Happy Thanksgiving from the McDaniels!

 Dad, of course mastered the turkey once again! It was so moist and tasty.

Jen made the most delicious Sweet Potato Casserole... BOMB! (recipe below!)

This is our stuffing (or as you might call it: dressing)... the best part are the apples and sausage, YUM!

You can't have Thanksgiving without Mom's famous garlic, cream cheese mash potatoes :)

Our dining room center piece 

My favorite dish this year was the sweet potatoes, so here's the recipe... you've got to try it! 

Sweet Potato Casserole

Ingredients

• 4 cups sweet potato, cubed
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
•  
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Put sweet potatoes in a medium saucepan with water to cover. Cook over medium high heat until tender; drain and mash.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the sweet potatoes, sugar, eggs, salt, butter, milk and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Transfer to a 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. In medium bowl, mix the sugar and flour. Cut in the butter until the mixture is coarse. Stir in the pecans. Sprinkle the mixture over the sweet potato mixture.
4. Bake in the preheated oven 30 minutes, or until the topping is lightly brown.

Thanksgiving Desserts at the McDaniel's

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

Ingredients

Cake:

• 1 (18 1/4-ounce) package yellow cake mix
• 1 egg
• 8 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:

• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 8 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan.

To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey.

Serve with fresh whipped cream.

Sour Cream Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients

1 Pre-made refrigerated Pie Crust*

3 Tbsp. flour

1-1/4 c. sugar

1 c. sour cream

1/2 tsp. lemon juice

1/2 tsp. salt

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

3 c. rhubarb, cut into small pieces

topping ingredients:

1/3 c. flour

1/3 c. sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 c. soft butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 

To the dry ingredients, add egg, sour cream, vanilla, and lemon; mix well. Add rhubarb. Pour into an unbaked 9-inch pie shell. Bake 15 minutes at 400 degrees F. (If crust looks golden to early, put foil around edges of pie, covering the crust!) Then, reduce heat to 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes. Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle on pie. Return to oven for 15 minutes.

* I like to use homemade Betty Crocker style pie crust... it tastes that much better :)

This is my Grandma Siffring's recipe and it is definitely a McDaniel favorite!!! 

GOOGLE'S HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Google has a great recipe to share!

This Thanksgiving holiday, we are grateful for many things: family, friends, and of course, food. Just in time for the big day, beloved cookbook author and TV chef Ina Garten offers everyone six simple yet delicious recipes to make one of the year's biggest dinner parties as easy as, well, pumpkin pie. Happy Thanksgiving, and Happy Cooking!


Yesterday, I had the real deal homemade pumpkin pie...Thanks, Ms. Greene!
Here is a recipe I found that you might want to try! 

Suzanne's Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie

My friend Suzanne performed an experiment with her family and me. She baked two pumpkin pies, one using the purée and recipe from a can, the other using purée she made from a ripe sugar pumpkin. Each of us received two slices, one from each pie, without knowing which was which. The winner? The adults clearly preferred the pie made from scratch - it had a richer flavor (possibly due in part to added spices). One child preferred the pie made from the canned purée, the other two had no preference. Needless to say, everyone finished both of their slices, and the whipped cream too!

Suzanne's Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups of pumpkin pulp purée from a sugar pumpkin* or from canned pumpkin purée
• 1 1/2 cup heavy cream or 1 12 oz. can of evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs plus the yolk of a third egg
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest
• 1 good crust (see pâte brisée recipe)

* To make pumpkin purée from a sugar pumpkin: start with a small-medium sugar pumpkin, cut out the stem and scrape out the insides, discard (save the seeds, of course). Cut the pumpkin in half and lay cut side down on a rimmed baking sheet lined with silpat or aluminum foil. Bake at 350°F until fork tender, about an hour to an hour and a half. Remove from oven, let cool, scoop out the pulp. (Alternatively you can cut the pumpkin into sections and steam in a saucepan with a couple inches of water at the bottom, until soft.) If you want the pulp to be extra smooth, put it through a food mill or chinois.

METHOD

1 Preheat oven to 425°F.

2 Mix sugars, salt, and spices, and lemon zest in a large bowl. Beat the eggs and add to the bowl. Stir in the pumpkin purée. Stir in cream. Whisk all together until well incorporated.

3 Pour into pie shell and bake at 425°F for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes reduce the temperature to 350°F. Bake 40-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

4 Cool on a wire rack for 2 hours.

Serve with whipped cream. Serves 8.

Pumpkin Walnut Cheesecake Recipe

I haven't made this recipe yet, but it looks delicious and I thought I'd share it with you! If you put your cheesecake skills to the test with this recipe, let me know all about it... I bet it is amazing!

