Two Fave Recipes from Turkey Day!

It is official. I am totally ready for Christmas. I’ve been jamming to the She & Him Christmas album. There are a few houses in my neighborhood with lights up already and I have the urge to knock on their door to thank them for their holiday spirit. That is creepy though. I’m aware.  I’m in the process of setting up my “holiday corner”. Small apartment decorators unite!

Despite Christmas being just around the corner I’m still reveling in my Thanksgiving success.

The whole meal was fantastic but two particular dishes stuck out for me. I figure we can always have some good recipes in our arsenals so I’m sharing a few days later.

Mashed Potato Layer Bake & Stuffed Mushrooms!

1. Mashed Potato Layer Bake~ This casserole is a big ol’ mixture of carby deliciousness. Potatoes, cheese, more potatoes and more cheese. Seriously. It was every carb lovers dream and every WW followers nightmare. I enjoyed every bite of it.

The key to this casserole, like many other casseroles, is to make it ahead of time then heat it up when its time to eat. The flavors just mush together so much more when it has time to sit and hang out.

When I made it on Thanksgiving it was delish, but the sweet potatoes didn’t stand out as much as I wanted and I couldn’t taste the chive and onion cream cheese very much. However, when I had this for breakfast the next day I was blown away! Each layer was creamy with a touch of chive and onion flavor.

I’m definitely going to be making this again, but this time I’m sending home the leftovers with other people.

2. Stuffed Mushrooms~These mushrooms are SUPER easy to make and can please almost anyone, except for those freak non-mushroom lovers. Weirdos.

 The changes I made to this recipe include:

*Doubled the number of mushrooms used. This recipe makes enough of a cheese filler to make 24 mushrooms.

* Switching out regular cream cheese with chive and onion flavored

*Add 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs. I added the breadcrumbs to just add a little texture to the cream cheese. They would certainly be quite tasty without the crumbs, but this adds just a little bite.

*Used fresh garlic and minced it myself. I used about 3 cloves.

Some tips:

To clean mushrooms, just wipe with damp towel. You can also run them under water, but be sure to pat them dry immediately.

I used fresh garlic and created a garlic/stem mix.

The cheese mixture when all put together will be quite thick. Use an appetizer sized spoon to measure out a tablespoon of the mixture to push into mushroom.

You can use the back of the spoon to push the mixture into the mushroom, but avoid pushing too hard so you don’t break the ‘shroom.

I can’t get enough cheese so at the last minute I sprinkled just a bit of parm across the top of the mushrooms.

 

Once a liquid starts to form under the mushroom and the cheese starts to brown just a tad across the top then these babies are done!

Serve while warm and be prepared to make another batch. These go fast!

 

 

 

The house is officially leftovers free and I’m back on schedule with my menu. I will be weighing in for WW on Thursday and I’m surprisingly not that worried. I kept that mantra about it being a holiDAY, not a holiWEEK in the back of my head as I enjoyed everything and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it paid off.

Are you a holiday decorator? Do you put up Christmas lights or put out spooky skeletons at Halloween?! How about eggs for Easter?

Tagged as: mashed potatotes, mushrooms, potatoes