Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole For Two

 

One of my favorite dishes of all times is hashbrown casserole. The one with cream of cheddar cheese soup (or cream of mushroom, etc..), sour cream, onions, and lots of cheese. The only problem is I can't stop eating it.

Seriously.

Once I start....there is no turning back.

I decided to see if I could downsize the recipe to make just enough for one or two servings. (I was originally only going to make it one serving but, let's face it, leftover for breakfast the next day are why we all make this casserole!)

I left out the cream soup because I didn't want to have to open a can for only a few tablespoons and went with some other options instead.

Myfitnesspal tells me that one serving of this (half the recipe) is:

300 calories, 37 carbs, 11 fat, and 13 protein.

Not too bad at all for how decadent this is. Perfect for dinner one night and breakfast the next day.

 

 

Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole For Two

 

Ingredients

1 large potato, diced into small cubes

1 green onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 Tbsp light cream cheese

1 Tbsp light sour cream

1/2 cup aged cheddar, shredded (divided)

1/4 cup milk (1%)

1 slice bacon, cooked and crumbled

2 tsp Panko bread crumbs

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. (Can also be made in toaster oven) Spray 2 single serving, oven safe dishes with cooking spray, set aside.

Parboil your diced potato for 5 minutes, until partially cooked but not quite done. Drain potatoes and place in a medium sized bowl.

 

 

Add in onion, garlic, cream cheese, sour cream, aged cheddar (all except for 2 Tbsps), milk, and bacon.

 

 

Stir to combine. Spoon into the 2 prepared dishes.

Sprinkle each with a 1 tsp of Panko and 1 Tbsp of the remaining cheddar cheese.

 

 

Bake at 350 for 30 - 45 minutes, until mixture is bubbly and potatoes are cooked through.

Serve immediately. (Caution - dish is VERY hot)

 

 

Mmmmm...cheesy.

A few notes -

1. You can leave the bacon out, crumble in a cooked sausage, or even use a little lean ground beef.

2. You can make this easier by using frozen hashbrowns instead of having to prep your own potato. You would use approx 1 1/4 cup of frozen hashbrowns.

3. You can switch up the type of cheese you use to include your favorite cheese.

4.. You may want to set a pie plate or cookie sheet under your dishes as this does bubble up and spill over a teeny bit.

I was nice and shared one with our dad but, next time, I'm totally hiding one so I can have it for breakfast the next day.

No Bake Vegan Berry Tarts

 

I don't often venture into the vegan treat world. To be honest, I find it a little frightening. I like eggs, I like dairy, I like meat.  I am opening myself up to trying vegan/vegetarian things more often though. So far our experiences have been pretty good.

See our Banana and Coconut Cashew Cream Tart, Vegan Peach Ice Cream With Caramelized Almonds, Chocolate Chip Chickpea Cookies for just a few examples.

I wanted to try this recipe because I just thought it looked so pretty in the magazine (Alive Magazine May 2013). It turned out as pretty as the photos in the magazine. As long as you have a food processor or blender, this is super easy.

As far as what I thought about the tart overall....hmmm...it was good. Not fantastic-crawl-over-broken-glass-amazing BUT...it was good.

Very filling, very smooth, very flavorful.

Unfortunately, to me, it tasted "healthy".

Okay...okay...okay.....don't roll your eyes at me. I know "healthy" is not a bad thing. It's just not what I'm used to. I'm used to full fat, heavy-on-the-calories-and-fat-and-carbs.

It is my opinion that, as long as you go into this dessert knowing it is going to be a little different from "normal" dessert, you will like it.

For those of you out there who eat vegan/vegetarian often -- I hope this meets your expectations for a sweet treat. Please let me know what you think!

