Twice Baked Loaded Baked Potato Casserole

Today was the 2nd Annual Mini Thanksgiving for my group of friends.  It has fast become something that we look forward to, as we all come together with our favorite holiday recipes.  This year, Catherine really wanted to try something new for a cheesy potato recipe and she searched the web.  She came up with this recipe from Food Network’s website.

I went to the grocery store earlier this week to get the ingredients, but the funny part of the story is that neither one of us looked at the directions (let alone the title of the recipe) until late last night.  Getting home late, we figured today was going to be a chaotic day, so we wanted to at least get a head start on preparing the cheesy potatoes.  As we read the directions, light dawned on us that this wasn’t sliced or cubed potatoes with cheese – it was really the insides of baked potatoes, mashed with the other ingredients to form a casserole.  Duh – twice baked potatoes!  We stayed up until after midnight baking the potatoes, sautéing up the bacon, and mixing all of the ingredients (we didn’t mix the bacon in until we put in the casserole pan to bake this afternoon).  During the prep, I was anxious that this wouldn’t be a friend-worthy recipe to serve.  Much to our glee, we heard happy “yums” throughout the party, and came home with a completely bare casserole dish.  I think we have found a winner!

UPDATE - 11/10/2012
I made this again for this year's Mini Thanksgiving.  It's in the oven as I type.
I baked the potatoes last night, but I tried something different since I found scooping the flesh from the baked potatoes last year to be extremely tedious.  I peeled the potatoes before baking them, and then wrapped them separately, with a little olive oil basted on each potato, in tin foil.  After they were done, and cooled slightly, I put them in a big bowl to mash and it was SO MUCH EASIER, and tasted just the same.  Just not hassle with the peel this time.
I then added all of the ingredients, mixing together in the large bowl, holding aside the fried bacon in a separate container.  I put the bowl of potato mixture and the container of bacon in the refrigerator overnight.  This morning, we took the containers out one hour ahead of time to let it come to room temperature and then I mixed the the bacon in with the potato mixture and then put it all evenly in a large aluminum tray (I think it's something like 18x10).  I topped it with the shredded cheese and put it in the oven.  I hope it comes out as good as everyone remembers!

• 10 large russet baking potatoes (about 7 pounds total)
• 8 Tbsp. (1 stick), at room temperature
• 1 cup sour cream
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp. salt
  (recipe calls for 2 tsp. salt, but I found that between the salt and the bacon, it was plenty salty, so next time I would cut down the salt a bit)
• 1 ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 lb. bacon, diced and cooked until crisp
• ½ lb. sharp white cheddar, cut into ½” cubes
• ¾ lb. mild cheddar, grated (3 cups)
• ½ cup finely chopped green onions
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter (for buttering casserole dish)

DIRECTIONS

1.   Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2.   Scrub the potatoes well and rinse under cool running water. Pat dry with paper towels and prick the potatoes in several places with a fork.

3.   Place the potatoes in the oven and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until tender. Remove from the oven and set aside on a wire rack until cool enough to handle.

4.   When the potatoes have cooled, cut each potato in half and, using a spoon or a melon baller, scoop the flesh out of the skins, leaving as little flesh as possible.

5.   Place the potato flesh in a large bowl and add 1 stick of the butter, the sour cream, heavy cream, salt, and pepper and mash until chunky-smooth.

6.   Add the bacon, cubed white cheddar, half of the grated cheddar, the green onions, and eggs and mix thoroughly.

7.   Butter a large casserole dish with the remaining tablespoon of butter and reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees F.

8.   Place the seasoned potato mixture in the prepared casserole and top with the remaining grated cheddar.

9.   Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until bubbly around the edges and heated through and the cheese on top is melted and lightly golden. Serve hot.

Adapted from:

Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, Emeril's Potluck, William Morrow Publishers, New York, 2004

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/twice-baked-potato-casserole-recipe/index.html

Basic Old Fashioned Bread and Celery Stuffing

The first year I hosted a Thanksgiving (I can't even remember which year that way), my sister-in-law, Judi, brought me this dated and well-used pamphlet from 1981 called "The Turkey Textbook -- the secret to tender turkey".  I'm not sure if she got it from the grocery store or a magazine, but in it holds the keys to making Thanksgiving dinner, including roasting a turkey and making a stuffing to fill the bird.  Although I don't stuff my turkey, I've started making this delicious recipe, using the notation below about baking the stuffing in a casserole dish before serving.

