A Recipe for the Thanksgiving Holiday!

Sweet Potato Puff

3 yams/sweet potatoes
8 egg whites
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbs. flour

1 cup brown sugar
4 Tbs. butter
6 Tbs. flour
1 cup chopped pecans (I don't measure, I just use a bunch to cover the top)
Mini-marshmallows

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 pan with no-stick spray. Peel yams and cut into 1 inch squares. Place in a bowl; add about an inch of water, cover with plastic wrap and microwave until tender then drain. OR Use the plastic microwave steaming bags. (I mash the yams with a fork before adding them to the mixing bowl.) While your yams are cooking, beat egg whites until stiff. In a large bowl mix cooked yams, egg whites, sugar, vanilla, and 2 Tbs. flour with an electric mixer, until smooth. Put mixture into prepared 9 x 13 pan. In a small bowl mix brown sugar, butter, and 6 Tbs. flour with a fork. Sprinkle on top of yam mixture. Then lightly cover with pecans, as desired. Bake about 30-45 minutes or until golden brown. Pull out 5 minutes before done and cover with mini-marshmallows. Return to oven and bake just until mellows melt and turn golden brown. Makes 12 servings.

I used to HATE yams growing up. My mom used to make me eat them every Thanksgiving. But she never made them this way!! My little sister, Tricia, got this recipe from her Introductory Foods Class in College. I have taken Sweet Potato Puff to a couple of parties and EVERYBODY has LOVED them!!! I'm making two batches for Thanksgiving this year!!!

Happy Halloween

Just a few days late.....

HAVE to share this recipe!!!

So my family and I are totally in LOVE with these cookies!! And the best part is that they are healthy!! I love to make a double batch and have them handy for those crazy mornings, just grab a couple cookies and go. If you've ever had the oatmeal breakfast bars they are similar, but much better!!! (I like to add a few white chocolate chips, I know, not healthy, but yummy to have a little bit of that in there...just a few, don't over do it!!)

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies

1 Cup flour (I use 1 1/2 cups because of our higher elevation)
1 1/2 cup Oats
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tablespoon cinnamon (use 1-3 depending on how cinnamony you want them)
1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup Honey
1/2 cup Oil
1 Tablespoon Molasses
1 egg
1 tsp Vanilla

1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped nuts

1. Mix all dry ingredients
2. Mix all wet ingredients
3. Mix wet and dry together. Add raisins and chopped nuts to the mix.
4. Cool mix for 20 minutes in the fridge
5. Preheat oven to 335 degrees
6 Scoop cookies onto creased sheets and press down lightly with a fork
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden on bottom of the cookie

Lasagna Alfredo Roll Ups

This is from allrecipes.com. I found it when I was looking for something to make to take to a friend that doesn't like to eat meat. It is YUMMY. You can also do it traditional lasagna style.

8 lasagna noodles
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach
or 1 to 2 bags fresh spinach and then cook in pan till lightly wilted
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion
1 pint part-skim ricotta cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
21 ounces Alfredo-style pasta sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add lasagna and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. Rinse in cold water and drain well.

2. Meanwhile, in a large sauce pan over medium heat add oil and cook spinach and green onions until tender, stirring frequently. (I also like to add some pressed garlic.) Remove pan from heat and stir in ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, salt and egg.

3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees

4. Place noodles in a single layer on a sheet of waxed paper. Evenly spread some of the cheese mixture on each noodle. Roll up each noodle from the short end, jelly-roll style.

5. In a 8 x 12 baking dish, spoon about 3/4 of the Alfredo sauce on the bottom and spread evenly. Arrange the rolled noodles, seam side down, in the dish. Top with mozzarella cheese and remaining sauce. Cover loosely with foil and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly and the cheese is melted. Serve.

Simple Chicken Cordon Bleu

I found this recipe on cooks.com and we LOVE it. To make it even easier we use bottled alfredo sauce.

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast
4 slices Swiss or Provolone cheese
4 thin sliced smoked ham
1/4 cup flour
1 egg beaten
1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
4 tablespoons butter
for sauce:
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 cup whipping cream

Place one chicken breast in between plastic wrap and pound to 1/4-inch thickness. Repeat with each breast. (Don't use the spiky side of your pounder, use the flat side or your chicken will fall apart.) Sprinkle each piece on both sides with salt and pepper. Place 1 cheese slice and 1 ham slice on each breast. Roll up each breast using toothpicks to secure if necessary. Dredge each in flour, shake off excess, then in egg and finally in bread crumbs. (You can use plain bread crumbs and then just add some Italian seasoning mix.) Place seam side down in baking dish that has been sprayed with Pam. Place 1 tablespoon butter on each piece of chicken.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes until juices run clear. When done, place chicken on plate and pour sauce over the top.

If you are making the sauce: In a saucepan, combine broth and whipping cream; season to taste (salt, pepper, garlic, oregano). Simmer on low stirring until thickened.

Apple Toffee Salad

I created this recipe one day when I had some apples and cool whip that needed to be used.

Apples cut into bite size pieces (I use 2 per person. I also first cut them with my apple cutter and then cut them down to smaller size.)
Cool whip
Toffee bits (You buy these in the small place in the grocery store as the chocolate chips)

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Serve.

This salad does not keep overnight, so only make as much as will get eaten that day. This is never much of a concern in my family, cause we all love it so much!

Coconut Macaroons

1 (14 oz) bag of coconut
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla
melted white chocolate (or I guess you can do regular chocolate if you really want to)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix coconut, condensed milk, and vanilla together. Scoop cookies onto a well greased cookie sheet. ( I press mine down a little bit.)

Bake for 10-15 minutes. Cookies will be golden brown on the bottom. Remove cookies from pan promptly, as they will stick to the pan if you don't! The bottoms usually spread out a bit and so as I take them off the pan I push the cookies back together to make them look nicer. (Which only matters if you are taking them somewhere.)

Once cool, drizzle the melted white chocolate over the tops of the cookies.