Recent Recipes

I've tried a couple of new recipes lately that I just LOVE!!!

Last weekend for our UA tailgate, I tried a Ham and Cheese Croissant Casserole recipe that I had seen in Southern Living.  It was SO good!

Ingredients

• 3  (5-inch) large croissants
• 1  (8-oz.) package chopped cooked ham
• 1  (5-oz.) package shredded Swiss cheese
• 6  large eggs
• 1  cup  half-and-half
• 1  tablespoon  dry mustard
• 2  tablespoons  honey
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  pepper
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground nutmeg (optional)

Preparation

1. Cut croissants in half lengthwise, and cut each half into 4 to 5 pieces. Place croissant pieces in a lightly greased 10-inch deep-dish pie plate. Top with ham and cheese.

2. Whisk together eggs, next 5 ingredients, and, if desired, nutmeg in a large bowl.

3. Pour egg mixture over mixture in pie plate, pressing croissants down to submerge in egg mixture. Cover tightly, and chill 8 to 24 hours.

4. Preheat oven to 325°. Bake, covered, 35 minutes. Uncover and bake 25 to 30 minutes or until browned and set. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

There was also another breakfast casserole recipe that was AWESOME...all it was was cream cheese, rotel, and sausage mixed together, topped with cheddar cheese and crescent roll dough and baked.  SO good!

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I'm making the dressing for Thanksgiving this year (brave, I know).  I've used Paula Deen's recipe for dressing before and it is really good...and not that difficult!

Ingredients

• Cornbread, recipe follows
• 7 slices oven-dried white bread
• 1 sleeve saltine crackers
• 8 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups celery, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 7 cups chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon sage (optional)
• 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning (optional)
• 5 eggs, beaten

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine crumbled cornbread, dried white bread slices, and saltines; set aside.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the celery and onion and cook until transparent, approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Pour the vegetable mixture over cornbread mixture. Add the stock, mix well, taste, and add salt, pepper to taste, sage, and poultry seasoning. Add beaten eggs and mix well. Reserve 2 heaping tablespoons of this mixture for the giblet gravy. Pour mixture into a greased pan and bake until dressing is cooked through, about 45 minutes. Serve with turkey as a side dish.

Cornbread:

• 1 cup self-rising cornmeal
• 1/2 cup self-rising flour
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour batter into a greased shallow baking dish. Bake for approximately 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

To serve, cut into desired squares and serve with butter.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Now, I don't make the cornbread from scratch...I use the bagged mix, and it turns out just fine.

Since we are traveling this year, I went on and mixed the cornbread, white bread, and saltines together today and put them in a big Tupperware dish.  I also chopped up the celery and onion and put that in another dish.  All I'll have to do tomorrow is saute the veggies and mix everything together...so it travels pretty well too!  Just make sure you have a HUGE bowl when you're mixing everything together...it makes a lot of food! :)

Happy Thanksgiving cooking everyone!

(Recipes courtesy Southern Living/allrecipes.com, foodnetwork.com)