Sweet Potato Casserole AND Green Bean Casserole

I know, I know. I'm a day late. Whatever, you should cook Thanksgiving food year round.

These two recipes? Amazing. I made 4 sides this year - butternut squash mac and cheese, Trader Joe's stuffing, and these two recipes. Justin made an amazing turkey, and we were set!

Best part about these two recipes? They are lightened up versions. No cream. Very little butter. Delicious.

It was a busy oven.

Sweet potato casserole (from How Sweet Eats):

2 lbs of sweet potatoes (this was 2 big potatoes for me)
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp brown butter (see butternut squash recipe for a how to)
1/3 cup lite coconut milk (this does NOT add coconut flavor - just creaminess)
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt

Crust:

1/2 cup whole, unsalted pecans, chopped
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1 tbsp whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of salt
2 tbsp butter, softened
mini marshmallows

Mix everything together with your hands and set aside.

Here's what you do...

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Peel and chop your potatoes into pieces and boil for 20-30 minutes, or until soft.

3. Add your potatoes to a bowl and, using a mixer, blend until smooth. Add all other ingredients (except crust) and blend again.

4. Pour into an oven safe bowl, top with crust and then mini marshmallows. Bake for 25 minutes and enjoy!

I was so excited to dig into the sweet potato casserole that I didn't even take a picture of the finished product. But there's a picture of our turkey in the oven!

Green Bean Casserole - here's what you need (from My Life as a Mrs)...

1-1.25 lbs of green beans
8 oz. mushrooms, slice
5-7 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tbsp salted butter
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 tbsp flour
dash of cayenne*
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
1 cup half and half
Onion straws (we got ours from Trader Joe's)

*Leave out the cayenne if you don't like a little kick!

Here's what you do...

1. Boil your green beans for 5-7 minutes and immediately transfer to a bowl of ice water to blanch. Drain and set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 350.

3. In a pan, combine butter, mushrooms, salt and pepper. Saute for 5-7 minutes, or until the mushrooms are soft. Add garlic and cayenne and stir for another minute.

4. Add flour and stir for another minute more. It will be a weird chunky looking mixture. Then, add chicken broth and bring to a simmer stirring until the flour is well-combined. Then, add half and half and simmer for another 10 minutes or until thick.

5. Add green beans and about 1 cup of onion straws. Pour into an oven safe dish and top with more onion straws. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Enjoy!

I can't stand mushrooms, but I love them in this dish. This was the hit of the night - I will be offended if you use cream of mushroom soup in the future.

 I hope you all have a very happy Thanksgiving! We are about to jump into finals, so I will be MIA for awhile. I wanted to leave you with this:

1. That is a dog bed.
2. I'm pretty sure normal animals lay on top of the pillow, not under.
3. Should I take this as a sign that I shouldn't have children when my CAT turns out to be this crazy? Just a thought.

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Potato Leek Soup

Hi! Remember me? 

Sorry I've been MIA for a few weeks now. We traveled 2 weekends in a row, and while I've been cooking, I have not been posting.

It's starting to get cold here in NC, so I have started making soups like a crazy person. This is one of my all time favorites. I started pulling ideas from various recipes until it ended up being completely my own.

Are you familiar with my friends the leeks? SO good. And lots of health benefits that I could list to you, but you can just look them up if you really care. Summary: they taste good and they are good for you.

Here's what you need...

4 tbsp butter
6-8 cloves of garlic, minced
1 1/2 yellow onions, diced
4 leeks, rinsed and sliced - only the white parts*
3 stalks of celery, diced
15 baby red potatoes, cut into pieces
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tbsp fresh thyme
2 cups low sodium vegetable broth
2 cups low sodium chicken broth**
3/4 cup of half and half

*You MUST rinse your leeks!! They are really dirty. I usually put mine in a bowl full of water and toss them around a few times to make sure they are clean (see below).

**If you want this to be a vegetarian soup, just use vegetable broth!

Here's what you do...

1. In a large stock pot, melt your butter. Saute onion, leeks and celery for about 5-8 minutes, until they soften up a bit. Add garlic for 30 seconds, then add potatoes.

2. Add pepper, white pepper and thyme. Saute spices with everything for another 5-10 minutes.

3. Add your broth. Allow to simmer on low heat for 30-45 minutes, or until all the vegetables are soft.

4. Once your vegetables are soft, use a potato masher to mash everything up in the pot. I like my soup with chunks of potato in it, but this time I tried using my immersion blender to make a smooth soup. I still prefer the chunks, but that's just me!

5. Add half and half and allow to simmer for another 15-20 minutes, or until it's a little bit thicker.

6. Serve with a sprinkle of fresh grated parmesan and a little parsley. Enjoy!!

This soup is PERFECT for the cooler weather, and it's actually fairly good for you. 

Would you all hate me if I posted something non-food related on here? I promise it won't be about my emotions or anything like that.

Promise to be back sooner than 3 weeks!!! Stay warm :)

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