Ingredients

courtesy of Taste of Home magazine

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 
  FILLING:
• 3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 5 eggs, lightly beaten
• 
  TOPPING:
• 6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

• Place a greased 9-in. springform pan on a double thickness of heavy-duty foil (about 18 in. square). Securely wrap foil around pan. In a small bowl, combine cracker crumbs and sugar; stir in butter. Press onto the bottom and 1 in. up the sides of prepared pan.
• In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugars until smooth. Beat in the pumpkin, cream, cinnamon and cloves until blended. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Pour over crust. Place springform pan in a large baking pan; add 1 in. of hot water to larger pan.
• Bake at 325° for 1 hour. For topping, in a small bowl, combine butter and brown sugar. Stir in walnuts. Carefully sprinkle over hot cheesecake.
• Bake 30 minutes longer or until center is just set. Remove springform pan from water bath. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight. Yield: 12 servings.

Choir Social hosted by the Soprano Section :)

 Made by popular demand, these "Spruced Up Trader Joe Muffins" (check old blog posts for the recipe) will be at the choir social this evening. Thanks to our mystery friend who "boo-ed" us during Halloween, we got to use the perfect little baking wrappers and tooth pick pumpkin signs :) Thank You!!!

Happy Veterans' Day! Happy Fall! Sopranos Rock! We Love Choir! We Love Carol! Happy Singing!

Girls' Night Out Cook-Off!

Thanks to Jen and Monica, the girls of Bethany Youth Group had an awesome time at this month's GNO :) The Cook-Off competition was a huge success and a ton of fun!

on your marks, get set, go!

The winning team, "Team Amazing" (Lindsay, Libby, Katie, and Amy) lead in a surprising victory over "AAA ATTACK!" (Alicia, Amber, and Anna) with only a point to spare! They were judged on 1) their use of $10, 2) taste, 3) presentation, 4) creativity, 5) incorporating the 3 randomly drawn colors

Jen & Monica along side two surprise judges

Team Amazing takes 1st Place in GNO's 1st Annual Cook-Off!

The winning recipe needed to incorporate colors: blue, purple, and orange.  They made an exquisite mixed berry smoothie along side a waffle topped with berries and an orange slice.
They used Krusteaz waffle mix and a Costco recipe for the smoothie:
Very Very Berry Smoothie
3/4 c. (6oz) Dannon Light 'n Fit Strawberry Yogurt
3/4 c. (5oz) mixed Frozen berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries) -or- 3/4 c. fresh berries & 1c. crushed ice
1 banana, peeled and cut in chunks
Place all ingredients in a blender; process until smooth and serve immediately. (Makes 1 serving)


AAA ATTACK, 
the runner-ups, needed to incorporate colors: brown, black, and yellow. They served a very unique and tasty cupcake.

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes:
1 box yellow cake mix (and ingredients needed to prepare as directed)
24 ice cream cones
chocolate chips
sprinkles
milk chocolate frosting
Prepare cupcake mix as box directs. Wrap foil around bottom of each ice cream cone (to prevent toppling cones) and place in an individual muffin tin. Then place 1/4 c. of batter into each cone (fill cone until it begins to widen at the top). Sprinkle batter with a few chocolate chips. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let them cool completely (to speed that up, pop the pan into the freezer for about 10 minutes and they should be good to frost). Frost with the milk chocolate frosting and sprinkle each top.

Crisscross Apple Crowns Recipe

look at those little crown creations :)

I made this recipe over the summer when having BBQ with some family friends. They are really tasty and since I came upon the picture (I made these before the idea of my blog came about but they were so cute I had to capture the moment) I took of them, I thought I'd post this recipe to share with you! Hey, if you want to add a Thanksgiving breakfast biscuit or mini apple pie treat to your fall meals, this one is it!

Ingredients

• 1-1/3 cups chopped peeled tart apples
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup sugar, divided
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
• Dash salt
• 1 package (16.3 ounces) large refrigerated flaky biscuits
• 2 teaspoons butter, melted

Directions

courtesy of Taste Of Home magazine

• In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine the apples, walnuts, raisins, 3 tablespoons sugar, flour, 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon and salt. Microwave on high for 2-3 minutes or until almost tender.
• Flatten each biscuit into a 5-in. circle. Combine remaining sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle a rounded teaspoonful of sugar mixture over each. Top each with 1/4 cup apple mixture. Bring up edges to enclose mixture; pinch edges to seal.
• Place seam side down in ungreased muffin cups. Brush tops with butter; sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture. With a sharp knife, cut an “X” in the top of each.
• Bake at 350° for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Yield: 8 servings.
• If you are serving these as desert, serve them á la mode... enjoy!