 

 

No Bake Vegan Berry Tarts

(adapted from Alive Magazine May 2013)

 

Ingredients

Crust

3/4 cup almonds

1 cup raisins

2 cups rolled oats

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

1/4 cup honey

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

 

Filling

1 cup blueberries

1 cup strawberries

1 1/2 cups raw cashews

1/4 cup honey

zest of 1/2 a lemon

1 tsp vanilla

 

Topping

extra fruit to decorate

 

Directions

Spray 4 small tart pans (or a large) with cooking spray, set aside.

In a food processor, process almonds until finely ground. Add in raisins and process until fine. Add in oats, coconut oil, honey, cinnamon, and ginger.

Process until everything is moist and mixture sticks together when pinched.

 

 

Press firmly into prepared pan (s). Place in freezer while you prepare filling.

Filling - place berries in food processor.

 

 

Process until smooth. Strain pureed fruit through a strainer to remove skins and seeds. Set aside strained fruit. Discard the pulp with the skin and seeds.

In the food processor, process cashews to a paste consistency. Add in the pureed fruit, honey, lemon zest, and vanilla. Process until smooth.

Spread evenly over the crust (s).

 

 

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to firm up.

Serve with additional fruit.

 

 

This is quite filling. I would say one of the 4 little tarts would serve 2 people, at least.

 

 

Would I make this again?

Probably.

I think I would make a few more teeny tiny changes. Maybe serve it with whipped cream (Of course, a non-dairy whipped cream to maintain the vegan aspect of this treat), maybe use a fruit that is a little more tart, such as raspberry, apricot, or blackberry or even try it with peach and banana combo (there are tons of possibilities), and...maybe add a pinch of coconut to the crust.

If you are trying to eat healthier and still count treats in your menu, then you may want to give this one a try. It is definitely something different and is definitely healthy.

 

Be sure to visit Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons and My Turn (for us) and Blissful and Domestic for some great links!

Chocolate Chickpea Cake

 

So...yeah...can we talk about chocolate cake?

It's delicious, right?

Yes, it is.

And... of course it is a bazillion calories and full of sugar and fat and aaaaaalll of that fantastic stuff that tastes so amazing but we aren't supposed to eat too much of.

*bah humbug*

I have some good news for you. I found an almost completely flour-less, fat-less, but still moist and delicious chocolate cake.

It's made even healthier by using coconut oil, coconut sugar, and almond flour.

I saw this recipe over at Hungry Little Girl and thought I would give it a whirl. Jutta's version is a little bit different from mine as I had to sub a bunch of ingredients so, if you want her version, be sure to pop over to her blog and check it out.

If you want another interesting chickpea recipe - check out our Chocolate Chip Chickpea Cookies.

 

 

Chocolate Chickpea Cake

(Adapted from Hungry Little Girl)

 

Ingredients

1 (19 oz) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (about 2 cups)

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

3 Tbsp baking cocoa

1/2 cup coconut palm sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 Tbsp almond flour

1 Tbsp coconut oil, melted

1/4 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup pecans, toasted & chopped

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Spray an 8 X 8 inch pan with cooking spray, set aside.

In a food processor or blender, process chickpeas until smooth. Add in eggs and vanilla and process until well combined and smooth.

In a large bowl, combine cocoa, sugar, baking powder, salt, and almond flour. Whisk to combine. Stir in coconut oil until well combined.

 

 

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until well combined.

In a small, microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate chips in microwave in 20 second intervals, stirring in between, until smooth.

Scrape the melted chocolate chips into the batter and stir to combine.

Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.

Sprinkle evenly with chopped pecans.

 

 

Bake at 350 for approx 25 - 30 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

 

 

Remove from heat and let cool on wire rack.

 

 

This is sooooo moist and dense - almost like a brownie. In fact, I'm pretty sure you could get away with calling this a brownie if you wanted to.

