A Quick & Easy Meal on a Busy Night.

This chili recipe is one of my favorite meals to make on those crazy busy days when I feel there is just no way that I can get dinner on the table. It is so simple to put together and works great either stove top or in a slow cooker.

Here is what you will need:

• 1 lb of ground turkey.
• 1 can of pinto beans – drained and rinsed.
• 1 can of kidney beans – drained and rinsed.
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes.
• 1 8 oz can tomato sauce.
• 1 green bell pepper – diced.
• ½ of a medium spanish onion – diced.
• 1 packet of chili seasoning.

Here is what you need to do:

Cook up the ground turkey in a little olive oil and then add the diced pepper and onions. Cook for about 5 minutes.

Next, add in the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, beans and seasoning packet. Give the chili a good mix and then bring it to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Remember to give it a stir every few minutes.

I like to top my chili with shredded cheddar, avocado chunks and sour cream. It is also great over a baked potato and perfect to use for a big dish of nachos.

Hope you like it…

xoxo

Jill ♥

🎁 My favorite Christmas cookie 🎁

Everyone I know has a different name for this cookie and a different way to make them.  I have seen chocolate with walnut, lemon, chocolate chip, almond and crescent-shaped versions called Mexican wedding cookies. The list is endless and I’m sure they are all yummy, but my favorite recipe is with pecans and that’s how I make them every year.

Here is what you will need:

• 2 sticks of room temperature butter.
• 1¾ cups flour.
• ½ cup of powdered sugar and another ½ cup powdered sugar for rolling the cookies in once they are baked.
• 1 teaspoon vanilla.
• 1 cup chopped pecans.

Here is what you need to do:

Mix room temperature butter with ½ cup sugar until smooth.

Pour in vanilla, and then mix in flour one spoonful at a time. Toss in pecans and give the batter a good mix by hand.

Form into small balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake at 275 degrees for 40 minutes.

Let them cool for only a bit. You want the cookies a little warm when you roll them in the other ½ cup of powdered sugar.

This is my number one cookie that I pack up in Christmas tins to give out to family and friends.

I love to get recipes from friends, so I aways make sure to write-up a recipe card to go along with the cookie delivery.

Hope you like them. 🎅

xoxo

Jill ♥

♥  My Hubby has a big Birthday coming ♥

Ok, so I promised that I wasn’t going to mention his age, but I will tell you that he will be Nice & Nifty this coming Monday. 😉

With that said I want everything to be extra special for him and that would have to include making his grandmother’s pound cake, which he grew up eating and just loves. Give him a piece of this cake and a cup of coffee and he is a happy man. It took me a long time to get this recipe down because my husband’s family is “old school” where nothing is really ever measured or written down. They just look at the batter and see if it’s perfect or needs something else.  So with a lot of trial and error I finally got it down

Here is what you will need:

• 2 cups sifted flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder sift with flour
• 1¼ cup sugar
• 2 sticks room temperature butter
• ¾ milk
• 5 eggs
• ½ raisins
• ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg

Here is what you need to do:

Whip together butter and sugar until nicely blended.

Spoon in flour/baking powder mix and blend it all together.

Add in eggs one at a time and then pour in milk. Give a good mix.  Sprinkle in nutmeg and raisins and finish off mixing the batter by hand.

Pour batter into buttered/floured loaf pans. I love to use my pan that makes 4 small loaves, but you can use 2 regular size loaf pans and it will still turn out great. Bake at 350 degrees.

• 4 small loaves – 30 minutes
• 2 regular size loaves – 45 to 50 minutes

You want the pound cake to be golden brown and soft to the touch.

The nutmeg gives it a nice flavor and the raisins are a little surprise that are not in every bite.

This is my favorite picture of my husband and his grandmother Marita.  He was two years old and about to move from Colombia to the United States. They adored each other and their relationship is something that my husband will cherish always.

Hope you like it..

xoxo

Jill ♥

A Quick and Easy Meal.

My husband travels for work a lot and has to eat out quite often, so when he’s home I always want to cook something for him to enjoy and not spend the whole day in the kitchen doing so.  He loves shrimp in garlic sauce over pasta, but I find it to be kinda heavy at times, so I came up with this recipe to try to lighten the dish up a bit.

