Cooking Thursday

Here's a great recipe for Thanksgiving leftovers.  I saw this recipe on Thanksgiving and since I had several of these things left over, decided to try it.  It was so good!  It will definitely be made again.

Leftover Turkey Casserole

4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup turkey stock
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 box Stove Top Stuffing
1 cup water (or can use turkey stock if you have it)
4 tablespoons butter
2 cups chopped or shredded turkey
1 can corn, drained
1 can green beans, drained

In medium saucepan, heat butter until melted. Whisk in flour, salt and pepper until smooth.  Whisk in turkey stock and heavy cream and heat until thickened.  Stir in cheese until melted.
In medium bowl, stir together stuffing mix, one cup water (or turkey stock) and the second 4 tablespoons butter. Place in microwave for 4 minutes.
In large bowl, stir together turkey, corn and beans. Reserved one cup stuffing and mix the rest with the turkey mix. Stir in cheese sauce.
Place this in crock pot or into greased 7x11 pan.
Sprinkle remaining stuffing over top.
Cook on low for 4 hours, or in 350-degree oven for 35 minutes.  Bake covered with foil if using oven, and uncover for the last 10 minutes.

*This recipe is very flexible; you can use chicken and chicken stock instead of turkey.  You can use left-over vegetables, and can use carrots or peas instead of or in addition to the veggies listed.
Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

 

Fun with Cassie

 We had Cassie over for the evening on Friday, while Heather and Andrew had a little date night.  She didn't stay overnight, but she (and we) had a fun evening. And - there were no tears about missing her parents!

I think she had more fun playing with the straw than actually drinking.

Playing with the cup was fun too!

More playing with the cup...

She did enjoy the pizza

She shared a little pizza with Grandpa

and shared a drink with kitty

Having a little talk with Grandpa

She had lots of fun getting out different toys and trying them out.

Then she enjoyed a little quiet time watching a cartoon, right before her parents came home.

We had such fun, and Andrew and Heather got a little time out; a win for everyone!

Thanksgiving

 I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving Day. I've been praying for several of you who were sick and couldn't gather with friends or family, and for others for whom this day was hard for a variety of reasons.
I wanted to share a few pictures of my day.  We were gathering with my side of the family.  It's a lot of people and we usually gather at our house, but in the family room downstairs.  Because our numbers are getting bigger and because it's harder for my Dad to get downstairs, we used our church for the gathering.  I've shared before that my Dad is on Hospice.  We didn't expect to be having him with us this Thanksgiving, so this is something we were all thankful for.

Everyone brought something!  We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, brussels sprouts, corn, green bean casserole, salad, and later pie.  No one went hungry!

Dad and Ann - they really enjoyed the meal.

The whole gang!  We were missing Andy and Nikki in KY, my niece Halle in NY, and my niece Katelyn's husband Nathan who was sick.

Andrew, Heather and Cassie

Aaron, Laura, Alaina and Ruby

Cassie's shirt said "tiny turkey"

Alaina told me to take this picture because they were all posed so nice!

Laura brought along this beautiful flower arrangement she made for my birthday.

Alaina and Ruby also made some things for me.

and they also drew me some pictures.  :)

We took some pictures.  This is my siblings and I with our dad, in order of birth.  Me, my brother Duane, sister Terri and sister Cheri.

Here's Dad and Ann with most of the grandkids and great grandkids.

Then we played some virtual reality games.  
What a fun day, and a reminder of how much I have to be thankful for.

Friday Funny

 

Blessed Thanksgiving Day

 

Wordless Wednesday

 (I took this last Monday, right before all the snow came!)

Friendsgiving Dip Day

 We did something fun at work last week.  We decided to do our own little celebration for Thanksgiving.  We did it a week early since the actual week can be so busy.  And since we didn't want a big meal, we made it a "dip" day.  We called it our Friendsgiving Dip Day!

Everyone brought something to share, some type of dip and the person in charge made sure there was a variety, including dessert dips.

Here's one table of goodies.  Our lead nurse has a husband who is an amazing bread baker.  He got up at 4am to make us fresh rolls.
We had pizza dip, veggies and dip, 7 layer dip, crack dip, pumpkin dip,  toffee apple dip, chocolate chip cheesecake dip...

And on another table there was chips and queso, Buffalo chicken dip and spinach and artichoke dip.

We had no patients this day so we didn't have to wear uniforms.
We had plenty to eat and lots of leftovers to take home, and we had fun!

I got a few recipes so will share them with you.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

2 cups shredded, cooked chicken
3/4 cup buffalo wing sauce
3/4 cup ranch dressing
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 cups shredded colby jack cheese

Stir together the wing sauce and ranch dressing.  Mix in the cream cheese and then stir in chicken and cheese.
Place in 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes until hot and bubbly.
Serve with celery sticks, baguette slices or tortilla chips.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
small package frozen spinach
1 can artichokes, drained
salt/pepper to taste
1/2 to 1 teaspoon garlic powder
chili pepper flakes, to taste

Stir together softened cream cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise.
Stir in all other ingredients.
Place in crock pot and heat on low for 3-4 hours.

