Classic Green Bean Casserole

Here is another 'must have' on our holiday menu - the Classic Green Bean Casserole! You cannot go wrong with this recipe. It's really easy to make and it has become a staple in all of our holiday meals. It doesn't require many ingredients and it takes barely minutes to prep. Here's the recipe!

Start off by mixing 1/2 a cup of milk to 1 can of condensed mushroom soup. It doesn't HAVE to be Campbell's but I don't know, it always seem to taste better whenever I use Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup.
Then, add in a few splashes of Worcestershire sauce and some black pepper. I like how the Worcestershire sauce adds in a little kick to the entire dish.
Next, add in 4 cups of frozen cut green beans into a baking dish. Then, stir in the mushroom soup mixture. At this point, you can choose to stir in some fried onions if you like. I really love fried onions, so I would usually stir in some. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and pop it into a 350F oven for about 25 minutes.
After about 25 minutes (or once it starts bubbling), remove the baking dish from the oven and sprinkle on some fried onions. Pop it back into the oven (without the aluminum foil) for about 10 minutes. The green bean casserole is ready to be served once the fried onions are nicely browned. There you go, another super simple holiday favorite!

Oven Baked Sweet Potato Casserole

Firstly, I must apologize for the lack of updates. It's been a crazy few months for us and things are just beginning to get back to normal. I know I promised some easy to make Thanksgiving dinner recipes and so far, I have only shared the recipe for roast turkey. In the next couple of posts, I will be sharing with you recipes for some of our favorite sides. To get the ball rolling, here is the recipe for one of my all time favorite - the Sweet Potato Casserole. It's really yummy and the best part? It's also really simple to make! Here's how you make it.

Start off by cooking some sweet potatoes (or yams, depends on which part of the country you are from) in boiling water. Just leave the skin on. It's way easier to remove after it's cooked.
Once they are cooked and soft, take them out from the boiling water and remove the skin. The skin should just slide off without any problems. Be really careful though, cos those sweet potatoes can be HOT HOT HOT! Then, add in about 5 tablespoons of butter.
Mash the sweet potatoes with a potato masher. If you do not have a potato masher, you can just use a fork. It works just as well. Make sure that the butter is mixed evenly into the sweet potatoes.
Then, add in some maple syrup. I used pure dark amber maple syrup that we bought from Vermont but you can pretty much use any type of maple syrup that you like. Mix it into the sweet potato mixture.
Once you have mixed in the maple syrup, the sweet potato mixture should be smooth and creamy. If its not, then you would need to mash it a little bit more. Once your sweet potatoes have reached the desired consistency, transfer the sweet potato mixture into a baking dish.
Then, sprinkle on some chopped pecans or pecan halves. Make sure that your pecans are evenly distributed on the top of your casserole. Finally, cover the baking dish with aluminum foil. Pop the sweet potato casserole into a 350F oven. After about 30-35 minutes, remove the casserole from the oven and it's ready to be served! Now, wasn't that easy? Try it, I'm very sure that you will like it too!

Easy Eggplant Parmesan

I was watching a rerun of The Sopranos the other day and as usual, they were eating dinner! Carmela Soprano was dishing out some eggplant parmesan and it looked sooo good! I've never tried making eggplant parmesan before, but after watching that, I knew I just had to try it. So, I went online to search for an easy eggplant parmesan recipe. I found one that was pretty simple to make and it turned out to be really yummy. Here's how you make it.

