Baked Two-Cheese & Bacon Grits Casserole

Being a southern girl, grits is one of my favorite foods.  When I'm not hungry for a big meal, I'll make a bowl of grits and be totally satisfied.  You must try them if you have never had them!  They are delicious with fried eggs.

Love the concept of this recipe, but I would make some changes.  Velveeta is not a favorite cheese of mine and I would just use yellow cheddar cheese along with the white cheddar cheese.  I use yellow cheddar cheese (mild or sharp both work for me) in my grits often and they work very well together.  My meat preference would be breakfast sausage instead of bacon.

This recipe and photo comes from Taste of Home.

Ingredients

6 thick-sliced bacon strips, chopped
3 cups water
3 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 cups quick-cooking grits
12 ounces process cheese (Velveeta), cubed (about 2-1/3 cups)
1/2 cup butter, cubed
1/2 cup 2% milk
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded white cheddar cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°. 

Cook bacon over medium heat until crisp, stirring occasionally. Remove pan from heat.

Remove bacon and drain on paper towels.

Add water, stock, garlic powder and pepper to bacon drippings and bring to a boil. 

Slowly stir in grits. 

Reduce heat to medium-low and cook covered, 5-7 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

Add cheese and butter; stir until melted. 

Stir in milk. 

Slowly stir in eggs until blended. 

Transfer to a greased 13x9-in. baking dish and sprinkle with bacon and shredded cheddar cheese. 

Bake, uncovered, 40-45 minutes or until edges are golden brown and cheese is melted. 

Let stand 10 minutes before serving. 

Freeze option: Cool unbaked casserole; cover and freeze. To use, partially thaw in refrigerator overnight. Remove casserole from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Preheat oven to 350°. Bake grits as directed, increasing time to 50-60 minutes or until heated through and a thermometer inserted in center reads 165°.

Yield: 12 servings.

Photo and recipe source

Originally published as Baked Two-Cheese & Bacon Grits in Freezer Meals Bookazine 2013, p17

Quick and Easy Apple Tart

I guess you could follow The Pioneer Woman's recipe . . . but make it easy for yourself and use this recipe as inspiration and use the frozen puff pastry with canned apple pie filling (Comstock is excellent).  Talk about some awesome convenience foods!

Ingredients

1 whole Sheet Puffed Pastry, Thawed And Cut In Half
4 whole Apples, Cored, Halved And Sliced Very Thin
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 dash Salt
Powdered Sugar, For Serving
Caramel Sauce, For Serving

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Place puffed pastry rectangles onto a baking pan that’s been sprayed with nonstick spray. Add sugar and salt to apples. Stir to combine. Allow to sit for a few minutes.

Arrange apple slices on the pastry rectangles in a straight line, overlapping as you go. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until pastry is puffed and golden brown.

Remove from pan immediately and place on a serving platter. Serve plain, with caramel topping, whipped cream, and/or a sprinkling of powdered sugar. 

Photo and Recipe Source 

Slow Cooker Garlic Chicken

Love this type of recipe where you can throw everything together and forget about it, leaving a delicious aroma as it cooks.

Many who reviewed this recipe were concerned about the lack of liquid and added chicken broth or salad dressing.  I would agree that adding a little chicken broth isn't a bad idea . . . neither is adding more onion and some fresh chunky sliced mushrooms. 

During the end step in the oven (I would use a normal oven temperature like 350 instead of broiling), I would take some of the juices and make a gravy.  I'd also use boneless skinless chicken breasts or tenderloins which is my personal preference.  Use what you like and adjust the recipe accordingly.  

This recipe, from the Betty Crocker website, would be a great one for a beginner cook to try out and impress your guests who will think you worked in the kitchen cooking for hours.

Ingredients

1 large onion, halved, cut into thin slices 

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves

1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 cut-up whole chicken (3 1/2 to 4 lb)



Directions

Spray 5- to 6-quart slow cooker with cooking spray and place onion and garlic in slow cooker.

Mix thyme, basil, oregano, salt and pepper in a small bowl and rub each piece of chicken with the herb mixture. 

Arrange chicken pieces over onion and garlic.

Cover and cook on High heat setting 3 hours 30 minutes (or Low heat setting 6 to 7 hours) or until juice of chicken is clear when thickest pieces are cut to bone (at least 165°F).

Set oven control to broil and line broiler pan or cookie sheet with foil.  Place chicken skin side up on pan. 

Broil with tops 6 inches from heat 4 to 6 minutes or until golden brown.

Photo and recipe source

Cherry Dump Cake

It doesn't get easier than dumping three ingredients in a pan and baking it.

Can't wait to serve it warm with some ice cream!

Gotta love dump cakes!

UPDATE

After making this dump cake, I need to make a few notes to add to the recipe.

First of all, after dumping all ingredients into the pan, stir until the cake mix is moistened.  We found that just dumping them into the pan left some spots "floury" after baking and left too many crunchy pieces throughout the cake.

Otherwise, the taste was excellent, but was very sweet and almost needs whipped cream or vanilla ice cream to offset the sweetness.

We really liked it and will be making it again!

INGREDIENTS

2 (20 ounce) cans cherry pie filling
1 (18 1/2 ounce) box chocolate cake mix or 1 (18 1/2 ounce) box devil's food cake mix, unprepared
3⁄4 cup butter, melted



DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Dump cherry pie filling into 13 x 9 inch cake pan.

Spread out evenly in pan.
Sprinkle cake mix evenly over filling.

Drizzle butter over top.

Bake for 1 hour.

Serve in pan.

Photo and recipe source