Herbed Cornbread & Bacon Stuffing

This year, I am not in charge of our Thanksgiving dessert. I'm always in charge of dessert! So while this is a break from the norm, I'm secretly excited. Pies can take a lot of work! When I was 9 months pregnant with my third child, I entered a pie baking contest. I didn't expect to win, mostly because I'd never ever ever baked a pie before. But it was a challenge for me and I made it up as I went along. Worst part? I was up at 5am to bake the thing, hoping against hope that it turned out okay. Best part? I won first place and $100! All those old ladies who entered thought for sure they'd won, how could an amateur, first-pie-maker win? Probably luck, but also because when I can't sleep at night my mind wanders to how to make the perfect recipe. It doesn't always work out, but sometimes I'm a genius :)

Anyway, back to stuffing. I was asked to make stuffing for Thanksgiving this year and again, I've never made stuffing. Ever. At least not from scratch. I'm not counting the boxed stuffing that my kids could probably make with their eyes closed.

My mother in law makes this amazing cornbread stuffing. It was my first time having stuffing made with cornbread and I was in love. I think I literally fought over the last spoonful. It was just that good.

So here's my version of cornbread stuffing. It's delish, in my opinion. Give it a whirl!

Start with your cornbread. No, I don't usually use egg substitute but Target was sold out of eggs. Apparently that really happens.

Make your cornbread as directed on the box, easy enough. Then add your dried herbs. Pour into a 9x13 pan and cook for about half hour or until golden brown on top.

Chop up your veggies - onions and celery. You'll saute these in bacon grease!

When your cornbread has cooked and cooled, cut into 1-inch cubes and spread them out on a jelly roll pan. You'll stick these back in the oven to dry out. That way they soak in the flavors better while cooking.

Toss everything together in a large bowl. Add enough chicken stock to moisten the cornbread. I used a little over 2 cups in mine.

Cook in a buttered 9x13 pan until golden brown on top and firm in the middle.

So. Amazing. (The stuffing, not me. Well, okay, me too).

Herbed Cornbread and Bacon Stuffing

by Kelli Lafranca

2 boxes cornbread mix, Jiffy brand

2 eggs

2/3 cup milk

1 1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 1/2 tsp dried rosemary

1 1/2 tsp dried basil

1 lb bacon

1 large onion, chopped

2-3 ribs celery, chopped

2-3 cups chicken stock

Butter, for greasing the pan

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together cornbread mix, eggs, and milk until blended. Batter may be lumpy. Add dried herbs. Bake in a 9x13 greased pan for 30 minutes or until golden on top and cooked through. Set aside to cool.

Saute bacon in a large skillet or until bacon is crispy. Transfer to a plate topped with a paper towel to drain. Using the bacon grease, saute the onion and celery until the vegetables are tender. Remove from grease and set aside. Crumble the cooled bacon.

When cornbread as cooled, remove from pan and cut into 1-inch cubes. Transfer to a jelly roll pan and lay in a single layer. Cook at 400 degrees for 5-7 minutes or until dry (it will feel like toast).

In a large bowl, combine cornbread, crumbled bacon, onions, and celery. Pour chicken stock over mixutre, stirring after each 1/2-cup addition. Add enough chicken stock to moisten the cornbread (I used 2 1/4 cups). Pour mixture into buttered 9x13 pan and cook at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Pumpkin Bread

Please tell me I'm not the only one obsessed with pumpkin right now.

Aubrey, my 3-year-old daughter, and I made a special trip to the store yesterday. Just for canned pumpkin. Of course I picked up other "necessities" while we were there (Diet Dr Pepper anyone?) but I was craving my pumpkin bread and wanted to kick myself for having not made it yet!

Did I mention we WALKED to the store? It's a 20 minute walk to Target and it was worth every step. This bread is just that good. It's perfect for Thanksgiving day breakfast...or any breakfast for that matter. I won't lie, I had some this morning with a glass of milk.

This bread is super easy to make. It's really just one of those recipes where you throw everything in your mixer, pour into pans, and bake. And, it makes 3 loaves of bread. So, wrap some up and share with friends, family, or neighbors. Or keep all three to yourselves, we won't judge.

Another great thing about this bread is that you can add whatever you want to it. I did one loaf with chocolate chips and did the other two loaves plain. You can also add walnuts, mashed banana, or cinnamon chips. This is also really good with the cinnamon butter I made for the pumpkin pancakes.

Pumpkin Bread
submitted by Kelli

2 (15-oz) cans pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
4 cups sugar
6 eggs
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp cinnamon

Optional add-ins: chocolate chips, cinnamon chips, banana bread, mashed banana, walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour three loaf pans.