Here is what you will need:

• 1 lb of cleaned shrimp
• 2 – 3  zucchini’s (depending on size)
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 lemon
• 6 – 8 garlic cloves – minced (also depending on size)
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• salt & pepper

Here is what you need to do :

Saute your zucchini noodles in half of your olive oil with a sprinkle of salt & pepper for a few minutes until slightly cooked. Remove from pan and set aside.  To make my zucchini into noodles I use a Veggetti which is so inexpensive and easy to use. I bought this on amazon.com and just love it.

Next, melt the butter in the other half of olive oil and toss in the minced garlic. Cook for a minute and then toss in your shrimp. Squeeze in the juice of the lemon and sprinkle in the garlic powder. Give everything a good mix and cook for a few minutes until shrimp are cooked.

Toss in your zucchini noodles and season with salt & pepper to your taste.

Serve it up with a nice warm loaf of crunchy bread and…

Enjoy

xoxo

Jill ♥

🎄 My Grandma’s Christmas cookie. 🎄

My grandmother’s favorite cookie to make for Christmas is traditionally a cookie that is made for passover, but she loved them and every year she would make a big batch at Christmas time to share with us all.

She loved this cookie so much, she actually typed the recipe up. How cute was she!!!! I just love this piece of paper , so I framed it and keep it stored with my Christmas decorations to display on my kitchen counter each year.

Here is what you will need:

• 4 cups sifted flour
• 4 eggs
• 1¼ cup sugar
• ¾ cup of veggie oil
• 1¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons almond extract
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Here is what you need to do:

Mix eggs, sugar, oil and almond extract until nicely blended.

Slowly mix in flour and baking powder.

By hand mix in chocolate chips and walnuts and make sure that all ingredients are mixed in evenly. The batter will be sticky, so you will need to oil your hands to form into a loaf.

This recipe makes three loaves. Two will fit nicely on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 -50 minutes. You want the loaves to be golden brown.

Let them cool completely and then slice into 1 inch cookies.

Time to decorate.

My grandmother would use a tub of store-bought icing to frost the cookies, but I like to drizzle  them in melted chocolate and then top with fun Christmas sprinkles.

This is a terrible picture, but look how cute Jaxie is in the back just wishing a cookie would fall.  😉

A great thing about this recipe is that you can change-up the add ins with whatever you like. Almonds, cranberries and dark chocolate might be in my next batch.

Hope you like them.

xoxo

Jill ♥

Now, let’s see what I have left to use.

In my house the day after Thanksgiving is officially called “Leftovers Pot Pie Day”.  Every year I just take whatever is left from our Thanksgiving dinner and bake it into a yummy personal pot pie. The ingredients aren’t always the same, but somehow they always turn out great and my kids look forward to digging into one.

Here is what I am using this year :

• leftover turkey
• leftover string bean casserole
• leftover potato gratin
• leftover brussels sprouts
• 4 cups milk
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 2 packages of pie crust
• 1 egg
• salt & pepper

Here is what you need to do :

Chop up your leftovers into bite size pieces.

Next, melt the 4 tablespoons of butter and then stir in flour. Cook for a few minutes and then add in milk. Season with salt & pepper and make sure to give a good stir once in a while. Cook until thickened. Stir in chopped up leftovers and cook on low for a few minutes.

Line your baking dish with half of a pie crust and fill up with filling. Cover with other half of crust making sure to crimp the edges. Cut three slits in the center and give the top a brushing of egg wash. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown and bubbly.

I have made pot pies with a store-bought rotisserie chicken and a bag of frozen mixed veggies and they still turn out great. So have fun and get creative and most of all….

Enjoy

Happy Thanksgiving

xoxo

Jill ♥

KK’s in the kitchen.

One of my most favorite things about holiday baking is that when its time to make cookies, my daughter Kailey ( a.k.a. KK ) is always happy to help out.  I just adore being around her and her fantastic self, so if it takes making a batch of her favorite sugar cream cheese cookies to get her with me, Then So Be It!!! I even get to use one of my fun springerle molds, which is how I learned about this recipe.

Here is what you will need:

• 2 cups of flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup butter – softened
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 ounces cream cheese – softened

Here is what you need to do:

Sift together the flour and salt.  Cream butter and cream cheese together and gradually add in sugar until it’s all mixed. Add egg yolk and vanilla and then slowly add in the flour/salt mixture.

Give the sides of the bowl a good scrapping and then give the cookie dough a good mix by hand.

Wrap the finished dough up in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. I usually make  the dough the night before and roll out and bake the cookies in the morning.

