, we just made 6 balls, which is the perfect amount for 1 can of sweet potatoes.

Ingredients:

4 lg sweet potatoes (or 1 can sweet potatoes)
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp orange juice
1 tsp orange zest
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 large marshmallow per ball
Toppings such as coconut, crushed nuts, brown sugar, crushed fruit, etc

If you are using baking potatoes, bake until tender, then peel and mash them. Stir in brown sugar, orange juice, zest and nutmeg. Press mashed potatoes around each marshmallow, creating a 2-3 inch diameter ball.

Roll balls in topping mixture of your choice and place on a pan covered in tin foil. Bake 15-20 minutes, watching carefully for the last few minutes or cooking (the expanding marshmallows can cause the potato balls to burst open). Let cool slightly and serve.


Canned sweet potatoes...




Freshly ground nutmeg...




Fresh orange juice...




Ready to be rolled...




Marshmallows...the recipe called for giant marshmallows and we couldn't find any so we used the regular ones. And the balls turned out to be a decent size, so it worked.





Rolled up around the marshmallow...




The three toppings we used...brown sugar and sugar, coconut and crushed pecans..




All rolled up and ready to be baked. We had to put the two brown sugared balls into muffin cups as they began to melt before we could get them into the oven. They seemed to have worked just fine.




Fresh from the oven...




Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Blossoms

For as long as I can remember, my mom has always made these cookies for Christmas. Either to hand out to her daycare parents or just for us to snack on. Needless to say, these are my favorite so every year, we still continue to make them. And since she no longer does daycare, my mom sends home lots of cookies with me!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
3/4 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1 3/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Hershey Kisses

Preheat oven to 350. Mix dry ingredients and set aside.

Mix sugars, butter and eggs, beating until fluffy. Gradually add dry ingredients with wet dough. The dough should be stiff (you may need to add more flour to make it stiff if the dough is not stiff enough to handle). Make into 1-in balls, roll in sugar and place on a greased pan.

Bake for 10 minutes or until cracks appear. Remove from oven. Press Hershey Kisses into center of each cookie. Return to oven and bake 3-5 minutes longer.




Unwrapping all the Hershey Kisses...




All rolled up and ready to be baked!




Right before they went back into the oven for the last time...




The recipe made lots and lots of cookies! Mine are in the freezer since I can't possibly eat them all before they go bad! Enjoy!

Paula Deen's Green Bean Casserole

My cousin had Thanksgiving at her house this year and she put me in charge of making green bean casserole. I've never made the dish mainly because I don't like it (gasp I know!). Most green bean casseroles come out with the green beans soggy and I hate soggy veggies. So I thought I'd look online for a recipe I would actually eat and I came across Paula Deen's recipe (found on www.foodnetwork.com). It originally called for fresh mushrooms and cream of mushroom soup. I don't eat mushrooms, so I just omitted the fresh mushrooms and used cream of celery soup instead. And you know, I actually liked it! As did everyone else, including my dad, who like me, doesn't normally like green bean casserole! The ingredients are as follows:

1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup diced onions
2 cups sliced green beans (I used frozen-much better than canned as they can be soggy)
3 cups chicken broth
1 (10 3/4 oz.) can cream of celery soup
1 (2.8 oz.) can French-Fried onion rings
Dash each of pepper, salt and garlic powder
1 cup grated Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350.

Melt butter in large skillet. Saute the onions in the butter. Boil the green beans in the chicken broth for 10 minutes. Drain and add to the onion/butter mixture.

Green beans mixed into the onion/butter mixture...




Add the cream of celery soup, French-Fried onions and spices to the pan.

Cream of celery soup was added to the green beans...




The green beans with the french-fried onion rings mixed in...



Stir well. Pour into a greased 1 1/2 qt baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes, then top the dish with the cheese and bake an additional 10 minutes or until the casserole is hot and the cheese is melted.

I don't have a finished picture with the green beans in their glass dish and the cheese melted over since I finished that step at my cousin's house and I forgot my camera.

Enjoy!