A couple of notes -

1. You can use regular oil if you don't have coconut oil.

2. You can use 1/4 cup brown sugar + 1/4 cup stevia instead of coconut sugar (or 1/2 cup brown sugar)

3. You can use coconut flour instead of almond flour OR leave all the flour out entirely and cook a bit longer.

4. I added the pecans on top to fancy it up a bit. They are entirely optional.

*FYI - If you change the ingredients you will change the nutritional info*

I figured out the nutritional info on Myfitnesspal. For 1/8th of the entire pan it is:

257 calories, 35 carbs, 11 fat, 7 protein.

Not too shabby, right? That's for a good size piece of cake!

I also decided to check what a similar sized piece of "normal" chocolate cake is..... 488 calories, 73 carbs, 21 fat, 7 protein. 

So, this cake is about half the calories, half the carbs, and half the fat.

Nice.

You are not going to feel like you are missing out on anything by eating this cake either. It is rich, fudgy, moist, and chocolaty. Everything a chocolate cake should be. :)

 

Looking for some amazing links? Check out Adorned From Above.

Soft Pretzel For One

 

I know you probably read the title and thought, "Soft pretzel for one...really? It's probably not a 'real' pretzel though. It's probably biscuit dough and not yeast dough or something. "

Well...you'd be wrong.

It's totally a "real" pretzel.

With yeast and everything.

Why make one pretzel, you ask?

Well...because otherwise you'd eat 400 and blow up in a horrible yeast and salt induced explosion.

And...we don't want that.

Well...maybe we do...but...we probably shouldn't want that. We are trying to eat healthier and all that. Aren't we?

Anyways...

This is so super simple - even if you are not used to baking with yeast - that anyone can give it a go. Even if things go horribly amiss and the dough doesn't work...you are only out very little ingredients. Aaaand...it only takes about 45 minutes from start to finish so you aren't out a lot of your time either.

So..

What are you waiting for?

You have nothing to lose and a delicious, soft, crusty, salty pretzel to gain.

 

 

Soft Pretzel For One

 

Ingredients

1/3 cup flour

1/8 tsp sugar

generous pinch salt

1/4 tsp quick rise yeast

1/4 tsp dried chives

3 - 4 Tbsp very hot water (110 - 120 degrees)

 

1/2 cup water

1 tsp baking soda

 

1/2 Tbsp milk

1/4 tsp sesame seeds

sprinkle coarse sea salt

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 450. Line a pie plate with parchment paper and spray the parchment paper very well with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a small bowl, stir together flour, sugar, salt, yeast, and dried chives. Stir in hot water, 1 Tbsp at a time, until soft dough forms. (Dough should be a bit sticky)

 

 

Pat into a ball. Cover with a clean tea towel and let rest for 15 minutes.

After dough has rested, on a lightly floured surface, roll dough out into an approx 20 inch rope.

 

 

Make the rope into a "U" shape, twist the ends over each other and then fold them down over the bottom of the "U" to make a pretzel shape.

 

 

In a small saucepan, bring the half a cup of water to a simmer. Stir in baking soda.

Carefully drop the pretzel into the simmering water. Leave for about 5 seconds then flip over and let simmer another 5 seconds.

Transfer to the prepared pie plate. Using a pastry or basting brush, paint with a little bit of milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds and sea salt.

 

 

Bake in 450 oven until golden brown and cooked through, about 15 - 20 minutes.

 

 

Serve with your favorite dipping sauce. (I made a honey mustard dipping sauce by mixing together 1 tsp mustard, 1 Tbsp mayo, 1 tsp honey)

A couple of notes --

1. Remember to spray the parchment paper with cooking spray or else the dough will stick to the paper.

2. Your topping ingredients are almost endless. You could use a little poppy seed, cheese, just the coarse salt, OR you could go the sweet route and use cinnamon sugar or coconut, etc and just leave out the dried chives.

 

 

Ooooooh....soft on the inside, crusty on the outside. I love the honey mustard but you could use ranch dip, Caesar dip, or no dip at all. You definitely want to eat this fresh out of the oven though while it is still warm.

All I can say is, good thing it only makes one or all hopes of me controlling my bread intake would be out the window.

