Cheesy Chili Hashbrown Bake

Recipe: http://www.publicradio.org/columns/prairiehome/sundberg/2013/01/17.shtml


Well! 5 stars for a great, comforting, cold night dish that warmed not only me, but my next door neighbors up nicely last night! That was amazing! My Mr. is on work travel, so I took the easy way out, and got chili from the deli at my local supermarket and a bag of hashbrowns from the refrigerator section. If I had made it from scratch, I would have had a LOT of chili, so I opted for ready made, to test out the deli version, and I have to say, it was wonderful. Probably way too much sodium, but I will be making this again with my own chili recipe.

This is it before baking. I added more potatoes and cheese than the recipe called for, but I come from the Land of More, and more cheese and potatoes in a dish is the way to go....and I'm not sorry I did that here!

It baked up all crispy around the edges with the chili bubbling up through the topping, and that potato and cheese topping was so good. I kind of stirred it together a little in the bowl, but really liked having more chili in one bite, and more potato/cheese in the next. So dragging my spoon around the bowl gave me the different combinations. This was SO good. And SO easy. I added parsley because I didn't have cilantro, and I added a sweet southwest mesquite seasoning. I also gave the top a dusting of chipotle chili powder before baking. I made mexican cornbread to go with, and there were three happy faces at Julia's house, along with mine at home.

Thank you, Mrs. Sundberg.  :-)

Chocolate Cherry Cake

Recipe: http://www.publicradio.org/columns/prairiehome/sundberg/2013/01/02.shtml

I have made this before. It is a recipe that has been around a while, I first found it in a recipe book that a friend's daughter was selling as a fundraiser for her school, when I  lived in West Virginia. Cook books that are from schools or churches seem to have the best recipes, because everyone seems to want to show their skills in the kitchen. I have found that they always seem to have the best variety of dishes to try. I actually look for handwritten books/journals/bags of recipes when I go to antique shops, or second hand stores. I have a zip bag of hand written recipes and notes from a dear, unknown woman. She added her personal thoughts to dishes, changed some things out, and generally let me know through her writings that she loved being in the kitchen. I like her. Even though I don't know her name, I like her.

Anyway...this was the last piece. I shared it with neighbors, and it is gone. I added some thawed out dark sweet cherries on the plate, just because I like them, but the cherry chocolate goodness comes through. The almond extract helps them along, and chocolate and cherry together is a delicious way to enjoy a cup of coffee. This makes a great breakfast!

Thank you, Mrs. Sundberg.  :-)

Buffalo Chicken Dip

http://www.publicradio.org/columns/prairiehome/sundberg/2012/12/27.shtml

No photo, because I served this at our 29th Night party this past Saturday, but it was aMAZing! I was busy with lots of other things, so my camera didn't make it out while the food was being served.
We had quite a spread of food. Shrimp, BBQ meatballs, veggies and dip, dates stuffed with goat cheese and  pomegranate seeds....thank you Silke....and lots of Prosecco, wine and some Devil's Cut for the hardcore men who wanted to practice for New Year's Eve. Mike, Mark, Paul, Jeff and Dwayne, you know who you are!
I made a double batch of this, and put it in a small crockpot on 'warm'. I got it all melted and delicious in the microwave, then transferred it to the crockpot. Worked like a charm, and all I needed was a big spoon to scoop it out. The kids even liked it, and came back for more than one helping.
I think it would be good as a baked potato topper, spooned over noodles...and other things that I haven't thought of yet. But I recommend it as a dip, and Mrs. Sundberg was right. Fritos are the way to go. I bought regular, because if I had gotten the scoops, it would have been gone before I got around to trying it. Hungry kids and men tend to put a dent in most things like this. It was good!

Thank you, Mrs. Sundberg.  :-)