• 4 cups diced celery
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 4 quarts dry bread cubes/crumbs
• 1 tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. garlic powder
• 1 ½ tsp. poultry seasoning
• ½ tsp. sage
• 1 tsp. pepper
• Hot chicken broth

DIRECTIONS

1. Cook celery and onion in butter until onion is translucent, but not brown.
2. Combine with bread and seasonings.  Toss lightly.
3. Add enough hot broth to moisten
4. Either stuff a 14-18 lb. bird with the stuffing, or place in a baking dish and heat until ready to serve, to keep warm.

Other notes:

• Buy Texas Toast, or other thick bread to make bread crumbs.
• If bread is not dried out sufficiently when ready to make, spread bread cubes on a cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes at 225, until bread starts to dry out, but now browned.
• Add 2 eggs to help the stuffing stick together, if you prefer.
• Since I do not stuff the bird, I put the stuffing in a casserole dish and bake at 325 for about 15-20 minutes, or to keep warm (I drop the temperature of the oven and cover with tin foil if it's going to be longer than that)

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yesterday was my brother-in-law, Joey's, birthday.  He and Caroline drove out from Syracuse today, and every time he knows he's going to see Catherine, he asks her what kind of cookies she's going to make him.  As they were driving towards us, Catherine told me she had to make the cookies for Uncle Joey.  When I was on the phone with Caroline, we asked if he had any requests, and he said chocolate chip are always a favorite.  Since we've made those so many times before, we decided to add a twist.  Having just come back from Hershey Park in Pennsylvania, we saw the recipe online for these cookies, we thought they would be PERFECT -- and they were!

• 2¼ cups flour
• 1/3 cup Hershey's cocoa
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups Hershey's Special Dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
  (we used Toll House (oops) semi-sweet)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt and set aside
3. Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl on medium until creamy.
4. Add eggs, and beat well.
5. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well
6. Stir in chocolate chips.  (Add 1 cup of chopped nuts, if desired).
7. Drop by rounded teaspoons on to an ungreased cookie sheet.  (We used a Pampered Chef small scoop)
8. Bake 8 minutes or until set.
9. Cool slightly and remove from cookie sheet to a wire rack.

Southern Swedish Meatballs

What's the common theme in a lot of my recipes?  MARTHA, MARTHA, MARTHA.  Guess what?!  This recipe DID NOT come from Martha.  But... it was made BECAUSE OF Martha.  Yesterday, we had a celebration for the most anticipated event of the past 3+ years -- Martha and her husband welcoming a beautiful baby boy into their family and our group joyously showering them with (hopefully) everything they could need!


Our theme for the shower was to try and cater to Martha's love of the Muppets.  This turned out to be a little harder than we thought, but one of the easy things was thinking of the Swedish Chef and making Swedish Meatballs.  I asked LaDawna and she said she had a great recipe, but they were not just Swedish, but SOUTHERN Swedish.  We couldn't figure out what Southern Swedish meant, other than speculating that these are kind of like Southern Fried Chicken Steak, or something.  Regardless, they were fun to make (totally from scratch) and flavorly delicious!  The day before the Shower, the kids and I went to LaDawna's, and as Catherine and LaDawna made 3 different batches of cookies, I made the meatballs -- rolling out 6 batches of this recipe, making 250 meatballs!  Considering there were only about 2 dozen left, I deem these a hit!

Meatballs

• 1 lb. ground beef (85%)
• 1 packet Lipton onion soup mix
• 2/3 cup evaporated milk
• 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to broil
2. In a bowl, mix all of the ingredients together
3. Form into small, bite-sized balls
4. Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil
5. Broil meatballs on bottom rack for approximately 15-20 minutes or until starting to brown
6. Flip meatballs to broil on other side for approximately 10-15 minutes more, until starting to brown and cooked through

Sauce

• 2 cups ketchup
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

DIRECTIONS

1. In crockpot, combine all sauce ingredients
2. Turn crockpot on to LOW
3. When sugar melts, add meatballs
4. Cook as long as desired -- as little time as when the sauce and meatballs are warm, or as long as you want.  The longer the better!

Yields about 35-50 meatballs, depending on the size
I tripled the recipe for the party of 20 adults

Mango Margaritas

Mexican themed Family Game Night needed a Mexican themed drink.  A couple weeks ago, we were all shopping at BJ's and Catherine wanted to try mango.  Well, you know shopping at BJ's... you don't leave with just one mango -- you come out with a package of 6 huge mangoes.  Not surprising, I'm not sure how much Catherine really managed to eat, but I remember that I gave at least 2 or 3 to LaDawna, and I think we cut up at least 1.  Looking in the fruit drawer, there were still 2 remaining.  I had asked my friends "what to do with mango?", hoping to get ideas.  My friend, Cindi, came up with the awesome idea of Mango Margaritas, and gave me her recipe.  For our game night of 6 people, I quadrupled this recipe, and had a little leftover for me to enjoy tomorrow.  Muy delicioso!

