Cheddar Corn Spoon Bread

I made this for Christmas dinner.  I just wanted to throw my face in it and eat it all myself.  It was that good.  There were no leftovers.  I was not the one to take the last scoop, unfortunately.

Again… Thank you, Martha Stewart for your delish recipe.

You’ll need:

• 1 tablespoon butter, plus more for baking dish
• 2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups corn kernels
• 2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
• Coarse salt
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1 cup sharp white cheddar cheese – or how ever much you’d like.  I doubled it! 🙂
• 4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 2-quart souffle dish or casserole; set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine butter, milk, corn, cornmeal, 1 teaspoon salt, and cayenne. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring frequently, until mixture is slightly thickened, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in cheese. Let cool until just warm to the touch, about 15 minutes. Stir in egg yolks until combined.

In a clean mixing bowl, beat egg whites and a pinch of salt until soft peaks form. Stir 1/3 of the whites into cornmeal mixture until combined, then gently fold in the remaining whites with a rubber spatula. Pour into prepared dish.

Place dish in oven; reduce oven heat to 375 degrees. Bake until browned on top but still slightly loose in the center, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Look at it.  It’s like a pillow of cheese and corn.  Who WOULDN’T want to throw their face in it and eat it all?!?!?!

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Baked Potato Soup

What happened to the fall like weather of cool and breezy 60’s with sun?  Apparently that part of the weather passed us in five minutes.  I find that the best way to cure the rainy blues is with some thick potato soup.

you’ll need:

• about 3 pounds of your preferred potato, mine is red with the skin still on
• three slices turkey bacon
• 4 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
• black pepper
• sour cream
• cheddar cheese
• sliced scallions/green onions

Preheat oven to 400ºF.  Wash and cube potatoes and bake for about 35 minutes or until fork tender. Meanwhile, cook the bacon until browned.  Dry off the fat and chop into bite size pieces.

Once the potatoes are cooked and have cooled, toss into a pot with the chicken broth, salt and pepper.  Cook until hot, about 5 to 10 minutes, and mash the potatoes.  If you want an added touch of luxury, splash in some milk or heavy cream.

Spoon into a bowl and top with sour cream, cheese, bacon and scallions.

This is a pitiful picture (I skipped the bacon this time) but believe me it was still good.

This should cure any rainy blues one may have.  Plus, this won’t do too much damage to the waste line (thanks, Weight Watchers for the recipe!) You can definitely catch me curling up on the couch with a bowl of this and a christmas movie – yeah, Home Alone 2 is fun to watch any time of year. 🙂  Enjoy!

cheesy chicken dumplings

this post is a shout out to April for telling me her yummy recipe for cheesy chicken dumpling goodness.  i made this and took it over to Kyle & Erin’s for a Steelers game – what a hit!

you’ll need:

• 3 chicken breasts
• 3 tubes of crescent rolls  (1 tube per one chicken breast is a good ratio)
• 1 family sized can of cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 can milk
• cheddar cheese (the more the better IMHO)

grease a 9X13 baking dish.  boil the chicken and shred.  add salt, pepper and handful of cheddar cheese and mix well.  unroll the crescent rolls and form dumplings with the shredded chicken mixture, pinching the dumpling shut.  place all of the dumplings in the baking dish.  in a bowl combine the can of cream of chicken soup and a half can of milk, or how ever much milk it takes to your preferred creaminess/consistency.  whisk it up and pour over the dumplings.  top it off with a healthy helping of cheese.

bake for 35-40 minutes at 400 degrees to ensure the crescent rolls cook through.

serve immediately – great during football!

yummmyy…. i love cheese!

this is a nice dish that screams comfort and deliciousness all around.  thanks, april!

