It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Yeeeeeear!

Has anyone else noticed that Christmas has started REALLY EARLY this year? The Christmas decorations were up in mid-October, all of the stores have already started "Black Friday" sales (both online and in-store), and there is a continuous onslaught of Christmas commercials and catalogs. It's not even Thanksgiving yet!

In preparation for the holiday season, which I am sure will be filled with many parties and events, I wanted to draw attention to a few recipes I've posted in the past couple of years that are GREAT housewarming gifts or culinary contributions to a family get-together. To me, several of these just scream either THANKSGIVING or CHRISTMAS!

• Spiced Pecans


• Roasted Eggplant Spread


• Easy Cranberry Sauce


• Gran's Gingerbread


• Christmas Sugars


• Creme de Menthe Brownies


• Triple Chocolate Pound Cake

From my house to yours....enjoy!

Ham & Cheese Turnovers

Thank you, Real Simple, for this super-simple weeknight meal!

HAM & CHEESE TURNOVERS

Recipe Notes

Corey is not super-jazzed about this salad dressing....you can really make any type of salad that you want. This is good with Kettle chips or something else crunchy.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. refrigerated pizza dough


• 8 oz. deli ham, thinly sliced


• 4 oz. Swiss cheese, thinly sliced


• 1/2 yellow onion, cut into thin rings


• 2 tsp. whole grain mustard


• 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil


• 1 sm. head romaine, torn into small pieces

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Roll the pizza dough into a 14-inch circle and cut into 8 triangles.

3. Stack a slice of ham, a slice of cheese, and some onions in the bottom of each triangle. Roll the dough up around the filling.

4. Bake the rolls on a parchment-lined baking sheet for approx. 20 minutes or until browned.

5. Combine the mustard and oil in a small bowl with a whisk. Add romaine lettuce, toss to coat.

6. Serve turnovers with salad. Serving size is 2 turnovers.

Shrimp & Grits Casserole

It's finally getting a bit cooler outside, so bring on the casseroles! This is a great Cooking Light easy recipe that I assembled before we put our babies to bed and baked while they had bathtime. Dinner was ready by the time we got back down stairs!

SHRIMP & GRITS CASSEROLE

Recipe Notes

I used about 3/4 lb. shrimp (instead of a full pound) and fat free milk (instead of 2%) and this turned out great. Calorie count for my version is probably slightly less than noted below for this reason.

Nutritional Information (per serving - serves 6)

341 calories - 13 g. fat - 27 g. carbs - 1 g. fiber - 28 g. protein

Ingredients

• 2 c. 2% reduced-fat milk


• 3/4 c. fat free chicken broth


• 1 c. uncooked quick-cooking grits (such as Quaker)


• 1/4 tsp. salt


• 1/2 c. shredded Parmesan cheese


• 2 tbsp. butter


• 3 oz. reduced-fat cream cheese


• 3 tbsp. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley


• 1 tbsp. chopped fresh chives


• 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice


• 2 egg whites


• 1 lb. peeled and deveined shrimp, coarsely chopped


• Hot pepper sauce for serving (such as Cholula) if desired

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Combine milk and broth in a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat.

3. Gradually add grits and salt to the pan, stirring constantly with a whisk. Cook 5 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

4. Stir in parmesan, butter, and cream cheese until well-combined, followed by parsley, chives, lemon juice, egg whites, and shrimp.

5. Turn grits mixture into an 11x7 glass baking dish coated with cooking spray. Cook for 25 minutes or until set.

6. Serve hot with hot pepper sauce.

Light Mac & Cheese with Butternut Squash

This was totally yummy, and it has a hidden serving of vegetables (squash) in each portion. Best of all, Craig and Cameron LOVED it! They ate their vegetables and didn't even know it. Thanks Cooking Light!

LIGHT MAC & CHEESE WITH BUTTERNUT SQUASH

Recipe Notes

Save yourself some time by purchasing the pre-cleaned, pre-cut butternut squash from the refrigerated section of Costco or your local grocer. Because the cheeses included in the original recipe are a bit harder to come by in a "regular" grocery store and are also pricey, I would also recommend using an Italian shredded cheese blend, American/cheddar blend, etc. to help fill in if you can't find the cheeses used here. I used cheaper and more readily-available substitutions and it worked out great.

Nutritional Information (per serving - serves 8)

390 calories - 10.9 g. fat - 53.9 g. carbs - 19.1 g. protein - 3.2 g. fiber

Ingredients

• 3 c. peeled/cubed butternut squash


• 1-1/4 c. FF chicken broth


• 1-1/2 c. skim milk


• 2 garlic cloves


• 1 tsp. kosher salt


• 1/2 tbsp. black pepper


• 2 tbsp. Greek yogurt (nonfat)


• 1-1/4 c. shredded Gruyere cheese


• 1 c. shredded pecorino Romano cheese


• 1/4 c. finely-grated Parmesan cheese


• 1 lb. cavatappi pasta


• 1 tsp. olive oil


• 1/2 c. panko


• 2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Combine squash, broth, milk, and garlic in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, then simmer until squash is soft and fork-tender (approx. 20-25 minutes).