• 1¼ oz. silver tequila  (Oops!  I think I actually used white)
• 1 oz. triple sec
• 1½ oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 oz. simple syrup  (See instructions below)
• ¾ cup partially frozen mango, unsweetened  (Jim actually added a little of the tequila before he put in the freezer)

DIRECTIONS

1. Make simple syrup -- In a small saucepan, boil 1 part water.  Dissolve 2 parts sugar into the boiling water, stirring constantly.  Once the sugar is dissolved completely, remove the pan from the heat.  Allow to cool completely and thicken.
2. Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
3. Pour the mixture into hurricane-style glasses.

Fajitas

It was time to make the meal plan for the next Family Game Night.  Gabi came over last week to help me plan it, and somehow we got on the idea of making it a Mexican theme.  We thoughts Fajitas would be fun, and also added all the fixings, plus Sangria, Margaritas, and Key Lime Pie.  Never having made Fajitas before, I took to the internet and found a recipe on Food Network, by Giada De Laurentis, that used the same marinade recipe for both chicken and steak.  I quadrupled the below recipe, to make enough marinade for the meat that I bought.  I ended up getting one piece of steak and one piece of chicken for each person (we were a party of 6 tonight).  I fresh squeezed all of the juices and Jimmy grilled it all outside.  Sampling some of the steak as I was cutting it, it tasted delicious, but I was a little surprised how non-Mexican it tasted.  Of course, I said to myself, I took the recipes from the Italian cooking show, so why am I so surprised?  lol.... But once we put it together with the tortillas, the grilled onions and peppers, and the other fixin's (my homemade guacamole, sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, and salsa), these Fajitas were pretty amazing (if I do say so myself).

• ½ cup orange juice  (I used fresh squeezed)
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 large limes, zested and juiced
• ¼ cup agave nectar, or 3 Tbsp. brown sugar  (I used the brown sugar)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. dried oregano  (I omitted this)
• 1 Tbsp. chili powder
• ½ tsp. kosher salt
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast  (I used thin chicken cutlets, and cooked 1 per person)
• 1 (12-16 oz.) skirt or flank steak   (I cooked 1 per person) 
• Flour tortillas 

DIRECTIONS

1. In a bowl, combine the orange juice, olive oil, lime juice, lime zest, agave nectar (or brown sugar), garlic, oregano, chili powder, and salt.
2. Pour the mixture into a marinating container or gallon-sized plastic bag.
3. Add the chicken and steak and refrigerate for 4 hours, turning meat occasionally.
4. Reserve the marinade  (Oops! I forgot to do this part... this probably would have tasted good too!)
5. Grill the chicken, about 5-8 minutes on each side.  Grill the steak, about 5 minutes per side for medium.  Allow the meat to rest before slicing.
6. (This is what I forgot to do)  Meanwhile, put the marinade in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat (in order to kill any bacteria).  Boil for 5 minutes until slightly thickened.  Pour the marinade over sliced meat and toss until coated.
7. Serve meat in warm tortillas with fixings of your choice.

Stuffing Crusted Chicken Tenders

Tonight was Wicked Weather Wednesday -- we had a severe weather in the form of tornado warnings followed by a pretty amazing thunder and lightening storm.  We, thankfully, were spared the most severe weather, between our trips to the basement and being glued to the tv at the tornado destruction in Springfield, dinner time had quickly slipped my mind.  (Well, it slips my mind often.  Tonight, I just had a legitimate excuse.)  I found some chicken tenders in the freezer that I was able to quickly defrost, but I wasn't sure what to do with them, other than the usual of coating with bread crumbs, which sometimes tastes "eh".  I quickly searched allrecipes.com and came up with the following.  I added a little egg to help the stuffing adhere to the chicken tenders, and I have to say, I thought this was a pretty good experiment.

The below is the recipe from allrecipes.com (by Lynne B), but I used more chicken tenders, so I kept making more of the stuffing/butter mixture to ensure there was enough for all of the chicken tenders.

• (1) 9 oz. package of chicken tenderloins
• ½ cup finely crushed dry stuffing mix
• 2 Tbsp. melted butter
• 1 egg
• Dash of milk or light cream

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Line a 9x13" baking dish with foil.  Rinse and pat dry chicken.
3. Beat egg with milk in one bowl.
4. In a second bowl, melt butter.  Add dry stuffing mix and combine.
5. Take each chicken tender and coat with egg mixture and then stuffing mixture and line in the baking dish.
6. Sprinkle any remaining stuffing mixture over top of chicken tenders.
7. Bake for 40 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.