Start off my slicing one large eggplant into 3/4 inch slices. If your eggplant is really huge (like the one I bought), you can half the slices too. Place them in a colander and sprinkle salt on both sides of the eggplant slices. Place the colander in the kitchen sink (or you can place a big bowl under it). Allow the eggplant to sit for about an hour. This is done so that the eggplant can sweat out as much liquid as possible.
After about an hour, wash away all the excess salt with cold water. Then, dip the eggplant slices into some egg.
Once you have dipped the eggplant slices, coat it with some breadcrumb mixture. To make the mixture, all you need to do is mix some Italian breadcrumbs with some corn meal, black pepper and parmesan cheese.
Now it's time to fry your eggplant slices. Heat up some olive oil in a pan. Once it's nicely heated, place a few slices of eggplant into the hot oil. Remember not to over crowd the pan. Once you have browned one side, flip it over and allow the other side to brown.
After frying the eggplant slices, allow all the oil to drain. You can also place them on kitchen towels, if you like. I did both, so that all the excess oil is removed. Then, set it aside.
Alright, time to put everything together. First, spread some of your favorite marinara sauce at the bottom of a deep baking dish. I just used those ready made marinara sauce from a bottle. Then, place a layer of eggplant on top of the sauce.
Scoop on more sauce on top of the eggplant slices and sprinkle a generous amount of shredded mozzarella cheese on top of the sauce. Then, place another layer of eggplant on top of the cheese followed by more sauce. Continue layering until the top. Remember not to go all the way to the top. Leave a tiny bit of space at the top, so that is doesn't bubble over while cooking.
Pop it into a preheated 350F oven for about 45 minutes.
There you go. A hot, bubbly, cheesy dish of eggplant mozzarella! Doesn't it look yummy? It definitely tasted really good! Both Kevin and I love this so much, I must say that this recipe is a keeper! You must try it. It's so easy to make and so so so good to eat. You can even make it in advance and just pop the casserole into the oven when you are ready to eat! :D

Cheesy Chicken & Stuffing Bake

I found this simple recipe at the back of a stuffing box a while ago and decided to give it a try. It looked easy enough and doesn't require much prep time. The verdict? Simply delicious! It's so yummy, we have made it a couple more times since the first time we tried it! Kevin even said that it's one of his favorite recipes todate. So, let me share this simple recipe with you.

Start off by browning some skinless chicken breast on a pan. Sprinkle some salt and freshly crushed black pepper to season the chicken.

Once it's nicely brown (it doesn't really need to cook through, this is just to give it some color), remove from pan and set aside.

Now, pour in a can of condensed cream of chicken soup into a bowl.

Then, add in about half a can of milk.

Next, add in a few dollops of sour cream.

Mix it all together. At this point, you can choose to add in some sliced mushrooms or frozen vegetables if you like.

The next thing we need to do is combine everything together. Spread about half of the soup, milk and sour cream mixture on to the bottom of a deep baking dish. Then, placed the chicken breast on top of it.

Once you have done that, sprinkle some shredded cheese over the chicken.

Take the remaining soup mixture and cover the chicken completely.

Lastly, cover the soup mixture with stuffing. To make the stuffing, just follow the cooking instructions from the instant stuffing box. It's really easy, just add 2 cups of water with the stuffing mix and pop it into the microwave oven for 4-5 minutes.

Cover the baking dish with aluminium foil and pop it in a 400F oven. After about 30 minutes or so, your Chicken & Stuffing Bake is done!! Now, wasn't that easy? I served it up with a side of herb rice and some steamed broccoli. It's really yummy and easy to make, you should try it!

Cornflakes Ham Casserole

I actually found this recipe printed on the back of a box of Cornflakes cereal. It looked pretty interesting and easy to make, so I decided to try it out. Firstly, you would need to cook some pasta. The recipe called for egg noodles but I used some tri colored rotini. I guess it doesn't matter what kind of noodle/pasta you use. Just cook the pasta until al dente, then set it aside.

Next, melt some butter in a pan and throw in some sliced button mushrooms.

Once the mushrooms are semi cooked, add in some chopped ham.

Mix the ham and mushrooms together and allow it to cook for a bit. Once that's done, add in a can of condensed cheddar cheese soup and about 3/4 cups of milk. Crack in some black pepper as well as some onion and garlic powder. Combine it all together.

Add in the pasta and mix it all together well.

Transfer everything into a lightly greased baking dish.

Sprinkle some Mozzarella cheese on top of the casserole.

In a large mixing bowl, crush about 2 and a 1/2 cups of Corn flakes. Pour in about 2 tablespoons of melted butter and mix it all together.

Top the casserole with the Corn flakes mixture.

Pop in the casserole into a 350F oven for about 30-35 minutes. You will know that it's done once the edges are bubbly.

Allow the casserole to settle for a few minutes before serving.

I was really surprised that it turned out to be so yummy. It's a great idea to use cornflakes instead of breadcrumbs to top the casserole. The whole apartment just smelled so good when the casserole was in the oven! This recipe is definitely a keeper. :D