Using an electric mixer (or a stand mixer with paddle attachment), mix together pumpkin, oil, sugar, and eggs. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients in two batches to the pumpkin mix until just combined. Add any optional ingredients until just mixed.

Pour mixture evenly between the three prepared loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean or with small crumbs attached.

{If your bread appears done on top but not cooking in the middle, turn your oven down to 250 and continue to cook until the middle is done. I cooked mine for half hour at 350 and one hour at 250}

Pumpkin Pie Dip

I love the fall. The leaves changing colors, the cooler temperatures, the kids going back to school...

I also love that I can bake things that include pumpkins and turkey and cinnamon. Those things just doesn't sound as good in the summertime, right?

My dad sent me some recipes from Taste of Home and this one jumped out at me. Probably because exactly 1 cup of pumpkin was sitting in my fridge from my pumpkin pancakes. In fact, the only thing I didn't have was gingersnaps...not my favorite cookie any other time, but with this dip they were divine. Seriously. Perfect for bringing to a holiday party or pre-Thanksgiving dinner snacking or even cleaning-up-after-Thanksgiving snacking.

Get all this together.



 After mixing the cream cheese and powdered sugar, add the canned pumpkin and mix, mix, mix some more.

Add the rest of the ingredients and pour into a serving bowl. Serve with gingersnaps. You can also serve it with fruit slices (think apples and pears) or on zucchini or banana bread. 

Pumpkin Pie Dip
courtesy Taste of Home

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Gingersnap cookies


In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Beat in the pumpkin, sour cream, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and ground ginger until blended. Serve with gingersnaps. Refrigerate leftovers.

Pumpkin Pancakes with Cinnamon Butter

I'm not usually much of a breakfast for dinner person. I used to be, and then I got married.

Jeremiah doesn't like breakfast food unless it's breakfast time. This includes but is not limited to eggs, pancakes, French toast, and crepes. In fact, crepes are "dessert" to him. He was raised by French parents, so he's not entirely to blame.

He also won't eat casseroles, but that's another {sad} story.

Tonight, though, angels were looking out for me and my craving for pumpkin pancakes. Jeremiah is sick and only wants soup.

He'll eat Top Ramen but not casseroles? Who did I marry?!

So I made pumpkin pancakes the way I've been making them but used a technique I found online. I separated the eggs, mixing the yolks with the batter and beating the whites until stiff, then folding them into the batter. The result was super light and fluffy pancakes. It's an extra step, and certainly not necessary, but you won't be disappointed. Trust me.

Love the pic? Maybe just a little? I played around with my photoshop and this was the best I could do. I'm not a photographer by any means {in case that wasn't obvious} but I do try!

 Isn't pumpkin so pretty? I love the vibrant orange!

 Sift the dry ingredients together in one bowl and all the wet ingredients in another bowl, except the egg whites if you are planning on beating them separate.

 Another thing I love is beaten egg whites. Weird, maybe, but I love how shiny and glossy and light they are.

 You know your pancakes are ready to turn over when you see bubbles rise to the surface and the underside is browned.

 A pile of pancakes {well, at least the ones my munchins didn't eat} topped with cinnamon butter.

Pumpkin Pancakes
by Kelli Lafranca

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup milk (whole will make it richer, I used non-fat and it was still great)
3/4 cup canned pure pumpkin
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
4 large eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
Butter, for greasing

Whisk first 5 ingredients in a large bowl to blend.

Whisk milk, pumpkin, butter, egg yolks, and vanilla in medium bowl to blend well. Add pumpkin mixture to dry ingredients; whisk just until smooth. Batter will be thick. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites in another bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold whites into batter.

Heat a large pan over medium to medium-high heat (or heat a griddle to 300 degrees) and melt butter to grease the bottom. Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto heated pan. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface and the bottoms are browned, about 1-2 minutes per side. Flip over and cook another minute. Grease pan with butter after each batch. Serve with cinnamon butter.

Cinnamon Butter

1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 tsp cinnamon

Whisk together butter and cinnamon.

You can use this cinnamon butter on pancakes, toast, and other bread. Keep in the fridge.

Spinach Cheddar Souffle

So I know I'm only in the early 30s, but I've already started a bucket list. Most of the items on the list are a bit...um...unrealistic? Crazy? Like bungie jumping and touring Budapest and riding an elephant, but hey, a girl can dream, right?