3. Remove from heat and place squash mixture in a blender. Add Greek yogurt, salt, and pepper and blend until pureed and smooth.

4. Place blended squash mixture in a large bowl. Stir in Gruyere, pecorino Romano, and 1/2 Parmesan cheese until well-combined. I used a whisk to combine these ingredients.

5. Cook pasta according to package directions and drain.

6. Add pasta to squash mixture and stir until combined. Turn pasta into a greased 9x13 inch glass baking dish. Sprinkle top with remaining Parmesan cheese.

7. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add panko and saute until golden brown (approx. 2-3 minutes).

8. Spread panko crumbs over pasta and spray the top of the dish lightly with cooking spray.

9. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Confetti Cous Cous

This Cooking Light gem is good with grilled chicekn, grilled pork chops, fish, or just about any other lighter meat you can think of. It's also chock-full of vegetables.

CONFETTI COUS COUS

Recipe Notes

For whatever reason, I really dislike eggplants. Therefore, I omitted the baby eggplants from this recipe. If you'd like the original eggplant-filled recipe, it's available on Cookinglight.com.

Nutritional Information (per serving - makes 8 one-cup servings)

271 calories - 9.8 g. fat - 39.3 g. carbs - 6.8 g. protein - 4.6 g. fiber

Ingredients

• 2 yellow squash, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
  


• 2 red bell peppers, seeded and cut into quarters
  


• 1/3 c. extra-virgin olive oil
  


• 1 tsp. salt, divided
  


• 1/2 tsp. black pepper, divided
  


• 2 c. water
  


• 1-1/2 c. fat free chicken broth
  


• 2 c. uncooked Israeli cous cous
  


• 3 tbsp. red wine vinegar
  


• 1-1/2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
  


• 1/2 c. chopped fresh basil

Instructions

1. Prepare grill or grill pan to medium-high heat.

2. Brush squash and bell peppers evenly with 4 tsp. olive oil. Sprinkle evenly with 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper.

3. Grill 3 minutes on each side or until slightly charred. Cool, chop, and set vegetables aside in a large bowl.

4. Bring 2 c. water to boil in a medium saucepan. Stir in cous cous. Reduce heat and simmer for 8 minutes or until cous cous is tender. Drain and rinse with cold water.

5. Combine cous cous, remaining salt and pepper, and vegetable mixture. Toss to combine.

6. Combine red wine vinegar and mustard in a medium bowl. Gradually whisk in remaining olive oil. Drizzle oil and vinegar mixture over cous cous and toss to coat.

7. Stir in basil and serve.

Strawberry Icebox Pie

This Cooking Light recipe is supposed to be made into a tart. I made it into a pie instead. If you want to make it into a tart, here is the original recipe from Cooking Light.

STRAWBERRY PIE

Recipe Notes

According to Cooking Light, you can assemble the crust and filling up to two days ahead and then top with the strawberry mixture on the morning of your event.

Nutritional Information (per serving - serves 10)

289 calories - 8.9 g. fat - 4.5 g. protein - 3 g. fiber - 48.7 g. carbs

Ingredients

For the crust

• 36 honey graham crackers


• 2 tbsp. sugar


• 2 tbsp. butter, melted


• 4 tsp. water
  

For the filling

• 2/3 c. light cream cheese


• 1/4 c. sugar


• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract


• 1/4 tsp. almond extract

For the topping

• 6 c. fresh strawberries, divided


• 2/3 c. sugar


• 1 tbsp. cornstarch


• 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice


• 2 tbsp. sliced almonds, toasted

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Prepare crust: place graham crackers in food processor and process until crumbly. Add butter, sugar, and water from crust ingredient list above. Pulse until moist.

3. Place graham cracker mixture in a 10-inch glass pie plate, pressing into the bottom and up the sides. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack.

4. Prepare filling: combine cream cheese (softened), sugar, and extracts. Stir until smooth. Spread mixture evenly over the bottom of the graham cracker crust.

5. Prepare topping: place two c. strawberries in a food processor and process until pureed.

6. Combine puree, sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and stir for one additional minute. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

7. Combine remaining 4 c. strawberries with lemon juice, toss to coat. Arrange berries over filling and spoon half of the glaze over the strawberries. (I used more than half because the recipe otherwise does not use all of the glaze).

8. Sprinkle toasted almonds around the edge of the pie. Cover and chill for three hours before serving.

Sadie's Corner - Chilled Corn and Crab Salad

Can you tell we've been eating lots of corn this summer? I was very excited about this health-conscious Chilled Corn and Crab Salad (recipe here) from Martha Stewart Living magazine. It was so spicy it was basically inedible....I couldn't even feed it to Sadie!

The culprit? The super-spicy red Thai chile that the recipe called for. Even without the seeds, this little beast made my eyes water uncontrollably.

The lesson? Always be conscious of a recipe calling for hot peppers, even if just a jalapeno.