Another big Turkey Day 2002 hit from the Williams Sonoma Cookbook!

Golden Mashed Potatoes With Leeks and Sour Cream

Ingredients:

• 4 lbs large Yukon gold potatoes, unpeeled and scrubbed
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 4 leeks, including tender green parts, finely chopped and well rinsed
• 1 cup sour cream at room temperature
• 1 cup milk, heated to a simmer

Directions:

1. Cut the potatoes into large, uniform chunks. Put the potato chunks in a large saucepan and add water to cover and a generous pinch of salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, cover partially, and cook the potatoes, stirring once or twice, until the potatoes are very tender, about 40 minutes. Drain.
2. Meanwhile, in a frying pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the leeks, cover and cook, stiring once or twice, until tender and lightly browned, 12-15 minutes. Set aside and keep warm.
3. Return the potatoes to the saucepan and place the pan over low heat. With a potato masher, mash the potatoes thoroughly. Stir in the leeks and their buttery juices. Add the sour cream and stir well. Add the hot milk, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper and stir vigorously until light and fluffy.
4. Remove the pan from the heat. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

Note: Yukon gold potatoes have a beautiful golden flesh and a high starch content, making them ideal mashers. Russet potatoes can be substituted, although they should be peeled.

From the Williams Sonoma Thanksgiving cookbook, Sara made these last year. One tip, make lots!

Maple-Glazed Carrots

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs carrots, peeled and cut on the diagonal into 1 inch pieces (or just use baby carrots)
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 3/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the carrots, stock, maple syrup, and butter. Bring to a brisk simmer and cook, uncovered, until the carrots are tender, about 30 minutes.
2. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the carrots to a dish. Raise the head to high and cook the liquid in the pan until it has reduced to about 1 1/43 cups and is syrupy, 30-40 minutes longer.
3. Return the carrots to the pan. Add the vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

Make-Ahead Tip: This dish can be prepared through the step of reducing the sauce several hours in advance. Return the carrots to the reduced sauce, remove the pan from the heat, and let cool to room temperature. Just before serving, stir in the vinegar and pepper and reheat the carrots just until warmed through.

These cakes are slightly underbaked so that the chocolate center oozes when cut into. Very rich, makes a perfect couples dessert. Serve with a scoop of Vanilla ice cream.

Molten Chocolate Cakes with Mint Fudge Sauce: Bon Appetit

Sauce:

• 4 1/2 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 1/3 cup hot water
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

Cakes:

• 5 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
• 3 large eggs
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour

Directions:

1. For sauce: Stir both chocolates in top of double boiler over barely simmering water until melted. Add 1/3 cup hot water, corn syrup and extract; whisk until smooth. Remove from over water. Cool slightly. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover; chill. Before serving, rewarm in saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly.)
2. For cakes: Preheat oven to 450?F. Butter six 3/4-cup souffl? dishes or custard cups. Stir chocolate and butter in heavy medium saucepan over low heat until melted. Cool slightly. Whisk eggs and egg yolks in large bowl to blend. Whisk in sugar, then chocolate mixture and flour. Pour batter into dishes, dividing equally. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill.)
3. Bake cakes until sides are set but center remains soft and runny, about 11 minutes or up to 14 minutes for batter that was refrigerated. Run small knife around cakes to loosen. Immediately turn cakes out onto plates. Spoon sauce around cakes. Serve with ice cream.

Makes 6.

Great summer salad, or if you have a good grocery store, great anytime salad.

Strawberry ~ Avocado Salad: Intercourses Cookbook

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup rasberry balsalmic vinegar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon hot sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 head romaine, torn into bite-sized pieces
• 1/2 (11 ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained
• 1 cup strawberries, stemmed and quartered
• 1/2 cup sliced red onion (about 1/2 small onion)
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans
• 1/2 avocado, sliced

Directions:

1. Combine the olive oil, vinegar, sugar, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and cinnamon in a jar. Shake well and refrigerate for 2 hours.
2. Combine the romaine, oranges, strawberries, onion, pecans, and avocado in a large bowl.
3. Toss with half the dressing; toss well. Serve with the remaining dressing.

It’s a pretty easy recipe, your hands get covered in sauce when you roll them, but it’s all good. Lots of cheese, lots of sauce, filled to the brim enchiladas just like Mom used to make…they should be, its her recipe!

Mom’s Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Ingredients:

• Two packets Lawry’s powered ‘Enchilada Sauce’ Mix
• Chopped up chicken you cooked or one of the already cooked chickens at the market.
• Grate up a lot of cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese. The two blended together have a good flavor.
• Can of chopped olives
• Can of chopped green chilies.

Directions:

1. Make the sauce according to the directions on the packet.
2. Pour a quarter of the sauce in the bottom of a casserole pan and put a corn tortilla in the sauce.
3. The sauce will soften the tortilla and eliminate the need to presoak them in oil or anything of that nature.
4. After you have both sides of the tortillia completely covered in sauce, fill them with chicken, olives, chilies, cheese, etc. and roll them up and place at the end of the same casserole pan seam side down.
5. Keep the process up until the pan is full. Add sauce when you need it and when you get to the end of the casserole and it is hard to wet the tortillas, just dip them in the sauce in the saucepan.
6. After you have them all rolled up, pour on the remaining sauce and sprinkle on the remaining cheese. Be generous with the sauce…making two packages for about 12 tortillas. Also, they taste better when you are generous with the cheese.
7. You can cover and freeze for later, or better yet, cook the enchiladas for about 20 minutes (until bubbly) at 350°F.