Anyway, some of my bucket list items include a sub-list of things I want to try cooking or baking, such as homemade gnocchi and successfully make a souffle. What? A souffle? Check that off my list!

Souffles really do have a bad reputation. Everyone is afraid to try one because of the myth that they are difficult to make. However, I promise promise that you can do it! I've made this souffle twice with total success and there are only a few simple rules to follow. But the trick is, you have to follow the rules. I suggest reading the recipe once through just to make sure you are familiar with it.

This recipe, though, isn't filling. Especially if you live in a house of boys that expect meat at every meal. So when I made this souffle I served a large fruit salad and rolls on the side. This would also be great as a breakfast (if you're an early riser which I'm not) or for brunch.

I got this recipe from Ina Garten aka Barefoot Contessa, and if you don't know who that is, we need to talk. She's the queen of the kitchen, at least in my opinion, alongside Queen Giada :)

Your ingredients - now you can dust of your jar of cream of tartar that we all have and no idea what to do with it. Even though the recipe calls for only 1/8 tsp, I wouldn't advise skipping it altogether. Trust me, you need it. Something about helping stiffen the egg whites or something, I'm not sure. But I know you need it.

Making your roux. I love roux, don't ask me why. Something so satisfying about putting butter and flour together and making this great little bubbly paste. I beat my husband in Scrabble once (literally once, he's usually a genius at the game) using the word "roux" because he didn't believe it was a word. He's obviously not much of a cook.

After the roux has cooked for 2 minutes, add the spices - nutmeg, pepper, and salt. I omitted the cayenne pepper because, honestly, we just moved and I couldn't find it. And I can't find my whisk, either, so I'm using the little one that came with my daughter's play kitchen set.

You want to defrost your spinach and get all the excess moisture out if it. Some people wrap it in an old kitchen towel and squeeze, but I love my kitchen towels too much to stain them green, so I put mine in a mesh colander and use a wooden spoon to push the water out.

Whisk in the scalded milk slowly to the roux. You know your milk is scalded when you see uniform shaped bubbles around the edges of the pot. Add the egg yolks, cheeses, and spinach to the roux/milk mixture.

Here's a helpful tip - if you need your eggs at room temperature but didn't set them out ahead of time, just put the eggs in a bowl of hot (not boiling) water for about 5 minutes.

Now you want to start beating your egg whites to firm, glossy peaks. Add the cream of tartar and whisk away. You can use egg beaters or the whisk attachment of your Kitchenaid. I suppose you could just use a whisk but you'd need arms of steel.

The first picture is of soft peaks. When you hold the whisk up, the peak falls slightly. Keep mixing, but only just barely. You're almost there. The second picture is of firm peaks. Now you're done.

After folding in the egg whites, pour into a prepared 6- to 8-cup souffle dish. I love that this dish is buttered and then sprinkled with Parmesan cheese, the edges of the souffle are my favorite part because they're all buttery and cheesy!

Do you see the circle that has been made in the batter? Ina suggests this is to help it rise, don't ask me for an explanation, just do it. You won't be sorry :)

The finished piece. It's golden brown and delicious, right? And the inside is cheesy and airy and amazing. Even my little ones ate it up!

See the inside? Divine!

Spinach Cheddar Souffle

courtesy Ina Garten

3 Tbsp unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for sprinkling

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1 cup scalded milk

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Pinch cayenne pepper

Salt and pepper

4 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature

1/2 cup grated aged Cheddar cheese, lightly packed

1 package frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry

5 extra-large egg whites, at room temperature

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter the inside of a 6- to 8-cup souffle dish and sprinkle evenly with Parmesan.
• Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. With a wooden spoon, stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Off the heat, whisk in the hot milk, nutmeg, cayenne, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Cook over low heat, whisking constantly, for one minute, until smooth and thick.
• Off the heat, while still hot, whisk in the egg yolks, one at a time. Stir in the Cheddar, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan, and spinach and transfer to a large mixing bowl.
• Put the egg whites, cream of tartar, and a pinch of salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on low speed for 1 minute, on medium speed for 1 minute, and finally on high speed until they form firm, glossy peaks.
• Whisk one-quarter of the egg whites into the cheese sauce to help lighten and then fold in the rest. Pour into the souffle dish, then smooth the top. Draw a large circle on top with the spatula to help the souffle rise evenly, and place in the middle of the oven. Turn the temperature down to 375 degrees F. Bake for 30-35 minutes (don't peek!) until puffed and brown. Make sure all family members and/or guests are surrounding the oven to see the finished souffle. Accept any and all compliments. Serve immediately.

