Slow Cooker Breakfast Burritos

 

Everyone is so busy during the holidays, and everyone is also starving first thing in the morning!  This is an excellent and easy way to provide a hearty breakfast for your family at a very economical price.  This dish has very few ingredients and won't be more than about $1 per person!

You'll need:

2 lbs sausage (browned and crumbled) - you can mix hot and regular - I did 2 lbs of regular sausage
1 red sweet pepper diced
1 small onion minced - I used 2 Tbls of minced onion - tastes fine and much easier to fix
1 lb shredded hash browns - I used a little more than a pound
4 cups shredded cheese - I mixed Velveeta and Cheddar 
1 dozen eggs
1 cup milk
salt and pepper
flour tortillas
extra toppings as you like - I did sour cream, salsa, jalapeños and taco sauce - let your imagination go wild on the extras that your family would like.

Scramble your sausage and combine onion and sweet pepper until the sausage is browned and your veggies are sauteed.  Drain all the fat off this mixture and set it aside. I did this part a day ahead while my kitchen was already in use to avoid cleaning the cooktop again! (Real story - no regrets.)

Layer your crockpot with the 2 lb sausage, onion and sweet pepper mixture on the bottom.  Add a layer of 2 cups of cheese.  Add the hashbrowns on top and then add 1 more cup of cheese.

Beat your eggs with a cup of milk, salt and pepper to taste.  Pour the egg mixture over the top of your layers and sprinkle with that last cup of cheese.  

Cook in your crock pot on high for 4 hours.  If you want to start this the night before, cook it on low for 6-8 hours but be prepared to wake up starving!  This smells heavenly and your belly will wake you up wanting a burrito!

Remove the filling from your crock pot and spoon it gently into a tortilla.  Top as you like with sour cream, salsa, sauce or peppers!  

These are super easy to make into burritos and slide them into a Ziplock bag and freeze them.  So convenient for hungry people on the move to grab one, microwave it and go.

I'd recommend these for Christmas morning or any large family gathering where breakfast is served.  We love them and I hope that you do too!

Sweet Potato Bread Pudding

 

I found this recipe a few weeks ago and I KNEW that this would be on our Thanksgiving table this year!  My family loves sweet potatoes to varying degrees from true lovers to just a bite.  This recipe is a perfect blend for everyone.  There is an option to add a little bourbon to this recipe.  I passed on that option but I included it in the ingredients and instructions below.  There are ways to speed this recipe up by working in advance.  I baked my sweet potato the night before (heat in microwave 30 seconds before blending with the sauce if you do this.) and you can bake your bread cubes the night before and store them in an airtight container.  This cuts out a lot of time and can get you going to the oven in about 20 minutes on the day you want to serve it.

You'll need:

1 large (12- to 14-oz.) sweet potato (makes about 1¼ cups mashed)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing dish

¾ teaspoon kosher salt, divided

10 cups (1-inch) cubed challah bread (from 1 [16-oz.] loaf)

5 large eggs

2 ¼ cups heavy whipping cream½ cup packed light brown sugar

⅓ cup honey

⅓ cup bourbon (optional)

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°F. Pierce sweet potato several times using a fork, and place on a microwave-safe plate. Place potato in an oven safe dish and bake for one hour or until tender in the center.  Cool and peel potato, and place flesh in a medium bowl. Add butter and ¼ teaspoon of the salt, and mash until well combined. Set aside.

Spread bread cubes on a baking sheet; bake in a preheated oven until dried out but not browned, turning halfway through, 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool completely on the pan, about 20 minutes.

Grease an 8-inch square baking dish with butter. Whisk eggs in a large bowl, and set aside. Combine heavy cream, sugar, honey, (bourbon if you choose to use it), and vanilla in a medium saucepan. Gently warm over low until sugar and honey are dissolved, 2 to 3 minutes. Whisk in cinnamon and remaining ½ teaspoon salt. 

Remove from heat, and gradually whisk cream mixture into egg yolks in a bowl until well combined. Add sweet potato mixture to cream mixture, and whisk until mostly smooth. Add bread cubes, and toss gently until moistened.

Spread half of the soaked bread cubes in the prepared dish, and sprinkle with half of the pecans. Repeat with remaining soaked bread cubes and pecans. Pour any remaining custard from the bowl over the mixture, and let stand for 15 minutes.