Since monkeys are known for gleefully pulling at, well, everything, it makes sense that an audience-participation loaf should be called monkey bread. Nancy Reagan served monkey bread in the White House, especially during the holidays, and her recipe was printed in the American Cancer Society cookbook. Now it’s printed here. Perfect with a little butter or jam.

Nancy Reagan’s Monkey Bread

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces butter, softenened, plus extra for greasing the pan
• 4 to 5 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for flouring pan and work area
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 cup lukewarm milk (~110 degrees)
• 3 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces melted butter

Directions:

1. Butter and flour a 1 quart or larger ring mold or tube pan and set aside. Whisk the yeast with the milk in a large bowl. Whisk in 2 of the eggs and then the sugar, salt and 4 cups of the flour, switching to a spoon when the dough gets stiff. Stir in the softened butter and knead the dough in the bowl until it comes together in a ball. turn out onto the work area and knead until it forms an elastic ball, sprinkling with and working in up to 1 cup more flour to keep dough from getting sticky. Place dough in a clan bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 1 ½ hours.
2. Punch down dough and turn out onto a lightly floured work area. Roll dough into a log and cut into 28 equal size pieces. Shape each piece into a ball, dip in melted butter and place in the prepared pan, staggering pieces in 2 layers. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 375°F. Beat the remaining egg and lightly brush over the top of the bread. Bake until top is nicely browned and dough is cooked through, 25 to 30 minutes. (Test by turning out the loat onto a rack; the bottom and sides should be nicely browned.) Turn upright on another rack to coll slightly before serving.

This either is, or is very close to, the recipe for Spinach Artichoke Dip that you get at California Pizza Kitchen. If you’ve been to CPK, you already know how good it is, if not it’s amazing.

It takes a lot of time, there are a lot of ingredients, and it makes a lot. If you have a pot luck or SuperBowl party, this will be better than the commercials.

Spinach Artichoke Dip – California Pizza Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
• 3/4 Cup Diced White or Yellow Onion, Cut into 1/8 inch dice
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon Minced Garlic
• 1/2 Cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1 1/2 Cups Chicken Stock
• 1 1/2 Cups Heavy Cream
• 3/4 Cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 2 Tablespoons Dehydrated Chicken Stock Base or Crumbled Bouillon Cubes
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
• 1 Teaspoon Sugar
• 3/4 Cup Sour Cream
• 12 Ounces Frozen Spinach, Defrosted, Drained, Wrung out by hand, and Coarsely Chopped
• 6 Ounces Canned Artichoke Bottoms, Drained and Cut into 1/8 inch slices
• 1 Cup Finely Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
• 3/4 Teaspoon Tabasco Sauce

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, warm the olive oil and butter together over medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until wilted, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook 2 to 3 minutes longer, stirring frequently and stopping before the onion and garlic brown.
2. Sprinkle the flour and continue cooking, stirring continuously, until the mixture turns a golden-blond color, 10 to 15 minutes. Then, whisking continuously, slowly pour in the stock until it is smoothly incorporated. When the mixture begins to simmer, stir in the cream. Let it return to the simmer. Remove from the heat, add the Parmesan, chicken base or bouillon cubes, lemon juice, and sugar, and stir until thoroughly blended.
3. Add the sour cream, spinach, artichoke bottoms, Monterey Jack cheese, and Tabasco sauce, and stir until the ingredients are thoroughly combined and the cheese has melted. Transfer to a warmed serving bowl and serve immediately, accompanied by blue and white corn tortilla chips.

Anneka makes them small, almost bite-sized, and thus you eat them like potato chips.

Chocolate Chip Cookies (modified from Nestle’s recipe)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 sticks salted butter (softened)
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 6 TBSP low-fat sour cream
• 12 oz Nestle chocolate chips

Directions:

• Mix flour, baking soda & salt together in small bowl.
• Mix butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar & vanilla together (using a fork or spoon—do not use an electric mixer).
• Add sour cream to butter/sugar mixture.
• In three parts, mix in flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture (again, using a spoon or fork only).
• Add chocolate chips.
• Using dinner teaspoon, put heaping teaspoons of dough onto ungreased baking sheet (12 cookies per sheet).
• Bake for approximately 7 minutes until cookies lose the “shine” on their tops and start to turn slightly golden.
• Remove from oven & transfer to cooling racks (or if unavailable, to clean
  cutting board or countertop).

Makes approximately 4 dozen cookies.

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Preheat oven to 300ºF.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup dark corn syrup
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp flour
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 tbsp melted butter
2 oz unsweetened chocolate melted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup pecan pieces

Directions:
Combine and mix sugar, corn syrup, salt and eggs. Melt butter and chocolate together and mix in vanilla. Combine with sugar mixture.

Put the pecan pieces on the bottom of the pie shell and pour everything in. Bake for 50-60 minutes until the center is set but not dry.

These should be called cheesy potatoes. It’s a very simple recipe and it was a pleasant surprise at Christmas Eve dinner.

Harvest Feast Potatoes – Prince of Peace Cookbook

Preheat oven to 350?F.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 lb. Butter, melted
• 32 oz. Bag frozen hash browns
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 16 oz. Sour cream
• 1 -10 3/4 oz. Can cream of chicken soup
• season salt to taste
• white pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Mix everything together and pour into 9×13 baking pan. Bake 1 hour.

Mom’s Note : I make this with only half the butter, I use light sour cream and reduced fat soup. There is no noticeable difference in taste at all and you cut out a lot of needless fat and calories. Also, I make this ahead and refrigerate it. Just take it out of the refrigerator an hour before you plan to bake it.