Fondue For You

I volunteered to cook meals for Christmas Day. Since we usually have the big meal on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day was wide open for any food I pleased. For my wellness challenge, I was supposed to eat three meals a day (harder than it seems if you're pregnant), so this also helped me to be sure to eat meals.

For breakfast I made a non-Cupboard Project recipe that was very good (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/the-ultimate-breakfast-for-dinner-sausage-and-spinach-egg-strata-recipe/index.html) along with fruit soup. Yum! They were great, and there were leftovers for the next morning. I thought about making cinnamon rolls or French toast, but it was for Christmas morning, when I generally gorge on candy and sweets. This was a nice alternative.

For dinner I made two fondue recipes from a Taste of Home magazine. It made a nice easy-to-eat meal for a group.



Pizza Fondue

TOTAL TIME: Prep/Total Time: 25 min.
MAKES: 22 servings
Ingredients
1/2 pound ground beef
 1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
 1 medium onion, chopped
 1 garlic clove, minced
 1 tablespoon cornstarch
 1-1/2 teaspoons fennel seed
 1-1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
 2 cans (15 ounces each) pizza sauce
 2-1/2 cups (10 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
 2 tablespoons chopped ripe olives
 Breadsticks, bagel chips, baked pita chips and/or tortilla chips

Nutritional Facts
1/4 cup (calculated without breadsticks, bagel chips, baked pita chips or tortilla chips) equals 97 calories, 6 g fat (4 g saturated fat), 23 mg cholesterol, 222 mg sodium, 4 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 7 g protein.

Directions
In a large skillet, cook the beef, mushrooms and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Drain. Stir in the cornstarch, fennel, oregano and garlic powder until blended. Stir in pizza sauce.
Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Gradually stir in cheeses until melted. Stir in olives. Keep warm.
Serve with breadsticks, bagel chips, pita chips and/or tortilla chips. Yield: 5-1/2 cups.
Originally published as Pizza Fondue in Taste of Home December/January 2008, p49

For this one, we decided to leave out the meat since we had already eaten meat at like every meal. I made some breadsticks to go along with this, and it really did taste like pizza when you dipped a breadstick in the dip. I think it was too hot when I put the cheese in because some of the cheddar cheese cooked instead of melted. It still tasted good.

Super Sausage Dip

TOTAL TIME: Prep: 15 min. Cook: 35 min.
MAKES: 40 servings
Ingredients
1 pound bulk pork sausage
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies
1 package (8 ounces) PHILADELPHIA® Cream Cheese, cubed
2 cups (16 ounces) sour cream
Tortilla chips

Directions
In a large skillet, cook the sausage, onion and green pepper over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.
Stir in tomatoes and chilies. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add cream cheese; stir until melted. Stir in sour cream; heat through. (Do not boil.) Transfer to a fondue pot and keep warm. Serve with chips. Yield: 5 cups.
Originally published as Super Sausage Dip in Taste of Home December/January 2008, p49

I think most people liked this one better. At least, more of it was gone. We had tortilla chips and pita chips to dip (and the breadsticks). Dad also liked this dip cold.

Twice Baked Potato Casserole

It's the holiday season.  That means vacation to the parents, which in turn means more recipes posted here.  I am too poor/cheap to buy special ingredients needed in a lot of these recipes, but Mom isn't.  So today we had this potato casserole.  I've been wanting it for a long time and it goes well with the ham we had.  It was rich and tasty, but we all decided it was incredibly similar to your average funeral potatoes with extra calories.  So I don't think I would spend the extra money to buy all the ingredients.  Still Good though.

Ingredients:

10 large russet baking potatoes
8 tablespoons, plus one tablespoon butter, room temperature
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 t salt
1.5 t pepper
3/4 lbs. bacon, cooked until crisp and crumbled
1/2 lb. sharp white cheddar, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
3/4 lb. mild cheddar, grated, 3 cups
1/2 cup finely cut green onions
3 eggs, lightly beaten

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400.  Scrub potatoes well and rinse under cool running water.  Pat dry with paper towels and prick potatoes in several places with a fork.  Place potatoes in oven and bake for one hour to one hour 15 minutes, or until tender.  Remove from oven and cool enough to handle.
When potatoes have cooled, cut each potatoes in half and, using a spoon or melon baller, scoop flesh out of the skins, leaving as little flesh as possible.  Place potato flesh in large bowl and add 1 stick butter, sour cream, heavy cream, salt, pepper and mash chunky smooth.  Add bacon, cubed white cheddar, half of grated cheese, onions, eggs and mix thoroughly.

Butter a 9x13 casserole with remaining T of butter and reduce oven to 375.  Place seasoned potato mixture in prepared casserole and top with remaining grated Cheddar.  Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until bubbly around the edges and heated through and the cheese on top is melted and lightly golden.  Serve hot.