This dough works great with any cookie cutter, but what I love is that it holds its shape so well that I get to use my turkey mold that I bought online at http://www.springerle.com .

Roll out your dough evenly to about ¼ inch thickness, making sure all your tools and surfaces are thoroughly floured.

Place cut out cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. They will be light in color and slightly browned on the bottom.

#favoritegirlieintheworldrighthere

xoxo

Jill ♥

Thanksgiving is not a time for counting calories and this gratin is so worth every one.  😉

There is just something about cheese and potatoes that makes me a happy girl.  That’s why I only make this dish about twice a year, because I just can’t stop taking one more spoonful.  Let’s just say ” IT’S ON ”  when this comes to the table.

Here is what you will need:

The measurements will depend on how big of a gratin you are making

• Yukon gold potatoes – cleaned and sliced
• heavy cream
• butter – cubed
• shredded mozzarella – you are going to have to use the supermarket kind for this. Fresh mozzarella will make the gratin too watery.
• salt

Here is what you need to do:

Slice your potatoes about a  ¼ inch thick.

Layer the potatoes in your baking dish, making sure that they are overlapping. Sprinkle with a little salt.

Spread around pieces of the cubed butter and lightly pour heavy cream over each row.

Top with cheese and then get working on the next layer and repeat these steps. I like to only have two layers, so it’s not too thick and cooks evenly. Finish off top with a nice layer of cheese and cover with foil.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, then remove foil and continue baking for an additional 20 -30 minutes. You want the top golden and potatoes fork tender. Let it sit for a bit when it’s done so it will all set up.

I got this recipe from my mother in law, but I believe she uses two different types of cheese in her version.  Might be fun to add in some of your favorites.

Hope you like it.

Next up:

My favorite girlie will help me make

Turkey Sugar Cream Cheese Cookies.

xoxo

Jill ♥

There just has to be a sweet potato casserole at my Thanksgiving table!!!

Unfortunately my family doesn’t feel the same way.  For me there is just something about the mixture of a sweet potato with all these trimmings that bring a smile to my face and let me know that the holiday season is officially here.  So instead of making a whole casserole that hardly gets touched,  I make an easy individual sweet potato casserole for fans like me.

Here is what you will need:

• sweet potatoes – nice sized and scrubbed clean
• butter
• brown sugar
• mini marshmallows
• pecans – chopped
• salt & pepper

Here is what you need to do:

Rub your sweet potatoes with a little oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper.  Wrap them up tightly  in foil and place in a slow cooker. Add about a ½ cup of water to the base of the slow cooker.  It’s ok to stack the potatoes if you are making a bunch.  I like to use the slow cooker with this dish. This way I can set it all up and forget about them until it’s time to finish them under the broiler.

Cook on high for 4 hours.

When they are ready, slice open and break up the inside with a fork. Sprinkle with brown sugar, salt & pepper. Cube up butter and add a few pieces to the mix.  Top with mini marshmallows and chopped pecans and put under broiler until marshmallows are nicely toasted.

And there you have it.

Yukon Gold Potato Gratin up next.

xoxo

Jill  ♥

Raise Your Hand If You Love Brussels Sprouts. ✋

I grew up HATING brussels sprouts. They were these boiled blobs that we were forced to eat and I swore to myself that a brussels sprout would never be on my kitchen table!!!

Well that all changed when I saw an episode of Barefoot Contessa and she changed my life forever.  Roasted brussels sprouts are delicious and they have turned into a main side dish in my house.  I usually just roast them with a little olive oil and salt & pepper, but for Thanksgiving I like to add a little extra to make sure they turn out to be special and yummy for everyone to enjoy.

Here is what you will need:

• bunch of brussels sprouts –  clean, cut off stems and then cut in half.
• 4 slices of bacon
• 1 shallot – sliced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt & pepper

Here is what you need to do:

Partially cook your bacon and reserve the bacon grease. Don’t let it get to crispy, it will crisp up in the oven.

Give the bacon a good chop.

When the bacon is ready, add the brussels sprouts, chopped bacon and sliced shallots to a sheet pan. Coat with bacon grease, olive oil, salt & pepper.  As Ina would say ” a chef’s best tool are clean hands “.  So just give it all a good toss until everything is mixed and coated.  Roast in the oven at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes, giving a good toss once in a while.

This dish is so easy to make and will turn any Brussels Sprout hater into a lover every time.

Now what should be next ? 😋

xoxo

Jill ♥