Thanksgiving Recipe #3 - Homemade Stuffing!

Hey everyone! For my third Thanksgiving themed recipe, I will show you how we make stuffing on Thanksgiving at my house. We don't cheat when it comes to stuffing the turkey and it is so worth the extra time!

To stuff the turkey and have left overs, you will need:

4 loaves of bread
1 head of celery
1 large red onion
4 sticks of butter
2 tablespoons poultry seasoning
2 tablespoons thyme

Begin by toasting up your bread and breaking it into small bite sized pieces.

Using a food processor, chop up your celery and onion.

In a pan, melt your butter and add in your celery and onion. Let this cook down for about 20-30 minutes.

Add your poultry seasoning and thyme and let cook for another 5 minutes.

Sprinkle some additional seasoning over your bread crumbs.

Using a slotted spoon, scoop out the onion, celery mixture from your pan. Use the moisture from the celery and onions to bring your stuffing together.  Start slow, and add more if your stuffing is too dry. Once you add too much butter - you can't really go back and fix it.

 

When stuffing your turkey, take your stuffing and gently pack it into the turkey. Put tin foil on any stuffing that is popping out so it doesn't burn, and cooke the turkey as directed.

If you have excess, bake at 250 degrees for 20 minutes.

 Serve with gravy and enjoy!! Look out for one last Thanksgiving themed post before the holidays! 

Thanksgiving Recipe #2 - Appetizer! Buffalo Chicken Crescent Ring

The next recipe you'll need for Thanksgiving is a crowd pleasing appetizer! Make this easy, buffalo chicken crescent ring before heading over to your relatives this year.

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked chicken (you can use fresh, canned or the pre-cooked bagged stuff)
Wing sauce to taste - approx. two tablespoons
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 pack of ranch dip mix
Chopped celery to taste
2 large (or 4 small) cans of crescent rolls

Mix your chicken, cream cheese, wing sauce, ranch dip mix, and celery in a bowl.

Lay your crescent rolls out in a circle on a creased baking sheet. Do not separate them into triangles, keep them in rectangle shapes.

Drop your mixture onto your crescent rolls to create a ring.

Carefully lift up the edges of your crescent rolls one by one and tuck them into the center to begin forming your ring shape. Pinch up any noticeable openings so the mixture doesn't spill out!

Bake at 375 for 15 minutes or until the crescent rolls are golden brown. Mine came out a little doughy still so make sure yours is cooked through.

Slice it up and serve with ranch or blue cheese dip! Enjoy!!

I forgot to take a picture when it was done cooking, and by the time I got Brendan to take one (a day later...), this is all that was left.... So I guess it was good!

Thanksgiving Recipe #1 - Fall Sangria

Start off your Thanksgiving right, with a fall inspired Sangria! You'll only need a few ingredients for this one - and you can use cheap wine since you're mixing! Enjoy!

Ingredients: (you can double this to make a full pitcher)
1 bottle pinot grigio
1.5 cups apple cider
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or to taste)
1/2 cup sugar
2 apples
1 pear
1 orange
Optional - 1/2 cup vanilla vodka - depending on your family?? ;)

Start off by chopping up your fruit and putting into your pitcher.

Mix the rest of your ingredients and chill for at least one hour before serving.

This could not be easier and its super impressive and tasty!

Announcement for November!

Happy Sunday Everyone! I won't be posting a blog tonight as I am traveling for work and do not have a kitchen at my disposal. I will be back next week though!

This will actually be the first time I am planning to do a THEMED MONTH! For the month of November I plan on giving you all some great ideas to bring to your Thanksgiving gathering this year. I will show you a spicy, crowd pleasing appetizer, a staple side, and an easy decadent dessert you can share with loved ones. 

Throughout the month, feel free to ask me questions about preparing Thanksgiving dishes! 

I hope you all have a great week! Thanks for checking in!

Easy Halloween Treat - Peanut Butter Oreo Brownies

Hey there everyone and welcome back to my blog! I hope you have been having a great weekend and are enjoying your Halloween celebrations. If you have a party to go this week, instead of bringing a bag of candy - try these easy treats out! With only a small handful of ingredients you can make an impressive dessert to bring to your Halloween party.

You will need the following ingredients and tools:

1 box of brownie mix, prepared as directed on the box (make sure it doesn't have any nuts or chocolate chunks - you want a smooth batter)
1 package of peanut butter Oreos
1 can of chocolate frosting
1 bag of reese's pieces and optional sprinkles (I just couldn't find any at my store..)
A mixing bowl and a muffin tray

Start off by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare your brownies according to the box directions. Work out any lumps as you will want to have a smooth batter.

