Fully Loaded Mashed Potatoes

For this week we are going to talk about stepping up plain Jane mashed potatoes. These Fully Loaded Mashed Potatoes are a mix between Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Potato Skins. 

What you'll need: 

10 Large sized Potatoes (washed and chopped)

2 Cloves of Garlic 

1 Cup of Sour Cream

1/2 Cup of  Heavy Cream

1/2 a Stick of Butter

2 Pounds of Bacon (cooked and chopped)

1 Cup of Shredded Cheese (plus some for topping)

1 Bundle of Green Onions (to top)

Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Step One: 

These potatoes start the same way any regular mashed potatoes do. You want to wash and chop your potatoes, set them to cook in a pot of water until fork tender. Or you can use leftover cooked potatoes or already mashed potatoes. Once the potatoes are drained you want to add two cloves of grated garlic, the sour cream, the heavy cream, and the butter. Mash or mix them together (if you are using a mixer), and set aside. If you are using leftover mashed potatoes you will want to add whatever ingredients that were not already added.

Cook the bacon (either pan-fried, in the microwave or in the oven, whichever way you prefer), or used leftover cooked bacon. Chop the bacon into pieces. 

Add the bacon and shredded cheese to the mashed potatoes and mix well. Place in a casserole dish, top with cheese and bake. Bake in a 400-degree oven until cheese is melted and golden brown (you may need to change the oven to broil). 

Top with green onions (chopped) and serve.

Leftover Turkey Makeover!

Yesterday, we tackled some Leftover Makeover using Mashed Potatoes. Today, we are going to talk about using up leftover Turkey! 

1. Turkey Soup 

Turkey can easily replace chicken in any recipe, especially soups. It would go very well in turning our Chicken Noodle Soup into Turkey Noodle Soup, or our Chicken and Rice Soup into Turkey and Rice! Also, if you keep the turkey bones it will make a great stock! 

2. Turkey Salad

As we said in the first recommendation, Turkey can easily replace chicken. By simply pan-frying the turkey it makes a delicious addition to any salad! As an added bonus if there is any skin left, pan frying it until crisp would make a delicious addition. 

3. Turkey Sandwiches

We love making "Hot Turkeys", this is simply two pieces of bread, turkey meat and gravy on top. It is a great way to use up the meat and gravy all in one! But if you prefer something lighter Country Living has created 20 Leftover Turkey Sandwich Recipes.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken Noodle Soup is an absolute must for cold and flu season or just for a nice cold day. It is a comfort food in its own right and its all around good stuff. 

This recipe is easy to make and can be a great way to get rid of some leftovers. Leftover veggies, chicken, stock, all great ways to use up extras and make a wonderful soup out of it. 

What you'll need: 

2-3 Breasts of Chicken (or if you have chicken left over that is fine)

2 Stocks of Celery 

2 Large Carrots

1 Medium Onion

Large Pasta Noodles

2 Boxes of Chicken Broth

2 Bay Leaves

1/2 teaspoon of Thyme

Chicken Bovril (we use the bottled one, you can use cubes)

Usually, the beginning to any soup is to cook the vegetables and chicken. We set the chicken to boil in a large pot for half an hour. Next, chop all the vegetables up well and add them to the pot to cook. You will want to get them started, you can tell they are ready when the onions turn clearer than normal. At this stage, you can add the chicken in to get the flavours and some colour. Once your chicken browns slightly, add your broth, bay leaves, thyme, and bovril to the vegetables and chicken and let simmer for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally. Remove bay leaves and serve. 

Boxing Day Sales

December 26th is Boxing Day in Canada and is one of the biggest sale days of the year. Following the Christmas hype, Boxing Day sees massive sales in almost all retail. Some of the big-ticket items to look out for this year will be Xbox One and PlayStation 4 home consoles, 4K televisions, computers, and books. Many retailers will slash prices to make deals too good to pass up on. The best stores to shop at are:

Best Buy - Electronics and Gaming:

Best Buy will have many deals on game consoles, computers, and home entertainment and audio.They also offer free delivery on orders over $35 at Bestbuy.ca

Chapters Indigo - Books

Chapters Indigo will offer a variety of deals with their specialty being books.Chapters Indigo offers free shipping to stores with no minimum purchase or to a home on orders over $25 at chapters.indigo.ca.

Wal Mart - General Merchandise

Wal Mart will offer a variety of deals on items including household, electronics, toys, and games.
 

