Variation on Libby's Pumpkin Pie Recipe & Corn Bread Casserole

My husband at a previous Thanksgiving making Pumpkin Pie with the Kids and cousins

Today I will share two recipes that both my husband and I enjoy at Thanksgiving. My husband likes pumpkin pie. However he is very picky about his pumpkin pie. :) He likes to use Libby's recipe, but adjust it a bit. He got this variation from his Dad, who loves to bake himself. :)

Make sure to get Libby's 100% PURE PUMPKIN because Libby's also makes a Pumpkin Pie mix.

Now for the variations:
Instead of the amount of sugar called for in the recipe on the can, put in 1/8 more of a Cup of sugar. Make sure you mix the spices with the sugar.
In stead of using condensed milk, use %2 milk. My husband says the 2% milk keeps the pie from tasting thick and pasty. Using the %2 milk makes it taste smooth and creamy.
This is a recipe that I enjoy on Thanksgiving. I actually had it for the first time at a ladies meeting when Mrs. C. and I attended the same Church. It is very good!

Corn Bread Casserole
1 Can cream style corn
1 Can whole kernel corn
1 Stick of butter, melted
1 Egg
8 Ounces of Sour Cream
2 Cups of Shredded Cheddar Cheese

In a large bowel Mix both cans of corn together included the liquid in the Whole Kernel Corn
Add slightly beaten egg and cornbread mix. Put into a glass 11x13 slightly greased pan. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes to one hour, or until tester comes out clean, but not dry.

Once done, spread Sour Cream on top of Corn bread, then sprinkle cheddar Cheese all over the top while it is still hot. Enjoy!

To read what others are writing about Thanksgiving, be sure to visit Kelli's by clicking on the Giving Thanks Button on the top of my post. :)

Turkey Cookies and Relish Turkeys

I got a little long winded yesterday, so I am going try and make this short and sweet today. ;)

On an online message board that I am part of, someone posted these turkey cookies. Maybe some of you have seen them before because they are Pillsbury's idea. Just take a look for yourself. :)

I am going to try and make these with the girls once I can get out to the store and buy the needed ingredients. And another idea that I thought was sooooo cute, and also a bit more healthy are "Relish Turkey's. One draw back is that it does take a lot of time to make.

Green olives stuffed with pimento

celery

carrots

Jumbo sized black olives

colored tooth picks

I don't have any pictures to show, and I can't find any on the Internet, so please bare with my directions.

1. Shave/slice the carrots into little feather shapes, and beak shapes.

2. Cut the celery in about two inch wide pieces

3. Slit the black olive towards one of the ends horizontally

4. Pull the pimento out of the green olive slightly, this will be the turkey's little wattle! :)

Now that everything is sort of assembled:

Stick the tooth pick into the middle of the celery piece. The celery acts as the "base" of the turkey, so you want this resting on a flat surface. Put the black olive through the tooth pick all the way down to the celery. Sick the beak shaped carrot into one end of the green olive where you half way pulled the pimento out.

Stick the green olive on top of the tooth pick on the end where you didn't make a slit. This is the head. Now take three of the shaved feather shaped carrots and stick into the turkey's back where you sliced it on one end.

Now you have a "relish" turkey! If I made these (I did once at a church meeting for ladies) for my Thanksgiving dinner, I would make a relish tray as usual, then make enough of these to place all around the tray on the edges or circumference.

OK, I sort of found a picture that *might* work to give you a visual:

Just imagine the melon being the black olive, the head the green olive and the carrot shavings shaped like feathers as the the feathers. If you want to make that turkey pictured that's OK too. ;)

However, when you make a bunch of those little turkeys and place them around the relish tray it looks so adorable! It gives something for your children to do also.
Although, I would try to pre-assemble the beaks and feathers for them. The pimento wattle can be a little tricky too, so you'll have to work with that.

Look at me, I am getting to long winded again! For more Thanksgiving related topics be sure to visit Kelli's. Just click on the "Give Thanks" button at the beginning of my post. Have a wonderful day!

Making Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

As a craft for my play group, we one day made those cookies in a jar things. It had been sitting on top of the refrigerator, so I decided to make them because I was tired of dealing with the "clutter". We usually don't make many baked goods, because I try to control the sugar around the house;(Which is very hard to do.) So this was an extra special treat for the girls. They thoroughly enjoyed making the cookies. And we have all been enjoying the eating of them.

