Chicken Tetrazzini

What You Need:
2 breasts chicken, cooked and shredded
2 cups sour cream
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
8 oz Vermicelli pasta, cooked and drained
1/2 stick butter
Parmesan cheese

What You Do:
Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish.
In a large bowl, mix all ingredients except Parmesan cheese.
Pour into baking dish.
Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.
Bake for 25-30 minutes

Thanksgiving 2017 in the Mountains

We spent Thanksgiving in Valle Crucis with the family. Cooked oysters over the fire, cut down our Christmas tree and enjoyed a lot of relaxing, family time.

And as usual I made Chad take our Christmas card pictures

Chocolate Peanut Butter Toffee Bars

I felt like baking for the holidays and these looked yummy. They are super sweet and definitely delicious. I found this recipe on this blog. She has actually posted two different versions and I combined them. The other version uses saltines instead of graham crackers. The saltiness may be a good cross for the sweet.

What You Need:

1 "packet" of Graham Crackers

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup butter

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 cup crushed m&ms

(or whatever topping you may want, such as pecans, candy canes, etc)

What You Do:

Preheat oven to 350

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, and spray with cooking spray. 

Arrange graham crackers in one layer. 

In saucepan, heat butter until melted. Add brown sugar and whisk to combine. Bring mixture to a boil and continue to boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and pour over graham crackers. Use spatula to smooth out over graham crackers. 

Heat peanut butter in microwave until melted. Drizzle peanut butter over top of crackers.

Sprinkle chocolate chips over the mixture. Let them melt for a couple of minutes, then use spatula to spread mixture. Sprinkle crushed m&ms over top.

Crockpot Beef Stroganoff

This recipe is so delicious, I can't even describe. And super easy! It came from this website originally. 

What You Need:
8 ounces cream cheese
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
4 Tbs Worcestershire
1 cup milk
1 tsp garlic salt
1 lb beef stew meat
1 large onion, chopped
12 oz egg noodles
1/2 cup sour cream 

What You Do:
Put beef and chopped onion in pan. Season with garlic salt. Cook until onion is translucent and beef is browned only on outside (this will lock in moisture for crock pot cooking). 

Mix together milk, cream cheese, sour cream, mushroom soup and Worcestershire. 

Put sauce mixture, beef and onions in the crock pot. Cook on low 4-6 hours. 

Just before cooking is done, cook noodles according to the package. Drain and stir into crock pot. Let sit about 5 minutes before serving. 

*I'll add pictures the next time I make it, every time we just devour it too quickly! 

Sweet Potato Casserole in the Crock Pot

My coworker found this recipe. It is delicious and easy to just throw in the crockpot and not worry about it! It called for pecans, but I didn't use them. Also my topping was pretty thick and didn't spread as nicely as the pictures on the original recipe, but it still tasted good!

What You Need:
2 29 oz cans of sweet potatoes, drained
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tbsp white sugar
pinch of salt
2.5 tbsp brown sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1-2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk

topping:
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup butter melted

What You Do:
Spray the crock pot with non-stick spray
Put the sweet potatoes, butter, sugar and salt in the crock pot. 
Pour in the eggs, milk and vanilla. 
Beat until smooth. 
Smooth the mixture with a spatula
In a small bowl, stir together the topping ingredients. 
Spread the topping evenly over the sweet potatoes. 
Cover the crockpot and cook on high for 2.5 - 4 hours. 

Chicken Pesto Ranch in the Crock Pot

After I got my spiralizer I wanted to try new recipes that I could use zucchini as the noodles instead of pasta. My coworker told me about an easy recipe that is probably floating all around Pinterest. 

What You Need:
4 boneless chicken breasts
6 ounce jar basil pesto
1 package ranch dressing mix
1/2 cup chicken broth

noodles of your choice to serve over

What You Do:
Spray the crock pot with cooking spray. Place the chicken on the bottom of the crock pot. Sprinkle ranch packet over the chicken. Pour jar of pesto over top of chicken. Top all of that with chicken broth. 

Cook on low for 4-6 hours. 

*I served this over zucchini noodles and it went together perfectly. I used my Veggetti Pro spiralizer to cut the noodles. We saute'd them for a few brief minutes in olive oil. We have found that the zucchini and squash cook down a lot due to the water so we need almost an entire squash per serving. 

Sprializing Everything!

I got a spiralizer for Christmas. It is pretty awesome! We have made lots of things with it and I hope to replace noodles with zucchini, etc more often now! I'll try to post some recipes that we have used them with soon. 

 Sweet potato fries 

 Zucchini Noodles with Pesto Chicken

I got a Veggetti Pro spiralizer from Bed, Bath and Beyond. After sprializing them you need to cut them into shorter pieces as they will be really long. We typically saute the noodles for a few brief minutes in olive oil. We have found that the zucchini and squash cook down a lot due to the water so we need almost an entire squash per serving. 

Brownie Oreo Chocolate Trifle

I found this recipe on pinterest and it was such a hit! It was slightly time consuming though, as you have to bake the brownies ahead of time, let them cool and then cut them for the bottom layer. And you should let it sit for maybe a day before serving - so keep all of that in mind before making!

What You Need:
1 box of fudge brownies (I prefer Betty Crocker supreme fudge) + box requirements to make
1 bar (8 oz) of cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) of butter, softened
3 cups of milk (to make pudding)
2 small packages of instant fudge chocolate pudding
16 oz tub of Cool Whip
8 oz tub of Cool Whip
1 box of oreos, crushed


What You Do:
Prepare brownies as directed on box
Let brownies cool
Cut into bite sized pieces (don't use the hard edge pieces)

Blend together cream cheese, butter and powdered sugar (use a large bowl because everything will be mixed together with this)

In a separate bowl blend pudding mix and milk

 Add pudding to cream cheese mixture and mix well. 

Fold in 12 oz of cool whip (*sidenote: original recipe called for a 12 oz tub of cool whip, I couldn't find a tub that size + used the extra for the topping of the trifle)

 Begin layers: you will use 1/2 the brownies on the bottom of the dish, followed by half of the pudding-cream cheese mixture, then half of the crushed oreos and then the half of the cool whip. Repeat this using the other half of the supplies, it will make a total of 8 layers. Save a little bit of crushed oreos to garnish the top. 

Chill in the fridge until serving. Best if made the night before or the morning before serving so that it can sit and the cookies can soften. 

Thanksgiving in Valle Crucis

This year Trey and I took off the day before Thanksgiving to be able to head on up to the mountains and relax with family. 

Our holiday included a lot of family time, playing dogs, amazingly warm weather, fires, food and beer. 

As usual we went and choose our own tree, just down the road from their cabin. About 9 feet tall for only $40. 

Dain built this building for their firewood. 

Wednesday night we cooked a low country boil over the fire! 

Izzy has not been allowed to jump on the couch for a couple of months as she has had an inflamed disc in her neck, when she managed to sneak up she was pretty and excited and was not going anywhere. 

Thursday we watched the Panthers beat the Cowboys and had an amazing spread for Thanksgiving. 

 Our only black Friday shopping was at Peabodys!