Caramel Pumpkin Pie

I had a sample of this pie at Publix last week and thought it was wonderful. I'm planning to make it for Thursday, I hope you can use it too. Happy Thanksgiving!

1/4 cup + 2 TBSP caramel ice cream TOPPING (not sauce etc.)
1 ready-made graham cracker crust
1/2 cup + 2 TBSP chopped pecans
1 cup cold milk
2 - 3.75oz. boxes Jell-O vanilla INSTANT pudding/pie filling
1 cup Libby's canned pumpkin
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 - 8oz. Cool Whip (thawed)

Pour 1/4 cup caramel into the bottom of the graham cracker crust. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of chopped pecans on top of the caramel. In a bowl add both boxes of vanilla pudding mix and the milk--beat with a whisk. Add cinnamon, nutmeg and pumpkin--mix well. Add 1 1/2 cups of Cool Whip--stir well. Pour pumpkin mixture on top of the pecans in the crust. Add remaining Cool Whip on top of pumpkin mixture. Refrigerate for 1 hour, then drizzle the 2 TBSP caramel and 2 TBSP chopped pecans on top. Refrigerate overnight.

Thanksgiving Recipes anyone?

Hi all! Have something you want to share that we will all love for Thanksgiving?

This is a big hit in our home.  If you try it - let me know what you think!

Pam McCosh’s Sweet Potato Soufflé

 

6 large sweet potatoes

2 eggs, beaten

1/3 c. evaporated milk

1 stick butter, melted

3/4 c. sugar

1 Tbsp. vanilla

 

TOPPING:

 

1 c. light brown sugar

1/3 c. flour

1/3 c. melted butter

1 c. chopped pecans

 

Cook potatoes; drain.  Remove the skins (good luck with that part.  They're hot!)  

Blend potatoes until creamy.  Add eggs, canned milk, one stick butter, vanilla, and sugar, and the put it in a casserole dish. 

Mix all the topping ingredients and spread evenly over top of the sweet potato mixture.  Bake at 350 F for about 35 minutes.

 

HSM

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Get Thee Behind Me, Bagged Salad!

Let me explain...no, let me sum up: I hate making salad. Hate it with a passion. Whenever we invite someone over for dinner and they ask if they can bring something, I always tell them SALAD! For some reason, to me, salad always tastes better when someone else makes it. Don't get me wrong, I like salad, I just hate making it. The washing, the chopping, the tossing. It's all far too much work for a vegetable.

So, along came bagged salad. Behold! Here is the lettuce already cut up and washed! One step saved! All you do is throw some vegetables into a bowl, and voila! Salad! I've been using bagged salad for a while now -- there are all sorts of yummy varieties: Baby Greens, Spring Mix, Italian Style, etc. with all sorts of interesting and unusual lettuce types. However, I've noticed a disturbing trend: the salad in bagged salad goes bad quickly. Like, a day after you open it. It's not cheap either. So, if you open a bag, make a small salad, and return said bag to the refrigerator, the next day you will have a runny mess of arugula, and there's $3 down the drain.

In the past few months, gas prices have been high, and consequently, food prices have been high. I've seen my food expenditures go up, up, up and Z isn't even on formula anymore. To counteract this, I've been clipping coupons and shopping sales. I realized that one of the things I'd have to give up was the bagged salad. It was MUCH more cost-effective to buy a head or two of lettuce, do your own rinsing and tearing, and just suck it up. So I did. I still don't like making them, though, but at least I feel like I'm saving money.

Dinner at my house tonight!

I know some of you have been wondering, "Do I HAVE to give my kids dinner before trick-or-treating?"

Quite simply, the answer is, "No." The more thorough answer is, "No," coupled with, "You are the mom now and no one is the boss of you anymore."

It's hard to want to cook dinner when you know the fam will be full as fritters just on candy alone. And heck - it's one night a year. So here is your permission to skip cooking a meal tonight! Feel free to let the chil'uns eat Resee cups and Smarties for dinner and make them a veggie milkshake tomorrow as penance.

Or you could overachieve and make a solid meal. But what's the fun in that, really?

Crock pot roast with gravy

I tried this a Sunday or two ago and have been wanting to pass it along. It was one of the easiest and best Yankee-style pot roasts I've had ever - you don't even have to brown the roast first. Don't let the extreme ease fool ya - it's super tasty.

You'll need:

a 1 and 3/4 lb. beef roast (I used a cheap old chuck - my favorite)

1/2 c. flour

salt and pepper to taste

1 envelope onion soup mix

1 envelope brown gravy mix

2 c. cold water

Rub the roast with about 1/4 c. of flour (or more, if needed) and salt and pepper. Place in a 5 quart slow cooker.

In a bowl, combine soup, gravy mix and remaining flour; stir in water and continue stirring until well blended. Pour over roast. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until meat is tender. Slice roast beef and serve with gravy.

(I haven't tried cooking the veggies in with the roast because it is a very thick sauce, but when I do, I'll report back.)

Crock Pot Lasagna

This recipe might be old news to many of you, but I tried it out for the first time a few weeks ago and really liked it! Your lasagna isn't going to come out of the crock pot in a pretty nice square like Stouffer's, but I firmly believe the messier the food looks on the plate the better it tastes!

-1 lb. ground beef
-1/2 cup chopped onion
-1-2 garlic cloves minced
-2 cans (15 oz. each) tomato sauce
-1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
-salt, oregano, basil and/or Italian seasoning to taste
-12 oz. lasagna noodles, uncooked and broken down to fit in crock pot
-12 oz. cottage cheese with a dash of dried parsley added to it
-1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
-8-12 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

Brown beef and onion in skillet; drain off excess fat. Add garlic, tomato sauce, tomato paste, seasonings and cook long enough to heat thoroughly.

Spoon a layer of meat sauce onto the bottom of crock pot. Add a double layer of broken lasagna noodles and top with a layer of the cheeses. Repeat with sauce, noodles and cheeses until all are used up. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.