Pizza Dip

2 -  8 ounce cream cheese, softened
8 ounces sour cream
1/2 t oregano
1/2 t garlic powder
mini pepperoni
1 bunch green onions
Any other pizza toppings you like
1 can pizza sauce
2 cups Mozzarella or Italian cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick spray. Mix cream cheese, sour cream, oregano and garlic powder and spread into pan.
Sprinkle pepperoni, onions and other desired topping over mix.
Spread pizza sauce over all and place in oven for 10 minutes.
Take out of oven and sprinkle cheese over top.  Bake for 7 more minutes, until cheese is melted,
Serve with bread, baguette slices or crackers.

Million Dollar Crack Dip

8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 ounce package ranch seasoning
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
3 green onions, diced
1/8th teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 cup bacon bits

Cream together and chill.  Serve with crackers.

Toffee Apple Dip

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 English toffee bits (10 ounces)

*I use Heath brand toffee bits, next to the chocolate chips in my store.  They have them in regular and chocolate covered.  This recipe uses the regular type.

 In a bowl, beat cream cheese, sugars and vanilla. Fold in toffee bits.
Serve with apples. Refrigerate any leftovers. Yield: 2 cups.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Dip

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temp
1 stick butter, softened
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 pinch salt
1 cup mini chocolate chips
Beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Add powdered sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and salt.  Mix until blended.
Stir in chocolate chips.

Serve with strawberries, graham crackers or pretzels.

Winter is here, with a vengeance!

 We had a beautiful Fall that hung on for a while.  However, this past week, winter arrived in full blast.

Tuesday it started snowing.

I had the day off and was taking my Dad on some errands.  Here's how things looked in early afternoon.

A few hours later it was still snowing.

It snowed again on Wednesday.

On Thursday we were under a winter storm warning.  This is out the window at work, where the leaves had been so beautiful a few short weeks ago!   My drive home was terrible that night; ice, freezing rain, white out conditions and accidents.

On Friday the Winter storm warning continued.  I was very happy to hear that our office was closed and we all got to work at home. I'm so thankful for the ability to do that and for a place that doesn't want us going out in bad weather.  So, our table was my workplace for the day.

In the meantime, the snow continued.  I think it's time to get rid of the pumpkins.  I had hoped to keep them till Thanksgiving.

By Friday night we had 13 inches of snow, the storm warning was extended to Sunday and another 6-12 inches of snow was predicted, with blizzard like conditions on Saturday.

We had a little reprieve on Saturday morning so I used that time to run to town to get groceries.  This is our road as I returned home and it was just starting to snow again.

Shortly after noon, this is how our back yard looked as it really started coming down.

This is the view out of our front window in mid afternoon.  Bob was working and when he got home around 6, he said it was a terrible drive home.

But look what happened Sunday!  The snow stopped, and the sun came out.  I believe we ended up with about 19 inches of snow.  Grand Rapids, just a little east of us ended with 27 inches, a record for this time in November.

Next week temps are supposed to be in the 40's, so all this snow should melt.
Still - what a wild way to start Winter!

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

 Have you ever tried the pizza bubble up recipe?  I recently saw a recipe that was a twist on that recipe, which I tried and we liked.
It was very quick and easy to put together because I had already cooked and shredded the chicken.  It took about 15 minutes to get it into the oven and then only 30 minutes to bake, so it's quick and tasty. Bob liked it enough to tell me it needs to go into the regular meal rotation!

French Onion Chicken Bubble Up

2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup french onion chip dip
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 small can french fried onions
16 ounce can of Grands biscuits

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 7x11 pan with cooking spray.
Stir together the soup and chip dip.  Stir in the cheese and chicken.
Take out 7 of the 8 biscuits (you won't use the 8th).  Cut each biscuit into 6 pieces and stir them into the chicken mix.
Spread biscuit and chicken mix into pan and sprinkle french fried onions over top.
Bake for 30 minutes until bubbly and golden brown.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Personalized plates

 I've been taking pictures of some personalized license plates when I see them and thought I would share a few with you.  I think they are pretty creative and fun!

Crispy 1
Some are self-explanatory,  but some like this one make me wonder!

Top Gun
It was raining so this one isn't very clear.

Jens Mini
This was on a Mini Cooper. I've noted that a lot of Mini Coopers have personalized plates.

Gandolf
For the Lord of the Rings fans!

Mad Skills!

Screee!
I don't know what that's about.

Nicccee...
Seen on a fancy, bright green sports car.

Maximus
This was on a very large pick up truck

What a cutie!
Saw this one on another Mini Cooper