Pizza Roll-Ups

Some of my best ideas come to me in the middle of the night when I can't sleep, which isn't often because honestly, I love sleep, but on those rare nights that I toss and turn, crazy ideas come to me. Like how to rearrange my kids rooms so we can fit a Lego table, or how in the world we can save up money to take the family to Disneyland. Or like my blue-ribbon apple pie. It had apples and a pecan streusel and spiced whipped topping. It was delish. And it won me $100 at a local fall festival. But that's another story.

On one of these other non-sleeping nights, not so long ago, I was trying to figure out how to use up the rest of our pepperoni from pizza night. Hmm....got it! Pizza roll-ups! Like cinnamon rolls but without with cinnamon. I was so excited to try it out.

First, if you aren't using store-bought pizza dough, you'll want to make your own. I use the pizza dough from Our Best Bites. It's a no-fail recipe for me.

You want to add the sugar, water, and yeast and let it sit about 10 minutes until its nice and bubbly/frothy looking. Add the salt and 1 1/2 cups flour and mix. Gradually add more flour until the dough starts to pull away from the bowl and it's barely sticky.

Shape the dough into a ball and put into a lightly greased bowl. Cover and let sit for about 45 minutes or until it has doubled in size...

...like this. I cheated and sat the bowl outside for about 1/2 hour. It was nice and warm outside, nothing like my air conditioned kitchen.

Now on to the star of the show, unintentionally. I played around with pizza sauce recipes from several websites and added a little bit of everything I loved. Most call for sugar, but I found one that called for honey, and for some reason it's made a huge difference. That and a small dash of cayenne pepper, and that's saying a lot coming from me because I'm not a huge fan of spicy dishes, but a little gives this pizza sauce an amazing flavor.

Add all the ingredients in a bowl, just like this. You want to make this at least a half hour before using it so the ingredients can become best friends.

Stir, stir, stir.

Once your dough has risen, roll it out on a greased or floured countertop unti it's about 18 inches long and 6 or so inches wide. I never measure, I just go with what looks good :) Add the pizza sauce, reserving about 1/3 cup, leaving about a 1-inch border, then add your toppings. Honestly, you can use whatever you want, but we went with mozzerella cheese and pepperoni. Olives would be nice. So would Italian sausage crumbles. Whatever your little heart desires. Be generous!!!

Startling at the bottom, roll up your dough like you would cinnamon rolls, making sure to roll the toppings along with the dough so they don't all pile up at the end.

Using string or waxed dental floss, cut the dough into 1-inch rolls. Place each roll in a greased 9x13-inch pan, close but not touching.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. While it's preheating, spoon the remainder of the pizza sauce on each roll and top with a little mozzerella or Parmesan cheese. Let rise until oven is preheated.

Check out this ooey-gooeyness. And yes, they are as delicious as they look.

Pizza Roll-Ups

by Kelli

PIZZA DOUGH, courtesy Our Best Bites

1 1/2 cups warm (105-115 degrees) water

1 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp yeast

1/2 tsp salt

3-4 1/2 cups flour

In a large bowl (preferably of a mixer) combine water, sugar, and yeast. Let stand until bubbly, about 10 minutes.

Add salt and stir. Add 1 1/2 cups flour and mix well. Gradually add more flour (usually between 3-4 cups, depending on your elevation and your humidity) until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl and it barely sticks to your fingers.

Spray a glass or metal bowl with cooking spray and put the dough in the bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

Spray a countertop with cooking spray (or use flour) and roll dough to 18x6 inches, give or take.

PIZZA SAUCE

1 (6 fluid 0z) can tomato paste

6 fluid oz warm water (just use the tomato paste can to measure)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 garlic clove, minced

2 Tbsp honey

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

salt to taste

Mix all ingredients together. Let sit for at least half hour before using so flavors can blend.

PIZZA ROLLS

Spread the pizza sauce on the rolled out pizza dough, reserving 1/3 cup, leaving a 1-inch border. Add toppings of your choice. I recommend mozzerella cheese, pepperoni, Italian sausage, and olives. Be generous, you want it to be flavorful!

Roll up, jelly-roll style, making sure to tuck toppings as you go, otherwise they all get pushed to the end. Using dental floss or string, cut rolls about 1-inch thick. Place each roll in a greased 9x13-inch pan, close but not touching. You can also place each one in a muffin tin. Top each roll with a spoonful of the reserved pizza sauce and any extra cheese, if desired.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While you are waiting for the oven to warm up, allow your rolls to rise. Bake 18-20 minutes or until tops are browned and insides are cooked through. If the tops are browning too fast, lay a piece of foil on top. This will stop the direct heat from burning the rolls.

