boneless chicken recipes

Caramel Almond Squares

Lately I have found some good treats, but these take the prize. They are so good. My son once again told me it was not fair I made them during his training and told me I had to make some again as soon as his season was over. The crust melts in your mouth, add the caramel and a touch of chocolate and it is a great flavor combination. I think you could add your favorite nuts or leave them out and these would still be delish!!

Caramel Almond Squares

Cookie Base

3/4 cup butter

2 cups flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Caramel Almond Topping

8 oz. slivered or sliced almonds

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup honey

2 Tablespoons heavy cream

3 oz. grated chocolate (I used a large Hershey's Symphony Bar with toffe and almonds)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut butter into 1/2 inch piecess and place in a food processor along with the flour, brown sugar, and salt. Process until the mixture forms pea sized clumps. Sprinkle the mixture in a 9 x9 inch pan and using your fingers, pat out evenly into the bottom.

Bake the cookie crust in the middle of the oven until golden, about 25 minutes. While the cookie base is baking, prepare the topping.

If desired chop the almonds a bit into finer pieces. In a medium sized saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the brown sugar, salt, honey and cream. Simmer the mixture for 1 minute, stirring occassionally, then stir in the almonds.

When cookie base comes out of the oven,

Sprinkle with the grated chocolate.

Pour the caramel topping over the top of the chocolate and spread evenly.

Return to the oven and bake for 15-18 more minutes or until the whole topping is bubbling (not just the edges).

Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

YUM:)

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Savory Sweet Potato Casserole ♥

Today's Thanksgiving Recipe: A savory sweet potato casserole, nary a marshmallow in sight, the natural sweetness puréed into a soft earthiness offset with goat cheese and green chile salsa.

It's November at A Veggie Venture! That means the focus is adding new recipes to Favorite Recipes for Thanksgiving's Favorite Vegetables, a five-year collection of more than three dozen seasonal, delicious vegetable recipes perfect for Thanksgiving.

So we're turning orange around here. Our skin, our eyes, our lips, our teeth ... ... ... ... ... kidding! But if we are what we eat, then we are turning into sweet potatoes because I've made one savory sweet potato casserole recipe after another for the last couple of weeks. Because this is a classic concept recipe, mostly the casseroles have been variations on a theme:

Sweet potatoes cooked and then mashed with a fork, mixing in something creamy like goat cheese, ricotta cheese, even sour cream.

Then thinned with a little milk to create the light and fluffy texture that befits the richest and fluffiest mashed potatoes.

Then the flavors deepened or brightened or turned dark and savory with pantry ingredients.

Then turned into an oven-safe dish for heating through either right away or the next day.

Then sighing with satisfaction, the natural sweetness of the sweet potatoes plenty sweet enough without the addition of butter or cream or maple syrup or marshmallows or all the stuff we use to cover up the goodness, themselves, that are sweet potatoes.

The recipe that follows is one of two that I kept returning to. It shouts 'fall' to me and would be a wonderful contribution to a Thanksgiving table. That said, paired with a salad and an icy glass of Viognier one night, it was a most tasty vegetarian supper, too.

REVIEWS
"I made this for Thanksgiving dinner with sour cream ... and it was a huge hit!" ~ Lisa

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Pumpkin Spice Snack Mix

When I saw this recipe over at The Cutting Back Kitchen, I knew I need to make it quick!! She is brilliant!! Luckily I had the main ingredients on hand, but did make a few changes due to the availability of what was in my pantry. It was so easy to make. Not only was it so delicious, but filled my house full of an incredible aroma!!

Pumpkin Spice Snack Mix

adapted from The Cutting Back Kitchen
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal
2 cups corn Chex
2 cups Honey Nut Cheerios
1 cup almonds
In a small bowl, mix brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice; set aside. In a small microwaveable dish, microwave butter on high form about 30 seconds or until melted. Stir in vanilla. In a large micowaveable bowl, mix the cereals and almonds. Pour butter mixture over cereal mixture and stir until evenly distributed. Add sugar and spice mixture and stir until well coated. Microwave uncovered on high for about 5 minutes, or until mixture begins to brown, stirring after every minute. Spread on wax paper or cookie sheet to cool. Store in a airtight container.

A HUGE thanks to Katie for my new addiction!!

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For Green Bean Casserole, Just Say NO! to Canned Green Beans & Mushroom Soup

How to make a green bean casserole from scratch with fresh green beans and fresh mushrooms. Below are step-by-step photos showing how to make the fresh green bean casserole recipe so many cooks have made (and loved!) since 2006. It's an adaptation of a Cooks' Illustrated recipe so good I dubbed it the World's Best Green Bean Casserole.

SAY YES! The green bean casserole is America's favorite casserole for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter (and even Father's Day, Labor Day and other special family occasions). It's worth saying 'yes' to!

