Thanksgiving, in advance

With Halloween just a few days away, yes, I have already started working on my Thanksgiving menu. This will be my second year in a row to host the meal, mostly on my own, and I'm already really excited. There will be a few changes this year, however...one thing I learned from last year is that many of my southern-fried family favorites didn't go over so well with a mostly Midwesterner and Northeasterner crowd. So long, fried corn casserole, green beans seasoned with bacon grease, sausage-and-cornbread stuffing, and cream cheese mashed potatoes. That's okay. We could all stand to be a little bit healthier, plus, this gives me a chance to try out some new, more gourmet recipes.

In case you were looking for Thanksgiving inspiration for your own meal, I'm going to share links to my recipes for this year below. Enjoy!

Tyler Florence's Oven-Roasted Turkey with Sage Butter - This is a repeat from last year. It was DELICIOUS.

Another Tyler Florence find: Carmelized Onion and Cornbread Stuffing - Since the sausage wasn't such a hit last year, we're trying the recommended stuffing to go with our sage buttered turkey.

Williams-Sonoma's Mashed Potatoes with Bacon and Chives - Yum. I'll also make a batch with no bacon for our Jewish or non-pork-loving friends.

Epicurious' Buttermilk Biscuits with Black Pepper, Green Onions, and Sea Salt - After a big, fat FAIL at making homemade dinner rolls that didn't rise last year, I decided to stick with what I know...and I know these are GOOD.

We're also having green bean casserole, my friend Jen's oh-so-scrumptious sweet potato streusel casserole, garden salad, cranberry-mango compote (to be purchased from the SuperTarget deli, since no one ate my homemade Cabernet Sauvignon cranberry sauce last year...haha), turkey gravy, another vegetable, and a midwestern-favorite, the strawberry jello-pretzel-cream cheese salad. Oh, and we're going to talk my lovely sis-in-law, Hannah, into bringing us some B-Dub's wings to accompany the turkey, since she has to work there that morning anyhow. :-)

Now, for dessert. No explanation needed. Yum.

Paula Deen's Caramel Apple Cheesecake (I realized the potential for this just being really messy, and not-so-pretty. I'm sure it would taste amazing, though.)
Eating Well's Glazed Chocolate-Pumpkin Bundt Cake
Food & Wine's Double-Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
Smitten Kitchen's Silky Smooth Pumpkin Pie
All Recipes' Buttermilk Chess Pie
Food & Wine's Cranberry-Oatmeal Cookies with White Chocolate Chips

I think that's about it. I'm hungry just posting this...no good at all!! Share your Thanksgiving favorites with me--maybe I'll be inspired to add something else new to the menu this year!

Banana Cake

Since I've been in such a holiday baking mood lately, I decided I'd try a new recipe, as a possible dessert for our Thanksgiving feast that we'll be hosting again this year. (More possibilities to come in the next week or two...) We always, always seem to have overripe bananas around here, and I get tired of the same ol' banana bread I usually make. So, I came across the My Baking Addiction blog yesterday, and saw her recipe for Banana Bars. Oh my yumminess...I HAD to try these...

Banana Bars (that are more like cake, really)
From: My Baking Addiction

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
2-4 mashed ripe bananas

Frosting:
2 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 lbs. powdered sugar (yes, I know...)
2 tsp. vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13 inch pan.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the sour cream and vanilla.

3. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; stir into the batter. Finally, mix in the mashed banana. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

4. Bake for 25-30 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow bars to cool completely before frosting with the cream cheese frosting.

To make frosting:
In the bowl of your mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix cream cheese and butter until smooth. Gradually add in the confectioners' sugar and mix until smooth and creamy. Stir in vanilla extract. Spread on cooled cake.

My notes:
- I didn't use the paddle attachment for the frosting - the regular, old beater on my KitchenAid worked just fine.
- For the love of all that is holy, use real butter and not margarine. Please.
- The recipe made about twice as much icing as you actually need for a 9x13 pan. Don't get me wrong - I still used it all, but there are places on this cake where there is literally an inch of frosting! (Yum....)
- This recipe is definitely cake-like...not bar-like at all. If you were to make it in a jelly roll pan, though, you would probably get bars, plus the icing would be more appropriately distributed.
- Aaron's evaluation: "Oh my gosh, this is amazing." Take that how you will, but we think it turned out quite tasty!!