Serve warm.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love me some chewy chocolate chip cookies. I could eat a whole batch all by myself, especially just out of the oven. I probably wouldn't even share with my kids.

However, I've tried so many different recipes for "world famous" or "the best" chocolate chip cookies and the results were always the same - dry, crispy cookies. Sure, they were okay warm out of the oven, but once they cooled down I was disappointed. Don't get me wrong, if you love crispy cookies good for you. I'm just not a fan. Unless they're Oreos and I can dip them in milk.

**As a tip, if you ever have dry, crispy, or stale cookies, don't throw them out! Freeze them until you need a pie crust. Then throw them in a food processor and pulse until fine. Add some melted butter, just enough to hold cookie crumbs together. It makes a fantastic chocolate cookie crust as a replacement for graham cracker crusts. Try it with chocolate pudding pie or cheesecake!***

I think I finally found the recipe. The cookies are slightly crunchy on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside. My fave! I stole it from Our Best Bites who stole it from Cooks Illustrated. The secret, or at least what I think is the secret, is melted butter (no worrying about actually thinking ahead of time to leave the butter out overnight!) and an additional egg yolk. Now I don't know the science behind this, but this is what Cooks Illustrated said:

"Most cookies start with creamed butter. Creaming incorporates air into the dough, resulting in an undesirable (in these cookies) lightness. Our thoughts sifted to chewy brownies and blondies, both of which typically begin with melted butter. We tried both creamed and melted butter and found that melted butter did indeed give us the dense, chewy texture that we were after.

We turned to the one factor that we hadn’t yet fully examined–the egg factor–and found that one whole egg plus one egg yolk keeps the cookies soft and pliable hours after emerging from the oven. Also, cooling the cookies directly on the cookie sheet promotes the soft, chewy texture. Finally, we had a thick, chewy chocolate-chip cookie that could rival any gourmet bakery’s."

So, yeah, what they said. However it works, I love it. I totally agree with the "bakery" cookie comment, no more paying $2 for a bakery cookie, I can make my own thank you!

Start with these ingredients - I chose to use half semi-sweet chips and half peanut butter chips in my cookies. Next time I'm using Nestle's new dark chocolate chips. I'm super excited to try them! Speaking of trying, you might notice my chocolate chip bag is opened. I'm a chocoholic, I may or may not have tried a few prior to cookie making.

Start adding the sugar and brown sugar in your mixing bowl. The add the melted butter.

Give it a good stir and add in the eggs and vanilla (I never measure, a little extra vanilla never hurt anyone).

Gradually add the pre-measured dry ingredients. Mix it all together.

Finally, add your chocolate (and peanut butter) chips, along with toasted almonds, if desired. And I usually desire them, I love the little crunch they give the chewy cookies, but not when I have peanut butter chips in the mix.

Here's another tip from Cook's Illustrated.

"Form scant 1/4 cup dough into ball. Holding dough ball using fingertips of both hands, pull into two equal halves. Each half will have a jagged surface where it was ripped from the other; rotate each half up so the jagged surface faced the ceiling and press the halves back into one ball so that the top surface remains jagged. (The nooks and crannies you have created will give the baked cookies an attractive and somewhat rough, uneven appearance.) Place formed dough onto one of two parchment paper-lined cookie sheets, about 9 balls per sheet. "

If you want to make large, bakery style cookies, put the two halves back together as Cook's suggests. For smaller cookies (portion control!) just keep the two halves apart. It looks like this:

Then bake! The cookies are done when the bottoms are golden brown. The tops will appear a little underdone, but don't worry, they will finish cooking as they cool. If you overbake then you're going to get crispy cookies, which defeats the purpose of making chewy cookies :)

And eat, eat, eat...or share if you'd like!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
courtesy Our Best Bites - love them!

2 cups plus 2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 Tbsp butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled until warm
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips (I prefer Nestle's dark chocolate chips and I just throw in the whole bag - I'm hoping for Target to clearance them so I can hoard the whole stock)

• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in a medium bowl and set aside.
• With an electric mixer, thoroughly blend the butter and two sugars together. Mix in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in chips.
• Take about 1/4 C dough and form into a ball. Break ball in half and place dough on cookie sheet with broken edge facing up (or just use a standard sized cookie scoop). Bake until cookies are set around outer edges start to hardenyet centers are still soft and puffy, 10-13 minutes. Cool cookies on cookie sheets. Serve or store inairtight container.