Technology Woes

So, I was looking forward to posting some pictures from the weekend. But they're all gone?! I have no idea where they went. Sometimes technology drives me crazy.

We had a great Saturday and Sunday filled with Christmas shopping, relaxation, and our friends annual holiday party with lots of delicious food! Mark and I made a cheesy potato casserole, which is a dish I grew up eating at nearly all of our family gatherings (yes, people LOVE it that much).

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Here's the recipe (thanks, Dad!):

2lbs. frozen shredded hash browns
1pt. sour cream
8oz. cheddar cheese – shredded
1 cup chopped onions
1 can cream of chicken soup
1tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
½ cup margarine
1 cup crushed cornflakes

Mix everything except cornflakes – place in greased 
9 x 13 dish. Top dish with cornflakes. Pour over ¼ cup
Melted margarine. Bake at 350 for one hour.

 I always use low fat or fat free sour cream and reduced fat cream of chicken soup. I suppose you could use reduced fat cheese too, but I don't like to take all the fun out of it ;) I promise you that this dish does not disappoint. You will definitely go back for seconds (...or more)!

Domestic Me 3.0

Okay, so I haven't actually made this recipe yet. But it is high on my to-do list. Remember these?

Bread Pudding Pancakes from Southport Grocery & Cafe  in Chicago.

From their website:

Serves 6

Bread Pudding Pancakes
14 slices of firm white bread, crusts removed and cut into 1 inch squares
2 ½ cups milk
3 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 ¼  cups flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter

Place bread in a large bowl.  Add milk.  Let bread soak for about 10 minutes until softened.  While bread is soaking, mix together in a small bowl the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Add flour mixture to the bread and gently fold until just about half incorporated.  Add eggs and vegetable oil.  Mix gently.

Melt butter in skillet.  Drop batter in 1/3 cup fulls.  Cook 3-4 minutes on each side.  Pancakes will have a moist bread pudding-like inside.

Serve pancakes topped with cinnamon sugar butter with a ramekin of vanilla custard sauce on the side.
 
Cinnamon Sugar Butter
½ pound unsalted butter, cold
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Melt ¼ pound of butter in a small saucepan; add salt, cinnamon and sugar.  Cook until the sugar is dissolved.   Add remaining ¼ pound of cold butter.  Whisk with hand mixer until creamy and fluffy.

Vanilla Custard Sauce
1 pint heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, cut in half lengthwise and seeds scraped out
4 egg yolks, whisked
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Put heavy cream in a sauce pan.  Add the vanilla bean pod and seeds.  Bring to a simmer.  Add sugar to egg yolks and whisk until all there is no clumps.  Add ¼ cup of warm heavy cream mixture to egg yolk mixture and whisk immediately; this is called ‘tempering’.  Add the egg yolk mixture to the warm heavy cream.  Simmer while mixing with wooden spoon until thickened and coats the back of the spoon.

Chill over an ice bath.   

Southport Grocery's website

These are AMAZING! You need to make them. OR simply buy the mix here! Nothing beats the real thing (and when someone else is making it for you :)- so go to Southport Grocery next time you're in the Windy City!

Domestic Me- 2.0

Whenever I have a week day off, I find that I get the most things accomplished around the house.

Take today for example: I woke up at 7 this morning (?), made my coffee, ate breakfast, and started cleaning the house/porches/yard. I'll be the first to admit that I am extremely particular about cleanliness. I blame my parents. Growing up, our house was always immaculate. Still is! Having things neat and orderly makes my house feel like 'home'. Moving on...

Afterwards, I decided that I was going to force the Fall issue once again. This time, by burning one of my new candles and whipping up my all-time favorite (and easy) recipe:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip (Cake) Cookies

Finished product

Like I said, these could not be simpler to make. All you need are 3 ingredients:

Boxed Spice Cake mix, canned pumpkin, and chocolate chips (optional).

• Pre-heat overn to 350
• Combine all 3 ingredients in a large bowl
• Spray cookie sheets with cooking spray (Crisco, Pam, etc.)
• Place in oven for approx. 15 minutes

.....and voila!

I've seen this recipe in several places and adapted it to my own tastes. On Peanut Butter Fingers, she excludes the chocolate chips and tops them with cream cheese icing instead. Yum!

*Allegedly, it's going to be in the 70's this weekend. If this happens, I will definitely be swinging by Starbucks for a pumpkin spice latte on my way to the office!

Beer-itas

Have you ever tried these? If not, they are a must! Especially on the sweltering summer days/nights, which we experience quite a lot of here in the Lowcountry.

THIS

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+

THIS

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= DELICIOUS

The recipe literally could not be easier.

One 12oz. can frozen limeade

12 oz. tequila (I like white tequila best)

12oz. Sprite/7up*

1 Corona Light*

I use the term recipe lightly. Because we basically just made it up as we went along. We used our discerning tastes as a guideline :)

*Actually, instead of Sprite we added 4 beers. And, of course, you don't have to use Corona Light, it's just my preference. This was the most common list of ingredients I found when googling.