Bake in a preheated 325*oven until the center is set, about 40 minutes, rotating dish halfway through and covering with aluminum foil during the last 10 to 15 minutes to prevent overbrowning, if needed. Let rest at least 15 minutes before serving.

Tips

A good bread pudding has just the right ratio of custard to bread, so it ends up rich and decadent rather than too eggy or soggy. To help avoid the latter, the bread here is lightly toasted to ensure it's dry enough to soak up all the flavored goodness.

Cruffins

 

Ya'll know that I live by a KISS philosophy!  Keep It Simple Sweetheart!  Life is complicated so I don't need my food to be complicated too!  This recipe is an adaptation from something I found online, and I am so very pleased at how well it came out on batch #2!

This is the simplest thing and so delicious!  You can play with any flavor that suits you and you'll get a winner each time - I promise!

You'll need:

2 tubes of crescent roll dough (yields 6 cruffins, do a double batch if you need more)

Butter spread of your choosing (I used 2 sticks of butter with 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon - blend room temp butter with other ingredients and set aside.)

Cinnamon Sugar - you can buy it at the grocery or make your own (making your own is much less expensive add 1 cup white sugar to 1 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and mix well)

Preheat your oven to 350* and prepare muffin pans with liners or baking spray.  I used jumbo muffin pans for this recipe.

Sprinkle your work surface with a 1/3 cup of cinnamon sugar and unroll one tube of crescent roll dough on top the sugar mix.  Leave the entire dough intact as a rectangle.

Spread your butter mixture over the dough, then add another 1/4 cup of cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top.  Top this with the second tube of crescent dough.

Use a pizza cutter to slice these layers on the long bias into 6 strips.  Gently roll the strips then dip each one top and bottom in the remaining cinnamon sugar. Place each crufffin into the muffin tin.  Don't worry about all the dough seams being sealed, they will bake together and it's one less worry,

Bake for 20 minutes and remove from muffin tin as soon as you can handle them.

Serve with any butter of your choosing!  These are delicious with honey butter, strawberry butter of just plain butter.  I like to spoil my guests with flavored butter, but you do what works for you!

This recipe stole the show at a brunch recently, all other muffins were ignored for these amazing beauties.  Switch the filling to suit you.  I am trying a sweet potato filling with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon.  I'm sure this will be a Thanksgiving hit and you have plenty of time to practice and sample before the big day!

Let your imagination run with this one, pumpkin pie cruffins, blueberry lemon cruffins, apple pecan cruffins.... the possibilities are endless!

Yum and Enjoy!

Blackberry Buttermilk Sorbet

 

OH MY GOODNESS!  I thought this recipe was too easy and with all but two of the four ingredients already in my house, I had to try it!  Man is this one a winner!  Blackberries are in abundance in the South in early fall and we had tons of wild blackberries on our farm in Tennessee when I was a child.  I had a hard time picking them because I ate as much as I carried back to my Mama!  This is an excellent light treat that will be sure to please everyone and the color is just beautiful!

You'll Need:
2 cups blackberries (save a few for garnish)
1 cup white sugar
1 pinch salt
2 cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla

If using an ice cream maker:

1 bag rock salt

1 small bag of ice

Place your blackberries in a bowl and mix with the sugar and pinch of salt.  Mix well and let sit for an hour.  Stop by and toss the berries to re-mix them with the sugar every 15 minutes.  Your final result will be a deep purple gooey mix.

Add your berry mix in your blender and mix until completely smooth.  I used my food processor, and it only took about 30 seconds.  Remove mixture from blender and sift through a very fine strainer or use cheese cloth and squeeze the berry juice into a clean container.  I did the cheese cloth method, and you really have to squeeze hard multiple times but it's completely worth it to have no seeds in your sorbet.

Add the buttermilk and vanilla to the blackberries and mix well.  Add this to your ice cream maker and churn for 25 - 30 minutes.  Your countertop electric ice cream freezer will stop turning when your sorbet is done.  If you have an electric ice cream freezer, you can chill your mix for 2 hours then put in your freezer for 4 hours.  I don't have an electric freezer, so our old trusty ice cream maker was to the rescue and was way faster!

This is the prettiest thing I've had walk out of my kitchen in a long time!  It's creamy, sweet and tangy all at the same time!  I never use buttermilk - ever - but I'll use it time and time again for this sweet thing!  Start to finish 1 hour 30 minutes.  

