Thanksgiving Leftovers: Cranberry Orange Sour Cream Oatmeal Muffins

Cranberry Orange Relish

You need:
1 bag fresh cranberries
2 cans mandarin oranges (with syrup)
Cinnamon
Cloves
1 package jello of your choice (I used sugar free orange)

Put it all in a pot and simmer until saucy and starts setting.  I randomly mash and stir.

I transfer 1/2 to my mini crockpot (to serve warm)
The other 1/2 I blend in my Vita-Mix and put in the fridge (to serve cold)

With the leftovers:

Cranberry Orange Sour Cream Oatmeal Muffins

Gather your ingredients:

Mix:
2 11oz cans mandarin oranges (drained)
Leftover cranberry orange relish
2 cup oats
1 c sour cream or yogurt
Let sit 10-15 mins

Add & mix well:
2/3 c shortening (or 1/2 cup applesauce & 1/4 cup oil)
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar
2 eggs
2 2/3 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder

Fold in 1 bag {frozen} fresh cranberries.

These are VERY tart.  If you would prefer a sweeter taste, up the white sugar to 1 cup and the brown sugar to 1 1/2 cups.

Bake @ 350 degrees for 25 mins.  Test with a toothpick to come out clean. 

Makes 24 muffins and 2 small loaves.



Thanksgiving Leftovers: Wild Rice Turkey Casserole

Everyone typically has leftovers after Thanksgiving.... but who wants to keep on eating ALL that stuff for a week straight?

Solution: This casserole

You need:

**Put in the Crock on {High}and let cook until rice is done (About 3-4 hours)

2 Cups Wild Rice Mix
3 Boullion cubes
3 cups water
2 cups largely diced carrots
Leftover Gravy
Cream of whatever you have (I used Celery)

**When rice is done, mix everything below into the crock:
Either leftover green bean casserole or a can of green beans
1 can small diced water chestnuts
2 cups largely diced fresh mushrooms
3-4 cups diced leftover turkey

Then top with a couple handfulls of shredded cheese and leftover fried onions (if you have any left!)

Cook on keep warm for an hour or so. Salt & Pepper if you'd like.

Buffalo Chicken 2 ways: Tacos & Salad

It's getting crazy in here.

Organize your ingredients:

For the Tacos:
Tortillas
Buffalo Chicken
Bacon
Avocado
Tomatoes
Green Onion
Sprouts
Ranch Dressing (Don't forget you can make a healthy ranch with yochee!)

For the Salad:
Salad Mix- I like Iceburg blend for this one (needs the crunch)
Tortilla chips- crushed or strips
Buffalo Chicken (Use leftovers)
Bacon
Avocado
Tomatoes
Green Onion
Feta or Bleu Cheese Crumbles
Ranch dressing

I used leftover crocked chicken thighs, tore the meat off the bone and then tossed in 4 tbsp melted butter & 1/2 cup Franks hot sauce. 

I cut up 2 packages of bacon (into ~ 1" strips) with kitchen shears and then fried in a pan.

Let bacon drain on paper towels and store the rest for another recipe.

Assemble your tacos and enjoy!

Blackberry Cream French Toast Casserole

I got a new Crockpot (I know, YAY!)

I was on a roll using it, then washing and doing something else so after I made Gumbo the other night, I washed it and made this dashing beauty!

You will need:

• 1 loaf bread of your choice (cubed)- If it's slightly stale, thats better
• 12 Eggs
• 1 C Milk of your choice (I used non dairy- less likely to have a curdling situation in the crock)
• Yochee (About 1 - 1 1/2 Cups)
• 2 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
• 2 pints berries of your choice

1. Cube the bread and put in the crock (lined if you can)
2. In a container mix the yochee, cinnamon and brown sugar well
3. In another container, put the eggs, vanilla and milk
4. Coat the bread with the egg mixture until the bread is evenly soaked (remove 1/2 the bread for now)
5. Take your yochee mix and spread evenly over the bottom layer of bread
6. Top with your berries
7. Cover with the remaining bread
8. Maple syrup & powdered sugar (for garnish)

Crock on 'Keep Warm' for around 6 hours. Mine went for 8 and was a little dark on the edges.

At least 8 servings!  I froze the leftovers :)

Winter Salad

This is one of my favorite salads EVER!!!

First is because of the HONEYCRISP APPLES!!!
Second, POMEGRANATES!

You will need:
1 apple
1 pear
1 asian pear
1 pomegranate (just the arils)
Romaine Lettuce
sliced Almonds
shredded swiss cheese or feta

Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing:

In a food processor or blender (until smooth):
1/2 medium yellow onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp dry mustard
Add and blend:
1/3 cup sugar or agave nectar
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
Add 1 tbsp poppy seeds and mix.

Copycat Olive Garden 4 Cheese Marinara with Mozzerella Stuffed Turkey Meatballs

Gather your ingredients together:

Turkey Meatball Ingredients

4 oz of fresh mozzerella

1 box pasta of your choice

1 jar Red Sauce of your choice

1 jar of white sauce of your choice

These meatballs are just like the ones I posted previously except for the addition of a piece of fresh mozzerella in the center of each.   

Cook your pasta and drain. Pour both the red & white sauce into a pot (get simmering)

After cooking the meatballs in the frying pan, put into the sauce to finish cooking.

Serve up and top with parmesean cheese.

Tastes JUST like the Olive Garden 4 Cheese Marinara

Crockpot Apple Butter

I will start off by saying that if you want to make apple butter, but don't have a plethora of apples, just use premade applesauce.  (P.S. I totally snuck some pears into this batch)

Get out everything you will need:

Step 1:  Make Applesauce.

Slice up your apples:

Cook the apples:

This is a PIA if you use the sieve thing that my friend and I used this go around. 

My best suggestion is find yourself an apple peeler/corer/slicer and then after you cook the apples, put them in the food processor to make the applesauce. (See below)

Measure out your applesauce and dump 5 qts into your crockpot

Add 2 cups sugar, 2 tbsp Cinnamon, 1 tbsp cloves, 1 tsp Allspice, 1 container of concentrate juice (I used Apple) and 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

Set the vented crockpot to 'low' or 'keep warm' and stir occasionally.  You want to let it be vented so it will release steam and become thicker in the cooking process.  I normally try to cook for 24 hours.  In the cooking process, I will take some out of the crock and blend it to get nice and smooth and then return back to the cooking process. 

When you are happy with the taste (you can always add more spices, ACV or sugar) then jar and refrigerate! 

Don't forget to eat some while its warm!!!

* Note- I don't seal my jars, rather just keep them refrigerated! Keeps good for a couple months.