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!

Summer Spaghetti Salad

My mom used to make this dish for family get togethers...it makes quite a batch so it's good for potlucks and such. I'm bringing mine to a work potluck for dinner tomorrow night. It comes from Taste of Home.

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (16 oz.) spaghetti
3 medium tomatoes, diced
1 large cucumber, halved and diced
3 small zucchini, diced (I forgot to buy zucchini so I used 3 bell peppers)
1 medium green pepper, diced (I used red instead)
1 medium sweet pepper, diced
1 medium orange pepper, diced (this is the extra pepper I used since I forgot the zucchini)
1 bottle (8 oz.) Italian salad dressing
2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp celery seed
1/8 tsp garlic powder

Cook spaghetti according to pkg directions. Drain and rinse with cold water.

I have issues with dicing..I can never get them small enough so I use this little contraption. It takes a little longer, but it gets all the pieces nice and tiny.


3 bell peppers:

Diced bell peppers:

4 tomatoes (for some reason my computer randomly turns certain pictures on their sides!)-I only used 3:

Diced tomatoes:

Add all veggies to spaghetti and mix/fold in well.

Italian dressing: I picked up a 16 oz bottle and only used half. Make sure to keep the other half for when you are ready to eat the salad.

3 spices:

For dressing: Mix together dressing, spices and Parmesan cheese. Then pour over the noodles and veggies.

Pour dressing over spaghetti/veggie mixture and fold in well. Refrigerate an hour before serving or overnight. Just before serving, mix up spaghetti mixture well....you may have to add some more Italian dressing if it looks too dry. Refrigerate leftovers.

Enjoy!

Betty's Delicious Dip

I received this recipe from my best friend's exboyfriend's mother (does that make sense??). She made it for a party and I loved it. It's oh so bad for you but oh so good! And super easy!

Ingredients:

1 pkg. Chives & Onions cream cheese
1 pkg. Garden Veggies cream cheese
1 pkg. thin pastrami, chopped up
2/3 cup pimentos (or more if you would like)

Mix it all together and serve with crackers. I personally like Wheat Thins :)

Tomato Stir-Fry

Another one of Mandi's recipes that I love. I went to the Mpls farmer's market this morning and came back with a bunch of fresh veggies so I added some to this stir-fry. Normally this recipe calls for 1/2 green bell pepper (I used a whole, small purple bell pepper). I also added bean sprouts and a red hot pepper in place of the Sriracha sauce. Don't these tomatoes look gorgeous?!

Some more gorgeous looking veggies! And super spicy!

Here are the ingredients:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
10-15 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 handful chopped cilantro
3 green onions, chopped
1 small bell pepper, any color will work
2 tsp Sriracha Sauce (again I used one of the red pepper above from the farmer's market), more if you want it spicier
2 tsp fish sauce, more if you want it saltier
2 tsp soy sauce
Olive oil and Garlic salt



In frying pan, heat up olive oil and fry chicken until cooked. Add green onions (I added the red pepper at this time as well) and stir for a few minutes

Add tomatoes and bell pepper. Fry until tomatoes are "saucy".
Add cilantro, Sriracha sauce, fish sauce, soy sauce, garlic salt and bean sprouts (if using). Stir for a couple of minutes and then remove from heat.

Serve over hot cooked rice.

Enjoy!

Spicy Hot Pot with Noodles

I found this recipe in the Everyday with Rachel Ray magazine. I've been meaning to make it and when I knew my mom was going to be in town this weekend, I decided to make it with her. It turned out fantastic and she ended up taking some home with her. It makes 4-6 servings.

Here are the ingredients:

2 tbsp Asian chili paste or chili-garlic paste. I used this:
3 tbsp veggie oil
One 2-in piece ginger, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
4 oz. bean sprouts (the recipe originally called for mushrooms but I do not like them so I substituted bean sprouts)
2 tbsp dark brown sugar
One 32-oz. container (4 cups) chicken or beef broth
3 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 small head napa cabbage, cut into 2-in pieces
8 oz. fresh egg fettuccine or linguine pasta
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
3/4 lb boneless beef rib eye, thinly sliced against the grain
3/4 lb large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/8 cup chopped cilantro

In heavy, medium saucepan, heat veggie oil over medium-high heat. Add ginger and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. (If you are using mushrooms, you would add them at this point and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 2-3 min.) Add the chili paste and brown sugar and cook, stirring often, for 30 seconds.
Add 1 cup water, the chicken broth and soy sauce. Stir in the cabbage and bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta according to pkg directions. Drain and rinse under cold water, then toss with 1 tbsp sesame oil.

Stir in beef and shrimp into the soup and bring to a boil until the shrimp is cooked through.
Add the cilantro and remaining 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil. I also added the bean sprouts at this time.
Divide the noodles among 4-6 bowls and add the hot broth with the veggies, meat and shrimp.
Enjoy!

Side note: When I make this dish again, I'm only going to add 1 tbsp of the chili-paste. You can add more or less according to your taste. And I'm going to use a rice noodle instead of the linguine...the linguine seemed too heavy of a noodle for this dish.

Pho

I received this yummy recipe from my best friend Mandi. First she took me out to eat some pho (for those who aren't in the know...Pho is Vietnamese soup) and once I fell in love with it, she gave me her recipe. You can use any kind of broth base or add any kind of meat/seafood or add any type of veggie. Here's what I use in my pho-I made my pho for 1 serving. I call the sauces in the above picture the 3 amigos. :)

Here's the ingredients:

These are the types of noodles I use with my pho...I found them at the local Asian store I frequent.
I use these beef balls, also found at the same local Asian store I frequent.

Rest of ingredients:

Sriracha sauce
Fish sauce
Hoisin or Oyster sauce
Bunch of cilantro, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
Handful of bean sprouts
Slices of lime or lime juice


I use beef broth so I boiled 3 cups of water with 3 tbsp beef bouillon. (In the past, I've also boiled 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts in water until no longer pink in the middle, reserving the water to use as the broth. I then shredded the chicken.) When the water started to boil, add beef balls and cook 5 minutes or until cooked through. In another pan, cook pasta in boiling water about 5 minutes or until soft. Drain pasta. Add pasta to the bottom of your bowl and top with chopped cilantro, chopped green onions and bean sprouts.

Top noodles and veggies with enough broth to cover noodles. Add beef balls.
Once broth is added, add how ever much sauce to the bowl. Sriracha sauce makes the soup spicy, fish sauce makes it salty, Hoisin or Oyster sauce makes it sweet. Add to taste. Finally, add the limes or a squeeze or two of lime juice.

Enjoy!

Caesar Salad

I learned this super easy recipe back in Home-Ec class back in high school...or was it middle school?? Either way, it's really good and super easy to do. I made this recipe for 1 serving.

Ingredients:

Bag of lettuce or mixed greens
Croutons
Grated Parmesan cheese
1 skinless boneless chicken breast
Caesar salad dressing


The night before or the morning before, cut the chicken into bite-size pieces. Put the pieces into a resealable plastic sandwich bag and pour about a 1 cup of dressing into the bag. Seal and turn to coat. Refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

When ready to eat, put chicken in small frying pan (no oil or cooking spray needed). Discard rest of marinade. Cook about 5 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in the middle.


While chicken is cooking, put together salad greens, croutons and cheese in bowl or on plate.

After chicken is cooked, drain chicken over sink to get rid of excess oil (from dressing). You don't have to do this step if you don't want to.

Add chicken to salad and pour over some additional Caesar salad dressing. I made garlic toast with mine to go with the salad.

Enjoy!