Make Ahead Mashed Potato Casserole

Hubby is sick.
Help me now...we all know what the "man-cold" is like.




Sigh
It's funny because it is true.

Anyhoo...being a good wife, I saw this comfort food dish on Do They Have Salsa in China and decided it would be the perfect thing for sicky over here.

Yup. Won't cure a man cold, but it tastes dang good and is beyond comforting.

Ingredients:

2 Bags Steam and Mash potatoes

8 oz Cream Cheese (softened)

½ Cup sour cream

½ Cup butter (cubed)

¼ Cup milk

1 ½ Tsp Onion powder

1 Tsp salt

1 Tsp Garlic powder

½ Tsp Pepper

6 Bacon strips (Chopped)

1 Cup Cheddar cheese (shredded)

3 Green onions (chopped)

Directions:

1. Cook bacon until crisp. Set aside to drain.

2. Prepare both bags of Steam and Mash

3. Mash potato with cream cheese, sour cream, and butter

4. Stir in milk and seasonings

5. Place in a greased 9 x 13 inch pan

6. Sprinkle with cheese, onion, and bacon

7. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use

8. Remove from fridge 30 minutes before cooking

9. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 40-50 minutes

Print

and the milk.... 

Apparently I snubbed the milk during the ingredients picture. Shocker.

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Pierogi Casserole

I feel like I have been MIA for the last few weeks. Not much blogging going on.

I'm hoping I can get back in to it starting now. I miss talking to you all!
Like I said last time...my world was switching to a better place. It still is...but it took a small detour.
Been down this road before, we will get through it.


I had my first free weekend in years. Two days of no plans.
Saturday we ran a few errands.
Since I was going to be home, I made plans to actually make some lunch. Hubby threw a wrench when he wasn't hungry. Sigh.
Just did gooey nachos for dinner though as we were watching a movie.
(The Dark Tower. I do not recommend it. As a lover of the series, I died a little on the inside)

Sunday we have some more errands, but decided to make it a family day and enjoy a little lunch. The three of us rarely have the same time off, so we took advantage.

Tomorrow will start a week of insanity for me, but, a relaxing weekend will certainly help deal with that.
How is your week looking?



Ingredients:

¾ LB Lasagna noodles (cooked and drained)

¾ Cup butter

5 Cups Mashed potato (cooked)

12 Slices cheddar cheese

2 Large onions (minced)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Melt butter and saute onions until tender

3. Place half of the cooked noodles into the bottom of a 9x13 pan

4. Place 6 slices of cheese on noodles

5. Add mashed potato, spreading evenly

6. Top with noodles

7. Add remaining cheese

8. Poke holes in cheese layer

9. Pour butter/onion mixture over top

10. Bake 15 minutes, or until cheese is slightly browned

Print

I used instant potato just for the ease factor, but please feel free to make extra the next time you have some with dinner. Steam and Mash should work well too. Just seasoned with butter, salt, and pepper, didn't want to distract from the simplicity of this meal.

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Adapted from: Moms Who Think

Cambridge Country Inn and Pub Sour Cream and Chive Potato Soup

I have never heard of Cambridge Country Inn and Pub before I saw this recipe on CD Kitchen.
I still haven't actually ever heard of it.

A quick Google search brought up a couple mentions of a place in Cambridge WI by this name. Without ever seeing a menu, I can only assume this is the one.

One Monday night I made this soup. We all enjoyed it that night. The following Thursday was a crazy day. Told hubby we were having the leftovers for dinner. He responded with "OMG AGAIN? How many times are we going to eat this?"
I reminded him it was only our second meal.
He was all "oh. I guess it just feels like more"
Huh?

So, reheated soup...handed him a bowl and he was all "I freaking love this soup"
Hmm.

Time to clean up dinner, there wasn't much left. He was determined to save every last drop.

I can only assume he had been thinking of some other meal when he "complained" earlier.

Men! They claim we are the hard ones to understand...I think not!

Ingredients:

1 ¼ Lb russet potato (peeled and diced into ½ inch square)

¾ Cup Margarine

¾ Cup flour

1 Onion (chopped)

2 Tbsp Vegetable oil

7 Cups Water

1 Bay leaf

2 Tbsp Chives (chopped)

1 Tbsp chicken base

1 Tsp Seasoned salt

¼ Tsp Black pepper

½ Tsp Garlic powder

2 Cups Milk

½ Cup Half and Half

1 ½ Cup Sour cream

Directions:

1. Cook potatoes until tender, set aside

2. For roux: Melt margarine in small saucepan over medium heat. Gradually whisk in flour until well combined. Set aside.

3. In large soup pot, saute onion in oil until soft

4. Add water, bay leaf, chives, chicken base, seasoned salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Bring to a boil.