An Update?

Guess what...I think it's time to start the ol' cooking blog back up again. I'm in a holiday baking and cooking mood, for whatever reason. Perhaps it's the cool and dreary fall-is-here-to-stay weather we've been having here in Grand Forks, or perhaps it's just been awhile since I've cooked anything worth writing about. Nonetheless, here I am. I'm going to try a new recipe tonight, so look for an actual post within the next day or two!

Easy Chicken Parmesan

Hopefully this will be the last one without a photo, but I wanted to include my new (and very easy!) recipe for Chicken Parmesan before I forgot how I did it...

Jimmie's Easy Chicken Parmesan
(enough for 2 people plus a little extra for leftovers)

Ingredients:
1 to 1-1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast tenderloins
1 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp. water
1 1/2 cups Italian-style bread crumbs
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 lb. spaghetti (I prefer whole-grain)
1 jar spaghetti sauce (my favorite is Ragu Robusto Roasted Garlic)
1/2 cup freshly-shredded mozzarella cheese*

Directions:
1. Start by getting a pot of water boiling for the spaghetti. When it's at a full boil and the spaghetti is cooking, heat the olive oil in a skillet on medium-high heat, and start heating the spaghetti sauce in a covered saucepan on low heat.
2. Arrange an assembly line for the chicken: flour in one bowl, eggs + 1 tbsp. water in one bowl, and bread crumbs in another bowl.
3. Dredge each piece of chicken in flour, then in eggs, then in breadcrumbs, coating well at each step.
4. Once all the chicken is coated, place in a single layer in the skillet and fry for 4 minutes on each side. Check to make sure that chicken is done all the way through, then remove to a plate to drain on paper towels. Drain the cooked spaghetti, if you haven't done so already.
5. On individual plates, arrange a pile of spaghetti, a heap of sauce, and then a portion of chicken. Top that with freshly-shredded mozzarella cheese, and enjoy! (Told you it was easy!)

* If I have learned anything from Pioneer Woman, it's that it's ALWAYS better to shred your own cheese. I no longer buy the bagged stuff anymore--it just doesn't taste the same!

Sometimes Simpler is Better

Usually, when it comes to desserts, I tend to stray away from the tried-and-true classics and opt for something more complicated, more decadent, more gourmet. However. In my search for a go-to brownie recipe, I came across a classic that really just cannot be beat. Keep in mind I've tried just about every brownie recipe out there that had an extra "kick" (dark chocolate chunks, mascarpone cream frosting, you name it)...but never bothered to try some of the most basic options.

Although I don't have a picture to go with this one (partially because the 8x8 pan I made this afternoon is already almost gone!), trust me that the Hershey's Best Brownies recipe is the way to go.

Best Brownies with Creamy Brownie Frosting
(compliments of Hershey's Kitchens, but with small modifications by me)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder (ssshh, don't tell--I used Nestle)
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
Creamy Brownie Frosting (see below)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray an 8- or 9-inch square pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Stir together butter, sugar, and vanilla in bowl. Add eggs, and beat well with spoon as you mix everything together.
3. Stir in flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt until well blended. Spread batter evenly in pan.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes (26 was perfect for me). When mostly cool, frost with Creamy Brownie Frosting. Enjoy!

Creamy Brownie Frosting
In the same bowl you used for the brownie batter, add 3 tbsp. butter or margarine, 3 tbsp. cocoa powder, 1 tbsp. light corn syrup, 1 cup powdered sugar, and 2 tbsp. buttermilk. Mix together with a hand mixer until it reaches frosting consistency. Try not to eat it all before the brownies are ready to be frosted.

Starting Over

So I'm blogging again. I really missed it, but rather than spill out miscellaneous and pointless drivel, I decided I would wait until I had a focus. I thought about it for awhile, and I decided that one thing I love to talk about, do often, and am actually pretty good at is cooking...so, welcome to my new-and-improved cooking blog!!

I'll post recipes and pictures and experiences, with no particular schedule, but hopefully somewhat frequently. Some of the recipes will be healthy (and some not), but all of them will be tasty. :-)