Cheddar-corn Spoon Bread

It’s been a while since I’ve made a Martha recipe.  When we went to see Martha back in May, they passed around samples of some of her recipes.  We tried the cornbread and I have been wanting to make it ever since.  There were a few cornbread recipes and this one seemed to be the one I thought they passed around.  I was WRONG but it was still deeeelicious.  You definitely need a spoon to serve this bad boy up.

you will need:

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, plus more for the baking dish
• 2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen (unthawed) corn kernels
• 2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• coarse salt
• 1 cup finely grated white cheddar cheese, preferably sharp
• 4 large eggs, whites and yolks separated

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 2-quart souffle dish or casserole; set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine butter, milk, corn, cornmeal, 1 teaspoon salt, and cayenne. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring frequently, until mixture is slightly thickened, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in cheese. Let cool until just warm to the touch, about 15 minutes. Stir in egg yolks until combined.
In a clean mixing bowl, beat egg whites and a pinch of salt until soft peaks form. Stir 1/3 of the whites into cornmeal mixture until combined, then gently fold in the remaining whites with a rubber spatula. Pour into prepared dish.
Place dish in oven; reduce oven heat to 375 degrees. Bake until browned on top but still slightly loose in the center, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

While this may not have been the cornbread I was hunting for in the cookbook, this is still pretty darn good.  Not a dry crumbly cornbread and definitely worth trying if you want a different variation.  Yum and yum!

mexican inspired baked chicken

my friend over at bon chappétit made mexican baked chicken last week.  i read his post and quickly realized that i had everything needed so i thought, “alright, i’ll finally give one of his recipes a try.”  here is my take on the mexican baked chicken. more so, mexican inspired baked chicken.

you’ll need:

• chicken breasts
• bread crumbs
• 2 teaspoons taco seasoning (if you want mexican baked chicken then use the whole package – but i wanted “inspired” so i eased up on the taco seasoning)
• chopped peppers
• chopped mushrooms
• cheddar cheese
• salsa – i used a fresh pico de gallo – recipe will come at a later date 🙂

pre-heat the oven to 350.  butterfly the chicken breasts and spoon in the salsa, peppers, cheese and cheddar cheese.  roll and secure with a tooth pick.  combine the taco seasoning and bread crumbs and coat the outside of the chicken evenly.  place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.  add a smidge more of cheese on top and cook for an addional 5 or 6 minutes or until the chicken is done.

i served this with some brown rice and the rest of my pico de gallo.

bon chappétit really nailed this one.  my house smelled delicious when the chicken was cooking – i couldn’t WAIT to eat this!  it happily fed myself and i have a lot left over.  the chicken was juicy, the veggies flavorful and the taco seasoning gave it just enough mexican inspiration.

yum and yum.

baked macaroni & cheese with broccoli

something easy, something a little more healthy, something different.  the recipe calls for low-fat or fat-free cheddar cheese but it’s best to go with full fat.  never skimp on flavor when it comes to cheese.

• 12 oz uncooked pasta, gemelli or other twisted pasta (about 2 1/2 cups)
• salt
• 2 1/2 cups broccoli
• 1 tsp butter
• 1/3 bread crumbs
• 3 tbsp parmesan cheese
• 2 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 3 cups low-fat shredded cheddar cheese (or full fat!)
• tsp dijon mustard
• salt and pepper for seasoning

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Coat a shallow 2-quart baking dish with cooking spray.

Cook pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water according to package directions, adding broccoli to water 3 minutes before pasta will be done; drain pasta and broccoli and return to pot.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; add bread crumbs and cook, stirring often, until light golden, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer crumbs to a small bowl; stir in 1 tablespoon of Parmesan cheese and set aside.

In the same saucepan, whisk together milk and flour until blended; add onion. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking frequently. Reduce heat to low and simmer until thickened, about 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and whisk in cheddar cheese, mustard, salt, pepper and remaining 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese. Pour over cooked, drained pasta and broccoli; toss to mix and coat.

Transfer to a baking dish and sprinkle top evenly with bread crumbs. Bake until bubbly at edges, about 20 to 25 minutes.  serves 8.

this was a simple dish, great for the weeknight.  try experimenting with other cheeses.  next time i make this i will use american cheese.  i find that it has more flavor than cheddar in these kinds of dishes.