Green bean bundles

image source

These are one of our family staples for holiday meals!  You'd be hard pressed to find a better way to eat vegetables than this, I can promise you that much. We were so ready to eat them so I didn't get a picture of the finished product, so I had to borrow the picture above.

Ingredients:
3 cans whole green beans
1 package bacon
toothpicks

Marinade:
1 stick melted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp garlic powder

Drain green beans and place in a bowl.  Cut bacon strips in half.

Wrap 10-12 beans with half a bacon strip and secure with a toothpick.

As you can see, I don't typically do 10-12...but I ended up with extra green beans so I probably should have.

Place bundles in a 13X9 baking dish.

Mix marinade well and pour over green bean bundles, Let marinate in fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes.

Peppermint Bark Popcorn

 I made this twice over the holidays, and its delicious as well as so easy!  This will definitely be kept in my repertoire as a quick treat to make to bring to a gathering or as a gift.  Here's the source - a wonderful blog with tons of great recipes.

Ingredients:

1 package almond bark - white
18 cups popped popcorn
2 tsp peppermint extract
1 box candy candes
3/4 c chocolate chips (not pictured)

It took me three bags of popcorn to get the 18 cups, but I also leave a lot of kernels unpopped because I'm afraid of burning it. Here's what you do:
-Unwrap and crush up the candy canes using a plastic bag and a meat tenderizer.
-Melt the almond bark in small batches in the microwave (according to the package directions) and pour over the popcorn.
-Sprinkle the candy cane pieces and peppermint extract over the popcorn and mix very well.
-Spread popcorn out on parchment covered baking sheets and allow to set.
-Melt chocolate chips, spoon into a plastic bag with the corner cut off and drizzle over the popcorn.
-Let sit for a few hours (on the counter or in the fridge). Once hardened, break apart and enjoy!

You can mix the peppermint extract in with the almond bark but many people online suggest that this makes the bark 'seize up' and become clumpy.  I just used my fingers and tried to sprinkle it over the popcorn, which worked out fine. I also did mine in two batches because I didn't have a big enough bowl to do it all at once.  If you aren't a peppermint fan, there are a number of other options on the source blog, some of which I hope to try soon!

Homemade Peppermint Oreos

If you're not already planning to make these based on the name, let me assure you - they are SO worth making! They have a few steps, but don't take many ingredients and look much fancier than your typical brownie or cookie.

Recipe source

Ingredients:
2 boxes devil's food cake mix
4 eggs
2/3 cup oil
1 8oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp peppermint extract
sprinkles or other items for decorating

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Combine cake mix, eggs and oil in a large bowl and mix until blended.  Batter will be very stiff. (I had to use my hands to get it fully mixed together.)
3. Break off pieces of batter and roll into 1" balls (or use a cookie scoop).  Place 1 inch apart on parchment and flatten slightly with fingertips.
4. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove immediately from cookie sheets and place on wire racks to cool.
5. While cookies cool, combine cream cheese, butter and peppermint extract.  Add powdered sugar slowly and beat until the icing is smooth.
6. Once cookies are cool, assemble cookies with filling inside and decorate as desired.
7. Refrigerate or serve immediately - and get ready for the compliments!

a close up :) so delicious!

Tips & Tricks-
-these taste just as good without peppermint extract, I made a few without for my friends that aren't fans of mint and they were great!
-the sprinkles adhere really well to the filling, so you can just shake them onto the sides of the cookie and voila!

Holiday Sugar Cookies

Usually, I will take a chocolate dessert over a non-chocolate dessert without hesitiation. But, there's just something about Christmas that calls for frosted sugar cookies! My mom made sugar cookie dough using the Imperial Sugar recipe (on the bag) but we never got to bake or decorate the cookies over Thanksgiving. So this weekend, I got out all the cookie cutters and sprinkles (also courtesy of my mom!) and went to town.

I'm certainly not a good cookie decorator, but I tried! I thought the trees turned out the best. I used this frosting recipe which was delicious. One hint, you have to beat the crisco and some sugar together before adding the water, because the crisco and water won't combine correctly. Decorate to your heart's content!

Hello Dollies

Also known as Seven Layer Bars, these are a delicious sweet treat, perfect for passing out to your neighbors or co-workers as a holiday gift!  The best part is you probably have all the ingredients on hand, or at least most of them.

Recipe Source

Here's what you need:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup white sugar (I used less than this)

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup flaked coconut

1 cup chopped pecans

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

Here's what to do:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter. Press into the bottom of an 9x9 inch baking pan. Layer the chocolate chips, coconut and pecans over the crumbs. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the top.
3. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool and cut into squares.

Tips & Tricks:
-One reviewer suggested heating the milk in the microwave to pour it evenly over the bars - this was very helpful!
-Multiple reviewers said to leave out the white sugar, but one mentioned that it helped the crust stay together so I decided to add about 1/8 cup.
-I also decided to used a 9 x 13 pan so that the bars would be a little thinner, which was a good choice.
-I only put pecans on about 2/3 since some people don't like or are allergic to nuts.  They still taste great without nuts!

Thanksgiving Recap

I posted our Thanksgiving menu here and I wanted to come report back on how things went.  I made a detailed plan for the oven, and apart from a few minutes around 1pm (when I flipped out and realized a few things never made it in the oven!) everything came together great!  We had WAY more than enough food.  One of my take aways was to halve some of the side dishes, especially stuffing and sweet potatoes.

We deviated from the turkey recipe and just went with what my mom has done in the past.  I'll be posting the rolls recipe this week, as well as the sweet potatoes and stuffing.  We LOVE the Pioneer Woman's Macaroni and Cheese, but that recipe is well documented on her blog as well as in her cookbook, so I'll just point you there!

Thanksgiving Menu

We've finally got our Thanksgiving menu settled, and I am busy making lists for baking times as well as ingredients.  I  hope to nail down our plan and get all our shopping done by the weekend before Turkey Day, so we can relax and have fun with our visiting family the week of.  We're having a mix of Pyne family favorites along with some new recipes, which I'm excited to report back on.  Here it is:

Appetizers/Daytime Snacks:
Fruit salad
Spinach dip and hummus with veggies and pita chips

Main Courses:
Herb roasted turkey and gravy
Ham with brown sugar glaze

Sides:
Quick Yeast Rolls, tripled
Stuffing, recipe TBD
PW's Macaroni & Cheese
Green Bean bundles
Sweet potato casserole

Desserts:
Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie

What are you having for Thanksgiving? Let me know if you have any great recipes to share!