Amazon - Online General Merchandise
Amazon.ca will offer discounts on everything from electronics, household items, toys, and games. Amazon Prime Members will receive free 2-day shipping with no minimum purchase and non-members will receive free standard shipping on orders over $35.

Ultimate Brussels Sprouts

Today we are taking Brussels Sprouts to the next level! Brussels Sprouts are like small cabbages with a very strong taste. And in many cases you either love them or you hate them. But today we are hoping to make over the Brussels Sprout into something everyone can love! 

What you'll need: 

Brussels Sprouts

Garlic Butter

Bacon

Salt and Pepper

Getting Started: 

Start by cleaning up the Brussels Sprouts and boiling them until fork tender. Once they are cooked, allow cooling so they can be sliced in half. 

In a frying pan, fry 1 pound of bacon (until crisp). Remove bacon from the pan and drain the fat. 

In the frying pan ass garlic butter and let melt. Throw in the Brussels Sprouts and let fry until they get some colour on them, throw in the bacon, salt, and pepper to taste and serve. 

Tips, Tricks and Tutorial Thursday - Granny Rectangle Blanket

For today's Tips, Tricks and Tutorial Thursday we are going to talk about Granny Rectangle Blankets (The Crochet Crowd has a great video on this). Most people have heard of Granny Squares but not really about Granny Rectangles. In my opinion, a Granny Rectangle is much easier to do than a Granny Square and is a great way to get into the pattern of the whole "Granny" world. 

Starting Chain: For the Granny Rectangle Blanket, you want to chain multiples of 3. A good number I stick to is 15 and then I would chain three. The chain three will act as your first double crochet in the "cluster". (Cluster refers to a group of stitches together.) You will work two double crochets in the fourth chain from the hook (keeping in mind the first three are part of the cluster.)

Clusters are usually formed of 3 double crochets. The first cluster of every round is the exception because of the chain. We want to create a corner here so you will chain 3 and then add a cluster of 3 double crochets to the next stitch. 

Next is just a regular cluster pattern, this pattern is chain one skip two stitches. So after you have made your corner you will chain one, and skip two stitches before working into the next stitch. You will continue this to the end of the chain. 

You will notice that at the end of your chain you will have one stitch left. Here you will make another corner (chain 3 and place a cluster in the last chain). This is side one. You will now work on the other side of the chain. Once the corner is done, chain three and work onto the chain of each cluster. Continue to the end of your chain.

Once there you will have to make the last corner. This is done by simply chaining 3 and then slip stitching into the original chain three. This is round one. 

Next chain three. As you will see you are not starting near a "whole" you are starting on the far side of a cluster so you will want to chain one more. The size of the first round is so small that the first "whole" you come to will be the corner. You want to place a cluster of 3 double crochets here and then chain three and place another cluster in the same whole. This is you will create the corners from now on.  

Once the corner is created, you will chain one and work into the next whole as normal. Continuing this pattern until you get back to your starting chain. Since you started on the far side of a cluster, you should end in a cluster, you will want to do two double crochets instead of three and let your starting chain act as the third. You will want to slip stitch in the third stitch making sure you leave the fourth one as the space. 

Then you would chain three again to start the next round. This time you should be chaining in a "whole" let the chain three act as the first double crochet and add two other double crochets to complete the cluster. Continue as before to the end. This time once your last cluster is made you will want to chain one before slip stitching into the third stitch of the starting chain.

Freebie Friday - Blanket Stitch Blanket

This week for Freebie Friday I am sharing my Blanket Stitch Blanket pattern. I first made this as a wedding present and I added the ribbon to match the wedding theme. 

So for this blanket, you can use any hook you want, I recommend a 5 mm or 5.5 mm but that is up to you. The size, colour, and yarn is up to you. I used just plain white, worsted and I did a throw, you can always add more to the chain and more rows to make it larger.

For this pattern, all you need to know is how to CHAIN, how to SLIP STITCH and how to make a DOUBLE CROCHET.  

To start you want to chain 150 plus three. Working in the third chain from the hook, work two double crochets into this stitch (this is the only time you do not slip stitch first). Skip the next two stitches and slip stitch into the next stitch. Place two double crochets into the same stitch. 

Blanket stitch: For the blanket stitch you want to chain two and then continue the pattern (skip two stitches, slip stitch into the next one, place two double crochets, and so on). 

LITTLE Blanket Stitch: For the little blanket stitch you would only chain one (and then continue). 

The difference between the BLANKET STITCH and the LITTLE BLANKET STITCH is that the blanket stitch will lay flat the little blanket stitch will be bumpy.