Then, take a peanut butter Oreo and dip it in the brownie batter. May sure you cover the entire oreo in batter, and shake off any excess.

Place your Oreo brownies in a greased muffin tin and cook for ~12 minutes. Make sure you do not over cook them, because they can turn into hockey pucks pretty quickly!

Once cooked, run a knife around the edges of each Oreo brownie and gently pop them out of the muffin tin. Allow to cool completely before decorating with frosting. reese's pieces and sprinkles.

If you have any other easy Halloween recipes that you are using this year, share a link in the comments below! I hope you all have a great week and a safe and happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Happy Sunday Everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the last weekend of semi-warm weather and are ready to really get into fall! I made these Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins last weekend and they got rave reviews! Even my step dad requested me to make another batch soon! These muffins take a few more steps than just preparing a boxed mix, but I promise you it is SO worth it!

Warning!!! If you want to make these, make sure your prepare your filling way ahead of time since it will need to chill!



You will need:

• For the filling:
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar

• For the muffins:
• Dry:
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Wet:
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 can pumpkin puree 
• 1¼ cups vegetable oil

• For the topping:
• ½ cup sugar
• 5 tablespoons flour
• 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Start off by making the filling. As I mentioned you will want to do this way before hand since you need to chill it in the freezer for at least two hours. Mix your cream cheese and powdered sugar. Then, place the filling on a piece of saran wrap and shape it into a long log shape. I placed a piece of foil around the log to reinforce it. Place the log in the freezer for at least two hours. 

When you feel your filling has been chilling long enough, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place all of your dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl and mix well. You are dealing with quite a few spices here so you want to make sure they are evenly distributed throughout.

In a separate bowl mix together your wet ingredients with a hand mixer. Then, combine your dry ingredients with your wet ingredients. I like to add a little bit at a time so it doesn't create too much of a mess. You will end up with a pretty thick batter, much like the consistency of pumpkin pie filling before you bake it.

Now, make your topping. Mix your sugar, flour and cinnamon in a small bowl. Then cut in your butter. To learn how to cut butter into dry ingredients, see my previous blog on Pumpkin Scones!  Your topping should be a crumbly consistency. If your butter gets too warm, simply place the topping in the fridge for 20 minutes.

To assemble the muffins, place paper or foil cupcake/muffin liners in your muffin pan. Add your first layer of pumpkin muffin batter. I used one heaping tablespoon of batter to just cover the bottom. Then take your chilled filling and cut it up into 24 pieces. Add a piece of filling to each muffin cup.

Cover the filling with the rest of your batter. Sprinkle a small handful of toppings over each muffin.

Place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes.

I hope you enjoy these muffins as much as we did at my house. I will definitely be making these again before everyone is "pumpkin-ed out"! Thanks again for checking in to read my blog. Leave your requests and questions below!!

Requested: Chicken Puffs!

Happy Sunday Everyone! 

Today has been a good one, with beautiful weather, a WIN for the Eagles, and a day spent in the kitchen! Mom made ribs and chili earlier and I followed behind her with this throw-back recipe for Chicken Puffs. My mom used to make these all of the time, but I don't remember since I was so young. Luckily my dad put in a request for these so here they are! 

You will need the following:

2 cups of chopped, cooked chicken

3 oz. cream cheese

2 tablespoons melted butter

1/4 tablespoon pepper

1/2 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon chives

1 can of crescent rolls

some more melted butter.. for coating your puffs

Bread crumbs

This is honestly one of the easiest recipes ever, so I know why my mom made them all the time.

Start off by using a hand mixer to combine the cream cheese and melted butter. Then mix in your chopped chicken, pepper, salt and chives. 

Then take your crescent rolls and combine two individual rolls to make a rectangle. You will be able to make four rectangles from one can of dough. 

Drop a large spoonful of your chicken mix onto the dough and bring up the corners to form a pouch. Just keep pinching where there are openings until the pouch is sealed. These do not need to look pretty so its super easy! 

Take each puff and dip the top in melted butter and then roll the puff into bread crumbs. My mom used to use crushed up italian croutons for bread crumbs, but I used panko for some extra crunch. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown. 

Eat them up! These are the definition of comfort food and great for a cool fall night. Thank you to my dad for requesting these! Everyone is happy to have them in the house!! Try making these yourselves with different chicken mixtures - BBQ or Buffalo Chicken maybe! 

Please leave your recipe requests or cooking questions down below! Have a great week!!!