SAY NO! to CANNED GREEN BEANS & CANS OF MUSHROOM SOUP But it's the 21st century and cans of more-gray-than green beans and cans of goopy gloppy mushroom soup just don't cut it any more. Making a green bean casserole with fresh green beans and fresh mushroom takes a little more time but it's not hard, not in the least. But the taste difference is so worth the extra effort. If you want to be a star at Thanksgiving, offer to make this green bean casserole with fresh ingredients. I've made one casserole after another for several years and am happy to share all the tips and tricks and techniques that make this a sure-fire success.
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For Green Bean Casserole, Just Say NO! to Canned Green Beans & Mushroom Soup (Part 2 - The Fresh Mushrooms)

To make the pages load faster, especially for those using their phones and other mobile devices from the kitchen, the recipe tips are in three sections:

HOW-TO PHOTOS & COOKING TIPS for the
WORLD'S BEST GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE
~ Part 1: How to Cook the Green Beans ~
~ Part 2: How to Cook the Mushroom Sauce (you are here) ~
~ Part 3: How to Mix the Topping & Bake the Casserole ~

~ return to recipe for World's Best Green Bean Casserole ~
~ Printer Friendly Recipe ~

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For Green Bean Casserole, Just Say NO! to Canned Green Beans & Mushroom Soup (Part 3 - The Onion Topping & Baking)

To make the pages load faster, especially for those using their phones and other mobile devices from the kitchen, the recipe tips are in three sections:

HOW-TO PHOTOS & COOKING TIPS for the
WORLD'S BEST GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE
~ Part 1: How to Cook the Green Beans ~
~ Part 2: How to Cook the Mushroom Sauce ~
~ Part 3: How to Mix the Topping & Bake the Casserole (you are here) ~

~ return to recipe for World's Best Green Bean Casserole ~
~ Printer Friendly Recipe ~

TIP #12 - CANNED ONION RINGS So this is slightly controversial, not everyone agrees. But what "keeps" the World's Best Green Bean Casserole firmly entrenched in its "familiar comfort food" position is canned onion rings. I know, I know, read the ingredient label and you wonder if we can't do better. They are mixed with good bread, so we use fewer of them than the traditional version with canned beans and canned mushroom soup. But still.

Since 2006, I've used the canned onion rings. This year, just to see, I'm going to try a homemade topping. The recipe for the World's Best Green Bean Casserole includes several techniques used by other cooks.

So with that, is it okay to carry on? Let's.

TIP #13 - WHIZ THE BREAD CRUMBS ETC BUT NOT THE CANNED ONION RINGS Break the bread into pieces, add the soft butter. Don't forget the salt and pepper, they're critical. Whiz the bread a few times, you want relatively large pieces, pieces that are obviously made from real bread, not a fine grain.

OH. The bread. I've used homemade bread, Whole Grain Bread and Light 'n' Fluffy Homemade Whole-Grain Bread & Buns but any good-tasting, whole-grain bread will do. In the photo, I've used an artisan olive and rosemary roll from the bakery, it was excellent. No white bread!

Stir together the bread crumbs and the onions

TIP #14 - MIX THE TOPPING BUT DON'T PUT IT ONTO THE BEANS UNTIL YOU'RE READY TO BAKE THE CASSEROLE Now stir together the bread crumbs and the onion rings. What you do now depends on whether you're going to bake the casserole right away or whether you're going to bake it later.

TO BAKE THE GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE RIGHT AWAY Sprinkle the topping, well, you know, on top of the beans. Use your fingers to do this, it's easier to spread the topping evenly.

Bake uncovered at 425F for about 15 minutes. It doesn't take long, everything's cooked and is either warm or slightly warm, definitely not cold so you're just heating it through and crisping up and browning the topping.

TO MAKE AHEAD AND BAKE LATER Cover the beans with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Keep the crumb topping separate from the casserole. If you put the topping on now, it would get all soggy. We don't want soggy! Refrigerate the topping mixture too.

Let the casserole warm to room temperature

TIP #15 - BEFORE BAKING, ALLOW TIME TO RETURN THE CASSEROLE TO ROOM TEMPERATURE It just makes sense that it takes longer to heat a dish that starts off cold than to heat a dish that starts off slightly warmer. This is especially important at Thanksgiving, when oven space is so coveted. That's why I always recommend bringing side dishes to room temperature well before they need to go in the oven.

A single or double batch in a shallow dish will take less time to warm to room temperature than a triple or quadruple batch in a deep casserole dish.

Once the casserole has warmed up, then take off the plastic wrap but do NOT put the topping on yet.

For the moment, leave off the topping and bake just the beans, baking them until they're all hot and bubbly. Depending on the temperature of the bean mixture and the depth of the dish, this can take from 10 to 40 minutes.

Doesn't this look just delicious?!

Sprinkle the topping over the partially baked beans

Now sprinkle the topping over the hot and bubbly beans and put back into the oven, still uncovered, for another 15 minutes.

Finally, it's time to dig in! Give yourself a big pat on the back for investing extra time and effort into making something that's really fresh and delicious. Look around you -- doesn't everyone agree? This is truly the World's Best Green Bean Casserole!

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Menu Plan Monday

After surviving hours in the pouring rain, my son raced and made it to State!! YAY!! The school was nice enough to let us have one of their already booked motel rooms so we don't have to drive it all in one day. That will be nice. Now we are hoping for much better weather this weekend and for him to get over that dang cold!!

This Week's Menu
Monday: Baked Rotini
Tuesday: Hawaiian Haystacks
Wednesday: Taco Pie
Thursday: Chicken Stir Fry
Friday: Off to the State Cross County Meet
Saturday: Out of Town
Sunday: Roast and Baked Potatoes

Happy Eating!!

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