Feel free to make this with whatever fruit you like and you can substitute water for the buttermilk.  I'd even add a splash of lemon just for kicks but I will absolutely be doing this again and again!  Ya'll enjoy!

Apple Pie Baked Beans

 

Your family knows you better than anyone else in the world!  This recipe was a challenge from my best cousin, Becky, and she knows that I can't pass up a dare from her!  Apple pie mix in baked beans...who in the world thought of this!  I can't pass up a family dare so I took this one on and honey is it good!  The bonus on this is that I got my first cast iron Dutch oven and I LOVE HER! Mark this one in your favorites for Labor Day and any cookout that you want to show off for!

You'll need:

1 lb breakfast sausage (I strongly recommend Tennessee Pride Mild) 
1 red sweet pepper diced
1/2 small sweet onion diced (1 Tbl onion flakes are fine as a substitute)
1/2 bottle of bar-b-que sauce (your choice on brands - inexpensive is fine)
2 Tbl yellow mustard
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 28 oz cans of Busch's baked beans
1 can apple pie filling
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce

2-3 shakes of red pepper flakes

Dice your onion and red pepper then add to your sausage and brown the mixture until your sausage is well done and your veggies have cooked thru.  Drain and place this in your Dutch oven.

While your sausage and veggies are cooking, I recommend using a potato masher or a fork to cut up the texture of the pie filling so you don't have big slices in your beans.  I mashed mine into small tender bites.

Add your baked beans to the sausage mix in your Dutch oven then add your bar-b-que sauce, mustard, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, apple pie filling (all contents of the can) and your red pepper flakes.  

Mix the ingredients well and place them on your smoker at 275* for two hours.  If you don't have a smoker grill, you can use your gas grill or your oven - still 275* for two hours.

This makes one big pot of baked beans!  The sausage, red pepper and apples make for such a unique taste that your guests will rave about this!  My niece ate it twice today and she does not even like baked beans!  This one is a winner all the way back to my cousin in Tennessee!  Good One Becky!

Do-Nothing Cake

 

It's hot outside and no one feels like making a big fussy cake......so we're not going to!  This is a Do-Nothing Cake!  You don't even need your mixer to put this one together.  You probably have most of these ingredients in your kitchen right now and this on only takes 30 minutes to make!  

Cake Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups white granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 20 ounce can crushed pineapple with juice (do not drain)

Frosting Ingredients:

1 stick butter or 8 tablespoons or 1/2 cup
1 cup white granulated sugar
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)

1 cup shredded coconut

Cake Instructions:

Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla extract and pineapple. Stir with a spoon to combine all ingredients. Spray a 9 x 13 baking pan with cooking spray and add batter. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30 -35 minutes until the center tests done. Make frosting below and poke holes in hot cake with a wooden spoon.

Frosting Instructions:

Bring butter, sugar and milk to a boil in a pan on top of the stove. Cook and stir about 3 minutes. Remove from stove and stir in nuts and coconut. Pour over hot cake.

Notes
The original recipe calls for 2 cups sugar in the cake.  I use only 1 cup and the cake is plenty sweet.  I also make my frosting with 1 1/2 cups coconut instead of just one.

World's Tastiest Tea

 

OH MY GOODNESS!  This is the best tea I've ever had in my life!  I'm old and southern, so I'm pretty sure that my Mama put tea in my baby bottle.  I might have put it in my sons baby bottles as well.  Needless to say I am a tea snob and I've had good and bad teas over the years.

While traveling for business in Cleveland, there was a local restaurant that we hopped to for lunch frequently.  We'd order tea and we got apricot tea, raspberry tea, blackberry tea... all seriously lacking the sweetness we craved.  One day, I asked if I could go into the kitchen and show them how to make the tea we wanted.... and they said yes!  From that day on, we'd call a day in advance and tell them we were coming and they would follow my recipe and make sweet tea for us!

This was all fine until a few weeks ago, when I went to a Women's Guild event and was served this unique tea!  As we started our luncheon, my friends said you HAVE to figure out this tea and put it on the radio.  I asked a hostess and she gave me the basic ingredients but no measurements.  After some research and a few weeks of testing.... this is the BEST tea I've ever had!

