Green Bean Casserole

I believe this is my first time making the traditional Green Bean casserole. Again, I was tasked with bringing a vegetable dish, preferably the infamous Green Bean casserole and honestly, I am not a fan of this particular vegetable dish. Based on my experience, there are many veggie dishes that are much better. But tradition is tradition, so I will participate will a smiley face and love in my heart. 

I did some online research for a variety of ideas and recipes that might be more appealing to me. Not a huge difference in ingredients, but maybe an improvement over what I have eaten, This was a good idea and I was really pleased with how the new recipe twists I learned about made a real difference,

For the most part, I decided to stick with the same main ingredients, but with a few minor changes. I am still using the store bought French Fried Onion as well as using a can of cream of celery (that is what I have in my pantry, I would use cream of mushroom if I have that but either is fine).

So, here it is.

             Green Bean Casserole dish ready, enjoy!

                           

                     Cooked green bean, mushroom and onions and 2 tablespoonful of fried bacon bits.     

                           Dish topped with cream of celery and ready to go into the oven at 350 degree

                               for 30 mins.

               Once the dish is taken out of the oven, I sprinkle generous portions of French Fried Onions and

                serve immediately, I have added more French Fried onions later on the leftovers! Great as

                leftovers. I will make these again.

Recipe:

1 pound green bean (snipped both ends of green beans)

1 8oz white mushroom

1 medium size onion, finely sliced

2 Tbsp oil

2 tsp ground basil

1 10oz can of cream of mushroom/celery

3/4 cup of milk

salt, pepper, 2 Tbsp soya sauce, 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar, 2 Tbsp bacon bits

1 can French Fried Onions

Instructions:

In a 4 quart pot, bring water to a boil. Add green bean and let boil for 6-7 mins.

Remove green beans and run tap water over green beans, set aside.

In another sauce pan, heat oil on pan. Add onions, saute for 2 minutes.

Add mushrooms, basil and soya sauce and saute for another 2 minutes.

Add green beans, bacon bits and balsamic vinegar, saute another 3 minutes.

Scoop to a casserole dish.

In a bowl, stir together cream of mushroom/celery and milk.

Pour cream of mushroom mixture over the casserole dish and spread evenly to cover dish.

Bake at 350 degree for 30 minutes.

Sprinkle with French Fried Onions over dish and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Apple Cream Cheese Bar

We have been invited to our brother and sister-in-laws home for Thanksgiving dinner and we are tasked with bringing a second dessert, since pumpkin pie will be the star of the show, I decided to make this Apple Cream Cheese Bar. The idea is that this dessert will compliment the pumpkin pie.

This recipe requires multiple steps to prepare it as there are 4 layers in total to makeup this dish. 

                        1. The first layer is a crust at the bottom made of graham crackers and butter 

                               ... bake at 350 degree for 6-7 mins

                                2. The second layer, is a cream cheese mixture. You have to pay attention so it is layered smoothly and evenly. I used the back of a spoon or you could use a plastic knife for this purpose

                                    

                             

                             3. The third  layer is an apple pie filling, Just drop this filling over the cream cheese                                       layer.....

                      

                        ...here is the evenly smoothed 3rd apple filling layer

                  

                         4. The fourth layer is an oatmeal topping, Again tamp it down lightly using the                                              back of a spoon .

                              Bake in the oven for 50 minutes at 350 degrees, 

                              Let it cool completely and then place it in the freezer for 1-2 hours. 

                              Then you can evenly and easily cut your Apple Cream Cheese Bar. 

           

Recipe:

Crust - bottom layer (1st layer )

1 1/2 cup of crushed graham crackers (from a pack of graham crackers )

3 Tbs soften melted butter or oil

2 Tsp sugar

Lined parchment paper on bottom of 8 x 8 pyrex pan dish.

Mix all ingredients and spread evenly on dish, bake for 7 mins at 350 degree.

Cream Cheese Layer

8 oz soften (room temp) cream cheese

1 egg

1/4 cup sugar

Mix all ingredients, with patience, slowly and evenly spread cream cheese mixture using plastic spatula or knife on top of crust layer.

Apple Pie Filling

3 apples peeled and diced into small cubes

2 Tbsp lemon juice (optional)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbs cornstarch

In a sauce pan, over medium heat, cook all ingredients except cornstarch until bubbly.

Add cornstarch as soon as apples are soften/bubbly, stir quickly, turn off stove.

Scoop apple pie filling onto the cream cheese layer.

Again, evenly smoothen apple pie filling topping.

Oatmeal Crumbles layer:

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

6 Tbsp melted butter

Mix well all ingredients, spread over top of Apple pie filling layer.

Lightly tamp down layer.

Bake at 350 degree for 50 mins.

Cool dish completely.

Place dish in freezer for an hour or 2.

Cut Apple Cream Cheese Bar to desired bite size pieces/bars.

Enjoy!!

 

Random Pieces Quilt

I just finished this quilt using lots of various fabric scraps. I struggled with this particular design and  wished I would have used bigger sized square pieces instead of the little ones. But since I already committed to the fabric I decided to throw in a few BIG pieces to mix the design up a little bit, hoping that things would somehow work out for the best.

For the quilt's backing, I decided to use a thinner fabric instead of the usual thicker and heavier backing I normally use. This makes this quilt much lighter than most of my earlier ones and makes it a better fit for a picnic blanket or table cover even a big throw blanket in the family TV room !

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Mini Apple Pie Loaf

  With this being apple season, I really wanted to bake something with apples and fine tune some of my apple recipes. So here is my latest test recipe that I hope will be a big improvement over some of my earlier ones. 

  I was very happy that the taste and texture of this new recipe was really moist and delicate. The apples I used were really sweet and firm, which is what really made this apple cake special. So far the first little cake didn't last more than half a day, so that tells me that I did something right.  So once it is cut, you better get in line fast before it is all gone. So for now, I think this is my go-to recipe....at least for now!!

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup oil

1 ripe banana (or 1/2 cup apple sauce which ever you have available, I used banana)

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

4 apples

Additional to sprinkle on top of each mini loaf - cinnamon and 4 tsp sugar.

Directions:

* Line parchment paper on bottom of 4 mini loaf pan.

* peel each apple, quarter and chop 3 pieces of the 4 and line chopped apple into each mini loaf pan, chop the 4th quarter, set aside for topping to the loaf pan.

* In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder and sugar together.

* add egg and mix well, add mashed banana, and mix in oil, stir well.

* divide mixture and scoop/drop mixture onto each mini loaf pan

* top each mini pan with the remaining apple, sprinkle each pan with the last quarter of chopped apple, cinnamon and 1 tsp sugar.

* bake at 350 degree for 40-45 mins.