A Couple of Mistakes Turned Out a Great Dish

Ok, I know what some of you are thinking; "YUCK!". Alot of people don't appreciate my taste for fine gormet foods. :)

This was supposed to be Black Beans and Rice with Italian Susage.

When I went to get the ingredients out, somethings were not according to my plan. My plan, was to cook the black beans and susage in Chicken Broth. When I poured the Chicken Broth into the crockpot, I noticed funny little chunks in it. I looked at the label of the can, and noticed that it was preseasoned with Garlic. "Ok" I thought. "Not a problem, it should be fine with Italian susage. I was going to put garlic in there anyway, this just saves me a step." When I got the susage out, I noticed that I did not buy Italian susage, but "lime" something susage. I am not an expert cook, but I thought combining Lime, and garlic sounded funny. I had not other choice but to continue cooking, because I had no other options for supper. So, I decided at this point, I couldn't do much to make it worse, and I added Italian seasoning to it. After it cooked all day long in the crock pot, I made some brown rice, and broccoli. I topped the rice with the black bean mixture, and sprinkled a mexican four cheese mix on top of it. I must say it was pretty good. Even Bean, my MOST picky eater, ate it!

Spinach Spaghetti Casserole

This is a delicious recipe that comes from the Mom's Night out Bible Study I have been going to. They demonstrated this recipe, and I went home and tried it. It is kind of pricey to make, but I had alot of ingredients on hand left over from other recipes. The only thing I bought for the recipe was a hard block of Romano Cheese, meat, Spaghetti Sauce, and Sour Cream. The recipe called for Parmesan, but I have discovered this really yummy Romano cheese. I tried another brand, and I usually can't tell between brands, but with this cheese, you can. So I thought I would make it extra special. Since I had alot of ingredients at home, I splurged on the cheese.

Even Daddy liked it with the Spinach in it, and he isn't very fond of spinach.

With this dinner I made Basil Bread sticks, which I think "may" be a better alternative to garlic bread. It is just Pillsbury dough bread sticks, twisted. I brushed melted butter on them. Sweetie sprinkled dried basil, and left over shredded Romano Cheese. Oh, they are soooooooo good. Daddy thought so too! :)

For the salad, I made a home made dressing using olive oil and Balsamic Vinegar. Daddy isn't too fond of the oil and vinegar combination, so he didn't have any salad. :(

At my Bible study I learned alot about different Olive Oils and Vinegars.

With Olive Oil, it should be Extra Virgin, First Cold Pressed. Light Olive Oil just means that it has a lighter taste, and is not Extra Virgin or cold pressed. It is primarly used in cooking where you don't want an extra strong flavor of olive oil to come through. I also learned that the greener the olive oil the better quality it is.

Balsamic Vinegar is sweet. You should try to buy a Balsamic Vinegar that is product of Italy. NEVER buy the Pompeian brand of Balsamic Vinegar. I was told that it is aweful.

Pampered Chef's Cut-N-Seal

A lady at our church was having a catalog party for Pampered Chef, so I decided to buy the Cut-N-Seal cutter.

It is made of Stainless steal, and is fairly easy to use. My short height makes it sort of hard for me to cut through layers, so I stand on a stool, but it cuts really well.

We are having alot of fun using using this. So far I have made "grilled" cheese sandwiches. I put cheese between two slices of bread, and butter the top, place in toaster oven until toasted, and cheese is melted like in the above picture. Peanut Butter and Jelly is another thing we have done. And recently, I got creative, and used left over super. Here is what I did. I put cooked spinach in on the bottom, a little spaghetti sauce, and mozzerella cheese on top. Then I did the cut and seal thing. I buttered the bread, and sprinkled garlic salt on top. Yummy!

The girls love love love it when I make lunch using this. They call them "ciricle sandwiches", and they laugh with glee when I say lunch is ready, after intently watching me cut their regluar sandwiches into the extraordinary of circles. They love to help throw away the crusts, and like to help me butter the top of the bread.

Another advantage to this is you don't eat as much bread if you are trying to watch calories, which I am trying to do, so I go ahead and make my own little circle sandwich.

The Cut-N-Seal is also fairly easy to wash. Overall I really am glad that I bought it. I can get really creative with it if I want, and put apple pie filling in between refridgerated pie dough, and bake in the oven. The possibilites are endless!