 

Be sure to visit The Rustic Pig and Jam Hands and Feeding Big and Memories By The Mile and Chef In Training for some great links!

Spicy Baked Cheesy Fries

 

Where does the weekend go?

Seriously....

A second ago it was Friday afternoon and now *poof* 2 seconds later...it's Sunday evening.

*sigh*

Anyway..my point is...I had no time to make anything this weekend. We are only a week away from the annual May Day Parade here in Lillooet and my friend, Kerry, and I are busy puttng together a fun float to enter.

I tried this recipe to spice up the last 4 baby potatoes we had (no time for shopping either!).

It was tasty for lunch and, best of all, it only took a few minutes to whip it up so I didn't lose too much float making time.

 

 

Spicy Baked Cheesy Fries

(Adapted from The Busty Baker)

 

Ingredients

2 Tbsp bread crumbs

1 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, shredded

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp paprika

sprinkle of cayenne pepper

salt & pepper

1 large potato (or 4 baby potatoes)

1 tsp olive oil

2 Tbsp Mozzarella cheese, shredded

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 400. Line a small pie pan with parchment paper, set aside. (This can also be done in a toaster oven)

In a small bowl, whisk together bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, onion & garlic powder, paprika, cayenne, and salt & pepper. Set aside.

 

 

Scrub potatoes under running water to clean - you do not need to peel. Slice into strips.

Place potato slices into a small ziplock bag. Drizzle with 1 tsp olive oil. Squish around in the bag to coat with oil. Dump in the spice mixture. Shake to coat.

 

 

Spread evenly on prepared pan.

Sprinkle with the 2 Tbsp Mozza cheese.

 

Bake at 400 for 15 minutes. Turn fries over and continue baking until they are crisp/tender - about another 15 - 20 minutes - it will depend on how thick you have cut your slices.

This is a single serving, by the way.

You can easily double or triple it.

My favorite part of this recipe?  -  The crispy bits of cheese.

I want to try this again with a large potato instead of the baby ones. I enjoyed the flavor but it was annoying to have to eat mini fries. I like regular sized ones better...most of the time.

Oh, yeah, I dipped these in ketchup and tzatziki sauce. They are REALLY tasty with the tzatziki!!

 

Stop by Or So She Says and The Chicken Chick and The Velvet Moon Baker for some great links!

Carrot Cake M & M Cookie Bars

 

I had an extra carrot cake box mix to use up a little while ago so I was trying to come up with different recipes in order to use up the box.

I made Carrot Cake Fudge and Carrot Cake Rice Krispies a little while ago but still had a little bit of the cake mix left over.

Normally I would probably have just thrown it away BUT, as it turns out, I also had some leftover Carrot Cake M & M candies to use. I decide to make this cookie bar to use up both.

Turns out this was a pretty good idea.

Who knew carrot cake mix could be so versatile?

 

 

Carrot Cake M&M Cookie Bars

 

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, room temp

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour

1/2 cup carrot cake mix

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup M&Ms (I used carrot cake flavor)

1/2 cup chocolate chips

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9 X 13 pan with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and both sugars until fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla until well combined.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, carrot cake mix, and baking powder. Stir into wet ingredients until no dry ingredients remaining showing through. Stir in M&Ms and chocolate chips.

Press into prepared pan.

 

 

Bake at 350 for 20 - 25 minutes, until top is browned and toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.

 

 

Remove from heat, let cool on wire rack. When cool, use parchment paper to remove bar from pan. Cut and serve.

 

 

You could, of course, scoop these onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake as cookies. Your cooking time will decrease significantly - more like 10 minutes.

I like making cookie bars because, well...frankly...I'm lazy and making cookies is a little repetitive sometimes.

These are very carrot cake-y but still kind of like a chocolate chip cookie.

Oddly enough, it is a good combination.

Definitely something a little bit different.

 

Don't forget to stop by My Turn (for us) and Ms. enPlace and Hungry Little Girl for some fun links!