Fluffy Carrot Souffle

Carrots are a long-time favorite of mine, but my experience with them was basically limited to raw, boiled or cooked with pot roast. Not that any of those preparations are bad, but they are pretty boring.

This Carrot Souffle recipe piqued my interest, but it took some convincing to get Adam on board with the idea. We were both pleased with the result when we first tried it a couple of years ago. Cooter loves it, too. In fact, so does K-Bob. It's an easy way for a family of 4 to polish off a pound of carrots in one meal.

 Souffle. It sounds so intimidating. We've all heard of a souffle "falling." As I can recall, I'd never had a souffle before trying my hand at this orange beauty. I don't even know if this one really is a classic souffle. I'm sure Julia Child would scoff at this little recipe and scold us for labeling it as such. But I'm ok with that.

Fluffy Carrot Souffle (adapted from Splenda)
1 pound baby carrots
2 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
3 TBS all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1½ TBS sugar or no-calorie sugar substitute
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 1-qt baking dish.

Combine carrots, water and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook, covered, 12-15 minutes or until carrots are tender. Drain
Place carrots and butter in a food processor. Process until smooth, scraping sides as necessary.
Combine flour, baking powder and sugar. Add to carrots and process until blended. Add eggs, one at a time, processing until blended between each addition. Add vanilla and pulse 2-3 times.
Spoon mixture into baking dish. Bake 30-45 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve immediately.

A note of caution: This mixture absolutely fills my 3-cup food processor. If you don't have a food processor that is large enough, you may be able to use a blender, but I've never tried it.

Nutty Barley Bake

Most of us have eaten barley before (Campbell's Beef Vegetable Soup with Barley, anyone?), but it's not a grain we serve very often. I've always enjoyed the nutty taste of barley, though my exposure was limited mostly to the instant kind from Mr. Quaker, usually in soups. I found this recipe in a Taste of Home cookbook and simply had to try it. We first had this savory dish when some friends came for supper in late summer 2009. With the first bite I knew it would be a keeper. I served this dish at Thanksgiving that same year, and it became a new family favorite.


Nutty Barley Bake (from Taste of Home)

1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup pearl barley
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup minced parsley
1/4 cup sliced green onion
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 14.5 oz cans beef broth, low sodium

Saute onion, barley and pine nuts  in butter until barley is lightly browned.
Stir in parsley, green onion, salt and pepper. Transfer to 2 quart baking dish sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 1 hour 15 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed.


I haven't changed a thing from the original recipe. I can't think of a way to make it any better. I've toyed with the idea of using it as a base for a stew, but I've yet to act on it. I'll let you know what happens.

Cornbread Dressing

We don't stuff our bird. We dress it up with yummy cornbread dressing. I love dressing. Daddy loves dressing. Mom really likes it. My husband really doesn't like it. K-bob couldn't get enough of his first taste of dressing this year. However you make it - baked inside the bird or out - everyone has their opinion of the texture and the taste. Some like it wet, some like it dry, some like it crunchy on top. Some like it kind of bland, some like it with lots of sage. So this recipe doesn't have much in the way of measurements; those below are rough guidelines. It's different every year in an attempt to please all the palates at the table.

Cornbread Dressing
1 pan cornbread, crumbled (prepared the day before if possible)
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 tsp ground sage
1-2 tsp poultry seasoning
salt
pepper
broth

Sauté onion and celery until tender.
Mix onion, celery, cornbread, egg, and seasonings. Add broth so that mixture is thinner than cornbread batter.
Cook, uncovered, at 350º for 30-40 minutes, or until firm in the middle.

We usually boil the turkey neck to make some broth to use for the dressing. You can also pick off the neck meat (yes, you can eat the turkey neck) to add in. My mother-in-law used to cook a whole hen and put the meat in the dressing.

This is such a versatile recipe that it may take a few times to get it just right for your Thanksgiving table. I condone practicing several times a year in order to perfect you recipe. The leftovers work very well as a thickener for turkey or chicken soup if you aren't a fan of thin broth. I even like to eat it cold...

Potatoes. Make mine sweet.

Aside from the turkey and dressing (we'll get to those in a couple of days), nothing quite says Thanksgiving like sweet potatoes. Don't get me wrong, we eat sweet potatoes at least once a week throughout the year; they just aren't sweet sweet potatoes.

Sweet Potato Casserole is a treat we reserve for Thanksgiving or Christmas. The creamy sweet potatoes are covered with a wonderful, slightly crunchy coconut pecan topping. (In the picture above it's right in the middle next to the green beans; we failed to get an individual shot before it hit the table.) This casserole really should be considered a dessert, and it probably has more calories and sugar per serving than pumpkin pie. Nonetheless, it's a served as a side dish on our table. There are many versions of this recipe, all varying slightly in the amount of sugar or number of eggs. I think this one started out from Southern Living, and we've made a few changes over the years.



Sweet Potato Casserole

3 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 milk
1/3 cup melted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract (please use the real stuff, not imitation)
2 eggs, beaten
ground cinnamon


Mix well. Spoon into greased 9"x13" baking dish. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon.

Topping:
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 to 1 cup chopped pecans

In medium bowl, mix together until butter is evenly incorporated. Sprinkle over sweet potato mixture.

Bake at 375 for 25 minutes or until topping is golden.


There really is a lot of room to play with this recipe. We use a 9"x13" dish, but if you want a thick layer of sweet potatoes and a really thick layer of the topping, use a smaller dish. Generally, we only use half of the topping if we use a smaller pan because 1) it doesn't fit and 2) it's just too much sweet on top (I really just said that...). The leftover topping is great over ice cream and works well as a kind of streusel topping (Just slice some pears or apples, throw them in a pan sprayed with nonstick cooking spray and top them with as much of this yummy stuff as desired. Bake in a 350 oven until the fruit is tender, about 20-30 minutes depending on how much you're cooking.).