You'll need:

Tea - you can use cold brew tea or instant

    Cold Brew is six bags per gallon or Instant Unsweet Tea is 1/2 cup per gallon of tea

3/4 cup Country Time Lemonade  mix

1 cup white sugar

1 cup white grape juice

That's it!  4 ingredients to the most refreshing and delicious tea of my life.  No need to boil tea bags or heat up your kitchen.  God Bless who ever invented cold tea bags.... they have changed my life.

This is wonderful for the summer and I hope that you and your family enjoy this as much as we have.

Derby Peach Pie

 

It's May in Kentucky and that means Kentucky Derby Time!  I LOVE all things Derby!  I love the horses, the pageantry the hats, the food, the roses, I love it ALL!  We always have a derby get together at our house and this year is extra special as our niece turns 21 on Saturday (Happy Birthday Em).  I've done the traditional Derby pie far too many times so I was searching for something different for this year. When I found this recipe the title was ridiculously long...Maple Bourbon Brown Sugar Peach Pie!  I had to rename it so I could say it - Derby Peach Pie!  

This is a make ahead of time recipe as things need to be chilled in the fridge along the way.  It takes some time for this one but it is OH SO Worth It!  This is a make in the morning, or at lunch and serve in the evening deal.  After your pies cook, they must sit untouched for at least 3 hours before you slice them.  If you try getting in a hurry, you'll have a mess on your hands and your presentation will be ruined.

For the Filling You'll need:

• 3 lbs Peaches, ripe (6 good size peaches)

• • 2 tbsp Cornstarch and 1 1/2 tbsp Flour OR 2 Tablespoons of Tapioca Pudding
• 1/4 cup Maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt1 
• Pinch Allspice
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 3 Tablespoons bourbon
• 3 Tablespoons of Butter
• 1 Tablespoon water

For the Streusel You'll need:

1/3 cup chopped pecans

1 stick of butter

1 cup flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 Tablespoons dark brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

Pinch cinnamon

Pie crust of your choice.  Refrigerated or frozen - if you make your own, you have more time than I do.

Place the pie crust in your pie pan and fold the excess, overhanging dough underneath, so the pie is now the size of the pan.

Crimp the pie crust by making a “V” or pinching shape with your thumb and forefinger on the outside of the crust. Then, using your other pointer finger, push the crust from the inside to fit in between the V-shaped fingers. Continue all around the crust.

Refrigerate for another 30 minutes.

As you wait for your crust to cool, make the filling.

Peel and slice the peaches, and then toss in a large bowl with the cornstarch, flour, cinnamon, salt, and allspice.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the sugar, maple syrup, bourbon, and water. Stir JUST UNTIL  sugar dissolves and then let come to a boil. Resist the urge to stir while it boils. Swirl the pan occasionally to make sure the caramel is browning evenly, but DO NOT STIR.

Once the caramel turns an amber color, remove from heat and add in the butter, swirling the pan until the butter completely melts.

Pour the caramel over the peaches and mix well. Pour the peach-caramel filling into the prepared pie shell and place in the refrigerator once more.

Sprinkle the pecans on a baking sheet and toast for 5 minutes. Remove and set aside until cool enough to handle, then chop.

In the same small, heavy-bottomed saucepan you used for the caramel, melt a stick of butter over medium heat, stirring frequently. Cook until the butter turns golden-brown. Set aside.

Whisk together the 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pinch of cinnamon. Mix in the pecans. Drizzle over the browned butter (which now should be slightly cooled) and mix until crumbs form.

Crumble the streusel mixture on top of a rimmed baking sheet and place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove the filled pie pan and the streusel from the refrigerator. Sprinkle and crumble the streusel over the pie filling until the pie filling is completely covered. Cover the pie crust with foil and put in the oven for 15 minutes. Make sure to put a baking sheet underneath, as it WILL bubble over and make a mess!

Remove the foil, reduce heat to 350 degrees F, and cook for an additional 30-40 minutes. The crust should be golden brown and the caramel should bubble when the pie is ready.

Cool for at least 3 hours. DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT SLICING THAT PIE WHEN IT COMES RIGHT OUT OF THE OVEN! It will wind up a gooey mess.

After cooling for at least 3 hours, slice and serve with vanilla bean ice cream.

This recipe is detailed and has several refrigeration steps but you can get so many other things done while this recipe chills.  I would likely never have taken this on but I am SO glad that I did!  This will be a family repeat recipe for many years to come!

