Christmas Day - Broccoli Cheese Rice Casserole

I made this on Christmas Day.

The recipe is courtesy of "chaos in the kitchen"

Click here for the recipe.

It is the best broccoli-cheese recipe I've made yet.

I was leery of the onion and celery,

but

OH MY GAH

I will forever use onion and celery from now on

I did change things up a little

I used a can of cream of chicken-mushroom soup and a can of cream of mushroom soup.

(I accidentally picked up a can of "Light Italian Wedding Soup" instead of the Chicken Mushroom..

Thank goodness, I had one of the staple cream soups in my pantry.)

I used also fresh broccoli

I ended up with more broccoli and rice than the recipe called for
so...

I compensated with extra milk and extra colby jack cheese

(because you can NEVER have enough cheese)

 To stay true to my love of cheese,

I even topped it off with more SHARP cheddar cheese

 

Christmas Day - Simple Spinach & Strawberry Salad

oops!

Forgot to take a picture of the pretty holiday salad

imagine red sliced strawberries on a bed of green spinach leaves

or

 click here

to get the recipe from Whole Foods

It is easy and colorful and delicious!

Test Kitchen - PW's Enchiladas Experience

PW's Beef Enchiladas

This is the first recipe I made out of The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook.

It was actually at the request of my son!
Test Kitchen consensus - Pretty Good!

I just let the corn tortillas get too soggy when I cooked them in oil and dunked them in the sauce, so they basically disintegrated into the dish - making this an enchilada casserole.

The following week, I have made PW's White Chicken Enchiladas!

I have been on a quest to discover the best Chicken Enchilada recipe.
This one is a keeper.

The last recipe I tried called for flour tortillas... and the "test kitchen" feedback confirmed that flour tortillas are just too thick and gooey for chicken enchiladas.


 I was so excited about this cream sauce, I had to take a picture.

Unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture of the finished product.

If you click the link above the picture, you'll see PW's beautiful picture.

Parmesan "Fire Bowl"

This is a parmesan cheese wheel

Iron Chef Mario Batali "flambe'd" it

then tossed pasta in it

THE COOLEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN

I am scare of "flambe"

I tried it once making bananas foster - and was so scared,

my son and I ended up eating the dessert with the liquid rum

White Christmas in Texas- 2009

View from my backyard on Christmas Day!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone a very blessed day!

Bringing Bundt Back...

I do not know about you, but I have about 3 different style of bundt pans that I hardly ever use.

I made this cake the other day with a pan a friend gave me recently when she moved.

Something about a bundt cake that brings back good childhood memories.

(yes, I believe this dates me a little bit)

I do not think I've ever had a bad bundt cake.

(well, except the time that I just mixed all the ingredients in one bowl creating a very dense cake which I do not recommend - when EVERY baker knows you mix the wet ingredients separate from the dry before mixing them all together GRADUALLY )

I even received one this year for my birthday back in March from

Nothing Bundt Cakes.

The fun thing baking a bundt cake - is praying and hoping that when you turn it over,

the cake comes out flawlessly without sticking!

Cooking Tip: Coat pan with butter or spray it with PAM, then dust it with dried cake mix instead of flour.

Cute Coaster Idea

coaster

cute napkin

Coaster with Cute Napkin

I received this as a belated house warming gift.

It was waiting for me when I got home on Friday evening.

I love unexpected surprises!

This is a cute idea that I wouldn't buy for myself, but loved receiving it!

Click here for a website that sells them.

Gaylord Texas Christmas

This was my first visit to the Gaylord Hotel in Grapevine.

We went to see the ICE Sculpture exhibit - featuring Dr Seuss "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"

(more pictures to follow)

Test Kitchen - Fiesta Taco Lasagna

This is very delicious.

I got this recipe from Southern Living.

I followed the directions exactly.

Well, almost exactly... I added sharp cheddar on top as well.

You can never have enough cheese!

It was extremely quick and easy to make.

I LOVE the "no boil" lasagna noodles. 

I will definitely recommend!

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