5. Whisk in milk and half and half.

6. Add roux. Stir frequently until thickened.

7. Add sour cream and potatoes.

8. Simmer until soup is hot through

Print

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Lisa's Beef Stew

I have lots of friends named Lisa. Seriously, sometimes there can be 6 of them in the same room!!
Craziness I tell ya!

One Lisa gave me this recipe for her beef stew.
I have my own that we are partial to, but always willing to try a new one!

I was laughing at myself while making this because she obviously typed it as she was trying to remember it all. There would be ingredients listed in the directions that were not in the ingredients list. So, my pictures are a little whacked, but it's all good!

This recipe makes a LOT of stew! We ate it for two meals, I brought it for lunch two days, and I have another couple of servings in the freezer!

Ingredients:

3 ½ Lb stew beef

5 Cloves garlic (crushed)

4-5 Medium onions (quartered)

2 Lbs carrots (chopped into large pieces)

6 Medium potato

2 Tsp salt

1 Tsp sugar

1 ½ Tsp pepper

½ Tsp paprika

3 Tsp Worcestershire sauce

2 Bay leaves

Dash of tabasco

Dash of lemon juice

1 Cup flour

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Brown stew beef in a large pot with vegetable oil for about 20 minutes

2. Add 4 cups boiling water, spices (minus lemon), garlic, and 1 onion

3. Simmer (covered) for 1 hour

4. Add carrots, potato, and rest of onions

5. Simmer another hour

6. Add lemon during the last 15 minutes of cooking

7. To thicken, shake 1 cup flour with 1 ⅓ cup cold water until there are no lumps. Slowly add to stew.

Print

She forgot to tell me about the oil needed to brown the beef

Then I paperclipped over where it said to use potato!

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Scalloped Sweet Potato

Hubby and I were sitting around one day (or night, whatever) watching the Food Network. Bobby Flay's Barbecue Addiction was on, and he was making hasselback sweet potato.

I was bringing a potato side dish to a family function, and thought that would make for a nice change of pace.
Though, there were going to be so many of us, I knew there was no way I could do enough hasselback style. It would have either been overwhelming, or a waste.

I sliced the potato thin and layered them with the butter mixture to create a scalloped potato version.

As discussed in another post, I have yet to ever try a sweet potato.
So...general consensus is that this is sweet and delicious.
The majority have spoken!

Ingredients:

3 Large sweet potato (peeled and sliced thin)

1 ½ Sticks unsalted butter (softened)

3 Tbsp molasses

1 Tbsp cilantro

1 Tsp orange zest

⅛ Tsp nutmeg

Salt and Pepper

½ Cup rum

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Spray casserole dish with cooking spray

3. Mix all ingredients (except potato)

4. Layer butter, potato, butter, potato until all is used

5. Cook for 45 minutes, or until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork

Print

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Easy Potato Soup

I have this friend, and she is about as obsessed with cooking as I am
(Check her out over at A Day in the Life of Jennay. Yes, I do know her in real life ooohhhh)
We both have started these random recipe swaps with our friends. Well, some of them at least.

Anyhoo...this is the first of those particular recipes, so I am going to add a new label "random recipe swap".
I cannot link back to an original site, so that will have to be the next best thing!

This came from one of her friends named Kelly

Ingredients:

26 oz bag frozen hash browns

28 oz chicken broth

1 Can cream of chicken soup

¼ Cup chopped onion

¼ Tsp pepper

8 oz cream cheese

1 Cup milk

Bacon bits

Directions:

1. Add hash browns, broth, chicken soup, onion, and pepper to crock pot

2. Cook for 1 hour on high

3. Stir then turn to low for 1 hour

4. Add cream cheese and cook 30 minutes

5. Add milk and cook for 10-15 minutes longer

6. Serve and top with bacon bits

Print

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Candied Yams

This past Thanksgiving as I was assigning everyone their dishes, we realized nobody had sweet potato.

Now, I have never eaten a bite of sweet potato, much less ever made them.
I figured everyone would want the "traditional" dish with the mini marshmallows...so I googled it and came up with this recipe.