 

I rarely pick a recipe from just the name alone, but that's exactly what I did with this one!  Hissy Fit Quiche - it must be done!  The back story for this recipe is that this came from Hissy Fit Dip and evolved to quiche. The Hissy Fit comes from how you'll feel if you don't get to try this one over and over again.  So..... tell me, do you THROW or PITCH a Hissy Fit?  I think that says quite a bit about your upbringing. :)

This has 9 ingredients - 6 of which I had in my house.  The process to make it is 4 steps including preheating your oven!

You'll Need:

1 (9-inch) frozen deep-dish pie crust
½ pound Tennessee Pride mild sausage, cooked and crumbled
½ cup shredded Velveeta cheese (2 ounces)
¼ cup shredded Muenster cheddar cheese
⅛ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3 eggs
1 cup heavy cream or milk
3 Tbsp sour cream

Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Spread cooked sausage in bottom of pie crust. Top with shredded cheeses. Sprinkle with onion and garlic powder.  Whisk together Worcestershire sauce, eggs, heavy cream and sour cream. Pour egg mixture over sausage and cheese mixture in pie crust.  Bake 1 hour. Allow quiche to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Caribbean Corn Bread

I know - Caribbean corn bread ... sounds crazy doesn't it!  My mama would never have allowed sugar in corn bread.... certainly not pineapple, corn and cheese!  I'm fortunate to have made friends on several social media cooking groups and one of them posted a picture of pineapple cornbread from a little diner back home. It took some digging to find this recipe but it's one that I'll make again... and soon.  

This sweet creation would bode well with bbq ribs or any tangy protein.  At our house, it stands alone with a big cold glass of milk and it's good to go!

You'll need

1 cup flour
3/4 cup yellow corn meal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
14.5 ounces canned creamed corn, (one 14.5 can, or 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup drained crushed pineapple
4 ounces shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup canola oil - plus 2

Preheat oven to 325*

In a large bowl, combine the flour, corn meal, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar. While the mixer is running, add the eggs one at a time beating well after each egg.

Continue running the mixer and slowly one at a time, add the creamed corn, pineapple, cheese and the 1/4 cup canola oil.  Mix until well blended. Slowly add the bowl of dry ingredients and mix until well blended.

Grease a 9x2-inch round metal pan (or 9x9 square baking dish) with the remaining 2 tablespoons of canola oil and set in the oven for 5 minutes.  Remove pan from oven and immediately pour the batter into the pan and bake until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean, 45-50 minutes. The cornbread should be golden brown when done. (You can also separate the mixture into into two round greased pans if preferred.)

Creamy Chicken Sausage and Kale Soup

This recipe came from a section called Old Bird New Tricks!  I'm not sure how I feel about that label but I thought this was such a pretty dish and I wanted something warm and hearty in all this cold weather!  This is SO DELISH and only took 40 minutes from start to finish!

You'll need:

1 stick unsalted butter

1 small onion chopped (1 1/2 cups)

3 medium garlic cloves chopped

3 Tbl Flour

8 cups low sodium chicken stock

2 cups chopped potatoes (small gold work very well)

12 oz smoked chicken sausage sliced

3 cups of small leaf kale (stems removed)

1 1/2 cup matchstick carrots

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 pinch nutmeg

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

shredded Swiss cheese

Hot Sauce (optional)

In a heavy stock pot, brown your chicken sausage until lightly browned.  Add butter, onion and garlic and sweat with sausage for 2 minutes.  Add flour and stir constantly.  Add 4 cups of chicken stock, stirring constantly to incorporate the roux with the stock. Add the chopped potatoes and bring to a medium simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes.  Add the carrots and cook for 5 minutes, then add the kale and cook for 5 minutes.  Add the heavy whipping cream and turn the heat off while continuing to stir well.  

Bowl your soup and top with Swiss cheese.  Hot sauce is optional - brand of your choice.

This was the most delish dish to leave my kitchen in a long time!  I happened to have plenty of family on hand to taste test and let's just say I got an A+ from every spoon full!  This served with a crusty baguette is the perfect winter dinner.  I hope your family loves as much as mind did!