I ended up doubling it as there are many, many of us.
Um, in the interest of full disclosure, I didn't know until I opened the can and placed them in the dish. I looked at them, thought about it, looked again....and decided to brave the store the day before Thanksgiving.

Imagine my surprise to find next to nobody in the store! Psyched!

I made them, they got eaten by most all...but it still wasn't eaten by me.

Maybe one year I will brave it.

Ingredients:

1 (29 oz) can sweet potato

¼ Cup butter, cut into pieces

½ Cup brown sugar

1 ½ Cups miniature marshmallows

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Place sweet potato in medium baking dish

3. Place butter cubes all over the potato

4. Sprinkle with brown sugar

5. Top with miniature marshmallows

6. Bake 25 minutes

Print

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Ranch Potatoes (Crock Pot)

I had a discussion with one of hubby's cousins last night (which was SO nice! Miss her!)

She is one of those types that would take care of everyone and everything on the planet if she had the means. Genuine heart.

She has 3 (wonderful!) kids as well as two dogs at home.

Then she heard of this other little doggy down at the pound who needed love. She went down to look and the poor thing had pulled out all of its own hair! It was a mix of unhappiness and food allergies.

Cousin brought her hubby and their youngest down to look at the dog and they were like "seriously? this must be a joke".
A joke it was not! She brought her home and worked her magic!

A couple of months later, and you would never have known that this pup had a sad beginning. She is thriving and loving life with her new "siblings".

Thank you cousin, the world needs more people like you!

Ingredients:

6 Bacon strips (chopped)

2 ½ Lbs small red potatoes (cubed)

8 oz cream cheese (softened)

10 ¾ oz cream of potato soup

¼ Cup milk

1 Envelope ranch dressing mix

3 Tbsp thinly sliced green onions

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, cook bacon until crisp.

2. Remove and drain, reserving 1 Tbsp drippings

3. Place potatoes in slow cooker

4. In a bowl, beat cream cheese, soup, milk, dressing mix, and drippings until belnded

5. Stir cream cheese mixture into potato

6. Sprinkle potatoes with the bacon

7. Cook on low 7-8 hours or until potatoes are tender

8. Top with green onions

Print

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home

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Grilled Garlic Potato Rounds

I don't own a grill.
I feel like people look at me funny when I say that...I might as well have said "I don't breathe".
Whatever, it is what it is.

My consolation prize is the fact that I own a grill pan. I use it all the time. Anything I would usually make on the grill is done just fine on my little stove. Grill marks and all.

I spied this recipe in First magazine and since we have a love affair with garlic and potato, it was a match made in grill pan heaven.

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tsp seasoning salt

1 Clove minced garlic

2 Tsp minced fresh thyme

8 Large potato (washed and sliced into ¼ inch thick rounds)

Directions:

1. Heat grill (or grill pan)

2. Mash together olive oil, salt, garlic and thyme to create a paste

3. Add potato to oil mixture and toss gently to coat

4. Grill 6 minutes or until potato is tender, turning once

Print

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Cheesy Spinach Mashed Potato (Crock Pot)

My (not so little anymore) cousin is in college.
He eats a lot.

He is tall, skinny, and all us women folk wish we had his metabolism.
Whatever...that is beside the point of this post.

He was home for a visit, and inhaling every bite of home-cooked food he could get his skinny hands on. We were all over there hanging out the other night and I brought these potatoes over.

We all ate, and then it was time to go home.
Auntie said she had too many leftovers and for us all to bring home whatever was left of what we brought.

Cousin man had tears in his eyes. I convinced her to let him keep the potato. She was all "but you are heading back to school tomorrow". His reply? "That's why they make tupperware MOM".

I love when food makes people happy!

Ingredients:

10 oz frozen chopped spinach

6 Potatoes (peeled and chopped)

½ Cup chicken broth

½ Cup butter

1 Cup sour cream

1 Tbsp chopped onion

1 Tsp salt

¼ Tsp dried dill weed

1 Cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. In large crock pot, place potatoes and cover them with broth, spinach (undrained), butter, onion, dill, and salt

2. Cook on low for 6-7 hours or high for 3 hours

3. Mash potatoes

4. Stir in sour cream

5. Transfer to a large casserole dish, top with cheddar cheese

6. Place under broiler until cheese is bubbly (about 5 minutes)

Print

Recipe adapted from Moms with Crock Pots

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