 

Chicken Spaghetti and Garlic Knots

 

Well folks, it's been 8 years since I started playing radio foodie and I LOVE IT still today!  This is a throwback to the first recipe I ever did for the radio and it just called to my heart this month.  This recipe is in honor of Mrs. Bertha Knapp.... she was my bestie and if I ever grow up, I want to be her!  This was her signature "food day" dish at the bank, and everyone stood in line to get a bite of her Chicken Spaghetti!  To bring this dish up a notch, I'm including my son Grant's fabulous garlic knots!  He's a better baker than I'll ever be!  

If you ever need to feed an army, this is the dish to do it!  Economical and reasonably few ingredients - a sure bet to please for everyone!  This recipe feeds 20 people easily - cut it in half for a family.  Freezes well and reheats beautifully.

You'll Need:

1 whole baked chicken, no skin, de-boned
 (I am not going to de-bone a chicken, I used 1 lg. bag of boneless skinless chicken breasts - boil for 25 minutes then shred with fork and let cool)
2 1 lb. boxes of vermicelli noodles
2 lg cans cream of chicken soup
2 cans Rotel brand tomatoes (drained)
1/2 cup minced celery
1/2 cup minced onion
1 stick butter
2 boxes of chicken stock
2 lbs of Velveeta cheese (diced into small cubes)
salt and pepper

Like I said earlier, I'm not into de-boning a chicken so I just boiled a bag of boneless skinless chicken breasts (7 or 8 breasts).  You can bake them if you like but I find that boiled keeps the meat more moist.  Shred the chicken with a fork or chop it to a medium grade, then add salt and pepper to taste.

Boil the noodles in chicken stock until tender.  (I got caught with only one box of stock on hand so I did half and half with water -it was fine.) 

Mince the celery and onion, sauté with the stick of butter over medium heat until translucent and tender.  You may need to add a bit of water to extend the cooking time if your veggies don't tender quickly.  This is best done in a covered skillet.

Mix the veggies, soup, Rotel, chopped cheese and chicken.  Divide into two large Tupperware boxes (9x13 or larger). 

Drain the noodles and add them in small amounts and mix well until all are incorporated well with the cheese, chicken mix.  If you have a big strong man in your house, bribe him into mixing this - you'll be glad you did!  If not, I recommend asking a linebacker from your local team to dinner and getting him to do it! 

Spray two 9x13 casserole dishes with cooking spray and add one of your Tupperware box mixes to each.  This recipe will fill two very large casseroles.  Don't try to squeeze it all into one dish as you want the cheese to melt evenly.

Bake 30 - 40 minutes at 350* until the cheese is completely melted throughout.

I recommend serving with Caesar salad and garlic knots! I promise you that no one will leave hungry!

In your Honor, Ma'am....xxooxx P.

Bonus recipe!  Grant's Garlic Knots!

3 1/2 cups of flour

1 Tbl yeast

1 Tbl salt

2 Tbl softened butter

10 oz cool water

1 head garlic (golf ball size) 

Tip the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the salt to one side and the yeast to the opposite side.  add the butter and 3/4 of the water to the center.  Turn the mixture with your fingers, adding water a little at a time until you have it all incorporated and you've picked up all the flour from the bowl. If your dough comes into order before you use all the water, that's fine.

Put your dough onto a lightly floured work surface and begin to knead for 5-10 minutes.  Work thru the wet until the dough has a soft smooth skin.

When your dough feels smooth and silky, put it into a lightly oiled bowl and cover it with a tea towel and leave it to rise until it's at least double in size (at least 1 hour but you can leave it for up to 3 hours if you're busy).

Meanwhile, roast the garlic in a 200* oven.  Peel the garlic cloves and put them in a roasting dish and sprinkle with a little olive and a pinch of sugar and a pinch of salt.  Bake for 20 minutes then remove and let cool.

Rough chop your garlic and knead it back into your dough.

Divide dough into 12 - 24 portion and roll each into a golf ball sized ball by using your counter and your hands to make a cage for the dough.  Place on a buttered baking dish and insert the filled dish for the 2nd proof by inserting the entire dish into a turkey sized baking bag and close it with a zip tie.  Let this rest for 1 full hour.

Heat your oven to 425*.  After your dough has proofed a 2nd time, drizzle with olive oil, oregano, place the balls into a well greased dish or form of your choice.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  If your rolls are browning too quickly, tent the dish with aluminum foil at the 15 - 20 minute mark.

This is the best pull apart bread ever and it's so versatile in presentation!